We're Supposed to Like These Artists...But We Don't...

Mr. Lonesome:

What I appreciate about you two is the expansiveness of your musical reaches. You  guys know lots of bands. The well-known, the known, the lesser known, the unknown. Of course, knowing so much music, you’re gonna have those bands you don’t quite get into, even though friends think you should. I’ve certainly had my share of friends recommend this band or that band, and I found myself just sort of shrugging it off after listening. Because some bands, they don’t do it for me. No matter how many times a friend ways “dude, you would totally love these guys.” I just don’t always do.

Here are three quick examples:

The Velvet Underground. There’s the famous line about their influence: "The first Velvet Underground album only sold 10,000 copies, but everyone who bought it formed a band." I’ve had many friends love The Underground. Mrs Lonesome does, a lot. So I gave them a fair shake. I bought their debut, with great excitement, and I’ll tell you what: I hated it. It droned on, bored me. I couldn’t find anything interesting about it (save for the tempo switch in “Heroin” that mirrored the lyrical content). Plus, I just didn’t enjoy Lou Reed’s voice. Even still. I don’t think people that love them are insane. I just don’t ever want their songs in my vicinity. Unless maybe I’m stoned, and much too content to get off the sofa to put on something better – like anything else.

Sonic Youth. My college band mate, when we first got together and shared riffs, said “awesome. I can totally hear the Sonic Youth influence!” And I said “cool, man. Yeah. As well you should. Totally.” Because I knew they were an underground favorite of many of my friends, who were all HUGE fans. But you know who wasn’t? This guy. In truth, I had never actually listened to Sonic Youth until the next day. I had another friend loan me Daydream Nation, and it was – well, I could certainly hear similarities between those riffs and mine, in the sense that we share a love of dissonance. But they didn’t move me. A few years later, I had a friend with Sonic Youth constantly in her Jeep cd player: almost mostly Goo, but also Dirty and Daydream Nation. They just – I don’t know. You know? Though I confess to loving “Teen Age Riot.” But I guess that’s like hating the Stones but loving “Sympathy for the Devil.” You kind of have to.

The Pixies. This is a little different. I tried on a few separate occasions to get into the Pixies. I borrowed their entire catalogue from a friend say, I don’t know, ten years ago (incidentally, the same friend with Sonic Youth in her Jeep). I listened to every track, of every album, in order. And… wow. Lots of disappointment. They did nothing for me. I was quite devastated, because not only did I have many Pixies fans as friends, they also influenced some bands I loved at the time. For years, I just wouldn’t listen to them. But, I didn’t give up on them entirely, specifically since Mrs Lonesome, how should I put this – encouraged me – to give them another go ‘round. And it actually helped. They became like an 12 year old single malt. It took time for me to not just acquire the taste, but to on occasion order a glass. I happen to dig a handful of what they do, mostly because Black Francis kills it and Kim Deal may or may not be insane. But man did it take me a long time to get there. A long, enduring, embattled time.

Who do you got?

Mr. Mean:

First and foremost, #1 would be Radiohead. I simply don’t understand how they are so popular and critically acclaimed. Pablo Honey was just a travesty, a UK band trying to sound like American alternative rock (dare I say, grunge). They may as well have been Bush on that first album. Then, The Bends comes out and totally floored me. It is a great album from start to finish. The singles were flawless from that album. But, they still weren’t really “huge” yet, on a worldwide level, until the next one, which is the benchmark for everyone and their grandmother. Well, kids, I had a promo copy of OK Computer 2 weeks before the album came out. I played it once, and that was it. I did not like it at all. For those spacey leanings, there were better albums that year that came out, namely Primal Scream’s Vanishing Point and Ladies and Gentlemen, We Are Floating In Space by Spirirualized. Kid A had maybe a song or two that was good, and everything else following that one has been horrible except for In Rainbows, which I kind of enjoy from time to time. The only other thing I like Radiohead-related is Johnny Greenwood’s comp of old roots tracks he selected for Trojan a few years back. I don’t understand them at all. They meander here and there and get absolutely nowhere. It’s a 60 minute sleeping pill.

Another one would have to be Type O Negative. I have tons of friends who are into metal and/or goth s*** and I simply do not understand the passion people have for them. I like metal, so it’s not like they were a band in a genre that I knew nothing about or did not appreciate. The stupid gothy overtones are just horrible. Not one Type O Negative song ever made me stop and think “yeah, these guys are alright, I suppose”. There are metal bands that are dreadful in the grand scheme of things, such as Keel and Helix, and I at least like some songs by those cats. When the singer died, everyone acted like their savior died, which I just could not understand. It’s that whole goth romanticism crap. I was more upset when Dimebag Darrell was killed. He was a far more interesting part of metal than these guys.

Mr. On'ry:

Great topic and thanks for the kind words.  Here’s my list:

The Who – I tried for at least a decade to get into this band.  I don’t get the lust people have over The Who.  When they were mod, there were bands doing it better.  When they went all hippie, there were bands doing it better.  When they went all arena rock in the 70’s there were bands doing it better.  And don’t get me started on their “rock operas”.  Tommy is possibly the most overrated album in music history.  Everything about it is garbage.   Think about this – what other band lasted as long as they did, changed styles and musical directions as many times as they did and still, STILL were never at the top of the food chain creatively speaking?  How is that possible?  Oh, because everything they wrote was generic garbage, that’s why. 

The Clash – There is no other band in the world I catch more crap for than this one.  If one more person tells me I must not like punk because I don’t like The Clash I’m going to seriously punch them right in the mouth.  Fist to teeth.  I swear to you both.  First off all calling The Clash “punk” is like calling Led Zeppelin “metal”.  It’s a misnomer.  Did they influence the genre?  Absolutely.  Are they a proto version of the genre?  Absolutely.  Does that mean they should be lumped into the genre and be thought of as the be all, end all?  No.  So everyone needs to cut the crap.  Oh and by the way the real originators of punk were The Stooges and to a slightly lesser extent MC5 and both of them long preceded The Clash.  Not to mention they just write crappy songs.  I never once listened to a Clash album and thought, ‘oh man these guys are so innovative and write such great material.’  No, I think, ‘wow, these guys are boring as hell.’  I swear there is no other band in the world that more people probably pretended to like simply because it was the hip thing to do.  That’s the only reason I can explain their popularity.

R.E.M. – This one comes down to nothing more than the vocals.  I will never, ever argue their place in rock history and there are songs they’ve written that I really actually like.  But Michael Stipe is the worst vocalist this side of Morrissey.  He has absolutely ruined this band for me forever and ever.  Every time he opens his whiny, pompous mouth it’s the aural equivalent of nails being dragged across a blackboard followed by the sound of me vomiting.  Not to mention that his lyrics are not as genius as every makes them out to be. I’m sorry.  There are just better writers than him.     

Mr. Lonesome:

I’d like to add Elton John to this list.

I will give him credit for writing some great melodies over his career (but what artist hasn’t over such a span of time). And I do enjoy a few songs (specifically “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road”). But his downfall is having the absolute worst lyricist in any form, and that includes pop-country. Bernie Taupin can make a lovely thing such as “Your Song” sound like it was written by your 5^th grade son who has ADD. I’ve never heard lyrics that were so embarrassing and plain old idiotic like his. I know he parted from Taupin for a spell, but those songs were far from his creative peak musically. That all being said, he’s on this bizarre pedestal as being a true icon. Something like “Bennie and the Jets” is just annoying. There is no greatness to what he does, nothing special at all. But I’ll be darned if tickets to see him aren’t in the few hundred dollar range.

O.k., tell us in the comments - which one of us is nuts?  Or are we all nuts?  What bands are you 'supposed' to like but don't?