jellisjenius

The funny thing is Incubus is not even one of my favorite bands, and I assure you I am not personally insulted by any of what you wrote about them. I just think there is no reasonable basis for calling them a “bad” band or insulting them the way you have done now in 3-4 separate posts. I have spent a lot of time in SoCal - the music scene from which they emerged - and have a good deal of familiarity/expertise on popular music history, especially during this time frame. I assure you they are well respected and have earned that respect. Anyway I’m not trying to convince you to like them, just to maybe respect them. I wouldn’t have said anything except that you insulted them unprovoked in 3 consecutive posts. If you don’t want to listen to me maybe listen to Rick Beato or others on their legacy as a band: https://www.houstonpress.com/music/incubus-still-has-it-after-all-these-years-9655802

I definitely get that if you can't stand a band's vocals it's hard to enjoy the music. I feel this way about Bob Dylan, a lot of the death metal growling, some punk bands, etc. As an American and native English speaker I can assure you that Incubus are not wannabe/pretentious though, in fact their lyrics are generally very vulnerable and honest. "Dig" as an example is a lovely song about the reality that in close relationships (good friends, family, etc.) we humans are often terrible to each other and drive each other crazy, but it's worth the effort to forgive and work through those issues. This is about as unpretentious as you can get: "So when sickness turns my ego up I know you'll act as a clever medicine If I turn into another [person] Dig me up from under what is covering The better part of me" As for counting your bass chart, I mean it's not really fair to let you record a 100% on an easier version of the song, especially when I put in a note in both the OP and my follow-up post to use the correct version.

More importantly, @ Rodman and I believe @ ShankD you have played the wrong version of "Dig" on bass. Both versions use the same album art and are the same length but the one linked in the OP under the "bass" section (not lead or rhythm) is more challenging and has more notes. I confirmed this when @ Rodman recorded his 100% with 588 notes - the correct version has 665 notes and I doubt anyone will be recording a 100% on it. It's easy to differentiate the two versions as the correct one is bass only.

@ GeoAbraxas Yeah, I'm not talking about personal preference - obviously millions of people like bands that the ones I mentioned that I find incredibly generic and "bad". And to be fair to Nickelback, I don't think I listened to any of their early stuff so maybe I'm missing something. But to call Incubus "bad" just rubs me the wrong way as they were/are innovators who will be remembered 20 years from now as they have and will have inspired many musicians that came after them. I'm a bit of a popular music history buff and there are many bands who were incredibly creative and influential but whose music I don't necessarily enjoy listening to (eg, The Pixies). I wouldn't insult them or talk about how terrible they are.

@ Rodman I'm sorry to hear that you don't like Incubus, but everyone has different taste, that's cool. To call them a "bad band" though...I mean objectively speaking they are one of the most interesting and technically diverse/proficient bands of their time. Like Soundgarden they experimented a lot and used unexpected sounds but still had mainstream success. The quality of their releases after Light Grenades (2006) is more spotty but everything late 90s/early 2000s is top notch. When I think of objectively "bad" bands I think of, say, Nickelback, Fall Out Boy, or Imagine Dragons. /rant

Got in an SA run for Dig:

First run this week. I should have time to work on my class score at least. Not sure what I missed: Maybe my favorite Incubus track, just an amazing song and a fun bassline: Tame Impala/Kevin Parker is one of many many amazing Australian musicians, and I personally enjoy his vocals as well as the challenging bassline: I'm not ready to try Sinister Minister again yet.

Hey thanks for testing out all the songs! Temple of the Dog is of course Chris Cornell in what is IMO among the best vocal work of his entire career. Certainly some of the most soulful vocals he ever recorded.

New week posted...good luck and enjoy!

A few notes: For "Dig", make sure to use the links provided on lead/rhy and the separate link for bass. "Sinister Minister" has actual bass god Victor Wooten on bass, so...good luck

Welcome to the CF Rocksmith 2014 Championship! -= Week 419 =- FAQ: => How and Why join the Championships? => Rocksmith 2014 Championships rules Last week's winners Lead: Beginner: @ Cultofsolar Intermediate: @ DarthStrom Advanced: @ TarpMada Masterclass: @ Jakobgreve Rhythm: Beginner: @ LacrimaLuna Intermediate: @ Banjoclan Advanced: @ Mikson Masterclass: @ Jakobgreve Bass: Beginner: @ luckyoldme Beginner Bonus: @ luckyoldme Intermediate: @ kayteck Advanced: @ Mikson Masterclass: @ nlbsmglsk Congrats to all winners. Well done! Rocksmith Championship Leaderboard This week's songs are: Lead Path: Beginner: Foreigner - I Want To Know What Love Is (3) chosen by @ Mikson Intermediate: RX Bandits - Only For The Night (5) chosen by @ Anitomer Advanced: Temple of the Dog - Call Me a Dog (6) my choice Masterclass: Incubus - Dig (8) my choice God of Guitar: Galneryus - Angel of Salvation (9.5) - week 2/2 - chosen by @ greven98 (Eb Std) - Attention: 14 minuts long version!!! . Rhythm Path: Beginner: Temple of the Dog - Call Me a Dog (3) Intermediate: Incubus - Dig (5) Advanced: Judas Priest - Jawbreaker (6) my choice Masterclass: N/A . Bass Path: Beginner: Temple of the Dog - Call Me a Dog (2.5) Intermediate: Foreigner - I Want To Know What Love Is (6) Intermediate bonus: Judas Priest - Jawbreaker (5.5) Advanced: Incubus - Dig (7) **note: different version from lead/rhythm, authored by RyanBurnsRed** Masterclass: Tame Impala - 'Cause I'm a Man (8.5) (D Std) my choice God of Bass: Bela Fleck and the Flecktones - The Sinister Minister - week 1/2 - my choice . You can submit your song suggestions for the championship here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1HzgY90kLwyGqzJ-R64v8lmpeQMMhhxwGwUlenepIgms/edit#gid=6 . Share with us your opinion on this weeks songs difficulty scores (1-10). . Classless, Fearless FreeBird Members in their endless battle with the fb police: 2groggy Let us know your opinions on the accuracy of the difficulty scores (1-10) for this weeks songs.

Fair warning...new week incoming in the next hour or so. Get your scores in!

First tries for int and adv this week: Senjutsu is a really strong album, and the title track has one of the more accessible but fun Steve Harris basslines. I really enjoyed the little outro part: Dave Ellefson is technically proficient but not one of my favorite bassists - it's brute force stuff and my hands were just not happy at the end:

Soundgarden amazes me...how a band could have so much mainstream success while experimenting so heavily with odd arrangements and tunings. Rusty Cage is one of their more straightforward songs but I just didn't have time to master it sufficiently this week:

Not my favorite week but I like the advanced song so that works out. Gouge Away is pretty cool, just not all that interesting on bass. In general I don't enjoy easy songs with slides that don't register very well: And this song is nice, I just got into the groove: I played Wild Eyes for like 30 seconds and NOPE. I don't enjoy Japanese pop enough to endure that. As for Powerwolf, I understand why some might like them, but as a native English speaker I find their lyrics and image very cringe-worthy and therefore I can't enjoy a song like Prayer in the Dark. It sounds like the kind of weird "look at me I'm edgy and anti-religion" stuff that appealed to me as a teenager but not as an adult.

Agree that this is one of the most bass-driven Oasis songs, and therefore one that I really enjoy: This one is really tough for me: And congrats to @ Mikson on a very nice Lucky performance...I don't think I'll have time to make another push:

I'm glad folks are enjoying the week. Sorry @ Rodman for not getting the leaderboard tab set up in time...and thanks to whoever did set it up for me. It's been a crazy week for me at work. Anyway, the 90s were my high school and college years and the first time I really expanded my musical horizons. So all these bands and albums have a unique place in my history. My first tries this week: I still need to get fresh runs on Cast No Shadow and Easily as I didn't save screenshots during my testing.

This week's theme is 90's deep cuts, more specifically several fantastic but lesser known tracks off some of the most celebrated albums of the 1990s. For those interested, here is a little tour through the albums in chronological order: 1991 - Ten is the debut studio album by American rock band Pearl Jam. Many of the songs on Ten were instrumental jams or reworked Mother Love Bone - former band of bassist Jeff Ament and guitarist Stone Gossard - songs for which vocalist/front man Eddie Vedder composed new melodies and lyrics. Despite its reputation as a quintessential grunge record, Ten is often noted for displaying a stronger classic rock influence than other contemporary grunge releases. Ten was not an immediate success, but by late 1992 it had reached number two on the Billboard 200. Beyond its role in consolidating the mainstream success of grunge rock in the early 1990s, Ten is generally considered to have been instrumental in the rise and dominance of alternative rock throughout the decade. The album has since been ranked by several publications as one of the greatest albums of all time. By February 2013, it had sold 13 million copies in the US, becoming the 22nd record to do so in the Nielsen SoundScan era and has been certified 13× Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). "Porch" is the eighth track on the album and one of it's lesser-known songs behind "Evenflow", "Alive", "Black", and "Jeremy", but it's a raw, emotional, hard-hitting, and unpredictable song, and the only one on the album written solely by Vedder. 1992 - Rage Against the Machine is the debut studio album by American rock band Rage Against the Machine. Rage Against the Machine was a critical success upon release with several critics noting the album's politically motivated agenda as well as Zack de la Rocha's strong vocal delivery. Rated number 24 on the Rolling Stone's list of "100 Greatest Metal Albums of All Time", the album peaked at number 1 on the US Billboard Heatseekers chart and number 45 on the US Billboard 200 and has gone on to achieve triple platinum sales certification in the US. "Fistful of Steel" is the 8th track on the album and like all other songs on the album, it's success is dwarfed by that of "Killing in the Name"...but also that of more modest hits "Bombtrack", "Know Your Enemy", and "Wake Up." It's no less incendiary or kickass, with Tom Morello's wizardry and Timmy C's aggressive bass licks. Be warned - you will need 24+ frets to play this properly on lead. 1993 - Siamese Dream is the second studio album by American alternative rock band the Smashing Pumpkins. The album has received widespread acclaim by audiences and critics alike, with the album's musical influences and lyrical material standing out compared to other alternative records released during its time. The album has since been considered "one of the finest alt-rock albums of all time". Despite recording sessions fraught with difficulties and tensions, Siamese Dream debuted at number ten on the Billboard charts, and eventually was certified 4x Platinum, with the album selling over six million copies worldwide, cementing the Smashing Pumpkins as an important group in alternative rock music. "Mayonaise" is the 9th track on the album and is not exactly unknown - it's one of the most stunningly beautiful songs to be released in the decade and is hard to overlook - but is overshadowed by the three enormously successful hits "Cherub Rock", "Today", and "Disarm" that precede it. "Mayonaise" is one of two songs on the album for which guitarist James Iha has co-writing credits with Billy Corgan. The other is "Soma", which is also a beautiful track. 1995 - (What's the Story) Morning Glory? is the second studio album by English rock band Oasis. The record propelled Oasis from being a crossover indie act to a worldwide rock phenomenon, and is seen by critics as a significant record in the timeline of British indie music. Morning Glory sold a record-breaking 345,000 copies in its first week in the UK, spent 10 weeks at number one on the UK Albums Chart. It was also the band's breakthrough in America, reaching number four on the US Billboard 200 and being certified 4× platinum there. Although a commercial success, the record initially received lukewarm reviews from mainstream critics; many reviewers deemed it inferior to Definitely Maybe, with the songwriting and production particular points of criticism. However, critical opinion towards the album completely reversed in the ensuing years, and it is now generally considered an important record of both the Britpop era and the 1990s in general, as well as appearing on several lists of the greatest albums in rock music. "Cast No Shadow" is the 8th track on the album and one of the lesser-known behind mega hits "Wonderwall", "Don't Look Back in Anger", "Some Might Say", and "Champagne Supernova". It's one of my favorite from the album though and has a surprisingly active bass part for an Oasis song. 1997 - OK Computer is the third studio album by English rock band Radiohead. The album depicts a world fraught with rampant consumerism, social alienation, emotional isolation and political malaise; in this capacity, OK Computer has been said to have prescient insight into the mood of 21st-century life. The band used unconventional production techniques, including natural reverberation through recording on a staircase, and no audio separation. Despite lowered sales estimates by EMI, who deemed the record uncommercial and difficult to market, OK Computer reached number one on the UK Albums Chart and debuted at number 21 on the Billboard 200, Radiohead's highest album entry on the US charts at the time, and was soon certified 5× platinum in the UK and double platinum in the US. OK Computer received critical acclaim and has been cited by listeners, critics and musicians as one of the greatest albums of all time. "Lucky" is the 11th track on the album and lags behind hits like "Paranoid Android" - a regular candidate for the best individual songs of all time - as well as "Karma Police" and "No Surprises", but in fact was the first song written and recorded by the band in 1995 (the other songs were all recorded in 1996-97). It's a gorgeous and surprisingly challenging song to play. 1999 - Californication is the seventh studio album by American rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers. Californication marked the return of John Frusciante, who had previously appeared on Mother's Milk and Blood Sugar Sex Magik, to replace Dave Navarro as the band's guitarist. Frusciante's return was credited with changing the band's sound altogether, producing a notable shift in style from the music recorded with Navarro. Californication is the Chili Peppers' most commercially successful studio release internationally, with over 15 million copies sold worldwide, and more than 6 million in the United States alone. As of 2002, the album had sold over 4 million copies in Europe. The record marked a significant change in style for the band: Rolling Stone's Greg Tate noted that "while all previous Chili Peppers projects have been highly spirited, Californication dares to be spiritual and epiphanic". In the 2020 edition of Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list Californication placed at 286. "Easily" is the seventh track on the album and a feisty challenge for Frusciante and Flea wannabes, but is often overlooked in favor of big hits like "Around the World", "Scar Tissue", "Otherside", and "Californication". You will get a workout playing this.

Welcome to the CF Rocksmith 2014 Championship! -= Week 415 =- Theme Week: 90s Deep Cuts FAQ: => How and Why join the Championships? => Rocksmith 2014 Championships rules Last week's winners Lead: Beginner: @ kayteck Intermediate: @ GeoAbraxas Advanced: @ Mikson Masterclass: @ nlbsmglsk Rhythm: Beginner: @ LacrimaLuna Intermediate: @ Banjoclan Advanced: @ Mikson Masterclass: @ nlbsmglsk Bass: Beginner: @ LacrimaLuna Intermediate: @ ShankD Advanced: @ jellisjenius Masterclass: @ nlbsmglsk Congrats to all winners. Well done! Rocksmith Championship Leaderboard This week's songs are: Lead Path: Beginner: Oasis - Cast No Shadow (3.5) Intermediate: The Smashing Pumpkins - Mayonaise (5) NOTE: please use the linked version by top-notch charter arrov, it's the only one with all three tracks Advanced: Radiohead - Lucky (6.5) Advanced Bonus: Rage Against the Machine - Fistful of Steel (6.5) Masterclass: Pearl Jam - Porch (7) Masterclass Bonus: Red Hot Chili Peppers - Easily (7.5) . Rhythm Path: Beginner: Oasis - Cast No Shadow (3.5) Intermediate: The Smashing Pumpkins - Mayonaise (5) NOTE: please use the linked version by top-notch charter arrov, it's the only one with all three tracks Advanced: Rage Against the Machine - Fistful of Steel (6) Masterclass: Pearl Jam - Porch (7) . Bass Path: Beginner: The Smashing Pumpkins - Mayonaise (4) NOTE: please use the linked version by top-notch charter arrov, it's the only one with all three tracks Intermediate: Oasis - Cast No Shadow (5) Intermediate Bonus: Rage Against the Machine - Fistful of Steel (6) Advanced: Radiohead - Lucky (6.5) Advanced Bonus: Pearl Jam - Porch (7.5) Masterclass: Red Hot Chili Peppers - Easily (8) . You can submit your song suggestions for the championship here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1HzgY90kLwyGqzJ-R64v8lmpeQMMhhxwGwUlenepIgms/edit#gid=6 . Share with us your opinion on this weeks songs difficulty scores (1-10). . Classless, Fearless FreeBird Members in their endless battle with the fb police: 2groggy Let us know your opinions on the accuracy of the difficulty scores (1-10) for this weeks songs.

Okay, new week going up momentarily so Week 414 results are officially final. I hope you all enjoy the new week!

I think I’ll be posting the new week in about two hours so consider this the two-hour warning for getting your scores in.

Not my favorite week except for Vulfpeck of course... Beginner and intermediate bass charts were both awkward to play and intermediate I think was not synced well. I didn't even remember to save a screenshot of that one. Back Pocket is great and it's by far Vulfpeck's best known song...playful falsetto is not for everyone I guess but it very much goes with the band's wacky image: And this...was kinda fun except my hands wanted to commit seppuku before the end of the song:

@ GeoAbraxas This is why I ultimately settled on being a bassist only - I hate chords and really suck at changing between them. @ Rodman I'm hoping to be able to help more w/the CS when I get more settled in the US. My first and possibly only tries this week: I hadn't heard of Uncle Acid before this week and I like their sound. I did find this one actually a bit harder than The Trees on sightread, maybe because I'm more familiar with Rush and Geddy Lee's playing style in general: And yeah, The Trees is a lot of fun to play even if some of the fills are a bit beyond my current level:

First tries this week: Totally botched the little run of chords, going to try this with a pick: This is one of those songs that just clicks for me right away, some fantastic grooves:

Great week - thanks @ Mikson ! Fade to Black is an all-timer for me and Astronomy is a lot of fun on bass, so I'm excited.