Artists you 'don't get'

Working away with the radio on all day today, several established, or even 'classic' artists were played that just leave me cold. Years ago I would read rave reviews about these people, my peers had their albums and would wax lyrical () about them, and I'd think 'eh?' I put it down to lack of taste, or 'coolness' then..decades later I still don't get it, and probably never will.

Here's a short list of examples;

Leonard Cohen
Patti Smith
Jefferson Airplane
Grateful Dead
(and here's where I get slaughtered)
John Lennon (solo)

Care to enlighten me on the above, or add a few that make you furrow your brow?

space_cowboy
myolpal
treefight
The Tubes
Wham
Coldplay
Al Jolson
Picasso
Jackson Pollack

I'd like to enlighten you on that list but music is a selective experience and current tension and attitude type of thing.
That's a pretty diverse list. I never got the Dead. After raising this question, the next would be, what did you like?

ORIGINAL: jamesg1213

Working away with the radio on all day today, several established, or even 'classic' artists were played that just leave me cold. Years ago I would read rave reviews about these people, my peers had their albums and would wax lyrical () about them, and I'd think 'eh?' I put it down to lack of taste, or 'coolness' then..decades later I still don't get it, and probably never will.

Here's a short list of examples;

Leonard Cohen
Patti Smith
Jefferson Airplane
Grateful Dead
(and here's where I get slaughtered)
John Lennon (solo)

Care to enlighten me on the above, or add a few that make you furrow your brow?

"Love is a Battlefield"

Pat Benatar?

Elton John (nothing worked for me after Goodbye Yellow Brick Road)
The 80's (Yes, the whole decade mostly I didn't get!)
Oasis
Coldplay
The Verve (Bittersweet Symphony....ugh!)

More recently:

Goldfrapp.
The Scissor Sisters.
Hopefully they've both disappeared up their own self-importance already.

kwdm,

that is Patti smith, the punker. Her first 2 albums were gold, and then she went down hill. What's not to like about a song called "PIssing in a river' (which is one of her best).

Never did like the Dead - I had a college roomate who played it all the time. Never really liked LA punk, either. Tho I did go see X a few years ago (I like the knitters better). We got there and I thought there was a horrible Henry Rollins imitator on stage. Looked at the ticket and it was Henry Rollins!

More interesting are what bad bands do you still have a soft spot for since they introduced you to a style of music. I still love Black Sabbath, but seldom listen to them. In grad school I bought "master of reality" and played it for a girl I was going out with. She said no wonder my parents worried about me in Jr. High.

@

Shawn Combs.
Whitney Houston after her 1st album
Mariah Carey after her first marriage.
Joe Satriani ever (just too many notes to be more than mildly interesting)
Shaka Khan after her first album.
Shakira other than her body
Britney Spears, mouseketeer gone wild
Alicia Keys just not all that interesting of a singer
Kayne West - Mr Autotune success for only $189

Any artist who goes to the same New York based mastering house and has the same rap, pop, pumping, cymbal smashed mastering chain put on their tracks which makes it sound like every other artist in the top ten play list over the last 2 years. Can you say homogenized sound which is the safe play in sonics. If you need a reference go to the Itunes store and play the top 15 songs.

At least Nashville channel passes the Ss and Ts on their vocal tracks so it sounds like an attempt at dynamic range.

Ok...I'm done.

Coldplay
The Verve
REM
Yngwie
Neil Diamond
Any Gangsta Rappa
Status Quo
The 'new' Genesis (not the old lineup - they were fantsastic)

ORIGINAL: SvenArne

Coldplay, Travis or any other NME-hyped British band that's appeared on the scene since the turn of the millennium. Generally I don't seem appreciate British artists to the degree most people do. I'm not blaming Britain!

Sven

Very well put and my thoughts exactly. Ever wonder why we haven't produced a Zeppelin, Floyd, Stones, Sabbath or those kind of benchmark acts for several decades now?

In 6 Letters: BBC, NME, the cronies that pull the strings in those 2 establishments pretty much dictate what gets heard here, unless its hits from yesteryear, as a result an endless stream of mind numbing clique aware 'in' acts that nobody gets except those in them elitist offices.

Lily Allen FFS! We used to have a proud and diverse industry where pretty much anyone could break through at one time without resorting to nefartism, provided they were good enough to get people into venues.

My 5 bobs worth. Rant over!

I'm so glad I'm not the only person who's not into the Beatles. I'm glad they existed, but... yeah.

Corey

Ready?...Bob Dylan.

Bob Dylan and Neil Young bring up some interesting points about longevity. Most artists have a real strong period and then have to make a living/statment for the rest of thier life. For popular musicians, this is esp. problematic since they usually peak when they are young. I've known the Butthole Surfers since before their inception and their best work was definately their early albums. Plenty of mere noise, but some really outstanding craftsmanship, too. As good as anything out there if you are pushing the boundries. Last year went to their "reunion" tour (tho they've never officially broken up) and the Dallas show was as good as I've ever seen them - one of the best live shows I've ever seen.

Bob Dylan's peak was when he switched from folk to electic - "Bringing it all back home/Highway 61 period." Great music and again moved the goalposts of rock. Most of his earlier stuff and later was ... OK. Can't say I've listened to much of it, really, so I'm voting with my time. But his lyrics are the best. Allen Ginsburg used to talk (interminably) about how at his best there was a halo around his head. And one thing you can give him is he sounds like Dylan, no matter what music he's doing.

Same for Neil Young. I only like some of his older stuff, but you can tell it is Neil even before he starts singing. That should count for something in this day of cookie cutter music. We went and saw a local underground muscial production of "Greendale" and the songs were good in a "Neil" way. Nothing I haven't heard before (except longer), but it was Neil without him playing.

I guess it's how we relate to specific songs.. even the location of the person comes into it..

e.g. strawberry fields, I'm not from Liverpool but it's a place there, I wouldn't know that except for the beatles song. Or Don Maclean, is the only reason I know what a Levy was.hehe

the classic one being "I am the warus" , some really big beatles fans hate that period. I like the vibe of the song , but the lyrics are a tad mentalist.hehe

some of the time it's just finding words that fit, although some don't fit correctly Abba did that with a few of their songs.

Jon, but Bernie (not to be confused with Bernie Inn ) does a fair amount of the lyrics.

As for coldplay.. hhmm for me it's a case of listening to the core lyric a lot of the time and not the words used to join it up.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3Kd7IGPyeg

I like that video, in the sense of he had to learn how to sing the song backwards.

Sven , yep the music press always hype up bands, remember the majority of critics were probably were once in a band themsevles.. I mean I'd never have heard of Bell & Sebastian otherwise..haha

Lilly Allen... well a fair bit of her work is recycled stuff, Karen Kay comes to mind with the song "smile"... obviously her audience probably weren't born to know the original.

I do find it funny how people have a sheep mentality at times and listen to what they listen to and it's just force fed them. Even say a book... if someone says it's a cool book people buy it.. maybe just to have on display in their book case. Some people just follow trends.

there are bands which do great material that I like, but I'm not blinded enough to say I like all their work. I even told one person.. the tracks 6,9,10 (or whatever they were) WHY are they on the album, they are just ODD.. but maybe someone else gets them.. to me I thought the tracks in question were a load of s*** and trying to be arty for arty's sake.

Michael Jackson - the guy is the freakiest plastic-faced pedophile creep on the planet, but mention his name anywhere, and at least half the people around you will get a major stiffie over "The King of Pop" and start singing Thriller.

but what's all the fuss about?

He's the boss?