Philosophical: Technicality does not equate good music

[cdbaksu]

This is like the phrase "money can't buy you happiness". If you've ever been poor, you know that's bullshit.

[whyterabbyt]

Literally one of the worlds best ever pieces of music. Any musician, engineer or producer who knows anything can respect and appreciate immense quality of art in any genre.

And of course, anyone who doesnt 'respect and appreciate' the stuff you've decided is 'best ever' just knows nothing at all.

[BertKoor]

The story about Eddie's solo in "Beat It" has more to it. There are a couple of "off" notes in there. Eddie would never play those off notes. Now what they did in editing was they moved some parts around, so his solo doesn't exactly match the chord progression anymore.

[gaggle of hermits]

Clearly you know nothing at all. And even worse no one cares what you thought.

So much showing off the chords are louder than the solo ?
Quincy and the mix engineer kept it in check.

Random nobody critic of world renowned artists and record producer of immense talent.
KVR

classic case of "YOU DON"T LIKE SOMETHING I LIKE, YOU MUST DIE!!!!!"

[whyterabbyt]

"Beat It" didnt sell very many copies this year, so it doesnt have 'goodness' any more.

[Synthman2000]

Clearly you know nothing at all. And even worse no one cares what you thought.

So much showing off the chords are louder than the solo ?
Quincy and the mix engineer kept it in check.

Random nobody critic of world renowned artists and record producer of immense talent.
KVR

classic case of "YOU DON"T LIKE SOMETHING I LIKE, YOU MUST DIE!!!!!"

No, more likely undue criticism from someone who has no idea what they are doing.

[Burillo]

No, more likely undue criticism from someone who has no idea what they are doing.

it wasn't a criticism you insecure dumb f**k, it was an opinion. and your response to it proved the exact point I went out to make, as well as proving you are a child who has no place in this discussion.

[Uncle E]

The nerdy metal dude dressed like the Unabomber has the exact same musical tastes as the soccer mom wearing yoga pants. Everyone listens to Animals as Leaders in spin class.

[bmanic]

This is like the phrase "money can't buy you happiness". If you've ever been poor, you know that's bullshit.

It depends on the level of poor. This has been studied very well. Up to a certain amount of wealth, money does indeed stop bringing you happiness and can in fact decrease it.

I'd say the exact same thing goes for audio technicality/production/amount of polish. Up to a certain degree it will enhance the music but over production and unnecessary "bling bling" or forced technicality (the "look at me how skilled I am!!" syndrome) can actually take the listener out of the emotional core of a song.

[Synthman2000]

No, more likely undue criticism from someone who has no idea what they are doing.

it wasn't a criticism you insecure dumb f**k, it was an opinion. and your response to it proved the exact point I went out to make, as well as proving you are a child who has no place in this discussion.

When your productions and guitar playing are at the level of Quincy Jones and Eddie Van Halen come back. Until then it might be best to keep your opinions to yourself.

[gaggle of hermits]

No, more likely undue criticism from someone who has no idea what they are doing.

this might have some legs if you didn't write:

"So much showing off the chords are louder than the solo ?
Quincy and the mix engineer kept it in check."

no-one mentioned relative loudness that I can see. you plucked that out of nowhere. and it makes no sense as the comments were about guitar-playing by someone who presumably didn't have some kind of muad'dib foreknowledge of how it would be mixed.

it's pretty obvious the first bit of shredding is out of place – I can see burillo's point here, and Bert's explanation makes sense of that. it's not entirely unlike the way bob fripp seems to launch headlong into the solo on bowie's scarymonsters - the album version made it clear that was edited for the single. (though eddie exercises a bit more foreplay here).

as solos go the "beat it" one is far from memorable. I had to go remind myself what it was like despite it being a familiar song.

stop confusing your opinion with qualitative analysis.

[whyterabbyt]

When your productions and guitar playing are at the level of Quincy Jones and Eddie Van Halen come back. Until then it might be best to keep your opinions to yourself.

lead by example, then.

[jamcat]

This is like the phrase "money can't buy you happiness". If you've ever been poor, you know that's bullshit.

It depends on the level of poor. This has been studied very well. Up to a certain amount of wealth, money does indeed stop bringing you happiness and can in fact decrease it.

I see you have read the white paper entitled “Mo Money Mo Problems, a Case Study” by the Notorious P.H.D.

[vurt]

This is like the phrase "money can't buy you happiness". If you've ever been poor, you know that's bullshit.

It depends on the level of poor. This has been studied very well. Up to a certain amount of wealth, money does indeed stop bringing you happiness and can in fact decrease it.

I see you have read the white paper entitled “Mo Money Mo Problems, a Case Study” by the Notorious P.H.D.

that ones actually quite funny, well done.

[jamcat]

The story about Eddie's solo in "Beat It" has more to it.

Also that Eddie didn’t take credit on the album. This was a major point of contention for Dave who thought it was a missed opportunity to expose Van Halen to a whole new, wider audience. It was the straw that broke up the band. (Years later, Slash’s work with Michael Jackson would break up Guns N’ Roses, too.)

I think Eddie not taking credit diminishes any claim that he was just showing off. I think he showed up and did what was asked. His solo was meant to spotlight and augment the “rockin’” nature of Steve Lukather’s lead riff. So again, his performance was in service of the song, specifically Jones and Jackson’s vision for it.

Also more to the story is that Eddie just showed up with his guitar, and as the world’s most notorious tone chaser, he was unhappy with the tone he got out of the amp they provided. This is probably why he refused credit.