Hello everyone,
I'm feeling a little awkward here. It's like even though there's a huge "Welcome" sign outside, I'm still peeking in to see if it's really ok. And everyone's looking at me to see if I'm going to do anything weird.
Well, I'm probably not going to do anything weird. I'm pretty normal. I am old, however. Old as in seeing the Beatles on Ed Sullivan. They were the first band I developed a strong emotional attachment to. Scandal, it is safe to say, is the second. In between there have been other bands I've listened to, of course, but there seems to be something uniquely appealing about Scandal.
From what I've read so far in this forum, there are a lot of musicians here. I am a former musician as well, and I therefore consider myself pretty good a spotting a good song. For me, that usually eliminates anything that hits the top 40 pop charts, and by saying that, positions me as more of a music snob than anything else, so I'll temper that statement by adding that I understand songs are in the top 40 because people like them, and it would be shortsighted of me to judge the taste of people I don't know.
Still, I think Scandal has a fantastic backlog, and continues to produce really good music, the kind I like. I like harmony, especially women singing harmony. I like what used to be called "power pop", which is a pop song with angry guitars. I like versatility. Scandal checks all those boxes.
I also like how effective they are at connecting with their audience. I've seen the "Beginning of Scandal" video, the one with the footage of the 2008 tour, and how they realized that while they couldn't become better players in a week, they could become better at communicating the joy of playing music at any level of accomplishment, and at sharing that joy with the audience. This is something they have continued to do, and it still works. There seems to be a feedback loop between them and the audience, where one has fun knowing the other one is having fun too, and the energy just feeds on itself.
Of course I should also mention that the members of Scandal are nice to look at. I don't mean like stare and drool or anything, but gosh, are they just the cutest things on wheels or what?
I've noticed that none of the above does much to introduce me, so please allow me to add some more information. I'm retired and live in Seattle. Other bands I have liked (but not loved) in the past are the Smithereens, Rockpile, the Bangles (before it became "the short one and her backing band"), Squeeze, and a few bands similar to those. I know those are all old bands, but I can't help it.
My name on this site, "hogradish" is just a silly made-up name. Kinda like horseradish only with a different animal. The full silly name is Deiter Hogradish, and yes I spelled "Dieter" wrong, but did so because if I spelled it correctly, people might think I was on a diet, which I am not. You will find that full name used on YouTube posts. On Facebook, you will find I am "Joan Lowe". Ever concerned with security, I again used a fake name. It's a combination of my first name, Joe, and Nick Lowe's last name. Joe 'n' Lowe. Joan Lowe. If you are a fan of Scandal and also a cyber-criminal, please ignore this paragraph.
Thank you very much for providing so much information about Scandal. I really appreciate it. In Japanese there is a phrase that is sometimes translated as "Please take care of me" or "Thank you in advance". Please take care of me, thank you in advance. My first live show will be this fall in London. Perhaps we'll meet!
I'm feeling a little awkward here. It's like even though there's a huge "Welcome" sign outside, I'm still peeking in to see if it's really ok. And everyone's looking at me to see if I'm going to do anything weird.
Well, I'm probably not going to do anything weird. I'm pretty normal. I am old, however. Old as in seeing the Beatles on Ed Sullivan. They were the first band I developed a strong emotional attachment to. Scandal, it is safe to say, is the second. In between there have been other bands I've listened to, of course, but there seems to be something uniquely appealing about Scandal.
From what I've read so far in this forum, there are a lot of musicians here. I am a former musician as well, and I therefore consider myself pretty good a spotting a good song. For me, that usually eliminates anything that hits the top 40 pop charts, and by saying that, positions me as more of a music snob than anything else, so I'll temper that statement by adding that I understand songs are in the top 40 because people like them, and it would be shortsighted of me to judge the taste of people I don't know.
Still, I think Scandal has a fantastic backlog, and continues to produce really good music, the kind I like. I like harmony, especially women singing harmony. I like what used to be called "power pop", which is a pop song with angry guitars. I like versatility. Scandal checks all those boxes.
I also like how effective they are at connecting with their audience. I've seen the "Beginning of Scandal" video, the one with the footage of the 2008 tour, and how they realized that while they couldn't become better players in a week, they could become better at communicating the joy of playing music at any level of accomplishment, and at sharing that joy with the audience. This is something they have continued to do, and it still works. There seems to be a feedback loop between them and the audience, where one has fun knowing the other one is having fun too, and the energy just feeds on itself.
Of course I should also mention that the members of Scandal are nice to look at. I don't mean like stare and drool or anything, but gosh, are they just the cutest things on wheels or what?
I've noticed that none of the above does much to introduce me, so please allow me to add some more information. I'm retired and live in Seattle. Other bands I have liked (but not loved) in the past are the Smithereens, Rockpile, the Bangles (before it became "the short one and her backing band"), Squeeze, and a few bands similar to those. I know those are all old bands, but I can't help it.
My name on this site, "hogradish" is just a silly made-up name. Kinda like horseradish only with a different animal. The full silly name is Deiter Hogradish, and yes I spelled "Dieter" wrong, but did so because if I spelled it correctly, people might think I was on a diet, which I am not. You will find that full name used on YouTube posts. On Facebook, you will find I am "Joan Lowe". Ever concerned with security, I again used a fake name. It's a combination of my first name, Joe, and Nick Lowe's last name. Joe 'n' Lowe. Joan Lowe. If you are a fan of Scandal and also a cyber-criminal, please ignore this paragraph.
Thank you very much for providing so much information about Scandal. I really appreciate it. In Japanese there is a phrase that is sometimes translated as "Please take care of me" or "Thank you in advance". Please take care of me, thank you in advance. My first live show will be this fall in London. Perhaps we'll meet!
