Premier Rock Forum

indiegrab_360 wrote: Wed Jun 09, 2021 11:05 pm I never liked Pavement. I found a copy of "Terror Twilight" in a pile of CDs in a trash bag on the street and listened to it... One of the worst albums I've ever wasted time listening to.

As for me... the biggest stand out is Radiohead. For some reason I liked Radiohead into my early 20s but all of the sudden maybe Idk... 6 or 7 years ago I can't listen to it (or any music like this, really) anymore. It's so whiny and kind of lazy. No real melodies... just like desperate moo'ing into a mic over some ambient chords and a muted drum set. Whoops.

Love Pavement, Terror is not a great record. Radio head have 2 good records and I cannot listen to the rest. Ok. Computer and Kid A are fun, weird records though.

For me It might be Metallica. Loved the first 4 records when I was a kid and now cant listen to any of it. It's like listening to 5 people trying to tell you how to assemble Ikea furniture directly into your ear at the same time. I just want it to stop.

losthighway wrote: Thu Jun 10, 2021 12:08 pm This example reminds me of a common experience (not sure if it's yours) where punk rock affiliation forbids listening to certain artists in earnest.
(...)
It's weird because now when I listen to bands like Scream, Minutemen, or Meat Puppets, or even Television for that matter it's clear that a lot of people making music in the punk rock spirit of rebellion were totally unafraid of incorporating so many of those supposedly forbidden elements.

Im my experience, people who make interesting music are far less hampered by that sort of bullshit notion than their fanbase. The minutemen weren't covering Doctor Wu as a joke, they just enjoy music more than they enjoy said bullshit notions. That's true of SO MANY artists who make radical music but are not snobby at all in their tastes. It takes enjoying music more than enjoying dumb ideas to make great music, I guess.

I don't think I ever completely turned on an artist I was once a big fan of, but I did start enjoying music I at one point looked down upon. My biggest example would be AC/DC, I viewed them as big time offenders of unimaginative lowest common denominator rock music and would actively talk shit about them until I caught on with the subtlety of what was going on there (at least for their first years, after a while they did water it down some and became more of a generic hard rock act).

To this day I regularly give a honest chance to music I'd ignored up to that point in hopes that it'll click with me eventually. I have a Rush day every once in a while, at this point I don't think it's going to happen anymore.

Of course a lot of stuff is hopeless, like the Fat Wreck variety of hardcore music.

Steely Dan. Really disliked this band up until a few years ago. I just didn't get it. Then one day I did. And now I thoroughly enjoy Aja and Gaucho.

Rage Against the Machine. I had an advance cassette of part of their first record a little before it came out. I remember enjoying it at the time, but something happened when they blew up. Maybe it was just too in my face everywhere. Maybe it was the fans. Anyway, decided to fully embrace it several years ago and am super into all of the kinda dumb riff rock aspects of it.

I don't hate Fleetwood Mac. I don't hate The Eagles. I still hate The Offspring.

tommy wrote: Thu Jun 10, 2021 3:22 pmAnyway, decided to fully embrace it [RATM] several years ago and am super into all of the kinda dumb riff rock aspects of it.

Seriously, those riffs don't get old.

tommy wrote: Thu Jun 10, 2021 3:22 pm Steely Dan. Really disliked this band up until a few years ago. I just didn't get it. Then one day I did. And now I thoroughly enjoy Aja and Gaucho.

Same. I used to find them rather grating. They struck me as perched awkwardly somewhere between late night talk show smooth jazz, on the one hand, and boomer rock of the very un-punk variety on the other (things like the Eagles or CS&N or whatever). But the Dan have done some brilliant work! There's a formal and thematic depth to their best records that smokes the likes of the Eagles. They can be very funny too. Jury's still out on the two reunion albums, which I haven't spent much time with, but Sunken Condos is pretty great for a newer effort. They/he sort of typify "cool nerd" music.

I *despised* Radiohead, thought it awful, wannabe classic indie rock, most likely just stupidly put off by how ubiquituous they were, but then I caught them doing There There on some TV show and it was just fantastic. Nabbed a copy of the LP, Hail to the Thief, and did a giant face palm. What a great band.

Loved The Doors as a kid. Think I'd vomit if forced to sit through a record now.

Loved Queen. Still do.

kokorodoko wrote: Thu Jun 10, 2021 3:48 pm

tommy wrote: Thu Jun 10, 2021 3:22 pmAnyway, decided to fully embrace it [RATM] several years ago and am super into all of the kinda dumb riff rock aspects of it.

Seriously, those riffs don't get old.

I'm not exactly a fan, but seeing their first show on YT was kind of inspiring. It's already almost note for note what became the first record, starting out with maybe 5 people watching and by the end was pretty packed. I think everyone there knew they were seeing something special.

The Rolling Stones. In the great Beatles vs Stones debate I was always Beatles. Still am. But sometime around when I turned 39 I got digital files of all their albums and really got into the Beggars through Exile run. This led to my eventual appreciation of the few after through Some Girls. I get it now. Especially Let It Bleed snd Sticky Fingers. Holy shit.

Another was Cheap Trick. I always loved the few punk rock covers out there like Big Drill Car’s version of Surrender and FM steve’s lesser known punk rock band Big Black’s cover of He’s A Whore but their actual records never moved me much. So about five years ago I bought a couple record collections for resale and one had their first few through Dream Police and were beat up but still playable and sounding good so I just kept them and spun them until one day I was listening to In Color and then the live record and I just totally fucking got it. I was seriously stunned it took me that long.

penningtron wrote: Thu Jun 10, 2021 5:06 pm

kokorodoko wrote: Thu Jun 10, 2021 3:48 pm

tommy wrote: Thu Jun 10, 2021 3:22 pmAnyway, decided to fully embrace it [RATM] several years ago and am super into all of the kinda dumb riff rock aspects of it.

Seriously, those riffs don't get old.

I'm not exactly a fan, but seeing their first show on YT was kind of inspiring. It's already almost note for note what became the first record, starting out with maybe 5 people watching and by the end was pretty packed. I think everyone there knew they were seeing something special.

Another band that got so popular that the musically literate folk assumed they should probably hate them. I agree, it's hard to find that many durable riffs in one place. Also that Evil Empire record has such sharp arrangements and groove. You could count on one hand bands that did a great job of combining rock music and hip hop. I have a hard time getting past Rage and Beastie Boys (also a band I once disrespected, but now have found some enjoyment of).

Bernardo wrote: Thu Jun 10, 2021 2:28 pmI don't think I ever completely turned on an artist I was once a big fan of, but I did start enjoying music I at one point looked down upon....To this day I regularly give a honest chance to music I'd ignored up to that point in hopes that it'll click with me eventually.

Yes, there was a point in my early 20s when I decided I would only form an opinion on a band if I sat down and gave an albums worth of material a fair hearing. Outside of genre-copy-cat bands who are in thrall to the then-current trend, there's very little I would say I actively dislike at all now. Being able to distinguish between art that you like and art that you think is good is a skill that can take time to develop.

Bernardo wrote: Thu Jun 10, 2021 2:28 pmOf course a lot of stuff is hopeless, like the Fat Wreck variety of hardcore music.

Suffer by Bad Religion and Punk in Drublic by NOFX have a few moments but even the best of this stuff is very one-dimensional. The bigger second tier stuff (Pennywise, Lagwagon, etc) is very forgettable; each band is almost indistinguishable from their peers.