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

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

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.

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.

nowhere near.

--(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.

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.

I'm sure we've all got these blind spots: I loose all judgement with 1955-60 rockabilly and 1980-85 American underground stuff. Everthing on Sun, Chess or smaller lables of the time I like, and with the latter era, anything on Slash/SST/AT etc I'll like.

I can identify with all the folks wishing they were into an even more diverse slate - there are tons of genres and styles I want to dig, but don't (yet)... but I don't worry about it too much. I've been exposed to stuff, often by great sources, and it just hasn't taken hold... that's just me, no big deal. Over a lifetime, there's plenty of time for more to "click"... I'm actually trying to focus on revisiting and appreciating all the music I already have, getting back into stuff I've lost touch with, etc.

2) I have a bit of a hair trigger about people who insist on dissing hip-hop. Even though I don't listen to nearly as much rap as I used to, it's been an undeniable influence on my personal musical aesthetic, and I get very frustrated with people who roll out the same anti-rap arguments again & again. I always end up thinking: "It's been nearly 30 years since 'Rapper's Delight' and you're still whining about hip-hop? Either accept that it's not going away (and, maybe, find something to like about it), or kindly shut the fuck up."

3) Sometimes I can't tell when people are enjoying things ironically or in earnest, and it has the potential to completely fuck up my vibe for the night. I was at a bar a few nights ago, waiting for an acqaintance's band to go on, when the resident DJ dropped Lisa Lisa & The Cult Jam's "I Wonder If I Take You Home" (classic), much to the delight of the early-twentysomething crowd. And I was too busy trying to figure out if people were dancing because they liked the song, or because "HA HA, OMG THE EIGHTIES" to have a good time myself.

Then again, maybe you're annoyed because they have all the training but can't do a damn memorable thing with it, much. (A stance I fully appreciate.)

I still have a few faults though:

- I've been pretty knee-jerk anti-indie over the past few years.
- I'm prone to dismiss anything with hype surrounding it.
- I don't follow Hip-Hop or R&B, even though I know there is plenty of stuff I would like.
- I don't spend time the time getting to intimately know a record like I used to. Too much surface level listening of a wide variety of records, when I should be reaping the rewards contained in the gems that truly "hit" me.
- I'm an opinionated bastard when it comes to music, so I have to be careful discussing music with the majority of people I know. I mostly enjoy discussing music with other opinionated bastards who can quantify their opinions.

-- deej.. (clublonel...), September 7th, 2006.

No Catholic upbringing.

hi dere i hate my tastes dey are borne out of fear
-- Tim Ellison (thefriendlyfriendlybubbl...), September 7th, 2006.

Catholic upbringing.

I overthink music - I can't just relax and enjoy a piece of music, the mind's always on overdrive analyzing it. I historically contextualize music (dud?) - imagining its relationship to the time it was made, the artist's discography, impact on others.

Everything you need to know about authenticity comes out of the speakers. But when I was a teenager Tim Cronin taught me the sacred art of being able to tell whether a record sucks or not by looking at its cover, and some small part of me still belives in such arcane witchcraft.

I'm indie-schizo. I find M Ward, Elliott Smith, Iron & Wine, Devendra Banheart, and Bright Eyes boring. I've tried and failed several times to listen to a Wilco album all the way through. But I'm a sucker for oddballs and wackos like Marc Eitzel, Cat Power, Antony, Joanna Newsom, Faun Fables, Daniel Johnston. I like Neko Case, Arcade Fire, and Destroyer, but not The New Pornographers. I don't like Pavement but thought the first Strokes was a good listen. Huh?

I think in terms of "ultimate expressions" e.g. Iron Maiden's Killers was the ultimate expression of the NWOBHM.

I'm hung up on the concept of music as ecstatic and rebellious Dionysian abandon (but I can't stand The Doors).

I dislike music that tries too hard, or not hard enough.

I'm suspicious of fun and earnestness.

I don't mind pretentiousness, except when you haven't earned it.

I can't listen to mainstream radio.

Here's a comp I put together recently. My jukebox is rebellious.

Be Your Own Pet - "Adventure"
Pink Fairies - "Do It"
Public Image Ltd. - "Public Image"
Pink Floyd - "See Emily Play (mono)"
Nas - "One Mic"
Suburban Lawns - "Janitor"
David Shire - "Main Title" from The Taking of Pelham 1,2,3
Big Daddy Kane - "Raw"
Dog of Mystery - "Willoughby (The Insect God)"
Pretenders - "Night In My Veins"
Ultramagnetic MCs - "Critical Beatdown"
Napoleon XIV - "They're Coming To Take Me Away Ha Ha"
King Crimson - "Larks Tongue In Aspic Pt 2 (live)"
Kas Product - "Man of Time"
Loop - "Ghost Rider"

haha I am catholic! I was confirmed and everything. I save my self-loathing and guilt for shit that matters, like s3x.

OTM. Except I don't know any "other opinionated bastards" IRL.

When it comes to more obscure acts, I like to see who's getting the best critical notices and biggest cult following. I worship power and always like to be on the winning side. (Maybe it's because I DON'T understand pop and trust that collective wisdom must have some implicit worth.)

― tarden, Thursday, June 21, 2001 7:00 PM (9 years ago)

"When it comes to more obscure acts, I like acts that have lots of fans and critical accolades, and are not all that obscure."

Ladies and gentlemen, Dave Q.

I don't believe in guilty pleasures. I believe in pleasures without guilt. Some people have a problem with this.

lol I am so embarrassed by my early post on this thread

I have no idea when it was posted because it clearly was not actually 2000

Gosh, reading this thread back, I really was angry five years ago.

The two things that I feel are weaknesses in my taste these days are pretty minor concerns to me, because neither of them stops me enjoying music at all, which is when they would become problematic.

Anyway, those two things are thus:

1. I feel like a dilettante. I always have to some extent. I've never delved deeply into any one particular genre, never become an expert or specialist about one kind of music, be that jazz or techno or indierock or anything else. All the genres and styles and almost all the artists I like, I like really superficially, and sometimes I feel like this means I'm missing out on some kind of depth of experience. Then again, that depth of knowledge also strikes me as being really boring. Which. Guess is why I never bothered to acquire it about anything.

2. I have increasingly less time for hip hop, possibly because I'm increasingly less bothered about lyrics, and I've never really been bothered by wordplay skillzor. Fascinations with Timbaland, Missy, Outkast and a few others besides I pretty much only like old canonical boring stuff like Tribe and De La and PE that I've liked forever. Kate says upthread that she doesn't find much of sonic appeal in a lot of hip hop and I think that's a big part of it; I don't listen to music for lyrics, as a rule, so a form that's based on lyrics is always going to be difficult for me, especially when the lyrics are generally about lifestyles very very alien to my own and at I have pretty much zero interest in.

Other minor considerations are genre black holes - pop country, metal, opera. I've not investigated classical much yet but I'm waiting until I'm old for that, perhaps.

don't wait, dive in

so many regrets:

1) like SM, i'm a dilettante. i lack the curiosity and dedication that might drive me to deeply explore the artists and genres that interest me. instead, i flit from one shiny object from the next.

2) i don't listen to music all the time. even now, while doing nothing but posting alone in my apartment, i'm not listening to anything. i don't want to. i prefer the silence.

3) i'm attracted to obscurity and the idea that i'm "with it," that i'm aware of and into secretly cool music. this makes me feel that my tastes are dishonest, that i'm trying to define myself through music rather than simply enjoying it on its own terms.

4) my tastes have become ossified. the indie punk aesthetics and musical values of my youth still dominate my taste and thinking. unfortunately, i never actually want to listen to 80s indie punk, unless i'm drunk. it's become boring to me.

I like a lot of music which simply cannot be enjoyed in group. I'm also always late to the game: I will start taking interest in a couple of yesteryear's biggest pop hits when everybody is already tired of hearing them.

The good thing is every now and then I'll hit just the right spot and give my friends their new favorite songs so they still think I've got a good, varied taste despite my obsession with playing the boring, obscure stuff at parties.

3) Sometimes I can't tell when people are enjoying things ironically or in earnest, and it has the potential to completely fuck up my vibe for the night. I was at a bar a few nights ago, waiting for an acqaintance's band to go on, when the resident DJ dropped Lisa Lisa & The Cult Jam's "I Wonder If I Take You Home" (classic), much to the delight of the early-twentysomething crowd. And I was too busy trying to figure out if people were dancing because they liked the song, or because "HA HA, OMG THE EIGHTIES" to have a good time myself.

― Tantrum The Cat (Tantrum The Cat), sábado 9 de septiembre de 2006 20:07 (4 years ago)

Maybe it's popularity had something to do with the Black Eyed Peas paraphrasing it?

i listen to too many white people who don't really deserve my time.

Yeah I kinda hate when white people appropriate a black rooted genre just to make it dorky and easy. Ironically, maybe due to racism in the 20th century they always seemed to fare better than the usually more tasteful black pioneers.

eg: reggae, blue eyed soul, hip hop, blues...

so many white people fair better at hip-hop and reggae than black people

o_O

Ok I actually meant that usually it was the white people who helped the genre break through. Eric Clapton was heavily responsible for reggae's incursion in the pop charts and the beastie boys' Licensed to Ill was the first rap album to hit ·1 on the charts. I don't mean nowadays, hopefully we're already way past musical racism.

Eric Clapton recorded a cover version that was included on his album, 461 Ocean Boulevard. It is the most successful version of the song, peaking at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming Clapton's only chart-topping hit in the U.S.

"Ice Ice Baby" was the first hip hop single to top the Billboard charts. Topping the Australian, Dutch, Irish, Italian and UK charts, the song helped diversify hip hop by introducing it to a mainstream audience.