Entertainment For Lively Minds
Acts that make you feel ill...
Posted by Iainso on 9 March 2010 - 1:12pm.
Badartdog & I recently made comments on the "If you had to pick one Steely Dan song..." thread, about acts which make you feel physically ill.
Badartdog felt this way about Steely Dan, and I commented that Public Image Ltd, particularly the Live In Tokyo album made me feel similarly wretched (it's happening now, honestly, my sinuses are playing up, and I feel a bit woozy!).
Anyhoo, is this a common feeling amongst the Massive? Do you throw up when you hear "Word Up", do you feel under the weather when you hear "Under the Bridge", or do you feel sick again when you hear "Sick Again"? I'll stop now.
Over to you, what music makes you want to barf?
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The Smiths...
Cannot listen to anything of theirs at all. That god-awful voice makes me want to self harm. (which ironically would probably put me in their target audience).
Has to be the Dan
I have no interest in knocking a band which many hear enjoy, but they'll have to do it when I'm out of the room as their music genuinely makes me nauseous.
Yep
- I think it's the pitch of the singer's voice and most of the instrumentation - it just seems to be at a level that makes me tense, gives me a sinus head-ache. Their music sounds whiny and too fiddly for me to listen to comfortably. I get the same feeling with some of my dad's jazz records too.
Prog.
The vast majority (not all) of Prog. Pink Floyd are, for me, the worst offenders. Stuff like "Have A Cigar" makes me, not ill, but furious.
A piece of music makes you furious?
That seems a bit excessive!
Any more excessive than...
...a piece of music making someone feel nauseous? Music makes me furious all the damn time! I don't recall ever genuinely feeling sick after listening to music, though.
Lynyrd Skynyrd
I once endured a very hungover journey in a hot taxi to the strains of a song that went 'Ooh that smell' (since identified as being by the SHAH). Just the thought of it brings back the nausea.
If only there were a Persian cover band.
They'd be the SHAH of Iran.
I'll. Um. Yeah. Coat.
So many,oh so many,
but right at this moment it has to be UB40.Why would anyone elect to waste their time listening to a bunch of whiny nasal white boys murder reggae.It makes me feel ill just having to recall their many musical transgressions for the purposes of typing this.
White Boys?
Mixed-race, surely.
They are terrible though, you got that right.
..I implore everyone to try listening to...
..."Don't Break My Heart", this moody pre-cursor to Trip Hop really goes against the grain of UB40s other mid-80s output and begs for critical re-appraisal..
Says something when that was their last good record...
Jeffrey Morgan Loves White Girls - 1984?
My bad.
They worse.
U2's Achtung Baby..
...a friend of mine once described this as "headache music"...
A lot of people seem to
A lot of people seem to really hate that album! Its actually my favourite U2 one & has some real gems on it. Acrobat & Ultra Violet are great tunes. I have never liked Rattle & hum though, the version of 'All Along The Watchtower' makes me feel quite ill
Sorry, I know it makes me uneclectic and a bad person....
...but the overwhelming majority of electronic dance music. Especially of the variety to be heard booming from Vauxhall Corsas the nation over, courtesy of very, very stupid young men with awful girlfriends.
As usual, the answer is...
Scooter!
Is that the Germanic looking headcase
who murdered "Wonderful Life"?
If so, I'd have no qualms about administering a short sharp slap.
I don't know..
but once, just once, at the traffic lights, I'd like to hear something like Roger Whittaker, or the Swingle Singers, or the Singing bastard Nun, even, blasting out of one of those stupid cars. The faintest glimmer of originality. That's all I ask.
It's music
for people who hate music. It's designed to be played loud, so they can advertise to everyone that they're "laaaahk well into clubbin innit", without actually engaging any part of their brain or emotions in the consumption of it.
I drive a Vauxhall
although in the rest of the world it´s known as Opel. I was out driving yesterday and was listening to Simon & Garfunkel. Will that do?
Motorhead
Nothing against the music, but I worked several of their gigs and the sheer volume was like being thumped in the stomach. Perfectly fine on record, but live... ouch.
Michael Bublé
Most of the songs I've heard have made me feel physically slightly queasy. It sounds to me as if there is a LOT of autotune involvement, or at least some heavy processing/compressing, which has that sub-emetic effect on me. However: yesterday I heard a horrible, horrible, horrible (it really was horrible) version of Cry Me A River on Radio 2. The singer was belting it out as if he was doing an encore of New York, New York at a New Year's Eve party, missing the point by as wide a margin as it is possible to imagine. There was no audible autotune. It was still vile. The singer was Michael Bublé.
Buble
Ah, you beat me to it. The only thing that makes me sicker than MB is to hear Parky talking about him with that "I only like proper music" tone in his voice.
A dub tape
I made 15 odd years ago. Mixed in with some slowed down(!) Mo-wax, On-U Sound and a delay pedal. The actual playback made me vomit and losen me up below. I look back on those effects as a triumph. Always intended to have a word with Jimmy Cauty about a spot of urban terrorism/free art. Never did. Ah well...
The *oss
I hate Springsteen, and I think it's fairly well documented on previous threads. Listening to a man shouting at me that he was he born in the colonies ain't entertainment. He should start all his albums with the Neil Innes line 'I've died for my art, now it's your turn'.
Not a troll
But you keep saying this thing about him shouting - have you heard anything other than "Born in the USA " single? You can't have, because it is a fact that he frequently sings softly and sensitively.
1985....
He had a tendency to shout a bit around this time but it certainly hasn't been true in a long time.
Maybe you should give a chance to some of his later recordings, your preconceptions may be challenged.
Agree entirely. "Paradise"
Agree entirely. "Paradise" off the Rising is a fabulous vocal which barely gets above a whisper.
A Different Bruce
And for those of us who do find him a bit shouty...
...cover your ears now
OK chaps
I promise I will try again. Right, where are those Springsteen CDs and earplugs (just in case)!!
Lo fi Bruce
This might be the key:
This is the far superior version
And I say that as a major fan of Sir Shoutalot.
Tubular Bells
causes me huge psychological trauma - does that count?
It's not the music itself - why would I listen to it if I didn't like it? - but the part about two-thirds of the way through Side One (ask yer grandad) where it all descends to a burbling bass riff.
That's all fine and gently lulling. But the problem is that I know that at some point some fruity-voiced fucker is going to say "Grand Piano" quite loud. I just don't know exactly when.
So after about 30 seconds of bubbly riffage I start to tense up. My left eyelid twitches. I try to predict when Viv's going to ejaculate in my ear, but there's no clue in the music. After two minutes I'm muttering "grandpianograndpianograndpiano" under my breath. It's Chinese orator torture.
So I get up from my foetal position on the floor and go to move the needle on, skip a bit to "reed and pipe organ" or something, because then the melody's going again and you know where you are. But what if I don't go far enough? What if I drop the needle and the guy just goes "Grand Piano" right there and then? I'd have a heart attack.
So anyway, haven't listened to it in years. Got to go now, eyelid twitching uncontrollably for some reason.
I feel that way..
...about those infernal horns on 'Starlings' by Elbow. I hate them, all creeping up unexpected, but I adore the rest of the album.
Wings
Mentioned in another thread recently - "Jet!" - but for some reason the overwhelming majority of the MoKHs output makes me feel a bit queasy. Uusually it's because there is just too much damned whimsy, but it is especially sick-inducing when the song is rocking and rolling along nicely and then, pass the white paper bag, it suddenly veers without warning into vomitous realms of cuteness.
There are exceptions: Live and Let Die, Waterfall and, oddly, I retain an unbreakable affection for The Frog Chorus. Chiz.
An old fart writes...
Lady Gaga
La Roux
Florence and the Machine
Marina and the Diamonds
Joanna Newsom
Anything featuring Pete Doherty
Dido, Joss Stone, Duffy, Lily Allen, Kate Nash
James Blunt, Michael Buble, Jamie 'Ratboy' Cullum, Michael fucking Ball etc (anything that Michael Parkinson might like)
All modern R&B
The Cribs, Kasabian, Razorlight, Kaiser Chiefs and all landfill indie
Mariah Carey, Jennifer Lopez, Christina Aguilera, Britney Spears etc etc etc
'Soul' music of the R. Kelly and Boys 2 Men variety
All contemporary American bands who call themselves 'punk rock' and have lots of tattoos
All techno
Most modern rap music (I really like early hip hop)
Everything associated with Pop Idol and its ilk
Have you heard any of the new Joanna Newsom album Patrick?
It might change your mind about her ... (really, it might)
Err... yes I have...
and I'm sorry to say that I was less than impressed by it. I just don't like her voice, in fact I can't stand her voice. I'm afraid she's one artist I just don't get.
I agree with you as to her voice on Ys
... but it is markedly different on 'Have One on Me'. Reminiscent of Kate Bush to my ears - a moot point I admit. I think 'In California' is lovely as I posted on another thread, but not to everyone's taste, I grant you.
Patrick...
is there anything released this century that you like??!!
I agree with much of what you list with some exceptions, a number of whom I bought as I got swept along in the dizzy media hooha of that particular weeks big thing (e,g Kaisers).
As for the preponderance of ladies in "rock" these days (or is it pop? Who can tell?), the music industry has done its usual thing of completely swamping an interesting trend with a positive cornucopia of bland. As has so often been the case, the early adopters are interesting, different and innovative, the latter ones tending to pop fully formed, bright and shiny off the production line but with little to say. Just like all cars today look the same (I mean mainstream models before you smartarses start putting pictures of weird and wonderful supercars up).
Yoy are absolutely spot on with Mariah, Soul "punk" rap and Cowell. I'll admit to watching but mainly to shout at how crap and depressing it is, such as when they lauded that great Robbie classic "She's The One" with no mention of its provenance.
I like...
The Unthanks.
It's a long list
And I agree with most of it. I still only know one Lady Gaga song, so can't really comment - though the televised clips I've seen of her have been superb, and make me think she's got something about her. I've similarly only heard one Marina & the Diamonds song - and I didn't like it at all, not a fan of that mannered singing style. That said, some may regards Joanna Newsom's singing as mannered too, and I love her.
I've got some time for Joss Stone; I think she's young and talented enough to grow into a substantial artist, though it could equally go horribly wrong. She was very good on Later recently.
Any love for Dizzee Rascal? Definitely worth investigating if you haven't already.
Dizzee Rascal isn't my thing...
but I am in favour of him as a person, particularly after seeing his having a dig at Kate Moss. I like him, I just don't like his music.
Hmm.
The Divine Comedy. Belle And Sebastien. The Fall. Mindless techno. Grime. Journey other than on Frontiers and Escape.
Eva Bollocking Cassidy. I know she died tragically early but we can take solace in the fact that it means her back-catalogue is blissfully small. Although sadists seem still to be finding the odd new bit here and there. Can any of The Massive listen to Somewhere Over The Rainbow without wanting to be sick and throw the radio out of the window?
The only act that made me feel physically ill
...Would have been the Black Crowes, live somewhere in Sheffield, around '92. The (quite appalling) sound was a stew of feedback and grumbling bass, and I had to retire to the bar. To be honest probably more a failing of the venue than the band.
I was sick listening to ELO, but that was related to ingested substances.
Heartbreaker by Free
What a diverting thread.
I bought a copy of Free's Heartbreaker when I was 13 or so, just a few days before I came down with Flu. Proper lie-in-bed-having-terrible-dreams flu.
The song 'Wishing Well' in particular; the lyrics and the riff were washing around my mind for much of that awful time and once I was better I simply could not listen to it. I'd get a terrible light-headed deja vu sort of feeling.
Even now if I hear it I have to brace myself a little.
'You've always been a good friend of mine but you're always sayin' farewell...' Nurse! The screens!
... reaching for the 'Off' switch
anything by the Chili Crappers, Divine Comedy, the Muses, Radioheid, Yootewe, Coldplough, Nu Goth, Electro/Body and that fuckin' awful Sympathy for the Devil!
My hatred of SftD knows no bounds, even when I accept bad drugs were involved.
all the same RHCPs are my bete noir and I can spot the 'orrible snound they make within 3 secs - Blap! they are off
I had an idea the other day
for RHCP lyric fridge magnets. Over some complex yet dull guitar and unfunky bass, rearrange the following to make your own RHCP song:
California
fly
high
bridge
girl
California (again)
ribby-dibby-doo
ribby-dibby-dee
California (once more with feeling)
We did this with Suede lyrics.........
Perm anything from
Chemical
Nuclear
Motorway
Gasoline
Nowhere
Town
Animal
with a Chiffon shirt
and BINGO - you've just written "Head Music"
Another shout for Red Hot CP
Unbelievably shite.
REM
it's the way he sings, whiny, yuck.
Queen, specifically Freddies voice "God knows I want break freeee" ugh.
Chilli Peppers, bleugh.
As usual
the answer is Queen, ELO and ABBA.
And as for The Fall...
I normally run away very fast from anything remotely 'indie'
but there's something strangely compelling about The Fall.
As Peel said, "always different yet always the same".
Paulo Goddamn Nuttini
brings me out in spots.
Hawkwind..
Early eighties,Had been feeling ill for a couple of days but still went to see them at Hammersmith Odeon. During Sonic Attack when the bass oscillation was way low I felt so bad I went to the loo and ended up p!ssing a small kidney stone.
Perhaps they should be used in the NHS.
They are.
They're called lithotripters. And they're machines, not Hawkwind, but the basic theory is the same using soundwaves to shatter kidneystones.
Morrissey
every time a new record surfaces, each a paler photocopy of last, I'm just left with an aching sense of the loss of what might have been. He's turned into his own tribute act and the whole sorry show just leaves me with a minor, temporary dose of ME. Excuse me, I must go for a lie down..
Aswad's
thunderous bass attack (mid-eighties gig). I had overimbibed, so only had myself to blame, but to this day...
I win!!
Anything by The Kooks - They make me feel a range of things & none of them are good. Anger, hatred, nausea...... the list goes on.
Also I struggle with 'Brown Eyed Girl', I actually get a pain in the pit of stomach when I hear it!
My nightmare would be the Kooks covering it... oh, i feel ill!
Not the singer but the song.
Bleedin' Mustang Sally.
Swans
had a rep for making people physically ill at concerts:
One of the trademarks of Swans' early period was playing at painfully loud volumes during concerts, to the point where some audience members would vomit[citation needed] or the police would stop the show. [9][10] This lent a reputation to the name Swans which was one of the contributing factors in Gira's retirement of the band in 1997. [11]
Wikipedia
Gira
He's reformed the swans though Jarboe doesn't appear to be involved (damn shame)
Ooh That Smell
I have to agree with Lucifer Sam. Ooh That Smell by Lynard Skynard has to be the worst rock song ever recorded. The opening notes send me running to the radio to change the station. Unfortunately it is a "classic rock" standard here in the states.
The answer is
Nickleback.