I hate Razorlight because of In The Morning and what I've read about Johnny Borrell. Is my opinion informed? Of course not, but not all of my opinions are. Some are knee jerk prejudice based on very little evidence. Which I will cheerfully air on this here forum.

Mind you I despise U2 because in spite of hating them I seem to know most of their back catalogue. I guess that's the thin line between "dislike" and "actually hate" though...

That is quite enough.

Imagine if your sole knowledge of the Dame was the "Laughing Gnome" and er...."Kooks" ?.

That's a lovely song!

with infinite choice in music - there's not often enough time to dismiss someone based on two songs. At best they might get 30 seconds, at worst their name might be enough to put you off.

But thats always subjective,

My 2 x for the Dame are "Panic in Detroit" and "Young Americans"

Probably not everyones cup of tea.

... why a band who has left you cold after two tracks should get a third chance. Life is short and there's a lot of other music.

There is the chance that's you'll just hear Kooks and The Laughing Gnome, as BernkastelCues says. In principle at least, and for some artists. But not with someone of the stature of Bowie. Dozens of artists have clawed themseves into a prominence which will give you more than two chances, whatever your first impression. Is there anyone in the world who has only heard two songs by Dylan, or the Doors, or Westlife, or Bob Marley? You know whether you like them or not.

Harry Nilsson hasn't reached that level, though I like some of his stuff a lot. Ditto The Boomtown Rats, or a few minor Irish bands I carry a lone torch for.

Time being finite, you have to let consensus and posterity pick up some of the slack. If they've discounted Kissing The Pink, and you haven't heard the White Album, which are you going to start with?

for certain that I've heard anything by Westlife

its quite easy to dislike an artist after only hearing a limited amount of material, if you dont like the vocal tone. No amount of good song writing can save Bono from my boot.

about other people within 30 seconds of meeting them. Giving an act the time to do 2 songs might therefore be seen as patience incarnate.

My take on this: sure, I form opinions quite quickly but I like to think I simply say "I don't like the little I've heard by (insert name here)." If they do something in future that I like, or someone whose opinion I value says I should give it a listen, I'll listen and like or dislike it for what it is. I won't dismiss it simply because of the name of the performer.

They're a group you can completely judge via two songs.

...how many of you do anything other than skip through or play it through only once? I'd wager most of us do that. I bet the Word staff do that with all new material from unknown artists.

That's life, Esther.

- by Guy Chambers - Angels. It has to be the nearest thing to Without You for me in the Songs You Love To Hate list, no matter how many songs he writes this is the one I can't forgive him for. That and the fact he claims to have written over 1000 songs yet only 21 appear to have been 'hits'.

I was put off Mr Beck for years on the strength of just one song - Hi Ho Silver Lining.

Making a judgement that someone isn't your cup of tea after hearing a couple of songs is one thing. Something we all do all the time.
Grandly declaring that a well-liked and well respected singer/writer is "a waste of space" because you don't happen to like the two songs you've heard is quite another.

They are indeed two different, and totally separate, things.

One Later with Jools appearance was enough to convince me that he is the musical equivalent of fingers-down-a-blackboard.

thing of his before I knew it was him such was its sneaky approximation of skilful ska n ting. Hate everything else thou.

In a documentary on Swedish electro group Covenant, one of the band makes a touching speech about their fans along the lines of: "There are countless thousands of bands in the world, and we're so moved by the fact that out of all of them, somebody chose to spend some of their time listening to us."

Quite. For me, sometimes just a single line, or a chorus, is enough to decide that I don't need to hear any more by that artist when I could be listening to somebody better.

Adele, for example, seems to be doing very well, but I'm not bothered about her new stuff simply on the basis that I detested Chasing Pavements (even the name makes me feel slightly ill for some irrational reason).

Blind, unthinking intolerance that might well mean I'm missing out on great music? Certainly. But I'm fine with that. After all, to me my musical taste is perfect. As is everybody else's to them.

I feel quite honoured to have a blog centered round a quote of mine.

I sounded a tad pompous but it was the fact that the OP came from such an ill informed standpoint that niggled me. I don't like 'Hey Jude' or 'Let It Be' very much but if they were the only things I had ever heard by The Beatles, I wouldn't start a thread after watching a poor Fabs documentary to put the boot in.

I have a bee in my bonnet about slaughtering sacred cows with nothing to back it up.

The irony is, I can't stand 'Without You' too and when I was a snobby new wave teenager presumed this Nillson Shmillsson hippy bloke would be just boring beard music. I'm glad I explored further.

Same goes for The Beatles, Bowie, Syd Barratt, Scott Walker, Nick Drake, Zappa, The Beach Boys, Prog rock, Hip-hop, dance music, jazz, electronica, oh loads of stuff I've been judgmental about in the past.

I can't see me having an epiphany with The Black Eyed Peas anytime soon though.

Is the key thing here.

If I started a blog on a messageboard that 'debates music' entitled 'Jazz is drivel' based only on hearing Take 5 by The Dave Brubeck Quartet and something by George Melly that I once heard on Pebble Mill At One, then I deserve to be slightly taken to task, surely?

Ach, "It's all a load of bollocks" as The Specials once sang.

i am not beyond being blinkered enough to dismiss bands on the basis of their haircuts, facial foliage and clothes..
i have found it can save me so much time..

once again..this works for me and is not a communique to be followed

and was so taken by the music of the man on offer I've just bought his "Greatest Hits" as a sampler.

My previous exposure to him was as the guy who sang "Without You" and Everybodies Talkin"/John Lennons boorish drinking buddy.

Listening to songs like "1941" and "Good Old Desk" has changed my perception of him a tad (well, a bit more than a tad, maybe a exponentad)

So perhaps not two songs, but smippets of three or four.