Which band/artist do you think you SHOULD like but in reality you don't?

Plenty of time for the Beatles, but I have always had trouble with John Lennon's solo output. I've never managed to rationalise the mythology with the reality: Peace-loving, anti-materialistic, working-class-hero or embittered, misanthropic multi-millionaire?

My Last.fm keeps telling me that I should listen to The Tallest Man on Earth. I can't really get into him, however; his voice is icky to me. :/

Mr Woman wrote:

Plenty of time for the Beatles, but I have always had trouble with John Lennon's solo output. I've never managed to rationalise the mythology with the reality: Peace-loving, anti-materialistic, working-class-hero or embittered, misanthropic multi-millionaire?

All of the above, actually, as improbable as that combo of attributes may be. I do understand how it can be a bit off-putting to some people, but it isn't to me. He was one messed up dude and I like his music for reflecting a lot of that messed-upness. His songs were emotionally direct and erratic, and I think they're a lot more interesting than Paul McCartney's solo output, which was style over substance more often than not. I don't agree with the way so many people want to beatify Lennon as a person; don't reckon it's my job to be judge and jury with respect to how he lived his life, but as an artist I give him full marks. He woke me the f**k up musically, and I will always find a lot to connect to and enjoy in his songs.

NeonChoir wrote:

My Last.fm keeps telling me that I should listen to The Tallest Man on Earth. I can't really get into him, however; his voice is icky to me. :/

I understand this totally, as his voice has a kinda odd quality, and it can come off harsh and bleating now and again. But I do still like several of The Tallest Man on Earth's tunes, so go figure... *shrug*

Every entry on this thread is going to rankle with someone out there ("How can you NOT like XYZ!" ).

Sorry Chrissie! I know I SHOULD like John Lennon, but I just don't!

Blame Yoko and the Gallaghers.

Mr Woman wrote:

Yoko and the Gallaghers

What a great band name!

MagicalTrevor wrote:

Mr Woman wrote:

Yoko and the Gallaghers

What a great band name!

I absolutely concur !

MagicalTrevor wrote:

Mr Woman wrote:

Yoko and the Gallaghers

What a great band name!

You can have it if you want, but I want my 10%

Jeeze...with this and the Airfix deal, you'll be retiring soon.

Mr Woman wrote:

Every entry on this thread is going to rankle with someone out there ("How can you NOT like XYZ!" ).

Sorry Chrissie! I know I SHOULD like John Lennon, but I just don't!

Blame Yoko and the Gallaghers.

No apologies necessary! I don't think you "should" like John Lennon. I just think there are a lot of people who are drawn to his music because of the more saintly, martyr-ish side of his public image, and a lot of other people who avoid or discount his music because of the more despicable side of his public image. And since neither one of these public personas is the complete truth, I think it's not the best basis on which to judge his musical output. Either his songs do it for ya or they don't, and that should be a decision made independently of whether you respected/liked him as a person or not. Kinda like how I still enjoy Off the Wall and Thriller, even though I thought Michael Jackson seemed pretty heinous and icky in real life. But if you don't like the music just as music, and it doesn't resonate with you or entertain you for whatever reason, then I have no issue with that whatsoever.

MagicalTrevor wrote:

Jeeze...with this and the Airfix deal, you'll be retiring soon.

ChrissieInFL wrote:

I don't think you "should" like John Lennon. I just think there are a lot of people who are drawn to his music because of the more saintly, martyr-ish side of his public image, and a lot of other people who avoid or discount his music because of the more despicable side of his public image. And since neither one of these public personas is the complete truth, I think it's not the best basis on which to judge his musical output.

That's a very good way of putting it.

Long, long ago in college I wrote a paper for a Personality class on Lennon. I immersed myself for weeks in his music (which I knew), his writings (like In His Own Write and Skywriting by Word of Mouth[/], which I didn't know), some books on the Beatles, and the two big biographies of Lennon -- Ray Coleman's [i]Lennon and Albert Goldman's The Lives of John Lennon. I also tracked down two other books, May Pang's Loving John (which was an incredibly coincidental find for me; I happened to walk into a Dollar Tree, and there it was on the shelf, a book that had been published over a decade before) and Rolling Stones' The Ballad of John and Yoko (a collection of things on Lennon they had published over the years).

The conclusion I came to was that Lennon had a saintly side (which really only surfaced after he blasted his mind with LSD) and an asshole side (which was always present), and people tended to write about John strictly from the perspective of the saintly side (like Coleman) or the asshole side (like Goldman), so the truth about John was somewhere in the middle. He could be a saint, he could be an asshole, but far more often he was a saintly asshole or an asshole-ish saint. Great people are very seldom ever good people.

I like John's solo output, though I readily admit that it's something of a mess. It has some incredible peaks, like much of John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band, several tracks off Imagine and Walls and Bridges, but it also has some bewildering lows (beyond the totality of Some Time in New York City), often right next to those dizzying peaks. For me, the two songs that make John's solo career worthwhile are "#9 Dream" (which I find remarkably haunting) and "Stand By Me." Oh, and "Love" from JL/POB.

Two bands that I should like but just don't get at all occurred to me yesterday.

I listen to a lot of Scottish music. I love My Latest Novel. I've had Broken Records' new album in the stereo a lot recently. The Scottish Enlightenment is fantastic. The Seventeenth Century is positively sublime. I really like The Twilight Sad. Belle & Sebastian. Travis. I even liked Snow Patrol at one time.

But...

I don't get Glasvegas. I really don't get Franz Ferdinand. I like the former more than the latter (I can kinda see what they're trying to do), but I don't see the point of either. They don't do anything for me.

I'm not a fan of Glasvegas, either, so I can see what you mean by that. I love Franz Ferdinand, however. IDK, they're just to my liking.

OT Two Scottish bands I love - The Phantom Band and Pumajaw. An I was just listening to My latest Novel the other day - I love Wolves.
/Back OnT Yeah, with you on Glasvegas there...

I have to agree with fellow posters Glasvegas, i can't see it i'm afraid and there has been a slight change to the image and after watching James Allan on Jools tonight a tash is all he requires to set off his Freddie Mercury tribute act.

Whoa ! Whoa ! all this Glasvegas hatred !

I'm a big fan, seen them 4 times live - I CAN though understand if they don't float your boat, but 'It's my own cheating heart that makes me cry' is up there with anything Elbow have done - HIGH PRAISE INDEED !

Project571 - yer a bad lad - me and you need a chat.

I know I'll get shot down for this but.... Fleet Foxes. I can see how good they are and have tried to like them. I compare them to fondant icing - sweetly delicious for a mouthful, but not at all satisfying after a couple of bites. Seeing them live was a disappointment - I had hoped that my ambivalence towards them would change after a gig but, to be honest, I was a little bored by the end. Sorry FF fans.

^ Sad day. :\ Oh well. More Fleet Foxes for me.

Anyway. I've heard a lot of great things about Bombay Bicycle Club, but I can't get into them. The vocals are exceedingly annoying to me.

I bloody well hate Muse.........don't usually talk about what I DON'T like, but I really do not like them. Utter Drivel.

My friends 10 year old son really likes them.......sums it up really, the new Iron Maiden.

PJ Harvey. /ducks for cover

Why did I suspect that one might come from someone right now? Each to their own but I have to disagree... !

I have to say I'm with Ticky on FF - listened to their first album a few times ages ago and quite liked it but they've never really "got to me".

Well, I saw Fleet Foxes a couple of years ago and they were as brilliant as I'd wanted them to be - 2 corking album's.

PJ Harvey, I've got most of her album's, but apart from when she played with John Parrish at the Ritz in M'cr, never seen her live as a solo artist and she's in town tomorrow. I think she's an artist with integrity, class and she's pretty damn hot.

An artist I like but really shouldn't - a very recent addition are Friendly Fires - 'Pala' is wonderful, and they looked brilliant at the televised Summer festivals that I saw - that's where they got their claws into me.

I've only seen her live on the PJ Harvey & John Parish tour as well (Birmingham) - excellent it was too, part of the process of me getting totally hooked I think, though I knew some of her albums before then. So tomorrow will be the first time I see her live solo, so to speak.

Must give the Friendly Fires a go - haven't a clue about them; I've been put off up to now as I was kind of confusing them with the Fiery Furnaces who supported Elbow at the MEN and I really wasn't taken with them - what is it with all these FFs...?

Friendly Fires.........most excellent and truly eccentric.

Mr Woman wrote:

PJ Harvey. /ducks for cover

YES. HER.

I have several friends who like her. One of them has deemed "Let England Shake" to be his #1 album of this year. I just don't get it. At all. Sorry, guys. :/