Time for the Old Switcheroo.
For me, it was Soft Machine. I picked up Soft Machine Volume 1 on a friend’s recommendation. Didn’t much care for it and put it away. But I would occasionally pick it up and play it again. The more I played it, the more I liked it. About a year later, I saw Soft Machine Third and bought it right away (I still think it’s an amazing album). Now I’m enough of a fan to buy Robert Wyatt’s Rock Bottom (also great).
How about you?
For me this usually happens with albums, not bands. Band X will release new album Y and I’ll say, “This suxs!”.
But after a few weeks and several listens I’ll get into it and decide that it’s not so bad.
The White Stripes. I despised Jack White for years, and teased a friend last Spring for wanting to see them at last year’s Bonnaroo, but a mutual friend had me listen to their cover of Dolly Parton’s “Jolene” a month or two before the event, and it made me curious enough that I started listening more closely to a lot of their other songs. By the time June rolled around, I was a fan and meant to see them but I didn’t get the chance.
I also missed The Raconteurs at this year’s festival, but if either act shows up next year, I’m going to be there.
The first Panic! at the Disco album was unforgiveably awful. Oh look, here’s another band straight out of Fall Out University, having no business being in a music studio.
Their new album…isn’t bad. I really wanted to hate it. I tried to hate it. But it’s…good. It shows promise. It’s like they decided to actually try this time.
When I was in high school, an affirmed lover of Ted Nugent, Montrose and other hard rock bands, I was the record reviewer for the school newspaper. I gave The Pretenders first album 2 stars out of 4.
A couple of years later, at college, a guy I thought was cool put the album on (yes, vinyl in a non-retro-cool way) - so I listened with different ears…
I remain ashamed to this day…a truly perfect album…