Okay, so I get that you think Dave Matthews sucks – but the question is, WHY?
I’ve heard this everywhere, but have yet to find even a scrap of a reason from anyone that’s made the claim – it’s always just a phrase that’s thrown out, with no extended reasoning or rhyme. Heck, they even threw it out on Futurama.
Personally, I’ve been a fan for a long time, and I’ve seen him in concert about 10 times now. Traditionally, he doesn’t trot out the radio-friendly hits to win the hearts of the casual fan – he plays a lot of extended, deep cuts from his discs, and I respect that, since I’m not likely to hear those songs on the radio.
He’s never made a lot of inflammatory statements.
He’s never “sold out” or made music that was a radical departure from his strengths.
He gives props to his bandmates and helps them shine during live performances.
He isn’t TRL-friendly or otherwise a manufactured pop star.
He’s a family man that’s never, to my knowledge, dated Paris Hilton.
He’s actively worked to improve the quality of life for citizens of his home country, South Africa.
So I’m just baffled. Why is there such an underlying current of hatred for Dave Matthews? What’s the deal?
Got nothing against him, he seems like a good guy. He’s talented; so’s his band. I’m not a fan of stuff that mellow generally, though. What turns me off is his voice. That sing-through-the-nose affectation he does makes me want to pull my ears off.
I guess they just don’t like his music. I know what you mean about the voice, An Arky.
I bought Under the Table and Dreaming and did not live to regret it.
I dunno; sometimes I think the hipper-than-thou folk need someone to sneer at.
Matthews probably isn’t edgy enough. The lack of inflammatory statements alone is probably enough for the trendsters to dislike him.
Too many people dolike him.
Or something like that.
Maybe because his audience is (or was) mostly Ambercrombie & Fitch wearing upper-middle class college preppies with baseball hats. So if you are the type of kid who hates the world and everything in it for not conforming to your standard of angriness, DMB represents everything you hate about it.
Yeah, I don’t like his music/singing style, but I don’t “hate” him. His singing seems mushy to me. I really don’t understand the rabid nature of his fans and the combative nature of many of them when you say you don’t like him.
I don’t hate him but I find most of his music (that I’ve heard) boring. Enough so that I’m not interested in hearing any more. I do agree about the voice being irritating, but that alone wouldn’t throw me off.
However, I am tired of being treated like some smarmy hipster just because I don’t like his music. I guess you can’t fault a musician for the attitude of his fans, but the only strong devotees of DM I know become jerks when they try to defend him. I am not being elitist. I like what I like.
I’m not saying anybody here thinks that, but the idea that I’m trying to join a “hipper-than-thou” bandwagon is just laughable. Not all of us dislike him as some sort of social commentary.
Chalk me up as another who finds his music boring. I think it’s because it was so overplayed during my high school days that to me, it has achieved the status of smooth jazz or muzak. I’m not saying he’s not talented, or that his band isn’t talented, because they are. I have nothing against the guy personally; he just doesn’t do it for me musically. I also find his music to be repetitive from song to song. I’m not sure what you’re looking for here - I’d assume that most people probably don’t like him for exactly these reasons. It’s all subjective after all. I don’t know why people would think that non-Dave fans are doing it to be cool, or because he’s too popular. Just go with the most obvious answer. They don’t like him because they don’t.
I’ve heard his music on the radio for years, yet none of his songs have ever made a strong enough impression for me to hate him. Or to like him. I think he’s a pretty good guitar player…or is that…that other guy who hasn’t made a strong enough impression on me to…
Uhhh…how would you know I’m not a musician? Either way, can you understand how that sentence, read out loud, would look…I don’t know, condescending? :dubious:
I get that. I get that there are 31 flavors of ice cream for a reason.
But what I don’t get is where the line between hating the music, and hating the man, comes into play. I get a distinct undercurrent of absolute spite for the guy from other forums on the internet, and at least a slight distaste at this one.
(Which I don’t understand, but I’ve already said as much.)
I’m starting to believe that people use the “DMB sucks” as a catch-all to mean “I dislike his music.” It’s just unfortunate that those same people can’t differentiate between the music and the guy.
The “chord structure” line was just a joke, meant to play up the absurdity of looking for a justification for one’s musical tastes (I’m not a musician, incidentally). Sorry if I misinterpreted what you were asking.
As for why some people seem to hate Dave Matthews as a person, I dunno. There’s probably no good reason, it’s just an inevitable backlash that comes from being famous.
I think that “So-and-so sucks” is often shorthand for not liking the music, and is not a personal attack. For example, when I say “Bob Dylan sucks” I mean, “I respect Bob Dylan’s immense contribution to music and I don’t know him personally, but when I listen to his music performed by him I get a relentless headache.” Like that.
I keed. I keed. I’m just not a fan of the style of music. My roommate of the past 3 years is a huge DMB and Ben Folds fan. I think their CDs should require a prescription and only used by insomniacs. There are a couple of their songs I enjoy, but on the whole they don’t do it for me.
My God, I’m getting the image. By the by, 1920’s style mustache would be an awesome Doper name and/or band name.
[The Onion]Your favorite band sucks.[/TO]