Danswers 09: Steffy G

Tool is great, that much is the truth and I stand by it in this corner of the Internet :D

Folks, people are going to dislike things you like. That's a pretty simple truth. There's no reason to get bent out of shape and make personal attacks. Be nice, be constructive in your criticism, or please don't say anything at all.

Also, for the record, Tool is pretty much up there with country in terms of music I don't give a crap about. NIN? Now there's a band. I HAVE SPOKEN.

I love Tool but Dan not liking it checks out as fine. On to the Danswers.

I don't know man, talking about fucked up dreams in extreme detail can be pretty exciting. Now, if you want to talk about the weather we're going to have a problem. ;)

A lot of fans of musical acts are named after the artist they enjoy. "Deadheads", "Beliebers", etc.

Tool is the first band that named themselves after their fans.

I couldn't have said it better myself.

I enjoy NIN. I found Pretty Hate Machine and The Downward Spiral on vinyl and put them on sometimes, anyway. I think I could like Tool if I were in the right mood, but like so much of what I think I might like I've yet to give them a fair shake.

@graveyardpolka: I think Tool has to hit you when you're at a certain point in life in order for you to really latch on to it. There's also a ton of interesting musical ideas in their songs that I haven't heard anywhere else.

I think age also has something to do with it, similar to Eminem for me. If I were my current age when I first heard Eminem, I don't think I'd "get it", because I'm not as angry as I was when I was in middle school, and I'm more mature now. I still respect him immensely as an artist, but I just don't really want to listen to his music anymore. The same goes for Tool.

The great Tool debate aside...

I really appreciated this episode having a professional on. I know Dan and Danny both state that this is an advice podcast and not actual from anyone trained but I'm glad there was some more refined guidance.

I hope you guys continue to bring professionals and other guests on and maybe save some of the mental health questions for people like Stephanie.

Keep up the great work. Also ya'll need to calm down in the comments.

Holy hell I think Dan saying PINK FLOYD is a terrible band is a bigger headline than Tool. Pink Floyd. What.

@xerseslives said:

Seriously though, you should hear about this dream I had. Shit was crazy, you'll never believe who was there.

Are we sure Dan has Danswers...? The confusion he has with the underwear conundrum has me scared.

Haven't you all learned by now? When it comes to music, if it isn't Led Zeppelin, GnR, or Donkey Kong Tropical Freeze, Dan doesn't like it.

I haven't listened to enough Tool to have an opinion of them one way or the other but A Perfect Circle is a pretty cool band.

Just got to the Tool segment. Dan is the best, that was awesome.

@danryckert Good God man the things you say.....You are a credit to this site Sir, endless laughs. The masses will rage after those Tool comments though.

Just wanted to say that this podcast was the main reason that I signed up to be a Premium member. Keep 'em coming, and thanks!

Dan not liking tool is ok; him condemning the entire genre of reggae while calling axl rose a musical genius a few weeks ago on the bombcast was pretty lame.

Too much sophistication goes into Tool. That's why.

I mean...it's obviously Stephdanie, right?

Tool is genius, guess i'm looking forward to hearing Dan say something ridiculous. He loves GnR a bit to much so its fine.

Great, as always. Stephanie was a fantastic guest. Thanks, guys.

Tool isn't great - this is the first time Dan and I can agree on something musical (I love you Dan <3)

I don't care about Tool but listening to a couple of their songs they weren't actually offensive. Also the music video for Sober was really cool. Konami should work with them on the next Silent Hill.

The fact that I had to get to the second page to see any actual content about Danswers and not a funny-ass side conversation is incredible. Thank you for not being crazy!

And I totally agree. This episode has been fantastic. Thank you, Stephdanny, Dan and Danny!

@danryckert: do you really HATE Tool?

@danryckert This is going to sound weird, but what day was this recorded? Just want a little peace of mind knowing that I missed the deadline instead of my question just not being "good enough."

(Subject Line: Too Little Or Too Much, if it matters)

Once again doesn't feel like the format actually delivers for me. Not for my issues.

Tool fans can be such TOOLS *rimshot*

all jokes aside, this show in general has been super interesting, keep it up!

I love how they talk about various serious issues and the one thing everyone focuses on is an offhand comment about Tool. Sums up Giantbomb in a nutshell.

dan...no tool is the best :(

All this talk about Tool and I'm just sitting here thinking, "Aww, poor ol' Bill Cosby."

@bennyboy: I feel like the Wise or Kirkhope segment on the bombcast proves that Dan does not have an ear for music. That's fine, he can like what he likes, but those tracks he picked were all so blatantly obvious that Brad and Jeff only missed any because they were metagaming it.

It just shows that he can't really identify composition or instrumentation in a deeper fashion than "I recognize this guitar riff!"

Skynyrd is great, though. I'm more surprised that he likes Zeppelin and not Pink Floyd.

StephDANie

Tool seems like one of the last bands that Dan would ever listen to. Like Korn or Slipknot. This should surprise no one.

As a someone who just got their BA in psychology, it was wonderful to have Stephanie on.

As for the dragged chitchat about DAN NOT LIKING >insert your favorite thing here<, who cares? I love Tool but you have to admit for most people who don't usually listen to metal, Tool can be overwhelming in its complexity. No one on the internet cares about your refined music taste.

This was a fantastic podcast. Let's get Steff on again later!

Oh, comment sections on the internet... never change.

I was almost champing at the bit to read the comments once Dan mentioned Tool.

"Surely nobody would take bait that obvious, right? Isn't the whole thing with angry Tool fans that they're the smartest people on the planet because they like a song that uses the Fibonacci Sequence in its time signature?", I thought to myself. But oh, right... internet. If you don't like the same collection of noises that I do, then you'd better duck and cover!

(I actually have nothing at all against Tool or their more levelheaded fans. Schism is an excellent song. The jab in the preceding paragraph is solely because it's way too much fun to see the angry fan crowd rush in to tell people how stupid they are for not acknowledging that Maynard invented and perfected the art of music, and "Hooker With A Penis" is the song that Mozart only wished he could have written.)

(That second jab just then was for the same purpose.)

Are you an Isis fan, too? (The band, obviously.) Oceanic and Panopticon are both prog / post-metal masterpieces.

Sorry, but Stephanie is spouting nonsense about cannabis if the person is a grown adult. There are no studies that are scientifically proven that cannabis causes any negative consequences on cognition (seriously, cognition? what nonsense) or memory save for HEAVY young users.

Disappointing that there wasn't a non-biased viewpoint here. Oh well.

I'm not the only one who thinks Axl Rose sounds like a dying cat, right?

Forget all this Tool nonsense I'm more surprised Dan has heard of Dream Theater, I never hear anyone talking about them. Good on ya Dan even if you don't like them.

This is a great one!

@xerseslives: I dunno, man, I'm pretty into hearing about people's dumb dreams. I am pretty strongly in support of people talking about them. Much better than people talking about shitty unlikeable reality.

@inresurrection: Isis fucking ruled. I got to see them a few times before they broke up. Yes panopticon is brilliant.

@crapdragoon: Lucky enough to have seen them back in 2009, with the mighty Pelican no less. What a legendary show.

I'm seriously impressed and constantly encouraged by this podcast. I love GiantBomb, but it's so good to see the Dans delve into heavy shit. Part of this is because I still live with depression and PTSD and it helps to hear their voices, but another part tells me that Jeff and the rest of the site are into doing serious stuff, because, even though I love video games, life gets serious. I write a blog about depression (which I won't post because I feel like it would be douchey) but it's so nice to hear you guys just comfortably talk about this stuff. I'm a huge fan of this site and this podcast, and Dan, I'm so glad you brought this new angle to the site. Please keep it up. If I'm having a tough night (and as a graduate student, there are a lot of them) this podcast makes me feel like I'm heard and understood (vicariously). Thank you again. Duders keep duding

John