Bands you keep trying to like but can't get into

David Bowie

Actually I find Scott Walkers music fun usually, but at the same time kind of novelty. I was kind of using him as an example to vent a little about avant-garde art in general. Was unfair but I figured since he was brought up here...

Hejira hate makes me sad.

Another vote for Safe As Milk and against Scott Walker

you gotta at least admit that he wrote one of the best 70's pop songs about american torturers in latin america.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YmRVU-MEXU0

as much i like and admire scott, gary might have actually made my fave post-walker bros. album...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UNRHq2Qo4hM

post-tg stuff like uhh psychic tv i guess? heard a chris and cosey track once too *shrugs*
coil (although the last time i tried it kinda sunk in and i was pretty blown away, though i haven't felt the need to dive in again after this)
4ad in general, notably cocteau twins (notable exception: kristen hersh / throwing muses who i only discovered recently and love)
most shoegaze and britpop (been a long time since i tried, don't care anymore)
i tried ariel pink once or twice, that guy can lick my balls.

i guess the answer is 80s goth.

yeah, cocteau twins otm for me. i like the idea of them more than the execution.

einsturzende neubauten. blixa annoys me to no end, and i get the sense of this sorta european dissafection holding them back as a group even in their most radical moments. i just can't deal with that.

disaffection lol

I forgot one: Gojira. Yawnfest.

Hi,

I am currently 'trying again' with Mark Hollis' solo lp.

Cheers,

MG

afghan whigs. i like "turn on the water" and "debonair" but the rest is unlistenable.

you gotta at least admit that he wrote one of the best 70's pop songs about american torturers in latin america.

Indeed. Also, the best pro-socialist/anti-Stalinist song with scat singing ("The Old Man's Back Again").

wow. surprised no one has brought up dylan.
hejira hate not only makes me sad, i find it unfathomable.
tom waits has always been a love him or leave him thing -i get why others love him, but i still prefer to leave him.
i guess i don't have anyone to add...
i can totally dig the white stripes sometimes. lots of raw pain.
def agree that all bowie is not created equal...
ok, well -goth. refuse to even try.

I was just about to say Dylan

What's wrong with fretless bass?

There are a few canon bands/albums I've always kept trying and trying to love, or even like, like Van Morrison "Astral Weeks", or Slayer "Reign in Blood", and I look forward to the day those albums finally click for me

I always liked Black Sabbath and The Stones but I don't think I'll truly love either until I own a car with a tapedeck

Hejira was one of those albums I got into a song at a time, took quite a while. I still wouldn't put it on a par with Hissing or Court & Spark, which are both all-time favourites for me.

'astral weeks' took me like a decade to really love but it's totally worth it

While we're at it, I'll cop to not "getting" about 75% of the singles on ILM's best of 2012 list.

I'm going to try the Smiths again pretty soon. So far, all I've got for them is the title track from The Queen Is Dead.

While we're at it, I'll cop to not "getting" about 75% of the singles on ILM's best of 2012 list.

Fleetwood Mac. I feel kind of alone in this regard, I grew up hearing their stuff on the radio but it seemed kind of bland and faceless to me, and now the things I see them routinely praised for just seem like things that Steely Dan did better.

Have you tried Fleetwood Mac v1.0

ie Peter Green? Not even really the same band/music at all so it's kinda moot that you'll still dislike Stevie/Lindsay
but a fun + worthwhile sidetrip

I got some early Mac records from my mother-in-law but they didn't leave much impression on me. granted I think I only listened to them once.

shakey - give bare trees a go

Shakey, do you know the song "Hypnotized?" Start there, imo (Bob Welch, so between the Green and the Lindsey eras.) Not "better" than Steely Dan, but similar lush sonics, off-kilter lyrics and expert playing by all concerned.

Or, what M@tt said works too.

marnie stern

Another one: Meshuggah. Try as I might, I cannot make fandom happen.

Welch-era Mac is definitely the way in

no, it's not. That's just something people say to make themselves feel better about owning Welch-era records.

i enjoy them a lot

Shakey, do you know the song "Hypnotized?"

hmm yeah this is pretty good

B bbbb

B bbbb

Whoops.

otm

B bbbb

Grim Reapah!!!

Welch-era Mac is definitely the way in

Yes! Future Games is probably my favorite Mac record. Danny Kirwan is super-underrated.

I'm going to try the Smiths again pretty soon. So far, all I've got for them is the title track from The Queen Is Dead.

― cloacachella (how's life), Sunday, January 27, 2013 8:37 AM (2 weeks ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Loading The Sound of the Smiths onto my iTunes for listening on the commute tomorrow morning, courtesy the local public library. Here we go again, I guess.

i'm kinda with shakey on FM but i should probably give them another shot. i do dig 'go your own way.'

Still don't get the welch-era love on this board. I mean, those records are nice I guess.

you're nice i guess....NOT

(j.k. you are probably a very nice person but bare trees rules dude)

"Sunny side of heaven" is cool. I'll try it again some day.

John Cale

Simon and Garfunkel....I give up--that shit is too twee for my taste

There's always a sense of trepidation when I'm about to listen to music by reprehensible people that I might like it, but every time it's been pretty disappointing (and also very relieving!)

This doesn't work with food, though.

The Fall, The Smiths, The Clash, also John Cale as mentioned above