As far as albums with repetitive choruses, why does Seventh Son get a break?
- Thread starter Travis The Dragon
- Start date
The Mid-Distance Runner
Educated Fool
This ridiculous argument against repetitive choruses suggests Happy Birthday, We Wish You A Merry Christmas and She'll Be Comin' Round The Mountain When She Comes are all terrible songs. But all have stood the test of time and are loved by millions and millions of people across the globe. Mark my words it will be the same for Speed of Light.
Collin
Chasing Ponce De Leon's Phantoms
^This
I've never had a problem with repeated choruses, except for those two. I think certain people are using it as an excuse to hate on reunion era songs. Travis brings up a good point. Those who dislike the reunion era are pretty vocal about their hatred for the choruses of TFF, The Wicker Man, No More Lies and many others. But where is the criticism for Fear of the Dark? Seventh Son? Evil That Men Do? Caught Somewhere in Time? There isn't any..
Repetitive choruses were only bad on two songs. That's it.
Donner
Ancient Mariner
Well, I love the reunion era but the repetitive choruses still kind of grate on me. For me, and this is kind of a case by case gut feeling basis, I only mind them in cases where they appear to be padding the song without really adding anything. Take Blood Brothers for example - it's super simple but I just feel like it's done too much. It doesn't make me hate the song or anything, it's more of 'it would have been better had they repeated it twice instead of 4 times' kind of thing.
Mountil
Captain Charisma
I don't complain about the chorus of Fear of the Dark, Seventh Son, or Caught Somewhere in Time, because I don't like any of those songs to begin with. The choruses having nothing to do with the reasons I dislike them.
I've often used No More Lies, and the longest Day as examples, because for me they could have both been Top 10 songs, had it not been for the chorus.
I became a fan in 2004, and actually prefer all four of the post-reunion albums to any of their classic albums. I think because of my deep love for these albums, I'm passionate, and sometimes scream, "It could have been perfect!"
And to clarify, Brave New World is my second favourite Maiden song, and is my favourite Maiden album. Despite my occasional bitching about the repetition. I love writing, as you can tell by my long post, and it's the perfect album to listen to while at desk, typing away at something.
I think you are right, I think some people use it as a way to bash modern Maiden, I also think for some people, it's a legitimate reason for not being able to enjoy modern Maiden, and I think I gave two pretty good examples for why those feelings can be valid, when it might appear as hypocrisy, or rather a leniency towards the classic era repetition, in my previous post.
At least that is how I interpret 90% of the complaints, sure there is always that one asshat who just likes to bitch, and sure, the repetition of these complaints is almost ironic, and very much tiring, but for whatever reason, I continue to contribute to them..
Dr. Eddies Wingman
Brighter than thousand_suns
My two cents (no, let's make it twenty, because this will be a long post):
First off. I don't think repetitive or repeated choruses is a problem in Maiden's music in general. I enjoy most of the songs discussed in this thread. There are a few where the repetitiveness takes away from my enjoyment, and I'll come to that later in my post.
A repeated chorus is not the same as a repetitive chorus (but a chorus that is repeated more than usually makes the song repetitive - again this can b). Some Maiden choruses are repetitive lyrics-wise and varied music-wise, a few are repetitive in both respects, but many of these are still good. Repeating the same lyrics over changing chords makes for a good singalong, helping the band creating a good live experience with the crowd. Let's look at some examples, including some songs mentioned in the thread already:
The Evil That Men Do: The chorus consists of the same lyric line repeated four times. The first and third line share the same vocal melody, as do the second and fourth. The drumming varies throughout, which means the chorus doesn't sound repetitive music-wise. When it's done this way, it doesn't matter that the chorus is simple lyrics-wise. Moreover, this type of chorus (the same line repeated four times, with changing chords and/or changing rhythm section) is quite common in Maiden songs. I can mention SSOASS the song, Caught Somewhere in Time, The Clansman, and many songs from the post-2000 era, for example The Wicher Man, Blood Brothers, No More Lies, and Brighter Than a Thousand Suns. All of these are songs I enjoy a lot.
Now let's take a look at the few songs where I personally find the repetitiveness a problem - a reason in itself for not rating the songs highly:
The Angel and the Gambler: This song has a chorus where there is little repetition within the chorus, but the chorus is sung 22 times! Even with the variation in intensity and rhythm guitar chords, this becomes too much for many people.
The Mercenary: This song doesn't really feel like it has a defined chorus. The line Show them no fear, show them no pain is repeated many times, but in this song there is very little variation in the rhythm guitar/bass/drums underneath the line. It is the same throughout, except for the last two times the line is repeated in the song (out of something like 20, feel free to listen and come back with the exact number).
Don't Look To The Eyes of a Stranger: Like The Mercenary, it doesn't feel like it has a defined chorus. How many repetitions of the title should be counted as one chorus? One round of "Don't look to, don't look to, don't look to the eyes of a stranger"? It feels like the repetition of that line will never end, and once it does, it goes on to a very generic melody with drumming that must be the reason why somebody jokingly stated that it was Steve Harris who did drums on VXI.
One final point: I can't come up with any other examples than the final three songs I mention, where a defined chorus is sung more than twice in a row. Or - there is one more, Stranger in a Strange Land where the chorus is repeated multiple times during the fadeout. But in this song it has a guitar outro solo underneath. And singing the chorus twice after the last verse is a very common thing in music across genres.
To close this post: I don't think repetitive choruses is a problem in Maiden's music in general. The examples where it takes away from my enjoyment of the song are few. In most cases it just makes for a good singalong.
First off. I don't think repetitive or repeated choruses is a problem in Maiden's music in general. I enjoy most of the songs discussed in this thread. There are a few where the repetitiveness takes away from my enjoyment, and I'll come to that later in my post.
A repeated chorus is not the same as a repetitive chorus (but a chorus that is repeated more than usually makes the song repetitive - again this can b). Some Maiden choruses are repetitive lyrics-wise and varied music-wise, a few are repetitive in both respects, but many of these are still good. Repeating the same lyrics over changing chords makes for a good singalong, helping the band creating a good live experience with the crowd. Let's look at some examples, including some songs mentioned in the thread already:
The Evil That Men Do: The chorus consists of the same lyric line repeated four times. The first and third line share the same vocal melody, as do the second and fourth. The drumming varies throughout, which means the chorus doesn't sound repetitive music-wise. When it's done this way, it doesn't matter that the chorus is simple lyrics-wise. Moreover, this type of chorus (the same line repeated four times, with changing chords and/or changing rhythm section) is quite common in Maiden songs. I can mention SSOASS the song, Caught Somewhere in Time, The Clansman, and many songs from the post-2000 era, for example The Wicher Man, Blood Brothers, No More Lies, and Brighter Than a Thousand Suns. All of these are songs I enjoy a lot.
Now let's take a look at the few songs where I personally find the repetitiveness a problem - a reason in itself for not rating the songs highly:
The Angel and the Gambler: This song has a chorus where there is little repetition within the chorus, but the chorus is sung 22 times! Even with the variation in intensity and rhythm guitar chords, this becomes too much for many people.
The Mercenary: This song doesn't really feel like it has a defined chorus. The line Show them no fear, show them no pain is repeated many times, but in this song there is very little variation in the rhythm guitar/bass/drums underneath the line. It is the same throughout, except for the last two times the line is repeated in the song (out of something like 20, feel free to listen and come back with the exact number).
Don't Look To The Eyes of a Stranger: Like The Mercenary, it doesn't feel like it has a defined chorus. How many repetitions of the title should be counted as one chorus? One round of "Don't look to, don't look to, don't look to the eyes of a stranger"? It feels like the repetition of that line will never end, and once it does, it goes on to a very generic melody with drumming that must be the reason why somebody jokingly stated that it was Steve Harris who did drums on VXI.
One final point: I can't come up with any other examples than the final three songs I mention, where a defined chorus is sung more than twice in a row. Or - there is one more, Stranger in a Strange Land where the chorus is repeated multiple times during the fadeout. But in this song it has a guitar outro solo underneath. And singing the chorus twice after the last verse is a very common thing in music across genres.
To close this post: I don't think repetitive choruses is a problem in Maiden's music in general. The examples where it takes away from my enjoyment of the song are few. In most cases it just makes for a good singalong.
Gk1
Here I sit in a serenade of glory!
I never really knew choruses can get annoying until I got a hold of VXI. It was a shock similar to when I realised an album production can be really bad when I purchased TXF. I could also not avoid hearing hiw bad and repetitive some of the choruses in BNW were. Some things don't really need a technical analysis, they either disturb you or they don't. Having said that in some of the late Maiden albums and especially AMOLAD and BNW I think some of the choruses are just bad,annoying and they really bring the song quality down.
NotePad
Nomad
I can't get over the fact they would make a concept album around such a shitty novel like Orson Scott Card's Seventh Son.
And I think people are overreacting to the repeated chorus thing. It's never bothered me and I never really thought about it until I started coming to places like this forum and such. I understand what they're going for when they do it. I usually love the emotional effect it has on the songs.
And I think people are overreacting to the repeated chorus thing. It's never bothered me and I never really thought about it until I started coming to places like this forum and such. I understand what they're going for when they do it. I usually love the emotional effect it has on the songs.
Meliegree
Evening The Odds.
Ok, maybe I explained why I hate repeated chorus thingy. I don't hate it beacuse it's repeated. I'm ok with that. But if it's overused in song - that's annoying.
Ok, lets make chorus like:
your time will come
your time will come
your time will come
It's fine. But repeat it five more times and then its boring.
Ok, lets make chorus like:
your time will come
your time will come
your time will come
It's fine. But repeat it five more times and then its boring.
It's a chorus. It's supposed to be repeated.
Dr. Eddies Wingman
Brighter than thousand_suns
The chorus of The Wicker Man isn't repeated 10 times. It's sung a total of four times.
Gk1
Here I sit in a serenade of glory!
More like 4 +4 + 8
Dr. Eddies Wingman
Brighter than thousand_suns
No. The chorus doesn't consist of one line. You're right that the line is sung 16 times, but would you call the first "Your time will come", just one time, a chorus?
. I really hate it man,really
Travis The Dragon
AFTERGLOW!!!
I was hoping more people on here would have addressed Seventh Son specifically along with the things I brought up in my original post, but what you say here explains things pretty good.