theliverevolution
New member
To finally silence (or at least on SOFT) the never-ending-invalid-reason debate about whether Paramore sucks or rocks, I finally decided to dig through my music archive and re-listen to the CD. I haven't listened to it much ever since Paramore became too mainstream on the radio, but some stuff haven't changed
There's no denying that Paramore became a band that people should looked at after they released All We Know Is Falling in 2005. Hayley Williams had a powerful voice that somehow managed to turn heads, and this came from a then 16 year old girl. All We Know Is Falling may not have been THE album that would sell, but it was successful in its own way.
Okay, enough small talk. Back to reviewing RIOT!
RIOT!, as the name suggests, is really a riot. I had a hard time understanding the style that Paramore was trying to fruitlessly drag into. Were they alternate, pop, punk, etc. Ultimately its like they couldn't decide which genre to stick to and mash everything together, somehow producing RIOT!, which is a riot of genres that somehow has become successful on mainstream radio.
Something I can't understand.
The CD begins with somewhat punkish-sounding songs like For A Pessimist, I'm Pretty Optimistic (which further irks me as the title is quite a mouthful) and That's What You Get, and Misery Business. Wait, Crushcrushcrush also would be one. Some fine songs that stick to the Alternative genre is Hallelujah, and maybe Let The Flames Begin, and perhaps Miracle will also be good. Those were fresh, didn't feel like it was trying to burst out of the CD and relatively enjoyable to listen once you get past all the other songs that come in between. Then there's the pop-pish movement with songs like When It Rains, Fences (oh arguably the worst track in the whole CD) and We Are Broken, finally ending off with Born For This, another punkish-sounding song.
Don't get me wrong there's nothing wrong with how the songs sound like. The "Punkish" part of RIOT! can really stir up a riot, with its songs bursting out and attempting to become really hit songs, which works pretty well for all save for Born For This, which is a crying shame cause that is one of my favourite tracks that I'll listen to and dist Misery Business any day.
Which, then, lies the problem.
Paramore is probably much better of as a Punk band than that of an Alternate band. Look at all their hit singles. Crushcrushcrush (another song whose title I dislike cause its YET again another freaking mouthful! Why can't bands stick to simple titles?), Misery Business, That's What You Get were all hit singles and all of them had punk influences in them. The titles of the album and songs caused me to mistake them as a punk band until I searched Wikipedia to find that they were an Alternate Band. Wait, some twat just changed the Wiki to state they're pop-punk. Fine, that's a much more accurate assessment of them.
But the whole CD feels like a mess. The arrangement of the songs feels extremely awkward, as one moment it can be one style and it jumps into another style that will completely catch you off guard and thus causing you to either love it or hate it within seconds. The ever shifting change of genres will also be one factor that causes you to either love it or hate it.
Or maybe if its not the songs that will make you love it, maybe the singer will. I've seen and heard plenty of people all loving Paramore mainly because they think Hayley Williams is hot. Fine, people are entitled to their own opinions, but loving the band because of the singer is one thing that I can never understand. Either the guys have their hormones working overtime or their completely deaf and use their eyes to listen to the music, which probably mean why they love it so much as much as I hate it. Replace Hayley with someone like, I don't know, let's say Michael Jackson and people will completely turned off by it.
RIOT! is an album that will really make you juggle whether you should really spend $20 on it. On one hand if you love it you can pick it up and love it but if not you're probably better off downloading the album.
All right all right, I admit. RIOT! is fun to listen to an album.
The ever changing-genre-style of music writing sounds fresh all the time. I didn't get bored of the CD the first time I listened to it, listening it from beginning till the end, which is quite a miracle that I didn't skip any tracks either. If you're listening to it for the first time you'll never be able to anticipate what you're going to listen to next. It's fun to listen to and one that will make younger teenagers jump around the room and pretend they can air guitar or sing, but perhaps the older listeners whi grow up on songs like Guns N' Roses or perhaps A7X and Led Zepplin will find that Paramore really lacks the rock factor.
Well, since Paramore's target audience is young teenyboppers I don't see what's the problem
All in all, while I wouldn't exactly reconmend picking up RIOT! as a CD that you have to put into your collection it is a good consideration if you've got nothing else to buy and you really want to buy a CD. Of course, if you already got it and thinking of getting rid of it I'll suggest you mount it like a cymbal and smash it.
It makes a really nice sound
There's no denying that Paramore became a band that people should looked at after they released All We Know Is Falling in 2005. Hayley Williams had a powerful voice that somehow managed to turn heads, and this came from a then 16 year old girl. All We Know Is Falling may not have been THE album that would sell, but it was successful in its own way.
Okay, enough small talk. Back to reviewing RIOT!
RIOT!, as the name suggests, is really a riot. I had a hard time understanding the style that Paramore was trying to fruitlessly drag into. Were they alternate, pop, punk, etc. Ultimately its like they couldn't decide which genre to stick to and mash everything together, somehow producing RIOT!, which is a riot of genres that somehow has become successful on mainstream radio.
Something I can't understand.
The CD begins with somewhat punkish-sounding songs like For A Pessimist, I'm Pretty Optimistic (which further irks me as the title is quite a mouthful) and That's What You Get, and Misery Business. Wait, Crushcrushcrush also would be one. Some fine songs that stick to the Alternative genre is Hallelujah, and maybe Let The Flames Begin, and perhaps Miracle will also be good. Those were fresh, didn't feel like it was trying to burst out of the CD and relatively enjoyable to listen once you get past all the other songs that come in between. Then there's the pop-pish movement with songs like When It Rains, Fences (oh arguably the worst track in the whole CD) and We Are Broken, finally ending off with Born For This, another punkish-sounding song.
Don't get me wrong there's nothing wrong with how the songs sound like. The "Punkish" part of RIOT! can really stir up a riot, with its songs bursting out and attempting to become really hit songs, which works pretty well for all save for Born For This, which is a crying shame cause that is one of my favourite tracks that I'll listen to and dist Misery Business any day.
Which, then, lies the problem.
Paramore is probably much better of as a Punk band than that of an Alternate band. Look at all their hit singles. Crushcrushcrush (another song whose title I dislike cause its YET again another freaking mouthful! Why can't bands stick to simple titles?), Misery Business, That's What You Get were all hit singles and all of them had punk influences in them. The titles of the album and songs caused me to mistake them as a punk band until I searched Wikipedia to find that they were an Alternate Band. Wait, some twat just changed the Wiki to state they're pop-punk. Fine, that's a much more accurate assessment of them.
But the whole CD feels like a mess. The arrangement of the songs feels extremely awkward, as one moment it can be one style and it jumps into another style that will completely catch you off guard and thus causing you to either love it or hate it within seconds. The ever shifting change of genres will also be one factor that causes you to either love it or hate it.
Or maybe if its not the songs that will make you love it, maybe the singer will. I've seen and heard plenty of people all loving Paramore mainly because they think Hayley Williams is hot. Fine, people are entitled to their own opinions, but loving the band because of the singer is one thing that I can never understand. Either the guys have their hormones working overtime or their completely deaf and use their eyes to listen to the music, which probably mean why they love it so much as much as I hate it. Replace Hayley with someone like, I don't know, let's say Michael Jackson and people will completely turned off by it.
RIOT! is an album that will really make you juggle whether you should really spend $20 on it. On one hand if you love it you can pick it up and love it but if not you're probably better off downloading the album.
All right all right, I admit. RIOT! is fun to listen to an album.
The ever changing-genre-style of music writing sounds fresh all the time. I didn't get bored of the CD the first time I listened to it, listening it from beginning till the end, which is quite a miracle that I didn't skip any tracks either. If you're listening to it for the first time you'll never be able to anticipate what you're going to listen to next. It's fun to listen to and one that will make younger teenagers jump around the room and pretend they can air guitar or sing, but perhaps the older listeners whi grow up on songs like Guns N' Roses or perhaps A7X and Led Zepplin will find that Paramore really lacks the rock factor.
Well, since Paramore's target audience is young teenyboppers I don't see what's the problem
All in all, while I wouldn't exactly reconmend picking up RIOT! as a CD that you have to put into your collection it is a good consideration if you've got nothing else to buy and you really want to buy a CD. Of course, if you already got it and thinking of getting rid of it I'll suggest you mount it like a cymbal and smash it.
It makes a really nice sound
