#467

My feeling is that when RATM first came onto the scene loads of teenagers were listening to them.

When Idles first came onto the scene it was mostly people in their late 20s and 30s listening to them.

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#468

Jesus, really? assumed it was just peckers. Thought that demographic would be more sleaford mods

#469

It’s more than that though innit, it’s the repeated mantra-esque lines throughout the song, like just five lines repeated throughout perhaps with a slight variation here and there, usually about some empty political or social justice subject.

What’s funny is I didn’t even mean this as an insult, yet everyone else has taken it as offensive anyway because it’s fun to shit on the current band doing basically the same thing as the one from your childhood

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#470

Sure but their audience has gotten younger over the last year or so I’ve noticed

I’d imagine Rage while yes has a youthful contingent (the music literally speaks to it) at the time I’d have thought there would be a similar range

#471

Cuz they came up through Radio 6 innit

#472

ahhhh i see. wasn’t aware of that. makes sense

#473

Get the comparison with lyrical content / message etc but musically Idles are nothing like as inventive as RATM were at the time. You might not like what RATM invented, but the two bands are worlds apart in that respect

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#474

Oh of course I respect that groove-orientented rap-metal is very different to a more straight up punk influenced indie rock, but they have the same energy is what I mean

#475

RATM fanbase was all teenagers at the time. ZDLR was barely out of his teens when he joined (and had been in a few hardcore bands before that when he was a teenager). They were a young band and had a young fanbase when they started (fanbase obviously expanded when they got ludicrously massive)

#476

Also as a result of those two different genres “inventiveness” is difficult to measure because Idles have carved out their own sound that is quite distinctly them, even if it is not as obviously “new” as what Rage did

#477

Sure, but by the time of the self titled they are on Epic records and already a massive deal

#478

Love starting my day with a nice (vegan) beefy breakfast by the way

#479

I saw them on their first UK tour for the self titled (wasn’t a huge fan at all, but some pals were going) and the venue was wall to wall teenagers. Saw them at some festival a couple of years after and was noticeable how much older their crowd was

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#480

Yeah dunno. Appreciate what they do seems pretty old hat now, but RATM sounded pretty ‘new’ (for want of a better word) at the time. Honestly don’t think what Idles do breaks a lot of new ground musically, but then I’ve hardly listened to them so may not be giving them enough credit

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#481

Think the main difference for me is that it felt like the anger of RATM was viscerally thrilling and seemed to speak for a huge proportion of those disenfranchised with the establishment, whereas I don’t get the impression that the anger of Idles resonates with anywhere near as many people today, I think many more people find them a bit cringey. But I am pushing 40 so it’s fair to say I can’t speak for today’s youth.

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#482

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#483

Rage just took the best bits of Living Colour, Faith No More and Public Enemy and managed to be less embarrassing than Red Hot Chili Peppers not any more or less new than what Idles are doing really :man_shrugging:

#484

Nah there’s a huge amount of people who feel that with Idles, whether it’s misconceived and people will grow out of it remains to be seen, but there’s a whole massive Facebook group about exactly this. While I do concede the slightly belligerent response earlier probably is right, RATM will very much stand the test of time longer than Idles ever will, at this current moment in time they represent that same kind of disenfranchised voice, the reason it’s cringey to us is because you’re replacing the very real and violent pressure cooker of the LA Riots in '92 with Brexit :wink:

#485

This makes them sound quite a bit better than they actually were! (not a dig - I like RATM). Was a fair amount of NY metallic hardcore elements as well I think, but the fact that they took all of this and made a totally distinctive sound out of it makes them more inventive than Idles no? Like I say though not that familiar with Idles so happy to be corrected

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#486

Yeah I left out Anthrax but I guess them too, by NYC do you mean like Biohazard?

Regardless I don’t really see the point in arguing something being “more” inventive than the other thing, unless it’s completely laughably derivative. Idles won’t ever have the same impact as Rage for sure, which is largely down to timing, or the fact Idles can only exist on the level they do thanks to bands like Rage in the first place, but whether you like it or not, Idles have carved out a sound for themselves which is uniquely them, which is effectively the same thing any half decent band should do

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