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

People who think they might like Sparks but don't like the most well-known stuff should try listening to Sparks and A Woofer in Tweeter's Clothing, the first two records made when they were an LA-based quintet. Songs like Fletcher Honorama, Saccharin and the War and Angus Desire have a post-psychedelic weirdness to them that they pretty much abandoned by 1974.

sleeve: I'm exactly in the same boat! All I knew about Sparks was annoying better-than-Zappa-but-not-much-and-with-a-whiff-of-Meatloaf 70s stuff, and then 2006 came along and "Dick Around" destroyed my brain. A friend of mine (avid Sparks fan) told me I should check out the 80s albums and ya they're great, I like them too, and all the recent albums of theirs

Still don't care for their "classic" stuff aside from being weird camp curios

The only song of theirs I can make it more than 30 seconds into is The Number One Song In Heaven because there's so little ~~Sparks!~~ and so much arpeggiated synth wibbling.

what is "most well-known" sparks stuff? for a long time, i thought it was kimono my house, the earlier more operatic stuff? but i think that's just how i first became familiar with them.

but then there's also the moroder-produced no. 1 in heaven, which has "Beat the Clock" on it. somehow, i thought that was a massive worldwide smash, because i feel like i've always known that song. but it didn't even chart in the US?

No 1 in Heaven is pretty spectacular imo, if you have any interest in giorgio moroder and haven't heard it

i have an extremely soft spot for them in my heart because they were my first literal "what is THIS playing?" moment in a record store. i wish i knew which sparks it was, but at the time, as a scared teen escaping my dorm room for a few minutes, it sounded like otherworldly avant pop. i didn't really track anything down by them for a few more years, but i mentally noted them as cool stuff

"being annoying on purpose" is pretty much my favourite type of music

I remember hearing "Tryouts For The Human Race" as pre-show music for Har Mar Superstar and thinking it was some of the greatest music I've ever heard...but I didn't know what it was!! Discovering Sparks a year later and going..."hey...it's that fuckin' song!" was a pretty cool experience

they're definitely a polarizing group - I pretty much loved them right away. like, two songs into Kimono My House I thought surely this was one of the best bands to ever exist. but I understand the opposite reaction. I played them for one of my friends and his reaction was "never play that band for me again". later he said he was frustrated because he couldn't get "As I Sit Down to Play the Organ at the Notre Dame Cathedral" out of his head. I thought that was pretty impressive - even people with an allergic reaction to their music still get their songs stuck in their head

Propaganda was a favorite as a kid and I still enjoy it when in the right mood, but I’ve never been able to get into anything else they’ve done.

I listened to a bit of Sparks last night (I only previously knew 'TTABEFTBOU', 'Beat The Clock' and 'Number One Song In Heaven'. I can confirm that this is exactly my thing and I'm confused about why people would hate on some fun upbeat glam/disco/new-wave with flamboyant singing and esoteric lyrics really.

I like Sparks but have never understood the rabid reactions pro- or anti-. Some good songs and records, but nothing to get too excited about, IMHO.

Everyone has always, always said I'll absolutely love Sparks, but it hasn't quite happened yet

I like them in small doses, don't quite get the fanaticism

I think I have similar with Zappa. Everyone sees that I'm a Cardiacs fanatic and assumes I'll also love their supposed American progenitors, but it's a completely different vibe

you just haven't heard the right albums /lol

The problem is you have to complete a set of increasingly tedious quests to unlock the right albums

zappa cannot fail he can only be failed

The secret connection is that Ron Mael had a thick Zappa-style moustache in 1971.

That's two different moustaches, though: toothbrush vs. walrus (w/ added soul patch.)

https://i.etsystatic.com/19924296/r/il/5675c7/2395827332/il_794xN.2395827332_4f7v.jpg

I'd be more inclined to recommend Sparks to someone who loves say, They Might Be Giants than Cardiacs

Cardiacs fans are weird, their tastes tend to be all over the place. the only bands they universally seem to like are XTC and like, Koenjihyakkei

frogbs are you into Harry Merry at all?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fx-tu63ONGo

Ron Mael is sporting a pencil mustache these days. He's really evolved.

being annoying on purpose" is pretty much my favourite type of music

can't imagine a band who were so more completely tailor-made as something I should completely adore, with all the hyperactively arch camp bombast

Yeah all that sounds very good to me, what are some records I may not have heard that fit this description?

I recently recommended Sparks to a kid who's obsessed with Foxy Shazam and the Baby Driver soundtrack but I haven't checked in with him since.

Thanks for the Harry Merry link. Good to know Sparks *aren't* the most annoying band on earth after all!

I absolutely don't get the "being annoying on purpose" thing as a USP.

I work with teenagers and I have kids of my own. I don't need it in my music as well!

my comment was a bit pinch of salt but like p sure bands like Pere Ubu fit into the 'annoying on purpose' category

Interesting. Was thinking more like, Daphne & Celeste.

100 gecs are the D&C of nowadays obv

frogbs are you into Harry Merry at all?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fx-tu63ONGo

― brimstead, Wednesday, October 21, 2020 11:48 AM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

no, but after listening I'm flattered that you would assume I'm into this guy

I have a feeling I started an "I love irritating music" thread over a decade ago (so I'm not going to look it up and cringe at my old posting style), definitely included some big 'cool' acts like the Residents. I think irritating is a good descriptor, I like stuff that gets under the skin, it sticks around nagging at you in weird ways.

Sparks are sometimes too 'funny' for me, I think, but I do like them in general, and some songs I love a lot. I guess I'm one of the middle-grounders, rather than in the love-them-or-hate-them split.

Propaganda was a favorite as a kid and I still enjoy it when in the right mood, but I’ve never been able to get into anything else they’ve done.

This is weird given that "Propaganda" is pretty much indistinguishable from "Kimono My House".

I have a feeling I started an "I love irritating music" thread over a decade ago (so I'm not going to look it up and cringe at my old posting style), definitely included some big 'cool' acts like the Residents.

i looked it up and it's a very short thread, but interesting in that it shows a range of tolerance levels. One poster confessed their love for 'the hamster dance', another cited 'broken face' by the pixies as almost too grating b/c of the intro.

i dig that harry merry song / video

_Propaganda was a favorite as a kid and I still enjoy it when in the right mood, but I’ve never been able to get into anything else they’ve done._

This is weird given that "Propaganda" is pretty much indistinguishable from "Kimono My House".

100 gecs are the D&C of nowadays obv

― please consider giving h (imago), Wednesday, October 21, 2020 1:56 PM (two days ago) bookmarkflaglink

Then does that make Skrillex the new Eminem.

Not really a "band I keep trying to like but can't get into", more of a "band everyone thinks I would like but extremely don't, and in fact is one of the few acts I actively dislike": The Divine Comedy

Despite my unwilling and prob genetic Anglophilia that extends to my culinary loves and crossword preference, I have absolutely no love for "when British humour gets stoopid" and that allergy extends to Allo Allo, Little Britain and Neil Hannon

divine comedy more like this mortal bore amirite

xp

band everyone thinks I would like but extremely don't, and in fact is one of the few acts I actively dislike": The Divine Comedy

not that I have anything against the Divine Comedy but that's hilarious and suggests a basic mentality of 'any old tat with an orchestra'

Anglophilia that extends to my culinary loves

oh ick

Ya that's kinda the thing that annoys me extra about it

And English cuisine is amazing

Never been able to get into anything by Rod Stewart or Elton John. Not even a little bit.

I can't get into rod stewart either but I've never tried because rod stewart is terrible and what's the point?

I can't even get into the Faces, tbh, and people love them. But beyond that, he (and Elton John) were *massively* successful in the '70s but nope, don't get it.

I am a big fan of Rod’s. i think he is a legit great interpreter of other people’s music, his covers i think are a good way to get into him.

But also it’s ok to not like him too, he can be a bit too MOR/“music yr mum likes” for some .

I feel you on Elton, but even The Faces' "Ooh La La" does nothing for you?

I like that one fine. Stay With Me, too, and I'm sure more than a few others. The Faces, I've certainly listened to them and enjoy them, it's just nothing I own or ever want to listen to. Which I guess in my book still slots them somewhere well above the likes of Journey and the Eagles, who I down't own anything by, never want to listen to but also actively avoid.

I had faces playing in the car during a date once and got clowned for being into mom music... I thought he was hip cuz there was a period of time in the early 00s or earlier where hipster dudes everywhere had 70s rod haircuts

all those hipsters were pursuing moms

his early run of solo records + the faces records is pretty much flawless

And yet ...

hahaha i'm going to get mellencamp and kenny aronoff to join rod stewart's band then you are IN FOR IT PAL :)