I’m enjoying watching the second season of The Wire, years after seeing the first on HBO, now that the whole series is streaming on Amazon Prime. But I can’t stand that fucking theme song, which is a way more annoying version BTW than in the first season. They always jump into it from the teaser with no warning, too, before I can hit the mute button.
I just don’t understand the appeal of blues, and I hate that whenever I mention this in casual conversation, people look at me like I just said I club baby seals as a weekend hobby.
I wouldn’t call Way Down in the Hole a blues, though. It’s written to sound like a gospel song with some blues elements before those were considered fully different things, but it’s actually a Tom Waits song from 1987 (which helps explain the creepy lyrics).
Not all blues are the same. Some I like, some I don’t. I like Southern Soul which has a lot of it’s roots in the blues. Not all music is for every taste. If someone has an issue with your tastes, tell’em to f-off and find something better to do.
If you listen to a wide enough spectrum I’m fairly certain you’d come across some you do like. But I’m sure you already knew that.
For me, saying that you don’t like “blues music” is like saying you don’t like food. It’s such a broad statement that it just seems overreaching. Sure you don’t like broccoli but you probably like candy. You don’t like electric blues but you probably like a different type.
I feel the same way, btw, about people saying they don’t like “country” or “jazz” or “pop” or any other label. These terms are so broad that it’s nonsensical (to me!) to say you don’t like them. Each of these classifications - including blues - has so many different variations that disregarding the whole genre seems ignorant. I think the reason people who love music might look at you askance is that their thought is: it’s not that you don’t like the blues, it’s that you haven’t found the style of blues you like yet.
I’m not a fan of the blues, either. I’ve heard some great blues guitarists and can admire and appreciate their talent and musicianship. It’s the songs themselves I don’t like. Too many of them seem to be little more than excuses for a guitar solo. A few years back I attended a concert by a phenomenal “local” blues guitarist and his band (it took place at my workplace, so I got in free). And seriously, the guy is a great player. But I ended up leaving in the middle of the second set, because every song was starting to sound the exactly same.
Exceptions: Robert Cray and Stevie Ray Vaughn. Because they write/wrote unique songs in which the guitar solo was a complimentary part and not the entire focus of the songs.
I think these statements are both true if you consider the influence the blues has had on American music (mostly rock). That influence may be on the wane, but still, it’s a major element in almost anything that sounds like rock music. You may not like straight blues or old-fashioned sounding stuff, but if you like rock or classic rock, it’s very much an ingredient.
This is true. Charlie Parr is one of my favourite musicians, and he is sometimes described as “country blues”. I also like the Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin, which are often said to be blues-influenced. But when I think of “the blues” in terms of the kind of stuff I often run into in bars and quickly try to make an escape from if possible (that is, if socially acceptable), it’s along these lines.
I am with you, except that I know I also hate Stevie Ray Vaughn’s music (not sure if I’ve heard Robert Cray, though the name sounds familiar).
Right, and even though I like jazz a lot (or at least certain kinds of jazz–Bill Evans Trio and that style), I’m not going to judge you because I know how it feels on the other end.
That’s a staple of traditional blues. In fact it’s believed to predate recorded music. It’s not associated with any particular style of blues (fast, slow, electric, acoustic, lots o’ guitar, none) because it’s been around that long.
And that is one of the elements that is definitely annoying, and tends to make all (well, not all: many) blues songs sound the same. Like limericks or something, all variations on the same basic structure with different words inserted.
I like blues…for maybe two or three consecutive songs. Then I need a break.
I once attended a concert of Blues Legends. Bobby Blue Bland, Albert King and B.B. King. I appreciated what I was seeing and hearing, but it was a long-ass night.
