Entertainment For Lively Minds
Who don't you like that everybody else thinks is great?
I listen to a lot of music, a pretty broad selection. But there are people who I just don't get. I see other people loving them. I see magazines like The Word and Uncut and Q putting them on the front cover, devoting page upon page to them. And they just don't touch me.
Pink Floyd. I just don't get it. There is a certain amount of association with a crowd I was at school with here, who got into them around the same time I was discovering punk. This was about 1984/85. I was 15 or so. There was one guy, Kevin, who was to put it simply, a smug twat. Pink Floyd sound to me like the soundtrack to a stoned smug twat. They also sound like they're in a coma a lot of the time. Feel free to put me right on this!
Led Zeppelin. I've tried, I really have. I like parts of it individually. I really like the drums, especially when they've turned up as samples. A lot of it might be the vocals. They grate on me.
The Smiths/Morrisey. Not really a dislike involved here. I like certain songs a lot, Johnny Marr's guitars are lovely. And Morrisey's lyrics are amazing sometimes. But on the whole I don't feel any love, just an occasional admiration. I do have a huge love for Sandie Shaw singing I Don't Owe You Anything. That's the only Smiths I own though..
Who's your equivalent? Wonder why The Beatles are held in such high esteem? Can't work out why anybody would want to listen to Radiohead? Name them!
- More from SimonL.
- Login or register to post comments
-
Jackson Browne and Frank Zappa
I have tried, I really have, bought 'Late For The Sky' listened to it many times but it just "wafts" passed my ears. Frank Zappa, I'm sure he was a clever chap, but all that frat boy 70's shit just got on my tits. the Grand Wazoo indeed!!
I think sometimes its associating music with certain times, places or people, like your smug Floyd fan. For me,another one is "Stairway To Heaven". I came to Toronto in 1976 and thats all that seemed to be played by "classic" boring stoner rock DJ's..then one Sunday night just before midnight the radio station, CHUM FM played some "new music from England' and blaring out of my tiny alarm clock radio came "I Am The Anti-Christ..."and my life was forever changed. I have never listened to "Stairway To Heaven" since.
Christ, Zappa..
...makes me want to tear my ears off.
I used to work with a bloke who was a major Zappa freak and it was the most indulgent flatulent noodling bollocks I've ever heard. Music for musos with retarded senses of humour.
I'll add The Grateful Dead to the list too.
WHO DON'T YOU LIKE THAT EVERYBODY THINKS IS GREAT
Unfortunately in my circle of acquaintances I have to endure people who think that Westlife, Boyzone, Take That and others of the same clan are of musical significance.
It is exactly these sort of people who have made the Cowells' and Louis' of this world into millionaires, while at the same time decrying the raise in their Council Tax or Water charges.
I could never have the balls to say that I have anything by this lot.
Whenever you mention someone of creditable status they say that they don't understand or haven't heard of them.
One begs to ask why, only to find that their radio is tuned into a local radio station that plays safe option music to guarantee maximum advertising revenue.
U2 ...
... I just don't get it/them.
I agree with the Led Zep & Pink Floyd choices too.
U2
Oh yes, that's a good one also REM, i think they are OK, don't need to turn the radio over if they come on, but don't really get the brew ha ha that they create in such great numbers of people...
Well, there's
U2, Eric Clapton, Tom Petty, The Libertines, Paul Weller for starters
I love...
...some of those mentioned here, particularly Floyd, Zeppelin and Zappa. Zappa's 'fratboy' humour isn't his strongest point though; sometimes it raises a juvenile laugh but sometimes it just gets irritating. I preferred his more satirical moments (Dancin' Fool, Valley Girl, Flakes, the early Mothers albums etc.) and all of those mid-70s albums.
The Sex Pistols
Novelty aside, they don't actually stack up. And no, this is not an anti-"punk" stance as I like the Clash (who always get included in these lists.) And the Damned. And the Stranglers.
Zappa was always a better idea than the reality, and however much I love Hot Rats, I can't really abide it all in one go, and Willie the Pimp is really pretty dire, until Bee-Fart (yes, he's another) stops singing. In fact any singing on Zappa means it is going to be cack.
Cack?
"...In fact any singing on Zappa means it is going to be cack"
Wot, even "City of Tiny Lights"?
All Zappa I've heard grates with me as being too Vaudeville and frat-boy - vocals or no, but I love this tune. And Adrian Belew is imho a Great Vocalist as well as my fave guitarist.
Z
Yes.
Even City of Tiny Lights.....
Of Adrian Belew, I came across his duo, with Martha Wainwright, version of Heroes, as I sought to see if Marthas See Emily Play was yet available on i-tunes. (It isn't yet, BTW) Sorry, Zilster, whilst his singing in the clip is not my cup of tea, his singing with Martha Wainwright is dire. I note Unshod have a King Crimson version of Heroes on this months coverdisc, yet unlistened to. Will I supect more from Mr Belew in the same vein, as he is certainly on guitar?
This is cool..
You're not alone...
...there are many people who prefer the Zappa albums without vocals. Check out albums like 'Waka Jawaka' (called 'Hot Rats Part 2) and 'The Grand Wazoo' which keep the vocals to a minimum and are musically in the same vein as 'Hot Rats'.
I'm not really anti-punk either; I dislike the way it's over-analysed but there are various tunes within the genre I do like. But that Clash debut I'll never get...though I think The Stranglers, The Jam, The Damned, The Buzzcocks etc. are all great bands.
Just Buzzcocks JJ...
not the Buzzcocks
Bit...
...nitpicky, no?
I have to say
I have enjoyed pretty much everyone listed above with the exception of Coldplay and U2 - but I love Mark Ronson and Johnny Cash's versions of their songs so they obviously aren't completely useless.
I find it difficult to think of a successful artist who hasn't produced at least one decent peice of music. Robbie Williams maybe, Emerson, Lake and Palmer perhaps. Even Chris De Burgh wrote A Spaceman Came Travelling which is my favourite christmas single ever.
De Burgh
Try Spanish Train on YouTube
I have tried Tom Waits but
I have tried Tom Waits but aside from a few tracks its largely just noise to me. I do struggle with Led Zep - again a few songs sound great but other than that its tuneless riffery to me.
And Paul Weller leaves me cold in a way that The Jam never do.
Tom Waits
Try his early stuff, it's pretty much straight jazz crooning, no noise there. The Heart of Saturday Night leaves me in tears it's so beautiful.
Will do
I love his version of Somewhere but have just struggled with the weird stuff. Will give it a go.
Many of the above
U2 (started well, became too self important), Robbie ( I actually find it incredible that anyone actually likes him. Apparently he doesn't even like himself). The Clash - public schoolboy rebels in designer gear. How punk is that? Word hero, self proclaimed genius and national treasure Stephen Fry. Morrisey. David Bowie - actually I have to admire his cheek, repackaging and representing other people's ideas so successfully. That explains his smug demeanour. Fooled you!
The Clash
were undoubtedly a bunch of middle class boys playing at "punk" (whatever that means), but if you'd seen them do the gig I saw at the Bristol Locarno in 1980 you'd have had to allow that they could put on a truly great show. Probably one of my top 5 gigs ever; 90 minutes breathing a raw mixture of adrenaline and testosterone in gaseous form, drenched in the re-condensed sweat that dripped from the ceiling. Outstanding.
Whenever I have this same
Whenever I have this same conversation with Friends the same band always comes up: The Fall.
In fact, everyone I have ever asked always admits to not "getting them" either.
Does anyone apart from aging former NME hacks actually like The Fall?
Never really got Nick Cave either.
I like The Fall
And Nick Cave. Both Nick and Mark are in their 50s. New albums by both are crackers! No sign of energy loss or tripe making. Can't say the same for U2 though, who seemed to fizzle out after New Year's Day. Although, like the other fellas I know who don't like them, I like Discotheque.
Kaiser Chiefs
The Kooks
Arctic Monkeys
The Killers
elvis
chubby pub singer. just. dont. get. it...
Agreed
Over-sentimental, back-of-the-throat warbling, most of his fans don't like any other music and dress shit and would probably go gay for him if he came back. Probably helped destroy the great Hollywood musical film (so sue me - I love me MGM), didn't write his songs or release an album that stands out. What's the point? My chemistry teacher said Elvis was an abomination on the face of the earth for eating several times as many calories as he needed to live on when others in the world are starving. The class laughed at him (like normal) but now I tend to think he was right, the more I know about Elvis the less I like him.
Other pet hates have been mentioned several times - U2, my best friend loves them so I can't vent my spleen to her, but my God, why do people buy their records? Coldplay - saw them once at V2000 as their fame was just beginning, they pulled a big crowd but failed to put on a show. Martin came across as desperate to please, trying to make jokes as funny as Badly Drawn Boy but just mumbling and his voice not travelling.
Oh, and the Doors, yuck yuck yuck.
Elvis, the ultimate Sacred Cow
Ok, the sun sessions were great, albeit on the back of a rather talented backroom of musos but after that...People talk about the come back special but has anyone actually watched it? It is a horrible variety show! If you actually look at his output with a cold detached eye, you can make a better case for Faces era Rod the Mod! If he had died before 'Atlantic crossing' and the tartan trousers.... I now fully expected to pilloried, men in white coats sent for etc. In fact the only thing I could say worse is that I don't like Bob Dylan, whoops!
The Beatles and Pink Floyd
which as you can imagine makes it tricky to work here.
I don't think the Beatles are bad (that would be ridiculous)Â but I'm just so utterly sick to the back teeth of them that I never want to hear them again.
Pink Floyd totally pass me by, which is strange because I like long meandering tracks that make no sense.
Wish you were here?
Surely this must strike a chord? I am not the biggest floyd fan, DSOTM would be a better record without the tricksy bits, but the follow up album is a thing of wonder and, more importantly, actual emotion.
even though I am on a Final Written Warning
for enjoying the Fratellis album, I must admit that I have a problem with a lot of very Word-y bands. Specifically practically any musical act that can be described as "wry" really gets my goat: The Divine Comedy, They Might Be Giants, Fountains Of Wayne... not only fail to touch me, but actually get me riled if their music is on. I don't like Elvis Costello either - I think it's the voice more than anything as I can't fault his songwriting, but I got a real feeling of schadenfreude watching the (entirely wonderful) BBC4 Stiff Records documentary and seeing the look of pure thunder on his face as the Blockheads blew him of the stage for the Nth time that tour. I suppose it tends to be self-consciously lyric-centred acts I don't like - although I love Paul Simon, Dylan, Waits, Cave... but then I think of them as musicians before anything else, and the greatness of all of their lyrics is because of their musicality at least as much as because of their "cleverness".
Quirky
I know what you mean. Nothing puts me off a band more quickly than a review using the Q word.
"Witty" too.
"Witty" always seems like a poor substitute for being genuinely funny, just as "quirky" is a poor substitute for being genuinely odd.
See you in another thread!
See you in another thread!
'Self-conciously lyric-centred'
That's a good phrase. I tend to agree. Elvis Costello I can recognise the quality also but am left cold. Dylan can sometimes lose my interest just by going on verse after verse and by over doing the surreal lyric thing - and yet there's plenty else to him so can't say he is one I don't get.
Ah the divine comedy
Neil Hannon is curious thing, I usually can only take him in small doses. However, one of his albums, 'Regeneration', described on release as a departure and subsequently bombed is, to my mind, a truly great record. I fully expect this to be hailed as a lost classic in years to come.
Off the top of my head
Genesis - Never liked that pompus rubbish.
Yes - ditto.
Rush - ditto
Grateful Dead - ditto (in fairness I tried but didn't know where to start).
The Gossip - Beth Ditto
Don McLean
Nirvana - both of them
The Libertines
Emerson, Lake and Palmer
The Kooks and all that "new indie twaddle" Big hair tight sperm killing jeans and all that.
The Strokes
The Fall
Hard Fi (Laughably Comedy Clash)
Paul Weller (How many new best things has he culled favour with? Including the hated Hard Fi)
Tina Turner (wouldn't cross the road etc).
Artic Monkeys (should have called themselves Pony, as in one trick)
Portishead
Amy Winehouse (Enough already)
Nearly U2 because Bono needs a good kick in the goolies but they did good up to a few years ago. They are a true hate or love. I used to love but one more chance though.
Queen
Queen. Queen. Queen. Queen. Queen. Queen. Queen. Queen. Queen. Queen. Queen. Queen. Queen. Queen. Queen. Queen. Queen. Queen. Queen. Queen. Queen. Queen. Queen. Queen. Queen. Queen. Queen. Queen. Queen. Queen. Queen. Queen. Queen. Queen. Queen. Queen. Queen. Queen. Queen. Queen. Queen. Queen. Queen. Queen. Queen. Queen. Queen. Queen. Queen. Queen. Queen. Queen. Queen. Queen. Queen. Queen. Queen. Queen. Queen. Queen. Queen. Queen. Queen. And Idlewild.
Mind, the new Coldplay single isn't anywhere near as interesting as a Guy Garvey Gaseous Guff.
About Tom Waits...
...he went off the boil after Rain Dogs. Try The Asylum Years for a pot-pourri of his great early stuff. Agree with a surprisingly large number of the posts, especially stuff like Fratellis, Kooks, Clash, Costello, Cave, Floyd etc. Dring my school years, the sixth form was divided into the rockers and the prog. rockers. So it was the Stones, Humble Pie, Taste, Rory Gallagher and the like, versus Floyd, Genesis, Yes and ELP. Followers of the latter always thought themselves a cut above us, the riff-raff.
Well...
...being younger I don't see the need for that subdivision. I have equal enthusiasm for heavier rock and prog.
Agreed on Tom Waits; love the Asylum albums, after that I don't get it at all.
righto here goes...
coldplay, the kooks, the libertines, arctic monkeys, oasis, red hot chilli peppers, foo fighters, dido, maximo park, black eyed peas, pete doherty, amy shithouse, bob dylan, the strokes, ...
...this whole list of dreadfully bland bands is about as appetising as finding nothing in your fridge apart from a 3 day old bowl of cold, half eaten custard.
Radiohead.
Sorry, don't like them, don't get it, don't care.
I've gone so far as to see them live at Glastonbury and it was the dullest hour and a half of my life.
Yep, me neither
Good songs, don't like the delivery... this should maybe be for the Stolen Songs thread, but I actually way prefer that 'Radiodread' album of reggae covers of the whole of OK Computer to the original album itself.
Thank God, I thought it was just me.
Pablo Honey was a great album, Creep and Anyone Can Play Guitar are great three minute pop songs.
Can we have some more like that Thom? Please? Life is too short for ten minute 'experimental' compositions that sound somebody sending a really long fax.
ABBA
Oh, and ABBA. Brilliant pop act my arse. Rubbish Eurosongcontest tripe.
ABBA
Nah it is brilliant pop. But to each his own, as we all have said at one time or another on this sight.
Muse
Muse seem to get highly regarded but I think they're awful. Piss-poor lyrics and just wailing instead of any real melody. Half their songs just sound like someone demonstrating "look how good I am on the guitar" rather than complementing anything else that's going on - like the one at band practise who insists on making a racket when everyone else has stopped to discuss what they are actually doing.
I am bewildered by their popularity and aclaim.
You've got something there...
"Half their songs just sound like someone demonstrating "look how good I am on the guitar" rather than complementing anything else that's going on - like the one at band practise who insists on making a racket when everyone else has stopped to discuss what they are actually doing."
Not necessarily just Muse: too many of the bands I don't like sound to my ears like a band farting around in rehearsals. I've spent too many years in dank little rehearsal rooms listening to noodling away on guitar, or bass or drums, or pressing the button on the synth marked "death star duck". You've probably summed it up for me right there!
Muse are the very definition
of a band you have to see live. On record I couldn't give a fig for them, but the vainglorious camp spectacle of their stage show, particularly at a festival or otherwise under the stars, is truly thrilling.
Strangely given some of my dislikes...
I actually rate Muse. There's something about them that gets to me. Which given that I'm not particularly fond of Queen or Floyd, the two bands that seem to be at their root, is kind of weird..
Couldn't do it
I just couldn't bring myself to watch them live, I can only imagine it being even more over-indulgent!
Saw them about 10 years ago
And thought they were plain old shit.
I now, however, accept that I was wrong, and they're actually pretentious shit.
Yes, Muse...
Fretwanking of the first order.
Tonight Matthew, we will be Radiohead
My criticism of Knights of Cydonia, almost ended up in a fist fight with my Muse loving friend.
I do enjoy New Born though, that tinkly quiet intro turning into the wall of noise guitar riff is a belter.
Manic Street Preachers
Tuneless shouty vocals, big noisy production to cover up the total absence of tunes or melody, sub-sixth form poetry lyrics of the most ridiculously earnest kind. How anyone can defend this utter tripe is beyond me.
Motorcycle Emptiness
Tuneless? I don't think so.
me too
Can't abide them.
And there was me thinking I was the only one...
Cheers Count Jim!
Dexys Midnight Runners
Agree with the comment on Queen Queen Queen....But the really puzzling one for me was Dexys. I just never got it. And one day someone will have to explain Justin Timberlake to me.
Queen
I have never, ever got them.It's just awful music played by awful people.
Anything described as 'quirky' and 'American' annoys me: Fountains of Wayne and stuff like that.
Does anyone think Jeff Buckley is terribly overated? One okish album half of which sounds like Pearl Jam with a eunuch singing.
Oh god yes
he's like a thinking woman's boyband member x the vocal equivalent of fretwank.
And talking of unecessary vocal widdling
Joanna Newsom does my head RIGHT in.
Joanna Nuisance
Have to agree, got all excited after reading the review (Jude Rogers???). Got the Cd put it in and....... good God!! Tweeeeeeeeee!!! Its 'orrible.
Newsom
Definitely Ms Newsom. Listening to her makes my ears bleed.
And Coldplay. I do not get the hype. They are just bland, bland, bland.
Muse...
...have a lot of time for them. Like them or not, it must surely be agreed they are at least an alternative to the skinny jeans brigade that dominate British rock music at the moment. I do feel they don't have any grasp of the word 'understatement' but I find them entertaining for all that.
Manic Street Preachers? Not a huge fan, but 'Motorcycle Emptiness' is a fantastic song by any standards.
I love Queen but I won't bore you with that love here when they clearly don't appeal to everyone.
Sonic Youth
Held in high esteem by many of the pundits I hold in high esteem, but nothing I've ever heard has convinced me that they are anything other than third rate, if not execrable. Can someone give me a starting point - a track where I might begin to 'get it'?
'Teenage Riot'...
off Daydream Nation
Or Disappearer
Rather Ripped
Track 1.
I am sure there are real enthusiasts out there who would shoot me for saying it, but for simple accessible powerpop, this is a good ticket to start. And maybe finish, as earlier brainstorms are a little more, um, difficult, as you hint broadly and correctly. Near unlistenable claptrap, often.
The Flaming Lips
Just no.....everything about them; image, interviews - the band the phrases "quirky, odd and wry" were invented for. I'd also add "rubbish"
Never understood the general love in with Nirvana. They offered nothing new and just sounded like whining teenagers who were old enough to know better covering Pixies B sides. Plaid shirts too....NO!
'Checkie' shirts
rule!
Captain bloody Beefheart!
Rated by every music critic/magazine but nobody but nobody is gonna tell me they regulary give Trout Mask Replica a spin to get them in the mood for a good night out! Maybe I just don't understand the concept but I ain't to cool to not admit it. I bet he buggered off back to the desert with his paintbrushes pissing himself laughing before the game was up.
Also, totally agree with the comments made about the Manic Street Preachers - some of the most overblown, embarrasing lyrics ever nailed to a sub G n'R tune ever. Don't want to make it personal but that lanky twat in the dress should have a word with himself.
I expect to be attacked from all side for this, but...
...it's got to be The Rolling Stones.
And I'm not even really sure why. I love loads of bands that have pretty shamelessly ripped them off.
The over familarity with a lot of their catalogue (that Mr Harrison mentioned in relation to The Beatles) is probably a factor - I mean I can never understand why anyone on R2's annual Children In Need request-a-thon would pledge money to hear Sympathy For The Devil when it's played on the station at least once every 24 hours on the other 364 days of the year - howabout some Uncle Tupelo ferchis'sake! Whatever, my vinyl copy of 'Rolled Gold' remains resolutely unplayed since I inherited it several years ago.
Also, I could never understand my fellow teenager's enthusing about U2's 'passionate' music back in the mid-80's. Passion was the very thing it lacked IMO.
Agreed. I've never
Agreed. I've never understood the appeal of the Stones. And being a huge Beatles fan, I've never ever understood the comparison between the two. It does my head in when ppl choose the Jagger/Richards over Lennon/McCartney.
Also, as I was born in the late 80's, U2 completely escapes me. I've grown up with Bono being a self rightious twat in tinted sunglasses... which he probably always was, but I can't bring myself to listen to the band.
For starters, Van Morrison
Okay, I like Brown Eyed Girl, but that's it. I just don't get the rest ! What else ?
Frank Zappa. I like the Bonzos. Many people assume I should like Zappa. I don't and I have tried because I think he was an interesting person.
Pink Floyd. Just too overblown for me. My other half tries and I must admit my previous hatred has lessened to something more lukewarm but I still find it hard to like (other than the Barratt era)
Randy Newman. Again, the other half tries and I know his songs are really witty but I just can't get past that nasally voice.
Elvis Costello. As someone else said, I can appreciate the quality I just don't like his voice.
Amy Winehouse. Not my thing at all.
Duffy. Another overplayed female singer songwriter only this time she thinks its still the 1960s.
U2. Just too over the top and ridiculous.
Brown eyed girl apart....
...who do you like?
I will ignore your Archiephiliac mention of the Bonzos.
Who do I like ?
Not many Word cover acts obviously ! Sparks, early REM, Icicle Works/Ian McNabb, Ukrainians, Bonzos, Loudon Wainwright, 80s indie/C86 type stuff, Kirsty MacColl, Gogol Bordello, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Legendary Shack Shakers ...Something wth a bit of life, humour, quirkiness...and the above acts don't really do that for me !
For me....
it's got to be U2 and The Stones! Maybe a couple of songs from each, but that's it I'm afraid!
Don't mistake music you
Don't mistake music you 'don't get' for music that is crap. There's a huge difference. For example, Coldplay are horrible, horrible rubbish. Banal lyrics over twaddly music played by the wimpiest group of human beings to top the pops. They are crap. Radiohead, on the other hand, I don't get. I totally concede that they are probably terrific and brilliant and such, but what I hear are a bunch of smart nerdy schooboys whining a LOT.
Stuff I don't get? The Smiths. Just noise. Yawn. What it is with poms and The Smiths? I do not get it. Jeff Buckley. Whiny whining whiningly delivered. Blech.
Still one mans crap etc.
There is an unbelievably big (unfathomably even) constituency for Prog Rock on this site. Never got it, never want to but....you can't deny the musicianship, however tiresome. Life is way too short for that amount of noodling.
I'd rather watch the life cycle of a daisy.
And I have a problem...
...with the claim that prog is nothing but noodling. That description bears no resemblance to the music I grew up hearing, and still listen to. There are actual songs and the solos are composed, not just 30 minute noodle-fests with no apparent structure or form which is what I got from The Grateful Dead (and I have to admit it, those endless versions of 'Dazed And Confused' and 'Moby Dick' Led Zeppelin did- and I love Zeppelin). Don't care that people dislike it, but the generalisations spread around about it are tiresome.
Sorry JJ that you have a Problem......
Dr. Springer recommends a Chill Pill. This site is built on generalisations and to me (someone who grew up with "Prog") its a noodlefest.
And when the "Punk Wars" blew it away I cheer led all the way. Death to the hated Prog.
However keep on Proggin. Life is after a bowel of cherries....(even if some have "gone off".....or in Progs case "gone on" too long!
Now I'll get my coat....
On the subject of noodling...
...I genuinely find it incredible that many rock critics fall over themselves to praise Radiohead and blast many progressive bands when to my ears, 'Kid A', 'Amnesiac' and 'Hail To The Thief' are jampacked with aimless noodles that go nowhere. There are some great moments on these albums but some that I can't abide.
'OK Computer' I love, though, and 'The Bends' is excellent too.
Lots & Lots
But top of the list has got to be Arcade Fire, and I've tried, I even saw them live at Lattitude which everybody raved about - I was bored, none of the songs ever seemed to get started.
And then there's:
U2, Queen, Floyd, Yes, Neil Young (another one I've really tried to get "into"), The Clash, the Stones (posturing cliched twats), Manic Street Preachers, etc.
Worst of all (and I know I'll get shot for this) the whole genre of "Soul" leaves me cold - bland formulaic rubbish in my opinion. And yes that includes Marvin, Aretha and any other of those deities that everyone claims to adore but never listens to!
Soul...
...it's the stuff that gets labelled 'Northern Soul' that I personally find very hit and miss. There's the odd song which I really like ('Do I Love You' springs to mind) but I suspect that based on some of the songs I've encountered across various compilations, its the rarity that is the attraction- the songwriting is often not up to the standards of the best known Motown/Stax/Atlantic songs, in my opinion. And some of those compilations I ended up with had some awful disco-type stuff on them...
Theose I Haven't Loved
The Enid - just left me rather worried after sitting through a gig. Even being mates with one of their roadies didn't help....
Marillion - just can't manage a whole track
Genesis - T D M
UFO & just about anything Pete Way released
Clash - I really like what I like but just can't help thinking I wasted my money on London Calling and the Greatet Hits collection I just feel maybe I'll suddenly click just as I did with the Floyd.
Black Flag ? NAH I'll take Me First and the Gimme Gimmes everytime for punk covers :)
Post your abuse now...
... but Bruce Springsteen is someone I never could "get." Now I freely admit I could be guilty of cloth ears here and that perhaps if you think of "Born In The USA" when you think of him (as I do and, yes, I'm wholly aware that that song isn't the redneck anthem a lot of people thought it was when it appeared) you are perhaps guilty of misunderstanding what he's about, but frankly I don't care. I find his music utterly forgetful, it goes in one ear and out the other and I don't get his appeal at all.
The Police are another band I hate. Sting's voice goes right through me and the songs themselves just annoy. They seem so terribly pleased with themselves all the time, no passion, no fire, no nothing.
And The Jam and pretty much any Weller I can't abide. I wish I could give a rational reason but I just can't. I appreciate he's a man of taste and talent, my brain says "you must like this man" but my heart says "crap."
And don't even start me on Robbie Willliams; how this self obsessed, tedious, whining egotist got so popular I have no idea. Are people morons? Who can sit in the house listening to Angels or Millenium really? Who does this narcissist appeal do? He's not cheeky, he's not funny, he's just a dullard.
And U bloody 2 as well for the nonsensical pseudo-poetic yet fundamentally meaningless piffle spouted in Bongo's lyrics. My twelve year old self knew that Pride In The Name Of Love was about nothing whatsover. Actually listen to those lyrics; they're crap, they mean nothing, they are nonsense, tell me what getting caught on a barbed wire fence has to do with Martin Luthor King anyway? . And this band are squillionaires! Why?
The Boss
Yes his image and even nick name can be off putting but his output is really varied. If you don't like Born in the USA try Nebraska, Darkness at the edge of Town or Tunnel of Love. On 'Born to run', a pretty bombastic but great record, there is a track called 'Meeting aross the river' which is surely enough turn even the most entrenched sceptic?
Jazz
And noodling. For years I thought it was all noodling and improvised around a basic background baseline (as indeed, I guess, is "free" jazz, but without the basic background beat.) As I read Richard Cooks excellent Encyclopedia of Jazz and the sleevenotes of my burgeoning jazz collection, mainly stemming from Word Irregular recommendations, I have discovered most of it is written down in charts. How much of that goes on in rock, whether prog or not, I wonder? (And it doesn't, either, make it any way "better" cos it's written down, I am sure, but I was given JJs remarks, I wondered if there were "books" for the musicians to work from with, say, Yes or King Crimson. Or indeed ELP)
P.S. Eric Dolphy isn't so difficult as stated, but I guess I am becoming more attuned.....
(Tributes to ShaNaNa and to Eric Dolphy in one day! Eclectic or what!?)
Jazz...
...there was an excellent thread on it a while back. Am not an expert and not all of it appeals to me (the aforementioned Eric Dolphy and most 'free' I've encountered springs to mind) but there are lots of jazz albums I enjoy. I wasn't particularly aware much of it was notated either, Retropath2- like you, I'd assumed it was improvised with a basic 'root' from the bass player and the odd motif to bring the players back to base, or whatever.
Jazz rock/fusion, though I love lots of the 60s/70s stuff, I can understand why people WOULD label that noodling. The more modern fusion I've heard on radio stations, after it's finished I can't remember a damned thing about it- it just blurs together in a sea of notes...
However much I shall continue to resist the Prog
I do love my Jazz. Noodles or not.
Coldplay
Unbearable - have they ever been on a word cover? i dont think so
Not sure everyone else likes 'em, but too many do..
That Leoni bird from X factor (anyone else thinks she looks like a horse / Giraffe hybrid?)
Manic Street Preachers - totally boring except MAYBE Design for Life
Chemical Brothers type crap
Lenny Kravitz - just buy a Hendrix or early Prince album
Prince ! (except for Sometimes it Snows in April)
Chris de Burgh - makes Cliff Richard sound like Motorhead
Oh, I'm fed up moaning now...
If that 'Leoni bird' keeps bleeding
for this long shouldnt she get a transfusion?
We all have differing views on many of the artists listed above. I am reading through this thread whilst my Ipod is on shuffle - it just cme up with Elvis Costello duetting with Los Lobos on 'a matter of time' - dont understand why anyone has a problem with his voice. To me he is up there at the top of the list of all time greats.Obviously this is all opinion - my loopy brother in law for example thinks Coldplay are the best band in the world at the moment. What an idiot!!
I have to say out of all of the suggestions Queen are the one I most strongly agree with. Bloody awful and Brian May is an atrocious guitar player. ELP and Joanna Newsom are close behind. Unfortunately I bought both the Newsom albums - the first one was moderately okay. The second was proclaimed by Jude as being a masterpiece. It is complete shit - listened once and really tried to get through it a second time - it lasted about 1 minute. Someone should shoot her!!!
I've 'saved' this thread
for several days in order that I could see whether all of my faves got mentioned....sure enough they're almost all there Beatles, Floyd, Fountains of Wayne, Smiths etc etc etc. To which, (after a couple of drinks) I can summarise the entire thread by two phrases:
'There's nowt so queer as folk'
and
'It takes all sorts'
Before asking whether anybody has read this thread without being irritated by at least one post?!
Some posts on a topic like this are bound to irritate...
... the whole point is it's popular acts that you can't stand yourself. Everyone posting here thinks that he or she is a lone voice in the wilderness pointing out the deficiencies of taste of everyone else. It stands to reason that some of these will be annoying surely?
By the way, I forgot all about Joni Mitchell in my earlier post, but then again none of my friends like her either so I never felt I was odd for not liking her stuff. However this is a Word forum so someone out there must like her and certainly critics seem to. The awesome navel gazing banality of everything I've heard by her (most of her albums up to Blue, so her later jazzy ones are unfamiliar to me) just gets on my wick. Plus her voice annoys me.
If I'm going to be honest though my dislike of her music stems from the influence she has had on what seems like generations of tedious female guitar strummers who seem to think that singing about the minutia of their lives will be endlessly fascinating to the rest of us... I wish musical taste was a more rational thing than it is sometimes. If only Laura Nyro was more famous...
I could go on and on
I think it all depends on where you are at certain stages of your life. I originally thought the Sex Pistols were cool and Led Zep were crap. Now, ´tis the other way round. However I do have some enduring pet hates,
David Bowie ( I like some of his stuff, it´s him I can´t stand )
Pink Floyd ( with our without Syd, overrated )
Deep Purple
Bob Marley ( I know, I know, I know but... )
The Fall and Dinosaur Jr., (two bands that are talked about more than listened to. )
Queen ( bombastic, OTT, sometimes sublime but mostly goddammed awful )
Pete Doherty, The Libertines, The Kooks and The Klaxons ( but that´s just me getting old, I suppose)
The Clash - I like a couple
The Clash - I like a couple of their hit singles but their albums leave me cold and seem overly self indulgent to me. The U.K. Subs don't get enough love.
U2 - Some of the first few albums I don't mind, but they've been recycling the same riffs and lyrics for ages and don't get me started on Bono.
Oasis - Totally don't get this, they seem unoriginal and boring to me.
Coldplay - They come off like Take That crossed with Bends period Radiohead to me.
Let the hating begin
Let's see:
Jazz - Anybody who performs jazz, or has even paid money to go to a jazz club, should be arrested and put in a special camp where that joyous creation that everybody else calls music is imprinted on their brains. If I want to hear somebody playing random notes in random keys in a random order, I'll go and listen to a nursery school band, thanks very much. Granted, most jazzers can really play their instruments. But why waste their talent creating something that sounds like, as somebody once said, a blues band falling down stairs?
Elvis - sorry, no, just don't see what the fuss is about. Broke down musical barriers? Created pop? Merged black/white? Yeah, fair enough, good on you, Mr P. Music that I want to listen to? No.
Almost all indie bands of the past couple of years. Arctic Monkeys? Come back when you learn how to sing.
The Streets - there's not enough ASBOs in the world to punish him for his crimes against music.
Bob Dylan - Good lyrics, whiny nasal voice. Any musician you'd rather read than listen to can be a problem.
Adele/Kate Nash - life's too short to hear people with unbearable accents moaning about how miserable they are.
Phew, that's better. I think I'll go and have a nice lie down.
Fine.
And maybe when you get up you will be older and wiser. I shared your view about jazz until a year or three back.I think it is called maturity. I think you will be surprised also to find that it does not obviate the enjoyment of other forms of music, either, as my enduring love of the Beach Boys, Ramones and Folk testifies.
It is normal to find the Arctic Monkeys unlistenable claptrap.
No. No. No.
No, I'm sorry. As I head towards my 40th year, and would like to think I'm as mature as can be, I find that it is just impossible to sell me on the merits of jazz (and cricket, but that's a whole other rant).
To each their own, but I want music that moves me, not just chaos masquerading as culture. Sure, it might be "difficult" and it might "break boundaries" and other such lines spouted by jazz fans, but there are just too many artists that deserve attention for me to waste time listening to people just showing off. I want to enjoy music, and not be forced to make an effort to appreciate it. And the idea, spouted by some, that jazz can be enjoyed only by intelligent people (hence its apparent popularity in bookshops) is something I find elitist and nauseating.
I'm not at all surprised, Retropath2, that you enjoy the Beach Boys, etc. Who ever said that jazz fans had musical snobs who excluded all other genres? Certainly not me. Personally, I like to think that I have a broad taste of music, ranging from Steeleye Span to Slipknot, gregorian chant to Rammstein, but I refuse to let jazz into the house. Some things are just beyond the pale.
Your definition of Jazz
Might be one that many would quibble with - what you're describing ("chaos as culture", "random notes in random keys in a random order") doesn't sound like any of the jazz I listen to. Frank Sinatra is a jazz singer, after all.
True, true
Fair point. I appreciate that "jazz" does encompass an awful lot of people with their own styles and it's unfair to beat them all with the same club.
My problem is solely with what I believe is called freeform or trad jazz, where any notion of a tune is thrown out the window for the sake of one solo after another. The sort of sound listened to by people in beatnik clubs in dodgy '60s films who used the words "man" and "yeah" on an unhealthily-frequent basis. The type of unlistenable noise that The Fast Show skewered so perfectly and mercilessly with their Jazz Club skits.
As for the rest of jazz, I'd be prepared to give it a chance. Wouldn't buy any of it, though.
Surely not
Slipnot????
A pedant bangs on and on and on.....
Trad is about as far removed from freeform as is bebop. Trad is yer Kenny Ball stuff, free jazz is improvised (and usually or often unlistenable) Bebop is probably what you are thinking of, often highly scored flurries of sometimes random sounding sax and trumpet. Very "nice". No , really. There was an excellent strand on jazz heree afew weeks back, from which I learnt a lot (and spent a lot)
Thanks
I stand corrected. Now I know exactly what type of music I truly, truly, TRULY hate.
The word "bebop" is henceforth banned from my house and workplace. Let no man (or woman) utter the accursed word again.
That said, to each their own...
;-)
Me, I can't stand Slipknot and all they stand for.
Well said Retoman
Slipshod are from another universe that I am staying well clear of. They sound like WWF wrestlers being bitten savagely, in a biscuit tin, by a rabid pitbull. Disgraceful and 'orrible. Right time for a lie down.
Who don't I like?
I'm not sure that anybody really likes the Red Hot Chilli Peppers. (My other nomination in this category is Green Day). And dare I mention Patti Smith - just never got her, apart from Because The Night and wasn't that written by Springsteen?
Because The Night
Was written by Springsteen and Smith together.
Let me through, I'm a hair-splitter
They didn't actually write it *together*. Jimmy Iovine played her Bruce's demo of it, she added something to it and then recorded it. Carry on.
Yeah...
...I must say I don't go a bundle on the 'be-bop' I've encountered either, to be honest, but there's more to jazz than that. The less notes the better, where me and jazz is concerned (yes, that's despite my abiding love of prog!).
Dylan
I can't see the appeal, is it a generational thing? Does that awful voice and the bloody harmonica only appeal to those who still remember black and white TV's?
That's right.
It's only us pensioners.
Steely Dan
I've tried - always leads to nasal headaches.
One man's meat is another man's...
Music, like food, is a personal thing. Cabbage might be good for me, but I can't stand the taste, smell, feel. Even the word is making me feel queasy! Likewise, while I accept that lots of people will think me mad/a tasteless cretin, my don't like list includes:
John Coltrane and his ilk
Richard Thompson, his missus and their offspring
Fairports and all their many variants
Bonzos - with the honourable exception of the great Neil Innes
Solo Paul Weller
Solo Morrissey
Gangsta rap
British rap - will someone please stuff a sock in the Streets!
Beefheart, Zappa, Grateful Dead and pretty much all those other 1970s sixth form common room, chin-stroking, head-nodding favourites like Man, It's a Beautiful Day, Jefferson Airplane/Starship, etc.
Bloody Yes!!
Coldplay - dullards of the first water
Radiohead - not big, not clever, just tiresomely, self-deludingly self-important
Arctics, Kaisers, Kasabian, etc. etc. - I'm old enough to remember when all this was done first, and done better!
To add to the comments on Elvis Costello - I used to rate him highly, but now don't own any of his music at all. Mannered singing voice, mannered songwriting. I think I came to the conclusion that there was a lot of style there, but no substance. Initially admirable, but ultimately unsatisfying.
Feck me, Geoff....
Thats just about polished off all the likes and loves of all the Irregulars, as well as many idiosyncratic loathes.
Now you don't mention, ominously, your dislike of Gilbert O'Sullivan or Supertramp, either.......
In the words of BB King, who do you love?
I'd rather not, Retropath2, I'm a happily married man!
Supertramp... utter bilge. Gilbert 0'Sullivan, however, is a genius.
Who do I love? BB King, for one. Van Morrison, Tom Waits, Roxy Music, Rickie Lee Jones, Bowie, Prince, Rachel Unthank, Temptations, ELP, John Martyn, Stevie Wonder, Prefab Sprout, Martin Stephenson & The Daintees, Cat Stevents, Bruce Springsteen, Beach Boys, Beatles, Stones, Blue Nile, Blondie, Ramones, Pink Floyd (up to WYWH), Isaac Hayes, Kathryn Tickell, Little Richard, Gregory Isaacs, Kate Bush, Kathryn Williams, Waterboys, Wilburys, Lonnie Donnegan, Willy DeVille, Rosie Thomas, Randy Newman, The Who, Television (and the list goes on).
Eclectic, but picky, that's me!
British Rap
Have you tried Roots Manuva?
...and there's more!
How could I forget...
Crowded House - just plain dull
Bjork - byeuch
PJ Harvey
Smart-alecky quirk-mongers such as Ben Folds, The Eels, Loudon Wainwright III and most of his musical offspring with the exception of the one you've probably not heard of, Lucy Wainwright Roche. Wouldn't the world have been a better place if Loudon Wainwright II had invested in a packet of three?
Travis
Ryan Adams - needs a good editor to tell him what's good and what's crap. I'm sure there's a CD's worth of good material in his torrent of releases.
Wainwrights
Yes it would be the one we haven't heard of,wouldn't it?? Can you spell R-O-C-K-S-N-O-B. Yikes just try and enjoy the music Maaaannn!
Pillock
No need for name-calling, bingham!
I do enjoy "the music", all sorts of music, just not this lot. Which, I thought, was the point of this discussion. You might love all of the above - I don't criticise you for it, I just don't see the appeal. Perhaps you reckon there's something wrong with my preferences, because they don't tally with yours? If so, maybe the R-O-C-K-S-N-O-B cap would be a better fit for you than me.
My Wainwright point was nothing to do with elitism, but an indication that, unlike her half-sibs, Lucy Wainwright Roche doesn't grate on my nerve-endings. And readers may not have heard of her, 'cos she's released only 2 CDs (8 Songs and 8 More)which are on a label so minor Amazon doesn't stock them and Word hasn't reviewed them. That's not why I like her, it's just a fact.
Just a few:
The Pixies
Bob Dylan
The Rolling Stones
U2
... I know there's more too.
All the above
I have to say that I pretty much loathe nearly all of the above mentioned (apart from Coltrane, Beefheart and the Bonzos (excluding Neil Innes who I don't like)) I have a special place of hatred reserved for the Streets who are close to Margaret Thatcher in my utter lack of esteem. I'd rather listen to Genesis or the Floyd than the Streets and that is a giant step (see what I did there)
Give me some Bob Wills & his Texas Playboys, Milton Brown, Clifford Brown (to change a genre), Hampton Hawes, Coltrane (see above), Tal Farlow. I quite like a nice bit of drum and bass too.
Far too many to list
We were discussing this at work and I was suprised how many came up I agreed with (in no order) -
Coldplay - just boring
The Beatles - as above, just sick of hearing how good they are and rock/pop wouldn't have happened blah blah - yes it would!
Sex Pistols - just bad, really bad
Bob Dylan - the way he sings just grates on my ears
Duffy/Adele - they can sing but they are not the next Ella or Aretha. Maybe this is more about the hype than the music/artist.
Rolling Stones - just don't get it at all
The Byrds - same as the Stones, don't see/hear the attraction
Genesis with Phil Collins - just boring and uninspiring to me.
in terms of whole styles -
Neu RnB - it's just not Rhythm and Blues at all!!!
Gangsta Rap - just sound so bad at times. At least some of the old Hip-Hop had clever samples and lyrics...
Neu Soul - same as Neu RnB - it's just not soul music. There is no feeling or "soul" in the singing it's just bland delivery of lyrics with no sentiment in the delivery
British ?? - stuff like Lily Allen and that crappy talking rhyming delivery with a heavy accent.
To be fair there are example in each of these genres that do prove my arument wrong (Mary Blige comes to mind) but overall they are bad
See above
Who Do You Love???
I just don't get...
Oasis, Vampire Weekend, Rush and Sex in the City. If I hear one more thing about that film I'll go crazy I swear!!
Oh one other thing, R n B (not old style).
Chalky
Terrible Love Songs Blog
Can't stand ...
Oasis (Noel Gallagher - songwriter???)
or Bruce Springsteen (where's the glamour?)
Who I Don't Like
Having subscribed to Word Magazine for a couple of years now, I decided to visit the new improved web site and registered. After reading through some of this thread I hastened to the store, only to see a Babyshambles T Shirt being advertised! Babyshambles? What is it about Pete bloody Doherty that fascinates everyone? I just don't get it. He's a no-hope drug addled loser. Libertines? One half decent tune and out.
In true Victor style, I can't believe it. The Word celebrating mediocrity. Whatever next, Mark Ellen's mate taking us to war on a lie? Oh, hang on......