You know there are bands that you should like, that you want to like, but you just can't. Alternatively, perhaps you wonder why so many people like them, or why anyone likes them at all.
This is a thread for these bands. Controversy is encouraged.
Here's my (partial?) list. I'll focus on music from the past 2-3 years.
TV On the Radio
Fleet Foxes
Tuneyards
Adele
The Hold Steady
The National
Kings of Leon
Mumford & Sons
Phoenix
Bon Iver
OK Go
Andrew Bird
Regina Spektor
Pretty much all lo-fi noise pop (Wavves, The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, etc.)
Great list! Great list... I don't know what else to add, except maybe
Arctic Monkeys
I was in love with TV on the Radio from about 2003 to 2008, but i haven't even listened to their latest album and i don't revisit their old stuff too often. Same goes with andrew bird. The mysterious production of eggs was on repeat for me for a long time.
I like a couple Tuneyards songs as well as some Bon Iver
but the rest of the bands you listed i've always thought were garbage for the most part and i don't understand their popularity. And quite a few of them (Pains of being...Hold Steady, The national, ok go, phoenix, fleet foxes) i've actually given chances to and nothing just ever clicked with me.
Kings of Leon and Mumford & Sons are absolute trash and it pains me to hear any of their music.
I might piss some people off here but i've never understood the appeal of Girl Talk....
Just so this is out there... I wasn't submitting my list in hopes that people would agree. Blinds spots are a pretty personal thing. So any list is valid.
Actually one purpose of this thread was to provoke someone to resentfully defend a band on one of the lists, then make a point about the subjectivity of music. But I guess the cat's out of the bag.
For the record, I love "Flume," but for the rest of Bon Iver's music, I find it almost impossible to overlook the voice and the preciousness. I also agree about Girl Talk. There are much better and more interesting examples of mashups. By contrast, what Girl Talk does is pretty boring. And you really have to make it interesting if you're going to lift sections from such high-profile/obvious songs, because it's even harder to recontextualize.
Most Canadian indie bands. Any iteration of Broken Social Scene and any of it's members.
Everything you like except a couple just so I can maintain that it's not just a matter of completely different tastes.
the perennial sovereign of these discussions, captain beefheart.
fleet foxes. WHAT. THE. FUCK?
a strong half of nick cave's and bob dylan's and frank zappa's and prince's career.
belle & sebastian. they're dead to me.
led zeppelin
king crimson
sometimes tool
i was interested with everything everything in the beginning but then realized i can't stand an entire song.
I keep thinking that I like Fleet Foxes, but then I listen to them again and it all goes to hell. I guess I like their sound, but not their songs.
I will never understand TV On the Radio.
polka, you should listen to tv on the radio's "tonight" or "will do"
Okay, I honestly like "Will Do". I hadn't heard that one before, so thanks for that.
It's tough showing people the value you get from a certain work of art in some cases. So, i apologize if this just seems terrible.
one time, in the pearl jam thread, I tried to bring up that PJ was a blind spot for me (not using those exact words) and I was told, "you're doing it wrong." I wonder if that applies here.
Squints said that certain bands, "didn't click with him," which is exactly the way I would put too because usually, if i don't like something, it takes the right song and the right mood, and then BOOM it'll "click" with me. This has happened with pinkerton, tallest man on earth, beulah and bob dylan. One day i heard 'Don't think Twice, It's Alright' and 'It's All Over Now, Baby Blue,' on the right day in the right mood and it clicked with me and now I am a fan of 90% of Dylan's catalog and all the other music i mentioned.
Let me attempt to defend the hold steady despite there being no specific criticisms toward them.
The first song I heard from them was the first track off their debut album called 'Positive Jam' http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NjfgUZBPrXA (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NjfgUZBPrXA)
This is a band that accepts the harshness of the world and the mistakes of progress, but then uses their opening statement to say, "we gotta start it with a positive jam." To me there is something inspiring and endearing about the way this song plays out. After that song I thought, "well, i'd like to listen to what this guy has to say."
So I did. Turns out, i thought they sucked for a while. Then, I just started falling in love with one song after another. To me, the lead singer just knows how to say things in this way that isn't too cryptic, yet still poetic.
Oh yeah and they fucking rock, in some sort of an americana springsteen sort of way. Now, don't get me wrong, there are still several songs that I can't get into, or I'll hear a song one day and love it and the next listen i'll think, "does this suck?"
Here are some of their highlight songs that span throughout their entire career. They tackle drug use, relationships, religion, american culture and much much more. It's just a very honest portrait of many things i've seen throughout my life and that is why it clicked with me.
Here is one song that I think is easy to get into,
Barely Breathing -
One thing i really like about this band is also their reoccurring characters, places and themes throughout all their albums. These songs don't really showcase that, but it's there nonetheless and it's fun when you catch one.
Quote from: cronopio 2 on July 25, 2011, 06:51:17 PMeverything everything in the beginning but then realized i can't stand an entire song.
i couldn't understand for the life of me why everyone was eating their shit over this band.
Still love them to death.
What is it... the voice? Cause I can understand that. (But it works for me.)
yaeah, the voice, and how they take away the joy of listening to music in each of their songs.
Quote from: cronopio 2 on July 26, 2011, 03:25:46 PMhow they take away the joy of listening to music in each of their songs.
Now I'm intrigued.
It didn't even take one page for us to start trying to change each others opinions.
Once you're past 25 you start realizing that only a handful of indie bands are worth a shit.
Jeremy, i wish i still had the cd so i could go second by second with each song to explain why i think they fail. but instead of that, i'll just tell you that there are moments in their songs that are very promising, and then they throw out all notions of melody to the garbage.
if you can recommend me a song that you think i'll like, i'll do that.
it has happened before. i used to hate frank zappa until a friend forced me to listen to watermelon eastern hay with headphones and i became a partial admirer.
Kings of Leon cancel tour after Caleb's onstage meltdown
"Ashamed and embarrassed" Kings call off shows and take two months off, saying they need break to address internal issues
http://rocknewsdesk.com/world-news/kol-cancel-tour-after-calebs-onstage-meltdown/2761/
Kings of Leon have cancelled the rest of their US tour following Caleb Followill's onstage meltdown at the weekend.
The frontman appeared tired and emotional during the band's show in Dallas, Texas, as he told the crowd: "I'm going to go backstage and vomit, drink a beer and then come back out and play three more songs."
But he didn't return, leaving bassist Jared Followill to apologise to the audience. Responding to the official statement that Caleb had simply been dehydrated Jared tweeted: "I can't lie. There are problems in our band bigger than not drinking enough Gatorade."
Maybe this song will hit you in the right way today. Craig Finn is a great writer. This is a great song. Like i said in my last post, I used to wonder, "What could anyone possibly see in this band?" So, it was a "blind spot" for me once.