King gizzard are overrated and I’m so tired of seeing them posted ad nauseam on any music sub

Submitted by arseinmymouth t3_10stmiv in Music

I’ll start by saying I enjoy a handful of their songs and by no means think they suck or are bad, but the amount they get shoe horned into every conversation needs to end. It’s clear they are bigger on Reddit than anywhere else which makes sense the musically illiterate come here to socialize and make bold claims. For one thing they are fundamentally a gimmick band, they don’t have a sound. For me the most important aspect that separates the greats is forging that identity and sound. For every one of the styles they dip their toes in and go on to release a synthesized version of the most surface level of whatever genre it is, there’s probably 20 bands in that genre or sub genre who do it better. So let’s see what are they celebrated for exactly? It seems to be all about them turning music into some stupid endurance sport. As soon as they get brought up not too far after are the discussions about their quantity, their frequent release schedule, or some new style they’re failing to ape the most famous band of that sound. They’re the band of the lastfm age, anyone who participates in that sordid stat assembling of music listening gotta be dead inside. So what exactly are they good at… songwriting? Definitely not. Lyrics? Sounds like Tolkien if he was feral until the age of 8. Musicianship? They’re essentially a Grateful Dead without the technical chops(Grateful Dead can also fuck right off) yea so I’m so so tired of seeing them labeled the best band this, greatest band that. They aren’t even on the periphery of those superlatives let alone in the conversation. I implore you people who find a need to dominate conversations you don’t have the breadth or the wide ranging net of tastes required to participate to sit back listen to the classics, the influential bands not understood in their time. We must bring gatekeeping back. Why the hell are we letting people who haven’t done the necessary legwork to have a say

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HomerThompson15 t1_j73f0ns wrote

This post is a wall of text and I’m tired of seeing that on Reddit

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coxasaurus t1_j73vgz8 wrote

"i ain't reading all that

i'm happy for u tho

or sorry that happened"

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amorningofsleep t1_j73g53r wrote

Lol imagine being this angry over a band. I remember being in high school too. I was the same way.

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Tsar_Ty1er t1_j73ezwx wrote

What promoted you to write this, have a cup of coffee and catch your breath

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liquid_at t1_j73fuak wrote

>the musically illiterate come here to socialize and make bold claims.

I think this is also the reason to write.

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PopularBell518 t1_j73pbn4 wrote

…lost me with King Giz and overrated in the same sentence…

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DevinBelow t1_j73gvdd wrote

=- They’re essentially a Grateful Dead without the technical chops(Grateful Dead can also fuck right off

​

LOL. Tell me you've never heard King Gizz or the Grateful Dead without telling me you've never heard either band.

I can't think of two bands that are more different. King Gizz is basically a psychedelic alt-rock/thrash metal band. The Grateful Dead are a rootsy Americana dance band. King Gizz have no Americana, or rootsiness in their sound at all. The Grateful Dead have ZERO heavy metal or alternative rock influence in their sound.

It's like saying that "John Legend is basically The Clash without the technical chops." The two have nothing at all to do with each other.

It almost sounds like it's written by an AI, but I don't even think an AI can be that out of tocuh with reality.

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MikeRowePeenis t1_jabi7a8 wrote

To me, King Gizz is Ween if Ween took themselves a little more seriously.

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arseinmymouth OP t1_j73jh5w wrote

Yea I wasn’t clear my b, I didn’t mean musically at all. I think the Grateful Dead similar to king gizzard have very little to offer. No seminal albums, not great song writers, but with the caveat I can accept that the Grateful Dead are very technically proficient especially in a rock context.

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cmac712 t1_j73kwrr wrote

Not great song writers? Very little to offer? You may not like their music (which is fine) but to say either groups, especially the Dead, don’t have great song writers is just ignorant. What a moronic take

King Gizz has 25 albums, many of which are of varying genres and styles. If you hate every single one of them, I think that says more about you than them

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arseinmymouth OP t1_j73ldpe wrote

Yea if you’re a great songwriter you’re kinda known for the songs not cheap gimmicks like releasing a ton of albums in styles you can’t master. What are the Grateful Dead famous for? Their touring hahaha the most celebrated versions of their songs are extended live jams. No one gives a shit about their song writing, do they even have an album that went multi platinum? Pretty hilarious considering their heyday was when people actually bought records

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FuckYouCaptainTom t1_j73pd0k wrote

Grateful Dead and Gizzard both draw from a lot of styles and write complex music, which is not always palatable to general listeners, but tends to actually be appreciated by the “musically literate.” I would contrast that to queens of the Stone Age and stoner rock bands that are basically pentatonic riff droning. I genuinely like QOTSA but would not use them as a pedestal for proving your awesome musical literacy while bashing either of these bands.

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arseinmymouth OP t1_j73sjq3 wrote

Dude king gizzard are not complex and I didn’t bring up qotsa who aren’t all that complex but definitely leagues more complicated than king gizzard when the song calls for it. His perversion of the microtonal guitar isn’t complex… it’s literally the opposite have you heard Turkish music and the guitarists that have been playing micro tonal instruments for years? It’s not even close to the same… so what kinda complex music are you talking about exactly? They aren’t doing any virtuoso musical impressions ala a mahavishnu orchestra or Zappa? Where’s their complex chord progressions? They’re no Elliot smith, no grizzly bear, hell queens keep fresh with his octave pinky trick listen to bandoliers by tcv wanna hear “complex” chord voicings. King gizzard is power chords, wtf do they do complicated harmonies nope, so ya nice try bud

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Bootstrapbill22 t1_j744b9f wrote

You sound like you listened to half of one of their albums and formed an opinion. I guarantee you their is a lot more to their music than that.

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FuckYouCaptainTom t1_j745d2v wrote

It’s pretty obvious you haven’t actually listened to much kgatlw or are just super trenched into your argument. Saying that they just use power chords is flat out wrong, they use more interesting time signatures, polyrhythms, modal mixing, and yes, microtones, than any popular touring band that comes to my mind, and in my opinion I think that this lends to interesting songwriting. I’m not even trying to say I don’t like QOTSA… but it’s super easy to pick apart your “bring gatekeeping back” bullshit by turning it back on the bands that you seem to enjoy.

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arseinmymouth OP t1_j748udb wrote

They have albums dominated by power chords. You literally just used some buzz words without explaining your claim of them being this complex band. Once again didn’t bring up qotsa, do I consider qotsa complex? Ehh not the first thing that comes to mind, definitely more inventive than king gizzard for the reasons I’ve already mentioned. Back to the microtonal dumbing down and boxing the microtonal guitars into a very western context is by no means complicated. Like saying including a theremin on a song makes it inherently complex. Where’s the complex chord progressions? Time signatures are overblown so many bands have played around with odd time signatures, the real prize is having a song breach the mainstream as an odd time signature which they of course don’t have.

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Bootstrapbill22 t1_j74oqvv wrote

Mate complex chord progressions don’t equal good songs. Buuut if you actually had listened to the band you’ll find quite a few bands interesting progressions, but they aren’t shoved in your face. KG aren’t trying to make radio hits.

Also, the microtonal concept wasn’t intended to be like “Woahh this so so complex”, they were intentionally trying to bring them in in a subtle way that is still listenable to most western rock fans.

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FuckYouCaptainTom t1_j74t23g wrote

Since you’ve clearly just read a bad review of flying microtonal banana and used it to justify your opinion without listening to the bands catalogue, we can use that as an example. The criticism seems to be that they are using Turkish microtonal scales in a chord based progressive context and that’s bad, which would be valid if they were making traditional Turkish music. I think the album is cool because they had the idea to use microtonal as a means of dissonance… the whole point is that it doesn’t “work” with chord driven songs. If you ever make the effort to dive a bit deeper into their catalogue, they do a lot of other interesting things that I think are pretty inventive things like microtonal key change modulation that to my knowledge are pretty unique in modern rock. You can say it’s bad if you want, and I can disagree. Is the branding and drooling over the instruments they modified for the album a bit cringe? Sure, but I don’t think this alone makes them a gimmick band like you’ve implied. I don’t think the band is trying to be “mainstream,” nor do I think they are trying to cater to pretentious math rock types that fetishize unconventional songwriting, I legitimately think they are doing this because it is how they are inspired to create new music.

The fact that you keep talking asking about chords tells me you have a very loose grasp on music theory. Are you asking if they have songs that use chords besides simple major and minor? I’ve already discussed the chromatic elements of their songs, they use tons of non-standard chords. Their newest album is jazz influenced… go listen to that, not that it will change anything here since you’re just mad that your favorite subreddit picked them as the band of the week last week.

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MikeRowePeenis t1_jabidly wrote

Holy fuck you are so hilariously pretentious, I didn’t know people like you actually exist.

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cmac712 t1_j73n5nu wrote

Lol and what are Queens of the Stone Age famous for? Sheesh talk about a shitty band. I can assure you nobody give a shit about their song writing either. And by your logic, Creed is a better band than Queens of the Stone Age because they’ve sold more records and gone multi-platinum more.

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kurtpropan666 t1_j75jdll wrote

What a shit take lmao. QOTSA’s individual albums have more songwriting chops and passion than King Gizzards bloated discography, they’re pretty damn successful because of the songwriting. I think the fact that every major player in the industry respects Josh and QOTSA says a lot, a lot of them respect King Gizzard as well. Neither are “awful”, that’s objectively bullshit.

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Slight_Purpose_9092 t1_j73vy2c wrote

Workingman's Dead? American Beauty? Europe 72? What the fuck are you talking about?

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Timmy2Gats t1_j73i5vf wrote

You seem fun. King Gizz has legions of fans and sell shitloads of records for a reason. They're unique, they work hard, they play cool shows, they aren't afraid to change directions.

If you don't like a band, you don't have to listen to them. But the last thing Reddit or the world needs is another blowhard shitting negativity into the ether for no reason.

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arseinmymouth OP t1_j73igih wrote

“Aren’t afraid to change directions” what they do is what every other fast food company did with Wendy’s 4 for four, they simply copied and mimicked them they’re a cheap gimmick, hacks

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NKevros t1_j73if2f wrote

As an AI language model, I do not have personal opinions or biases. However, some people might feel that King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard are overrated because they do not appreciate their musical style, which is a blend of various genres including psychedelic rock, heavy metal, and progressive rock. Others might feel that their extensive discography and the frequent releases of albums make it difficult for them to keep up and fully appreciate their music. Ultimately, opinions on music are subjective and can vary greatly from person to person.

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tohm27 t1_j73l6oy wrote

I'm tired of seeing mugs like you whinge about bands you don't like

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sorengray t1_j740uxs wrote

That's a lot of rambling words to say you've never really listened to King Gizzard. 🙄

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Tankk94 t1_j749czg wrote

First, you're really advocating for gate keeping? Interesting.

Second, KGLW are independent musicians who haven't been pigeonholed into one specific genre by a greedy record label that is afraid to take risks because it might lose them profits. They're artists.

Third, their technical chops are far superior to the likes of The Dead. These guys figured out ways to incorporate microtones in a major way into not one, but three albums.

Fourth and final, keep dancing that bitter boogie. Someone will read this post, investigate Gizz, and fall in love. The wierdo swarm grows ever larger and more powerful.

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Bootstrapbill22 t1_j74p8ay wrote

I’m not sure id say their technical chops are better than the dead…. Nobody in Gizz plays guitar or bass like Jerry or Phil, but then again I’d take Cavs over Billy/Mickey any day. Ambrose=Pigpen tho

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Tankk94 t1_j74wckt wrote

Fair point. I need to do a deeper dive into their stuff here soon, for sure. Hopefully I'll see what you're talking about this time :)

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Bootstrapbill22 t1_j74ynjw wrote

I will mention, their skill isn’t displayed as much in their studio stuff as much as the live stuff. But Jerry and Phil were both virtuoso-level players and improvisers. Late 60s were my favorite stuff!

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Tankk94 t1_j74ww9c wrote

Ambrose is my favorite member of Gizz, so if he's equal to Pigpen, is there a Pigpen centric track that you could recommend?

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Bootstrapbill22 t1_j74xeyr wrote

Check out Turn On Your Love Light off of the album ‘Live/Dead’. Highly reccomend that whole album, it’s my favorite “official” live album of theirs! Some truly mindbending improv on there. Just pop that whole album on front to back for the whole experience

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Final_Bet1401 t1_j74uj5s wrote

Looks like I’ll catch a bunch of shit for saying this, but I can recognize their musical brilliance and still feel that OP is catching on to what I’ve also seen/heard while watching and giving King Gizzard a listen. Their songs drone on at long intervals, and can be repetitive with little payoff. Other songs sound just like other songs of theirs. I’ve watched a live session and just got bored. Bands like A Giant Dog, The Chats, Wet Leg can keep it short, and keep it interesting. Just sayin

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kurtpropan666 t1_j75k3cm wrote

I agree as well. It’s just very.. passionless, like they’re having fun but not really trying to write good songs or push any boundaries sound/genre wise. I find Viagra Boys a much better and more interesting newer band, and Glow On by Turnstile is better and more memorable than KGATLW’s entire discography IMO.

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Final_Bet1401 t1_j75lwwm wrote

Viagra Boys are fucking awesome. Mad I didn’t go see them in Jersey City last year

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kurtpropan666 t1_j75mv7w wrote

Same boat here I missed out, they’re a newer band so I guarantee they’ll do another round of dates soon

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amb1215d t1_j73f8om wrote

I love Thee Oh Sees

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TerribleAtGuitar t1_j73fpao wrote

I’m not reading all that…?

King Gizz rocks but you don’t have to listen to them if you don’t want to

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Greenmanglass t1_j746g8s wrote

Ok, just addressing the key points here.

It doesn’t seem like you’ve really listened to much of the band or you would hear a distinct sound/motifs reminiscent of their garage rock days, or riffs/motifs from other songs that they frequently call back to, connecting their discography. Even characters in the lyrics are shared between albums.

Next point, bad lyrics? Depends on which song. Some songs are repetitive, some simple, and some that are 100% narrative driven. What Gizzard is excellent at is telling a story, which is what really makes a great song great imo.

Multiple genres isn’t bad, especially when they do them so well. I grew up listening to thrash and stoner metal, and they’ve put out some of my favorite songs in those genres. I could understand if the music was shit, and was produced in volume only to make more money, but that isn’t the case. They shelved an album for 5 years until they felt it was right. I really appreciate their output honestly, I don’t need 5 albums a year but like, wow. Compare that to being a tool fan, I had to wait 12 years for the last album to come out.

As for feeling that you shouldn’t have to see people talk about them so much…..keep scrolling? They’re talked about because their great, and they seem to have a lot of fun making and playing music.

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peter__pooptits t1_j750vmq wrote

So the only time i have ever heard of this band is people talking about it on reddit. They sound pretty cool though . without having ever actually heard any of their music, it sounds like the way people talk about ween or primus. Like is this guy doin the "primus sucks" type of shit? I feel like i gotta hear it now...... Where are they from? I feel like i would have heard it before?

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thisizusername t1_j75dk1o wrote

Look, having nuclear my uncle was a great professor and scientist and engineer, Dr. John Trump at MIT; good genes, very good genes, OK, very smart, the Wharton School of Finance, very good, very smart you know, if you’re a conservative Republican, if I were a liberal, if, like, OK, if I ran as a liberal Democrat, they would say I'm one of the smartest people anywhere in the world it’s true! but when you're a conservative Republican they try oh, do they do a number that’s why I always start off: Went to Wharton, was a good student, went there, went there, did this, built a fortune you know I have to give my like credentials all the time, because we’re a little disadvantaged but you look at the nuclear deal, the thing that really bothers me it would have been so easy, and it’s not as important as these lives are nuclear is so powerful; my uncle explained that to me many, many years ago, the power and that was 35 years ago; he would explain the power of what's going to happen and he was right, who would have thought? but when you look at what's going on with the four prisoners now it used to be three, now it’s four but when it was three and even now, I would have said it's all in the messenger; fellas, and it is fellas because, you know, they don't, they haven’t figured that the women are smarter right now than the men, so, you know, it’s gonna take them about another 150 years but the Persians are great negotiators, the Iranians are great negotiators, so, and they, they just killed, they just killed us, this is horrible.

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TheBuddhole t1_j73h6mq wrote

The musically illiterate gotta start somewhere

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arseinmymouth OP t1_j73hdg8 wrote

That’s completely fair, my main problem is they don’t lurk and learn they just want to jump right into the conversation not having done the required level of listening

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TheBuddhole t1_j73jnvp wrote

I get that, but with Gizz it can be hard because their catalogue is so dense ya know? I definitely think that people like to jump to bold claims because it's easy and feels validating to one's identity, I'm certainly guilty of that. I've made many bold claims about the band in question myself. I think it's hard to contain a passion for Gizz because they can introduce you to genres in a way that's more approachable and they're doing things on their terms. It's very inspiring. But I understand how, if that doesn't resonate with you, it could be aggravating to hear about them constantly

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kurtpropan666 t1_j75j19w wrote

You know what, I absolutely agree with you and I’m glad someone else feels the same way. People try to defend the “it’s not quantity over quality” argument but it never holds up, they put out way too much music and the songwriting is very mediocre. I always say if fans are craving and needing new stuff every year then it’s kind of obvious they aren’t making impactful stuff. I’ve tried getting into them many times but I couldn’t name a song if I heard it if I tried, zero hooks or catchy melodys, the guitar parts sound the same most of the time and like you said they do shallow takes of different genres. I think they’re fun and I’m glad they’re successful, but they’re way too hyped up for a band that sounds like the average Bandcamp college band. They’re essentially a jam band, and that’s not my thing so maybe that’s it and they are great in that regard.. but idk, I’m more into great lasting songwriting and stuff that’s been worked on detail to detail for awhile and feels like passion went into it instead of just a throwing shit together real quick.

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arseinmymouth OP t1_j762sbl wrote

Yea man we’re definitely on the same page. I get that I ruffled some feathers but even the people disagreeing are hardly willing to confront any points I’m raising. They’ve become this catchall band you can’t escape from, I seen them bombarded in so many music subs.

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snowdogisvictorious t1_j746uke wrote

Nah gizz reigns supreme they’re the best band out there, so original, so prolific

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arseinmymouth OP t1_j73h971 wrote

This post really brought out reddits best and brightest. Par for the course for king gizzard fans get back to me when they get a lead singer who doesn’t look and sound like his mom was sipping a 40 the whole term of her pregnancy

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amorningofsleep t1_j73kw0p wrote

> Par for the course for king gizzard fans

See, here's your issue. You're assuming that the people in here are fans of them and not people just laughing at some kid getting fussy over a band they don't like.

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DevinBelow t1_j73htqj wrote

That's pretty funny coming from a Queens of the Stone Age fan.

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arseinmymouth OP t1_j73iaqo wrote

Alright so let’s have it buddy. Point me to any seminal albums from king gizzard please? Any songs that have lasted and will continue to endure in many peoples consciousness? I could cut off three of Josh hommes fingers and he’d still come up with better riffs than them… do you really want me to compare Voices🤣🤣 dude king gizzard doesn’t hold a candle to any of his bands let alone qotsa

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DevinBelow t1_j73j6kk wrote

I'm not defending King Gizz. I'm just saying the band you are obsessed with is awful, so why would anyone care aobut what you have to say about the bands they like?

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arseinmymouth OP t1_j73jqet wrote

Pretty apparent they are influenced by qotsa as essentially any band doing hard rock alt whatever or anything adjacent to that in modern times are. You don’t have to like them, but you’re showing your ass and proving my point about lacking historical contexts and just being musically illiterate.

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DevinBelow t1_j73kcsb wrote

You're insane if you honestly think any band playing hard rock alternative music is influenced by QOTSA. You need to get out of your little bubble and learn more about music.

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arseinmymouth OP t1_j73kwwn wrote

Hahaha there’s an entire ecosystem of bands that ape qotsa. Dude talking about bubbles get the fat outta your ears and try listening. https://www.abc.net.au/triplej/news/queens-of-the-stone-age:-greatest-rock-band-alive/8734806 took me all of one minute to discover your saviors are fans wow

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DevinBelow t1_j73l5wm wrote

You're a moron, but at least you picked a perfect username. I will give you that.

I just said "I'm not a big King Gizz fan" (though they are 1000x better than QOTSA), but for some reason they are my "saviors". Grow up kid. You can just not like bands. It's fine. I don't go starting threads about how bad QOTSA is. I just don't listen to them. That's what adults do. Listen to what you like and don't pay attention to stuff you don't. You'll get it one day.

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arseinmymouth OP t1_j73lmtv wrote

The two biggest bands in rock music arctic monkeys and tame impala are admitted huge fans and also admittedly takes huge influence from queens. Just by that their influence would continue to be diffused through others. The first couple sentences say I don’t think they are bad, so you’re not just musically illiterate you’re actually unable to read??

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gangmasterfader t1_j73sd3j wrote

> The two biggest bands in rock music arctic monkeys and tame impala

L O fucking L

While we're on the topic of overrated, Josh Homme is possibly the poster child.

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kurtpropan666 t1_j75jw6o wrote

You’re right on the fact that most big movers in alt rock today are influenced by QOTSA, including King Gizzard. These people are on drugs if they think fast food psych rock band King Gizzard is a better band. the way people are going mental for this band is honestly fascinating to me. They’re the new Tool.

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