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

Murray Street was my gateway in, after trying unsuccessfully with Daydream Nation.

to my everlasting shame, dirty and goo are the only two sonic youth albums i've never been that into. it's a good reminder to give them another shot though, since it's been a while

Neither is very good IMHO. Those are also the two albums where it feels like they’re trying the hardest to make a big splash in the alternative rock scene of the moment.

fIREHOSE is easy to like, but I'm with y'all on Minutemen. It's all too... something. Frenzied, I guess?

jfc

Sister, Goo and Rather Ripped are the SY tentpoles for me. All the other albums bang around between mildly appealing to OMG MAKE IT STOP.

I like all of them.

the two albums where it feels like they’re trying the hardest to make a big splash in the alternative rock scene of the moment.

I could maybe understand this position wrt Dirty (although it seemed pretty radical to me as a teenager and a fan of Soundgarden/Smashing Pumpkins) but I honestly don't really know what people mean when they say this about Goo, which was released a year before Nevermind. (These were Billboard's top 'alternative songs' for 1990, for comparison: https://www.billboard.com/archive/charts/1990/alternative-songs)

For me Sonic Youth starts being good on Bad Moon Rising and stops being good after Goo. Sister is their best album IMO. I saw them live supporting Goo, but it was when they were opening for Neil Young & Crazy Horse, so not the best context for them, really.

Sund4r — it is exactly that pre-Nevermind moment that I’m talking about! Everything from the cover art, to the Chuck D cameo, to the song about Karen Carpenter... even at the time, it felt like a really “try-hard” LP. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, and it does have a few good songs (as does Dirty, which was obv. the big grunge/Butch Vig move).

FWIW (if anyone cares) — when I did a big SY catalog (re-)visit last year, as documented on another thread, I think my favorites ended up being EVOL, Experimental Jet Set..., NYC Ghosts, Murray St., and Rather Ripped.

I guess I agree if the point is that they and Geffen were hoping for a breakthrough with their first DGC album. (Iirc, there was a quote in Goodbye 20th Century about how Geffen hoped for them to become the Pink Floyd of the 90s?) I don't see those things as much of a play for the Cure/REM/Midnight Oil/Concrete Blonde 'alternative' market of 1990, though (with the caveat that I turned 11 in 1990 so).

I've said this before but Rain on Tin is the best SY song because Thurston only sings for like 30 seconds and then it's just 8 minutes of guitar harmony heaven. Murray Street is the best.

I agree they weren’t trying to be Midnight Oil. (FWIW, “Kool Thing” was a moderate Modern Rock hit.)

My favourite SY album is Ciccone Youth but that’s just me. I listen to s/t and Confusion/Kill more than any other of their albums.

I like Sister fine and “Teenage Riot” is amazing. Jet Set is amazing. I found they really picked up toward the end and I really enjoy Nurse and Rather Ripped

I don’t know what to make of their golden era I guess. “Diamond Sea” does little for me

I don't like The Whitey Album that much tbh but I guess I get off on a technicality there, since it's a Ciccone Youth album.

Ryan Adams and his assorted projects were a big one for me, as I like my alt country/c&w/Americana. But I'm more than happy to shelve all that now. And yes I have tried to get into him before, but it never stuck.

The only problem I have with the Minutemen is that Double Nickels kind of towers over the rest of their catalogue but on the subject of the short songs poll, I've got to admit that They Might Be Giants is one of these bands for me. I do love 'Birdhouse' and 'Ana Ng' but haven't been able to get into anything else I've heard (I've tried with Flood and even owned Lincoln at one point).

I like the Minutemen a lot but I don't think I've ever listened to double nickels on the dime from start to finish. It's just too much, even though almost all of it is very good. I've only ever owned it on CD, but I suspect that this is an album that benefited from the vinyl format where you would only listen to one of the four sides at a time.

and then you get the engine noise locked groove at the end and you'd just leave that running for a while

I like Double Nickels a lot but I'm kinda surprised to see it show up on so many all-time lists tbh

It's only 80 minutes long. I used to listen to it on cassette, and had it so thoroughly memorized that when I heard the CD (which cuts three songs) it was effectively ruined for me. (And the CD version is the version that's on Spotify and available for download - if you want the full track listing now, you have to buy the vinyl.)

The RIP Malk Hollis thread just reminded me of all my unsuccessful attempts to get into Talk Talk... maybe this will bring their later catalog into focus for me.

I'm in the same boat. Recently sold a Talk Talk compilation, too.

Same here. Haven't tried very hard though.

my bloody valentine

Never listened to Talk Talk before; streaming Spirit of Eden now. The first song is nine minutes long, and three minutes in it's all blooze-jam piano/guitar/harmonica. This isn't gonna end well, I fear.

i don't really care about their later stuff but "such a shame" and "it's my life" are all time

blooze jam is totally relevant for talk talk - think Hollis was a massive fan of traffic, their influence runs deep in talk talk’s music

You should probably try Laughing Stock instead, unperson.

The appropriate listening context for the late period talk talk albums is a dark, quiet room

Traffic is definitely a band I've tried to like and it's just never happened. In principle, I like what they're about, but the execution just leaves me yawning.

I'm now midway through the second song on Spirit and didn't notice the transition - that's not a good sign.

Saint Etienne are the quintessential band I ought to really like but are only lukewarm towards. Everyone I know who's enthusiastic about them has really similar taste to mine.

^Yeah, I tried w/them several times (first as early as the '90s), and just couldn't engage, despite how they simpatico they sounded "on paper."

I guess the Mekons are also on that tip.

i am flabbergasted about how many people did not get into late talk talk. my advice: you need good speakers to really appreciate them. just do not expect anything, let the music flood over you. and have a lot of patience. the light should be dimmed, that's right.

It's music I can respect, but I'm rarely looking for that particular mood.

Colour of Spring hits the sweet spot for me between the pop structure of the early stuff and the instrumentation of the later stuff. I like and admire the last two records, but I'd rather listen to Colour of Spring any day

Morphine is one of those bands that "everyone" seemed to like, and I was left thoroughly nonplussed. Then I saw them in Scaruffi's all time top 5 albums or something and was just slackjawed. I have a severe aversion to their sound, but what makes it puzzling is that there doesn't seem to be anything there to "get" that maybe I'm not getting.

they're cool but Soul Coughing was a lot more dynamic and fun (though their singer is def worse)

Colour of Spring hits the sweet spot for me between the pop structure of the early stuff and the instrumentation of the later stuff. I like and admire the last two records, but I'd rather listen to Colour of Spring any day

― Vinnie, Monday, February 25, 2019 5:40 PM

Same.

xxp Morphine was cool, I can certainly see how their sound wouldn't be for everyone; but I rarely ever sen them even mentioned (let alone posed as some kind of consensus band)!

they're cool but Soul Coughing was a lot more dynamic and fun (though their singer is def worse)

just saw a thing claiming SC was touring, looked closer and it's Doughty without the other guys which is ... the opposite of what I want.

think Hollis was a massive fan of traffic, their influence runs deep in talk talk’s music

Oh right, cool, didn't know that, he was right!

yeah that makes total sense but I have never made the connection

have had

just saw a thing claiming SC was touring, looked closer and it's Doughty without the other guys which is ... the opposite of what I want.

yeah he's doing the entirety of Ruby Vroom which is pretty ballsy considering he literally wrote an entire book to explain why he doesn't play Soul Coughing songs anymore

https://frinkiac.com/video/S13E08/RyZxP1xlzgjfJkKUfyCdutEDw3c=.gif

Stereolab checks all the right boxes for me but something always sounds a little too, idk, tight about them? I haven't gone through the whole discog and occasionally I hear something I like, but they never completely do it for me.

I've tried a bunch of times with them and can barely recall a note of their music. Too light rather than tight, I suppose, but then again I don't like their 50s/60s touchstones either.

margarine eclipse is a late period sleeper for me, give that one a shot. recorded in double mono, so a great headphone album

I first got Transient Noise-Bursts while I was in a heavy Krautrock phase and left pretty unimpressed - "they're just directly copying Faust here and the long track is a big homage to Hallogallo" - I'm not quite sure what people hear in that record

ETK on the other hand I loved but it's been well over a decade since I heard that one