Sep 262008
People who know me very well know that there are all sorts of bands I don’t like for all sorts of reasons. People who know me just a little less well are sometimes suprised that I don’t like a particular band that would seem to make sense with my stated tastes. “Mmmm, I would have pegged you for a fan of The Soft Boys,” they might say. I know what they mean, but the band never quite cuts it for me.
Have you been on the receiving end of such a comment from a friend? Is there a band you’re reasonably expected to like yet don’t? Do tell!
The Band. The love country/folk/blues/gospel/Rock & roll, I love Dylan, heck I even like Ronnie Hawkins. That second Band (it’s just called “The Band”, get it?) record has some nice hits on it but what quality sets them above The Dead/early Little Feat/early Poco/New Riders of the Purple Sage/Black Oak Arkansas/Jim Croce beat me. And of course I wanted to dress up like a cowboy when I was a kid too but the whole “Canadian civil war re-enactor” shtick just seems so phony to me, as silly as Parliment/Kiss or Alice Cooper’s stage get-ups but with the understanding that we’re supposed to respect their pose as more “real”. Their self-mythologizing just rubs me wrong too. Give me a Hoyt Axton record (or maybe Tom T. Hall) instead, any day of the week.
db, I would have never pegged you for an ally of E. Pluribus Gergely over The Band!
My uncle was shocked and in disbelief when I told him that I hated both Jeff Beck AND Bad Company.
He thought I liked Rock and Roll.
I move that db be banned form the Halls of Rock.
Ok maybe that was rash. He should at least be put on probation.
As I mentioned before, XTC is a band that I’m supposed to love. I even bought most of their catalogue used when it came through our little store, so I was able to buy alot en masse. They have yet to find their proper place in my heart. Maybe I’ve run out room?
There’s plenty of groups that I like that I shouldn’t and that’s almost more disturbing to me.
TB
The Band is one for me too. They are as boring as their name.
But more than anything I get both Zappa and Capt. Beefheart which are two sides of the same worthless coin.
Lord knows I’ve tried.
Similar to Mr. Mod, I fit the profile of a Robyn Hitchcock fan, but it’s yet to take. Although I suspect I may break down one day and buy I Often Dream of Trains/
Also, I often surprise friends by listing the numerous recent indie bands that I find useless, although the only ones that immediately leap to mind are (of course) The Hold Steady, TV on the Radio and My Morning Jacket.
I wish I could figure out what makes me like one band and hate another. I love The Stones, but I think Primal Scream sucks, I can’t listen to J. Geils (which may be from high school and I think I can figure that out), I generally find The Black Crowes unlistenable and Mick Jagger’s solo career embarrasses me.
I’ve been accused of “hating” classic rock, but I grew up with it and I always thought I liked a lot of it. The garage rock scene that brought us The Strokes and The Libertines doesn’t seem to do much for me and I guess it should.
The fact that I’m not quite sure why I like and dislike what I do is one reason I don’t have iTunes on my computer. I don’t need Apple to know more about me than I do.
dbuskirk, this goes a long way toward explaining why I have problems with “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down.”
The song gets nearly everything about the Civil War wrong.
Many, many people are shocked that I have very little use for Belle and Sebastian.