View Full Version : RR Q&A: What album or band do you feel like you're "supposed" to get, but just don't?
I feel like this thread existed before but it must be lost to the archives. I'm not talking broadly popular music that you're in the minority on disliking-- rather, stuff that should theoretically be right up your alley that is just totally baffling in its lack of appeal. For instance, this morning I took my umpteenth stab at an album I've owned for the better part of a decade and just never liked, Polvo's Exploded Drawing. All the pieces are in place for me to enjoy this album (I unabashedly love their contemporaries at the artier end of the math-rock spectrum like Slint and Rodan, and they're an obvious influence on some current local bands that I like such as the STNNNG), but it just leaves me totally neutral. I don't hate it; I just can't tell what others love about it. I've stubbornly kept it in my collection even as I've sold off most of my other CDs because I always feel like one day I'm going to pull it out and just get it... but so far, no luck. Have y'all had similar experiences with other artists or records?
http://www.chrisnj.com/archive/polvo/images/explodeddrawing.jpg
~Rae
U2
Red Hot Chillie Peppers
Pearl Jam
just to name a few
Stone
11-09-2010, 10:26 AM
http://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/cov200/drf700/f750/f75072t5l5k.jpg
Five stars on AMG, critically acclaimed, yet Jeff Buckley's Grace leaves me cold. I just find it to be fairly boring -- not throw-a-shoe-at-the-speaker terrible or anything -- just meh.
http://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/cov200/dre300/e302/e30215t02cv.jpg
This is another album that has been revered, and after liking their first three Radiohead albums (yes, I do like Pablo Honey) and applauding them for taking a stylistic leap, I don't like Kid A at all. I spin it every 6 months or so, thinking it will hit me and I'll "get it" but never have.
MindGoneHaywire
11-09-2010, 11:18 AM
Trout Mask Replica.
Mr MidFi
11-09-2010, 12:33 PM
Modest Mouse
LCD Soundsystem
Luna
Don't hate 'em. But not diggin' them either. Sorry.
Slosh
11-09-2010, 01:49 PM
Well, I don't care for Joy Division or Talk Talk so it makes sense that I don't like Interpol or Circulatory System. But then I really do like Woven Hand and Three Mile Pilot, which often get cited as being post-rock influenced.
Jack in Wilmington
11-09-2010, 06:08 PM
Both of these groups came highly recommended and neither did anything for me.
The Flaming Lips
Death Cab For Cutie
I tried watching them in concert on TV also and that didn't get it. I have a couple groups that I like watching in concert, but I can't listen to them. That probably sounds weird. They have such a stage presence that transends the music and makes it listenable.
ForeverAutumn
11-09-2010, 06:24 PM
Neil Young. By all accounts, I should love him. Canadian folk icon. Great songwriter. Accoustic guitar. All things that I normally love. I've tried and I've tried, but Mr. Young does nothing for me. He has written some great songs, but I've never been able to appreciate him as a performer.
Bruce Springsteen...see above.
rakeford
11-09-2010, 06:42 PM
The 21st century Jimmy Buffet.
I adored his 1970's & some 1980's material. I've even been to a couple of his concerts.
His later albums struggle to make it to the source machine (CD/turntable). My hands just skip right over his 21st Century CDs and picks something else.
MasterCylinder
11-10-2010, 01:58 PM
Marillion.
I dunno that I don't get him, his music is as straightforward and simple as it gets. I like a lot of his songs performed by others. I know he's one of America's most prolific, influential acts, but there just ain't enough time in the day for him and all the other music I'd rather hear instead of him.
Jazz - Ornette Coleman; innovative? maybe, but unappealing to me. A good jazz artist tryin too hard to stand out among giants
of his day
Jazz Album - Miles Davis: *****es Brew. Miles knew at this point it didn't matter what he did.
Prog acts - I know as a ptog fan I'm supposed to like ELP, but I can't stand them. I don't care how influential they are to what I listen now, I don't know what they wasted more of, talent or electricity.
Can - can't
Gentle Giant gets on my nerves
almost any "canterbury" act
Prog Albums - Pink Floyd: Ummagumma. As much real effort went into this set as did coming up with an album title.
as much as this pains me, add post-VH Sammy Hagar to the list. Instead of wanting to leave his former drunken employer in the dust by out-rocking him, he's been content to try and make the VOA album over and over while also trying become the hard rock version of Jimmy Buffet. Sad.
Finch Platte
11-10-2010, 03:43 PM
Prog acts - I know as a ptog fan I'm supposed to like ELP, but I can't stand them. I don't care how influential they are to what I listen now, I don't know what they wasted more of, talent or electricity.
Hear, hear! :thumbsup:
add Phish and Dave Matthews to the list. I don't get these two acts popularity like their followers don't get deoderant. I like a handful of their tunes, but find most of their work to be rather tedious, even grating. I find their fanbases' hero worship as awkward and unjustifiable as I do fan's of soccer who only watch the World Cup.
ForeverAutumn
11-10-2010, 04:51 PM
Marillion.
Agreed. Add The Flower Kings to the list also. I've tried to like both these bands. I WANT to like both these bands. I'm bored by both these bands.
MasterCylinder
11-11-2010, 05:29 AM
Agreed. Add The Flower Kings to the list also. I've tried to like both these bands. I WANT to like both these bands. I'm bored by both these bands.
Cheers and a toast to FA !
I will also add the Rolling Stones............they are sloppy............and I get it that it is supposed to be intentional but, as musicians they just aren't very good.
I like the writing and the innovation...........and in that context I agree to the label of R&R legend...........but really............I've seen better garage bands.
Luvin Da Blues
11-13-2010, 01:21 PM
I've tried and tried to get into them but these two bands don't twist my licorice at all.
The Moody Blues
or
The Electric Light Orchestra
SlumpBuster
11-13-2010, 07:22 PM
Lots of good ones posted so far. Here are mine. I pop them in every couple years to no avail.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/a6/MyBloodyValentineLoveless.jpg
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/a6/Psychocandy.jpg
Also I've never generally been a big fan of the Beatles, Nirvana, Pink Floyd, Led Zepplin, or Jimi Hendrix. Those I get, I just don't spend anytime on them.
Stone
11-15-2010, 05:57 AM
I could see how one could not like the shoegaze stuff. Having said that, Psychocandy is an all-time favorite.
MasterCylinder
11-15-2010, 06:00 AM
I've never generally been a big fan of the Beatles, Pink Floyd, Led Zepplin, or Jimi Hendrix.
Sacrilege.
Marillion.
Fish or "H"?
I like the older way more than the newer stuff but have been pointed in the right direction.
If you like old Genesis, find a track called Grendle.
SlumpBuster
11-15-2010, 09:50 AM
I could see how one could not like the shoegaze stuff. Having said that, Psychocandy is an all-time favorite.
I know, right?! That's what everyone says about Psychocandy. And I love JMC especially for the way their studio records vary in sound and genre. Even you just saying that makes me want to listen again to double check.
I was only in the 5th grade when Psychocandy came out and JMC was something my high school aged sister listened to that I thought was really far out. Just the name was so exotic. I was more into Van Halen at the time. Then when I went to college, I came home for Thanksgiving my freshman year having had my mind blown my college radio. My sister gave me a box of LPs and cassettes. In there was Automatic, which I instantly loved. Missing from that box was Psychocandy. I was into Stoned and Dethroned and Darklands before getting to Psychocandy. Maybe I would like it more if I had come to JMC through Psychocandy first?
SlumpBuster
11-15-2010, 09:58 AM
Sacrilege.
Again, I know, right?
To add insult to injury, there is more Yoko Ono product in my record collection than music from any of those bands. I just spun Milk and Honey this weekend prompting my wife to ask, "What the fcuk are you listening to?"
Again, I know, right?
To add insult to injury, there is more Yoko Ono product in my record collection than music from any of those bands. I just spun Milk and Honey this weekend prompting my wife to ask, "What the fcuk are you listening to?"
That's funny. On the other hand, I may have one of the only wives that asks for Buckethead.
Colma and Electric Tears are awesomely tasteful and easy for just about anyone to listen to.
SlumpBuster
11-15-2010, 01:30 PM
That's funny. On the other hand, I may have one of the only wives that asks for Buckethead.
Colma and Electric Tears are awesomely tasteful and easy for just about anyone to listen to.
Ha! Even Buckethead's own wife only barely tolerates him as she has been known to use the words "wanky" and "noodling" to describe him. You, sir, are indeed a lucky man.
Stone
11-15-2010, 01:59 PM
Maybe I would like it more if I had come to JMC through Psychocandy first?
Possibly, but Psychocandy is a different animal from anything else they did (save for some singles and outtakes in the same time frame). Never again did they have that wall of sound and feedback covering the simple tunes and lyrics.
And timing may make a difference. I was 16 when Psychocandy came out (similar to your sister) and have loved it since it was released. I do love Darklands and like the rest of what they did, but Psychocandy will always be their peak to me.
And if you don't like it, you don't like it. There's nothing wrong with that.
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