This reminds me of a monthly article they used to run in Guitar for the Practicing Musician magazine. It was called "In The Listening Room". They'd play the people or person a bunch of different songs and get their opinions on what they'd heard. One month, they had Christopher Thorn and Rogers Stevens from Blind Melon. They played Pull Me Under for them. Here's what they had to say:
Christopher: This could be metal at any moment--I'm just warning everybody.
Rogers: Either that or it could build up into a power ballad.
C: I feel like we might have to excuse ourselves here for a second. We might have to leave.
R: This is one of those guitar sounds that when he hits a note, about a million lights jump up on his guitar rig.
C: Any minute now there is gonna be a squealy.
R: Is this, like, Queensryche?
C: If it is, let's turn it off right away because I hate that band.
R: Hate it. This is the kind of music you listen to right when you start to get your pubic hairs.
C: I can't even be fair to this music, I hate it so bad. I can't even sit through one song. I know I'm not being fair but I think it is complete garbage. That sort of guitar playing is just stupid.
R: If I want to hear a metal band I really like old Black Sabbath and Soundgarden, heavy bands with brains. If I were listening to an angry metal band I would be more into Rage Against the Machine or Sugar. I like that Sugar record a lot, I like Sonic Youth a lot. That's heavy, guitar based music that I listen to.
C: Playing fast for the sake of fast is hideous. I hate that whole mentality of sitting around playing scales and cock-rock crap.
R: I heard some squealies. I don't really like that sound either. I'm not into those guitar sounds. When I hear that stuff I get feeling squeamish.
Guitar: That was Dream Theater.
C: We'll remember not to buy that record. I bet they have really nice hair... now I'm being mean.
R: This is just our opinion. There's a lot of people that like Dream Theater and that's fine. They get off on it--good for them. They'll probably hate us, maybe they won't.
C: They probably do because we sound like we're playing sloppy. But that's alright, that's a different thing. We're just coming from a different space.
R: In no way do we condemn this sort of music. These people have a right to exist.
C: Just keep it the hell away from us.