Bands that could be better
 

In the music industry, it's usually hit or miss and become a coke addict. There are some however, that are good but just good enough. Whether it be not enough talent, a lousy member, or just how they try to sell themselves.

I shall start off with Disturbed.

The Good
They're great at creating an atmosphere and the guitar and drums always seem together.

The Bad
Their songs are way too similar. They all just sound like one huge song. They should try more stuff like the song Land of Confusion which was cover song.

How to Improve
Try using a new style or new instruments. Or become a cover band.

Panic! At the Disco.


Good:
Good rhythm in the lyrics, nice instrumentals, decent harmony when it happens, interesting videos, and generally songs I find fun singing, even if they are emo.

Bad:
GOOD GOD, MAN! Have you ever heard them live? Living proof that you can take a yowling cat and make music out of it! Seriously, he needs to train that uncontrolled vibrato.

How to improve:
I know he can control his vibrato if he tries. He just needs to either get a hold on it or train it down. And watch his air a bit more, but fixing the vibrato will help.

Ya, I got one: Limp Bizkit

The Good
Wes Borland's fairly impressive guitar playing, backed up by a solid rhythm section and a DJ that isn't used too overbearingly.

The Bad
Fred Durst is an abomination.

How To Improve
Remove Fred Durst from the line-up. Preferably in a most violent fashion. Hide the body. No one will miss him.

Buckethead. For gods sakes Buckethead.

The good: He's an outstanding guitarist. Amazingly fast shredding coupled with an innate talent for compositions and music.

The bad: Background music is either trying to sound morbid or atmospheric, and it comes off as tacky.

How to improve: Make more stuff like Jordan (Guitar Hero II cut) or False Radien Cross or Phantom Monk.

Muse:

Hire a fucking basist.

I mean come on, fellas.

Oh also -

Guns 'n' Roses:

Actually exist in some kind of meaningful form.

I think that's kinda his point. Yeah, he's got slower, quieter songs that are nice (like For Mom), but sometimes he wants to add a bit of kitch (I spelled that wrong) to his material. Kind of in a theme-park fashion.

Because we know he loves theme parks.

Metallica

The Good: James & Kirk = Great guitarists, Used to be awesome, One

The Bad: Sucks Now, St. Anger, Lars Ulrich is a douchebag

How To Improve: Go back to writing songs about cool stuff, like Twilight Zone episodes, Lovecraftian material, Biblical plagues, and obscure war films (like you used to). Forget everything Bob Rock ever told you. Bring back the extended and complicated solos. And for the love of God, no more love songs. I watched a recent concert online, and for the love of Jesus, why did you jerks put Last Caress in between Enter Sandman and Seek & Destroy? Just stop.

/rant

Wait, did they fire their bassist and I missed something? Considering that the bass is an integral part of about half of their songs? Hysteria, New Born, to a lesser extent Starlight...

Queen+ : Resurrect Freddie Mercury.

I don't get the fucking big deal about Queen. They have some good songs, but they shouldn't be nearly as big as they are. I find Freddie Mercury to be a decent singer at best. And the songs people always gush over are just disjointed and lame.

Especially Bohemian Rhapsody. That song is shit up until the guitar solo, and then it's shit some more, until it gets to the part with the cool riff.

That's just it, it's an integral part of half their songs, cause they've got one guy who sometimes plays piano and sometimes plays guitar, and one guy who sometimes plays guitar and sometimes plays bass, and then half their songs sound awesome except for the huge hole where one more goddamn instrument should go.

Fixed that for you.

...Disjointed? Lame? 'Decent at best'?

Are we talking about the same Queen here? Last I checked Queen has had everything from terrific to great songs throughout their epic history.

Okay, like, aside from the big popular songs that everybody knows, what about 'It's A Kind of Magic'? 'Stone Cold Crazy'? 'The Show Must Go On'? Fucking 'Who Wants To Live Forever'?!

...Damn it now I want to listen to Queen some more.

And the important thing is to listen to whole albums. Everyone thinks they are just a big singles band but their albums have a huge amount of discology and they develop and change and it's beautiful.
Freddie Mercury was an incredibly talented singer. He could sing 3 octaves and can hold down some very difficult operatic parts. HIs voice was a big nuggety but still spectacular. His singing has had gushing praise from everyone from Daltree to Plant to Bowie, all who acknowledge his great singing. In fact they could all sing very well except Deacon. "Somebody to Love" sounds like its got an operatic choir in it. The harmonising is simply incredible.
They also all wrote songs. It was a team effort writing toghter.
They played many different styles.
And John Deacon played an absolutely awesome bass.
Really you had to see them live though. They would abandon the way songs normally went and go off on mad paths. Brian May once placed the piano bits on Bohemian Raphsody which is awfully difficult. Freddy would conduct singing lessons and dance around like a genius. It is amazing to watch.
There are a few misses among thier reportoire (Don't try suicide comes to mind) but really they hit a suprisingly large amount of the time.
In addition listen to Queen and Queen 2. May goes nuts on the Red Special (that he built!) and it sounds like trumpets and harps and things. Played on the guitar! They had to write on the album cover that there were no synthesisers used because no one believed it.
May also has a doctorate in astrophysics and an OBE. Take that Beatles!

BHS puts it better than I could. Especially the bit about "listen to whole albums."

I was trying to say that but I kind of messed up. Let's move back on topic though.

Guns N Roses.... if they wrote their own songs. Or maybe not.
More seriously
Good Charlotte... if they get out of thier rut. Had a big song and then just continued to pump out versions of this. Sadly a phenomenon that is all too common. Just ask Mc Hammer.

Rush
Good: Some rather good instrumentalists.
Bad: Geddy Lee's voice
Solution: Remove Geddy Lee's Larynx.

Rage Against The Machine
Good: Pure awesome
Bad: No more new albums
Solution: Permanent reunion, more new albums.

Shadows Fall:

Good: Instrumental equals win.
Bad: The guy has two different voices/sounds/whatever you want to call that.
Solution: Voice training.

Slayer.

The Good: Just about everything they ever did before Divine Intervention.

The Bad: Whoever wrote the lyrics for the last 4 albums, please let somebody else have a turn.

The Ugly: I'm really depressed that you guys are in your 40's.

Also, thank you for getting Lombardo to drum again.

Gotta love fifth, eh?

So full of ethereal holiness on so many levels...

The question is Gorillaz. And the answer is Gorillaz.

Band: Protomen

Good: the whole concept of a Mega Man rock opera is a great idea, and the fact they played with it a bit to make it more edgy is even better. Great overall sound. Stay in-character during concerts as well as on their website and forums.

Bad: needs more albums, sometimes the vocalist comes off as shreiking (re: "Vengeance") which gets on my nerves

Solution: we'll see if they get big, as they're a little too much of a niche band (?) to become mainstream (which isn't necessarily a bad thing). No screaming would help though.

Red Hot Chili Peppers
The Good
One of the few Alternative Rock bands in the 21st century that isn't completely emo and annoying.

The Bad
Their music videos are disturbing.

How to improve
This should be obvious.

Hey, I like Vengance. Kinda reminds me of Rage Against The Machine.

The Band: The Aquabats.

Good: Kings of the Chorus. Fun, upbeat songs and lyrics. Some absolute epic songs. They put on a show live. Their new sound is great.

Bad: Some absolute shit songs, their old sound seems to be gone for good.

Improve: Bring back the horns for a few songs, not permanent, but it'd be interesting to see (hear) how new Aquabats would do old Aquabats.

See! See!

DUH nuhnuhnuhnuhnuh DUH nuh NUH Nuh NUH

I hope Motorhead will never appear in this thread.

Hey man, some of Metallica's newer stuff, specifically the Load and Reload stuff, are excellent!

Honestly, if it's already 10 years old, I just don't feel justified in calling it "newer".

Okay, the less old stuff, but the point is, Prince CHarming is one of their best songs.

Fuel was pretty good, but not the same as the old stuff.

I think when you hold every song after Black Album up to Ride The Lightning or Master of Puppets, it pales in comparison. Even if it isn't a bad song, it's not a 6+ minute thrash metal manifesto complete with crazy guitar solos and cool lyrical subject matter. Kind of like someone said, they should just be called "Lica" from now on, because the metal's gone.

I have hope for the new album, though. They ditched Bob Rock for Rick Rubin, have stated they're making an effort to get back to their roots, seem to be getting along better since the St. Anger session and Kirk said in an interview that the album had a Middle-Eastern sound (like Wherever I May Roam and Creeping Death-yes!).