Artist/Band you just "don't get"

Oh, and Radiohead lost me at "Kid A". Can't get into anything they've done since.

OK, I'll stop. Actually I do "get" why somebody might buy into each of these, but I "don't get it".

Led Zep
Flaming Lips
Mercury Rev

heresies all, i know

http://www.sfbg.com/39/20/cover_box.jpg

Spiritualized
Kraftwerk
!!!

That said, I don't know what interests people in Ashanti, whom I don't loathe or even dislike but I find hard to care about.

Richard Marx. I don't loathe him either. In fact I think "Hazard" is a great song. Which confuses me even more, since everything else he's done has passed by me with zero impact.

anyway - i don't "get":

John Lennon solo (aside from Working Class Hero and Jealous Guy)

any of the Bastro / Squirrel Bait / King Kong stuff

Red Krayola (actually I do get it but i think they suck)

a good deal of M.I.A's album (just definitely NOT "Pull Up The People" - that song rules)

Merzbow

Antony & The Johnsons

Loretta Lynn

Joy Division

Le Savy Fav and Enon (God knows I've tried)

"grime"

Elvis Costello

Tsunami (except "Geniuses of Crack")

Teeth of Lions Rule The Divine

and many many many more. None of these are artists I *dislike,* you understand - these are all artists / genres that I have TRIED to appreciate at one time or another, for some reason or another.

They're incredibly ordinary. I'd add dull, crass, horribly overproduced, need better tunes (even S Club 7 had the decency to provide some). Sigh. I suppose their best tunes must be on the albums or something.... The singles start to actively bore me before they have even finished (1:30?)

Beatles > Oasis
Spice Girls > Girls Aloud

And I don't even like the Spice Girls.

I'd still do Nadine though

< /obligatory >

Do Girls Aloud remind older guys of top 40 stuff they heard growing up? Is that it, nostalgia?

Ok, I've thought about it far too long already.

Had your ears syringed lately?

And be at least a decade younger, possibly female.

Otherwise they just seem utterly by numbers. Not so much out of control as just 'fairly fast' for the Top 40.

I knew it wouldn't be a popular opinion round here!

totally awesome out of control Panzer-attack pop songs

"They're Not Gonna Get Usssss!!"

Ooops.. wrong band.

Hehe. Does the NME like them too?

If you're referring to that - < obligatory >

I'd still do Nadine though

< /obligatory >

Yes, it probably was uncalled for. Weak attempt at non-PC humour I had second thoughts about before posting.

fistful of something other than love coming my way. fair cop.

sorry itchy bits. my melodrama was uncalled for. king hell hangover in effect. please accept this wobbly olive branch.

on further inspection, more than one of my posts contained some fairly iffy language.

I can see how I might have come across a touch misogynistic (so offTM compared to me IRL that it's actually interesting, and a useful reminder to excercise a little more care and attention in my comments/bile). I normally make a point of avoiding these type of threads tbh. I pretty much trolled myself on this one.

(eats olive, passes over a Bloody Mary)

- congrat for mr snrub, me too.

and:
Kanye West
The Killers
Xiu Xiu
Jay Z
The Walkmen
and the list goes on

Don't get the appeal of the Futureheads at all. Seems so pointlessly manic. Or the Libertines. Can't stand the Cure. The only rational explanation for my hatred of the New Pornographers would be that their music was playing when something horrible happened to me, but I've suppressed the memory.

The tendency to pick bands that are hugely critically adored seems contrived to me.

what

Because Drake sells even less than Zappa? Because Zappa has 75 CDs and Drake has 5? Because Drake offed himself after 3 studio albums and Zappa busted his ass releasing 2 or 3 a year for 30 years?

Def Leppard

Whitney Houston. Some people on ILM act like she's unassailable!

you haven't read enough alfred or djp posts about "so emotional"

I have "how will I know" in my head every day so she obviously did something right.

I thought Daft Punk was supposed to be, like, bangin' techno with rock influences?

wtf is this poppy gloss with guest singers?

what am I missing?

check out alive 1997 + second half of their first album

rock influences? hmmm “human after all” has a kinda of rock vibe but it’s a strange album... try “steam machine” and “the brainwasher” maybe

thank u my man, I knew I could count on you

Et Joostice Pour Tous
https://s6056.pcdn.co/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/8004672295_132eec87be_b.jpg

wtf is this poppy gloss with guest singers?

disco?

definitely! but not really what I was expecting.

emerson lake and palmer i have geiven them many chances but i do not like anything they did!

emerson lake and palmer i have given them many chances but i do not like anything they did!

The Frogs

real fuckin assholes that band

Anything vaguely post-punk recorded on the UK between 1978 and 1981 is like catnip to me but I’ve tried and tried and do not see the appeal of Swell Maps and Young Marble Giants.

Aw really? I think Nikki Sudden said the Swell Maps were best appreciated as a cross between T Rex and Can, but of course I disagree with him.

Never noticed much T Rex in there.

Nor Can, tbh.

There is def a stylized aloofness about Sudden's schtick that I could see as his take on Bolan, but...

No, Can's definitely in there. "Full Moon In My Pocket" uses the bassline from "Mother Sky" for a start.

emerson lake and palmer i have given them many chances but i do not like anything they did!

― xzanfar, Wednesday, February 24, 2021 3:53 PM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

perhaps try Emerson, Lake, and Powell instead

"Don't Throw Ashtrays At Me" etc.

I never noticed that about Full Moon/Mother Sky, seems obvious now that you mention it.

I get that Can are an inspiration for their background clatter but it's done to such a different effect.

Jowe Head's vocal on Full Moon is a charicature of Damo I guess?

It’s weird I love Nikki sudden/jacobites/epic’s solo material but can’t get into swell maps

What I love about them is mainly gonzo adolescent lunacy, the cliquish camraderie of their interplay, comic book-like onomatopeic clanging and clattering, an affectation of elegance in entirely the wrong context...

(xp) Well, they're not similar at all.

(xxp) No, I think he just can't sing very well.

"Big Empty Field" is the one Swell Maps song that has blown me away, and that one (and that one only, mind) really reminds me of This Heat--I admire their scrappier stuff but it hasn't stuck with me in the same way.

I think it's just that the Maps are best understood as part of a pre-punk/proto-punk context that includes said artists, Krautrock, the Velvets/Stooges, etc, and IMO that's an easier point of entry than the postpunk scene they were part of

Swell Maps fans - I've heard the two proper albums and liked about half of each. They have a bunch of compilation/outtake type records that I'm wary of. Are these on the level of the albums, or for completists only?

for completists, mostly, IMO, once you have Marineville and Jane and some of the singles in some form there are diminishing returns unless u are a true fan

this one is good:

https://www.discogs.com/Swell-Maps-Train-Out-Of-It/release/326625

I don’t care for the comps (stuff is remixed, etc.). I love the first album, can leave everything else — so maybe I’m not the fanniest “fan.”

The singles tracks don't seem to be collected together anywhere as far as I can tell, they're scattered on those compilations, which is an irritant.

The Peel Sessions are also hot sh!t. They’re on YouseTube.

^^ very true

and xp to Halfway yes and there's STILL one single that's not on CD afaik:

https://www.discogs.com/Swell-Maps-Real-Shocks-English-Verse-Monologues/master/246556

I think it's just that the Maps are best understood as part of a pre-punk/proto-punk context that includes said artists, Krautrock, the Velvets/Stooges, etc, and IMO that's an easier point of entry than the postpunk scene they were part of

xp Real Shocks is on both Train Out of it and International Rescue CD comps

Nm you mean english verse and monologues dont you

Pulp

Happy Mondays

If we're talking about "don't understand the appeal of" rather than "don't like", The Libertines

Joni Mitchell
Arcade Fire
The Who
Lady Gaga
Led Zep

Kendrick
Godspeed
My Morning Jacket

lol I already regret this revive

shoulda bumped the hype/dis thread

Happy Mondays

the popularity of that Derek and the Dominoes record always baffled me, most of it is boring as shit and I'm not just saying that due to my dislike of Clapton. title track rules of course

Soundgarden

I love the whole Layla album, i think you just need to play it a few more times. The opening two tracks are so stunning cmonnnn

I don’t really like anything else Clapton related except “unplugged” tho

sleeve otm, pulp is nowhere near as essential as their name suggests.

re:the mondays
i actually did flag that one because you're not supposed to be able to post defamation.

pisces otm for arcade fire. can't wait to hear that forthcoming trash.

and re: clapton― he should have followed his intuition and quit music after seeing hendrix.

and i don't think i "get" the mondays half the time, but i still like them.

Half the fun of the Mondays is figuring out what the hell Sean is singing. The music, what’s to get? It makes you dance and feel good.

i hate the arcade fire so much, that is like the worst fucking music, good grief

sorry, had a bad day

thankfully never heard them I don't think #dontevenownatv

Agree on Pulp. Whenever I listen to their one novelty hit, I am reminded of Lester Bangs' essay on the Clash:

Right now, while we’re on the subject of politics, I would like to make a couple of things perfectly clear:

1. I do not know shit about the English class system.

2. I do not care shit about the English class system.

what a moronic thing to say, Lester Bangs!

Black Sabbath

^ wow I’m so sorry

There aren’t many artists I “don’t get” so much as I “disagree with public consensus”

sorry, had a bad day

― brimstead, Tuesday, April 8, 2025 5:54 PM

no no, my fault. i started the bashing. in my defense: all the folks i was lampooning there i truly don't feel like i "get" them. but, like in the case of the arcade fire, i don't need to understand their music to know that i think they suck. defining hate-listen band.

pulp is just musically boring, politics or no. i feel the same way about most britpop bands because i'm american and i was into outkast.

I’m not into Britpop either, but I like a few Pulp songs (the ones everyone knows); and saw them play in a club in the ‘90s, they were pretty cool…

I don’t really like anything else Clapton related except “unplugged” tho

I love No Reason to Cry! Clapton imagining he had been in The Band, and multiple members of The Band playing along. Plus it's the only place you can hear one of my all-time favorite Bob Dylan songs.

I'm also a big fan of Backless, but I don't think I could sell that one. I could say this much: given that No Reason to Cry and Backless followed, I don't see why Slowhand was ever a big deal.

what a moronic thing to say, Lester Bangs!

A view probably shared by 99.99% of Americans. That leaves 30,000 so maybe I'm being generous if anything.

Looks like Different Class sold “40,000 copies in the US,” so right in the ballpark!

I agree about Pulp. Never understood the appeal!

Agree on Pulp. Whenever I listen to their one novelty hit,

what do you think when you listen to the thirty or fifty songs they have that are better than that one

what do you think when you listen to the thirty or fifty songs they have that are better than that one

― Nancy Makes Posts (sic), Wednesday, April 9, 2025 3:01 AM (two hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

otm

like it's not even the fifth or sixth best song on DC

What is there to get about Led Zep???
― ()ops (()()ps), Saturday, 26 February 2005 00:14 (twenty years ago) bookmarkflaglink

Not getting Led Zep is crazy. Not liking 'em okay, but not understanding why they are revered WTF? It's patently obvious, isn't it?
― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Saturday, 26 February 2005 00:17 (twenty years ago) bookmarkflaglink

I don't get Led Zep or what distinguishes them from dozens of other blues rock bands of the same era, except that they have a singer with a particularly unpleasant sounding voice. I like Taste, I like some of Cream, but I've never been able to get anything out of Led Zeppelin.

I know people talk about them as pioneers of heavy metal, and I don't like much heavy metal, so maybe that's the problem, but I really like some Black Sabbath stuff, Led Zep sound really stiff and stodgy to me compared to Sabbath

If anything I hear Sabbath as stiff and stodgy but Zep loose and swinging.

You don't really need to know anything about the British class system for the narrative in "Common People", the dynamics are pretty universal - you wanna tell me there's no trust fund kids slumming it in the US? Come the fuck on.

what a moronic thing to say, Lester Bangs!

To be fair he was saying this within the context of being told the Clash were Bad by British music press types doing class analysis and that kinda stuff does get so inside baseball-y I understand an outsider just shrugging their shoulders.

maybe 'stiff and stodgy' isn't quite right, but Sabbath sound almost proto-punk to me, like the Stooges or the MC5 or something, but Zep sound lumbering and bombastic but still somehow starchy and punctilious

a lot of my favourite pop music is stuff that other people often find overly fiddly or fussy - Steely Dan, Prefab Sprout, XTC, 10cc etc - stuff that gets described as 'well crafted' - and I feel like Led Zeppelin kind of have some of that same meticulousness, but directed towards a different end, and I really dislike it for some reason

Coil, sadly. I feel bad even saying it, I've tried and tried, there are a few things that I like the sound of but in the main I just don't know.

Same here with Coil. I've tried repeatedly and finally gave up.

You don't really need to know anything about the British class system for the narrative in "Common People"

The subject of the song isn't even British! Then again neither was Prince Philip.

‘He came from Greece, he had a thirst for Lizzie…’

Coil, sadly. I feel bad even saying it, I've tried and tried, there are a few things that I like the sound of but in the main I just don't know.

― Maresn3st, Wednesday, April 9, 2025 7:51 AM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

Same here with Coil. I've tried repeatedly and finally gave up.

― Cow_Art, Wednesday, April 9, 2025 7:56 AM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

admissions of weakness

There are many artists where "my favourite album" of theirs is kind of an off-brand choice. I call it "Nebraska Syndrome", that is, "if your favourite Springsteen album is 'Nebraska', you're not really a Springsteen fan". The one that springs to mind is 0PN, I love Rifts so so so so much and listen to it all the time, but it's such a weird outlier that it makes me feel like I'm "not actually an 0PN fan" for loving it

XP - That's kinda mean but w/e

Alicia Keys

Getting upset over other peoples' tastes is the real weakness

Stating the obvious probably, but I feel that it's more puzzling/annoying than anything about my own difficulties in appreciating Coil's music. Otherwise this thread would be arbitrary lists of tons of band/artists, I guess.

I like a fair amount of adjacent music, I'm interested in the cultural aspects and philosophy of the band, beyond that kinda adolescent attraction to the more transgressive angle.

So maybe I do feel, in some subconscious way, that I'm failing as a listener, like when I was in my twenties and would reach for music that I perceived to be edifying in some way, only then to turn it off after 20 mins and put Shudder To Think on.

And I really enjoyed reading Jim Allen's Bandcamp feature on them in March too.

there's just also so many kinds of coil. surely you can like one

XP - That's kinda mean but w/e

― Maresn3st, Wednesday, April 9, 2025 10:21 AM (thirty-two minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

also sry i was just being playful, given the music being discussed

I want to like Coil so bad! I definitely feel like it’s a failure on my part. I’ve bought multiple releases thinking “this one will do it!” and they leave me absolutely cold.

Alicia Keys

I've long maintained that Alicia must have some kind of odd way of wearing her headphones when she tracks her vocals because she is always, precisely, exactly, just the right number of cents flat to make my ears hurt. It's uncanny, a song of hers can be playing at the lowest volume in the loudest room and my ears will stick prick up and identify that strange slightly-flat thing

"Empire State Of Mind" (the Jay-Z version) is the one track where this is not the case-- I always just supposed that a producer on Jay's end did a pitch correction

I find it's easy to like Coil if you treat them as a kind of novelty act. I mean, their whole magick/liminal/influence of drugs/"moon music" thing is so patently absurd that it's actually quite entertaining.

I like "You Don't Know My Name" and a couple others, but she oozes fraudulence, just fake soul. If you want me to run out of the room setting cats on fire, play "No One."

The Frogs

― Evan, Wednesday, February 24, 2021 5:00 PM (four years ago) bookmarkflaglink

Still never clicked. And I am a 80s/90s weirdo and/or underground music obsessive.

Finally sold my original copy of It's Only Right And Natural after holding it hostage for years (bought cheap) waiting to "get" it.

> I call it "Nebraska Syndrome"

The Beach Boys have always been out of reach for me, because vocal harmony isn't ever the primary appeal in rock music for me, and it's the core of the Beach Boys' magic. I get why I don't get it. The instruments always interest me more than the vocals. I'm not as keen on Dylan's "wild, thin mercury sound" phase, cause the instrumentals feel samey to me versus later work. But the late career Beach Boys deep dive of the latest Andrew Hickey podcasts made me realize I hadn't even considered their post-Pet Sounds music. So maybe I'm finding my way in with The Beach Boys Love You because here the oddness of the arrangements and the writing overshadow the harmonies.

I assume you've tried Smile?

Back when Oasis were about to blow up worldwide I remember reading a piece with some record exec talking about their potential in the US compared to their peers, specifically naming "Country House" and "Common People" as being meaningless to Americans.

As opposed to the literally meaningless "Wonderwall," lol

When I first heard "Common People" it was on a mix tape that a friend gave me in 96 or 97. This was in nowhere, East Texas. I did not have MTV and was not very... cosmopolitan at the time. I totally got it and freaked out about the song. I loved it so much. Ran out and bought Different Class.

Eventually, I realized that "chip stains" was talking about french fries. That was the only thing I didn't get about it initially. None of the other bands branded as britpop did anything for me at all.

In fact, I could put Damon Albarn in this thread. I "get" Oasis, even if I don't like them. I find it confusing that people keep putting Damon on things. Why is he on the new DJ Koze single? I find him utterly unspecial.

Wow I hit a nerve with the Happy Mondays. Can't stand the sound of that guy's voice - always off key with those EMF/Big Audio Dynamite affectations *barf*

The Happy Mondays didn’t hit for me until I saw the Kinky Afro video and then I “got” Shaun Ryder (shrugs)

I totally understand not liking the Mondays but not "getting" them at all is odd

Happy Mondays: Manchester :: Grateful Dead: San Francisco

- totally sum up their era of their city while not really sounding like the rest of their peers
- fans describe as masterfully funky but sound slack-ass to nonbelievers
- so many drugs
- simultaneously sweet and thuggish
-
-
-

My current favorite song of theirs is the “think about the future” mix of “wrote for luck”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZaR9tx2ezlY

I tried WIlson's Smile, yeah. I was in a low point in life once and was like, "I've never delved into Pet Sounds, wonder if it will lift me out" so I got it and it didn't. I appreciate a lot of the important songs. But taking in Love You in moderate doses these days and I'm finally getting the underlying personas, perhaps because the voices aren't blending into that juggernaut of harmony and polish. Finally hearing weirdos and Mike Love, not just endless summers.

soref's description of why they don't get led zep really resonates with me - i also just don't hear it for the most part. some undeniable songs for sure but they've never connected with me for many of the reasons soref lists. i like blues rock - i like zz top for god's sake - but zep's prog-ification of it completely misses me. i have to admit bonham's drumming is ace though...

lady gaga is a big one for me. again some undeniable songs but i don't hear the magic for the most part. i think her classically trained singing voice is tedious.

If we’re talking Happy Mondays remixes, my go to is this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5CFHUygZ4o

Oh, I got one! if the definition of not getting something is "being genuinely baffled by its success" rather than merely deciding it is not to your particular taste, then my pick is DJ Khaled, perhaps my ultimate "I can't believe this person is famous" famous person.

Perry Farrell is my DJ Khaled

fans describe as masterfully funky

Even as a bigger fan of the Dead around here than most, I would sideeye the fuck out of anyone describing them as "masterfully funky".

Kate Bush

DJ Khaled just has fifty other ppl with actual fanbases on every single, no? Is anyone a fan of Khaled himself as a recording artist?

I have never met a person who professed to be a fan

DJ Khaled just has fifty other ppl with actual fanbases on every single, no? Is anyone a fan of Khaled himself as a recording artist?

He started out in radio. So he's basically the presenter of his albums rather than the attraction.

Yes. I suppose you could be puzzled what his appeal is as a radio DJ too, but afaict there's plenty like him.

he’s more like a mixtape host or something than a musical performer I would say

xposts yah exactly

I don’t listen to The Happy Mondays as often as I prob should but I’ve always thought Ryder is a top-notch lyricist

Is there anything to "get" with the Happy Mondays though? I understand not liking them, but understanding them isn't exactly rocket salad to me.

I'm truly struggling to think of a band I don't "get". Like, even music I don't like I generally understand what it is people like about it. Even Nick Cave

Maybe one I would put down are Massive Attack. I mean, I think they're decent producers and have some cool songs but overall they're kind of hard for me to get super excited about for a band who are so extremely well respected and who play these big live shows. Do people dance at those? I've never seen them, but I could imagine it's kind of a dreary experience

i just didn't feel shaun's swagger until later on, his vocals and lyrics jumped out the page when i got older, i can't explain it rationally.

I'll second Evan on The Frogs; I went through a big weirdo/noise phase a few years back but could never get into them at all.

Plus the Dead C, but that's ok as I doubt they get too hung up on many people getting them.

Yeah I really want to like the Dead C. So many cool album covers.

"The White House" album is the one I got into (many years back)

I don't "get" Phish, to the point of invoking that hoary cliché "Why would someone listen to this when there's other music that does all these things better?" – but, y'know, to each their own!

The one that springs to mind is 0PN, I love Rifts so so so so much and listen to it all the time, but it's such a weird outlier that it makes me feel like I'm "not actually an 0PN fan" for loving it

I would say that Rifts is the one! Nothing since then has really clicked for me - and while I have kinda respected his refusal to get stuck in a sound, I was pretty stoked when he revisited that stuff for the Rebuilds show a few years ago

Obviously yeah 0PN and Flying Lotus. I want to like these guys but I feel like I'm missing something essential

same

I definitely get Dead C more than Steely Dan … I gave up on the latter.

ha I have abt the same # of records from both, it's a tie for me

I feel like I should like M83. I love The Field, MBV obviously, enjoy some Ulrich Schnauss, and lots of other adjacent and superficially similar things, but aside from "Run Into Flowers," it always sounds like the music you hear on ads for online gambling

Yeah, I have two Fly Lotus records and those things just will not stay on the turntable.

the music you hear on ads for online gambling

LOL

i would encourage people to "not get" the dead c

If you want me to run out of the room setting cats on fire, play "No One."

god absolutely, her voice is so strained and just feels like someone driving icepicks into my ears. also true for that New York song. And This Girl's on Fire. These songs are not comfortably in her range.

M83 is like two different groups to me: 2001-2008 = breathy vocals juxtaposed by electro-shoegaze swells vs. 2011-current = yelpy vocals + epic synths

definitely WAY prefer the first phase personally

Dead Cities... was a good album, didn't really enjoy anything past that