What bands just don't click with you?

[cobl04]

Which is why there's currently a bunch of Neil/Tim/Enz/CH tribute shows featuring banal talent happening across Australia.

Paul Dempsey aside, of course, he's brilliant. Do you like him/SFK?

 

[Kieran McConville]

Something for Kate are pretty good, I mean they've definitely had their moments. They can be ordinary, but Paul Dempsey has the ability to rise above that, at times.

But to return to the broader topic, I'd have to say that The National are about the only current/recent band who have clicked with me in the last five years. So that should probably colour the consideration given to any opinions I may venture.

 

[elevated_u2_fan]

Wilco. I've tried Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, A Ghost Is Born and Sky Blue Sky a couple of times and nothing seems to work for me.

Im sure there are others but nothing is coming to mind right now...

 

[LemonMelon]

Listen to Summerteeth. It's not nearly as downbeat as the others and shows a greater variety of their sound. Ditto Being There.

I'm a big Wilco fan and even I find myself bored by Sky Blue Sky, while A Ghost Is Born is just very insular.

 

[GirlsAloudFan]

Somehow I missed this thread until now.

The best answer for me is probably Bowie.

This is not to say that I don't like D. Bowie, I do, very much so. He's a fucking awesome dude. And I really enjoy Ziggy, and Hunky Dory, and a good number of other singles.

However, he hasn't completely "clicked" with me. And I'm not sure if he ever will. What I mean is, even though I love a bunch of stuff he's done, he's never become a real favorite of mine...someone I would list as one of my favorite artists. It's never gotten to the point where I become momentarily obsessed with his music and have the desire to go out and listen to and memorize every album.

I feel like that's one of the ways I determine whether or not an artist has really "clicked" with me - if I get that feeling where I want to play a certain album on repeat or go out and devour every tidbit of information and everything they've ever recorded. It's never gotten to that point with Bowie, even though I respect the shit out of him and will jam out to "Life On Mars?" until the day I die.

 

[lazarus]

Let him have it, Peef.

 

[PhilsFan]

Somehow I missed this thread until now.

The best answer for me is probably Bowie.

This is not to say that I don't like D. Bowie, I do, very much so. He's a fucking awesome dude. And I really enjoy Ziggy, and Hunky Dory, and a good number of other singles.

However, he hasn't completely "clicked" with me. And I'm not sure if he ever will. What I mean is, even though I love a bunch of stuff he's done, he's never become a real favorite of mine...someone I would list as one of my favorite artists. It's never gotten to the point where I become momentarily obsessed with his music and have the desire to go out and listen to and memorize every album.

I feel like that's one of the ways I determine whether or not an artist has really "clicked" with me - if I get that feeling where I want to play a certain album on repeat or go out and devour every tidbit of information and everything they've ever recorded. It's never gotten to that point with Bowie, even though I respect the shit out of him and will jam out to "Life On Mars?" until the day I die.

Have you heard Station to Station? That's the best thing he's done. Great piano from Roy Bittan on that record, too. That's the album where everything clicked for me.

 

[LyricalDrug]

Wilco, Nirvana, Radiohead are bands that come to mind... I have multiple records put out by each band, but can't summon the same gob-smacked enthusiasm that most people can.

 

[LemonMelon]

I'm going to go ahead and mention Andrew Bird here even though I quite like him. He's too literate for his own good; he stuffs wordy strings of oblique references together into his songs far more often than I'd like. Plus, he pretty much only stays downtempo. I know some people find Bon Iver bland for that reason, but at least I can connect emotionally to Justin Vernon's tunes, whereas Andrew Bird is too stuffy and intellectual to connect with that way.

 

[KhanadaRhodes]

i'm kind of afraid to post this given the previous posts, but...the beatles. i've tried to like them. i've obviously heard all their hits, plus i've lstened to sgt. pepper's, revolver, and abbey road with an open mind. i just can't get into them. i couldn't even name a song of theirs i like.

but hey, people i like have been listed who i like and i think surely everyone likes one or two of their songs, so there's that.

 

[BoMac]

I suppose for me it's Wilco and R.E.M., although I really like many songs from the latter.

 

[PhilsFan]

R.E.M. has never clicked with me that much either, as much as I like some of their stuff.

 

[cobl04]

The REM threads are always prolific, I thought I was nearly alone in not getting it.

 

[Jive Turkey]

Count me among the casual REM listeners

 

[Saracene]

The National - I've listened to Boxer and a few songs from the latest album, and it's frustrating because they sound like something I could get into but just can't. I'd put it down to their singer - he's got a great tone but I find his singing style too, I don't know, detached and droning (not that there's anything automatically wrong with that but I just don't like his particular singing).

Wilco - I've only listened to A Ghost Is Born but again, the vocals just do nothing for me.

Arcade Fire - vocals thing again. Don't like Win Butler's voice and the dour personality it projects is IMO often at odds with their music which has this great playful quality.

Sigur Ros - I love and adore Agaetis Byrjun, ( ) and Takk... both felt like pretty sonic wallpaper that leaves no trace whatsoever.

Bruce Springsteen - enjoy his stuff in small doses but get bored after a few songs. There's something awfully plain about his music to me, not that I never enjoy a straightforward kind of music but his just doesn't click with me.

Pearl Jam - ditto.

 

[mobvok]

After they broke up I tried a decent swath of R.E.M's single output trying to find a hook into the group, but nothing ever grabbed me besides Losing My Religion.....this must be what it feels like to only be a fan of One.

 

[The Sad Punk]

Agree on Wilco too, I've listened to Yankee Hotel Foxtrot plenty of times and the only reaction it can muscle out of me is "I guess this is okay".

Sigur Ros bore me to tears.

 

[Kieran McConville]

A Ghost Is Born is actually far and away my favourite Wilco album. It's so headachey.

 

[LemonMelon]

Does anybody like Wilco?

Maybe their aggressive popcorn/sandwich/coffee campaign is turning everyone off.

 

[lazarus]

VWilcock (The Resistance)

 

[mr_spenalzo]

I've tried Summerteeth and Sky Blue Sky ... neither clicked.

 

[LuckyNumber7]

I'm really with the original post.

Arcade Fire and R.E.M.. I really do enjoy them both as well. I'd see them live. But I just don't get so excited for them. Although it's true more for Arcade Fire than R.E.M.

And you can add Radiohead to that group.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

Radiohead & Nirvana. Fuck em both.

Especially Radiohead.

 

[iron yuppie]

Does anybody like Wilco?

Maybe their aggressive popcorn/sandwich/coffee campaign is turning everyone off.

Just bought my first album from them: The Whole Love. The reviews collectively were too strong to ignore.

 

[GirlsAloudFan]

Re: Wilco

They were fucking awesome when Jay Bennett was in the band. All that shit is great - Being There, Summerteeth, Yankee Hotel, Mermaid Avenue.

After Bennett was kicked out...not so much.

And I still think the first album of theirs that anyone should listen to is Yankee Hotel. Gorgeous stuff.

 

[corianderstem]

Does anybody like Wilco?

I do!

 

[indra]

Bands/singers I "should" like (given the bands/singers I do like), but don't:

Radiohead
The Smiths/Morrissey
Kate Bush (and Kate Bush lite -- Tori Amos)
The Cure -- I actually do like a lot of Cure songs in a fairly casual way, but none are really essential to me.

David Bowie -- again I like many of his songs, but there are few I can't switch off
Marc Bolan -- I like some, despise more

For the most part what I can't get past is the vocals. In the first group (Radiohead through The Cure it's whine. I can only take so much whine before I just want to haul off, slap the singers and tell them to shut the fuck up. Not really conducive to clicking with a band.... With the second group (Bowie and Bolan) what drives me up a wall is vocal affectation. For me it's mostly like fingernails on a chalkboard and a little bit goes a very long way.

Oh and Tori Amos wiggling around when she plays live...good lord sweetheart it looks as if you have either major vaginal itching or bad hemorrhoids! There are creams for both of those...use 'em!

 

[LemonMelon]

Oh yeah, I forgot Tori Amos. I think it's less that she hasn't clicked with me though and more that she blows.

 

[bono_man2002]

Oh and Tori Amos wiggling around when she plays live...good lord sweetheart it looks as if you have either major vaginal itching or bad hemorrhoids! There are creams for both of those...use 'em!

Oh yeah, I forgot Tori Amos. I think it's less that she hasn't clicked with me though and more that she blows.

If I were joining the Tori fan bus right now after the craptacularly, boring release that is The Night Of Hunters (okay the final track is pretty awesome), I can't see anyone why anyone would be interested in her. I'm glad I came in a little earlier and appreciate the early work because it is sooo much better than what is being put out now.

 

[U2inUtah]

Broken Social Scene -- I've given their self-titled and Forgiveness Rock Record a few spins, and I just can't get into them. Boring music to me. I haven't listened to much of Feist's solo work.

and I would agree with others on Wilco and Pavement, although I haven't listened to either band extensively. Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain is about the only Pavement I've listened to more than once.

...and I love R.E.M.