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?

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