The Best Music You Never Heard

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What band or artist would people be surprised to discover you’ve never heard? Are you consciously avoiding listening to this band/artist? Do you secretly take pride in having never heard them?

― Mark, Tuesday, 15 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

For example, I don't think I've ever heard Fugazi. And I do think I avoid them on purpose. Something about their image is repellant to me, which is stupid, because when I read an interview with Ian McCullough, he seems like a cool guy with interesting ideas. All that integrity just gets to me somehow.

― Mark, Tuesday, 15 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I avoided the Strokes for a ridiculously long time - ridiculous because once I heard them, they seemed harmless. Like getting over a phobia of lint. However, one of my reasons for avoiding them was that their individual names seemed silly, and that seems like a good enough justification for me.

― dave q, Tuesday, 15 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Ha Ha! I was going to ask this question!! Honest. I've been meaning to do so for ages, and Tom's "Loads" thread and the recent canon threads were strong incentives to get to it. I was going to call the thread "Ignorant" tho', since how do you know it's "the best" if you've never heard it?

Anyway - top of my 'ignorant of' list (modern pop division) would be:
Pet Sounds
The Stooges
"Private Number" and nearly every other Stax single ever released
The Nirvana (studio) LPs
Every Pulp LP
Every Jay-Z recording ever 'cept that one that samples "Annie"

Am I proud of my ignorance? Not really. I feel I should listen to all of the above, but the longer time passes, the more I doubt whether they will truly add anything to my musical experience. But please do tell me if I'm wrong.

― Jeff W, Tuesday, 15 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I don't plan on listening to So Solid Crew, tho' I've heard the music is good: I just don't want to know about a band that would defend breaking the jaw of a 15 yr old girl.

― Nicole, Tuesday, 15 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

>Ian McCullough

Ian McKaye u mean?

― Venga, Tuesday, 15 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Nicole....is it a policy of yours to only listen to artists who are "nice" people? If so, you must have about 10 CDs in yer collection.

― Venga, Tuesday, 15 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

why has everyone got it in for the SSC just cos of this 15 yr old girl. some 15 yr old girls are right bastards and as due a jaw breaking as anyone.

― Alan Trewartha, Tuesday, 15 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

>Ian McCullough Ian McKaye u mean?

Oh yeah! I've heard a fair amount of Echo, and I like them.

― Mark, Tuesday, 15 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I have 12 cds in my collection, per the "people with only 12 cds in their collection" rule.

― Nicole, Tuesday, 15 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Ew, I think I witnessed irony dying during Alan's last sentence. I'm not sure even Dave Q would go that far.

― Edna Welthorpe, Mrs, Tuesday, 15 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Momus, The Strokes, Radiohead (OK, Pablo Honey only), Public Enemy.

― Dave225, Tuesday, 15 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

MC5

― MarkH, Tuesday, 15 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

roxy music. still. i know i said i was going to rectify this, but it still hasn't happened.

― gareth, Tuesday, 15 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Quite possibly Hank Williams.

― Tom, Tuesday, 15 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I was going to say MC5 too. As far as I know I've never heard them. I'm only mildly embarrassed, however.

― DeRayMi, Tuesday, 15 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I don't believe I have heard The Mekons, and I actually want to. For some reason, I just never get around to it.

― dleone, Tuesday, 15 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Tom, I thought I remembered reading that your Dad was a big fan of old country...he never played any Hank Sr.?

― Mark, Tuesday, 15 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I can't say I've never heard them, but I don't know much by: Can, Neu, Fela Kuti, Hawkwind, or Nick Drake.

― fritz, Tuesday, 15 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

He buys compilations, Mark, and much prefers female singers - so I've heard lots of Patsy and Dolly but I don't think he's got a single Hank CD. Also he never really played it much around us - because when we were growing up we thought country was OLD AND SAD and wanted to hear our rock and so we confined our musics to difft. bits of the house.

― Tom, Tuesday, 15 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Dominique -- As a fan of Boredoms' Super Roots 7, you should definitely hear the Mekons "Where Were You?" single. It's really great, plus you'll hear SR7 different after checking it out. It's one of the few things I ever downloaded from Napster. I'll email you a copy. Can you do that with MP3s?

― Mark, Tuesday, 15 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Nick Drake, 'The Blueprint', Magazine.

― Omar, Tuesday, 15 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Can you do that with MP3s?

Probably too large a file for Hotmail to handle. Better to just post it somewhere, and I can download it. Thanks!!!

― dleone, Tuesday, 15 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Music I have yet to hear is *always* better than music I have heard, just as music I'm going one day to make far outstrips music I've finished and released. There's a kind of yet-to-be-written and yet-to-be-recorded music -- you could call it 'becoming music' -- which I often associate, or confuse, with real music I haven't quite heard yet.

So, for instance, there's a kind of political musique concrete I can visualise in my head which, for the moment, I'm associating with Ilhan Mimaroglu. But when I've bought all the Mimaroglu records I can find, I will decide that someone else, somewhere else sums it up better. Maybe I'll even try and make it myself.

After hearing a little Cornelius Cardew I thought he was 'it', then I bought lots of rather conventional 19th century-style piano records and found he wasn't. I imagined bands like Four Tet and the Moldy Peaches summed up my ideas about Folktronica, then heard their work and found that, although it was good, it was about something different.

I always liked that Galliano album title, 'In Search of the 13th Note', that sums the feeling up. I kind of hope I never find it.

― Momus, Tuesday, 15 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Carl Craig, The Pop Group, Chrome, The Nuggets compilations, Pere Ubu's '80 Seconds over Tokyo', X-Ray Spex.

― stevo, Tuesday, 15 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Wow, people are admitting never hearing some pretty famous stuff (including some of my favorites). I've definately never heard Fugazi, even though I've read about them loads, and I'm really ignorant of hip-hop and current R&B. I was in a club a couple weeks ago and recognized "Get Your Freak On" because she says the title phrase over and over, and I'd read about it on FT. I felt proud of myself.

― Sean, Tuesday, 15 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Belle and Sebastien, as I say.

Boards of Canada also, I always wanted to hear them but never bothered.

― Ronan, Tuesday, 15 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

You know what's so strange about this though? I have bands that I haven't heard, and I also chalk it up to no time or better things to do. But it takes like 5 minutes to go to Amazon.com and click on a link! Or a little longer or shorter, depending your connection, to d/l an mp3 from some illicit source. At the same time, I'll spend half an hour on half.com tracking down the last remaining copy of Edie Brickell's Picture Perfect Morning. Humans are weird. Or maybe just me. I'm weird.

― Mickey Black Eyes, Tuesday, 15 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

The Sex Pistols.

― helenfordsdale, Tuesday, 15 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Belle and Sebastian - something about them has always irrratated me although my friend Alex reckons I'd like them. I managed to not hear 'You're so Vain' for years, even though I wanted to. I first heard it on a jukebox in a cafe about a year and a half ago, and, like Sean, recognised it from the lyrics and felt proud.

― Anna, Tuesday, 15 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

La Monte Young (well, just a little, in the Dream House). Buffalo Springfield (actually I think the only Neil Young albums I've heard all the way through are Arc and Trans). The Gun Club. John Mayall's Bluesbreakers. Korn.

― Douglas, Tuesday, 15 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Only LaMonte Young I've heard is in the Dream House, too.

But Buffalo Springfield? You've never heard "For What It's Worth"? ["think I'd better stop, hey, what's that sound, everybody look what's going down"]. That's hard to believe.

― Mark, Tuesday, 15 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Carl Craig? Say it ain't true Stevo! :)

Oh yeah, and Disco Inferno.

about N.Drake, I do this almost consiously. I could pick up 'Pink Moon' for next to nothing everywhere, but I like the concept of N.Drake too much, you know that signifyer for pastoral Englishness that Gareth and forgotwho (sorry 'bout that) go on about when talking about Boards of Canada and 'Richard D. James'. Wouldn't want to ruin such a nice concept with any real music.

― Omar, Tuesday, 15 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Never heard and consciously avoiding, as opposed to have heard and don't care to investigate further? *thinks* That's a really good question indeed. I don't know if I have an answer to that one.

― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 15 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Pinefox owns this thread.
if I remember correctly, he's never heard "Louie Louie", "I Love Rock N Roll" or "Be My Baby" to name just a few.
― fritz, Tuesday, 15 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

joy division. mbv. revolver and sgt peppers except for the singles. love. rolling stones albums that aren't aftermath. the smiths except solo morrissey stuff.
― ethan, Tuesday, 15 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

oops
― , Tuesday, 15 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

you fucker!

― ethan, Tuesday, 15 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

sorry, ethan. did you finish the dylan painting yet?

― fritz, Tuesday, 15 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

It doesn't have to be conciously avoided, Ned. Could just be a band that you've been curious about for a long time, that it seems as if you might like, that others might assume you know and like, but that you still haven't heard.

― Mark, Tuesday, 15 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Okay, I've never heard Slipknot. But I saw a video of theirs, in a crowded bar, with the television's sound turned down (in Bristol, actually), so I feel I know them well.

― Andy, Tuesday, 15 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys at a high-school dance ca. 1947.

― Tracer Hand, Tuesday, 15 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I don't find that surprising.

― Mark, Tuesday, 15 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I don't think I've heard the New York Dolls either. Maybe forerunners of punk are a weak point for me.

― DeRayMi, Tuesday, 15 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

It doesn't have to be conciously avoided, Ned.

Hmm...no, I still can't think of anything offhand. I think it's more accurate for me to say that I can be so taken by what I already love that I don't always investigate other things more readily. Might explain why it took me forever to get around to Ready to Die, for instance, so I guess that would be a candidate. But I've heard it.

― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 15 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Unfortunately, I have 6,000+ albums I'd never heard but want to. Plus a billion more singles, besides.
It sucks when your so poor you have spend your money on food rather than entertainment media.
(Offtopic: Used to coupon to see Lord the Rings. Excellent flick, I can think of at least 5 actors deserving Oscar nominations. Cinematography and Set-design are Oscar-worthy as well, especially in the Mines of Moria part of the film. Go see it! Go see it! Go SEE IT!)
And Enya's contribution to the soundtrack is not as intrusive as Tanya says it is.

― Lord Custos, Tuesday, 15 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

But Buffalo Springfield? You've never heard "For What It's Worth"? ["think I'd better stop, hey, what's that sound, everybody look what's going down"]. That's hard to believe.

--Same thing can be said for someone who is involved in "underground/indie" music media, and has never heard Fugazi, or can get IAN MACKAYE named correctly, no?

― Gage-o, Tuesday, 15 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Well, Fugazi you still have to seek out, whereas it seems like it would be hard to avoid that Buffalo Springfield song. Still, I picked Fugazi because it does seem like I would have heard them somewhere along the way, so yeah.

― Mark, Tuesday, 15 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Mostly a few that have already been mentioned: The Stooges, most Krautrock, Van Morrison's Astral Weeks. I'd never heard any Love until last year, which turned out to be a complete revelation.

It's not conscious, mostly just laziness.

― electric sound of jim, Tuesday, 15 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

The Swans, Public Enemy (except the big hits) , Galaxie 500, the Angry Samoans, Bratmobile. I might be consciously avoiding Bratmobile and most of the lesser Riot Grrl bands. The big ones (w/ the exception of Huggy Bear) were irritating enough. I don't take pride in it, though.

― Arthur, Wednesday, 16 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

"I Feel Love," Lee Perry, Throbbing Gristle, Nobukazu Takemura, Alec Empire, Fushitsusha/Haino, solo John Cale, Suicide, Slits, Pop Group...

I want to hear all of them! Soon! Still so much to explore!

― Clarke B., Wednesday, 16 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Redd Kross. Aphex Twin. The Strokes. And I first listened to a CD of Edgard Varese last year (a glaring omission, considering you know what and it's time fer Mark S. to make a snide remark or two).

― Tadeusz Suchodolski, Wednesday, 16 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I'd never heard Big Star until a few months ago. After years of waiting, I bought their 'Best of...' in FOPP for a fiver...& took it back the next day.

― Jez, Wednesday, 16 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

a glaring omission, considering you know what and it's time fer Mark S. to make a snide remark or two

I'll beat him to the punch! The modern day Zappa fan refuses to explore his roots! ;-)

― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 16 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

coil (and any of those related projects) and also any reggae or dub type stuff -- just can't manage to smoke enough weed to make it interesting i guess.

― fields of salmon, Thursday, 17 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Okay I know one: Slayer Reign In Blood.

― helenfordsdale, Thursday, 17 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

one year passes...

I heard Belle & Sebastien for the first time today.
The song was "Stars Of Track And Field" on the movie
Pumpkin. It was absolutely brilliant, like a sane
version of Syd Barrett. How does this song compare to
their others? Do most of them have a 1969
psychedelic thing going on?

― Squirrel_Police (Squirrel_Police), Friday, 20 June 2003 05:29 (twenty-two years ago)

Captain Beefheart

And until a month ago, post-Dolls Johnny Thunders

― Chris Clark (Chris Clark), Friday, 20 June 2003 11:02 (twenty-two years ago)

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