This Skynyrd thing......

[wordawg]

Posted before that I read about MMJ long before hearing them.  In the article - and others since - there is usually a reference to them sounding like (amongst others) Skynyrd.  I don't really get that feeling myself from the albums, maybe its more obvious live? Maybe its just the British press.
Any thoughts?

[jezebel]

i think it's kind of like the willingness to compare them to the Allman Brothers...people realize they're from Kentucky or read the press on them, see the word "Southern," and automatically associate or compare them to whomever they can identify as "Southern rock."

riiiight....and every Southern writer is William Faulkner, every Southern politician is George Wallace, and every Southerner drives a pickup, waves a Confederate flag, and has more teeth than IQ points.

those kind of comparisons are such a joke, obviously made by people who have no concept whatsoever about Southern culture (which, by the way, i've never really heard anyone from MMJ claim...only a bit specifically-Kentucky/Louisville pride)--or really about the band. People just try so hard to schematize and label everything, and since MMJ defies comparison and are doing their own thing and being their own people in so many ways, the press just doesn't know what to do with 'em. they can't legitimately fill in the blanks for "they're the next ______ ______!" or "they're like the love child of ______ and ______!" or "they're ________ with a touch of ________!"

on a related note, i also love the articles that paint them as Southern-as-cotton-and-sweet-tea and then in the same breath compare them to Neil Young. Everyone knows hardcore Southern-priders have had a vendetta against Neil Young since "Southern Man" (or since they embraced Skynyrd's return volley in "Sweet Home Alabama.")

[peanut butter puddin surprise]

Right on, Jez...very well put. Could not have said it better!

Yeah, it's funny how far the whole compartmentalization of music has come.  I can recall being a younger lad and hearing Molly Hatchet on the same radio station as Hall & Oates...only really BAD kids liked Molly Hatchet, what with those album covers and whatnot.  Thin Lizzy somehow got lumped in there as well (they are IRISH, for chrissakes)...but now everything is formula, demographics, playlists, etc.  Cross marketing just doesn't exist in this modern radio/video age...a radio station has a very strict format, decided upon by grizzled old suits in some dimly lit, smoke filled room somewhere south of the Pentagon...

In a roundabout way, I'm agreeing with you totally.  The press is generally buzzing about MMJ, but their comparisions to Southern Rock are....what are they??

[hipkink]

Well... I can kinda see the comparison on a song like "Dance Floors." But I can also see how people could say that they sound like "Joy Division mixed with the late 80's/ early 90's 4AD bands." - alan of dimple records - People always have to make comparisons. It's the easiest way to describe what a band sounds like. There's more poetic ways, for sure, but unfortunately, not everyone has poetic brains. What do you guys tell people who have never heard the band before? I dread that question!!! "So, what do they sound like?" First, it's like, "Man - they sound like magic born of a soft, summer breeze that is just swift enough to hint of an impending storm. oh - with a tendency, or obligation to rock, live." After the head shaking, it's on to, "they sound like what Neil Young wanted to sound like. Like Lynyrd Skynyrd, but more thoughtful, and melodic. Like the Beach Boys, if they were from Louisville, and it was just Carl and Brian in the band." Sorry if I offended any Mike Love fans... He just couldn't be a comparison... Anyway. I ALWAYS end with, "you have to check it out for yourself. You WON'T be disappointed. I'll refund you if you don't like it. It's magical. Now I know how my parents felt the first time they heard the Beatles or saw the Stones." I have not received one request for a refund. Only sincere, "Thank yous."  

[otter]

I hope someday they cover the ballad of curtis lowe. That is probably my favorite skynard song, and one that the MMJ boys could have some fun with.....