Whoopsie! Have to disagree with my pals once agin…love Big Star and pretty much everything else Chilton. Try “No Sex.” Or this 1970 cover of “Jumpin’ Jack Flash.”
Yet another vote for Big Star. They hold high spots on pretty much every list I’ve ever seen of Greatest Power Pop Bands or Albums, and I love power pop and many of the other bands/albums on those lists, but… meh.
Thank you very much and greatly appreciated. I used to try to be ironic/sarcastic and over many, many years realized that I’m just not good at it and I now try to be as literal as possible. And, as you alluded, it’s hard to tell what people are doing in text, which is why I asked in the first place.
Again, however, thanks much!
I adore Pink Floyd. I have for decades. For years, everyone I knew that was a big Pink Floyd fan also really liked Marillion. I have always been completely unimpressed. I even went to one of their concerts and met the band. They all seemed like very nice guys. I just don’t like their music. At all.
One day in the middle of the 1990s, I was accidentally exposed to Primus. It knocked me sideways. I’ve always disliked harder rock, but Primus is something entirely different. It just spoke to me. Couldn’t begin to tell you why.
I know what I like… I just don’t know why I like what I like.
Lately, I have been spending entirely too much time listening to the UOGB. Again, no idea why…
Not really. I don’t automatically love an artist of any particular genre.
I will say that, if someone doesn’t stick to the sound I grew to love them for, I usually lose interest, even if I’m not against that genre. So there are a lot of bands I have loved but can’t get into any more.
As a product of my generation, I like almost all of the “Classic Rock” canon - Styx, Kansas, Tom Petty, The Eagles, so on and so on.
However, Rush gives me nothing. Never has, likely never will.
Further to my generation, I have never, ever, been able to tolerate punk, in any of its forms. I can kind of see where the Sex Pistols were coming from, even if I didn’t necessarily dig the music. I don’t change the channel when The Clash comes on, either.
But The Ramones, The Melvins, Bad Religion, Misfits, Suicidal Tendencies, etc. – none of it has ever worked for me on any level.
Agree on John Hiatt. Respect his music but his voice gets on my nerves.
Foo Fighters, they are a great band and Dave Grohl seems like a good person, but I just can’t quit comparing them unfavorably to Nirvana. Nirvana had edge, had chaos. Foo Fighters is just too bland.
‘Yes’, and ELP.
I was a near pariah to some for not liking the music of the above bands. It’s just me, but when it comes to rock, I just don’t care for a sound where electronic-ey keyboards are the dominant musical voice. I don’t think that makes me a philistine.
Notice a pattern?
What I’m building up to is that I want to yell at so many bands: “Hey! You have a whiny nasally guy, WHY have him sing lead on every single song on every album forever and ever? Remember The Cars? If you got bored of Rik Ocasek, you could listen to Benjamin Orr. Sick of Paul whining? Beatles had plenty of John, and even some George and a few Ringos.”
A lot of my favorite bands (Dire Straits, Counting Crows, U2, AC/DC, RHCP, Bon Iver, Sabbath, Dead, Smashing Pumpkins, Pearl Jam) have such quirky vocalists that I literally get tired of listening before one album’s over.
Ok, I know that no one’s going to tell Eddie Vedder or Bono to give someone else a turn… maybe I just need to find more covers/tribute albums of my favorite artists.
Or chill out and be more accepting and less annoyed… guess I’ll work on that.
The singers from the last 25 years are much worse, starting with Thomas Yorke of Radiohead. The ones you listed could, at least, pretty much stay on key. This new batch? Forget even that.
One thing I notice is “different strokes for different folks,” or “One man’s meat is another man’s poison.” For example, Steve Perry is considered a great vocalist by some, not without reason.
And yes, I too have bands/artists where the singer’s voice seems to be the main thing keeping me from appreciating or delving into their body of work.
Well, it could be because, even if you don’t like the quality of his voice, he’s a good singer in terms of being able to hit all the notes and convey all the emotions the song calls for, or in terms of being able to consistently belt out the songs for a couple of hours and hold a crowd spellbound night after night.
And, some of the worst offenders are solo artists.
But, I’m totally sympathetic to this:
And a lot of my favorite bands have multiple lead vocalists. It’s a common factor I’ve noticed. (And those that don’t, often have a lead vocalist who’s very versitile, and adopts different styles and vocal personas for different songs.) If I got tired of listening before one album was over, they wouldn’t be a favorite band.
RealityChuck, you don’t need to be high. I don’t get high, but I REALLY like the Dead. I came to them through bluegrass and jazz, especially jazz, so endless noodling doesn’t really faze me.
Nobody in the band had a really great voice: One of the best Dead Head t-shirts I ever heard of said, “What has 49 and 1/2 fingers and can’t sing?” :- 