I Confess : What sucks most about your musical tastes and attitudes ?

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Wow, what a strange thread! I keep reading this "poptimist" word and not recognising anything said about it.

Anyway, I am actually, honestly, very happy indeed with my musical tastes and attitudes: I don't think there's anything that sucks about them.

Tom (Groke), Thursday, 7 September 2006 15:02 (seventeen years ago) link

Unless it's an artist I know nothing about I can't help but be influenced by their history, attitudes, actions, interviews, etc. I realise this prevents me from listening impartially but who wants to be impartial?

this is why I make it a point not to read interviews before I hear someone's music for the first time. I don't need to know anything about them or how the record was made in order to find out whether I like it or not. it's better to approach new art with a completely open mind if at all possible.

guanoman (mister the guanoman), Thursday, 7 September 2006 15:05 (seventeen years ago) link

"Anyway, I am actually, honestly, very happy indeed with my musical tastes and attitudes: I don't think there's anything that sucks about them."

same here! there isn't anything i won't listen to. i love listening. i am always constantly amazed and surprised by stuff at the ripe old age of 37 going on 38. i am open to anything. i will end up liking m.ward and wilco someday. actually, i don't have anything against m.ward either. just not very exciting to me. i poke fun at the guys at the record store cuz they are always listening to those dreary guys. iron&wine, buckner, ward, ad infintum. they have their place! like when i'm record shopping.

scott seward (scott seward), Thursday, 7 September 2006 15:14 (seventeen years ago) link

fandango - that erykah badu thing didn't move me at all. very samey all the way through, typical late-90s slow-jam cali-production. i tried to pay attention to the lyrics but they didn't surmount to all that much and i stopped trying after a few verses as they were very "You do this and I do that/You say this and I say that" and it sounded like someone talking to their lover about very generic issues.

(Sorry).

Re: current discussion. I think one of the problems with being a massive music fan is that it can be hard to step away from the picture and listen to music on its own merits. The first single I ever bought when I was 9 years old was Pat'n'Mick's "Shake Your Party Down" (or something). I didn't know it was a cover version. I didn't know who Pat Sharp was other than he presented "Fun House" on CITV. I had no idea who Mick Brown was either. I just liked the songs. Since then I've become increasingly addicted to music. I have also learnt a bunch of instruments and music programs. I know how much effort it is to try and form a band and write decent songs that don't suck and therefore my respect for the creative and musical processes increases. It was only, for instance, that someone pointed out to me the exact scope of Brian Wilson's genius that I began appreciating the Beach Boys and learning about the different thought processes and conflicts going on on each album. Previous to that I'd seen them as a cheesy worthless 60's boyband with a couple of silly tunes about surfing.

wogan lenin (dog latin), Thursday, 7 September 2006 15:40 (seventeen years ago) link

The Pat#n#Mick song was "Use It Up and Wear It Out".

wogan lenin (dog latin), Thursday, 7 September 2006 15:42 (seventeen years ago) link

I'm not sure there is a such thing as "authenticity" any longer. everything is a copy of a copy of a copy of a representation of (an assumed) reality. artists are influenced by previous artists, and on and on. authenticity is like a wet dream.

marbles (marbles), Thursday, 7 September 2006 15:58 (seventeen years ago) link

Ah, you just ripped that off.

Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 7 September 2006 15:59 (seventeen years ago) link

I can't imagine hating my own taste. That does not compute.

deej.. (deej..), Thursday, 7 September 2006 16:24 (seventeen years ago) link

hating ANYTHING about it really. I mean, sometimes I wish I could focus my energies on more music than I do, but thats more of an issue of 24 hours in a day and only so much time to spend.

deej.. (deej..), Thursday, 7 September 2006 16:25 (seventeen years ago) link

Though I appreciate the uplifting and the intellectual, I also seem to respond really well to the crass and to the goofy. But all of that is good ... an open mind is a fertile land. Sorta ... :-)

O'Connor (OConnorScribe), Thursday, 7 September 2006 16:25 (seventeen years ago) link

I hate everything my friends like. :(

Dan I. (Dan I.), Thursday, 7 September 2006 16:33 (seventeen years ago) link

I don't think there's anything that "sucks" about my taste, I just know that the likes of The Lex do!

Also, not listening to "pop" does NOT = listening to fucking emo, are you 9?!

Sick Mouthy (Nick Southall), Thursday, 7 September 2006 16:55 (seventeen years ago) link

hi dere i hate my tastes dey are borne out of fear

Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Thursday, 7 September 2006 16:59 (seventeen years ago) link

"authenticity is like a wet dream."

so authenticity comes in the middle of the night, while you're sleeping, and you wake up finding its sticky traces in the sheets?

latebloomer (latebloomer), Thursday, 7 September 2006 17:03 (seventeen years ago) link

man i was fucking REAL at 11

latebloomer (latebloomer), Thursday, 7 September 2006 17:04 (seventeen years ago) link

"authenticity is like a wet dream."

so authenticity comes in the middle of the night, while you're sleeping, and you wake up finding its sticky traces in the sheets?

yeah. actually.

marbles (marbles), Thursday, 7 September 2006 17:53 (seventeen years ago) link

Also, not listening to "pop" does NOT = listening to fucking emo, are you 9?!

Was that at me? I can't see anything else that it might reference on here. It wasn't what I meant, I literally just wondered if cis was singling "pop" as a genre out for overproduction or cynicism or whatever. A lot of people do

DJ Mencap (DJ Mencap), Thursday, 7 September 2006 17:59 (seventeen years ago) link

What sucks most about my musical taste is that I no longer actively hate any kind of music whatsoever, and very few actual musical acts. I think this is making it difficult for me as a critic, because I'm not really sure if I have a yardstick any more or if I just kind of like everything and have misgivings about some individual things. I'm certainly less fun as a contributor to ILM than I used to be when I LOVED and HATED certain things.

Haikunym (Haikunym), Thursday, 7 September 2006 18:02 (seventeen years ago) link

Maybe you should start threads like: "I don't like these bands much, what other bands might I actually hate?"

Rockist_Scientist (RSLaRue), Thursday, 7 September 2006 18:05 (seventeen years ago) link

Surely, LOVING something is not the flipside/correlative of HATING things, Matt.

Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Thursday, 7 September 2006 18:37 (seventeen years ago) link

Matt, can you try to stick to writing only about things you have strong feelings about, even limiting it to things that you find really moving? (I guess that might not be practical.)

Rockist_Scientist (RSLaRue), Thursday, 7 September 2006 18:38 (seventeen years ago) link

"(i myself can think of no personal attitude towards music that i think sucks. i don't listen to as much as i want to but that is because there are only so many hours in the day and so many pounds in the bank account)

-- The Lex (alex.macpherso...), September 7th, 2006."

He's PROUD to not have any idea who David Byrne is! I guess "willful ignorance" is not a "personal attitude."

Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, 7 September 2006 21:25 (seventeen years ago) link

He's PROUD to not have any idea who David Byrne is!

Fuck, I'd be glad not to know who David Byrne is!

Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 7 September 2006 21:26 (seventeen years ago) link

a world with out geggy tah is no world i want to live in.

M@tt He1geson: Real Name, No Gimmicks (Matt Helgeson), Thursday, 7 September 2006 21:41 (seventeen years ago) link

dammit all my sucky attitudes are spoken for already >:(

just say no to individuality (fandango), Thursday, 7 September 2006 21:45 (seventeen years ago) link

The problem with my taste is that it's too refined. I barely like anything. As I get older I find more and more reasons to dislike things. I should get a more rewarding hobby really.

Bidfurd (Bidfurd), Thursday, 7 September 2006 22:02 (seventeen years ago) link

try collecting monocles, guvner.

M@tt He1geson: Real Name, No Gimmicks (Matt Helgeson), Thursday, 7 September 2006 22:05 (seventeen years ago) link

I was considering Gardening.

Bidfurd (Bidfurd), Thursday, 7 September 2006 22:11 (seventeen years ago) link

that's what gardeners are for.

M@tt He1geson: Real Name, No Gimmicks (Matt Helgeson), Thursday, 7 September 2006 22:26 (seventeen years ago) link

My total boredom regarding opera and the great majority of pre-20th century classical music.

This is me too.

Danny Aioli (Rock Hardy), Thursday, 7 September 2006 22:38 (seventeen years ago) link

I'm fine with my taste as it is. The only thing that sucks is that I can't stand quite a lot of modern chart pop, which means that it's difficult to go into a store or supermarket while the PA system is playing shite music. If they're playing something I like, it's fine. But then they'll switch to some crappy pap and URGH! >_

GLC (ZakAce), Thursday, 7 September 2006 22:52 (seventeen years ago) link

http://www.gofeet.info/images/cover_large/feet1216_cover_large.jpg

Run Ruud Run (Ken L), Thursday, 7 September 2006 23:04 (seventeen years ago) link

http://www.geekculture.dk/bedler/auto/1099337185cap005.jpg

Run Ruud Run (Ken L), Thursday, 7 September 2006 23:08 (seventeen years ago) link

He's got the right profile, I must confess.

Run Ruud Run (Ken L), Thursday, 7 September 2006 23:12 (seventeen years ago) link

here is who i was listening to today:

eugene wilde
firefall
vic damone
opus seven
the beck family
apache
j.c. philips
2 live crew
southern contemporary rock ensemble
dave valentin
jo march
kay armen
axe
t.c. curtis
sister sledge
e.q.
john anderson
new edition
ray gomez
snapper
nick straker band
herbie hancock
teddy pendergrass
randy crawford
george benson
john o'banion
garrison & van dyke
whitesnake
betty madigan
the godz (70's version)
little anthony
guy
b.j. thomas
ian lloyd
angel city
bruce roberts
spyro gyra
scott jarrett
jonathan edwards
ronnie laws
don rondo
lazy racer
al caiola
heat
the dramatics
chris rea
the will bronson singers
barbara law
toad hall
bad company
jewel blanch
tom sparks
point blank
spider
phil davis
spinners
nantucket
jimmy roselli
billy swan
warren storm
jeff cannata
pete hanley
georgio
the jets
john davis & the monster orchestra
millie jackson
lionel cartwright
loose ends
the right choice
tommy tutone
dr.strut
leon ware
alfonzo surrett
j.silver ("(Baby Let Me) Bang Your Box". love that one. especially all the mentions of mr.bill. oh noooooooooo!)
candi
charly mc clain
jo jo zep & the falcons
zed
danny davis & the nashville brass
jubai
gary bonner
kool & the gang
dolores hawkins
thunder
peter brown
shawn phillips
the greenwood singers
mary lou turner
jonathan mars
liner
hilly michaels
taffy mcelroy
the whites
tasha thomas
wild cherry
sharon ridley
don king
love committee
booker t
bunny debarge
frank marino & mahogany rush
sheela conroy
round trip
aquarian dream
jackie de shannon
sounds of sunshine
cugini
marion worth
the blue boys
googie and tom coppola
face dancer (not to be confused with face dancers! who i love!)
southern exposure
mtume
earl scruggs revue
sabu
tantrum
the inmates
sweat band
thrills
buddy miles regiment
fotomaker
the kings
the motors
starbuck
the chocolate jam company
mass production
clout
rona
dickey lee
robin trower
the limit
kathy zory
mother's finest
court pickett
lonnie youngblood
andy kim
style
blancmange
gabriel
nancy martinez
jona lewie

scott seward (scott seward), Thursday, 7 September 2006 23:49 (seventeen years ago) link

well, not EVERYTHING i was listening to, but, you know, my point being that taste is overrated.

scott seward (scott seward), Thursday, 7 September 2006 23:49 (seventeen years ago) link

the problem as i see it, scott, is that "those guys" you were talking about upthread really do vary wildly in quality & lumping M. Ward in with Wilco really does damn him before you've really had the chance to listen to him (and he's terribly good) but hell, who cares, you can't give everything time of day

jed_ (jed), Friday, 8 September 2006 00:00 (seventeen years ago) link

this week though, for the most part, i am all about randy pie, randyandy, trefethen, and dane donohue. (lovers of steely dan need that dane donohue album from 1978.)

scott seward (scott seward), Friday, 8 September 2006 00:01 (seventeen years ago) link

i have heard m.ward! and i said i don't have a problem with him up there somewhere. he's okay. just not somebody i would listen to on my own.

scott seward (scott seward), Friday, 8 September 2006 00:02 (seventeen years ago) link

i'm trying to think of a modern singer/songwriter type that i really enjoy. hmmmm...i bought the new bob dylan album! um, maybe being a red house painters fan kinda ruins me for other dreary dudes.

scott seward (scott seward), Friday, 8 September 2006 00:06 (seventeen years ago) link

do you not like smog?

jed_ (jed), Friday, 8 September 2006 00:07 (seventeen years ago) link

Having not read all 2,952 other answers, my main problem is that there's not enough time to hear everything I would possibly enjoy. Most of my listening nowadays is from non-Western musics, and delving into entire parallel histories is so frustrating from a lifespan standpoint. Because for every piece I enjoy by, say, Umm Kulthum, there's probably ten or twenty other obscure artists or recordings from Egypt's musical history that would slay me, if only I had conscious access to them.

Myke. (Myke Weiskopf), Friday, 8 September 2006 00:24 (seventeen years ago) link

"do you not like smog?"

i like the funeral song. that has to be his best song. isn't it? it's undeniable. i can live without him for the most part though.

scott seward (scott seward), Friday, 8 September 2006 00:36 (seventeen years ago) link

Because for every piece I enjoy by, say, Umm Kulthum, there's probably ten or twenty other obscure artists or recordings from Egypt's musical history that would slay me, if only I had conscious access to them.

Maybe, maybe not. She's pretty exceptional. Also, in the golden age of Egyptian popular music, there were always just a few extremely exceptional singers at the topic of the pyramid (as it were). Have you see that Topic compilation of Egyptian female singers (from the 1920s/30s, I think it was)? Sorry to swoop down as soon as her name came up. Anyway, I guess your larger point stands about unpacking the history of music from other cultures.

Rockist_Scientist (RSLaRue), Friday, 8 September 2006 00:44 (seventeen years ago) link

"that has to be his best song. isn't it?"

nowhere near.

jed_ (jed), Friday, 8 September 2006 00:46 (seventeen years ago) link

really? that's a good song.

scott seward (scott seward), Friday, 8 September 2006 00:51 (seventeen years ago) link

Marcello, the end product and the process are inextricable, no matter what the music.

--(cis)

Well, literally, yes. To the extent this is true, though, it's mere tautology. And if you mean that, therefore, one must consider process in considering the end product, I disagree totally, utterly and completely.

M. V. (M.V.), Friday, 8 September 2006 01:58 (seventeen years ago) link

I'm still laughing at "are you 9?!!"

wogan lenin (dog latin), Friday, 8 September 2006 08:19 (seventeen years ago) link

I think I'm too dismissive of a lot of the British indie rock stuff that gets reported in the NME. Granted, the whole affair of that kind of reportage irks me a lot and for me I see it as a bunch of faceless bands with little musical ability, poor songwriting, far too many influences and no originality, playing exactly the same music as I could hear from any other band in the local pub except they're somehow elevated to meteorlogical status by this one paper. What is the essential difference between Babyshambles and Oasis? Therefore as soon as the Killers or Franz or Strokes or Arctic Monkeys come on the radio, my gut instinct is to stop listening because these bands do not deserve the hype they receive.
That said, my girlfriend was telling me about how much she enjoyed the lyrics to "Mr Brightside" and explained what they were about. I really enjoyed "22 Grand Job" but only until someone told me they really liked it first. The odd Franz song comes on the radio now and then and now the fuss about them is over, I actually start getting into the mindlessness of it all. The Futureheads - yes I'm not going to prize your version of "Hounds Of Love" above Kate Bush, but good job all the same. Arctic Monkeys - ooh how I hate thee! You stand for everything I hate because you're just crap. But fuck me do you sometimes come out with some gems and your guitar sound is pretty smashing.

I still hate that kind of music, more because the hype is generally undeserved, but I feel that sometimes I can miss out on a perfectly good song because of this.

wogan lenin (dog latin), Friday, 8 September 2006 08:33 (seventeen years ago) link

Not really much, but I should have been more critical towards some of the most cheesy 80s stuff that I probably like for nostalgic reasons only. I mean, it is almost like anything that was on the hitlists in the first half of the 80s, and has prominent synths, I will like. Even if it is rubbish , and nowhere near the quality of "Dare" or "Construction Time Again".

Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Friday, 8 September 2006 09:08 (seventeen years ago) link


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