Let's find an act that everyone on ILM hates.

I seem to remember their version of 'Mandy' did very well on an FT Focus Group.

FT Focus Group 1963: "Ugh! Horrid Stones! Ugly guitars it is HORRID! More POP like Susan Maughan! Her heartbreak is as valid as Robert Frost's!"

Westlife are like Boyzone without the harmonies and the slight sense of musicianship. Like a Boyzone who could never have written anything as good as "A Different Drum".

Eh? You mean the Mike Nesmith song?

Well, for a long time Westlife for me was = crummy boyband.

Then I saw a feature where Peter Cushing said their most recent CD (at the time) he liked a lot, and then it hit me. It's music for the old folks. (trying not to sound patro)

I mean, what else is there for them? So basically, any kind of music which isn't meant for me, how can I hate it?

It sort of goes along with upthread where someone said they hate KNash more than WLife. It's because KNash is sort of 'aimed' at you. And because she is there, someone who is better is not getting through, right? Whereas who needs a better westlife (aound here)?

No, she just makes me puke

xpost Geir sort of loses me, unless he's saying Boyzone are like the monkees to the westlife's ... what?

Kate Nash reminds me of Josie Lawrence. Any road...

If Westlife actually talk-sang in their own accents they might be worse than Knash.

Geir Hongro: your heart is small and weak. i don't hoot at fake pretentious uptight ya might know the circle of fifths but can't hear a damn idea if its a constant cycle outlining a symbolic numerology untied to your useless fiend for aesthetic jackery if it knocks sub hits to the ribs. your blood runs cold and while i sympathize, you must be some damn failure of an overman. you should hang out my girl would poison you

As it is they are much more boring than Knash so arguably worse on that basis.

hang on geir, westlife do harmonies as well. also westlife's singer dude not as nasally horrible as ronan keating, which should maybe count for something.

(boyzone song is "a different beat", btw, and it has HORRIBLE lyrics)

If Knash talk-sang in her own accent she would be worse than Knash.

If Westlife actually talk-sang in their own accents they might be worse than Knash

Soooooooooooo not true

All boyband songs have horrible lyrics by default, but musically, "A Different Beat" isn't too bad. Plus respect to them for writing about something else than boy-meets-girl for once.

Gately's influence.

I've never heard of Josh Groban, so I can't claim to hate him.

What about Manu Chao?

Then I saw a feature where Peter Cushing said their most recent CD (at the time) he liked a lot, and then it hit me. It's music for the old folks. (trying not to sound patro)

I mean, what else is there for them? So basically, any kind of music which isn't meant for me, how can I hate it?

what else is there for them? only about a million things, past and present, equally bad or slightly better (in the latter category would come 'british light music' such as brian kay plays). hate the sin not the sinner, and unbelievably bad music (which westlife do produce) which is inexplicably successful is pretty hateful. it is very patronising tbh.

i mean asking 'what else is there for them?' is just factually wrong as well as unremittingly bleak.

Gately's influence.

"A Different Beat" isn't exactly boy-meets-boy either, but.. :)

not if it isn't a rhetorical question.

Yes, there is lots. But, in the 'current' scheme of things, a lot of stuff is regarded as 'the oldies' i.e. hits of the sixties, or it's niche marketing.

At least WLife are recording 'right now' and so on.

What about Manu Chao?

http://rateyourmusic.com/list/GeirH/my_top_50_albums_of_1998

xpost
westlife are fantastic judged on their own terms; trying to compare them to ---insert critical/ilx fave here--- is like criticising a banana for not being orangey enough.

I can't stand Manu Chao's stupid cap, but that's not quite the same thing. His music's OK or at least the first album was until he made the same album over and over.

Westlife were deliberately engineered by Cowell and Louisa Walsh as successors to Boyzone, to the extent that Keating even managed them in the early days. Nice polite boys who won't answer back, and the subsequent bunco booth trick of trying to convince us that they're as important as the Beatles whereas it was marketing and the cheapening of the charts which allowed them to have 97,422 number one hits.

westlife are fantastic judged on their own terms

w.t.f.

No, they're shit on their own terms

honestly people who think westlife aren't too band - have you heard any boyband music?

too bad

Well, yes all that.

But why are they still here, as opposed to going the way of xeven, etc?

Because they didn't go 'uptempo', and ended up working toward a market that was underdeveloped and unrepresented.

"The one thing worse than being exploited, is not being exploited" (M.Grout, 1982)

i'm sorry, there's just no way you can explain the success of westlife.

Inevitable Godwin's interception - many people thought the Nazis were fantastic on their own terms. How fitting that Westlife should resemble a line of de Valera clones.

should be in the 'mysteries of the unexplained' poll.

(xp to myself)

At least Westlife >>>>> New Kids On The Block.

Don't interpret that as a defence of Westlife though.

boybands should be fun but Westlife never seemed to represent that - even their occasional midtempo hits like 'bop bop baby' were bland as hell.

The success of Westlife is easily explicable.

- Pre-existing demographic: the Boyzone fans who were slowly growing out of Boyzone.
- Sharply focused on identifiable market winner: MoR ballads delivered in a style approachable to both very young and very old fans.
- Astute marketing by Cowell and Walsh: coordination of fanbase and marketing ensure near-automatic number ones as fans all flock to buy their records in the week of release.
- Brand maintenance: because they were MoR to begin with the transition to "adult contemporary" was not an obstacle, whereas Take That had to wait a decade for theirs.

At least Westlife >>>>> New Kids On The Block.

BULL AND BUNK

see that's what i'm saying. NKOTB > x1 million Westlife, and anyone who isn't insane will think so.

they're not oldie music, of course.

Pre-existing demographic: the Boyzone fans who were slowly growing out of Boyzone.
- Sharply focused on identifiable market winner: MoR ballads delivered in a style approachable to both very young and very old fans.
- Astute marketing by Cowell and Walsh: coordination of fanbase and marketing ensure near-automatic number ones as fans all flock to buy their records in the week of release.
- Brand maintenance: because they were MoR to begin with the transition to "adult contemporary" was not an obstacle, whereas Take That had to wait a decade for theirs.

yes all very good, one problem though: THE MUSIC.

ie im playing chess at the end, but you will not get me to say i love big brother.

We're not talking about whether you like them or not. You said that their success was inexplicable. I have given you four clear and cogent reasons why they were successful. What you have to understand is that Westlife don't need "us," whereas, for example, Girls Aloud clearly do.

Or to put it a Riot Grrl way, Westlife are happening without our permission.

If there is hope, lies in the proles!

o fuk

The MOR element is probably a very important reason why Westlife have lasted at the top for so long (after all, 8 years is a long time for a boyband). Today's boy band fans are usually tomorrow's MOR/adult contemporary fans. Westlife's musical style makes the change easier.

Yes. Right, WL done into the ground.

Who else?

Daniel O'Donnel. Have at he!

Holl', watch it son

James Brown is the A.Q. Khan of music Geir dislikes.

Insane Clown Posse?

Rednex

I could be the only one.
But I hate that song.
No.. I am sure someone must agree with me.

how about (Chris) Daughtry?

- dude got *zero* votes in the Idolator poll, so i'd say he has a good chance here.

rebecca st. james?

CHRIS DAUGHTRY, COME ON PEOPLE

does anyone here like the guy?

No, you finally got me on that one.

Who is Chris Daughtry?

If only Dane Cook would form a band.

Who is Chris Daughtry?

-- contenderizer, Monday, February 4, 2008 2:28 PM (18 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q36/jfischer1978/daughtry.jpg

Coco Rosie

I dug Coco Rosie's first record. Never heard the second.

Yeah, I still love La Maison de Mon Reve, though I'm at least half bummed by everything since. Easy to hate, easy to like.

i have never heard of this band btw. imagine if their name was pronounced unexpectedly like "Imajinay Draygoans"

― a phenomenological description of The Eagles (Noodle Vague), Wednesday, March 6, 2013 4:44 PM (five years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Lukas Graham or Andy Grammer may qualify

I caught the last two minutes of Eemayjeen Draygoons' set at a festival last year and me and my daughter were surprised how good they sounded

gtfo Judas, maybe they sounded good because they can afford to

I thought I'd found our unicorn and could finally take some happy respite, but I guess not, the wearisome hunt continues

I don't hate them either.

found him

https://s-i.huffpost.com/gadgets/slideshows/272604/slide_272604_1939619_free.jpg

hate him but just barely

more apathetic than hateful

I've never knowingly heard anything by him. I'm tempted to try for the sake of this thread.

surely nobody on here likes Macklemore?

Just listened to 'Shape of You'. I like it better than some of the songs that made it to ILM's top 10 last year.

Macklemore is jarringly mediocre.

Quite a few metal people seem to really hate Five Finger Death Punch.

The answer for me would always and forever be Bon Jovi.

I've only heard Sheeran's guest bits on Taylor Swift albums, but I like those!