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

ok, worst persuasive argument ever (i blame the whiskey). but for some reason seeing the visuals and the context helps me to appreciate some kinds of music. i need to see the tall hair, the flowers flying everywhere, adoring boys, johnny maher floppy hair, little glances between band members, the vibe of the room, the sense of a "moment", cheesy at that is, and suddenly listening to the smiths isn't just some fingerpicking and morrissey flitting around a key pitch, but something more lasting and important that i can sense every time i listen to them

no one should feel guilty for not liking anyone.

maybe not guilty, but if you keep trying to like something and you can't get into it then there must be something that's making you feel like you should be into that artist. maybe not guilt but the feeling that you're missing out or that you want to understand what other people hear in the music.

for some artists I like, if somebody says for example "I hate the smiths" I just think well yeah, they're not for everyone, nbd. but if someone says "the beatles suck" I think that they're trolling or they're an idiot who doesn't know anything about music.

I don't know, maybe it's just me. have we ever done a thread on litmus test artists? there are artists I love but I don't care if other people like them or not, but then there are artists that are like a litmus test and if you think they suck I know I can't trust anything else you say. anyone else feel this way sometimes?

and I guess I started thinking about this because a lot of the artists mentioned in this thread seem like they fall into that category where nobody would blame you if you don't get it. it seems like even the most die hard scott walker fans would realize that his voice is pretty over the top for example. so I wonder where this desire to keep trying to like them comes from.

like this performance of still ill: youtuuuuuuube

― Z S, Monday, February 11, 2013 10:45 PM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

this is a perfect example of why I can't get into them -- starts out very promising, cool bass and guitar parts, but then morrissey comes in with his awful, meandery non-melody. I almost can't tell smith songs apart because of his singing.

but for some reason seeing the visuals and the context helps me to appreciate some kinds of music

this has happened to me a lot. the visual side is definitely the easiest way to get a feeling of the music's social and historical context in a visceral way.

I can't imagine trying to get into morrissey after the age of 16

Tbh, I like the Smiths (less than I used to) but I don't always know what to make of Morrissey's performances in those early live clips. Hurting 2, if you really want to give the Smiths a try, you might want to start with later material. I think Morrissey's vocals are a little more musical. If you've already heard The Queen Is Dead and don't like it, though, it might not be worth it to keep trying.

xpost

I'd probably say 20 but yeah.

captain beefheart but i think i'm getting really close to getting into them

why do you feel like you need to be into beefheart? what similar stuff do you like?

this is maybe my favorite song ever

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfdtB_4aCDo

The Kinks, Big Star

Derek Bailey, David Murray

and I guess I started thinking about this because a lot of the artists mentioned in this thread seem like they fall into that category where nobody would blame you if you don't get it... so I wonder where this desire to keep trying to like them comes from.

I've been wondering the same thing tbh.

xposts

i'm working on the kinks right now. what helped for me was holding off on the supposed masterpieces and just putting things like Kinda Kinks and Face to Face on as i do my day to day stuff. takes the pressure off of trying to understand their genius or whatever. same strategy worked for fleetwood mac.

big star clicked for me one day when i was just obliterated, wasted. reminds me of tonight! but it was Third that made sense, first. i listened to it maybe 5-6 times straight that night and was convinced that it was a monumental achievement. after that their first two records seemed like the easiest thing in the world to enjoy.

the only reason I try to get into any of these bands is because good friends whose taste I respect a lot like them, so I figure "maybe there's something there that I'm missing"

big star -- there's nothing I DISlike about them, but it's just that, they always seem so inoffensive to me, and it's hard for me to hear what people get excited about.

that's funny, I just listened to #1 record & radio city today for the first time in ages. I have to be in that kind of melancholy mood. it took me a while to get into big star too, mostly because I was focusing on third, which I still have never gotten into.

I think kinks are similar in a way. if you have a taste for a kind of maudlin form of rocking out then songs like Waterloo Sunset or Get Back in Line and Life is White or Daisy Glaze have a sort of epic appeal

kinks & big star are both basically for nostalgic sad sacks

lol but no

I kind of feel that way except I feel bad saying that about my friends who like them

why not? they both have a real emotional tug to me, and are somewhat nostalgic (big star's beatleisms, kinks village green, etc) and are at their best when they're combining that kind of power ballad level of emotion with rocking out.
xp

that wasn't a criticism btw, I was trying to explain the appeal!

I'm also a bit drunk and have been listening to total eclipse of the heart a lot lately so take that into account

what i like about the kinks, their best stuff anyway, is that they sound so casual and fun and even occasionally kind of half-assed and goofy, but the more you listen to them the deeper and sadder and more profound even the simplest songs start to sound. i liked them OK without ever being a huge fan from ages 15-25, but over the last few years they've become one of my top 5 bands. davies creates such a complete and detailed world without ever seeming to really try that hard.

I like Meshuggah, Mick Barr, and John Zorn, but they don't strike me as things that I would recommend to you based on what I know of your tastes, Hurting 2. (Maybe some Zorn, e.g. Masada or the klezmer-influenced jazz stuff.) Do you like any metal?

what i like about the kinks, their best stuff anyway, is that they sound so casual and fun and even occasionally kind of half-assed and goofy, but the more you listen to them the deeper and sadder and more profound even the simplest songs start to sound.

yeah, there's a detached quality that I find appealing. that feeling of being sad, but resigned to your fate. big star have a similar thing imo.

why do you feel like you need to be into beefheart? what similar stuff do you like?

i find it interesting enough to keep trying it and not appealing enough to listen to it for long sessions (maybe a track or two before i get annoyed/distracted)

complex w/out being appealing yet, but i think getting more compelling all the time

I like some metal. I mean, you know, Metallica and their whole era of metal, which was in the ether when I was a kid. And, weirdly, some very hard stuff like Lamb of God.

About all the Smiths stuff upthread, no amount of bad dancing or.bad hair or "funny" lyrics or fan hugging is going to get me into Morrissey. This time around I'm trying it from the Johnny Marr angle. His guitar playing has never really called out me, but there's a lot of praise for it, both on here and in interviews with other musicians. M

I keep trying with Beefheart too. He fits with things I like (when asked about favourite music I've sometimes found myself saying, "The Fall, Can, Beefheart" before catching myself), people I like (and whose taste is sympathetic) like him, I enjoy reading about him, vaguely feel "this is my kind of thing" while listening, but then it just never quite comes together for me – I don't really want to listen to it ever.

Even writing this I'm thinking "surely I like Beefheart? Am I sure I'm not really into him?" Maybe he's someone I'll just get really really into sometime in the future. That seems plausible.

I still haven't heard Beefheart yet. It's interesting that you lump him in with The Fall and Can thoug

I still haven't heard Beefheart yet. It's interesting to me hat you lump him in with The Fall and Can though, because I really love Can but I can't stand (and have given up on even trying to like)The Fall.

Whoops

Anyway, listened to about half of the first disc of that Smiths comp on the way in this morning. Mare still didn't make too much of an impression on me. There were a few places where I could tell he was coming up with some crafty arpeggios and stuff, but mostly it juat seemed like average moderately chorused strumming. Anyone want o point me toward some choice examples of Made fretwork?

Marr, not made.

Probably "This Charming Man", for a kickoff.

Anyone want o point me toward some choice examples of Made fretwork?

Best Johnny Marr songs:

1. The Headmaster Ritual
2. What Difference Does it Make? (Hatful of Hollow version)
3. This Charming Man
4. Some Girls Are Bigger than Others
5. How Soon is Now?
6. Girl Afraid
7. Bigmouth Strikes Again
8. Back to the Old House (Hatful of Hollow version)
9. Sweet and Tender Hooligan
10. That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore

Hell yeah! You just had that list ready to go, didn't you? Thanks. I'll concentrate onsome of those.

The live version of Some Girls Are Bigger than Others might be the best example of all. If you don't like this then you will probably never enjoy The Smiths that much.

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

One of my housemates who's a bit of Mark E Smith type character listens and sings along to the Fall every Saturday and Sunday morning, I'm slowly becoming a convert, I love that 'Spoilt Victorian Child' song especially.

I keep trying to like Talk Talk, I love Bark Psychosis, and I get the connection, but 'Laughing Stock' for example, just washes over me, doesn't really hold my interest like I feel it should.

I keep trying with the Mark Hollis solo album. It's nice, but I keep wandering off to other discs though.

I also like Marr's accompaniment work on "Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now" and, though it's a little simpler, I think he's quite effective on "William, It Was Really Nothing".

In my experience, having that breakthrough moment with The Smiths isn't gonna happen by focusing in on any particular song or performance, but ignoring them and letting them surprise you. One day you'll be in the right mood and "Ask" will come on and you'll be shell-shocked

goon otm - I swore for years that I hated the Smiths and then I saw David Tennant sing 'The Boy With The Thorn In His Side' on that awesomely terrible Blackpool tv show and I was hooked.

Also it helps if you think of Morrissey as a comedian-who-sings rather than a singer-with-wit

that Still Ill live clip is awesome, andy rourke was such a tight bassist

if you can't do the smiths just listen to monochrome set instead.