do you have an absolute LEAST favorite music artist for all-time?

radiohead

probably oasis

Dream Theatre.

Meat Loaf.

I'd be interested in serious answers to this because I find it difficult to believe someone devoted time/energy to actually determine a least favorite music artist of all time. My default response to this is Chicago. But I expended little sweat arriving at that conclusion (although I did do time with Chicago XXV: The Christmas Album) and I imagine, oh, ELP would piss me off even more if I made a project out of it.

And then there's always the question of what's worth hating. I'm not going to get too far ripping on Wednesday Week.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/9627011/photos/imissyou.jpg

I just listened to "Rock Lobster" to check if the B-52s still work for this. They don't and I'm a little disappointed.

radiohead x2

Something about Smash Mouth has me reaching for my gun whenever they barge their way into my life. Thank goodness this doesn't happen as often as it used to.

radiohead aren't really my least favorites *shrug*

u disappoint us rev ;_;

I'm thinking maybe Luscious Jackson

pete yorn

nutini

Currently it's Alicia Keys and Katy Perry.

I do hate the Doors.

maybe early bright eyes. I hear he got less awful later on, and it's still more about hating the fans than the music.

Canned Heat. They suck so bad. Also: Jefferson Airplane.

Staind

Black Eyed Peas, but that p much goes w/ out saying.

It's not so much their "big band of the moment" thing that kills me - I'm mostly indifferent to that kinda stuff, always knowing it'll exist w/ or w/out my "confirmation". It's that there used to be this girl who'd give me rides to parties on weekends and she always played "tonight's gonna be a good night" 100% non-irony on the trip there. I often wonder if people like her are the same ones who'll grow up to blame school-shootings on videogames.

If I heard more songs by the guy who did Rockabye, it would probably be him. Otherwise, no.

aerosmith. without a doubt

radiohead only kinda bore me when i listen. as background/wallpaper i think they're alright. worst thing i've heard recently was a snippet by Blue October, so their pathetic asses....

http://www.rockpic.net/images/eric-clapton-9.jpg

I can get behind many of these choices, that's why I don't have one.

The Miracle of the Smiths

Dave Matthews

without giving it too much thought... panda bear

I can get behind many of these choices, that's why I don't have one.

― Gerald McBoing-Boing, Saturday, October 1, 2011 6:31 PM (2 hours ago) Bookmark

otm

steely mac

aerosmith. without a doubt

insane! considering how good their seventies catalogue is

it's a gut reaction. i can't control it

they're a notch below the Stones

Even Pump isn't bad, my last girlfriend got me to realize.

nope it's awful

they're a notch below the Stones

― Anakin Ska Walker (AKA Skarth Vader) (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, October 1, 2011 11:03 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

ok I don't hate aerosmith but they are nowhere near the rolling stones, in my book anyway

i mean we are not talking about objective truth here just pure blind disgust

my unholy trinity of least favourite music artists (in no particular order)

Beatles
Oasis
U2

o_O @ beatles

elvis costello. man may or may not be an ok sort, music makes me want to seal my ear holes with wax.

oh oh oh oh oh. elliot smith. ACTUALLY any of these new "indie" "rock-for-14-yr-olds-who-are-just-now-discovering-rock" rocker types.

dude who hates the beatles... man. Tomorrow Never Knows? seriously?

animal collective

speaking as somebody who kinda hates the Beatles even tho i don't really hate the Beatles it's as much about what they represent - that kind of "man you can't hate the Beatles" thing that 95 percent of personal hates wouldn't elicit - as it is about the actual noises they made. like i started off just not really caring about them or ever wanting to listen to them and i feel like the world badgered me into straight hate. sacred cows can be annoying if you're a carnivore i guess.

well it's just that I would assume people's absolute least favorite artists would be more one-dimensional than the beatles

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

like it's cool if you don't like the beatles, it just seems weird and reactionary to say they're your least favorite band because "The Beatles" represent a lot different kinds of music compared to say Oasis or U2

*lot of different

i don't really have a single hate figure more than i have a single love figure. i think i get more wound-up by fandom and its excesses than i do with people making music, however turgid it might be. and if you don't read interviews or pay attention to what musicians actually think about anything it's even easier not to hate them.

and Bono is the worst prick of all time, but those first couple or few U2 records were good.

see that is how objective i am. please note for next time i say something outlandish :D

like i say crut it's more a reaction to that "you can't hate them more than artist X" school of thought. cos you could flip it and argue that the sheer size of their influence is more pernicious than some comical old one hit wonder. not that i do, really, but i'm just saying that if aesthetic offence is yr main reason to hate an artist then it's possible that a "bigger" artist cd give you more offence than a smaller one?

you get a similar situation with serious jazz or classical music heads, their most-hated artist can often be somebody really huge in the canon and the hate is a function of the artist's subsequent influence, i know Geir is Geir e.g. but he's hardly the only guy in the world with a physical aversion to Schoenberg, lots of jazz buffs hate Parker or Miles or Coltrane, unless you are mental hate is more some kind of ideological statement than a desire to hunt somebody down and beat them with a tire iron.

Sublime is a good candidate.

Bruckner.

The Smiths

John Butler Trio. Always and always.

Mitch Miller

Faith Hill. Just listen to Erma Franklin or obviously Janis Joplin perform "Piece Of My Heart", and then listen to how Faith covers it. It's a happy song! Permanent smile in the video. Woman has no soul.

lol @ dude calling Elliot Smith a "new" "rocker type."

Anyway, my answer is Journey. Mainly for Steve Perry's voice. I mean, the man can sing, for sure, but there's just something about the timbre of his voice w/ combined with his diction that just makes me want to punch holes in walls. And I've never been a fan of calculated arena-size sentimentality. They're like the Thomas Kinkade of bands.

Sublime...have always struck me as a band people mainly hate for the collective personality of the band + fanbase; the Sublime *brand* provokes such a kneejerk reaction of disgust that a lot of people overlook that the band actually has some decent tunes.

Yes

OTOH, their decent tunes are far outnumbered by shitty ones.

bruckner!?!

oh oh oh oh oh. elliot smith. ACTUALLY any of these new "indie" "rock-for-14-yr-olds-who-are-just-now-discovering-rock" rocker types.

dude who hates the beatles... man. Tomorrow Never Knows? seriously?

― zoom, Sunday, October 2, 2011 4:04 AM (9 hours ago) Bookmark

wtf you're defending the beatles just after claiming elliott smith as your least favorite artist... have you ever actually listened to elliott smith?

Sorry, but anyone who claims Elliott Smith is their least favourite artist is dead to me tbh

Perhaps i should clarify my dislike of the Beatles.. It's not the songs, actually some of the songs are pretty great when performed by other artists..

It's more the vocals, and their whole sound that I've disliked from hearing the songs first at an early age.

In the 30 plus years since that time, I've grown to love a load of other stuff I previously didn't rate... Dylan, Sabbath to name a couple, but in all that time I just can't 'get' the Beatles.

Maybe i will at some point... but they're the one canonical band that I just can't stand.

Bruckner.

― ste throkes (Ówen P.), Sunday, October 2, 2011 5:55 AM (8 hours ago)

bruckner!?!

― mookieproof, Sunday, October 2, 2011 9:56 AM (4 hours ago)

ya srsly. what?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ZNNcvVd2EI

Ugh ugh ugh just DON'T.

you're weird.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

dylan, radiohead, the smiths. For all the reasons NV gives for the beatles.

Yeah there's no way I would harbour the raging animosity I do for Oasis had they remained, say, a Cast-sized mid 90s indie non phenomenon.

britney spears

total revulsion, right from the start - her music is overly contrived, her presentation/image is disturbing (and totally sexist/exploitive), she seems to lack even a shred of talent. just the sound of her voice is annoying. even now, i hear her songs on the radio and think "people like this? why?" and don't get me started on her "critical" appreciation

all that said there's always been something grim & desperate about britney that invites pity i guess but doesn't make her music any easier to take

but really it's probably slipknot

m coleman OTM about britney

Your all-time least favourite band...

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

britney spears

total revulsion, right from the start - her music is overly contrived, her presentation/image is disturbing (and totally sexist/exploitive), she seems to lack even a shred of talent. just the sound of her voice is annoying. even now, i hear her songs on the radio and think "people like this? why?" and don't get me started on her "critical" appreciation

― dismissible objects one fucks with (m coleman), Monday, October 3, 2011 5:37 AM (Yesterday) Bookmark

see for me, none of that matters except that her voice is annoying, that's the one real dealbreaker.

i mean it'd be nice if her songs were GOOD, but they could still be 'contrived' (whatever that means) for all i care

how is this not good?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z8RJo_5_KK8

Elbow

Mine would probably be Joy Division. Not because I think they were the worst band in the world, but because many of my friends like them, and hence I'm exposed to them much more than to some other music that's even worse. I just find their aesthetic completely useless for anyone who's over 17.

5 to 10 years ago my answer would've been Manu Chao, pretty much for the same reasons as JD. Back in the early 00s there was nary a hippie party where you wouldn't have been exposed to his tunes, either through the stereo or with some dreadlocked folks singing them by the fire, accompanied by a variable amount of acoustic guitars and djembes.

You've lived a very different life than I.

And I still find some Joy Division themes applicable well into my 40s. I expect I always will. But I don't dress in black (never did).

how is this not good?

it sounds like total ass to me.

i've got a feeling
that tonights gonna be a "good" night. tonight's gonna be a "good", "good", "night"

oh wait no its BABY UR A FIIIIIIIIIIIREWUUUUHRK

her voice? the production? or just the whole song?

xp

yeah it's pretty much her voice, it's that damn "Aeroplane Over the Sea" album that made me realize how obnoxious it is when someone just tries to sing as loudly as possible and "FIREWUHRK" is the latest casulty

The production is fine. The song is almost nonexistent. Her dead, digitized-into-the-uncanny-valley voice gives me nothing but bad vibes. I am not anti-pop or anti-people not writing their own songs, but I get hella spooked by shit like that Britney song, i.e., dead-voiced pop star singing the songs her exploiters wrote for her about how fucked up she is from her public exploitation.

^^^^^^^^^^^^

that's how I feel about Rihanna, with some exceptions.

britney is fucking awful and i will never understand why ILM sucks her dick

especially everything from "in the zone" to the present.. i have nostalgia for a few songs prior

I voted yes because the Red Hot Chilli Peppers exist and no one will ever bug me like they do.

"Piece of Me" IMO only works because every verse is in that dead autotuned monotone except for the last one, which takes the notes for a three part harmonization of the verse and ping-pongs between the top voice and bottom voice in a fractured, counter-intuitive to the ear manner.

i heard "overprotected" for the first time in like 9 years the other day and it was surprisingly enjoyable. i can't say her first 3 albums are shit because they're not.

the ballads off of her first three albums are shit

actually I think every Britney ballad I've heard has been beyond unbearable

yes, those would be obvious disruptions to what may have been a great run of singles.

I have neither respect for nor particular interest in BS but her songs are no worse than many other contrived pop songs over the last 70 years.

except for her godawful ballads

I hear you're not the biggest fan

I don't like her early material so I'm as surprised as anyone that the new album and Blackout are as vital as they are.

I find it difficult to answer this because I actively avoid artists when they start doing things I really dislike, so I often don't become familiar enough with them to really get a good hate going.

Having said that, I spent most of last week making fun of 98 Degrees, Chris Brown, R. Kelly and Fester the Peehole so really my answer is "yes", I just don't know which one is my actual absolute least favorite (probably Chris Brown tbh).

That Russel Watson guy. Cod-classical smarm shovel.

Dan, what have you got against R Kelly? There's a lot about him which is reprehensible to say the least, but some of his records are sublimely brilliant.

I'm pretty lukewarm about R. Kelly too, although I love the new one.

Dan, what have you got against R Kelly? There's a lot about him which is reprehensible to say the least

this is called "answering your own question"

I don't judge every artist I encounter by what they do outside of their music but some really get underneath my skin and become unacceptable; R. Kelly is one of them, particularly with the combination of known pedophilia and blatant buffoonery. I can't listen to any of his music without thinking of it, so it ruins the songs of his I actually do like/have time for.

the pedophilia and buffoonery only makes his music stronger IMO

xpost
Yeah, I can understand that. I can just about separate the man from the work, but I find it easier thanks to the quality of it.

this is what made the show "two and a half men" work for the last 8 years

I'm very much a formalist when listening to music so it's easy to tune out Kelly's icky falsetto and early sentimentality.

http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/rkelly/youremindmeofsomething.html

when this song came out I first started laughing uncontrollably because of how fucking stupid it was, then became very very concerned when I realized a large number of people unironically LOVED it

so i am the only one that thinks shes been consistently great throughout her career?

there may be some 22-25yo women who agree with you

and plenty of popist ilxors

(and some 45-60yo men)

xp: dammit

waited too long, timing was totally off on that one

I don't know, the stretch of singles between "I'm A Slave 4 U" and "Toxic" was pretty terrible.

this is a forum where some people thought its Britney, bitch was the greatest opening lyric ever

and didn't britney win old ilx best song ever poll way back in the day?

so she has plenty fans round here

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHnn4zxrAjI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AxJDj2PwK-M

holy shit, Britney Spears is 30!?!

she will be in a few months.

Sorry frogbs, she couldn't stay eligible for Barely Legal forever.

Nirvana, easily. Nothing else annoys me as much as Nirvana. I'm not saying they're the worst band ever but they piss me off so deeply.

I like it – I'm not gonna crack.

I don't have a least favorite artist. Considered as an entire genre of music, though, death metal. I can find absolutely nothing listenable in the realm of Cannibal Corpse et al.

andrew bird

I like Cannibal Corpse

Yeah, some folks do. Maybe I could find some merit in the guitar playing, it seems skilled, but the vocals are just ridiculous, and don't get me started on lyrics. I'm not Tipper Gore, but there's just no way I'm ever listening to that stuff.

Tipper "Gore"

new display name

one day I was at a bar and wanted to play something on the jukebox and some muscular dude in his 20's stopped me and said "sorry, this is a Dave-only zone, if you're not playing Dave then get the FUCK out" (referring to Dave Matthews, obviously)

so yeah these guys played like 15 "Daves" in a row, could have been the same 2-3 songs over and over again for all I knew

man, the temptation to cue up half a dozen David Cassidy numbers and run like fuck

Years ago, David Browne (I think it was) was asked by a reader in an Entertainment Weekly "Ask The Critic" feature what artist's popularity puzzled him the most. He said that he could see how Dave Matthews might be some cult thing but was at a loss to understand how he's a gazillion selling superstar.

I've met alt.rock fan college kids, diva loving gay boys and Nickelback/new country fans who all think Dave's the shit. I really, truly don't get it.

tie between every circuit house dj ever and weird al. i'd be fine with weird al if he didn't have ways of forcing his way into my life, like my high school radio station partner forced upon me that would only play weird al such that the whole school hated us, and my current coworker that only has weird all and richard cheese albums.

yeah those people who play Richard Cheese over and over are the worst, as their defense is, "wait, this guy can actually play! and sing!" my response is "yeah, but he's playing and singing shitty fucking songs". IMO he fits alongside the guy who does MC Hawking, let the gimmick be funny and don't beat it into the ground

"sorry, this is a Dave-only zone, if you're not playing Dave then get the FUCK out"

ok this is hilarious

damn, this thread got aero to post i miss you -- thread is a success

i don't think i have a least favorite band btw . . . it definitely wouldn't be staind or blink tho

reminds me actually this weekend i'm hanging out with some people and two of them are talking about how great i think jonathan peters was at pacha the other day and one's all "oh man it was like dark like really dark tribal!" and the other one's all "but wait was it like... really like DARK DARK DARK TRIBAL?" and i waited for a lol but no lol came and the other one just confirmed, "yeah man!"

one day I was at a bar and wanted to play something on the jukebox and some muscular dude in his 20's stopped me and said "sorry, this is a Dave-only zone, if you're not playing Dave then get the FUCK out" (referring to Dave Matthews, obviously)

so yeah these guys played like 15 "Daves" in a row, could have been the same 2-3 songs over and over again for all I knew

http://www.channel4.com/assets/programmes/images/the-simpsons/series-9/episode-18/the-simpsons-s9e18-20090310161524_200x113.jpg

in which state was the dave-only bar located? just out of curiosity

fratachusetts

"which artist/band has the worst fans" should be its own thread if it's not already.

It was in Wisconsin - btw this guy wasn't like a bouncer or anything, just some dude with a bunch of friends who really, really wanted to hear Dave Matthews over and over again

daterapeississippi

wisconsin

if this question was only based on fans, dave might be a lock for my #1 worst band.

Didn't we do a worst fans thing? Jimmy Buffett for me, hands down.

it's a pretty basic question.. seems like something that's probably happened by now.

Who Has The Worst Fans: Dave Matthews Band , Phish, or Jimmy Buffett?

Yeah I dated a girl once who had this really weird fan thing going on for him (she made custom Dave shirts and everything), she would say things like "DON'T TALK SHIT ABOUT DAVE" and swoon over him every time one of his songs came on. I mean it was just like those guys who are hardcore into Tool or Radiohead or Metallica and talk endlessly about how much better their favorite band is than everything else, but it's just like, it's fucking Dave Matthews, he of the nasal voice and squirrelly face, creator of some of the most bland, inoffensive music to ever grace FM radio.

I wouldn't call it "inoffensive"

You dated a Dave Matthews fan?! I gave my friend a load of grief for dating a dude who was big into Jack Johnson. Eventually he left for Portland and I made her get the JJ CDs out of her car.

oh man the one girl i was into in high school i only started listening to dmb and phish because she did. i got into DAVE tho, phish didn't really fly

I never really got phish. Why not just be a straight-up Deadhead?

jerry DIED, man.

You dated a Dave Matthews fan?!

FWIW, my girlfriend's a massive fan.

DMB is mostly just tame and inoffensive to me. Phish have improvisational chops, even if they're not my thing. But my hatred of Parrotheads stems from Jazzfest in New Orleans, where Buffett fans would join their tarps together to create huge megatarps in front of the main stage (some complete with police "Do Not Cross" barriers) creating their own private party zones, drunkenly, loudly yack and ignore the earlier (often local and much better) acts until Jimmy came out, and then bellow along to all of his songs. All while wearing stupid headgear:

http://keystv.com/dynamic/clients/ParrotHeads/ParrotHeads_pic.jpg

FWIW, my girlfriend's a massive fan.

Not entirely malicious razzing, Ned. De gustibus, etc...

Quite so!

Jazzfest is the worst music festival i've ever been to. The fairgrounds are terrible, the lineup is always boring. The only good thing about it is the crawfish pies. Just noting this in case we decide to poll Least Favorite Music Festival Ever.

Disagree with this about as strenuously as humanly possible, but interested to hear your actual favorites.

Which we could do here:

C/D: Music festivals

so as not to derail this thread.

Sound Opinions did one of their "Rock Doctors" episodes a while back where they helped mend a rift between a couple. She didn't care for Dave, he had written plays based on their music.

I never really got phish. Why not just be a straight-up Deadhead?

― What does one wear to a summery execution? Linen? (Michael White), Wednesday, October 5, 2011 12:45 PM (3 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

For a long time, Phish made a point of sounding nothing like the Dead, despite the huge influence. They actually shelved songs that they felt too much like the Dead. I listened to some Phish for a while early this summer after 10 years of just not giving a fuck, and they've definitely rolled back the "don't sound like the dead" rule.

i got into DAVE tho, phish didn't really fly

SB'd btw. Just kidding, but man if you had to choose between these two, you really really chose RONG.

yea idk trey's guitar sound is just so HAPPY, like aural prozac or something. hate the fans but always will have a soft spot for 'billy breathes' lol

Tried to think of the most blandly inoffensive act I could name just for the sake of trollz-&-lolz, but that's not really my style so I abandoned the idea.

five for fighting

I said Staind but only because my brain had repressed my knowledge of Jason Mraz

John Mayer

Loving the fact the UK is more-or-less DMB and Phish free (outside of a few irritating ex-backpacker types who "can't wait to go travelling again", just fucking go already IMO).

Moldy Peaches

oh god, I'd forgotten Moldy Peaches existed

System of the Downed ? that’s the guy that always sounds like he’s hacking a loogie, right?