…so - what’s your best story, which performers do you find yourself on the opposite side of the fence most often with, which are your “gatekeeper” artists you use to see if you are talking with someone you can relate with?
Inspired by **rolandgunslinger’s **story from this thread (post 75):
It got me thinking - it’s like when someone crinkles their nose at me and said “I just don’t get jazz” or “all country music sucks” (something I said as a teenager before I learned how to listen) or things like that; my brain shuts down.
By the same token, I find that the Grateful Dead are the artists I find myself on the opposite side of a discussion about. I love music and respect anyone else’s love for the music they prefer, so I normally try to keep negative comments to “I don’t listen to them” and move on. But if I get too engaged in a muso debate, I may let slip my thoughts on the Dead - I am not a big fan of their music - and am occasionally met with a flat, icy stare. I then have to decide if I need to dig myself out of the hole I just dug or write the whole thing off…
ETA: Oh, and if someone pops off with “what’s so special about the Beatles? It’s just hype!” I want to climb over the table…
I often express my strong dislike for the acting styles of William H. Macy (all the range of Shatner without the self-aware humor) and how he is almost always the worst part of any movie he is in. People bring up Fargo almost immediately and I protest, but Fargo was boring. They then light the torches and sharpen the pitchforks.
Sometimes I seem to be the only person who thought Heath Ledger sucked and sucked as the Joker. He overacted worse than Jack and without the personality to make it interesting. He was a terrible actor in all of his prior work that I have seen. Terrible in The Brothers Grimm, painfully bad in A Knight’s Tale, did a bad job of channeling Val Kilmer in 10 Things I Hate About You. I don’t even remember him in Monster’s Ball. I realize he played the son, but his part could have been done by anyone.
Meryl Streep: I hate her method of acting. It seems like a throwback to stage actors of the 20s and 30s and I hate it. I am in a minority again and many women absolutely love her and her acting. They often think I am a jerk for daring to dislike Streep.
David Caruso, worst successful actor ever! Of course few disagree on this one.
My husband and I have very different muscial tastes, but usually we can appreciate some aspects of each other’s favorite artists. The Beatles are a good example, because I respect them for the enormous influence they had on pop music even if I don’t worship everything they recorded.
But there is one aspect of my husband’s musical taste that I just can’t get into, and that’s his love of prog rock - Yes, Genesis, King Crimson, etc. My ears usually go spontaneously deaf when he mentions or listens to these bands.
My biggest “gatekeeper” artist is Dylan. A lot of people complain about his voice, which is understandable, but I’m probably going to take you a lot more seriously if you can appreciate his lyrics.
I face a lot of “Andrew Lloyd Webber is just a hack.” I merely state, “Well, you are entitled to your opinion, but he is the most successful composer in musical history.” If they challenge that, I say “You are entitled to your own opinion. You are not entitled to your own facts.”
That’s your defense? :eek: Seems kind of like a “bandwagon” argument - ‘if he’s popular, he must be excellent quality.’ Dan Brown is popular but that doesn’t mean he’s a better writer than [name a talented author here]. I’d try for a more musically-based argument for his quality were I you.
I can’t think of a particular example for me at the moment. I like a wide, weird variety of music artists so if someone looks at my iPod they almost invariably come up with an artist that makes them go “WTF?!”
Not a defense, more of a way to end the conversation. I’ve gotton into too many arguments about ALW’s abilities. Mention his money and people tend to shut up. And I cannot tell you how many people who don’t like him don’t know that he wrote both CATS and Phantom of the Opera.
Well, a few years back, when Linkin Park was at the height of their fame, a co-worker told me he had backstage passes to the Linkin Park/Cypress Hill concert in San Diego that weekend and asked me if I wanted to go. I said I wouldn’t mind seeing Cypress Hill, but I fucking HATE Linkin Park.
His reply?
“Oh. [long pause] The lead singer of Linkin Park is my nephew.”
Ah, that makes perfect sense then. I had (foolishly) assumed it was the immediate response.
Did you have the quick wits to say, “I’m sure he’s a great guy. Just can’t stand the music.”
'Cause there’s no way in hell I would have thought that fast.
My husband is a Frank Zappa fan. I know other people who I respect tremendously are also Zappa fans, so I guess there must be something worthwhile there, but I am just not able to find it. I finally had to conclude that it must be something to do with the zeitgeist of the times, or the life stage you were in when you first experienced it. I’ll just put it on the long list of Things I Don’t Get.
As for him, he once told me he doesn’t usually like female singers. :dubious:
One of the factors that no doubt contributed to the premature end of my last relationship was my distaste for the musical styles of Frank Sinatra. I can listen to Bing Crosby, Dean Martin, Nat King Cole, and Perry Como all day long, but Frankie’s voice and style are just grating on my ears. My ex, who took her musical opinions very seriously, adores Sinatra and constantly commented that there must be something wrong with me for not feeling the same way.
I have a very eclectic taste in music. Hate is not a word I would use when I don’t appreciate the talent of a certain “artist.” You have earned my respect if you can play an instrument with any kind of professionalism. And you have earned my respect if you have actually written your own, or at least SOME, of your own songs. The so-called artists today do neither, therefore no respect.
The Beatles could all play very competently, were self-taught and John and Paul could also bang it out on the keyboards, and in Paul’s case the drums too. Much respect. Frank Zappa was a musical virtuoso who also played multiple instruments. Dylan and Neil Young are two of my living icons, who although they don’t possess the greatest of rock and roll voices, nonetheless write, play, and sing their own extremely powerful, perhaps visionary songs.
I respect Prince, but not his style of music. I respect most country guys who can play a GEE-tar, but also don’t like that style of music.
I do not respect any of the American Idol winners, nor any of the Disney fabricated acts who have all the right hair and teeth and can perhaps carry a note. That’s not what music is all about.
BTW In the car, I was listening to Aretha singing at the inauguration and had to turn the radio off. Franklin my dear, I didn’t give a damn.
I’m a nerd who never found Monty Python funny and who hated “Princess Bride.” People seem to think that if they explain MP and PB in still further detail, I’ll come around.
It seems to me that if you merely state “I don’t care for the music of X” as opposed to “X sucks!”, you’ll avoid a lot of debate. The first statement is your own opinion, and no one can seriously want to fight about that. The second statement is just wrong, as appreciation of styles of music and art are totally subjective and there is no suckage about any of it.
I try again and again to impart this to my husband, who is continually fighting with total strangers over their appreciation of his favorite musicians, restaurants and artists, but he just doesn’t get it.
A buddy of mine in college was a HUGE Rush fan, to the point that it was about 90 percent of what he listened to.
He came to my dorm room once. We were chatting and he took a Rush tape out of his jacket and started to put it into my stereo.
I said something to the effect of, “Dude, when we’re at your place you can play that whiny, pretentious, over-rated, self-important shit all you want, but do not presume to inflict it on me in my own place on my own stereo. I’ve set the thing to send out 10,000 volts any time Neal fucking Peart hits a downbeat.”
I got in response, “How can you not like Rush?”
“Because listening to them is the musical equivalent of slamming my dick in a car door. Besides, it’s MY place. I wouldn’t drop a tape in YOUR stereo without asking no matter how good I thought it was.”
“Well, of course not. It probably wouldn’t be Rush.”
Another one I get, being a big fan of old vocal jazz, is I seem to lose a lot of cred with some people when they find out I don’t care for Billie Holliday’s vocal stylings. The way she ruminates every syllable like a piece of cud does nothing for me. You’d think I farted in church and washed my taint with the holy water over that one.
I agree completely with this. I was hanging out with some friends a little while ago, and some Nirvana came on and I made some comment I’d made a thousand times before about how they were nothing special, and Kurt Cobain dying was the only reason they’re held up as great. Thus began the only major fight my friend and I have ever had, with him vehemently stating what made them good and me (because I’m stubborn) staunchly insisting that they sucked.
Which, of course, was ridiculous on my part. Since I don’t care for Nirvana’s music, I never listened to them much, and therefore had absolutely no idea what I was talking about. Once I came around, admitted I was being a jerk and changed my statement to “I’m just not crazy about their music,” the argument was settled and disappeared instantly.
I just tell people there’s something wrong with my body chemistry. For some reason, I send out magnetic waves that won’t allow the Eagles, Fleetwood Mac, et al. to play in my vicinity. And my car radio is messed up too. Funny, isn’t it?
