Bright Eyes

[ThePirate]

Conor Oberst is pretty amazing. I haven't done much research on the guy, but his lyrics are amazing. I'm also not quite sure if Bright Eyes is still Emo, after it becoming pretty popular. My Scene friends, as soon as they realized that other's like Conor's music, pretty much never listened to his stuff again. It's sad how that works :(

I think I have all the Bright Eyes albums, but my favorite is probably Digital Ash In A Digital Urn... maybe I'm being a little biased though, it was the first of his albums that I listened to :)

[JW]

I've heard of them, my sister listens to them.

I'll have to listen to some of it sometime

[Chris Suyeda]

Bright Eyes is amazing.

Yeah, it's funny how to mention that once an artist becomes "mainstream" alot of people tend to stop listening to them. I've seen Bright Eyes live once in the past; great performance. Baffled me a little when Conor Oberst stopped in a middle of the song to tell the audience to stop singing along; confused me at the time, but it's kinda funny now.

Great band :)

[IndependentClauses]

People who stop listening to a band because they became famous are like people who raise a baby until it becomes a kid and then disown it because it's a kid and not a baby any more. Didn't you expect that if they were as good as you said, they would become famous? Those type of people boggle me.

I love "I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning" by him- wonderfully emotive album, fun to sing along with, and man he's so good at being an injured acoustic songwriter. Brilliant lyricist, too- never fails. my favorite song is "Road to Joy" or "Old Soul Song".

Man, I haven't listened to him in a while. I'm going to go do that now.

[Allybally]

Hrmm.
I dont think its emo at all.
And I think its stupid how people hate a band as soon as they become mainstream. I can understand not liking a band because they change their genre of music so they can get more veiw of the public eye. I think Bright Eyes is great. None of the songs sound the same.

[IndependentClauses]

Hrmm.
I dont think its emo at all.

agreed!


And I think its stupid how people hate a band as soon as they become mainstream. I can understand not liking a band because they change their genre of music so they can get more veiw of the public eye.

Agree on both counts!

I think Bright Eyes is great. None of the songs sound the same.

and really agree- I love that none of his songs sound exactly like the other. It's so fun to listen to his albums because of it (not that I've listened to any album but I'm Wide Awake It's Morning, but I'm generalizing for effect, lol).

[Cassiolo]

Im confused about what to call Bright Eyes myself. I have sat and listened to two of my friends argue over weather or not Bright Eyes is Emo or Indie.. haha.. soo.. I can't really tell you... but the Indie side of the argument won.

[Janeraffe]

Hrmm.
I dont think its emo at all.


Thats interesting, because I usually think of Bright eyes as being the epitome of emo.

It might just be that it's the most emo of what I listen to though.

[IndependentClauses]

it's the most 'emotional' of what you listen to.

not the most 'emotional hardcore' of what you listen to.

emo does not stand for emotional. emo stands for emotional hardcore.

[Janeraffe]

it's the most 'emotional' of what you listen to.

not the most 'emotional hardcore' of what you listen to.

emo does not stand for emotional. emo stands for emotional hardcore.


hehe, oops.....:o

[IndependentClauses]

it's okay- 90% of the world hasn't learned that yet.

I'm not a stickler on anything but genre labeling- if you're going to box up music into genres, at least put them in the right boxes. I can understand (and enjoy) people who say genres are pointless and that we should "just enjoy", but I also understand that some people like to be on top of everything. Which is where genres come in.

So yeah...don't be offended. just learn and move on. Spread the knowledge to some other friend you know who says bright eyes and death cab and dashboard are emo. then they can spread it, and eventually we'll be able to take back emo as the emotional hardcore that it is.

[JW]

Well, someone actually asked me to sing a song of theres on a different forum I visit, so I guess I'll post it here

Please don't kill me for butchering it :p

http://media.putfile.com/bright-eyes-lua41

[IndependentClauses]

....you need a guitar.

that's all I'm going to say.

[ThePirate]

How exactly is Bright Eyes not emo? Emo does stand for emotional. That's where the word came from. Or did the definition suddenly change or something?

[IndependentClauses]

quick history of the term emo:

early 80's, washington DC. Hardcore bands are getting bored with being angry and screamy and loud all the time. A group of bands starts writing songs that aren't about politics or anger or social themes, but about their emotions. These bands still sound like hardcore, but add in some singing, maybe some not-hardcore guitar parts, maybe both. These bands get the term 'emotional hardcore' and because that's too long, people shorten the catchphrase to "emo". This type of emo goes until about the early nineties, when the bands start becoming more hardcore punk and grunge instead of emo. Emo is only kept on by a few faithful bands.

flash forward to the late nineties. Someone discovers the term emo, and starts tagging it to loud rock bands that sing about emotions (think Thursday). Because Thursday sells so well with the new tag, people start liberally tagging anything remotely emotional and remotely hard with the term 'emo'.

then, dashboard confessional gets famous for nothing but emotional rants over a guitar. because he's soooooo emotional, he gets mist-tagged as emo instead of acoustic singer/songwriter. That's where Bright Eyes gets the wrong tag emo- from Dashboard's example.

Bright Eyes is no more "emo" than Paula Abdul is. He's a very emotional singer/songwriter, for sure, but he's not hardcore.

[blindmelon]

ya totally HxC for life! woot!

[Janeraffe]

So is emotional a genre or is it just a sound type?

[IndependentClauses]

emotional isn't a genre.

Emotional describes music that's about emotions and deals with emotions. Rap songs can be emotional. Punk songs can be emotional. Country songs can be emotional. It just happens when bands decide to write a song based on an emotion they have, instead of writing a song just to play music.

bump

[ThePirate]

I disagree. Hardcore and emo music are very different styles in my book.
If you talk to someone who's hardcore - he would never want to have anything to do with emo.
Think ninja dancing. A term used by scene kids.
Hardcore people call it hardcore dancing, even though it's the exact same thing.

[IndependentClauses]

Right now, Hardcore and nu-wave emo are two very different things. Hardcore kids want nothing to do with the whininess of nu-wave emo kids.

When emo was born, it wasn't for whiny kids. It was for less aggressive hardcore kids. Hardcore has stayed mostly the same, while emo got pansyfied, as anything having to do with emotions tends to do. (see punk devolving to pop-punk, see girls).

just kidding.

[Janeraffe]

When emo was born, it wasn't for whiny kids. It was for less aggressive hardcore kids. Hardcore has stayed mostly the same, while emo got pansyfied, as anything having to do with emotions tends to do. (see punk devolving to pop-punk, see girls).


wow.
just, wow.

[IndependentClauses]

I'll take that as admiration.

[Janeraffe]

I'll take that as admiration.

or not really.

[IndependentClauses]

So bright eyes, on the other hand, has some pretty awesome songs. I definitely am a big fan of "road to joy"....

[Arrowhead_lts]

just started listening to bright eyes this year.
i really like some of their songs.
im wide awake, its morning is probably my favourite bright eyes album.

whats ur guy's?

[IndependentClauses]

The only one I've seriously heard is "I'm Wide Awake", so I'd throw my vote there on the ignorance ballot.

[Arrowhead_lts]

did you guys read chris's news article about bright eyes recording again!?! i cant wait!

[ryanvsrobots]

well the new album is out- "Cassadaga"

it's different, but I can't say it is my favorite BE album.

I do like the collab work he did with Dntel[the guy from the postal service] called "breakfast in bed"

BTW-- Bright Eyes is indie :P

[EmptySilences]

I saw Bright Eyes live only about a month ago.... it was my first concert and possibly one of the best experiences of my short life.

Conor Oberst's lyrics are amazing. I only have digital, cassadaga, lifted, and im wide awake. I want to get the others, i think all of their music is amazing its hard to pick just one favorite.

[artificial001]

Bright Eyes does not have the best vocals, but it's easy to get into after a while.

The best part of Bright Eyes' music, no doubt, is the lyrics. Beautifully written.

[priji]

Song Name -------- Album
Arienette -- Fevers and Mirrors
The Calendar Hung Itself... -- Fevers and Mirrors
The Center of the World -- Fevers and Mirrors
False Advertising---- Lifted or The Story Is in the Soil, Keep Your Ear to the Ground
,
Haligh, Haligh, A Lie, Haligh ----- Fevers and Mirrors
Lover I Don't Have to Love --- Lifted or The Story Is in the Soil, Keep Your Ear to the Ground
Method Acting - - Lifted or The Story Is in the Soil, Keep Your Ear to the Ground