I'm so confused by it. Is it good? Is it bad? What is it?
I love Rob Thomas so much as a person and used to really dig Matchbox Twenty back in the day but I really have no idea what to make of his music now. I was watching VH1's Jump Start music video block this morning and saw his new music video for the single "Someday" and really enjoyed it but just wasn't sure to make of the song itself. Why is it that all of his songs are starting to sound the same? Even if that sound isn't particularly bad it's starting to go viral..
Doesn't Chris Daughtry and David Cook and Nickelback and all the others sound just like this? Granted, I'm not the first to comment on this commercialized corporate rock pattern but with my newfound love of Train it concerns me. Listening to their old hits (of which I'm pretty sure every single track they've ever put out has been), it reads like a list of standard, mundane rock tunes you'd turn to on any lite FM station or "80's, 90's and today" channel. Songs like "Meet Virginia", "Drops of Jupiter", and "Calling All Angels" are genuinely good but they have that monotonous sound of all the others. I am madly in love with the lyrics to some of these songs but they lack some oomph for the most part. "Hey Soul Sister" is obviously very different but is that just because of the distinct drums perhaps? I'm not sure.
Songwriters like Rob Thomas and Train's Pat Monahan are respectable because of their impressive writing skills.. maybe Monahan for his vocals but I don't think many people are particularly enthused to admit that they are gigantic Train or Matchbox Twenty fans - it's frankly a little embarrassing and I hate when that happens in music. These songs are certainly crafted in a specific way that took a lot of people a long time but it's just a shame that they almost completely lack any cool factor. They are mom rock at best and uncool blandness at worst - but the worst part is that there are talented guys behind this kind of music. Why do they insist on creating fluff on a lower level than Britney Spears? (which reminds me that Pink is also an impressive artist that doesn't get enough credit for her ACTUAL talent: writing)
Bottom line: I want to like Rob Thomas and Train but they make it too hard to even try.
