Eric Clapton. I try all the time. It’s just not working.
Also, anyone who doesn’t worship the Beatles is in league with the devil. (Not that there’s anything wrong with that.)
Every member of X has impeccable hipster credentials. I’ve enjoyed some of their later projects.
But every time I heard Exene’s & John Doe’s harmonies, they reminded me of It’s A Beautiful Day. I did the Hippie thing–but always hated IABD. (On the non-Hippie thing, I loved the Cramps & Social Distortion, among others; I’m not stuck in the past.)
Yes, X was a seminal LA punk band. But I was never a fan.
Oooh good one. Totally with you on this. Never liked Clapton in any incarnation, yet he is a god to many.
Also ErinPuff, good call on Sufjan Stevens. Wildly overrated IMO. I must admit though that there are a couple Neutral Milk songs that I really like, prolly my favorite being Holland, 1945. And yes, it is an awful band name. I wonder why Indie Rock holds such a stranglehold on terrible band names, its like they are each trying to out-suck each other. This could be its own thread…
The first New Pornos album is WAY inferior to the other two. You should definitely give Electric Version a try.
Marillion. I like progressive rock so theoretically I should like Marillion, but I just haven’t given them much of a chance. Ditto for King Crimson.
Dave Matthews Band. Wanted to like it, because my kids really loved it; tried several times to give a listen, but I thought the music and lyrics were boring. Do NOT understand the adoration of Tom Waits. At least not his singing, which is an unintelligible croak most of the time.
Some that have really excellently macabre songs, like Nick Cave and Randy Newman, two just name two right off the top of my pointy little head. And I so love the stories they tell, but the music itself, and their singing, just makes the old blood run cold.
In a different vein (hehehe) is the Dixie Chicks. I’m no fan of country but I wanted to love them for their politics alone that shone like a beacon when delivered in that genre. But no, I can’t make my heart latch on to them or the ones I mentioned above.
But I soooooooooooooo want to.
A lot of people I know are like me in feeling completely indifferent to Death Cab. Yes, I like Ben Gibbard and I love Postal Service, but Death Cab is just so blah. Sounds very mediocre, cold oatmeal in a beige room kind of music.
Oh God, I thought I was the only one! I love his songwriting (I’m assuming he writes his own stuff, yes?), but, much like Colin Quinn, I just wish he would sell it to someone else to deliver.
That voice! It makes bits of me hurt, and not in a good way. I don’t understand the sound, like the sound, or know why people emulate that sound. It is not the sound of a well man.
I’ve tried to like him, really I have, for over 15 years now. Still hurts.
I’ll see you Eric Clapton and raise you…Sheryl Crow. I hear she’s popular, personable and talented - and I’ve genuinely tried to get into her music. With all the radio play she gets, I’ve tried many times to appreciate her stuff and find I just can’t get into it. I guess it’s because I just can’t stand her voice.
The only song of hers I ever managed to half-heartedly like was “You’re My Favorite Mistake” (or whatever it’s called - I don’t even know the correct title of that song.). But sadly, Ms. Crow’s music just doesn’t do it for me. I’m a headbanger at heart but I appreciate lots of different kinds of music, and I’ve tried to give her a fair shake - but her music just doesn’t do it for me.
Do standards singers count?
I like good singers of old standards songs. I dearly love Mel Torme, Dean Martin, Nat King Cole, Bobby Darin and Ella Fitzgerald.
But I can’t stand Frank Sinatra. I don’t know why - I admit he has good technical style and delivery, but somehow he makes me want to hurl.
The parts of Marillion I like are, unfortunately, the instrmental passages in which they most blatantly rip off Genesis. But Fish was such an overwrought self-important vocalist that he ruined it for me. I mean, he sings “The driver guzzles another can of lager” as if the driver had just wiped out Boy’s Town.
DaveRaver, which version(s) of King Crimson did you sample? The band has had several different phases over the last 37 years.
Here’s yet another vote for Eric Clapton.
I was a huge Cream fan and saw them in concert a few times.
But after they broke up, I’ve never liked any of his music. Maybe Jack Bruce (or Ginger Baker) is God.
I also never got Frank Zappa. “Brown Shoes Don’t Make It” Funny song title, but bad music.