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Bernardo wrote: I do enjoy Goo and Dirty a lot, though not particularly most of the singles from those albums.


Experimental... didn't grab me, and Washing Machine lost me completely. I gave up on them and go back to a later album every now and then to see if it clicks, hasn't happened so far. What I liked about them was no longer there after a certain point. Sounded VERY complacent.

I dig "Disappearer" from Goo and "Kool Thing" is trashy fun, if a really stupid song. But otherwise, agreed, the singles weren't by any means the best parts of those records (which I found kinda patchy). "Theresa's Sound-world" though, man, that's good shit. And am I a contrarian asshole for liking the throwaway quasi-instrumental "Mildred Pierce" (written in 1982! there's a live performance from that year somewhere on YouTube) more than the rest of Goo? Yes, I am.

"The Diamond Sea," on the other hand, almost made me care again a few years later. Magnificent song. But other stuff from that album and Experimental Jet Set... left me cold. I remember trying again w/NYC Ghosts & Flowers (b/c hey, you could see 9/11 from my roof!) and just thinking the band sounded really stoned.

Speaking of weed, Pavement after Crooked Rain... also falls into this category. Wowee Zowee seems to have become a fan favorite, but I've never listened to it from start to finish. I like CRCR just fine, but the weirdly excellent drumming and the urgency ran away.

See also: Sebadoh and Lou Barlow in general after Eric Gaffney leaves. Not to mention Dinosaur after the Whatever's Cool w/Me EP, for that matter....

My main finding from this thread is that I probably ought to revisit post-DN Sonic Youth, I bought most of the records, but spent too much brain pining for what they’d left behind.

I saw them loads and the best gug was one when they played mostly an album I didn’t care for, Washing Machine.

Flaming Lips post the Soft Bulletin and Wilco post Summer Teeth, in both cases lost a member that I think was essential

Probably easier to do a list of ones I’m still checked in for….which is nearly nonexistant.

One that immediately comes to mind is King Crimson, who I dropped after Three of a Perfect Pair, the album that ended their "drive to 1984." Never dug any new stuff after that.

Sonic Nurse ' n Rather Ripped are excellent records ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Anyway, the Flaming Lips is my obvious choice. For myself it was The Terror. Nothing at all hummable or memorable from that record. I'll take sundry songs from thereafter but The Terror is my line in the sand.

Psychic TV lost me when they got delulu and thought of themselves as the vanguard of acid house. That whole Jack the Tab/Tekno Acid Beat/Toward Thee Infinite Beat era...eesh. I mean, still props to Dave Ball but weaksauce.

Would see Shellac of North America at the drop of a hat but I fell off at Excellent Italian Greyhound.

Megadeth's So Far...So Good...So What. Everyone says Rust in Peace I say kiss my butt!

Sleater-Kinney

rsmurphy wrote: Sat Jan 10, 2026 2:55 pm Sleater-Kinney

I liked The Center Won't Hold the one time I heard it, but I haven't really cared about them since Janet departed.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, Swans are the one band I can think of that I completely stopped listening to (circa the froggy, gothy Burning World LP), then got into again w/a vengeance. Saw an excellent performance of the wrong material in 1992, then got totally back onboard after The Great Annihilator came out. Received a promo in the mail in late '94 or early '95 and was shocked by how good it was. The subsequent tour was even better. Then Soundtracks for the Blind came out, which was really impressive and bizarre.

I even went back and picked up the three records I'd written off and skipped. I still don't like The Burning World one bit and have a mixed-to-poor opinion of Love of Life and even a lot of White Light...

But I now own each of the major albums and continue to buy new releases.

Wood Goblin wrote: Sat Jan 10, 2026 10:54 am “Unmade Bed” might be an all-time top ten SY song for me.

Yes.

OrthodoxEaster wrote: Sat Jan 10, 2026 5:14 pm On the opposite end of the spectrum, Swans are the one band I can think of that I completely stopped listening to (circa the froggy, gothy Burning World LP), then got into again w/a vengeance. Saw an excellent performance of the wrong material in 1992, then got totally back onboard after The Great Annihilator came out. Received a promo in the mail in late '94 or early '95 and was shocked by how good it was. The subsequent tour was even better. Then Soundtracks for the Blind came out, which was really impressive and bizarre.

I even went back and picked up the three records I'd written off and skipped. I still don't like The Burning World one bit and have a mixed-to-poor opinion of Love of Life and even a lot of White Light...

But I now own each of the major albums and continue to buy new releases.

No one likes The Burning World, most of all Gira. I would put White Light in my Swans top 5. Probably. SftB is a Desert Island record for me, for sure. That blew my teenage mind at the time of its release or shortly after. I'm glad he abandoned Angels of Light, never was my cup of tea.