# Acknowledged greats in the Arts that you "don't get" **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 2, 2014, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acknowledged-greats-in-the-arts-that-you-dont-get/680367 "2014-02-02T19:01:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2014, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acknowledged-greats-in-the-arts-that-you-dont-get/680367/61 "2014-02-03T22:04:01Z")
All of opera and near-operatic singing. Most of spectator sports. Most of the aforementioned artists in this thread I like though. ---
**Author:** ![LibrarySpy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f9ae1b/32.png) [@LibrarySpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LibrarySpy)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2014, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acknowledged-greats-in-the-arts-that-you-dont-get/680367/62 "2014-02-03T22:05:58Z")
I clicked on this thread with glee, but now my soul hurts. Still: The Sopranos. Like watching paint dry. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2014, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acknowledged-greats-in-the-arts-that-you-dont-get/680367/63 "2014-02-03T22:20:38Z")
> [@K364](#): > > 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. They have got maybe two recorded songs that are good. but they were a concert band. A GD concert was, well- fantastic, mind-expanding, amazing… It’s all a bit hazy but … ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2014, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acknowledged-greats-in-the-arts-that-you-dont-get/680367/64 "2014-02-03T22:30:14Z")
> [@The\_Second\_Stone](#): > > Zappa goes without saying, although “watch out where the Huskies go and don’t you eat that yellow snow” is comedic genius compared to his buddy Cptn Beef. Cptn Beef was all about poetry. ---
**Author:** ![Jurph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/50afbb/32.png) [@Jurph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jurph)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2014, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acknowledged-greats-in-the-arts-that-you-dont-get/680367/65 "2014-02-03T22:33:41Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > 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. Oh my stars and garters, the recitative chunks from _Into the Woods_ drive me up the wall. I’ve got friends who love his stuff and I just can’t deal with it. Similarly: Lou Reed’s singing. Robert Frost’s verse, and good deal of Emily Dickinson’s. Frank Zappa’s songwriting. Honorable mention: Modern Architecture. Just about any architect who makes a hundred-million-dollar curved building that looks like a boat wrapped around its own propeller… and then they find out the roof leaks and the curved surfaces focus death rays of sunlight onto nearby structures, and the “novel” roofline (which cleverly diverges from the stodgy principles of engineering) happens to also create six-foot long fifty-pound icicles that require nearby sidewalks to be closed after every snowstorm. I wish I could be feted for making shit that looks cool but doesn’t work! ---
**Author:** ![Deeg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/deeg/32/2955_2.png) [@Deeg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Deeg)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2014, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acknowledged-greats-in-the-arts-that-you-dont-get/680367/66 "2014-02-03T22:44:24Z")
Pretty much all abstract modernist artists (fine arts) for me; it comes across as a big con. James Joyce. ---
**Author:** ![GrandWino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grandwino/32/67_2.png) [@GrandWino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandWino)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2014, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acknowledged-greats-in-the-arts-that-you-dont-get/680367/67 "2014-02-03T23:11:20Z")
> [@Typo\_Negative](#): > > John Malkovich. Everybody raves about him but I just don’t get it. He was great in that jewel thief movie. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2014, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acknowledged-greats-in-the-arts-that-you-dont-get/680367/68 "2014-02-03T23:31:30Z")
> [@HeyHomie](#): > > I feel the same way. It took Frodo & Sam five pages to move three feet, while every blade of grass was being described in exacting detail, punctuated by pages-long poems in Elvish. > > The movies are ten millions times better. I have yet to see the movies because I was just so exhausted by trying to get through the books. I’ll have to make the effort but, I admit, it’s not at the top of my list. ---
**Author:** ![Mississippienne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d2c977/32.png) [@Mississippienne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mississippienne)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2014, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acknowledged-greats-in-the-arts-that-you-dont-get/680367/69 "2014-02-03T23:55:56Z")
There’s a lot of stuff that’s not my thing, but I can tell a lot of skill and effort went into it. Like, I don’t sit and listen to Tchaikovsky, but I can see why someone would. I’m not a music snob; while I have my preferred genres, I don’t look down on the others as ‘lesser’ music. Hell, I’ve heard Central Asian throat-singing and been like, okay, not my bag, but clearly that took some skill to pull off. Reggaeton is the only music genre I have NEVER, EVER, heard a decent song come out of. It’s not even good to rub up against a stranger in a club to. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2014, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acknowledged-greats-in-the-arts-that-you-dont-get/680367/70 "2014-02-04T01:10:47Z")
> [@GargoyleWB](#): > > Guitar Gods: Jeff Beck. He just fails to hook me with any of his playing, it has always seemed pure paint-by-numbers. Poor Jeff Beck. Will never fail to mention, even when doing a joint interview with Clapton, that he, Jeff Beck, is the best guitarist ever. Clapton just smiles. Beck bores me to tears with his playing. As for the Grateful Dead, you either “get” them, or you don’t. I’m glad I get them. But I can sure understand why people don’t. On their very best day Jerry and Pig could nicely carry a tune when singing. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2014, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acknowledged-greats-in-the-arts-that-you-dont-get/680367/71 "2014-02-04T01:37:50Z")
> [@Donegal\_Dragon](#): > > **Daniel Tosh** just because you can be more disgusting than anyone else does not mean you are talented or funny To be fair, I’ve never heard anyone refer to him as “one of the greats” up there with say… Richard Pryor, George Burns, Bob Hope, etc… ---
**Author:** ![the\_diego](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@the\_diego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_diego)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2014, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acknowledged-greats-in-the-arts-that-you-dont-get/680367/72 "2014-02-04T03:09:59Z")
Superman. Real heroes have to wear masks and know how to skulk around in the dark. ---
**Author:** ![Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulf_the_Unwashed)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2014, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acknowledged-greats-in-the-arts-that-you-dont-get/680367/73 "2014-02-04T03:40:24Z")
Classical music: Debussy. Don’t get him at all. Seems like he says something not very interesting and then says it seventeen more times in equally uninteresting ways before the piece, for some random reason, comes to an end. The joke in my house is that I turn on the classical station, hear something unfamiliar, and say either “oh, I like this work–clearly not Debussy” or “I don’t like it–it must be Debussy.” The punchline is that I’m surprisingly often right. Non-classical music: Name your jazz musician. I know jazz is a great American art form and all, and I respect that, but I don’t much want to listen to it. Also, traditional Celtic music, which I like for about three songs and then I am ready to move on, unlike many relatives and friends, who could listen to it all night. Literature: Jane Austen. E. M. Forster. Janwillem van de Wetering. Ruth Rendell. I see some have mentioned Robert Frost; I think I would put him in the overrated file rather than in the don’t get file, but it’s close. Movies: Some of Woody Allen’s earliest movies appealed to me, but I gave up on him as a moviemaker a while back. The funny parts aren’t funny any more and the serious parts are boring, and the plots are flimsy and the characters uninteresting. Somebody I otherwise respect once said to me that _Hannah and Her Sisters_ was Allen “coming of age” as a filmmaker, and all I could do was nod and smile and think privately that Allen should’ve stayed an adolescent. Can’t think of any visual artist off the top of my head. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2014, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acknowledged-greats-in-the-arts-that-you-dont-get/680367/74 "2014-02-04T04:46:04Z")
Another Woody Allen hater. Perhaps as a stand-up comedian, but as a movie maker: meh. Jeremy Irons. Dave Matthews Band. Tried and tried, and it just seems like tuneless noodling to me. Tom Waits, who may be a great composer, but the fucker can’t sing a lick. Dali, Rothko, Warhol, Picasso. I think they were all having us on. Louis C.K., Richard Lewis, Gilbert Gottfried. Also whoever told Tracy Morgan that he was funny should be hanged. Ornette Coleman (jazz sax) ---
**Author:** ![Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulf_the_Unwashed)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2014, 6:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acknowledged-greats-in-the-arts-that-you-dont-get/680367/75 "2014-02-04T06:49:41Z")
Oh, I forgot about TV shows, assuming that TV shows (rather than actors/directors) count. –MASH and Seinfeld. Never understood the following for either of them. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Bill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Mr.Bill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Bill)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2014, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acknowledged-greats-in-the-arts-that-you-dont-get/680367/76 "2014-02-04T07:00:26Z")
Tolstoy I read about 3/4 of Anna Karenina one summer during college when I was intentionally broadening my horizons. I got to the point that I threw up my hands exclaiming “I don’t give a damn what happens to this stupid woman.” ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Bill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Mr.Bill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Bill)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2014, 7:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acknowledged-greats-in-the-arts-that-you-dont-get/680367/77 "2014-02-04T07:04:43Z")
> [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](#): > > Oh, I forgot about TV shows, assuming that TV shows (rather than actors/directors) count. > –MASH and Seinfeld. Never understood the following for either of them. Agree with you about Seinfeld. I loved MASH, especially the original cast. Sherman Potter was a decent replacement as CO, but I missed Radar and Frank Burns was brilliant as foil for Hawkeye and Trapper. BJ was very likeable, but lacked the edge that Trapper John had. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2014, 7:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acknowledged-greats-in-the-arts-that-you-dont-get/680367/78 "2014-02-04T07:07:41Z")
Jimi Hendrix. I know he’s supposed to be a god and all, but it just sounds like so much noise to me. I love most music from that era, but not him. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2014, 7:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acknowledged-greats-in-the-arts-that-you-dont-get/680367/79 "2014-02-04T07:12:57Z")
F. Scott Fitzgerald. Like being at a long, pointless party with people you couldn’t care less about, but you can’t talk back to them, because they’re buying the booze. Joseph Conrad. His writing seems to harrumph, “Pay attention, you dullard!” Firesign Theater. It had to be the '70s, you had to be in college, and you had to be stoned. ---
**Author:** ![Kiyoshi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e19adc/32.png) [@Kiyoshi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kiyoshi)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2014, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acknowledged-greats-in-the-arts-that-you-dont-get/680367/80 "2014-02-04T13:13:48Z")
Pink Floyd. Boring, boring, meandering waffle. I have no idea why teens of the 70s worship the ground they walk on. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acknowledged-greats-in-the-arts-that-you-dont-get/680367.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acknowledged-greats-in-the-arts-that-you-dont-get/680367.md?page=5)