DUEL! 2002 — Round 1 Match 5
Pete introduces today’s Duel! –
‘One down, three to go is a cry often heard when the Manic Street Preachers are discussed. Beating themselves further and further into AOR irrelevancy – and hopefully booking themselves for a month at Fat Club – they surely must be rated as one of the worst bands in the world. Their lyrics have never scanned, their tunes have never been good. This is the band that wanted to be as big as Guns’n’Roses in 1992. If that doesn’t say it all, the fact that they failed surely should.
That said, the Manics must be thanking their lucky stars the day they got pulled out of a bobble hat with the Gorillaz. The other bobble hat connection would of course be that this motley selection of Badly Drawn Boys and racial stereotypes have had the audacity to have hits. I can only assume that whoever introduced the Melodica to Damon Albarn has hung himself. Ditto with the primary school teacher who gave Jamie Hewlett a crayon (though his style has not progessed much since these days). Bad? This loosely slung set of dub influenced shitpop is so bad that all of their hits have been quite radical remixes of the original.
Yesterday’s Result: MUSE — 60% : Slipknot — 40%
A bad day for ‘the most amazing guitarist/showman live since Hendrix’ as his band are judged worse than the much-derided Slipknot. The Shape. The Clown et al depart in peace — Muse plug themselves in to Round 2. Your comments?
‘muse’s only offense is the music, it’s actually a chore to look at slipknot.’
‘I’ve never actually heard Slipknot so I’m voting Muse. There was a great Dave Q thread where he claimed they were the best band in the world and sounded like the Boredoms. Thst probably isn’t true. I like the costumes though.’
‘I’ve never heard Muse, but there’s a guy in Slipknot dressed as an evil clown. Evil clowns can never suck.’
‘If if were 14 I would love Slipknot. Never at any age, could I even like Muse. End of story. Case closed. Slipknot you are free to go.’
‘nine. N.I.N.E. NINE! NINE!!!!. You can’t beat nine.’
‘Not having heard of Muse the evil clown almost saved Slipknot from moving on in my mind, but wtf they loose for being a sanitized version of Bozo Porno Circus. Clown be dammed.’
‘I used to hate Muse because their singer has stupid hair, but then I heard some of their music and it was kind of alright. Slipknot, on the other hand, look completely awesome, but when you actually listen to their music it is lame sports metal rather than the kind of gruntcore their image suggests. So for being all mask and no mausers Slipknot get my vote.’
‘Pah. Damn you snobs! If Radiohead had put out “Plug In Baby” all the whipped-up wankshafts who hate Muse would be raving and drooling like 13-year old lobotomised Slipknot fans.’
‘”Anonymous,” if Radiohead had put out “Plug In Baby,” I would have made it my mission to personally kick all of their asses.’
‘Not only are slipknot really amusing but they are the best way to blag your way into a gig – just pretend you are The Shape without the mask on. If you tried to blag into gig as a member of Muse any bouncer worth his salt would beat the tedium out of you.’
‘at least slipknow has :
a) a little bit of humor
b) the decency of not showing their faces (beat THAT, mr durst!)’
‘will anyone vote for slipknott? They are funny and completely innoffensive to me, Muse however? More awful than drinking sick.’
‘Muse come from near me, though – and that Daft Punk-meets-Only Ones single they did was OK. Slipknot are just dull, even in silly masks.’
‘From an email argument last year:
SJ:”I saw Muse last night and they were incredible. Whether you
like them or not, you can’t say that Matt Bellamy isn’t the most amazing
guitarist/showman live since Hendrix.”
DG:”Yes I can, I sat through an entire set at Reading 2000 and they bored my arse off. I have trouble sitting down now.” ‘