621 replies to this topic

[sorking]

I don't think people should be allowed to post their opinion until they've heard the song at least half a dozen times.

But then, I also think people who talk in cinemas should be chemically castrated...

[Conlazmoodalbrocra]

I mean, for Christ's sake, McFly could've done a better job!!!

Wash your mouth out with soap!

lol! Ok, maybe it's not THAT bad, but I really don't rate it at all!

[Leon]

Oh my god, it's terrible! Jack White...dear me

I don't think people should be allowed to post their opinion until they've heard the song at least half a dozen times.

Eh? Sorry but I can't actually stand to listen to it more, doesn't that say something? It's f'ing awful, the start doesn't know where it's going at all, the lyrics are absolute gash and it just becomes really repetitive.

Only notably good thing about it is the quality of the drumming, but that's pointless unless it's a memorable and well composed song. This is garbage.

[sharpshooter]

Connery can now say that the film was the right length, but the music was still . That's a progression.

[Sanchez]

I love it. It marries so well with the trailer and therefore (I would imagine) the film. Great song, best one in a long time, well done Jack & Alicia!!

Edited by Sanchez, 19 September 2008 - 12:57 PM.

[DLibrasnow]

I think the people that say they love it are in denial. Their whole point is part of talking up the movie (which looks fantastic) and that's coloring their view of this completely naff piece of music.

Take off the rose-tinted glasses and look at it as you would any piece of music (as the generral public will) and you'll see just how bad it actually is. It's similar to the phenomenon we saw in 2002 and 2003 with all the people talking up Die Another Day after first seeing it and then voila, six months later they think it's terrible.

[Leon]

I was told about it being out by various non-Bond fanatical friends texting me to say it was online and utterly awful. So far none of my friends have said anything remotely nice about it.

The film looks superb though so lets just hope they do an incredibly good title sequence that might make it more bearable.

[Killmaster]

Three listens are enough for me right now. Maybe it'll grow on me. And I'm sure it'll sound slightly different with additional orchestral music added and the opening titles sharing the screen. But at this point I am not impressed at all.

I had very high hopes when it was announced that Alicia Keys would be singing the main title song, but I really didn't see that she was given any real opportunity to perform. Her talent was completely wasted... her incredible range as a singer, one of her great strengths, was ignored here. Why hire someone to perform and then not have them do what they're best at? Keys was far too toned down and White was way too strident... their voices didn't mesh at all. Add in the incredibly insipid lyrics by White and you have another forgettable Madonna-esque title song.

With the proper songwriter/collaborator, I'm convinced that Alicia Keys could have delivered a theme song powerful enough to rival Shirley Bassey.

[Mr Teddy Bear]

I think the people that say they love it are in denial. Their whole point is part of talking up the movie (which looks fantastic) and that's coloring their view of this completely naff piece of music.

Take off the rose-tinted glasses and look at it as you would any piece of music (as the generral public will) and you'll see just how bad it actually is.

Please don't make assumptions about my mental state.

People have every right to like the song without needing their head checked. Don't post such nonsense.

[dee-bee-five]

I think the people that say they love it are in denial. Their whole point is part of talking up the movie (which looks fantastic) and that's coloring their view of this completely naff piece of music.

I think you're bang on target. It would explain why those of us who say we are ambivalent or undecided about the song are being treated just as harshly as the haters by those who profess to love it. Their defensiveness really is very, very silly because it ain't going to convince the doubters in the general population, who seem to be to be in the vast majority with regards to this song.

[R]

I'd say its one remix away from being very good. It feels as though all the ingredients are there, but somehow they don't seem to gel together very well. I know that Jack White does the minimalist sound very well, but this feels as though it wants to sound big and minimalist at the same time, and it doesn't quite pull it off. The creepy piano works - on its own; the brass works - on its own - but the they don't work together. As mentioned above I think a version with some of David Arnold's smooth, powerful strings and urgent, pounding brass will be far superior.

[avl]

This thread just goes to show that nothing is more polarizing than music

[Blonde Bond]

I think the people that say they love it are in denial. Their whole point is part of talking up the movie (which looks fantastic) and that's coloring their view of this completely naff piece of music.

Take off the rose-tinted glasses and look at it as you would any piece of music (as the generral public will) and you'll see just how bad it actually is.

Please don't make assumptions about my mental state.

People have every right to like the song without needing their head checked. Don't post such nonsense.

I agree. Opinions are like a-holes. Everyone has one. I don't think it's fair to say that those of us who actually like the song, are living in denial. Now does it?

But then again that's my opinion. You have yours.

[The Dove]

Heard Another Way To Die being previewed on the radio as I was driving into work this morning...it got a great reception from the DJ's..both thought it was cool.. One funny comment they made about it, and I don't think it was being intended as a negative comment, was that one of DJ's said the song sounded like a "stripper song"!!

But still though, both were generally excited for the song..so thats a good thing..

[avl]

Heard Another Way To Die being previewed on the radio as I was driving into work this morning...it got a great reception from the DJ's..both thought it was cool.. One funny comment they made about it, and I don't think it was being intended as a negative comment, was that one of DJ's said the song sounded like a "stripper song"!!

But still though, both were generally excited for the song..so thats a good thing..

It does have a kind of raw, dirty vibe. (Yes I know, its over produced etc etc etc )

[Publius]

Modern day generic rock is bland, that's what I am saying.

Sometimes it is, but I don't think YKMN is bland at all. Generic and bland are two entirely different terms.

Not grade school antics, I could be speaking in the obnoxious internet slang. I think you have a warped sense of taste in music because you declared the older Bond songs dated when they came out or close to it.

Uh, no. I said I don't know what I'd think, but I'm sure I'd call some of them dated. Or do you really think I would call every Bond song from FRWL to LTK "fresh" and "modern" had I been around as a Bond fan?

Then you say ATWD is something that the mainstream won't listen to and isn't dated when it clearly is just a knee-jerk "flavour of the month" song.

When the heck did I say the mainstream won't listen to it? I said it's not what the mainstream is already listening to. Yes, I'm sure Jack White fans and other niches are already listening to similar music, but this isn't what "Now That's What I Call Music" audiences are listening to nowadays. Unless you can point to the top songs of the day that you think this is like, I just don't hear it.

This song is a result of the coporation of two popular artists of the time and they simply put the two sounds together and steal some cues from some older Bond songs and you call that "different".

Huh? I said different from what's being played on the radio. Again, what hit songs of the moment are like this?

I've already praised it for being a mix of styles we've heard in other Bond songs. I don't see that as a big deal, because simply having elements in common with old songs doesn't make it any less good, creative, or modern-sounding.

[Blonde Bond]

Heard Another Way To Die being previewed on the radio as I was driving into work this morning...it got a great reception from the DJ's..both thought it was cool.. One funny comment they made about it, and I don't think it was being intended as a negative comment, was that one of DJ's said the song sounded like a "stripper song"!!

But still though, both were generally excited for the song..so thats a good thing..

I didn't yet hear the song on my preferred radio channel. It was either news related, or I missed the song. But both the DJ's mentioned they liked the new bond theme 'Another Way To Die'. That's all I heard. So, it's not unlike everybody, their family, their dogs and cats hate it. There might be a few "non-BondFans" who actually like the song.

[sharpshooter]

It does have a kind of raw, dirty vibe.

More like cheap and nasty.

[Santa]

I didn't yet hear the song on my preferred radio channel. It was either news related, or I missed the song. But both the DJ's mentioned they liked the new bond theme 'Another Way To Die'. That's all I heard. So, it's not unlike everybody, their family, their dogs and cats hate it. There might be a few "non-BondFans" who actually like the song.

My dog hates it.

[Loomis]

I think the people that say they love it are in denial. Their whole point is part of talking up the movie (which looks fantastic) and that's coloring their view of this completely naff piece of music.

I think you're bang on target. It would explain why those of us who say we are ambivalent or undecided about the song are being treated just as harshly as the haters by those who profess to love it. Their defensiveness really is very, very silly because it ain't going to convince the doubters in the general population, who seem to be to be in the vast majority with regards to this song.

Lloyd Grossman-like, I've deliberated, cogitated and digested, and my final (well, latest) verdict is:

Subjectively, I like "Another Way to Die" for its sheer lunacy and screaming campness, and its violent " you!" to all of us. And, hey, I never thought I'd hear a Bond song influenced by "Tarzan Boy":



Objectively, though, I'd have to declare it the very worst Eon Bond song ever, with the possible exception of "The Experience of Lovers" or whatever it is that closes GOLDENEYE.

In any case, I have no desire to talk up the film QUANTUM OF SOLACE, which to my mind doesn't look anything very special at all.

[pgram]

I really like the swampy bravado of it. It's got silly, very over-the-top lyrics that sound more like they're from an Austin Powers or Spy Hard-style parody than from a Bond film proper, but there is some disarming substance to them, and the title - awful as it sounded - does make a kind of sense with Craig's portrayal of the character and what we saw in Casino Royale. I like the double vocal effect, and I like the edginess of some of it - I enjoyed that spurting frayed non-guitar solo.

The thing that I didn't like at all was the drop-ins of little trills that recall 'Bond themes' very heavy-handedly. The song itself is fine - stick to it! I hate all that pandering to 'sounding like Bond'. It's the aural equivalent of a piece of fan fiction that has James Bond, with a cruel smile and a comma of black hair, wearing a midnight blue, Brioni one-button, single breasted wool barathea tuxedo with peaked silk grosgrain lapels that perfectly conceals his Walther PPK, ordering a vodka martini - shaken not stirred - while flirting in a casino with a woman called Jessica Lovescock. While humming an old Ink Spots tune. It's like an old Casio keyboard where instead of pressing a button that gives you a naff 'hip-hop' style 'Yo!', you get a bombastic Bond riff, or tinkly Bassey-theme-ish piano, or horn sound. Terrible.

The rest of the song is fine. I just wish they'd get rid of this sort of thing. That's what I liked about Chris Cornell's song, minus a couple of dodgy moments: it was a Bond song, but not extremely predictably and obviously trying to be that. It fitted the spirit of the new direction: no Moneypenny or Q if they're not necessary. No horns if you don't need them. You can be Bond without the obvious. This so nearly did that, but someone - White, I suppose - has gone over it all and sprinkled 'Bond' stuff over it. Only it's not Bond stuff, it's Jessica Lovescock video-game soundtrack Casio keyboard MIDI file by-numbers Bond stuff that the song does not need.

Fantastic post, summarises it perfectly. I wrote a similar post in the 'leaked version' thread, but you managed to express my thoughts even better than myself...

[honeyjes]

How ironic, the minority who didn't like CR thought the majority were drinking the cool aid, now the majority who don't like AWTD think the minority that do, are dillusional. I'm bemused that having opposing views is deemed by some to be irrational and should be eviscerated

[Publius]

Anyhow, decent song. Just hope they don't use any more words like "blinger." Rhymes with "unimaginative singer."

Pretend it's "ringer." Who knows, it probably is anyway.

No one with a wider range of music taste would love this garbage.
Damn that hippity-hop and the frikkin MTV!

You forgot to tell me to get my skateboard off your lawn.

Just to respond to what was said in the other locked thread..

As a song is all I care about. I couldn't care less which is more liked in 20 years time, I could be dead by then. And 'pop' and 'fluff' are two words which couldn't be further from accurately describing White or Another Way to Die.

100% agreed. I don't need to get deep into technical terms or buzzwords, I just go by what I like. I always thought that was the whole point of music.

And don't worry Teddy, this thread is a continuation of the other one, so you have every right to bring up a post you didn't get a chance to reply to. Lord knows at least one other (very vocal) person has done that.

I think the people that say they love it are in denial. Their whole point is part of talking up the movie (which looks fantastic) and that's coloring their view of this completely naff piece of music.

Take off the rose-tinted glasses and look at it as you would any piece of music (as the generral public will) and you'll see just how bad it actually is. It's similar to the phenomenon we saw in 2002 and 2003 with all the people talking up Die Another Day after first seeing it and then voila, six months later they think it's terrible.

I've been vocal about my dislike of other elements in QoS (namely, Arnold and Dench). I don't need to force myself to like this just to promote the film. Hell, I was one of the staunchest proponents of CR, yet was "just okay" with YKMN when it first came out. It had to grow on me, whereas AWTD (the title of which, by the way, I was extremely critical of and took as a bad omen) is more my taste(s) in music and I loved it instantly.

Is there really a need to diagnose people you disagree with as having a mental illness?

Oh, and I like CR as much now as I did when it came out. Wasn't around here for DAD, but I hated it on first viewing and almost refused to watch the other Bond movies after that. Thankfully a friend convinced me to watch TLD, which I also still love.

This thread just goes to show that nothing is more polarizing than music

Even more than politics and religion.

Objectively, though, I'd have to declare it the very worst Eon Bond song ever, with the possible exception of "The Experience of Lovers" or whatever it is that closes GOLDENEYE.

I think you mean:

"Subjectively, though, in a futile attempt to be objective, which obviously can't be achieved when discussing whether a song is good or bad (by their very definition, terms used to describe subjective evaluations)..."

[Harmsway]

I think the people that say they love it are in denial. Their whole point is part of talking up the movie (which looks fantastic) and that's coloring their view of this completely naff piece of music.

Nothing like arguing that people are fooling themselves just to justify your own point. Because no-one could possibly see something different from you.

Now, I don't love "Another Way to Die," though I do mildly like it. It's a mess of a song, but IMO, we've had much worse. And once I heard that tighter edit that BBC put up (which cuts out the second verse), it played even better with me.

[Zorin Industries]

Its too bad that so many people will bitch and complain about the song without taking into account that Another Way To Die is supposed to be different than what we've been used to in the past. Frankly, I'm really starting to love the song and am glad we didn't get another generic theme tune in the style of Tomorrow Never Dies or The World Is Not Enough.

Thank you.

[Safari Suit]

OK, it sounds like Tarzan Boy how?

[Mr_Wint]

I don't think people should be allowed to post their opinion until they've heard the song at least half a dozen times.

But then, I also think people who talk in cinemas should be chemically castrated...

Just like with movies, the first experience will tell you exactly how good it is. After that, your mind will be clouded.

[bond 16.05.72]

I think the people that say they love it are in denial. Their whole point is part of talking up the movie (which looks fantastic) and that's coloring their view of this completely naff piece of music.

Take off the rose-tinted glasses and look at it as you would any piece of music (as the generral public will) and you'll see just how bad it actually is. It's similar to the phenomenon we saw in 2002 and 2003 with all the people talking up Die Another Day after first seeing it and then voila, six months later they think it's terrible.

There is no better way to cement your own opinion by saying people with the complete opposite are telling lies.

What absolute bollocks you spout, I'm sure their is plenty of music board members would admit to liking and others would think them utterly mad, I've heard people say Maroon 5 should have done it and personally if you like that band I've of the opinion your musically moronic but thats just my opinion, I wouldn't say your lying to be a fan just not very demanding when it comes to music, again just my opinion not declaration you are deluded and don't really like them.

I don't wear rose tinted glasses, I like White's music and I'm sure there is something in your collection I could have a good laugh at and make fun of you for being convinced it's good. It's just it's the new Bond themes and boo hoo you didn't get what you wanted, what a shame.

To say I'm deluded is absolute rubbish, I think with the exception YKMN and that wasn't that great the previous themes have been prety awful for the last 2 decades or so and at least White shook it up a bit.

On a personal note trusting by what some of you've said god knows what you listen to and where your informed of what is trendy and on MTV these days, some people really should research what they say before it leaves their mouths.

This is certainly not typical of todays music.

[Publius]

Just like with movies, the first experience will tell you exactly how good it is. After that, your mind will be clouded.

Not really. Some movies/songs/etc. are "good" (or "bad") by virtue of their shock value, immediate impression, etc. Some get better when you see it or listen to it enough times that you start appreciating the nuances. And there are a number of other types. But I think it's a mistake to say that your first experience is the most (or even only) reliable, "objective" one.

[Sir James Moloney]

Just like with movies, the first experience will tell you exactly how good it is. After that, your mind will be clouded.

Not really. Some movies/songs/etc. are "good" (or "bad") by virtue of their shock value, immediate impression, etc. Some get better when you see it or listen to it enough times that you start appreciating the nuances. And there are a number of other types. But I think it's a mistake to say that your first experience is the most (or even only) reliable, "objective" one.

Speaking with a clinical eye (yeah, I know that sounds just odd), I must say I agree with Publius