I think we’ve done this before, but here we (I) go again:
Are there universally recognized Artists they you personally can’t stand, or at least have no appreciation for?
My list:
Singer: Billy Holiday. Just can’t get past the pickananny voice.
Musician/Band*: Grateful Dead. This category I struggled with because there are many genres I’m not into, or don’t understand (e.g. Rap). But the GD got my vote for their uninspired musicianship/production and sloppy vocal harmonies. I hear a garage band when they play.
Composer: Schumann. Usually slotted in the top 10, I would be hard pressed to include him in my top 30. Especially his piano works (I love Chopin) and symphony’s, both of which I find painful to listen to.
Artist: Picasso. I find his works cold, inhuman and disturbing – which can be what the artist intends, but it seems “built-in” to Picasso’s style.
The Stones. I could name many others, in all the arts, but the Stones are in a class of their own. I don’t know how anyone seriously compares them to the Beatles.
Stephen Sondheim. I will agree he may be Broadway’s best lyricist ever, but except for a few exceptions* he’s a formulaic and unmemorable songwriter. He’s too much interested in his lyrics and the songs suffer and usually follow the same pattern. Many of his musicals, OTOH, are just fine and I kind of wonder how great he would have been if he had been willing to work with a first-class composer.
*“Comedy Tonight,” “Send in the Clowns,” and “Everybody Ought to Have a Maid” and a couple of songs from Company come to mind.
Whoops, sorry. I see that Wiki says that it is now considered “derogatory”… hopefully more like “hick” or “cracker” or “hillbilly” and not like “nigger”.
What would you use to describe her vocal inflections? To me they sound like not only the Deep South, but a whining child of the Deep South. Which is surprising considering how her career ended quite worldly.
I like Schumann, but I never thought he was one of those “top ten” composers nor regarded as such. I did find some internet sources put him there, which really did surprise me, but most seemed to leave him off at least the top ten.
For me? In art, Andy Warhol I just don’t get. I like or love all the artists mentioned in this thread so far, but Warhol doesn’t do it for me.
I’ll agree with the Grateful Dead. Never been able to get into their music, even when I went through my jam band phase. Another musical blind spot for me is Hüsker Dü. Given the music and bands that I like, I should be one of their biggest fans, but I just never could quite connect with them. I don’t know if it’s just their muddy recordings and the fact that I never had a chance to see them live or what. I love Bob Mould, I enjoyed his work with Sugar, but I can’t quite click with Hüsker Dü.
Well, I would say Pollock’s work is pleasingly composed and rational, myself. I think that’s part of why I like him–there’s (to me, at least), a clear sense of classical composition and visual balance to his paintings.
I had never heard of Cy Twombly before this thead. I’m not sure what to make of him. There seems to be some order in his work, and overall I like it, but it’s not as immediately likable (once again, to me), as Pollock’s. There’s more tension and off-balance elements to his work. His work strikes me more as free jazz, while Pollock is more bebop or something like that: chaos within a pretty strong, repetative framework.
