Bright Eyes, genius or sell out? Options

[william]

i decided to make a topic about bright eyes since he has now fully broken into the mainstream (#10 and #15 on the billboard charts!).

for those of you who haven't heard of him, bright eyes is a band fronted by conor oberst, where he is the only constant (the backing band lineup is always changing). he recently came out with two cds that were released simultaneously on the 15th of january- i'm wide awake it's morning (a folky singer song writer album) and digital ash in a digital urn (a synthy techno pop album). the first is the one critics seem to be favoring (and is also selling more), while the latter is still faring well with the critics and people alike.

personally, i love bright eyes. i heard about him about two years ago, but that's when i was still obsessing with weezer, and his music seemed too weird for me. this summer when i was at best buy though, i decided to pick up fevers and mirrors to see what all the fuss was about. i loved it. since then i've bought almost every cd he's released, and they're all genius.

so, what do you guys think of him? lyric genius and next bob dylan? or talentless and overrated?


ps- i know there's an old topic on this, but it didn't seem very relevant. if you do want to close this and have me bump that one though... be my guest.

[*Azarel*]

Bright Eyes, awesome? HELL YEAH.
The lyrics are awesome.
My personal favorite would have to be Something Vague.

[actionrobot_go]

Conor. He isn't the only reason for my Bright Eyes obsession though, their lyrics are amazing and they have a new and different sound.

[william]

Bright Eyes, awesome? HELL YEAH.
The lyrics are awesome.
My personaly favorite would have to be Something Vague.

i find it so hard to choose a favorite album or song of his, almost every one is amazing.

[*Azarel*]

i find it so hard to choose a favorite album or song of his, almost every one is amazing.

True, but I find that I relate to Something Vague the most. Yeeeah.

[*tweeak*]

i had heard of him a while ago, but i didnt immdiately take interest. i dont actually own any of his cd yet, but i love his music.

digital ash > im wide awake

[william]

i agree, like i've said numerous times before, i wish on wide awake he would've gone orchestrated like on his previous albums instead of folky, but oh well.

i would suggest lifted, fevers and mirrors, and digital ash for starter albums.

[FLIPxADDICTION]

i love Bright Eyes. Conor is a genius.

[sammi rules you]

aw willy. you're such a cute little bright eyes dork.

yes, much love to him.

[Saeglopur]

<3 I love Bright Eyes. I listen to Lover I Don't Have to Love too much.. even though it's not my favorite from Bright Eyes.

william - you look like this guy I sit next to on the bus every morning.. except hi name is Dustin.

[*StanleyThePanda*]

ehh I dont like his voice.
it reminds me of robert smith and I dont like robert smith
but conor oberst is adorable...thats about it

[william]

ehh I dont like his voice.
it reminds me of robert smith and I dont like robert smith
but conor oberst is adorable...thats about it

i find that really odd, because his voice is one of my favorites of all time. his screams are also some of my favorite also.

[Gizmoid]

I've listened to him a couple of times 'cause my friends used to be obsessed with him. The lyrics are fantastic but I don't..like.. his voice.

[D1SMANTLED]

bright eyes awesome??

NO DUH!!!

i love them. Conor is awesome.

[*tweeak*]

i agree, like i've said numerous times before, i wish on wide awake he would've gone orchestrated like on his previous albums instead of folky, but oh well.

i would suggest lifted, fevers and mirrors, and digital ash for starter albums.

yeah, ive been listening to bright eyes (and borrowing friends cds) a great deal for the past couple of months, but i was broke until recently so i couldnt actually afford the albums

[*bright eyes*]

My user name. Haha.

My favorite band of all time too.

Bright Eyes is so great. Conor Oberst really is a talented kid, at least in my eyes. I have all of his albums and find them all to be so wonderful. I think Fevers&Mirrors is my favorite album but I couldn't possibly choose a favorite song.

Gosh, I love Bright Eyes.

[smthngcrprategrl...]

i love bright eyes! I have yet to listen to their new albums though and that makes me sad...but yeah conor is great! love them!

[PurchasedRebelli...]

Don't like Bright Eyes. A friend of my loves him... so I listened to all of his songs and realized I hate his voice. And I don't like the music.


I also don't appreciate the fact that the critics love Conor so much when Chris Carrabba has done this all before with Dash.

[william]

Don't like Bright Eyes.  A friend of my loves him... so I listened to all of his songs and realized I hate his voice.  And I don't like the music.
I also don't appreciate the fact that the critics love Conor so much when Chris Carrabba has done this all before with Dash.

i don't listen to dashboard much, but the stuff i have listened to sounds VERY different than bright eyes. dashboard isn't orchestrated and folky... and i personally think conor's lyrics are waaay better than any dashboard ones. besides the singer/song writer aspect, i don't think bright eyes and dashboard have much in common or sound very much alike.

[x-hobo-x]

sorry to say, but i've never heard of that band X-P

[toodlepops.]

not their biggest fan. -___-

[D1SMANTLED]

i don't listen to dashboard much, but the stuff i have listened to sounds VERY different than bright eyes. dashboard isn't orchestrated and folky... and i personally think conor's lyrics are waaay better than any dashboard ones. besides the singer/song writer aspect, i don't think bright eyes and dashboard have much in common or sound very much alike.

err.. conor oberst's lyrics is not just better than dashboards.. but they surpass ANY band out there. Brand new comes in second.

[william]

err.. conor oberst's lyrics is not just better than dashboards.. but they surpass ANY band out there. Brand new comes in second.

exactly how i feel. the only reason i even bought brand new's first cd was because the lyrical content is amazing (didn't like the pop punk sound much though).

[*StanleyThePanda*]

^^ hmm conor's lyrics are ok.
I've heard better.

[william]

^^ hmm conor's lyrics are ok.
I've heard better.

...but they're definitely better than dashboard's .

[angel-roh]

I heard of them on TV. They were advertising their new music album. I thought they would be good, but ehh not that good for me. I think my sister said that she liked it while she was watching the advertising show part with me. But yeah... -_-;;;;;

[*tweeak*]

yeah, a couple of months ago everyone at school was "ohemgee deshboard confessional is so awesome."

perhaps not.

[ahhishkaren]

i heard about him about two years ago, but that's when i was still obsessing with weezer, and his music seemed too weird for me.

Hahahaha yeah! I heard about Bright Eyes a few years back, around 2001-ish. I listened to the song "Pull My Hair" and I established that the music was a little too... ehhh for me. I started listening to the again last summer as well. My friend was obsessed with Conor Oberst, and wouldn't stop praising about Bright Eyes. They were also breaking out during that time, so I decided to give the album (Lifted Or The Story Is In The Soil, Keep Your Ear To The Soil) a little listen. I loved it. It's not an exaggeration to say that Conor is one of hte best songwriters of our time. I haven't yet gotten either of their new albums yet, but I've heard bits and pieces of it, and I already love it.

[imadorkabledxd]

talentless and overrated?


maybe i just cant appreciate it. my school did a review about his newest cd, and gave it a REALLY good rating..i listened to it...and just didnt like it at all.

[*tweeak*]

so the farthest thing from talentless

[luckyxi3]

i think Bright Eyes is awesome. his lyrics are somewhat similar to others but he just has a way of making it contrast from all the rest.

i think he`s talented but i won`t have a bombshell over it. i enjoy his music very much. especially "lover i don`t have to love".

[miszkristinexox]

bright eyes = amazing

[*StanleyThePanda*]

...but they're definitely better than dashboard's  .

hahahaha yeah I'd have to agree.
but I like dashboards sound and chris's voice

[bobbster]

Oh.. Bright Eyes. Sometimes, I love him and sometimes, his voice just annoys the heck out of me. My favorites are No Lies, Just Love and Haligh, Haligh right now. I want to get the two new albums. I just heard 'Take It Easy (Love Nothing)' from the Digital Ash cd, and I like it.. I like it a lot.

[PurchasedRebelli...]

yeah, a couple of months ago everyone at school was "ohemgee deshboard confessional is so awesome."

perhaps not.

That was because of "Vindicated". They heard that and was suddenly Dashboard's biggest fans.

[D1SMANTLED]

i'm addicted to padriac my prince right now. I know theres a meaning deeper than his brother (padriac) dying. Anyone know what it is? i'm not too good at interpeting lyrics.

[*tweeak*]

That was because of "Vindicated".  They heard that and was suddenly Dashboard's biggest fans.

yeah, exactly. that song sure got old quickly enough

[DanielleMaria05]

I've only heard a few songs by them, from people in my art class playing it in the class stereo (yeah, i love my art class) and I love what ive heard.
I hope to get a cd or two of his.

[william]

i'm addicted to padriac my prince right now. I know theres a meaning deeper than his brother (padriac) dying. Anyone know what it is? i'm not too good at interpeting lyrics.

well, my copy of letting off the happiness hasn't come yet, so i've only listened to clips (and am too lazy to look up the lyrics), so i can't really help you, but i do know that the babies drowning in the bathtub thing didn't really happen .

[nightsong]

I love Conor Oberst`s lyrics.

But I hate his voice.

Hate. Hate. Hate.

xo, Pauline

[May]

I love Digital Ash In A Digital Urn.

Hit the Switch has to be my favorite song out of this album, without a hesitation.

[*tweeak*]

yeah, i disagree with all the bad ratings digital ash has been getting in favor of im wide awake, but weve been over this already

<3 the calender hung itself

[william]

for all of you who don't like his voice, you should check out his side project desaparecidos. personally, i like them better, except i've heard a lot of rumors that they broke up? don't know if that's true, but yeah. greater omaha by them is awesome.

...and the bright eyes concert i was planning on going to is freaking tonight, which just HAD to be the same day as my sister's birthday. i'm pissed, to say the least.

[*tweeak*]

aw man, that sucks. the keane concert i went to was on my sisters birthday, but i went anyway

[May]

So, I'm just the medicine
You take when you're sick
You get well and that's it
I'm put back on the shelf in your mirror
And it isn't exceptional
The course of our fate
So, people love and they hate
And I guess it's just our turn to hate
Yeah, you were just some song I wrote
A poem on a page
A sculpture I made out of clay
Desire was the flame
But now you're more of a basketball
Boys just pass you around
They bounce you hard on the ground and dribble
And then we all get high fives
And you think I'm an a-hole now
Well, you're probably right
But at least I'm not blind to the facts
I've been wishing were lies
But still I hope you get everything
That you care to possess
And unbelievable sex with him
Or any one of my friends
But just don't ask about my appetite
I didn't lose it tonight
No, it's been gone half my life
It's just act, I've been eating for you

[nightsong]

for all of you who don't like his voice, you should check out his side project desaparecidos. personally, i like them better, except i've heard a lot of rumors that they broke up? don't know if that's true, but yeah. greater omaha by them is awesome.

...and the bright eyes concert i was planning on going to is freaking tonight, which just HAD to be the same day as my sister's birthday. i'm pissed, to say the least.

I agree, Desaparecidos sounds better.
But then I only like one song, and you named it.

Good job.

xo, Pauline

[william]

I agree, Desaparecidos sounds better.
But then I only like one song, and you named it.

Good job.

xo, Pauline

manana by desaparecidos is also a good one, if you haven't heard it.

another one of conor's bands you can check out is commander venus- they're more funny than talented though (that band was pre voice change, and makes me laugh). listen to my other car is a spaceship by them (you have to download it, i don't think their cd is still printed, and it wasn't on the cd anyways).

i'm wide awake went from #10 to something like #37 in one week, haha.

[nightsong]

manana by desaparecidos is also a good one, if you haven't heard it.

another one of conor's bands you can check out is commander venus- they're more funny than talented though (that band was pre voice change, and makes me laugh). listen to my other car is a spaceship by them (you have to download it, i don't think their cd is still printed, and it wasn't on the cd anyways).

i'm wide awake went from #10 to something like #37 in one week, haha.

Wow, Conor is in Commander Venus? Even so, I don`t exactly like them, nor have I listened to them all that much... er, but I still have to say, the song I like most by them is "We`ll Always Have Paris". I can`t believe I didn`t recognize Conor`s voice.

Is he in any other bands?

"My Other Car is a Spaceship" and "Manana" ... Suprisingly, I already have both those songs downloaded onto my computer. I download millions of songs that I never get around to listening to.

xo, Pauline

[william]

haha, yeah, i believe conor was the one who actually started commander venus, but like i said, that was before his voice changed so he sounds a lot different. he was really young when he wrote that stuff... like 13ish, so i give them a lot of respect, because i would be hard pressed to find someone who can play/write so well at such a young age. some members of cursive and the faint also were in commander venus, but they've been broken up for a long time. those are the only three bands that i KNOW conor is in. yup.

edit: did anyone else listen to him play and get interviewed on jpr? IT WAS AWESOME.

[*tweeak*]

yeah,, when i found out he was that young in commander venus, i was very much impressed

[actionrobot_go]

I just bought their new CD: I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning. I've only had in it my possession for a few hours but it's already changed my life, ha. Commander Venus? I'm impressed. Connor was talented even as a young teen

[mzawesome]

lyrics are awesome!

[miss barnes]

i have no idea who that is

[May]

i have no idea who that is

Bright Eyes

[innovation]

bright eyes is truly amazing. the orchestral style is absolutely marvelous.. and the lyrics display this sort of genuine naivete and emotion that i haven't found anywhere else.

[XxArsonFreakxX]

bright eyes =emo emo=awesome well idk if they are considered emo i think they are considered indie but eh i say emo

[NYsmiLez]

my friend told me about bright eyes, she wanted me to download "loose leaves".. but i never really listened. then one particularly crappy day i heard "lover i dont have to love" by accident and i was hooked. he just understands human emotion and can express it verbally like no one else.
however, i still need to purchase his latest two cds..
<3

[XxArsonFreakxX]

^^^^^ thats a great song me and my friend are hooked on it too we actually played a cover of it at one of our house parties

[racoons > you]

so good!

i <3 bowl of oranges

[nnkansas]

I've only heard "I'm Wide Awake Its Morning

[Retrogressive]

I've heard both, I personally like Bright Eyes. Nice music, poetic. What do you think?

[*tweeak*]

I got sick of him. Too emo for me. Sell out wouldn't be the word I'd use to describe him, though.

[Retrogressive]

haha, I guess I just like drunken lyrics.
I would describe emo as more of a "I want to kill myself, I hate my girlfriend." music. Bright Eyes is very poetic. I guess I'm just a typical pisces...

[*jooleeah*]

I think they're okay. they're a bit too "emo" for me. i heard some of their other songs..and personally, i think the guy's singing voice is crappy

[miszkristinexox]

I got sick of him. Too emo for me. Sell out wouldn't be the word I'd use to describe him, though.

same here. i used to listen to them a lot, and then i was just like ick.

[d0nchikit0]

Bright Eyes is indie. Indie!

[Julie Ann]

Never heard of it....

[Tribal J_Rome]

wtf, do u not know who bright eyes is or somethin? he's wayyyyyyyyyyyyy more emo than indie, even though he is both

[simx]

Bright Eyes is alright.... but I don't LOVE them or anything... =/

[william]

http://www.createblog.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=62225

so, what do you guys think of him? lyric genius and next bob dylan? or talentless and overrated?

YOU STOLE MY TOPIC. KIND OF.

i still love bright eyes, but i don't think he's emo. wtf.

[yummy_delight]

1. I think everyone should read mipadi's topic on the term "emo".

2. Bright Eyes makes my ears want to barf.

[Tribal J_Rome]

i don't see how he's not emo, do u have the link to that emo topic?

[d0nchikit0]

I read the topic, and I agree. I'm talking about the emo topic. It's a really great essay he wrote. I've been trying to tell my friends that emo isn't just all type of emotional songs, that it's the type that evolves from Emotive Hardcore. EMOtive Hardcore, not EMOtional Rock.

Bright Eyes isn't Emo.

[yummy_delight]

http://www.createblog.com/forums/index.php...topic=96337&hl=

There's the topic on emotive hardcore, Jerome (?).

[inlonelinessidie]

I think they suck.

[ecargnmyst]

eh..i still have their songs ..listen to em occasionally

[Tribal J_Rome]

thank you lauren

[nyctophiliac]

aww I love "Lover I Don't Have To Love" they're good for when you're going to sleep lol

[PinkTrash]

They're okay. I can't see how they're constantly compared to Bob Dylan thoe I only listen to a few of their songs.

[toodlepops.]

I've only listened to their song, "Lover I don't have to love" or something. Judging by that song, they're okay.

[Retrogressive]

He's good when I'm depressed too.
I like Train Under Water.

[racoons > you]

bright eyes isnt emo

he's indie. i had a great debate about that this summer.

anyway. i like him, bu the isnt my fave.... i certainly wouldnt call him a sell out, though

[heathrobonk]

Bright Eyes= Love

Conor is genius. SEEING HIM THURSDAY BABY!

[*tweeak*]

I'm pretty much completely over Birhgt Eyes now

[rockstermonkey]

^ Yeah. For me, you have to be in the "mood" to listen to Bright Eyes. I used to listen to him much more earlier this year. Now, its like...eh.

[aznxdreamer]

people who listen to conor oberst only listen to him for his lyrics, not his music. cuz tyou gotta admit, the guy cant sing!

[*tweeak*]

Way not to make absurd generalizations!

[xLoves_Labor_Los...]

So, I'm just the medicine
You take when you're sick
You get well and that's it
I'm put back on the shelf in your mirror
And it isn't exceptional
The course of our fate
So, people love and they hate
And I guess it's just our turn to hate
Yeah, you were just some song I wrote
A poem on a page
A sculpture I made out of clay
Desire was the flame
But now you're more of a basketball
Boys just pass you around
They bounce you hard on the ground and dribble
And then we all get high fives
And you think I'm an a-hole now
Well, you're probably right
But at least I'm not blind to the facts
I've been wishing were lies
But still I hope you get everything
That you care to possess
And unbelievable sex with him
Or any one of my friends
But just don't ask about my appetite
I didn't lose it tonight
No, it's been gone half my life
It's just act, I've been eating for you

Oh my gosh! What is this song called and what album is it from?! It's killing me!

And Bright Eyes = <3

Another good One-Man-Band is The Rocket Summer

-Shelbi

[IscahLynn]

genious.
deffinatly.

[joiedevie]

at first i couldn't stand him. the critics used to rave about him while dashboard had been doing what he was doing for waaaaay longer.

but after a few listens, he's grown on me. :) and i don't think he's a sell out.