Bands You Don't "Get."

[joyfulgirl]

I just remembered another one.

Jeff Buckley. Apart from his version of 'Hallelujah'. He had a great voice, but boy did he know it.

Gotta disagree with you there. Jeff was a very humble and shy guy who was actually surprised to discover that people liked his voice (and even more surprised to discover that women found him attractive). He used to play guitar in a band because he thought he had an awful voice. Perhaps you mean that once he discovered that people liked it he knew how to use it?

 

[IWasBored]

Under this definition, Radiohead count. I heard one too many times someone say "you have to keep listening to get it - give them a real chance" that I asked zoomerang for about 5-8 of his personal favourites. I downloaded them all, and honestly I cant even remember what they sound like. And the problem I have with Radiohead is exactly what everyone says "keep listening, you'll get it eventually, give them a go"....who the hell does this with music? Who sits there and thinks 'gee, I really dont like this, but I wont be beaten, damnit! I'll keep listening until I understand/get it/it becomes so familiar I convince myself it must be love!' You just leave it and decide you dont like it. What makes Radiohead so different is beyond me. But people only say this about Radiohead, no one else. Dislike for any other group is much more accepted, overall.

Anyway, under the loose definition of this question I have to say I've never seen the appeal of Gwen Stefani. At first I disliked her as a joke feigning jealousy, but then I realised I actually dont like No Doubt and her solo stuff is exactly the pop Australian/American/Swahili Idol garbage I cant fucking stand. Chart lagging shit which poisons youth. Terrible.

Coldplay, Kasabian, Franz, The Killers, all of them...blah. Dont like what I've heard and have no intention of delving more to find out if this is fair.

that's cool, i was just wondering if this thread had disintegrated into...essentially what u2kitten's "what kind of music is torture" thread, aka the thinly veiled "what bands do you hate?" thread.

 

[AtomicBono]

Under this definition, Radiohead count. I heard one too many times someone say "you have to keep listening to get it - give them a real chance" that I asked zoomerang for about 5-8 of his personal favourites. I downloaded them all, and honestly I cant even remember what they sound like. And the problem I have with Radiohead is exactly what everyone says "keep listening, you'll get it eventually, give them a go"....who the hell does this with music? Who sits there and thinks 'gee, I really dont like this, but I wont be beaten, damnit! I'll keep listening until I understand/get it/it becomes so familiar I convince myself it must be love!' You just leave it and decide you dont like it. What makes Radiohead so different is beyond me. But people only say this about Radiohead, no one else. Dislike for any other group is much more accepted, overall.

I cannot STAND shit like that. For the record, I love Radiohead (what I've heard anyway), and there's nothing to "get." The first time I heard OK Computer, I thought, this is one of the greatest albums ever made. THE FIRST TIME. And yeah, it grew on me the more I listened to it, but I liked it when I first heard it. It just had that special feeling. You know what that also applies to? U2's Pop. Loved it the first time I heard it, and it's still my favourite album. Yes, there have been cases where I have not liked something at first and then I come around, but it's not like I sit there and listen to something I hate 20 times in order to "get" it. There's nothing to "get," it's just that it doesn't fall into my taste in music.

 

[elevation2u]

it's funny cause having been a fan of radiohead for a few years now...i've never felt like therw was anything to "get" about radiohead...the music never seemed weird to me.. i guess the better word for "get" is "appreciate"...i most definitely appreciate radiohead

but i must say i could have cared less about them from radio play...it wasnt till i picked up Ok Computer and then followed it with The Bends...the rest was history....

but to be totally honest.. for most of my life...i never did care for the music that for the last few years I completely love...the kind of love where you're sure it's not a musical phase and this shit's gonna be with you for a loong, loong time regardless if you grow up to be some lame old folk.

u2, radiohead, springsteen, costello, smiths, dylan, clash, beck, etc,,,,,

i never cared for them before i actually took the time to listen to their music catalouge...then i was completely hooked...

for one, i'm not a big fan of that one song they always play over and over as if the artist had never written another song ....and once ive gone through the artist's catalouge i realize there's about a million other betetr songs

here in the local stations this is about the only song they play for the artist which to be honest im not quite a fan of any of these songs despite loving everything else from said artist

u2 - with or without you/pride
radiohead - creep
rem- it's the end of the world as we know it
springsteen - born in the usa/dancing in the dark
beatles- come together
beck- loser
costello - allison
smiths - how soon is now?

truth is i couldnt stand any of these artists before..i didnt "get" them... but now that ive given them a chance i became and still am completely infatuated

these among many, many, i repeat many other bands are the soundtrack of my clumsy & shy life

and there are always those artists that no matter how many times you go through their catalog they just never grow on you

for me it's been... nirvana, smashing pumpkins, led zeppelin, bob marley among others

 

[1stepcloser]

Radiohead are alright. i don't really get the big fuss about them either. i've got OK Computer, it's pretty good but i've got a lot more albums that are better than it though.

 

[joyfulgirl]

Under this definition, Radiohead count. I heard one too many times someone say "you have to keep listening to get it - give them a real chance" that I asked zoomerang for about 5-8 of his personal favourites. I downloaded them all, and honestly I cant even remember what they sound like. And the problem I have with Radiohead is exactly what everyone says "keep listening, you'll get it eventually, give them a go"....who the hell does this with music? Who sits there and thinks 'gee, I really dont like this, but I wont be beaten, damnit! I'll keep listening until I understand/get it/it becomes so familiar I convince myself it must be love!' You just leave it and decide you dont like it.

I look at it this way. My ears sometimes are like my muscles in the morning--cold, stiff. I take pilates classes 3x a week. We don't just jump on the machines and start working out; we warm up. We start slowly, moving gently, stretching, etc., and then when we're warmed up we moved on to the machines. Sometimes my ears need warming up to a certain sound.

Or, another example, how about certain foods that are an acquired taste. What a ridiculous concept the "acquired taste" is, I used to think. Why eat something yucky trying to like it. But I used to not like olives. I didn't force myself to like olives through repeatedly eating them and thinking "I must like these, everyone tells me they're good so I'm going to eat them until I like them." No, instead each time I'd order a martini or if I was dining with someone who prepared something with olives, I'd taste them again. I know that my tastes in everything change over time so I'd try the olives again now and then. And sure enough, one day I realized I had acquired a taste for them, quite naturally. I don't seek them out, I will probably never like them as much as everyone else, but I am no longer offended by an olive on my plate and I also understand why people like them.

So I really think that's what people mean when they say give Radiohead time. It doesn't mean you'll ever like them, it doesn't mean sitting and listening over and over and over until it becomes so familiar that you mistake familiarity with liking them. But I think it means when you catch them on the radio once in awhile driving along in your car, one day you might hear something that you've heard 20 times before and never liked but this one day you might hear something differently. Maybe it's a lyric that touches you in that moment; maybe it's a chord change that moves you; maybe it's a rhythm that you realize is actually quite unique; whatever. I'm not saying this should happen with Radiohead, or that I hope this happens with you, or anything like that. I'm just pointing out that this is exactly the kind of thing that has happened to me with certain bands that I didn't like and didn't like and still didn't like and everyone said "just give them a chance" and then one day, suddenly I heard something different and it all changed for me.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

add me to the "i don't get why radiohead is held in such high esteem" list.

 

[Noopie]

I liked a bunch of Radiohead songs before...but it wasn't until I put all their albums on an mp3 disk and wore my headphones while stumbling through the Van Gogh museum in Amsterdam while tripping on 'shrooms that they reached my top 3.

"Wake......from your sleep" ....that was the line. It was more than a lyric, it was an epiphone.

**this post is not intended to recommend drug use.

 

[Total U2 Nut]

I still just don't "get" Coldplay - I mean, some of their songs are okay, but their just no big deal.....

Q recently voted them "Best Act In The World Today" - Why??

 

[joyfulgirl]

I liked a bunch of Radiohead songs before...but it wasn't until I put all their albums on an mp3 disk and wore my headphones while stumbling through the Van Gogh museum in Amsterdam while tripping on 'shrooms that they reached my top 3.

"Wake......from your sleep" ....that was the line. It was more than a lyric, it was an epiphone.

**this post is not intended to recommend drug use.

Interesting. It was headphones on an airplane that did it for me. There's a lot of music that I don't get into until I listen with headphones.

 

[indra]

Interesting. It was headphones on an airplane that did it for me. There's a lot of music that I don't get into until I listen with headphones.

Generally when I buy a new CD I listen to it the first time (or first several times, depending on how much it grabs me) with headphones. It just makes the whole thing more intense.

 

[financeguy]

I still just don't "get" Coldplay - I mean, some of their songs are okay, but their just no big deal.....

Q recently voted them "Best Act In The World Today" - Why??

Because Q magazine - although I like the mag and read it regularly - are sometimes a little bit too enthusiastic about their latest favoured band. This time next year, they'll probably be touting someone else as the anointed U2 successors.

 

[U2FanPeter]

I've read this entire thread, and "get" most of the bands listed.

The one that's always mystified me was marilyn manson.

u2fp

 

[Saracene]

To be fair, I think it's up to Q *readers* to vote in Best Act in the World Today, not the magazine itself. Which is not to say that they're not overly-enthusiastic about Coldplay anyway.

Oh yeah, and I have to add Bob Dylan to the list of artists I just don't get.

 

[TheQuiet1]

Generally when I buy a new CD I listen to it the first time (or first several times, depending on how much it grabs me) with headphones. It just makes the whole thing more intense.

Oh definitely! I listen to pretty much all of my music through earphones...which I may regret doing when I go partially deaf at 25...

 

[angelordevil]

it wasn't until I put all their albums on an mp3 disk and wore my headphones while stumbling through the Van Gogh museum in Amsterdam while tripping on 'shrooms that they reached my top 3...

Wow, and I thought I was the only one!!! *sarcasm*

I've always admired OK Computer, but only recently have I gotten into everything else. I have no idea what was wrong with my head to not listen earlier. I'm now firmly of the opinion that Radiohead are to rock music what Beethoven and Stravinsky are to classical music...they are technically perfect.

You are either with me or against me on this. (If you are against me, there will be repercussions, such as trade sanctions, unjest invasions, that kind of thing.)

 

[MrBrau1]

You are either with me or against me on this. (If you are against me, there will be repercussions, such as trade sanctions, unjest invasions, that kind of thing.)

Do your worst.

The last 3 RH albums are, for the most part, wastes of plastic and paper.

 

[Dismantled]

I like DMB, the fans are annoying.

OMG thats what I say!!!!!!!!!



I cannot stand Los Lonely Boys

I'm with the Nirvana people... they were huge when I was in high school but I just didn't get it

Grateful Dead...don't hate them..but I don't get it..same goes for Phish I just hate them..(yes people..I'm from VT and I hate Phish )

 

[indigo tree]

For me it's Green Day. Dont hate them, but I just don't really like them either.

 

[Angela Harlem]

that makes sense, joyful. and atomic bono as well

 

[Screendoor]

Do your worst.

The last 3 RH albums are, for the most part, wastes of plastic and paper.

Kid A is their best album.

OK Computer is the most overrated album in modern music.

 

[Screendoor]

And No Doubt was good before Greg left.

 

[namkcuR]

I am a little taken aback my some peoples' 'this is my opinion and it'll never change ever ever ever' mindset. I am also a little taken aback by the what some people consider to be 'thourogh listening'.

First of all, whoever said Pink Floyd was boring - what, not enough hooks or choruses? Think SOUNDSCAPES and AURAL LANDSCAPES. This isn't background music. This isn't music to get accustomed to in a car. This is put-your-headphones-on-and-drown-everything-else-in-the-world-out-and-let-the-music-come-over-you music. If that's not your cup of tea, then it's not your cup of tea.

The Beatles were, and are, incredible. Period. And listening to 'some' songs isn't enough. Listen to Help, Rubber Soul, Revolver, Sgt Pepper, and Abbey Road(for starters) ALL THE WAY THROUGH. With headphones. And please, do NOT fall into the trap of thinking 'Beatles 1' is an accurate summation of what the Beatles were about. It is an accurate summation of what the Beatles were about pre-Rubber Soul, in the time of mop-tops and Italian suits. Despite including staples like Hey Jude and Long And Winding Road(which are great imo), it pretty much ignores the entire latter half of the Beatles career. The Beatles were SO much more than the mop tops and Italian suits.

Radiohead is easily one of the two or three best bands still recording new music. Probably the best band still recording new music that aren't yet in the category of 'legends'. To say Kid A, Amnesiac, and HTTT are wastes of plastic and paper, and to even imply that they are all worse than Pablo Honey, is absurd. The improvement and growth RH have made and had from PH -> Kid A is one of the biggest leaps in output quality I've ever heard a band take with just two records in between. In a way, it's a shame that The Bends and OKC came so early in RH's career, because it's created a whole subdivision of fans and music listeners that can't bring themselves to see RH's more recent work as anything other than the work of a band that got too confident and went up their own asses. The explanation of the band making music that challenges the listener has been used often, but I think it's more than that. In reality, it is only the work of a band doing something far too many bands are afraid to do in the age of record companies that don't give bands second chances: They're challenging THEMSELVES. They're challenging themselves to not rest on their laurals, and to create something new each time out. There's this little Irish band that used to be all about that attitude as well. But that's what the great bands do. RH rules.

Bob Dylan is one of the greatest lyricists of the last century. There are probably courses dedicated soley to his work. Enough said.

Green Day aren't great technical musicians, but they are good at what they do. They've been around for a decade and a half and their most recent record is the best one they've ever made. Their tunes are solid and catchy and I think they have done and continue to do a good job redefining 'punk'.

I could on and on.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that there is a difference between 'not liking' a certain band or artist and 'not getting' a certain band or artist. For example, I'm not a fan of Maroon 5 but I 'get' why people like them. If you can produce a list of reasons why you don't 'get' a band or an artist, they are probably, in some way, shape, or form, the same reason somebody else likes that band or artist. And if you can list those reasons, then you probably understand why other people do like them. So, if you can produce such a list, chances are you just 'don't like' that band, rather than 'don't get' them.

 

[Jack In The Box]

Neil Young
Bruce Springsteen

 

[yertle-the-turtle]

Joyful: Regarding Jeff, thanks for that interesting tidbit. I didn't really know that. What I meant was I really don't like all his vocal inflections, for instance his long drawn wailing in 'Grace'. It grates with me. 'Hallelujah' is magnificent though.

Regarding Pink Floyd, I still find them dull. As someone before said, there's a reason why punk came around and pissed on prog.

 

[Axver]

The Beatles were, and are, incredible. Period. And listening to 'some' songs isn't enough. Listen to Help, Rubber Soul, Revolver, Sgt Pepper, and Abbey Road(for starters) ALL THE WAY THROUGH. With headphones.

Please. If you hear numerous songs on the radio by a band and decide you don't like them, do you actually bother to go out and get their albums? Even though you don't like what you've heard over the space of years, do you bother to sit down and listen through multiple albums?

Of course you don't.

I've been subjected to quite enough Beatles marathons to know I don't like them and listening to some discs won't change that opinion. I'd rather listen to music I enjoy.

Radiohead is easily one of the two or three best bands still recording new music.

You have to be kidding. The Bends is a good album, but OK Computer is seriously patchy, especially the slower stuff, and the assortment I've heard from the later albums is rarely of high quality. It doesn't help that Thom Yorke's voice gets really annoying after a few songs.

Green Day aren't great technical musicians, but they are good at what they do.

Yeah, they've mastered the art of being lame wannabe punks.

 

[Dismantled]

Greenday blah....the lead singer has the most annoying voice in the world *ducks flying objects

Bob Dylan-yeah some of his lyrics are good but I just cannot listen too him for too long, one or two songs then I want to strangle something

Maroon 5-

 

[babyman]

Maroon 5-

same

 

[FlyYourKite]

Those damn emo bands. For God sakes would you just take some Valium and shut the hell up?? *tears out eyeballs*

 

[financeguy]

You have to be kidding. The Bends is a good album, but OK Computer is seriously patchy, especially the slower stuff, and the assortment I've heard from the later albums is rarely of high quality.

With the possible exceptions of Fitter Happier and Electioneering, I consider every track on OK Computer to be great.