Daughtry

I rediscovered It's Not Over by Chris Daughtry a few days ago. I'd heard it before as the soundtrack to a fanmade video on Youtube which I'd forgotten about until I accidentally found it again. So between shuffling my MP3 player for a bit of variety, I've been listening to It's Not Over fairly regularly, sometimes on repeat grace a Youtube. This morning I've started the day with it again, and I've followed the related video links to listen to a few more. So far I've listened to Gone, Crashed and Breakdown and I quite like what I'm listening to.

It's Not Over is an instant fav with a strong, belty yet melodic chorus and Daughtry's voice captured my attention from the first deep, softly-sung lines.

Gone has a nicely paced guitar solo that merges very nicely into the voice as Daughtry launches into his final choruses. The phrasing of the Every time I see... lines is unusual and creates a good momentum. I also like the watery, distant effect used in the intro. (Anyone find it somewhat reminiscent of the Cleyra's Trunk music from FFIX? There's another song that really does seem similar but I have to remember it first...might be Light On by David Cook.)

Crashed has nice layers of soft guitar in the intro and through the first verse. Daughtry's voice is strong and we get hints at a bit of soul in some of his line endings and also a bit of country eg I can't walk away-y. I also love the way the drums pick things up between verse and chorus.

I looked up the album on Amazon and HMV yesterday and I'll buy it as soon as the lovely 13 track version is back in stock. The Amazon reviews got on my nerves a bit though, with one person describing his music as 'accessible'. Now to me accessible music is stuff that's easy to get hold of thanks to Youtube and online music vendors. It's clear that the reviewer meant it in a negative sense though, as a kind of criticism. If by accessible, the reviewer means that it has a wide fanbase then why should there be a problem with that? This sort of rock might not be as alternative and experimental as Led Zeppelin or Pink Floyd or stray into heavier, classic metal territory like Metallica or ACDC but does that mean that there's anything wrong with it? In my opinion music doesn't always have to be new and push boundaries and break the mould. Too much emphasis is placed on genre and classification now (a general trend in our society I think) and on always being groundbreaking and 'alternative'. To me, the only thing that's important is the sound.

Yes, every now and then something new and unusual comes along and it catches my attention. Sun Goes Down by David Jordan is a recent example of this. But to my mind, while David Jordan's music is very different to Chris Daughtry's supposedly 'accessible' rock there is no difference when it comes to liking it. If a song makes you want to sing along, makes you want to dance or instills any kind of emotion in you at all, then it is a good piece of music and no one should feel ashamed or apologetic for wanting to listen to it. Labelling something as 'accessible' is, in my opinion, an example of this.