Bad guy was amazing… I love the way he gets in the pimps mind in the begining, and by the end, the audience are not sure whether whats been shown is real or a pleasant fiction.
Dickens. I love sprawling epic novels. East of Eden, A Confederacy of Dunces, Don Quixote - awesome. What I’ve read of Dickens sets me on edge.
The funny thing is, I actually really like Phish and The Grateful Dead albums and listening to recordings of their shows. Going to their shows bores the hell out of me. I suppose it has something to do with needing to stand and dealing with people who are there for the open air drug market aspect.
One of the best thread subjects I’ve seen in a long time. I’ve had the feeling, but never actually asked the question. I’m in agreement with alot of the artists mentioned, and Zappa was the one that hit me the hardest.
While I understand the comments about Dylan, I cant get on board with the general feeling provided thus far. I got into him when I was around six years old, and I have loved him ever since.
My careers have afforded me the opportunity to meet hundreds of artists, athletes and celebs. There have only been a couple that really rocked me upon meeting them. Dylan was one.
Rather than just a particular entertainer, or bands in genres of music I love yet just never seems to take to, I should LOVE going to concerts. I’ve gone to plenty, especially my favorite bands… ones whose albums I’ve ground into a fine powder, snort, repeat.
I’m a mega-fan of hard rock and metal. I love going out for memorable entertainment. It should be the aural equivalent of going to the movies for me (in of which I do, indeed, indulge in as often as possible. Perhaps more rich and epic, even. Yeh?
Nope, bored to tears. I’ll admit, I don’t like crowds very much… but, I’m not that sensitive to masses of humanity. Perhaps it’s because I’m not a musician, myself? But then why do all my other non-musician friends LOVE going?!
I tried. I really did. I’ve been to 40 or 50 concerts, from the big arenas, the sprawling outdoor affairs, to the intimate, small venues, right up against the stage floor, taking a peak at the set list.
Why my buddies have to pull my arm to get me to go to a mutually adored band, or one I love even more than them… I just can’t pin it down.
I’ll just say it straight; I hate going to concerts.
Joss Whedon.
I ought to love his stuff, all my friends do, and he seems like my kind of thing; I certainly don’t have any real problem with anything that I’ve watched, as I can’t pin down things I actually dislike. But I just don’t get into his stuff at all. I can take it or leave it, and generally I’ve left it.
He has a cult following, but it’s small, so I don’t think he’ll ever have a surefire hit. Even Buffy was only a lucky minor success. And he’s doing a mainstream film, I suppose, The Avengers, but at a time when superhero films are starting to wane in popularity.
A ouple of people I know who worked with Denver said he was the biggest pile of shit in the industry. He was a fine actor–his whole persona was an act.
I don’t want to hijack this overmuch, but CAPTAIN AMERICA is still in theaters turning a profit, and so is THOR, and while IRON MAN 2 admittedly racked up more of a profit last year, that wane doesn’t mean as much when Iron Man will be the guy teaming up with Thor and Captain America to – I dunno, battle a rampaging Hulk, or something? Does it even matter? I’m not actually sure they could lose money on this movie.
I’m surprised and disappointed to hear that. Oh well.
Although come to think of it, I was a little put off by his being someone who was a drunk driver, and then a drunk flyer.
.
.
I too am a metal/rock fan and I have sort of a love hate relationship with them. I love the energy, I love seeing them perform live, but standing and dealing with aggressive crowds for 6 hours gets tiring really quick. I still go though because, usually, the discomfort of all of that gets forgotten, but seeing the great riff live or some other moment lives on in memory. Only a couple times have I had lasting negative memories that ruined an otherwise good concert.
And it’s sort of the opposite problem with sit down concerts. Yeah, I’m comfortable, the crowds aren’t a problem, but I don’t get to really get myself lost in the music or in the energy of the band. So it ends up being a lot more comfortable but not very memorable. And, of course, arena shows are the worst because they have the worst of both where you’re dealing with the massive crowds and still can’t see a damn thing.
That all said, I live close to a venue that is both inexpensive and has many of my favorite acts go through, and because it’s small, I have no trouble getting up front or hanging out with the band afterward. So, I still go to concerts often, but I definitely get what you’re going at here.
Specifically to the OP, there’s a lot of artists that fit in this. Most often, they’re bands that set the groundwork and are considered essential, like Black Sabbath or Led Zepplin. Yes, they were innovative at their time and everyone is basing a lot of their stuff on what they did, but since I wasn’t alive then, I’ve already heard everything they’ve done a thousand times before and whatever innovation they may have had just sounds cliche and boring to me.
There’s also a similar phenomenon when I really like a particular genre but I haven’t ever gotten into a particular band. They are modern and sound a lot like a lot of other bands, but by the time I get to them, they just don’t stand out to me. I imagine if I’d picked them up and not one of the other favorites of the genre instead, the notion would be reversed.
Paul Newman. I like Paul Newman, I admire him. But I can’t sit through his movies and I can’t exactly say why. (maybe Cat On A Hot Tin Roof). He’s cool - too cool.
Love the Grateful Dead, love Widespread Panic, String Cheese, Leftover Salmon, have been to countless concerts of all of them, I even enjoy the parking lot scene, etc.
But I simply cannot get into Phish. I’ve tried, for freakin’ 20 years. In fact, I just went to see them not two weeks ago at an outdoor venue at the Columbia Gorge with friends. Had a great time…just didn’t like the music.
Someone once said of the Marx Brothers that they never made a movie as wonderful as they were. And I think applies to a lot of artists, particularly those who died young, such as Janis Joplin. (Though not all, as it’s amazing how much stuff exactly as wonderful as he was Jimi Hendrix left behind.)
I’ve mentioned this one before, but Husker Du is the one that I can’t quite wrap my head around. I admit, I’ve warmed a bit to them in the last few years, but I still appreciate and respect them far more than I actually enjoy them. It’s weird, because given my musical tastes, every indication is that I should absolutely love them. But they’ve never quite resonated with me.
In terms of literature, James Joyce and Tolkien. Perhaps even T.S. Eliot. Joyce is just impenetrable to me; I don’t have the attention span for Tolkien (except for The Hobbit); and T.S. Eliot, while having penned some poetry I enjoy immensely, I like overall more in theory than in practice. However, all three of these writers I respect and recognize as geniuses.
Liz Taylor - I LOVE old Hollywood glamour. She was probably the prettiest woman of her time. I actually like about three of films, but I can’t watch any of the others. I didn’t even like Cleopatra. I don’t think she’s a good actress. She has this bitchy smugness to her that I can’t stand. The funny part is I think she deserved her oscar forWho’s Afraid Virginia Wolfe, but I think she’s one of the worst actresses ever.
Madonna - I kind of grew up on her (my mom is a HUGE fan). I like that she used sex to her advantage. I also like the charity work she does. I kind of like her as business woman and not as a singer, actress, or person. She seems like a huge hypocrite. I watching some doc on her. She was all sell all your stuff and give it to African orphans one minute and the next minute complaining a hotel wasn’t posh enough for her.
Kurt Cobain/Nirvana - A lot of the people I used to hang out with really worshiped him. I get he was trying to do, but seriously half of Nirvana’s songs suck. The ones I do like were written by Grohl. He’s not a good singer. I don’t think he’d still be famous if he was still alive. (Yes, I know that’s fucked up but I don’t care.) I think I would have like Nirvana if Grohl was the lead singer. The more I learn about him he seemed like classic douche artist.
Throw in another vote for Tolkien. My eldest brother, for the most part a large influence on my early intellectual development, adored Tolkien (and popular fantasy literature generally). So I read LOTR early and wanted to like it — heck — pretended to like it. But eventually I had to come to grips with the fact that Tolkien just wasn’t a very good writer. I appreciate the exercise in world-building, but clearly that alone just doesn’t do it for me.
I’ll also second Miles Davis. I really want to like him, I feel as if I should like him, but I find Kind of Blue to be rather difficult to listen to in one sitting.
Stretching the topic a bit … the (well-regarded) superhero flicks just seem as if they should be right up my alley, but although I always go in hopeful, I leave the theatre disappointed. The Sam Raimi Spider-Man flicks, Batman Begins and The Dark Knight, &c, they all just fall flat.