Thursday, August 18, 2005

So bad it's good? Or maybe not

It's so bad it's good. Well, that's a phrase that's almost exclusively used to describe movies. It's normally a tag that's attached to B horror and sci-fi movies mainly from the 50's and 60's, but it can certainly apply to some films after that time period as well. Films like Plan 9 from outer space, Robot Monster and the Astounding she-demon are just a few of the albums that some people stuck that phrase to. So what does something have to do to earn this distinction. So first a movie would have to be bad in some way or many ways. This can be done by poor acting, lack of coherent script, low budget or a combination of all of these plus some other weaknesses thrown in. So now comes the second and more difficult part, how does a bad film elevate to the level of so bad it's good? Well, there are several views on this, but mine is that it has to be entertaining in some way. This most popular way is that it's just funny to watch how inept the over the top performances or rubber monsters. Sometimes you just might have a little respect for an actor who is steadfast and sticks it out despite the fact that they know that they are in a turkey of grand proportions.
Okay, so you are probably thinking "You have just spent a large paragraph rambling on about this gunk, but what does it have to do with music?" My thought was, if movies can earn this label then is it possible for albums to be classified this way as well? Can a band be weak in some way or ways, but still be entertaining? I guess that depends on the listener, but I think it can happen to some extent. I used to own an album by a band called Madam X and the album was We reserve the right. I believe this is the only album they did. Madam X were formed by sisters Roxy and Maxine Petrucci. Roxy left the band a while after this album and she ended being the drummer in Vixen who had some success between 88 and 90. Sebastian Bach actually sang for this band a few years after this album and before he went on to Skidrow. I bought this on cd not too long ago for a fair price. I hadn't heard it since at least 1989 and only had some memories of it. It wasn't far different than what I remembered, but it just struck me in an odd way. It was overall not very good as in the lyrics were just ridiculous and and they had every silly cliche that has ever been attached to 80's metal/hard rock. The music was competent enough, but nothing spectacular. Yet something about this cd made me listen to it several times in a row. It wasn't good by any stretch yet somehow it was amusing and entertaining enough. Does that mean I am just easily amused or that I enjoy bad music? That wouldn't be the first time I was accused of being both of those things. The Madam X cd started me thinking that maybe a band can be bad on several levels, but be enjoyable due to excelling at other levels. So is it possible? Well, I guess it is largely up to the listener to be the judge of that. Right away I think of my love for Twisted Sister when I was a teenager, mainly just the first three albums. Now right away they were a very basic band as far as any skills go, you only need to listen to the solo on We're not gonna take it to realize that. So they are weak on musical skills yet they seem (at least to me ) to be strong in other areas. Twisted Sister seemed to have a real genuine enthusiasm on their first three albums. It was almost like "We know we can't play or write that well, but we are going to take what we have and go at it with some fire behind us". That fire is what I think sets a band like Twisted Sister apart from a band like Krokus or Quiet Riot who weren't that skilled yet they didn't even that much energy to set them apart.
Like I said it's up to the listener, if you just judge on an entertainment level then perhaps music can be bad and good at the same time. I just can't believe I spent this much time talking about Madam X, Twisted Sister and Plan 9 from Outer Space.

2 Comments:

Blogger bob_vinyl said...

I think the fact that you are easily amused and that you like bad music can also be proved by your love for AC/DC...

9:42 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Xixi, I like Madam X... Does that mean that I have a bad taste in music? No...

3:43 PM  

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