Music you should love - but don't

[Dragon Phoenix]

Duphrates mentioning the Smiths in Bearty's thread got me thinking about this. The Smiths is one of those bands that objecively should be right up my alley. I love the eighties, especially New Wave and New Romatics and arguably the Smiths is the culmination of both. They have been hailed as brilliant, and their album The Queen is dead is often ranked in the top10 of all time.

And I can't get into them. Sure, they have done a few good songs, and There's a light that never goes out is a really great song (but not a DP classic according to my definition), but I do not hear something special in them. Heck, I prefer Duran Duran to be honest.

Do you have similar examples of music that supposedly is perfect for you - but that you don;t really appreciate?

[luminous]

There are a lot of 'punk' bands that a lot of people assume I listen to because I listen to such things as The Distillers, The Clash, etc. But I hate Rancid and the Misfits. They make me want to jam a fork in my eye. Shrug.

[Lepton]

The Tragically Hip are among Canada's foremost rockers. Their style is right up my alley, but I just can't connect with what their songs are about. I don't dislike them, but I should be a much bigger fan.

[IrishDrums04]

Since I love classic rock, I should love Rush but I don't. There are a few songs of their's I can stand ["Free Will," "Tom Sawyer," and "Limelight."] But other than that, I'd rather bang shovels against my ears than listen to them.

Another band I should like for the same reason is Pink Floyd. The only songs I can stand by them are "Money," "Bike," and "Another Brick In The Wall." Other than that, they seem too whiney, depressed, and stoned for my taste.

------------------
"Our greatest glory is not in never failing but in rising up every time that we fail." - Ralph Waldo Emerson



[This message has been edited by IrishDrums04 (edited 06-20-2003 10:31 AM).]

[Ghost Post]

i don't like most of Clapton's solo work. I like Cream, Derek and the Dominoes, the Yardbirds, etc. but not solo Clapton

[Mendoza]

oh, there's plenty of those... "Forever Changes" by Love, routinely voted a perfect 10 album, and it's hippie-style late-60s folk rock which I should like, but...well, it's crap...
And what about "Grace" by Jeff Buckley, another musician's and critic's top favourite? Shouldn't that be a bit better than it actually is?

[Duphrates]

Jimi Hendrix-I play guitar and love 'the blues'. Without a doubt he's a great guitar virtuoso and did, as Dylan said ' a better version of one of my songs.' But he's just too 'noodly doodly' if you know what I mean. Someone great once said about music 'It's not the notes you put in, it's the ones you leave out', I don't know who, it might've been me . I have the same problem with Mozart for exactly the same reason. Sorry DP.

[Dragon Phoenix]

Why sorry? I am not crazy about Mozart either.

[Dragon Phoenix]

Another case in point by the way. I like operas - but not the Mozart and Verdi ones.

[Duphrates]

Apology retracted

Another apology put forward for being presumptious.

[Agamemnon]

Oasis, can't stand them, though other not so well known groups who play similar stuff, I like.
Listening to Coldplay wants to make me curl up in a corner and screem.
And
.
.
.
.
.
Queen........technically different for their time and no doubt great musicians, but I have to change radio stations when they come on.

As for classical, Beethoven and Motzart are too commercial and Chopin goes straight through me without a flinch.
(I prefer Berlioz, Rossini & Faure)

[Duphrates]

Ditto, ditto, and definitely ditto. Though when 'Fat Bottomed Girls' comes on the radio, I like singing it to Mrs.Duphrates.

"Get On Ya Bike An Ride"

[Duphrates]

I've just been reminded of another. Not so much 'The Doors' themselves, but Jim Morrison. American poet , my arse.

[Lepton]

When did this become "diss music you don't like"?

I've heard many people call Beethoven and Mozart "too commercial". What is "too commercial"? It's always sounded like "I don't like their music because I'm intellectual enough to know about other composers" to me.

[This message has been edited by Lepton (edited 06-19-2003 05:28 PM).]

[Agamemnon]

Commercial in the way that Beethoven is virtually credited with influencing the future of classical music as we know it today. Bullshite I say, it's only because Beethoven had the financial backing of Royalty and rich patrons that made him able to push his music on a wider audience. It could have been anyone in the right place at the right time, just happened to be him.

Mozart had his fathers fame and connections to work on, even though he was fairly gifted, without his family and the Archbishop of (insert City here) funding to travel abroad, he would just be one of the ordinary classed composers of his genre.

Now tell me in more depth YOU'RE commercial defination, Lepton?

[Lepton]

I don't have a definition, which is why I asked.
Thank you.

[Courk]

I like oldies. While they're not my absolute favorite form of music, I enjoy most of them. Except the Temptations. Arg, blegh, and ick.

[Bicho the Inhaler]

I'm always hearing about how awesome Bartok is, but I have a hard time getting into it. Apparently Bartok's music is very rich in musical ideas, so I feel like I should appreciate it. Shame.

Similar comments for Schumann. Other than one or two pieces and a couple of good ideas, I don't really like his music.

And bah @ those who don't like Mozart, and a preemptive bah at those who don't like Liszt. But I digress.

[Mackay]

*loves Liszt*

My musical taste is too eclectic for me to really think of anything that I "should" like. *shrug*

[Lucresia]

I should probly like Disturbed, but for some reason..I HATE IT TO DEATH! GRR

------------------
"Where'd you learn to be so complacent?"
-Powerman 5000 "Action"

[JToomey]

I always detested The Pixies, even though I liked that genre. Not sure why... these days I pick them up, and think they're quite alright after all.

I blame the government for my poor judgement.

------------------
The Big, Stupid Puzzle:
http://www.yark.org/puzzle

[casinopete]

Y'know, Aga, I still fail to see what you mean by "too commercial." How could it matter in the slightest whether or not they were funded well enough to devote themselves to music? What matters is what they made, not the circumstances in which they made it.

The only way I can interpret "too commercial" is as "too popular," which would mean you simply don't like it because other people do, and it would make you less elite. Lepton said it exactly right: "I don't like their music because I'm intellectual enough to know about other composers."

[Lepton]

Pete, I think that we are both misinterpreting. Aga doesn't mean that he dislikes Beethoven and Mozart, only that there are other composers whom he likes better. That these other composers (better, in his opinion) are not as well known is the point of the "too commercial" expression.

[casinopete]

Except he was talking about music he didn't like.

And the reason he gave for Beethoven and Mozart is that they are "too commercial."

[Agamemnon]

Commercial in the fact that they are too run of the mill, much of a muchness, same as the same as they are, whatever, in their own compositions.
If you took, say, Johan Albrechtsberger, gave him a large sum of money, excessive backing and support, then sent him all over Europe with the blessing of bespoke royalty, I bet he too would become complacent and knock out a few several hundred drab lifeless compositions (iMho), just to please the gathering party masses.
Infact, Albrechtsberger composed many offerings himself, and he also gave his time in lessons to Beethoven, but do we go into a classical frenzy when one of his ditties bellows out of the radio? Of course not. Why? Because he was not flogged to death back in the days of yore, and probably very few would actually recognise his works.

But then again, what does a drunken limey know anyway. Ask DP about it, everyone else does.

[casinopete]

I was not criticizing your knowledge or tastes.

I was mostly questioning your terminology, as your last definition of "commercial" contained nothing negative - you said basically that they had an easy time of it because of rich patrons and a father's fame, which let them spread their music around to a wider audience, which meant I still didn't know why you disliked them, because how popular they were/are has little to do with inherent quality.

Now you have clarified that you meant that being secure financially meant they didn't have to do anything special, so they put our "drab, lifeless compositions." Now that is explanation of why you don't like them, and now I understand what you meant.

[Fried Egg]

Personally,

I should like bands like Coldplay and Oasis, but don't.

I should like Led Zeplin and Fleetwood Mac but just can't get into them.

Actually, another interesting question (although perhaps best left for another thread) is: Are there any bands you like but shouldn't?

[HyToFry]

The Used and Incubus. They're both my genre, and great bands, but I just don't dig 'em. At all.

DP, have you listened to any of Morrisey's solo work?

[Lepton]

Fried Egg, I am a sucker for decent techno, the occasional pop song, and even the rare country song.

[Dragon Phoenix]