Danny Carey kicks ass.

[bulb]

What will always blow me away by Tool is that they have achieved Platinum sales that no one else has without huge amounts of MTV play or Radio play. They get some radio play now, but the thing the made that happened was not a catchy single it was just straight up good original music.

Where some musicians can smash Tool with there amazing technical abilities, IMO Tool can be matched only by few when it comes to song structure and writing.

But meh, I guess whenever you praise Tool without being neutral enough you're deemed fanboy and nothing you say matters much. So whatever.

they are without a doubt a marketing anomaly, but it doesnt really mean anything other than the fact that they have made a ton of fans over the years. some would argue that the fact that they have so many fans means they must be good, but by that logic any band with a ton of fans must be good...i guess i was wrong about blink 182 and linkin park after all....

 

[huber]

True, but it still blows me away. I didn't mean to say that made them a great band.

 

[bulb]

agreed completely, its amazing they pulled it off, i just would say you would have more of a chance winning the lottery than something like that happening to your band (if you play good music hehe)...

 

[All_¥our_Bass]

Danny Carey is a good drummer. NOT THE BEST, but good and interesting(IMO). I'm a tool fan but I can tell you that they are NOT THE MOST TALENTED band ever. Their progressiveness is more about band interplay rather than just everyone pulling out all the stops(Liquid Tension Experiment comes to mind, I'm not bashing I like them too). I have nothing against political music, but the more introspective stuff that tool does is over looked A LOT these days.

For those that think Adams guitar playing is easy try to learn the Vicarious intro.

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P.S. It's much more difficult than it looks.

This is all my opinion. If you think they suck, fine if you think they rock, fine. Just don't get into fights over it. I know what my opinions are, but I don't try to force them on others. If it has appeared this way anywhere in my post, it was not my intent and I am sorry.

 

[DDDorian]

I've always heard off-kilter rythyms and hemiolas and that sorta thing in my head from an early age so when people claim something is "technical" because it has an odd rythym I don't really agree. I find that stuff pretty easy to navigate although I know many others don't. I've personally never heard Adam Jones do anything interesting and is tone is neither here not there with me. Danny Carey pulls off some tricky stuff though, and I enjoy the albums he did with Les Claypool and Adrian Belew.

 

[huber]

Not to try and prove you wrong or anything, but there trickiest rhythm I think is in Rosetta Stoned. The part before the solo and during it. Figuring that thing out was a nightmare. Check that shiiiiit.

 

[bulb]

yeah but if your are into weird rhythms then meshuggah, ion dissonance, and dillinger do those 3209 times better

 

[Leon]

Undertow and Aenima are probably two of my favorite discs, as far as a CD that i can listen to begining to end without feeling the urge to skip any tracks.

and, it is my opinion that Tool kicks some ass

 

[All_¥our_Bass]

^ I am into Mesh, but I still like tool. And +1 to Rosetta Stoned I cannot find the '1' in that track (at certain points), the Vicarious intor was simply the first thing that poped into my head, mainly cause I know how to play it and that it tends to mess most (but not all) people up when they attempt it, which can be quite entertaining to watch.

 

[Drew]

I've always heard off-kilter rythyms and hemiolas and that sorta thing in my head from an early age so when people claim something is "technical" because it has an odd rythym I don't really agree. I find that stuff pretty easy to navigate although I know many others don't.

Though, you're at least aware that you're the exception and not the rule here - as a site we have a strong prog/metal bent (in the most expansive definition of the word, spanning from stuff like Dream Theater way out to Meshuggah territory, Nevermore to Opeth - Chris's power metal fetish doesn't count ), and as a musical community we are WAY more familiar with musical complexity than, say, your average HC crew. There's a lot of guitarists who'd get totally fucked up by even some of Tools simpler polyrhythmic moments, and the 7/4-4/4 guitar alternation with the bass alternating 4/4-7/4 in "Forty-Six and 2" still makes my head spin.

Speaking of which, that track got a LOT of radio airplay, so I'm not entirely sure you can say they made it without radio support. I nearly bought "AEnima" based on the strength of that tune, and had I I suspect I would have been a way better guitartist for it today.

Also, the "best" drummer is a horribly subjective discussion, but Carey's my favorite drummer. He's studied indian tabla playing for a number of years now, and there's this "circularity" to his phrasing from about Lateralus onward that just blows my mind - he phrases unlike any other drummer I've ever heard. If you play a couple ragas and then throw Lateralus on, it's really kind of remarkable how he's taken a lot of tabla concepts and made them work in a hard rock/metal context, and the tabla is a sound I've always loved, from very early on.

 

[Metahedron]

Also, the "best" drummer is a horribly subjective discussion, but Carey's my favorite drummer. He's studied indian tabla playing for a number of years now, and there's this "circularity" to his phrasing from about Lateralus onward that just blows my mind - he phrases unlike any other drummer I've ever heard. If you play a couple ragas and then throw Lateralus on, it's really kind of remarkable how he's taken a lot of tabla concepts and made them work in a hard rock/metal context, and the tabla is a sound I've always loved, from very early on.

That is definitely a majority of my affinity to his playing: the Tabla. I adore middle eastern influences in music(From East Bay Ray to Bela Bartok) to such a degree that a majority of my melodic voice on the guitar is Oud inspired(a concept few collaborating musicians have been able to grasp).

 

[huber]

Oh man, for some Danny Carey craziness from the electric part of things listen to Intension. I just got that on shuffle and OH MY GOODNESS that is incredible electronic work.

 

[All_¥our_Bass]

+1 on the ethnic influence, he does sound VERY unique.