Alright, Pink Floyd. I've tried to listen to many of their records: Piper, The Wall, Dark Side, Wish You Were Here, Meddle.... none of them did anything. I tried these 5 albums because I gather that all are pretty different from one another, AND their best liked ones.. thought I might like at least one of them. Maybe if I'd been around when they were released they had made an impression. Now, I don't like any of the vocalists' vocals, none of the concepts and I'm not impressed by the sounds. In particular Piper was a let-down, seeing as several of my musical heroes (Bowie, Blur) have listed it as a huge influence.
With The Beach Boys, again, I can see how their stuff may have been impressive first time around, but one of their main selling points, the experimentation in-studio, doesn't really matter when the songs are boring (with the exception of God Only Knows, which is wonderful...) ... doesn't help maybe, my dad over-exposing me to Sail On Sailor when I was little. Or Paul McCartney and Brian Wilson routinely going into "you were such an influence" - "no, YOU were an influence" any time either Pet Sounds or Revolver/Rubber Soul/Sgt Pepper is brought up. I admit that my dislike may be very childish here.
As for The Who... I like some of the earlier simple songs (though I'm more a Kinks-person myself), but from The Who Sell Out everything just sounds too much like a huge effort. Also, I don't think Daltrey can sing (which is easier to disguise when the songs are 2-3 minutes bursts of energy, less so when he's a rock opera "singer"), and I detest how Keith Moon, whose behaviour was appalling, has become some rock 'n' roll hero.
My apologies if the earlier post was a bit blunt. Replying while at work after semi-reading half a thread is never the best idea...