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Bands you just didn't 'get' initially
- Thread starter djb
- Start date
Einsturzende Neubauten. Then again I purchased Tabala Rasa when I was very young and had more sensitive ears and wasn't use to actual hard music. Lyrics on this record are particurarly complex as well. Listened to the same album 6 months later and loved it.
Leonard Cohen. I just didn't think he could sing, these days I think personality matters quite a bit too so it doesn't have to be perfect
Leonard Cohen. I just didn't think he could sing, these days I think personality matters quite a bit too so it doesn't have to be perfect
Waxx
Major Contributor
As kid i could not stand Nick Cave, in anything he did. But now i'm a big fan, also from his older work. Idem with the Cure. And i used to hate jazz also, while now probally half of the music i listen to is jazz.
On the other hand, punk, metal and so don't do much to me anymore, while as teenager i was a lot into it. Even the old heroes of that time get boring after a short while listening to them.
Music tastes envolves, and mine surely did. The only styles that stayed in my playlist since i was a kid are reggae, hiphop (more the oldskool one) and classical music. The rest comes and goes.
On the other hand, punk, metal and so don't do much to me anymore, while as teenager i was a lot into it. Even the old heroes of that time get boring after a short while listening to them.
Music tastes envolves, and mine surely did. The only styles that stayed in my playlist since i was a kid are reggae, hiphop (more the oldskool one) and classical music. The rest comes and goes.
I don't think my tastes have changed all that much. They have always been fairly broad with a prediliction for more leftfield artists and the downright weird. But I pretty much still like (and dislike) now what I can remember I listened to as a pre-teen. One of my earliest musical memories (age 7) is obsessing over an NME flexidisc giveaway of Alice Cooper's Slick Black Limousine. Due to having an older sibling with, at the time, decent taste I was well into the likes of Hawkwind, Groundhogs and Bowie, peppered with Jake Thackray, Bob & Marcia and The Sensational Alex Harvey Band long before I ever heard ABBA or The Beatles. All artists I stll enjoy to this day.
Like others here I never understood the appeal of stuff like Steely Dan, Rush or Kiss and I still don't. Dreadful, dreadful music.
What has changed is probably my attention span. While I always enjoyed it when Peel played some chirpy guitar workout from The Four Brothers my attention would have wandered after the first few minutes of a Fela Kuti afrobeat jam which often only really gets going after 15-20 minutes. Nowadays, the longer the better. I also gravitate now to more instrumental music or, if there is singing, then preferably in a language I don't understand. That said, I have come to appreciate solo vocal performance in the English folk tradition like Anne Briggs or Shirley Collins (who has recently released her third 'comeback' album at the age of 89 - go Shirley!) or 'singer-songwriter' artists I probably didn't have much time for back in the day.
Due to the ubiquitous availability of streaming it's now easier to 'get' – in both senses of the word - an artist or genre than it was pre-Spotify. There are vast swathes of African music that, even if I was aware of it in, say 1982, was almost impossible to source outside of specialist boutiques at exhorbitant prices. It's now possible to deep-dive into Congolese Soukos, Ghanian Highlife or Zimbabwean Chimurenga with negligible effort. Let alone more exotic fayre from the Arabic world and further east to Persia, India, China and beyond, or back in time to the roots of Delta Blues, French Chanson, Bluegrass or Gypsy Jazz.
Like others here I never understood the appeal of stuff like Steely Dan, Rush or Kiss and I still don't. Dreadful, dreadful music.
What has changed is probably my attention span. While I always enjoyed it when Peel played some chirpy guitar workout from The Four Brothers my attention would have wandered after the first few minutes of a Fela Kuti afrobeat jam which often only really gets going after 15-20 minutes. Nowadays, the longer the better. I also gravitate now to more instrumental music or, if there is singing, then preferably in a language I don't understand. That said, I have come to appreciate solo vocal performance in the English folk tradition like Anne Briggs or Shirley Collins (who has recently released her third 'comeback' album at the age of 89 - go Shirley!) or 'singer-songwriter' artists I probably didn't have much time for back in the day.
Due to the ubiquitous availability of streaming it's now easier to 'get' – in both senses of the word - an artist or genre than it was pre-Spotify. There are vast swathes of African music that, even if I was aware of it in, say 1982, was almost impossible to source outside of specialist boutiques at exhorbitant prices. It's now possible to deep-dive into Congolese Soukos, Ghanian Highlife or Zimbabwean Chimurenga with negligible effort. Let alone more exotic fayre from the Arabic world and further east to Persia, India, China and beyond, or back in time to the roots of Delta Blues, French Chanson, Bluegrass or Gypsy Jazz.
A couple of swing arounds for me would be Counting Crows .. did not get it at first but would take "August and everything after" to my desert island as it still seems to give something new. Conversely I thought "I am Kloot" were too simplistic but now I think they have a subtle genius over almost all of their catalogue (mostly due to John Bramwells writing mind).
My favourite Dylan period is the mid 70s stuff: Blood on the Tracks, Desire and Street Legal. Great songs, some of them even danceable perhaps.
Though I've recently come to appreciate his really early solo guitar/harmonica albums more.
Perhaps because student-grade hifi back then rarely had any bass. And dub without bass is missing all the fun!
I remember around 1980 I somehow acquired a single of Baby I Love You So / King Tubby Meets The Rockers Uptown. I don't remember ever buying it or how it appeared in my collection but I've been a big fan of dub ever since.
Joy Division.
Growing up in Liverpool in the '70s and '80s was depressing enough without adding hyper-bleak music to the mix too.
About 15 years ago now I got a copy of 'Unknown Pleasures' and I think it's probably one of the best things ever done by anyone, ever.
Growing up in Liverpool in the '70s and '80s was depressing enough without adding hyper-bleak music to the mix too.
About 15 years ago now I got a copy of 'Unknown Pleasures' and I think it's probably one of the best things ever done by anyone, ever.
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I didn't like the Boomtown Rats in the '70s, but now I love them. I can't think of a better song than Rat Trap.
Same for Nick Cave. Sometimes he's off target, but when he hits it, he hits it better than anyone else. Into My Arms etc etc
Still don't like Dylan or Cohen. Maybe, even now, I'm not old enough.
Same for Nick Cave. Sometimes he's off target, but when he hits it, he hits it better than anyone else. Into My Arms etc etc
Still don't like Dylan or Cohen. Maybe, even now, I'm not old enough.
Madeleine Peyroux - I unfairly and stupidly categorised her as a Billy Holiday sound a like . Listening to Half The Perfect World at the moment which is lovely. The band arrangements are always spot on - nobody over playing, lots of space.
Ze Frog
Addicted to Fun and Learning
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Aurora I didn't really get at first, but like with many artists and bands I think it came down to certain songs getting played to death on radio and on inferior systems like factory car audio of year's ago. Actually really love her music on a system that's actually decent.
- Thread Starter
- #53
I was trying to be delicate with my description. He doesn't have a traditional 'good' voice...similar to Geddy Lee at times (I still don't get Rush). As I stated, I now really enjoy Steely Dan. But... some of the vocals , like parts of Kid Charlemagne where he is struggling to hit high notes for example, are nothing short of cringeworthy.
i've always liked selected songs from most artists
like here people say they dont like Steely Dan... I love about half a dozen of their songs and really... Hey Nineteen? no?
and kiss... i'm really like a hair rock fan but they also have a about half a dozen amazing songs.
I think to me some folks I didnt like at the start were people like Billy Joel and Elton John.. really MoR radio friendly stuff but like I always find great stuff NOW from these two.
Just about every artists has *some* good songs.
The Beatles... I really didnt like them as I grew up in an era of Beatles Cartoons and I think they were over exposed.
I'm still not a fan of theirs EXCEPT for Sgt. Peppers... like I dont get the huge adulation for Revolver White Album Abbey Rd. etc. but they gotta be doing something right.
like here people say they dont like Steely Dan... I love about half a dozen of their songs and really... Hey Nineteen? no?
and kiss... i'm really like a hair rock fan but they also have a about half a dozen amazing songs.
I think to me some folks I didnt like at the start were people like Billy Joel and Elton John.. really MoR radio friendly stuff but like I always find great stuff NOW from these two.
Just about every artists has *some* good songs.
The Beatles... I really didnt like them as I grew up in an era of Beatles Cartoons and I think they were over exposed.
I'm still not a fan of theirs EXCEPT for Sgt. Peppers... like I dont get the huge adulation for Revolver White Album Abbey Rd. etc. but they gotta be doing something right.
- Thread Starter
- #59
"Is there gas in the car? Yes, there's gas in the car..."
I had a bit of a thing for Neue Deutsche Welle in the early 80s. I remember having (and probably still do) Die Haut's first couple of albums Schnelles Leben and Burning The Ice (mostly Nick Cave) which I were quite fond of. Can't say I've listened to them much since though. Or Nick Cave for that matter ...
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