Bands and artists you "just don't get"

[tremoloman]

What bands or artists out there do many people love that you just never understood or got the fascination with that others do?

For me, the bands I never got were:

KISS
Pink Floyd
The Grateful Dead

This is not meant as a dig to those who like these bands. I just never saw how people fell in such love with them. I do like a few songs from each of these artists but not enough to make me say "WOW THESE GUYS FRIGGEN ROCK!".

To be honest KISS just make me sick... Gene Simmons is such an ego maniac and IMHO their music isn't all that good. Having said that, I do respect the fact they have stayed together for so long and have millions of fans. I'm just not one of them.

I do however love Ace Frehley's solo albums (Frehley's Comet, Second Sighting, Trouble Walkin', and the latest Anomaly).

[tjcurtin1]

Hmmm, that's interesting - those three would also be high on my list... and all this time I thought there must be something wrong with me:D

[Spudman]

Grateful Dead I've never gotten. Same with Bob Dylan. That will do for starters.

[street music]

I guess we all solo or group acts that we don't take a like'n too. What is so great about LADY GA GA, PINK,PUSSYCAT DOLLS, or this stuff they call to music Alternative METAL RAP? SAY WHAT?
It's more about circus acts today than it is talent, at least you can repeat most of the words from songs of the 60s 70s 80s without getting arrested.

[marnold]

Just about any modern "alternative" stuff like Kings of Leon, Death Cab for Cutie, et al. It's not enough for me to change the station. I usually have to yell "Shut up!" while I'm changing it. Problem is that my wife and a number of my relatives really like that stuff.

[Heywood Jablomie]

For me, the list would be very long, but as for the Grateful Dead:

What did one stoner say to the other stoner after they ran out of dope at a Dead concert?

Wow, this band sucks!

[ZMAN]

+1 for Kiss
Slash very ordinary guitarist
Bruce Springstein
Neil Young. I know a fellow Canadian but. Can't sing, can't play the guitar but every one of his songs is an anthem mega hit.
As I get more "into" weekend mode, I might come up with some more.
This is Victoria day long weekend in Canada.

[hubberjub]

Kiss does not do it for me. I also can't get into the Stones. Never been a big Zeppelin fan either.

[Tig]

Gotta agree with not getting Kings of Leon, the Stones (love Keith's riffs, but Mick comes along and ruins the song), Bob "just find the key, please" Dylan could write, but the singing is scary, KISS has no songs that you can just listen to on their own merit, and the Grateful Dead remain a mystery to me.

Luckily, we have plenty of great choices available to us, especially when you avoid 95% of the radio! :puke:

EDIT: Add Jack White/White Stripes, Amy Winehouse to the list.

[Katastrophe]

I don't get any band that refuses to use guitars prominently.

[Eric]

My list is miles long, but here are the ones that come to mind.

Readying myself for the coming firestorm...

Stevie Ray Vaughn
Iron Maiden
Yngwie Malmsteen

And possibly more understandable to some:

Slipknot
Captain Beefheart
Ponytail
Sun Ra Arkestra

Honestly, I just never quite got any of these groups. That's not to say that I won't eventually, or that they have no redeeming qualities, but they just all seem not to click with me for whatever reason.

[Eric]

Bruce Springstein
I feel you on this one.

[Tig]

I feel you on this one.

Bruce was really great up until the Born In The USA album, IMO. Those early albums had some great songs. I'll admit he's has a few decent songs sprinkled in the most recent couple of albums.

Bruce is worth seeing live, however. You'll not likely see a more energetic, nor longer concert!

[deeaa]

Depends a bit what you mean with 'get'. I never liked many of the bands mentioned here, but in a way I 'get' what they're all about anyhow and how some people might like them.

I suppose the biggest 'I don't get' is blues and country music, always thought it was like if there are musicians who seriously lack creativity they can find salvation in playing the blues. JAzz sometimes seems the same to me. BUT there are some, like Grateful Dead's two country-rock albums, that are great (Those two are incredibly sweet vocal work and really nice. I don't like any other Grateful Dead stuff.)

I dunno - I was always amazed why people like liked Rolling Stones, IMO they sound horrible and clumsy and can't play or sing proper. I never understood why Beatles was _so_ big, although I have great respect for them for inventing most of modern rock. And Ozzy...do people really like that wailing voice? I suppose there's plenty of examples.

I also wonder if people would really listen to that crap they do on the radio, if they were given a choice and not just have whatever the industry forces them to listen to.

[Tig]

Stevie Ray Vaughn

Yngwie Malmsteen


Malmsteen, Satriani, and Vai are incredibly talented virtuosos, but their songs are somewhat boring to me.

Studio SRV is OK, but SRV live is a huge step up! One of those "you had to be there" kinda things, I guess.

[deeaa]

I don't get any band that refuses to use guitars prominently.

That's good sig material...well said. Pretty much how I tend to find things. Very few good non-guitar songs out there...can only think of some Depeche Mode songs but I think they also have some guitar. Like 'I Feel You', quite a strong tune. I have to check out the guitar content now!

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Phew! There is indeed guitar there :-)

[deeaa]

Heh, this Ash band is pretty cool---thanks to Spotify I'm now listening to it :-) what a great concept Spotify indeed is.

[Eric]

Studio SRV is OK, but SRV live is a huge step up! One of those "you had to be there" kinda things, I guess.
I guess you're right that I did have to be there, but there are SO many SRV fans these days...it just confuses me. I really wish I did get it.

[syo]

Springsteen, AC/DC, Ozzy, Motley Crue for starters.
Certainly my feelings can change. I used to hate the Eagles with a passion and now find I like a fair amount of their stuff. Same with the Stones.


What did one stoner say to the other stoner after they ran out of dope at a Dead concert?

Wow, this band sucks!

Obviously the author of this joke has never been to a Dead show. It is IMPOSSIBLE to run out of dope at a dead concert. :messedup:
As for not getting the Dead, I can fully understand. I didn't get them either until I actually went to a show, and... I guess substances were involved :messedup: ...and... I thought they were great!

[marnold]

I don't get any band that refuses to use guitars prominently.
Normally I would agree with you, but I love 80s New Wave which sometimes didn't even have so much as a bass player. I also like Baroque music that at least initially wasn't written with guitar in mind. People from Christopher Parkening to Yngwie Malmsteen have changed that though.

[markb]

Well I'm glad Eirc said it first, but:

SRV, in fact most of that school of electric blues.
Most (nearly all) metal.
Most (not all) prog.
Oh, and I really hate pre-WWII cajun music. Whoever said Dylan was out of tune above has obviously never heard any of this stuff :nope

[R_of_G]

(Most) metal with vocals. I definitely get the appeal of metal musically, but I never really understood the appeal of most metal singing. It's not that I don't appreciate the vocal talent some of these guys have because it's undeniable, it's the style itself. That's why I enjoy bands like Pelican which bring all the fun of metal music without the vocals.:dude

PS. Given what I said about nostalgia in the other thread (about bands you are ashamed to like) I will add this caveat to the above, I still love Judas Priest.

[kiteman]

Jimi Hendrix. :poke

[Eric]

One more big one that has confounded me in recent years:

The National

[deeaa]

(Most) metal with vocals. I definitely get the appeal of metal musically, but I never really understood the appeal of most metal singing. It's not that I don't appreciate the vocal talent some of these guys have because it's undeniable, it's the style itself.

I hear you, although I wouldn't say most, but there are plenty of vocal styles in metal I really can't listen to. Already in Finnish bands; I could probably like some of them just fine without vocals - or with different ones. Children of Bodom, HIM, Nightwish and lots of black/death metal bands I can't listen to because of excessive wailing and/or growling. And I don't really get this 'hero heavy' genre, which is what we call these bands like Sonata Arctica (another finn band I dislike) and Hammerfall etc. You know, heroes, magic, swords, fast, larger-than-life songs and blazing solos and always super-high wailing voices. Yechh. NOT my genre. I suppose Manowar is the granddaddy of the genre.

[kiteman]

I hear you, although I wouldn't say most, but there are plenty of vocal styles in metal I really can't listen to. Already in Finnish bands; I could probably like some of them just fine without vocals - or with different ones. Children of Bodom, HIM, Nightwish and lots of black/death metal bands I can't listen to because of excessive wailing and/or growling. And I don't really get this 'hero heavy' genre, which is what we call these bands like Sonata Arctica (another finn band I dislike) and Hammerfall etc. You know, heroes, magic, swords, fast, larger-than-life songs and blazing solos and always super-high wailing voices. Yechh. NOT my genre. I suppose Manowar is the granddaddy of the genre.

I agree all that. I luv metal guitar but the singing, good lord! I know they're singing like that on purpose but no appeal there.

Take Black Sabbath, plenty of metal and terrific singing, that's music. :)

[red]

KISS
Pink Floyd
Led Zeppelin, when it works it's brilliant, but you have to sit through so much crap to get to the good bits.
Dream Theater

And the winner is, and most likely everyone will hate me for this, The Beatles. I force myself to try and listen to The White Album every 6 months or so and always end up stopping it halfway and going about my business.

Give the man who said Slash isn't worth much a cigar. The guy's all rock and roll attitude and leather pants and not much else.

I love Bob Dylan, BTW. The man can do no wrong.

Nobody having a problem with Tom Waits yet? I like him, but I'm just surprised that he didn't make anyone's list, thought he would. He's that kind of artist.

[Heywood Jablomie]

Is it just me, or is this a strange question with endless possibilities that really won't indicate a thing? "What are the foods you just don't 'get'" would be about the same.

BTW: caviar

[red]

Is it just me, or is this a strange question with endless possibilities that really won't indicate a thing?
It's just you :).

[Heywood Jablomie]

It's just you :).
It often is.

[Eric]

Is it just me, or is this a strange question with endless possibilities that really won't indicate a thing? "What are the foods you just don't 'get'" would be about the same.

BTW: caviar
No, I can understand that idea. I guess the only goal of this thread might be to understand each other a little better and maybe see if there's a common thread, but otherwise it just seems like people complaining about bands they don't like.

[tjcurtin1]

Thinking about this, I wondered if it would be more accurate to say, "Bands you never got into". As many have noted, time and circumstance really comes into play here. I've often wondered what listening to the Beatles would be like for anyone who didn't grow up when they were a working band - a lot of the magic - and attachment - is in the experience of growing up with something. That came to me when listening to the White Stripes - I didn't 'get' them, but at one point I realized how they could be more powerfully meaningful to someone for whom they represented a musical moment of change. I think that it also has to do with tastes and attitudes at a formative time in one's life: as a teenager, I and my friends were not into the more extreme rock histrionics (yes to the Stones and the Who, no to Black Sabbath and Kiss and hair bands), so I have continued to tend to not find interest in metal bands, for example. THis then also just comes down to musical tastes - are you, for example, more drawn to the beauty of a good melody, or to the rush of a wildly thrashing guitar and wailing vocal?

[Katastrophe]

I just don't get the satanic/black metal stuff.

Slayer has always been a bit confusing to me as well. I can listen, but it just doesn't do anything for me.

[MAXIFUNK]

The Who
The Doors
The Beatles


98% new Rock/Metal bands loud throaty yelling with piss poor playing all sounding alike.

98% of all new pop music I.E. all sounding the same recording studio magic.

[Tone2TheBone]

I was talking about this with someone the other day. Mine are

Bruce Springsteen
The Grateful Dead
Slayer

Just never got into them.

[marnold]

I was talking about this with someone the other day. Mine are

Bruce Springsteen
The Grateful Dead
Slayer
Now I'm going to have visions of these three going on tour together.

[deeaa]

Now I'm going to have visions of these three going on tour together.

ROTFLMAO. Good thread btw, quite enjoying it.

[duhvoodooman]

Is it just me, or is this a strange question with endless possibilities that really won't indicate a thing?It's just you :).
No, Heywood--it is most definitely NOT just you.... :rolleyes:

[Commodore 64]

I don't care for:

Bruce Springsteen
The Doors
The Beatles
Led Zeppelin
I can take or leave Hendrix too.
Grateful Dead do nothing for me, nor do Phish


HATE LIST
NiN
Smashing Cumkins
Nirvana
Foo Shitters
Eric, because he doesn't like Iron Maiden.

[sumitomo]

DDP53ZwPDuo&featureClara and the Clambumpers. :crazyguy Sumi:D

[Eric]

HATE LIST
Eric, because he doesn't like Iron Maiden.
I'm trying to come up with something witty in response to this, but it's just not happening...

I do find it interesting how not 'getting' a band can quickly turn into not liking said band.

[tremoloman]

I have to agree with those who don't like metal bands with those awful screaming/growling vocals. I grew up in the 80s so when I think metal I think Megadeth, Metallica, Iron Maiden, Anthrax and so on. You can hear each instrument, they have decent singing in most cases, and the musicians can play.

I got my cousin into metal and he loves Lamb of God. I tried giving them a listen but the singing is just God awful. :P

[Jimi75]

Beatles
Pink Floyd
David Bowie

[Retro Hound]

See when I saw the name of this thread, I was thinking "bands that I should like but don't" not whole genres of music that I don't like. For example, I was (and am) very into 1980s alternative, but I just don't "get" Elvis Costello or The Smiths. Everyone is so surprised that I don't listen to them because they are some of the biggest names in my favorite style. That's the direction I was expecting from this thread.

[Kazz]

My list is miles long, but here are the ones that come to mind.

Readying myself for the coming firestorm...

Stevie Ray Vaughn
Iron Maiden
Yngwie Malmsteen

And possibly more understandable to some:

Slipknot
Captain Beefheart
Ponytail
Sun Ra Arkestra

Honestly, I just never quite got any of these groups. That's not to say that I won't eventually, or that they have no redeeming qualities, but they just all seem not to click with me for whatever reason.



This might be in bad taste...but after the news I read today....we may not have to worry about Slipknot any more. Their bass player was found dead in a Des Moines Iowa hotel room

[Tonz]

I don't get tons of bands, far too many to list. As far as one post that said something like guys who play jazz , blues or country because they aren't good enough to play metal, well that is just nuts, some of the best players on this planet are country, blues and jazz players. I know lots of great metal players but when you take away their effects they suck. Many classical guitar players will make you wonder why you ever took up playing in the first place. The things is it is not about who is good or who sucks, but being out their working at it and getting paid for it. Oh yeah I forgot Jeff Beck blows away everyone.

[guitartango]

What bands or artists out there do many people love that you just never understood or got the fascination with that others do?

For me, the bands I never got were:

KISS
Pink Floyd
The Grateful Dead



I suggest you listen to the following Floyd albums

Dark side of the moon (45 Million Sales)
Animals
Wish you were here
The Wall (heavy going)
The Division Bell

It's British Music at it's best !

[R_of_G]

...As far as one post that said something like guys who play jazz , blues or country because they aren't good enough to play metal...

Ok, I have read and re-read this entire thread and I don't see where anyone said anything even close to this.

[Eric]

Ok, I have read and re-read this entire thread and I don't see where anyone said anything even close to this.
I think he was referring to this:


I suppose the biggest 'I don't get' is blues and country music, always thought it was like if there are musicians who seriously lack creativity they can find salvation in playing the blues. JAzz sometimes seems the same to me. BUT there are some, like Grateful Dead's two country-rock albums, that are great (Those two are incredibly sweet vocal work and really nice. I don't like any other Grateful Dead stuff.)

But yes, it was misinterpreted and then...off to the races.

I do get what deeaa is saying with this comment, and there are times when I agree that using blues, jazz, or country comes off as a gimmick and attempt to forge an identity by what would otherwise be a pop/rock group. However, saying that kind of cheapens anyone who plays those styles, so I find it to be a little bit unfair.

For me, fusion and free jazz just take so much work to listen to, it's almost not worth it.

[Bloozcat]

Fleetwood Mac sans Peter Green...

Can you bleat like a goat? Stevie Nicks can...and BTW, Happy Birthday to the old goat!

[deeaa]

Yeah maybe I should elaborate...while I think there are certainly great blues and jazz players and probably also country players out there, the whole genres seem to me, well somehow so cast in molds nothing new seems to happen there.

Perhaps it's just that I'm not sufficiently learned in the way of the blues for instance, but a lot of it seems as repetitive and similar to each other as top-10 music seems to be. Nothing new.

With Jazz guys I have quite a lot of experience...and jazz...well, how should I put it. I know a few jazz guys who do it for a profession, and to me it seems incredible how poor they are at creating new music and ideas. They just jam endlessly and discuss some phrasing issues etc, and hardly produce a new tune once a year or so. And when they do, it's like this seemingly complex thing with quirky division etc. but I usually fail to realize what's so fine about it.

One time I pissed off this jazz guy, he was showing off his latest tune he had been composing most of the year, and it seemed pretty complex and interesting. He was like, listen, how do you like the phrasing? etc. and I listened to it for a while, then picked up the guitar and played the tune - I don't know how complex the timing etc. was in music terms, probably something überfine, but to me it was simply just first count 7, then 5, then 3,5 and then start over, and with a simple melody that kind of doubled back on itself. Very simple, and I told him that to me it seems like a simple rhythm, but it'd be way better if it'd just lose the quirky rotation, drop in some backbeat accents and some proper guitar and not a dull synth line, and he got all red in the face and didn't speak to me no more.

[Eric]

Yeah maybe I should elaborate...while I think there are certainly great blues and jazz players and probably also country players out there, the whole genres seem to me, well somehow so cast in molds nothing new seems to happen there.

Perhaps it's just that I'm not sufficiently learned in the way of the blues for instance, but a lot of it seems as repetitive and similar to each other as top-10 music seems to be. Nothing new.

With Jazz guys I have quite a lot of experience...and jazz...well, how should I put it. I know a few jazz guys who do it for a profession, and to me it seems incredible how poor they are at creating new music and ideas. They just jam endlessly and discuss some phrasing issues etc, and hardly produce a new tune once a year or so. And when they do, it's like this seemingly complex thing with quirky division etc. but I usually fail to realize what's so fine about it.

One time I pissed off this jazz guy, he was showing off his latest tune he had been composing most of the year, and it seemed pretty complex and interesting. He was like, listen, how do you like the phrasing? etc. and I listened to it for a while, then picked up the guitar and played the tune - I don't know how complex the timing etc. was in music terms, probably something überfine, but to me it was simply just first count 7, then 5, then 3,5 and then start over, and with a simple melody that kind of doubled back on itself. Very simple, and I told him that to me it seems like a simple rhythm, but it'd be way better if it'd just lose the quirky rotation, drop in some backbeat accents and some proper guitar and not a dull synth line, and he got all red in the face and didn't speak to me no more.
I get you. I ultimately like music that has good hooks and makes you want to listen. A lot of blues and jazz to me does seem like the same stuff rewarmed a bunch of times. I ASSUME that's because I don't understand, but nuances to me are only good if they are a part of something people want to hear in the first place.

Isn't it the job of the artist to help the listener understand their music, not just whine when people don't see how brilliant you are?

It's kind of like tone: great tone doesn't matter if you're playing a song that sucks and playing it poorly.

[Commodore 64]

I'm with you on the "hook". It may not be cool or artsy fartsy to admit it, but I like the hook. That's what drives me nuts about a lot of Springsteen music. He just rambles on forever.

[FrankenFretter]

All this talk about the hook, and this is what I keep thinking about...

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I think I liked Mr. Popper better when he was big. He seemed to have more sustain. Maybe it was due to the larger body mass?

[Eric]

All this talk about the hook, and this is what I keep thinking about...

I think I liked Mr. Popper better when he was big. He seemed to have more sustain. Maybe it was due to the larger body mass?
The lyrics to that song are actually pretty funny when you take the time to read them.

The thing is, most people like melody and hooks when it comes right down to it. If you can get those across in music without being stylistically uncreative and/or having stupid lyrics, I think you'll be in pretty good company. Don't ask people to bear with you while you wail some tuneless melody about Goethe; your audience won't last too long, or at least it won't be very sizable.

[hubberjub]

I think I liked Mr. Popper better when he was big. He seemed to have more sustain. Maybe it was due to the larger body mass?

So, in Gibson terms we can now call him weight relieved? Do you think he prefers the term chambered?

[red]

No, Heywood--it is most definitely NOT just you.... :rolleyes:
I obviously meant that as a joke (hence the smiley), as I'm sure everyone knows, but just to avert any future misunderstandings.

As for the purpose of the thread, I suppose it doesn't have to have one, or maybe it can have a few different ones for different people: as far as I'm concerned, I see it as a very interesting "emperor's clothes"-type experiment. That is, some artists/bands have been accused in the past of being over-hyped, more of a marketing product than a real artistic endeavour, etc. - sometimes by other artists, for example I think Keith Richards at some point said it about Bowie (http://www.gigwise.com/news/42820/Rolling-Stones-Guitarist-Keith-Richards-Slams-David-Bowie).

So it might be interesting to see if we can find at least one artist/band that most of us just don't get and see if there's anything to those claims.

But most likely, it's just me :).

[Tig]

AC/DC
I just tried to watch a recent televised concert, and was so turned off, well, I couldn't last more then a few minutes.
I remember liking them back in the Bon Scott days, but I just can't understand the Angus and Malcolm Young hype that still exists. Seriously, it was embarrassing just to see Angus jumping around in school boy getup.
Could I be wrong, missing out on greatness?

[thearabianmage]

I've never understood the Red Hot Chilli Peppers. All good musicians. Competently-written tunes. Heard many of their songs over the past 15 years. Just don't dig it.

[Mike S.]

Grateful Dead (I'm frankly grateful that some of them are dead).
Bruce Springsteen (voice like a cheese grater).
Metal (all of it, dude),
80's Hair bands (The lot of them. They all tried to look and sound the same anyway, right?)
Current Emo/teen girl magnet boy bands.
Rap (give it a rest already, and turn down that damned car stereo),
The Beatles (pop music that is highly overrated considering what else was going on in the 60's),
Buddy Holly (what a nerd),
Eric Clapton (yeah, I said it. There are hundreds of REAL DEAL blues musicians who are far more creative and innovative than this cat will ever be).

Oh yes, there are more. I'm middle aged, can you tell?

Now let the bickering begin.:bootyshake

[DeanEVO_Dude]

I guess we all solo or group acts that we don't take a like'n too. What is so great about LADY GA GA, PINK,PUSSYCAT DOLLS, or this stuff they call to music Alternative METAL RAP? SAY WHAT?
It's more about circus acts today than it is talent, at least you can repeat most of the words from songs of the 60s 70s 80s without getting arrested.

Speaking of "circus acts"... ICP anyone?
Any of the bands with singers who don't sing, they gutterally scream the lyrics.
Pink Floyd I could never get into...(guess I didn't do enough of the right drugs).
Dylan and The Dead are up there too... Great songwriters, though!

Cheers!

[red]

Bruce Springsteen (voice like a cheese grater).

Try the "Born to Run" album, it's very, very good.


Eric Clapton (yeah, I said it. There are hundreds of REAL DEAL blues musicians who are far more creative and innovative than this cat will ever be).

I've always thought so too.

[markb]

The Beatles are a special case IMO. As far as it goes I'm not sure what part of their work I'm supposed to "get". It's all over the place stylistically and just leaves me wondering what all the fuss is about. The usual replies to this mention individual songs as examples of their mastery which kind of misses the point of what I'm saying. I don't get them as a whole while admitting that they wrote some good songs.

[Mike S.]

Try the "Born to Run" album, it's very, very good.

I've always thought so too.
Many thanks for the recommendation Red. I have indeed heard that album, and am still not overly impressed. Guess it isn't my cup of tea.

He's not the worst thing going by any means, however I just can't embrace his work as many seem to.

I would have mentioned that I'm absolutely sick of so called "young country" music (and most of the rest of Country as well), however living as close as I do to the Nashville area, I'm afraid of getting mobbed for insulting the sacred cow(boy).

Ooops, guess the cat is out of the bag on that one too.:help

I confess to liking the more folk and bluegrass oriented forms from time to time, but I'm primarily a jazz/blues and classic rock kind of guy. I grew up with punk and new wave, and still enjoy it on a primal level. It might sound like absolute crap to the outsider, but we all know how humans tend to wax nostalgic about their youth.

[Eric]

The Beatles are a special case IMO. As far as it goes I'm not sure what part of their work I'm supposed to "get". It's all over the place stylistically and just leaves me wondering what all the fuss is about. The usual replies to this mention individual songs as examples of their mastery which kind of misses the point of what I'm saying. I don't get them as a whole while admitting that they wrote some good songs.
Interesting. This makes me wonder what your tastes are, given this. Not electric blues, not Beatles, not prog or metal. It's not as though that's all there is, but I'm curious what your musical orbit tends to be centered around.

[markb]

Interesting. This makes me wonder what your tastes are, given this. Not electric blues, not Beatles, not prog or metal. It's not as though that's all there is, but I'm curious what your musical orbit tends to be centered around.

Well here's the contents of my iTunes library boiled down.

A lot of assorted "world" musics (europe, africa, etc, etc).
A lot of british folk music with a particular emphasis on english folk-rock acts.
A lot of US traditional music (old time, early blues, etc)
A lot of alt-country (whatever that is), roots rock?
Some pop/rock acts I mainly enjoy for the songwriting (who are probably big Beatles fans, oh the irony!).
Some singer-songwriter (Dylan, etc)
Some art rock from my youth that I still like (mostly european)
Every note that Richard Thompson has ever recorded :)
There's more if you want to play the genre game but it gets tiring.

Edit: forgot to mention a lot of western swing, the real pioneers of electric guitar.

[Eric]

Well here's the contents of my iTunes library boiled down.

A lot of assorted "world" musics (europe, africa, etc, etc).
A lot of british folk music with a particular emphasis on english folk-rock acts.
A lot of US traditional music (old time, early blues, etc)
A lot of alt-country (whatever that is), roots rock?
Some pop/rock acts I mainly enjoy for the songwriting (who are probably big Beatles fans, oh the irony!).
Some singer-songwriter (Dylan, etc)
Some art rock from my youth that I still like (mostly european)
Every note that Richard Thompson has ever recorded :)
There's more if you want to play the genre game but it gets tiring.

Edit: forgot to mention a lot of western swing, the real pioneers of electric guitar.
Thanks for that. I too like alt-country quite a bit.

[Tig]

I would have mentioned that I'm absolutely sick of so called "young country" music (and most of the rest of Country as well), however living as close as I do to the Nashville area, I'm afraid of getting mobbed for insulting the sacred cow(boy).

I confess to liking the more folk and bluegrass oriented forms from time to time, but I'm primarily a jazz/blues and classic rock kind of guy. I grew up with punk and new wave, and still enjoy it on a primal level. It might sound like absolute crap to the outsider, but we all know how humans tend to wax nostalgic about their youth.

Don't worry, you won't get strung up by this mob! I understand the country/young country view. I'd say I like about 1 in 10 country acts, with a leaning toward the outlaws like Willie Nelson. I enjoy Brad Paisley's talent and playing, but not the songs themselves.

I'm also a graduate of the punk-new wave era, which is a guilty pleasure of sorts.

[Tig]

The Beatles are a special case IMO. As far as it goes I'm not sure what part of their work I'm supposed to "get". It's all over the place stylistically and just leaves me wondering what all the fuss is about. The usual replies to this mention individual songs as examples of their mastery which kind of misses the point of what I'm saying. I don't get them as a whole while admitting that they wrote some good songs.

I find that I can't listen to most of the Beatles anymore, especially the early yeah-yeah-yeah albums and the "hits" that have been over played. However, they did produce a few treasures that I'll never tire of. Several songs from Rubber Soul, Revolver, and Abbey Road really are good.

The songs played here all happen to be my favorites, and they play them better then the original recordings.

http://vimeo.com/11237479

[street music]

The Beatles are a special case IMO. As far as it goes I'm not sure what part of their work I'm supposed to "get". It's all over the place stylistically and just leaves me wondering what all the fuss is about. The usual replies to this mention individual songs as examples of their mastery which kind of misses the point of what I'm saying. I don't get them as a whole while admitting that they wrote some good songs.

Mark, man I found this shocking coming from you. I thought you could really appreciate great music , vocals , and playing ability.

[Mike S.]

That's the problem with these types of discussions, the minute someone's personal favorite is selected for condemnation, there is the tendency to defend rather than "let it be" (pun intended).:cool:

[Tig]

That's the problem with these types of discussions, the minute someone's personal favorite is selected for condemnation, there is the tendency to defend rather than "let it be" (pun intended).:cool:

This is one of those "let's agree to disagree" type of threads.
If it were in another forum, there's be flame wars times eleventy!

[sunvalleylaw]

I think the group has done a good job of keeping the discussion civil here. Keep it up guys! I have refrained from participation as my reactions were to "defend" bands I like, or "pile on" bands that have been mentioned.

For me, I keep bumping up against this:

nGt9jAkWie4&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGt9jAkWie4&feature=related

But I think folks have done a good job mostly about keeping it about what they don't get. Good job folks.

[marnold]

The good news is that when it comes to musical tastes, I know I'm always right! *insert tongue-in-cheek smiley here*

[Retro Hound]

Hey! Marnold and I must have the same taste. *insert tongue-in-cheek smiley here*

[R_of_G]

I have refrained from participation as my reactions were to "defend" bands I like...


I've been tempted to do the same, then I remembered that in many cases, the fact that few other people "get" some of the artists that I like really only makes me appreciate the artist that much more. I've been called a music snob many many times and I've never seen it as anything other than a compliment. :french

[Tig]

You music snob!
:poke :tongue:

[street music]

I find it really fun to notice what some like and dislike, it just surprises me what some think about popular groups of a genre.