bands you don't like but know you should - Progressive Rock Music Forum

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rushfan4

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Posted: February 22 2008 at 13:53

*Bites tongue* on certain members' continuous need to bash Rush at every opportunity possible.

However, not surprising given tastes on the opposite end of the spectrum, VDGG is one band that I just don't like, and probably for all the same reasons others like them. On the couple of albums I have heard I find both Hammill's voice and the horn playing to be quite annoying.

everyone

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Posted: February 22 2008 at 13:50

We all have bands we do not like because of one thing or another. Opinions are like arseholes, everybody has one...some are lucky to have two. LOL

VanderGraafKommandöh View Drop Down

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Posted: February 22 2008 at 13:49

Tool.

I should like them much more, but their brilliance alludes me. I do like some of their music and I have seen them live as well, but I could quite happily live without them.

I also don't like Rush. They have all the right ingredients, but for some reason, I cannot get into what I've heard by them.

As for ELP, well I don't like pompous bombast and unnecessaryness, so I don't think I was meant to like them all that much in the first place.

laplace

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Posted: February 22 2008 at 13:37

Ghost Rider wrote:

I hope my friend Laplace will forgive me if I say that I am not too keen on the premises of this very interesting thread Wink

Teehee.

Cunningly, because I based this topic on our *own* expectations, not being able to justify our own tastes is a side-issue that this thread was semi-designed to bring up, because it's a subject I've thought hard about. I'm glad there are those of us that can admit a little confusion over how we got to where we are. =)

jimmy_row

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Posted: February 22 2008 at 13:31

...and we barely made it over 70 minutes...

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BaldJean

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Posted: February 22 2008 at 13:29

Lofcaudio wrote:

laplace wrote:

Are there any bands that you *need* to like, but which constantly elude you?

Van Der Graaf Generator

I own Godbluff and Pawn Hearts and have listened to them both numerous times, yet fail to be satisfied with what I am hearing. Hammill comes across as a histrionic vocalist who takes pleasure in dissonance. I continue to be completely baffled by those of you extol the virtues of A Plague of Lighthouse Keepers and consider it to be one of the very best epics, when all I hear is a bunch of stilted sounds smashed together with lyrics that border on gibberish. What am I missing here?

one could also say: well, what else is "Supper's Ready" but a bunch of stilted sounds smashed together with lyrics that border on gibberish? or am I missing something here?
I don't know what you expected of VdGG or "A Plague of Lighthouse Keepers"; all I know is that VdGG are one of the most complex bands out there. just listen to how the "Maelstrom" passage of "A Plague of Lighthouse Keepers" evolves from the previous passage, with one half of the instruments continuing the slow riff while the wild piano riff of "Maelstrom" settles in (this is a specialty of VdGG, by the way; they often have passages in which a slow and a fast riff overlap; on "Pawn Hearts" this also occurs in "Man-Erg").
and Hammill does NOT specialize in dissonance at all; just listen to the opening bars of APOLK ; he sings absolutely beautifully there. what he does though is depict the whole range of feelings with his voice, and some of these are quite dark feelings, so his way of singing is the best way to depict them. I really dislike singers who sing "I hate Her so much" and "I love Her so much" with the same voice.
does that explain what you are missing with VdGG?

A shot of me as High Priestess of Gaia during our fall festival. Ceterum censeo principiis obsta

heyitsthatguy View Drop Down

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Posted: February 22 2008 at 13:24

Indukti

they just
don't do anything for me and feel what they're doing has already been done before
a lot

laplace

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Posted: February 22 2008 at 13:10

To clarify, I don't mean bands that others should expect you to like... I mean bands, based on your tastes, that you think you should like. But keep your responses coming, no matter your variation on the thread title. ;)

Edited by laplace - February 22 2008 at 13:10

OGTL

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Posted: February 22 2008 at 13:09

Pink Floyd?

BaldJean

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Posted: February 22 2008 at 13:07

let me phrase the topic slightly differently: "bands which are approved by many but not by you". I like this better because I don't see why I "should" like any band I don't like. a band that would come to my mind with this slightly rephrased topic is Rush. I honestly don't understand what people see in them

A shot of me as High Priestess of Gaia during our fall festival. Ceterum censeo principiis obsta

stonebeard View Drop Down

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Posted: February 22 2008 at 13:07

Mahavishu Orchestra is any band. I just hated the guitar tones. I suppose you could include Romantic Warrior in there too.

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darkshade

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Posted: February 22 2008 at 12:55

ive know about VDDG for years but never checked them out.

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cuncuna

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Posted: February 22 2008 at 12:52

I really think the problem is on expectations. Anyway... ¿why should anyone like something by force?. I love VDDG, specially that Lemmings song. It is sweet and sad and concise. ¿Don't like it? buy something you'll enjoy. also, most of the times your current playlist gets in the way of enjoying diversity.

¡Beware of the Bee!

Raff

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Posted: February 22 2008 at 12:52

I hope my friend Laplace will forgive me if I say that I am not too keen on the premises of this very interesting thread Wink

. What I mean is, I don't really think there is anything I "should" like, and I can't account for my tastes being what they are. If I can make an example taken from a different kind of art, though people flock from all over the world to see St Peter's in Rome, it has always left me quite cold - in spite of being sort of 'supposed' to like it.

In my case, having been into prog since I was a pre-teen, I should probably like Genesis much more than I do - in particular the celebrated "Supper's Ready", which instead does next to nothing for me. However, this is how things are, and I'm not overly worried about it.

epictetus1 View Drop Down

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Posted: February 22 2008 at 12:52

Of the highly touted bands on this site, I cannot get into ELP, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Hawkwind, VDGG and Mike Oldfield among others.

Lofcaudio

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Posted: February 22 2008 at 12:47

laplace wrote:

Are there any bands that you *need* to like, but which constantly elude you?

Van Der Graaf Generator

sleeper

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Posted: February 22 2008 at 12:38

I have that with Yes, it has all the ingrediants that I addore from other bands (well, except for the fact that I think Jon Anderson is a useless singer and lyricist) but their usic never seems to click with me, except Sound Chase, which is an excellent song, to the point where they are among my least favourite bands.

However, this is not a problem on my part, Yes should have done better. Wink

Spending more than I should on Prog since 2005

darkshade

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Posted: February 22 2008 at 12:31

i have the same problem with Soft Machine. and i love jazz and fusion. ive listened to all their best albums but nothing has struck me to want to have repeat listenings. maybe i'll go back and try again, but for now, i cant get into them.

i used to have that problem with Weather Report. They were the second jazz-fusion band shown to me after RTF, and i liked Birdland and Black Market the song but couldnt get into anything else. then after exploring the genres of jazz and jazz-rock, i went back to Weather Report and they're now one of my favorite bands as well as The Zawinul Syndicate (which is IMO better than Weather Report)

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laplace

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Posted: February 22 2008 at 12:06

I can write off a band that doesn't have a single musical element I appreciate, ie. Dream Theater, Mogwai, Marillion and marillions more (sorry kiddos), but when every sign indicates that I *should* enjoy what I'm hearing, well... there's a feeling I get when I realise an important artist or band's music is lost on me - I come to believe that it's my fault for having terrible taste, so I read their biography and look through their lyrics, and especially I read as many of their reviews on this site as I can. Basically, it's torture, scanning through hundreds of elated testimonies and not sharing any enthusiasm. =(

I'm stuck with Soft Machine in particular, because they do experimental, jazzy music (I'm not particularly into jazz but I seem to love musicians who love jazz and take it odd places) and they include Hopper and Wyatt, who's music I have enjoyed separately to Soft Machine. They impacted the entire Canterbury scene and so have inspired tens of bands I do like. Basically, I'm distraught that I can't appreciate them.

Also, there are artists and bands like Tangerine Dream, Klaus Schulze, Battiato (along with the even more peculiar Wakhévitch) and so forth which my ears just don't seem to be receptive to - I read reviews and they all focus on inner dynamics and textures, rhythms and such things - and I can't pick up any of these. Another area in which I can admit I'm a simpleton. *frown*

Are there any bands that you *need* to like, but which constantly elude you?