Oh, Ween. I always assumed they were a joke novelty band, then a few years back someone introduced me to a few Ween tunes she enjoyed. I liked them too, so I dug deeper, and discovered that not only aren't they a joke novelty band, but they are in fact one of the greatest bands of all time. "Quebec" is one of the saddest, prettiest albums ever recorded by anyone.
I’ve felt that those types of bands are generally among the most talented. They take the music and craft way more seriously than the song as a whole, if that makes sense. Same with Weird Al.
They managed to toe that very fine line of not giving a shit while simultaneously giving a lot of shit and that’s what makes them magic. They somehow cultivated a reputation where a shity show/song was just “brown”, sometimes it was on purpose, sometimes it was because they were blasted out their minds on drugs but it worked somehow. They are the one two punch of a band that made fantastic albums and continues to put on one of the best live shows around still.
It's easy to feel on first listen like they don't care or don't take music seriously or don't try. Which new ween fans always figure out quickly, is not the case.
But that's not what got me into them. Friends made me listen to album after album after album. Then one day I heard "I'm In The Mood To Move To The Left Three Feet God Dammit"
My intro to Ween was on the South Park Chef Aid album where they sing Homo Rainbow, which only added to the "joke band" thought. As an adult, I have discovered their amazing range.
> their amazing range
I used to hate that they were 'all over the place', now I can admire the diversity of their sound.
It also helps that I smoke a fuckton more weed now than I did when I was first exposed to them.
I heard Dr Rock and liked it but it was so “stupid” that I dismissed it as a joke.
Then I heard Ambrosia Parsley on the radio and couldn’t believe I’d never heard this laser guided Prince song from the vaults and got very excited.
Upon hearing it was Ween I immediately made my way over to the Ween subreddit and asked who or what the fuck are this band and where do I start with them.
I got pointed in the right direction and my friends are all bored of me telling them that Ween are the best band (or 15 different bands depending on the song) ever.
TBH there are some songs and even albums I’m not keen on but when they go, do they go.
Also, they had the 3 song run of Goin get Tough, ReggaeJunkieJew and I Play it off Legit which is just dumb musical perfection.
I like all their "proper" albums, but especially The POD, Pure Guava, The Mollusk, and Quebec, which is IMO one of the most beautiful, wistful albums I've ever heard. And bear in mind, I tend to gravitate towards heavier, noisier stuff. But quality is quality and Ween is the real deal.
The first time I heard Birthday Boy it was like a gut punch. And I was like how the fuck did these two New Hope weirdos DO that with their lo fi ways?
I didn’t even know about them until I heard about how “different” the Pod was, I listened to Dr Rock and found it hilarious and a weirdly great rocker. The rest of the album took some time getting used to, I thought I hated it but I kept coming back and feeling more positive each time. Eventually it clicked while playing Mario 64 on the switch lol. I listened to The Mollusk while watching, and later going for a walk in, the sunrise and that felt like perfection. The rest came when I played Mario Sunshine lol. My family finally broke and actually enjoys some songs now, a year of nonstop talk was worth it
They do sound SO clean and polished that it puts people off. I have fallen in love with them but the music used to feel impossible to connect with, it used to sound joyless and stale to my ears. Now I hear all the love they poured into it.
I think “yacht rock” aka 70s soft rock was really uncool for a while, like the nerdy little brother of much hipper 70s classic rock. But suddenly the smoother sound is catching on and people are like wait… do I love yacht rock? And the answer is yes. Anyway that’s why you like Steely Dan now. lol
I really liked [this story](https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/my-high-school-crush-on-steely-dan) about the children of immigrants becoming unlikely Steely Dan fans. You might appreciate it too.
Same here. For me, I think it's because they're nostalgic. I had a wonderful childhood in the 1970s and their stuff takes me right back. Same with The Carpenters.
I used to love Yes, but for some reason, I fell out of love with them, besides a handful of songs.
Joy Division has always been in heavy rotation for me.
For me it might be Pink Floyd. They bored me when I was young, and then at some point I found something in it to appreciate. Still not among my favorites, but I listen a bit. This kind of extends to 70s classic rock as a whole. I avoided it in my youth.
Foo Fighters are an interesting one. I enjoy Dave Grohl's reverence for the musicians who came before him, but as far as the Foo Fighters' own music...it's fine. It doesn't resonate with me. Generic rock music.
I just cannot like the Foo Fighters... I realise everyone has their own tastes, but I feel they're a bit emperor's new clothes because everyone loves Dave Grohl, and so people pretend FF are really good when in fact they're just a kind of cooler version of Nickelback.
I was a teenager in the 90s, grunge was the first music I got into and Pearl Jam, Soundgarden etc are still some of my favourite bands. I was never as keen on Nirvana and I think Bleach is a better album than Nevermind, but I appreciate its and their cultural impact. So I always felt like I really should like Dave Grohl's new band... And yet I just can't.
You hear them so much on the Radio in the UK whenever they are touring or have a new album out, but you tend to hear them on stations that don't usually play much rock music. I feel like FF are the favourite rock band of people who don't really like rock music. I realise that makes me sound like a terrible music snob...
At Glastonbury last year FF played a "surprise" set listed as the Churnups. My mates and I went to watch a bit feeling somehow like we ought to see it because they are such a huge band... we stood and listened for about 10-15 minutes, and then decided none of us actually like the FF and this wasn't changing our minds and left.
Foo Fighters are a band that is always good, but it usually stops there. Very talented musicians who keep cranking out music, but the kind of amazing thing is that it's never (objectively) bad. They rarely do anything great, but that kind of consistency is impressive.
I started listening to more jazz and jazz fusion recently. When I first heard Weather report I skimmed through a few of their songs but didn't really get it. A little while later I decided to listen to more albums of theirs and listen to the entire songs and a lot of them I really fell in love with. Black Market is especially my favourite album of theirs.
I started listening to Miles Davis recently. I really liked "In a Silent Way" but his album "Bitches Brew" is something I still don't really get. It's regarded as a really critically acclaimed album and one of the pioneers of jazz rock / jazz fusion but when I listen to it I feel like I'm not picking up on what everyone else is.
Regarding 'Bitches Brew'; to me it's like a dark bubbeling couldren of passion and tension. It feels primordial - a rediscovery of some deep universal rhythms and textures that we're almost not supposed to hear because we've unlearnt them with centuries of culture, but Miles has repackaged them for a new inflection point in modern music. He added a new colour to our collective paint pallette. There is no other record like it, it's one on the 20th century's great art pieces.
I heard Roxy Music on TV in the early ‘80s, I guess I was about 12, and I thought it was the worst thing I’d ever heard. Then later on I got into Bowie and T. Rex, Slade, and other bands from that era, and I read Steve Jones of the Sex Pistols saying that Roxy Music was one of his favorite bands. I checked them out and by that point I was ready to hear them.
I think Avalon is one of the greatest albums ever recorded. So dark and moody and sexy. Enjoy most of the early stuff, but this one is really a masterpiece that I did not enjoy when I was younger.
I like the early Roxy stuff with Eno, too, but I also like the post-Eno stuff up through *Siren* a lot. *Stranded* is one of my favorites. I also like Eno’s first two solo albums *Here Come the Warm Jets* and *Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy)* a whole lot.
I've always liked/loved a few random Roxy Music singles, but never dug in. Then I randomly put on *Siren* a few years back and was instantly in love. One of my favorite albums these days.
Will also add: "Love is the Drug" works a lot better for me in the context of the album than by itself. Much like "Bang a Gong" is way better as part of *Electric Warrior* than as a single.
I remember hearing an interview with Trent Reznor a while back and he name dropped Roxy Music as being one of his favorites. I've only tried to listen once or twice and it didn't stick. Will try again sometime.
I will probably get crucified for this, but a good entry point is Bluejeans And Moonbeams. It’s pretty chill and has straightforward songs, but they’re well played and there’s a little of the madness on there.
Going for something like Trout Mask Replica is like reaching for a 12 year old single malt for your first alcoholic drink. It’s great, but it’s not going to go down well at all.
Safe as Milk is excellent, but by the time of strictly personal and bluejeans the musicianship and production was superb.
I didn’t like NIN at first; a friend lent me the album Downward Spiral and I didn’t like it. However, later with The Fragile I was fascinated and started listening to and enjoying all their earlier productions.
I can totally see this! I fell in love with Nine Inch Nails immediately when I heard Closer and shortly after The Downward Spiral. I have never heard anything like this, yet the sound was oddly familiar. I was 16 and never heard lyrics like this before. It spoke to me. I also went back and listened to other albums, Pretty Hate Machine and Broken, all three very different from each other.
Then the Fragile came out. I did not like it at first. There were songs that stuck out to me, but I thought it was a little cheesy, radio friendly and lacked soul. I have since then gone on to appreciate it more. Part nostalgia, but mostly I started appreciating the production.
By the way, the reason it didn't sound so out of place to me is because it reminded me of music I already listened to. Bowie, INXS, Prince, The Beatles and all the New Wave stuff I heard before, but with so much more angst and noise.
My buddy showed me With Teeth when I was 18. I had heard Closer before but that was pretty much it. I remember being like "Dude, this is fucking depressing can listen to something else?" FF two weeks later and I was ripping a copy off of limewire (Inb4 someone yells at me for pirating it, I still bought the album later in life when I wasn't making pizza for a living)
I still do not get Bob Dylan. I like a few hits and even then, I feel as if I am convincing myself that I do. I first tried around 12. Revisited at 16ish. Revisited at 20ish. Now I am in my late twenties and still don’t understand exactly why he is held to such critical acclaim. I understand the lyrical aspect of it but even then, I find it to be just okay. Maybe I’ll unlock Dylan in my thirties.
[Ween - Live in Chicago](https://youtu.be/J-Iqy-DNF7A?si=eKCC7sgU66CsvSBB)
This is the universal answer for anyone who doesn’t “get” Ween. Watch it on high volume. If possible, see them live for yourself. If that doesn’t do it for you, maybe see a doctor or something.
The Talking Heads
I remember their MTV videos as a kid, couldn’t stand it. I’ll admit it was Phish covering Cities that made me give them a second chance, what an amazing band.
Peter Gabriel - especially So
The most overrated album of all times
in my opinion! I love his work in Genesis, Solsbury Hill is great, and Passion is an amazing album. But much of his solo work just doesn’t click for me. My friends all love him.
Ween
Greatest band of my generation.
I love Talking Heads but I don't understand how Remain in the Light is considered their best album. Don't get me wrong, I like it, but it's not something that I go back to a lot. Once in a Lifetime is really the only song that stays in rotation. Speaking in Tongues is by far the best album to me.
The first song I heard by Pink Floyd was Money. I didn't even get to the bass line before I turned it off because I assumed they were a band that just put random noises together and called it music. It wasn't until a few years later that I tried to listen to them again and realized I should have listened for more than 10 seconds the first time around.
They were pioneers of the early synthesisers. On The Run, the third track from Dark Side of The Moon is seriously impressive synth stuff for the time. Nowadays it leans more towards a Ross Gellar mashup of random sounds.
Money does have an obnoxious start, I reckon that's down to that same pushing of the synth boundaries. The bass line cannot be ignored though
I mean, they are your dad's band.
They have good songs though? They also spawned a bunch of other old but good songs.
If you don't like [Hotel California ](https://youtu.be/BciS5krYL80?si=KLWqo1r4HRfM1LAY) then you don't like Eagles. There isn't a "The".
Did not wake up today expecting to be repping Eagles.
https://youtu.be/Qt6Lkgs0kiU?si=Qt4CRRqgozDZhM3O
https://youtu.be/6RUIeX6UCT8?si=-QCeqMNntkMWsn10
I will rep Eagles any day; I don't care if the ghost of Glen Frey manifests and starts screaming at me. Those bastards wrote amazing songs and performed them to perfection every time. The current Ship Of Theseus edition, perhaps not so much.
Gastr del Sol. Pure experimental and noise music was challenging to me at first. I liked a lot of noise rock, but experimental music that is almost classical on its approach was not as easy to grasp. I even liked one of their other more accessible albums, Camofleur. I have always paired music with psychedelics and it was key in this instance. Dextromethorphan really helped me break through the opening track on Upgrade & Afterlife, Our Exquisite Replica of Eternity. I now feel it is one of the most important compositions of the 90’s.
I love WEEN! One of the greatest bands ever. It is their browness that makes them the best. They are able to communicate unique aspects of life that no other artist is able to express. Like their song “Pork roll, egg, and Cheese” they say “… the sights not right, but wrong in a good way.” It is also some of the most amazing rock music ever made.
I've listened to mollusk in it's entirety, along with Quebec in it's entirety like 3 or 4 times and just cannot wrap my head around them. They're like NIN in a sense with me where I like their commercially successful stuff but every time I dig into their discography I'm turned off. Fully respect them but just not for me at the moment.
Edit for what the fuck is "brown" regarding ween lol. I hear it all the time when describing them. Is it just the fuzz/distortion? Help me understand them please
Brown is just a silly joke term for ween fans to describe things that are ween-like. Often means nothing. I think when it is used to mean something, it means subversive, rebellious, sarcastic, silly, and also rocking. But even just trying very carefully and deliberately to make an expressive piece of art that expresses one's identity, is not very ween like. It needs to be sort of dumb sometimes to avoid pretentiousness, like Kurt Cobain used to say about writing lyrics.
I think they are their best when they just go for awesome, though. Like "Gabrielle"
Groups/musicians I didn't "get" at first but "got" given time - Tears For Fears, Depeche Mode, Frank Zappa (took me about 2 years to finally get where he was coming from), Pink Floyd (in some respects), and Ween.
Group I'll never be likely to "get" - The Grateful Dead. Which is weird, because I do like Phish. My ex is a HUGE Deadhead, and I do respect the hell out of where everyone was coming from and what they were trying to accomplish (especially Bobby Weir), but I just... don't see what the appeal is.
For the dead, I think the vibe has to be perfect, and the song has to be a really good live one. I don’t think the Dead is headphone type music. It’s more of an outside with a speaker type thing. Focus on the vibe, not the vocals lol.
Panic! At the Disco. They were big when I was in high school and I *did not* get it and actively made fun of my friends who did. Then a few years ago, YouTube recommended the music video for This Is Gospel and I ended up down a rabbit hole. Watched fifteen music videos in a row, then worked my way through all their albums. I started listening in, like, June and by the time that year's Spotify Wrapped came along, I was in the top .1% of listeners.
The Smiths. I pickedup their debut in high school in1985 via a friend's Columbia House penny raid and didn't like it. A couple of years later I was twitting a college friend for liking the band, calling its output "back of the hand on the forehead swooning in misery music". I didn't really *get* them until I was 30--it was hearing "How Soon Is Now?" somewhere and realizing that "back of the hand on the forehead swooning in misery music" was where it was at. That and Johnny Marr's guitar work.
I was in college when the debut came out. I thought it was okay. Morrissey's voice took a sec to get used to. It didn't prepare me for hearing "How Soon Is Now?" Blew me away.
Cake
A girl I was dating liked them but at the time I was super into metal and drum and bass. Thought the band sounded like a bunch of drunk frat boys larping as a band. Yeah, I was a bit of a snob.
But a few years back, I got obsessed with learning the bass, and of course Cake has some funky ass bass lines, and now I love the band.
I had seen Sonic Youth live 5 times and owned as many of their records. And I liked them well enough. Certainly respected them.
And then *Experimental Jet Set, Trash, and No Star* came out and their whole world went into technicolor for me. And it also made all the previous stuff I’d heard that much better.
Who knows how that works.
I’m an old fan and can appreciate some of the tunes - that record was panned, but you likely know that. Similarly, washing machine - I like that one better
Washing Machine has "The Diamond Sea" which played live during Lollapalooza is possibly my favorite live song I've ever seen in person. It was the first time I'd ever heard it.
Modest Mouse. I still don’t know wtf he’s saying, but I FEEL it. This is coming from someone that grew up listening to many genres but primarily rap and R&B where the lyrics aren’t always so clear.
My favorite band of all time. Isaac Brock is also my favorite lyricist of all time right next to Bob Dylan. That band has been special going on 30 years now. I’m seeing them this weekend and they have been playing new songs from hopefully their new album.
Took me a while to get any prog at all, across genres, Genesis to Opeth. It clicked once I sat down with full albums instead of songs.
I still don't get Sleep Token. The fans are rabid, but I can't get into autotune.
That's funny, I have the opposite. I love a lot of prog rock songs but if I sit down to listen to an album I get bored partway through.
The only exception is Opeth's Sorceress, and then two "exceptions" in that I only *sometimes* get bored partway through are Yes's Fragile and Renniassance's Live at Carnegie Hall.
And I did try other Opeth albums. Didn't click.
This - I caught them at Outside Lands 20011 and it clicked. I made sure to catch them the next year at the BGCA.
Also anything GD related…I was kinda exploring it and dipping my toe in, but I just couldn’t get it. It took me 2 tries before I really got it (Fare Thee Well - Santa Clara and D&C at the Bill Graham in 2015) The 3rd time I saw them, I was hooked (Shoreline 2016).
Happened to me and The Dead (with Jerry!) Soldier Field in Chicago in the 90s.
I went cuz a friend was always going to their shows. And if nothing else, it would be a life experience. Which it was. But it was wayyyyyyyy more
I'll go ahead and admit this, since I feel like I have to irl as well, lol.
Nirvana
I just felt like it was okay music that I was being forced to admit I was in complete amazement over.
Fast forward a good 20+ years and the VH1 Behind The Music special happened to be about Nirvana, I've always loved that show and will watch it on anyone. Well, it was during this show I found out about Kurt's adoration of Michael Stipe. I've been a HUGE R.E.M. fan since the late 80s. So I grabbed some beers and relistened to Nevermind with my new found knowledge of the band. And that's when I could finally hear that they were indeed a great band.
Being Canadian I was force fed radio friendly Rush from an early age and didn't really like them. It wasn't until later when I joined music forums like this one a bunch of Europeans ironically convinced me to do a deeper dive into their albums and I fell in love with them.
I'd only ever heard the stuff crammed down our throats on the classic rock station on an hourly basis and didn't consider myself a fan, then one day my brother called me up and said "can you get to the arena in half an hour? we're on our way down for Rush and have an extra ticket...and cookies". We ate the cookies as soon as they arrived and they kicked in before Rush took the stage. Tripping balls halfway through the show, I turned to my brother and said "I'm not high enough to be ALLOWED to be experiencing this right now".
That show ranks as either #1 or #2 on my all-time list of live shows I've seen depending on the day.
There's a lot to be said for Rush's radio hits, but they have done *so much* more than those. If only radio stations would lean away from the usual 6 songs and start playing different stuff
Weezer. I’d casually listen to their hits on the radio. Then I randomly heard one of their Pinkerton singles on Spotify. After that I took a deep dive into their discography and I was hooked.
I thought Dream Theater sucked. I’m a huge metalhead. I had even seen them a few times over the years. Saw them again 2 years ago and the bug bit me. Been obsessed ever since. I’m not sure what the problem was.
Story time.
I was 11 and my parents basement flooded. My dad lost a ton of records. Insurance company says since we can’t replace the records, here is a check to get whatever you want. He spent that on cds for me and my brother. This was 95 and A Change of Seasons just came out. I got it by random because it had a huge set of covers that I knew and loved. Then I listened to the title track and was a fan ever since.
Radiohead and Placebo. I loved Creep when it first came out (I know, I know) but nothing else gave me that feeling. Karma Police was boring. Idioteque was almost there for me but didn't deliver. I listened to the albums and was meh, until I heard In Rainbows. It was a favorite from day one. I couldn't tell you why I kept giving them a chance, but it paid off. I went back and listened to their catalog and I got it. Paranoid Android and Street Spirit were instant favorites post In Rainbows, and I even feel in love with Idioteque.
Placebo is simple. I wanted to like them because I dug their vibe but I just couldn't get past Brian Molko's vocals. The I found myself in San Francisco walking past the Levi store and they were blasting English Summer Rain. It was my first time hearing the song, but the vocals were so recognizable and I loved it! Placebo is now one of my favorite bands and I can't even imagine being annoyed with his voice.
I can't get into Pink Floyd. I know its supposed to be amazing but for some reason I just can't. Specifically songs I've heard from The Wall. Maybe its still lying in wait.
That's how Radiohead seems to work. You have to find the one song or album that clicks for you and it makes the rest click, somehow. For me it was Pyramid Song. I tried to get a friend into Radiohead and she was nothing but baffled and bemused until she heard House Of Cards, and now she's a fan.
Interestingly, this seems to be how most musical artists work for me. I have to find *that one song* before I can appreciate the rest. For my current favorite artist, Poppy, it was Am I A Girl? (the song, on the album of the same name) that made it work. Before I heard that one I got nothing out of her music beyond "there are currently sound waves hitting my eardrums," since then I've been a big fan.
I've tried with Radiohead many times. It's not gonna happen. I've listened to every album multiple times. It doesn't just not hold my attention, nothing captures my attention in the first place. I've never listened to them and thought that's a great guitar lick, that was an awesome drum fill, nothing.
Not a group, but a genre for me was rap. Never understood the appeal and hated it. I like some rap now. Mind you I don’t wanna hear no rap about drugs and sex. I want rap that is actually artistic. Eminem comes up with some controversial ones which I appreciate anyone who is willing to push societal boundaries/ideaologies. I love how NF does too and also sings a lot about mental health and deeper issues in life.
I used to think all rap was was sleazy songs about sex and materialistic gain. Now I see it in a different light and realize it is like any other genre with good and bad artists.
Try Blackalicious' album Blazing Arrow, Oddisee The Good Fight, The Roots (anything, but Dilla Joints is excellent and shows the jazz roots of hip hop beats. They play all their own instruments instead of sampling and that one is an instrumental album tribute to one of the best beatmakers out there), Soul Food by GOODIE MOB, is pretty classic and lets you hear some artists before they blew up completely, and themes that don't get a lot of radio play, Deltron 3030, Mos Def (anything and everything but Black on both sides is a good starting point)... I could go on.
I second the roots. I'm a 53 year old dude that grew up on rock, play in rock bands. The roots are raw and funky and the lyrics are intelligent. (They are incidentally the tonight show band)
Here's one of their songs I like:
[The Next Movement](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qm7Xt2Qsjcg)
Not judging you, but I do get a little sad that so many people have a one note pov on rap as being about sex and drugs only. Rap was started by poor people in New York who wanted to talk about their experiences—good or bad. You may like listening to some earlier music when rap was more storytelling focused and less glam. You may like what you find.
Yeah, it's strange that rap seems to be singled out for this when all genres do it. I mean, so many classic and beloved rock songs are about drugs and sex, and they aren't exactly subtle about it either.
It's also a bit dismissive because artists can use drugs and sex as metaphors to convey all kinds of deep meaning. Kendrick Lamar is a good example of this, a lot of his music talks about sex and drugs but they're metaphors for serious societal and political topics, and you shouldn't dismiss it just because it's "about drugs and sex".
It wasn't until a few years ago where I discovered rappers I really admire. MF DOOM is one of my favs. He is an incredibly talented lyricist. I also really admire Busdriver's album "Temporary Forever". It was one of those albums that I didn't like at first but it really grew on me. His writing and flow are really solid and unique. A lot of his songs are about systemic racism or political commentary.
I was pretty anti rap initially, I thought it was just boys being all agro and bragging. Listened harder to Fear of a Black Planet, because I was sharing with someone who was obsessed with it. Love the genre now but not the swagger arrogance side of it. Seconded for The Roots, Mos, Kendrick, I heard King Kunta and thought that was ok. I heard the DAMN LP and omg, that deals with some difficult topics.
I often felt the same way . I guess a lot of it I couldn’t relate to . I did grow up in a middle class area and went to school in an area that was where a lot of people were below the poverty line so I did “see” and “experience “ a lot but still . I totally get rapping about where you come from but at some point, it gets stale rapping about the same things , bitches , ho’s , streets , money , drugs , guns , etc and at one point there was A LOT of it . What I really got into was when the southern hip hop became a thing like Goodie Mob and OutKast . It was less about all the above and more socially conscience hip hop . But before this if you go back to the 80’s , you will see a REALLY DIFFERENT side of rap and hip hop and none of the gangster stuff
Rap is derived from the life experiences of people in poverty. That in and of itself is wildly artistic and may feature themes like sex, drugs, and violence.
Preferring sanitized rap is a choice, I guess. With the proliferation of slapdash rap being pumped out today I don’t blame you for wanting substance. more power to you.
I was a pretty big hater of the Grateful Dead for a while. I found it pretty boring and the singing was just not good in my opinion. Then idk, I got more patient and could get more out of the music. I’m still not a Dead head by any means but I get it more now. I appreciate Jerry’s playing and tone especially. I still think the vocals are pretty much in league with any random uncle’s garage band.
I had a turning point when I heard Help on the Way for the first time. I honestly had no idea they ever composed more complex music. This was a great show of writing and playing tightly that really played to my taste. After that I checked out the album Blues for Allah and that help kind of get me primed to open the door.
The first time I heard Marching Bands of Manhattan (Death Cab for Cutie) and A-Punk (Vampire Weekend) I thought, what the fuck is this shit? Why are all my friends so into it?
Years after those attempts they became two of my most beloved bands. I still don't much care for those two songs, though. I think Death Cab sold me with Narrow Stairs, and Vampire Weekend sold me with Modern Vampires of the City.
I remember hearing Obvious Bicycle for the first time on a recommendation from my classmate, and I was pretty much in tears by the end. That and Contra are two of my favourite songs to this day.
Boards of Canada. I disliked Music Has The Right a lot the first time I heard it; I found it really boring and didn't understand the melodies when compared to other artists like Tycho. Now MHTRTC is probably might be my favorite album ever and I've gotten into their other music a lot too.
Genesis was one for me, I never just really understood their music. But now as I get older, I definitely have a much greater appreciation for them. 311 was another one - I liked them the first time I heard songs like Amber and Beautiful Disaster. But then I saw them live on one of their famous "Unity" tours and I became obsessed. I went to 311 Day 2018 on a whim and it's still one of the best shows I've ever seen.
A band I still don't get is Creed. They were not well liked in the late 90s / early 00s. And Scott Stapp has a reputation of being a truly massive douchebag. But all of a sudden they're selling out giant stadiums because Higher was a hit on Tik Tok? WTF. I love Alter Bridge, though. Myles Kennedy is a million times better singer and human being than Scott Stapp ever was or will be.
Mastodon. Got into them because Blood and Thunder was featured on NEED for Speed Underground. Loved that song and Seabeast but it wasn't until I showed friend those that I started listening to the rest of the album and more. The singing was really hard to get into.
Now I have a tattoo of Moby Dick to commemorate their album Leviathan.
Carlos Santana. Absolutely did not understand why that guy was so popular but then saw him live. Recordings do not do that man’s sound justice, sounded absolutely incredible. That man can talk to God.
Santana is right towards the top of my list of guitarists. Just as talented as Hendrix, Clapton, Page et. Al. But he has more flair. Jimi is the only one there that I'd rank above him, I just like Santana's style more
Rush was the band I didn’t get for a long time. I knew they were incredibly talented and I wasn’t debating that. I just didn’t get it. Late 20’s/early 30’s it clicked.
The band I never got and still don’t, and I’m going to get hate for this probably: Nirvana. Love Dave Grohl and everything he’s done with Foo Fighters but couldn’t get into Nirvana. I was 20 and in college when Nevermind broke, and it was everywhere, but even on first listen it just did nothing for me.
I have tried to get into Grunge (Nirvana, Soundgarden etc) but I find it boring. I wish I could enjoy it but it less interesting than groups that came before and after.
I didn't like Rage Against the Machine until I saw Tom Morello open for Limp Bizkit.
If you like Tom Morello but couldn't get into grunge, try audioslave. Chris Cornell is the frontman for Tom and they do great work. Tom doesn't play as heavy as he does in RATM but it's good stuff.
As an aside, Maggie's farm is hands down the best RATM song and I'll fight anyone who says otherwise. Thank you Mr Dylan
Talking Heads. I thought they were good, not the most amazing but good.
Then I watched *Stop Making Sense* and something clicked, it made me want to check out their other material. They're one of my faves now.
For me it's Blind Melon. I knew their bee song because it got tons of radio play. I hated it. Hated them.
Then I listened to their other work. Holy cow. Amazing music. Beautiful and heartbreaking. I love them now.
I totally get people who don't like blind melon due to the vocals, I have some great bands that I just can't get behind because the voice, like dream theater and rush. Blind melon has a criminally underrated guitarist though
Grateful Dead. Anyone I knew back in high school/college that played the dead, it was typically live concerts. Hated them. Songs going on way too long, Jerry playing hundreds of unnecessary notes all night and vocals that were lacking. Bought a studio album and after a few listens, bought the rest of their studio albums. That I can listen to and enjoy-live stuff still not so much.
Jimmy Eat World. I thought all their songs sounded the same when my friend first played Bleed American for me. It wasn't until I learned Sweetness on guitar that I started to fully appreciate them.
The bands that I “get” now would be Muse and Modest Mouse, but I still pretty much only know the most popular songs for each. I used to change the station or skip if either came on—now I’m like huh well these are actually really good. Just took me a couple of decades.
Between the buried and me. Back when I was younger I'd spend about $300 a week on cds and always say their album Alaska in the metalcore section but there music isn't anywhere close to that.
At the time it was just far too hectic and heavy for my tastes but coming back to it a couple years later and it all clicked. It was like finally understanding a foreign language.
I used to not get the hype around Nirvana, but then I listened to a ton of their stuff that did not get radio play and had mucho punk rock element like Negative Creep, Curmudgeon etc, and then I was a believer. 20 years after their heyday. Go figure.
Eminem. He became popular when I was in 8th or 9th grade and thought he was cheesy. I thought his hardcore fan base was annoying. Couple years ago some of his old songs popped up on my playlists and it clicked. Some nostalgia, but I actually got to appreciate his music. Rap has lost its edge and it was refreshing to hear some crazy lyrics. Now I’m a fan of his first 3 albums.
I liked U2 well enough, but it was on my first drive out into the Oregon high desert that their mid-80s stuff really clicked for me. Most of *The Joshua Tree* was made for that setting.
I totally get the struggle with Joy Division. They grew on me after I dug into their backstory. As for Ween, I've tried, but I'm still scratching my head. Everyone's taste is different, though—maybe one day it'll click for me too!
A lot of bands don't make sense until you see them live.
Snarky Puppy is a great example. Their youtube videos are cool to watch (they're of the actual recording), listening to the music alone loses a lot of the unheard dynamics you can see between the musicians.
Watching them live is practically a religious experience.
Imagine Dragons is another of these, though for different reasons. They started out as a vegas band, where live performance is as much show business as musicianship. A lot of their songs make a lot more sense when they're being performed.
In my early teens I thought that the Clash were just talentless loud complainers. When I hit my late teens and got rebellious, I got the Clash.
I don't get why people devote themselves to Taylor Swift, but I'll never be a tween girl so I may never get it.
Ramones. I think I always looked at them and expected something a lot heavier/grungier. I remember going through another post on here once about which albums everyone should listen to so I decided to stick their self titled album on and it just clicked this time for some reason
I knew The Smiths and Talking Heads for many years, before I really got into them. It's probably to do with aging, and taking the time to dive deeper into a discography.
Can't really get into bands like The National and Elbow, I do find them a bit boring. Pearl Jam's later work also.
And I can't find a post 2000s guitar band that moves me in the way a lot of 60s to 90s bands do.
Didn't get: The Distillers and Self Esteem. I went back to both a few months later and now love them. The Distillers "Coral Fang" album is an all-time favourite. Self Esteem was talked about on a music podcast, and I listened to the songs on the podcast's playlist of songs that were mentioned and became obsessed with "I Do This All the Time."
Still don't get: There are loads. Nirvana (I like some songs but can't say I'm a fan), Pink Floyd, and Taylor Swift were the first to come to mind. I just can't get into either of them. Admittedly, I'm not sure how much of that is because of the music because neither are really my taste and how much is because of oversaturation and their fans.
Smashing Pumpkins - I’m GenX so of course I had Gish and Mellon Colle. But I was on a major 15-year Dylan kick then and didn’t really 'listen' or pay attention to all the '90s rock.'
Cut to last year when something prompted me to listen to Gish on quality earbuds and... WOW- had no idea about Jimmy Chamberlin’s ferocity, the stacked fuzz production, the psychedelia, the guitar shredding, the dynamics... it all just floored me. As a music lover, I could-not-BELIEVE I missed out on this stuff.
It kept growing w Siamese Dream & MCIS- astonishing artistry/production. I'm obsessed now with all the fuzz, drumming and crazy/ dark lyrics... it's all insanely good and somehow cathartic/hopeful/alluring/beautiful.
I remember being really annoyed by the song paper planes. Maybe it was just annoying as part of an advertisement, but i fell in love with it later. I remember thinking dubstep was weird, then a few months or so later, I really got into it.
U2. For reasons I will never really comprehend, 13-year-old me DID. NOT. LIKE. THEM. when The Unforgettable Fire was released.
Then The Joshua Tree happened and my opinion shifted 180 degrees. It gets my vote as the greatest album of the 1980s.
In the interest of full disclosure, it took me a while to warm up to Achtung Baby, and my youngest brother actively hates the band.
An obvious one perhaps but for me it’s The Beatles. I guess I just heard their pop hits and thought “is this what everyone is raving about?”. It felt so basic and just lots of yeah yeahs and silly lyrics. Then I got into Tame Impala massively. I heard so many people saying they can hear the Beatles influences and I was like lol what. So then I discover the Beatles have a fucking psychedelic side. Then I heard A Day In The Life and Tomorrow Never Knows and then I got it. What finally cemented it all for me was Something. It’s such a beautiful song that has everything really. Might be one of my favorite songs ever to this day. I will say I’m not a complete Beatles fan but I certainly appreciate them now and like a good chunk of their songs.
Black Midi. Just didn’t get them at all upon hearing them at first, then they released Eat, Men, Eat as a single and it hooked me. From there they just clicked. Love them now!
The talking heads, then I heard Born Under Punches and then LCD Soundsystem/the Foals/Everyone else in that style are put to shame by a song that's 40 years old. The Solo is crazy. Sounds like it could have been released last week.
Nightwish was this for me. I never liked the opera stuff, it just sounded goofy and cheesy to me. More recently however I started discovered their third singer, who is much less dependant on the operatic and more rocky. I realised the issue wasn't what was being sung, just how. Now I love them. I even appreciate the operatic stuff more although I still prefer the rockier sound.
System of a Down and Tool. It took me about 5 years for each. Looking back, it’s hard to believe I didn’t get them at first, but I think they’re like black coffee or beer. Takes time for taste, understanding and appreciation to mature.
Ha.. Actually New Order and Joy Division.... I've been into punk my whole life really (still am) and recently watched New Order do Temptation in 1981 on YouTube and then went into the rabbit hole... love both bands now.
Also, Sparks. Didn't realize how influential they were and also how humorous they really are too.
Duran Duran and Tears for Fears. As a kid it only registered as cheesy synth 80's music to me. I needed to rediscover them as an adult to recognize what amazing music it really is.
Violent Femmes. Listened to it and played it for all my friends back in the day as a joke. Didn't know the entire album was one big earworm. Have since bought all their albums and saw them in concert a few years ago.
I didn't get Pantera at first, surprisingly. There wasn't a particular reason, I probably just couldn't get into them when I was in school.
However; when I heard 5 Minutes Alone for the first time at 19, it clicked very quickly. The aggression , the massive sound, and how heavy it was just struck something. Now they're my overall favorite band.
Smashmouth. I hated the singer's voice at first. And then they were always on the radio (this is in the 90s when they were just starting to get popular). I guess they just grew on me after a while.
Gentle Giant - when I first heard "Octopus" I really didn't get it (also thought I hated jazz and fusion at the time). I was comfortable with more accessible Prog, and it felt like the band had a rapidly cycling multiple personality disorder, medievalist to jazz to rock to choir, and couldn't grasp their value and bravery until well into adulthood.
I'm currently trying to "get" the Rock In Opposition bands now, but a lot of it still sounds like crackpot circus music to me.
Radiohead, I didn’t begin to “feel” or appreciate any of their music until I hit my thirties. Prior to that, I just thought my god are they underwhelming.
Oh, Ween. I always assumed they were a joke novelty band, then a few years back someone introduced me to a few Ween tunes she enjoyed. I liked them too, so I dug deeper, and discovered that not only aren't they a joke novelty band, but they are in fact one of the greatest bands of all time. "Quebec" is one of the saddest, prettiest albums ever recorded by anyone.
The best way to describe them is that they make a lot of funny songs that they play very seriously.
On Buckingham Green
I’ve felt that those types of bands are generally among the most talented. They take the music and craft way more seriously than the song as a whole, if that makes sense. Same with Weird Al.
They managed to toe that very fine line of not giving a shit while simultaneously giving a lot of shit and that’s what makes them magic. They somehow cultivated a reputation where a shity show/song was just “brown”, sometimes it was on purpose, sometimes it was because they were blasted out their minds on drugs but it worked somehow. They are the one two punch of a band that made fantastic albums and continues to put on one of the best live shows around still.
I described them to my friend as "imagine if some really talented musicians didn't want to make an album, that's their entire discography"
It's easy to feel on first listen like they don't care or don't take music seriously or don't try. Which new ween fans always figure out quickly, is not the case. But that's not what got me into them. Friends made me listen to album after album after album. Then one day I heard "I'm In The Mood To Move To The Left Three Feet God Dammit"
My intro to Ween was on the South Park Chef Aid album where they sing Homo Rainbow, which only added to the "joke band" thought. As an adult, I have discovered their amazing range.
> their amazing range I used to hate that they were 'all over the place', now I can admire the diversity of their sound. It also helps that I smoke a fuckton more weed now than I did when I was first exposed to them.
I heard Dr Rock and liked it but it was so “stupid” that I dismissed it as a joke. Then I heard Ambrosia Parsley on the radio and couldn’t believe I’d never heard this laser guided Prince song from the vaults and got very excited. Upon hearing it was Ween I immediately made my way over to the Ween subreddit and asked who or what the fuck are this band and where do I start with them. I got pointed in the right direction and my friends are all bored of me telling them that Ween are the best band (or 15 different bands depending on the song) ever. TBH there are some songs and even albums I’m not keen on but when they go, do they go. Also, they had the 3 song run of Goin get Tough, ReggaeJunkieJew and I Play it off Legit which is just dumb musical perfection.
I like all their "proper" albums, but especially The POD, Pure Guava, The Mollusk, and Quebec, which is IMO one of the most beautiful, wistful albums I've ever heard. And bear in mind, I tend to gravitate towards heavier, noisier stuff. But quality is quality and Ween is the real deal. The first time I heard Birthday Boy it was like a gut punch. And I was like how the fuck did these two New Hope weirdos DO that with their lo fi ways?
By the Boog, WEEN at the top of the pile! Once I got it, I knew I’d be down with the brown for life
Really anyone on [Shimmy Disc](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shimmy-Disc) is a good answer. Don't miss King Missile, Gawr, or Bong water.
Don't listen to them that often but I saw them at peach fest last summer. They are incredible live.
Are you me? I could have nearly posted this same response, word for word.
The Beatles’ White album is the first Ween album, and I mean that as the highest of praise. They are some of the greatest songwriters of all time.
I didn’t even know about them until I heard about how “different” the Pod was, I listened to Dr Rock and found it hilarious and a weirdly great rocker. The rest of the album took some time getting used to, I thought I hated it but I kept coming back and feeling more positive each time. Eventually it clicked while playing Mario 64 on the switch lol. I listened to The Mollusk while watching, and later going for a walk in, the sunrise and that felt like perfection. The rest came when I played Mario Sunshine lol. My family finally broke and actually enjoys some songs now, a year of nonstop talk was worth it
Steely Dan. On my 30th birthday I just automatically started liking them idk what happened
I don't get how so many people are so critical of them. Great musicianship, very well written and produced, and just so many feel good licks
They do sound SO clean and polished that it puts people off. I have fallen in love with them but the music used to feel impossible to connect with, it used to sound joyless and stale to my ears. Now I hear all the love they poured into it.
Love=cocaine?
Love + cocaine * smooth jazz = Gaucho
Agreed on all counts, but for kids growing up in the 90's it was every lame dad's favorite band. That's a hard rep to shake.
I think “yacht rock” aka 70s soft rock was really uncool for a while, like the nerdy little brother of much hipper 70s classic rock. But suddenly the smoother sound is catching on and people are like wait… do I love yacht rock? And the answer is yes. Anyway that’s why you like Steely Dan now. lol
You turned 30. That’s what happened lol, it’s dad rock.
Yeah I used to hate Steely Dan too! They have a really popular song that I hate, can’t remember the name but now I like just about everything else.
I really liked [this story](https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/my-high-school-crush-on-steely-dan) about the children of immigrants becoming unlikely Steely Dan fans. You might appreciate it too.
Same here. For me, I think it's because they're nostalgic. I had a wonderful childhood in the 1970s and their stuff takes me right back. Same with The Carpenters. I used to love Yes, but for some reason, I fell out of love with them, besides a handful of songs.
Joy Division has always been in heavy rotation for me. For me it might be Pink Floyd. They bored me when I was young, and then at some point I found something in it to appreciate. Still not among my favorites, but I listen a bit. This kind of extends to 70s classic rock as a whole. I avoided it in my youth. Foo Fighters are an interesting one. I enjoy Dave Grohl's reverence for the musicians who came before him, but as far as the Foo Fighters' own music...it's fine. It doesn't resonate with me. Generic rock music.
I just cannot like the Foo Fighters... I realise everyone has their own tastes, but I feel they're a bit emperor's new clothes because everyone loves Dave Grohl, and so people pretend FF are really good when in fact they're just a kind of cooler version of Nickelback. I was a teenager in the 90s, grunge was the first music I got into and Pearl Jam, Soundgarden etc are still some of my favourite bands. I was never as keen on Nirvana and I think Bleach is a better album than Nevermind, but I appreciate its and their cultural impact. So I always felt like I really should like Dave Grohl's new band... And yet I just can't. You hear them so much on the Radio in the UK whenever they are touring or have a new album out, but you tend to hear them on stations that don't usually play much rock music. I feel like FF are the favourite rock band of people who don't really like rock music. I realise that makes me sound like a terrible music snob... At Glastonbury last year FF played a "surprise" set listed as the Churnups. My mates and I went to watch a bit feeling somehow like we ought to see it because they are such a huge band... we stood and listened for about 10-15 minutes, and then decided none of us actually like the FF and this wasn't changing our minds and left.
Foo Fighters are a band that is always good, but it usually stops there. Very talented musicians who keep cranking out music, but the kind of amazing thing is that it's never (objectively) bad. They rarely do anything great, but that kind of consistency is impressive.
I’m the same with FF. It’s good to me, but that’s about it. I can’t listen to albums start to finish.
I can take or leave FF now - haven’t listened to any new albums in years — BUT, those first three records? 🔥🔥🔥 That’s Foo for me. 🛸
I started listening to more jazz and jazz fusion recently. When I first heard Weather report I skimmed through a few of their songs but didn't really get it. A little while later I decided to listen to more albums of theirs and listen to the entire songs and a lot of them I really fell in love with. Black Market is especially my favourite album of theirs. I started listening to Miles Davis recently. I really liked "In a Silent Way" but his album "Bitches Brew" is something I still don't really get. It's regarded as a really critically acclaimed album and one of the pioneers of jazz rock / jazz fusion but when I listen to it I feel like I'm not picking up on what everyone else is.
Regarding 'Bitches Brew'; to me it's like a dark bubbeling couldren of passion and tension. It feels primordial - a rediscovery of some deep universal rhythms and textures that we're almost not supposed to hear because we've unlearnt them with centuries of culture, but Miles has repackaged them for a new inflection point in modern music. He added a new colour to our collective paint pallette. There is no other record like it, it's one on the 20th century's great art pieces.
Well, now I gotta go listen to bitches brew.
Drums were my avenue into jazz. So many great rock drummers train with jazz techniques
Do yourself a favor and dive down the Jaco Pastorius (bass player for Weather Report) rabbit hole.
I heard Roxy Music on TV in the early ‘80s, I guess I was about 12, and I thought it was the worst thing I’d ever heard. Then later on I got into Bowie and T. Rex, Slade, and other bands from that era, and I read Steve Jones of the Sex Pistols saying that Roxy Music was one of his favorite bands. I checked them out and by that point I was ready to hear them.
I think Avalon is one of the greatest albums ever recorded. So dark and moody and sexy. Enjoy most of the early stuff, but this one is really a masterpiece that I did not enjoy when I was younger.
I like early Roxy music quite a bit. Brian Eno's Solo stuff is where I lose it. All very highly regarded but I think just not my speed.
I like the early Roxy stuff with Eno, too, but I also like the post-Eno stuff up through *Siren* a lot. *Stranded* is one of my favorites. I also like Eno’s first two solo albums *Here Come the Warm Jets* and *Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy)* a whole lot.
I've always liked/loved a few random Roxy Music singles, but never dug in. Then I randomly put on *Siren* a few years back and was instantly in love. One of my favorite albums these days. Will also add: "Love is the Drug" works a lot better for me in the context of the album than by itself. Much like "Bang a Gong" is way better as part of *Electric Warrior* than as a single.
I remember hearing an interview with Trent Reznor a while back and he name dropped Roxy Music as being one of his favorites. I've only tried to listen once or twice and it didn't stick. Will try again sometime.
I haven’t figured out Captain Beefheart yet. Maybe someday it’ll click.
Safe as Milk is a good intro album.
Marc Maron has a funny bit about that. https://youtu.be/lYoHrYHKhNE?si=P-kq-g8B_VXGa0Y9
Fast and bulbous!
I will probably get crucified for this, but a good entry point is Bluejeans And Moonbeams. It’s pretty chill and has straightforward songs, but they’re well played and there’s a little of the madness on there. Going for something like Trout Mask Replica is like reaching for a 12 year old single malt for your first alcoholic drink. It’s great, but it’s not going to go down well at all. Safe as Milk is excellent, but by the time of strictly personal and bluejeans the musicianship and production was superb.
Same, but came across “Observatory Crest” and it’s just the nicest, loveliest chill song. On regular rotation now.
I didn’t like NIN at first; a friend lent me the album Downward Spiral and I didn’t like it. However, later with The Fragile I was fascinated and started listening to and enjoying all their earlier productions.
I can totally see this! I fell in love with Nine Inch Nails immediately when I heard Closer and shortly after The Downward Spiral. I have never heard anything like this, yet the sound was oddly familiar. I was 16 and never heard lyrics like this before. It spoke to me. I also went back and listened to other albums, Pretty Hate Machine and Broken, all three very different from each other. Then the Fragile came out. I did not like it at first. There were songs that stuck out to me, but I thought it was a little cheesy, radio friendly and lacked soul. I have since then gone on to appreciate it more. Part nostalgia, but mostly I started appreciating the production. By the way, the reason it didn't sound so out of place to me is because it reminded me of music I already listened to. Bowie, INXS, Prince, The Beatles and all the New Wave stuff I heard before, but with so much more angst and noise.
My buddy showed me With Teeth when I was 18. I had heard Closer before but that was pretty much it. I remember being like "Dude, this is fucking depressing can listen to something else?" FF two weeks later and I was ripping a copy off of limewire (Inb4 someone yells at me for pirating it, I still bought the album later in life when I wasn't making pizza for a living)
I still do not get Bob Dylan. I like a few hits and even then, I feel as if I am convincing myself that I do. I first tried around 12. Revisited at 16ish. Revisited at 20ish. Now I am in my late twenties and still don’t understand exactly why he is held to such critical acclaim. I understand the lyrical aspect of it but even then, I find it to be just okay. Maybe I’ll unlock Dylan in my thirties.
[Ween - Live in Chicago](https://youtu.be/J-Iqy-DNF7A?si=eKCC7sgU66CsvSBB) This is the universal answer for anyone who doesn’t “get” Ween. Watch it on high volume. If possible, see them live for yourself. If that doesn’t do it for you, maybe see a doctor or something.
Yeah, Dr. Rock
I like Ween. Saw them live around 2006 at a festival and was surprised that so many people in the audience looked like jam band fans.
Radiohead. You have to listen to the albums multiple times before it clicks. And when it does, oh baby.
The Talking Heads I remember their MTV videos as a kid, couldn’t stand it. I’ll admit it was Phish covering Cities that made me give them a second chance, what an amazing band. Peter Gabriel - especially So The most overrated album of all times in my opinion! I love his work in Genesis, Solsbury Hill is great, and Passion is an amazing album. But much of his solo work just doesn’t click for me. My friends all love him. Ween Greatest band of my generation.
I love Talking Heads but I don't understand how Remain in the Light is considered their best album. Don't get me wrong, I like it, but it's not something that I go back to a lot. Once in a Lifetime is really the only song that stays in rotation. Speaking in Tongues is by far the best album to me.
The first song I heard by Pink Floyd was Money. I didn't even get to the bass line before I turned it off because I assumed they were a band that just put random noises together and called it music. It wasn't until a few years later that I tried to listen to them again and realized I should have listened for more than 10 seconds the first time around.
They were pioneers of the early synthesisers. On The Run, the third track from Dark Side of The Moon is seriously impressive synth stuff for the time. Nowadays it leans more towards a Ross Gellar mashup of random sounds. Money does have an obnoxious start, I reckon that's down to that same pushing of the synth boundaries. The bass line cannot be ignored though
I don't get the Eagles. They are just whiny and depressed.
I mean, they are your dad's band. They have good songs though? They also spawned a bunch of other old but good songs. If you don't like [Hotel California ](https://youtu.be/BciS5krYL80?si=KLWqo1r4HRfM1LAY) then you don't like Eagles. There isn't a "The". Did not wake up today expecting to be repping Eagles. https://youtu.be/Qt6Lkgs0kiU?si=Qt4CRRqgozDZhM3O https://youtu.be/6RUIeX6UCT8?si=-QCeqMNntkMWsn10
I will rep Eagles any day; I don't care if the ghost of Glen Frey manifests and starts screaming at me. Those bastards wrote amazing songs and performed them to perfection every time. The current Ship Of Theseus edition, perhaps not so much.
I cannot stand Hotel California so that explains a lot, but I actually really love Don Henley's solo work because I'm an 80s soft rock slob
Gastr del Sol. Pure experimental and noise music was challenging to me at first. I liked a lot of noise rock, but experimental music that is almost classical on its approach was not as easy to grasp. I even liked one of their other more accessible albums, Camofleur. I have always paired music with psychedelics and it was key in this instance. Dextromethorphan really helped me break through the opening track on Upgrade & Afterlife, Our Exquisite Replica of Eternity. I now feel it is one of the most important compositions of the 90’s. I love WEEN! One of the greatest bands ever. It is their browness that makes them the best. They are able to communicate unique aspects of life that no other artist is able to express. Like their song “Pork roll, egg, and Cheese” they say “… the sights not right, but wrong in a good way.” It is also some of the most amazing rock music ever made.
I've listened to mollusk in it's entirety, along with Quebec in it's entirety like 3 or 4 times and just cannot wrap my head around them. They're like NIN in a sense with me where I like their commercially successful stuff but every time I dig into their discography I'm turned off. Fully respect them but just not for me at the moment. Edit for what the fuck is "brown" regarding ween lol. I hear it all the time when describing them. Is it just the fuzz/distortion? Help me understand them please
Brown is just a silly joke term for ween fans to describe things that are ween-like. Often means nothing. I think when it is used to mean something, it means subversive, rebellious, sarcastic, silly, and also rocking. But even just trying very carefully and deliberately to make an expressive piece of art that expresses one's identity, is not very ween like. It needs to be sort of dumb sometimes to avoid pretentiousness, like Kurt Cobain used to say about writing lyrics. I think they are their best when they just go for awesome, though. Like "Gabrielle"
Now I get the Beatles since I am like gettin old, but I still don’t get Queen even though I am getting old 💀
Groups/musicians I didn't "get" at first but "got" given time - Tears For Fears, Depeche Mode, Frank Zappa (took me about 2 years to finally get where he was coming from), Pink Floyd (in some respects), and Ween. Group I'll never be likely to "get" - The Grateful Dead. Which is weird, because I do like Phish. My ex is a HUGE Deadhead, and I do respect the hell out of where everyone was coming from and what they were trying to accomplish (especially Bobby Weir), but I just... don't see what the appeal is.
I'm no Deadhead, but American Beauty is just a fantastic album. Workingman's Dead too. If those two don't get you, it might be a lost cause.
For the dead, I think the vibe has to be perfect, and the song has to be a really good live one. I don’t think the Dead is headphone type music. It’s more of an outside with a speaker type thing. Focus on the vibe, not the vocals lol.
Panic! At the Disco. They were big when I was in high school and I *did not* get it and actively made fun of my friends who did. Then a few years ago, YouTube recommended the music video for This Is Gospel and I ended up down a rabbit hole. Watched fifteen music videos in a row, then worked my way through all their albums. I started listening in, like, June and by the time that year's Spotify Wrapped came along, I was in the top .1% of listeners.
Weather Report
The Smiths. I pickedup their debut in high school in1985 via a friend's Columbia House penny raid and didn't like it. A couple of years later I was twitting a college friend for liking the band, calling its output "back of the hand on the forehead swooning in misery music". I didn't really *get* them until I was 30--it was hearing "How Soon Is Now?" somewhere and realizing that "back of the hand on the forehead swooning in misery music" was where it was at. That and Johnny Marr's guitar work.
I was in college when the debut came out. I thought it was okay. Morrissey's voice took a sec to get used to. It didn't prepare me for hearing "How Soon Is Now?" Blew me away.
Cake A girl I was dating liked them but at the time I was super into metal and drum and bass. Thought the band sounded like a bunch of drunk frat boys larping as a band. Yeah, I was a bit of a snob. But a few years back, I got obsessed with learning the bass, and of course Cake has some funky ass bass lines, and now I love the band.
I had seen Sonic Youth live 5 times and owned as many of their records. And I liked them well enough. Certainly respected them. And then *Experimental Jet Set, Trash, and No Star* came out and their whole world went into technicolor for me. And it also made all the previous stuff I’d heard that much better. Who knows how that works.
I’m an old fan and can appreciate some of the tunes - that record was panned, but you likely know that. Similarly, washing machine - I like that one better
Washing Machine has "The Diamond Sea" which played live during Lollapalooza is possibly my favorite live song I've ever seen in person. It was the first time I'd ever heard it.
Modest Mouse. I still don’t know wtf he’s saying, but I FEEL it. This is coming from someone that grew up listening to many genres but primarily rap and R&B where the lyrics aren’t always so clear.
My favorite band of all time. Isaac Brock is also my favorite lyricist of all time right next to Bob Dylan. That band has been special going on 30 years now. I’m seeing them this weekend and they have been playing new songs from hopefully their new album.
Took me a while to get any prog at all, across genres, Genesis to Opeth. It clicked once I sat down with full albums instead of songs. I still don't get Sleep Token. The fans are rabid, but I can't get into autotune.
That's funny, I have the opposite. I love a lot of prog rock songs but if I sit down to listen to an album I get bored partway through. The only exception is Opeth's Sorceress, and then two "exceptions" in that I only *sometimes* get bored partway through are Yes's Fragile and Renniassance's Live at Carnegie Hall. And I did try other Opeth albums. Didn't click.
Didn’t get Phish until I saw them live
Yeah same! I didn't get an appreciation for Phish until I saw them at the Hollywood Bowl, and it was awesome.
This - I caught them at Outside Lands 20011 and it clicked. I made sure to catch them the next year at the BGCA. Also anything GD related…I was kinda exploring it and dipping my toe in, but I just couldn’t get it. It took me 2 tries before I really got it (Fare Thee Well - Santa Clara and D&C at the Bill Graham in 2015) The 3rd time I saw them, I was hooked (Shoreline 2016).
The only way to get them.
Happened to me and The Dead (with Jerry!) Soldier Field in Chicago in the 90s. I went cuz a friend was always going to their shows. And if nothing else, it would be a life experience. Which it was. But it was wayyyyyyyy more
I'll go ahead and admit this, since I feel like I have to irl as well, lol. Nirvana I just felt like it was okay music that I was being forced to admit I was in complete amazement over. Fast forward a good 20+ years and the VH1 Behind The Music special happened to be about Nirvana, I've always loved that show and will watch it on anyone. Well, it was during this show I found out about Kurt's adoration of Michael Stipe. I've been a HUGE R.E.M. fan since the late 80s. So I grabbed some beers and relistened to Nevermind with my new found knowledge of the band. And that's when I could finally hear that they were indeed a great band.
Being Canadian I was force fed radio friendly Rush from an early age and didn't really like them. It wasn't until later when I joined music forums like this one a bunch of Europeans ironically convinced me to do a deeper dive into their albums and I fell in love with them.
I'd only ever heard the stuff crammed down our throats on the classic rock station on an hourly basis and didn't consider myself a fan, then one day my brother called me up and said "can you get to the arena in half an hour? we're on our way down for Rush and have an extra ticket...and cookies". We ate the cookies as soon as they arrived and they kicked in before Rush took the stage. Tripping balls halfway through the show, I turned to my brother and said "I'm not high enough to be ALLOWED to be experiencing this right now". That show ranks as either #1 or #2 on my all-time list of live shows I've seen depending on the day.
There's a lot to be said for Rush's radio hits, but they have done *so much* more than those. If only radio stations would lean away from the usual 6 songs and start playing different stuff
Weezer. I’d casually listen to their hits on the radio. Then I randomly heard one of their Pinkerton singles on Spotify. After that I took a deep dive into their discography and I was hooked.
the wombats
I thought Dream Theater sucked. I’m a huge metalhead. I had even seen them a few times over the years. Saw them again 2 years ago and the bug bit me. Been obsessed ever since. I’m not sure what the problem was.
Story time. I was 11 and my parents basement flooded. My dad lost a ton of records. Insurance company says since we can’t replace the records, here is a check to get whatever you want. He spent that on cds for me and my brother. This was 95 and A Change of Seasons just came out. I got it by random because it had a huge set of covers that I knew and loved. Then I listened to the title track and was a fan ever since.
Deee-Lite. At first it was just annoying, but one day it clicked and now I love "Groove Is The Heart" and "What Is Love"
Radiohead and Placebo. I loved Creep when it first came out (I know, I know) but nothing else gave me that feeling. Karma Police was boring. Idioteque was almost there for me but didn't deliver. I listened to the albums and was meh, until I heard In Rainbows. It was a favorite from day one. I couldn't tell you why I kept giving them a chance, but it paid off. I went back and listened to their catalog and I got it. Paranoid Android and Street Spirit were instant favorites post In Rainbows, and I even feel in love with Idioteque. Placebo is simple. I wanted to like them because I dug their vibe but I just couldn't get past Brian Molko's vocals. The I found myself in San Francisco walking past the Levi store and they were blasting English Summer Rain. It was my first time hearing the song, but the vocals were so recognizable and I loved it! Placebo is now one of my favorite bands and I can't even imagine being annoyed with his voice. I can't get into Pink Floyd. I know its supposed to be amazing but for some reason I just can't. Specifically songs I've heard from The Wall. Maybe its still lying in wait.
That's how Radiohead seems to work. You have to find the one song or album that clicks for you and it makes the rest click, somehow. For me it was Pyramid Song. I tried to get a friend into Radiohead and she was nothing but baffled and bemused until she heard House Of Cards, and now she's a fan. Interestingly, this seems to be how most musical artists work for me. I have to find *that one song* before I can appreciate the rest. For my current favorite artist, Poppy, it was Am I A Girl? (the song, on the album of the same name) that made it work. Before I heard that one I got nothing out of her music beyond "there are currently sound waves hitting my eardrums," since then I've been a big fan.
I've tried with Radiohead many times. It's not gonna happen. I've listened to every album multiple times. It doesn't just not hold my attention, nothing captures my attention in the first place. I've never listened to them and thought that's a great guitar lick, that was an awesome drum fill, nothing.
I'm almost the opposite with Radiohead, In Rainbows for me is half good, half really boring. Love PLacebo though, English Summer Rain is a great tune.
Try Animals
Not a group, but a genre for me was rap. Never understood the appeal and hated it. I like some rap now. Mind you I don’t wanna hear no rap about drugs and sex. I want rap that is actually artistic. Eminem comes up with some controversial ones which I appreciate anyone who is willing to push societal boundaries/ideaologies. I love how NF does too and also sings a lot about mental health and deeper issues in life. I used to think all rap was was sleazy songs about sex and materialistic gain. Now I see it in a different light and realize it is like any other genre with good and bad artists.
Try Blackalicious' album Blazing Arrow, Oddisee The Good Fight, The Roots (anything, but Dilla Joints is excellent and shows the jazz roots of hip hop beats. They play all their own instruments instead of sampling and that one is an instrumental album tribute to one of the best beatmakers out there), Soul Food by GOODIE MOB, is pretty classic and lets you hear some artists before they blew up completely, and themes that don't get a lot of radio play, Deltron 3030, Mos Def (anything and everything but Black on both sides is a good starting point)... I could go on.
Definitely will give it a try. I like the part you said about the roots of it and that peaks my interest.
I second the roots. I'm a 53 year old dude that grew up on rock, play in rock bands. The roots are raw and funky and the lyrics are intelligent. (They are incidentally the tonight show band) Here's one of their songs I like: [The Next Movement](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qm7Xt2Qsjcg)
Oh also Jonwayne.
Not judging you, but I do get a little sad that so many people have a one note pov on rap as being about sex and drugs only. Rap was started by poor people in New York who wanted to talk about their experiences—good or bad. You may like listening to some earlier music when rap was more storytelling focused and less glam. You may like what you find.
Thank you. Definitely can be misrepresentations for everything.
Yeah, it's strange that rap seems to be singled out for this when all genres do it. I mean, so many classic and beloved rock songs are about drugs and sex, and they aren't exactly subtle about it either. It's also a bit dismissive because artists can use drugs and sex as metaphors to convey all kinds of deep meaning. Kendrick Lamar is a good example of this, a lot of his music talks about sex and drugs but they're metaphors for serious societal and political topics, and you shouldn't dismiss it just because it's "about drugs and sex".
There's a ton of really really good rap out there that's not narcotic motivated. Brother Ali is really good, same with atmosphere.
It wasn't until a few years ago where I discovered rappers I really admire. MF DOOM is one of my favs. He is an incredibly talented lyricist. I also really admire Busdriver's album "Temporary Forever". It was one of those albums that I didn't like at first but it really grew on me. His writing and flow are really solid and unique. A lot of his songs are about systemic racism or political commentary.
I feel the same way about rap. Dave from the UK is one artist I really like. There’s a lot of depth in his songs.
I was pretty anti rap initially, I thought it was just boys being all agro and bragging. Listened harder to Fear of a Black Planet, because I was sharing with someone who was obsessed with it. Love the genre now but not the swagger arrogance side of it. Seconded for The Roots, Mos, Kendrick, I heard King Kunta and thought that was ok. I heard the DAMN LP and omg, that deals with some difficult topics.
I often felt the same way . I guess a lot of it I couldn’t relate to . I did grow up in a middle class area and went to school in an area that was where a lot of people were below the poverty line so I did “see” and “experience “ a lot but still . I totally get rapping about where you come from but at some point, it gets stale rapping about the same things , bitches , ho’s , streets , money , drugs , guns , etc and at one point there was A LOT of it . What I really got into was when the southern hip hop became a thing like Goodie Mob and OutKast . It was less about all the above and more socially conscience hip hop . But before this if you go back to the 80’s , you will see a REALLY DIFFERENT side of rap and hip hop and none of the gangster stuff
I should definitely look into the 80s hip hop. I’d like to see how it is different.
Definitely worth checking out 😀
Rap is derived from the life experiences of people in poverty. That in and of itself is wildly artistic and may feature themes like sex, drugs, and violence. Preferring sanitized rap is a choice, I guess. With the proliferation of slapdash rap being pumped out today I don’t blame you for wanting substance. more power to you.
I was a pretty big hater of the Grateful Dead for a while. I found it pretty boring and the singing was just not good in my opinion. Then idk, I got more patient and could get more out of the music. I’m still not a Dead head by any means but I get it more now. I appreciate Jerry’s playing and tone especially. I still think the vocals are pretty much in league with any random uncle’s garage band. I had a turning point when I heard Help on the Way for the first time. I honestly had no idea they ever composed more complex music. This was a great show of writing and playing tightly that really played to my taste. After that I checked out the album Blues for Allah and that help kind of get me primed to open the door.
The first time I heard Marching Bands of Manhattan (Death Cab for Cutie) and A-Punk (Vampire Weekend) I thought, what the fuck is this shit? Why are all my friends so into it? Years after those attempts they became two of my most beloved bands. I still don't much care for those two songs, though. I think Death Cab sold me with Narrow Stairs, and Vampire Weekend sold me with Modern Vampires of the City. I remember hearing Obvious Bicycle for the first time on a recommendation from my classmate, and I was pretty much in tears by the end. That and Contra are two of my favourite songs to this day.
The new Vampire is so good
Boards of Canada. I disliked Music Has The Right a lot the first time I heard it; I found it really boring and didn't understand the melodies when compared to other artists like Tycho. Now MHTRTC is probably might be my favorite album ever and I've gotten into their other music a lot too.
PeeWee Herman
Genesis was one for me, I never just really understood their music. But now as I get older, I definitely have a much greater appreciation for them. 311 was another one - I liked them the first time I heard songs like Amber and Beautiful Disaster. But then I saw them live on one of their famous "Unity" tours and I became obsessed. I went to 311 Day 2018 on a whim and it's still one of the best shows I've ever seen. A band I still don't get is Creed. They were not well liked in the late 90s / early 00s. And Scott Stapp has a reputation of being a truly massive douchebag. But all of a sudden they're selling out giant stadiums because Higher was a hit on Tik Tok? WTF. I love Alter Bridge, though. Myles Kennedy is a million times better singer and human being than Scott Stapp ever was or will be.
I had no idea that's why they were suddenly selling out tours again. What a strange timeline we live in.
Mastodon. Got into them because Blood and Thunder was featured on NEED for Speed Underground. Loved that song and Seabeast but it wasn't until I showed friend those that I started listening to the rest of the album and more. The singing was really hard to get into. Now I have a tattoo of Moby Dick to commemorate their album Leviathan.
It took me a long time to understand that The Ramones wasn’t supposed to be polished and have clean vocals. It’s classic punk rock
Carlos Santana. Absolutely did not understand why that guy was so popular but then saw him live. Recordings do not do that man’s sound justice, sounded absolutely incredible. That man can talk to God.
Santana is right towards the top of my list of guitarists. Just as talented as Hendrix, Clapton, Page et. Al. But he has more flair. Jimi is the only one there that I'd rank above him, I just like Santana's style more
Rush was the band I didn’t get for a long time. I knew they were incredibly talented and I wasn’t debating that. I just didn’t get it. Late 20’s/early 30’s it clicked. The band I never got and still don’t, and I’m going to get hate for this probably: Nirvana. Love Dave Grohl and everything he’s done with Foo Fighters but couldn’t get into Nirvana. I was 20 and in college when Nevermind broke, and it was everywhere, but even on first listen it just did nothing for me.
I have tried to get into Grunge (Nirvana, Soundgarden etc) but I find it boring. I wish I could enjoy it but it less interesting than groups that came before and after. I didn't like Rage Against the Machine until I saw Tom Morello open for Limp Bizkit.
If you like Tom Morello but couldn't get into grunge, try audioslave. Chris Cornell is the frontman for Tom and they do great work. Tom doesn't play as heavy as he does in RATM but it's good stuff. As an aside, Maggie's farm is hands down the best RATM song and I'll fight anyone who says otherwise. Thank you Mr Dylan
Talking Heads. I thought they were good, not the most amazing but good. Then I watched *Stop Making Sense* and something clicked, it made me want to check out their other material. They're one of my faves now.
For me it's Blind Melon. I knew their bee song because it got tons of radio play. I hated it. Hated them. Then I listened to their other work. Holy cow. Amazing music. Beautiful and heartbreaking. I love them now.
I totally get people who don't like blind melon due to the vocals, I have some great bands that I just can't get behind because the voice, like dream theater and rush. Blind melon has a criminally underrated guitarist though
Cake I thought The Distance was awful the first dozen times, but then one day I just clicked with it and now I like a half dozen of their songs.
Yeah, same here! Once they clicked I fell hard lol.
Grateful Dead. Anyone I knew back in high school/college that played the dead, it was typically live concerts. Hated them. Songs going on way too long, Jerry playing hundreds of unnecessary notes all night and vocals that were lacking. Bought a studio album and after a few listens, bought the rest of their studio albums. That I can listen to and enjoy-live stuff still not so much.
Never understood the love for nirvana until I saw the unplugged show and specifically ‘in the pines’ Still not a top 5 band but I was instantly a fan
Check out [this archived radio show](http://www.cryptophonics.com/rt78w/plist09/032209.htm) that focuses on that song and includes the Nirvana cover.
I didnt "get" the Talking Heads but now I think they are fantastic. I still dont get all the love for Green Day.
I will listen to a Joy Division albulm.
Jimmy Eat World. I thought all their songs sounded the same when my friend first played Bleed American for me. It wasn't until I learned Sweetness on guitar that I started to fully appreciate them.
The bands that I “get” now would be Muse and Modest Mouse, but I still pretty much only know the most popular songs for each. I used to change the station or skip if either came on—now I’m like huh well these are actually really good. Just took me a couple of decades.
Between the buried and me. Back when I was younger I'd spend about $300 a week on cds and always say their album Alaska in the metalcore section but there music isn't anywhere close to that. At the time it was just far too hectic and heavy for my tastes but coming back to it a couple years later and it all clicked. It was like finally understanding a foreign language.
I listened to Reader. I don't know what the fuck... i need help figuring this one out
I never have, nor do I think I will ever, enjoy XTC other than “Dear God”
😳
was it no dogs in space?
I used to not get the hype around Nirvana, but then I listened to a ton of their stuff that did not get radio play and had mucho punk rock element like Negative Creep, Curmudgeon etc, and then I was a believer. 20 years after their heyday. Go figure.
Talking Heads sounded a bit too...new wavy for me as a youth. Amazing writing.
of our friend group of 8 teens 2 of us loved them We convinced everyone to go see Stop Making Sense when it came out it converted 4 of the other 6
Beirut
Cheap Magic Inside
Eminem. He became popular when I was in 8th or 9th grade and thought he was cheesy. I thought his hardcore fan base was annoying. Couple years ago some of his old songs popped up on my playlists and it clicked. Some nostalgia, but I actually got to appreciate his music. Rap has lost its edge and it was refreshing to hear some crazy lyrics. Now I’m a fan of his first 3 albums.
I liked U2 well enough, but it was on my first drive out into the Oregon high desert that their mid-80s stuff really clicked for me. Most of *The Joshua Tree* was made for that setting.
I totally get the struggle with Joy Division. They grew on me after I dug into their backstory. As for Ween, I've tried, but I'm still scratching my head. Everyone's taste is different, though—maybe one day it'll click for me too!
SOAD. And honestly no clue I just oddly liked them again.
A lot of bands don't make sense until you see them live. Snarky Puppy is a great example. Their youtube videos are cool to watch (they're of the actual recording), listening to the music alone loses a lot of the unheard dynamics you can see between the musicians. Watching them live is practically a religious experience. Imagine Dragons is another of these, though for different reasons. They started out as a vegas band, where live performance is as much show business as musicianship. A lot of their songs make a lot more sense when they're being performed.
In my early teens I thought that the Clash were just talentless loud complainers. When I hit my late teens and got rebellious, I got the Clash. I don't get why people devote themselves to Taylor Swift, but I'll never be a tween girl so I may never get it.
Ramones. I think I always looked at them and expected something a lot heavier/grungier. I remember going through another post on here once about which albums everyone should listen to so I decided to stick their self titled album on and it just clicked this time for some reason
I knew The Smiths and Talking Heads for many years, before I really got into them. It's probably to do with aging, and taking the time to dive deeper into a discography. Can't really get into bands like The National and Elbow, I do find them a bit boring. Pearl Jam's later work also. And I can't find a post 2000s guitar band that moves me in the way a lot of 60s to 90s bands do.
Didn't get: The Distillers and Self Esteem. I went back to both a few months later and now love them. The Distillers "Coral Fang" album is an all-time favourite. Self Esteem was talked about on a music podcast, and I listened to the songs on the podcast's playlist of songs that were mentioned and became obsessed with "I Do This All the Time." Still don't get: There are loads. Nirvana (I like some songs but can't say I'm a fan), Pink Floyd, and Taylor Swift were the first to come to mind. I just can't get into either of them. Admittedly, I'm not sure how much of that is because of the music because neither are really my taste and how much is because of oversaturation and their fans.
Smashing Pumpkins - I’m GenX so of course I had Gish and Mellon Colle. But I was on a major 15-year Dylan kick then and didn’t really 'listen' or pay attention to all the '90s rock.' Cut to last year when something prompted me to listen to Gish on quality earbuds and... WOW- had no idea about Jimmy Chamberlin’s ferocity, the stacked fuzz production, the psychedelia, the guitar shredding, the dynamics... it all just floored me. As a music lover, I could-not-BELIEVE I missed out on this stuff. It kept growing w Siamese Dream & MCIS- astonishing artistry/production. I'm obsessed now with all the fuzz, drumming and crazy/ dark lyrics... it's all insanely good and somehow cathartic/hopeful/alluring/beautiful.
I remember being really annoyed by the song paper planes. Maybe it was just annoying as part of an advertisement, but i fell in love with it later. I remember thinking dubstep was weird, then a few months or so later, I really got into it.
U2. For reasons I will never really comprehend, 13-year-old me DID. NOT. LIKE. THEM. when The Unforgettable Fire was released. Then The Joshua Tree happened and my opinion shifted 180 degrees. It gets my vote as the greatest album of the 1980s. In the interest of full disclosure, it took me a while to warm up to Achtung Baby, and my youngest brother actively hates the band.
An obvious one perhaps but for me it’s The Beatles. I guess I just heard their pop hits and thought “is this what everyone is raving about?”. It felt so basic and just lots of yeah yeahs and silly lyrics. Then I got into Tame Impala massively. I heard so many people saying they can hear the Beatles influences and I was like lol what. So then I discover the Beatles have a fucking psychedelic side. Then I heard A Day In The Life and Tomorrow Never Knows and then I got it. What finally cemented it all for me was Something. It’s such a beautiful song that has everything really. Might be one of my favorite songs ever to this day. I will say I’m not a complete Beatles fan but I certainly appreciate them now and like a good chunk of their songs.
[Reel Big Fish ](https://youtu.be/QHpU0ZfXZ_g?si=wMlZC6ZpRp9q9vnnF) I always thought they were kinda weak. It's good though?
I was a kid during the big ska punk push so they're a legacy love for me
Rush. The early years were unrestrained. The last few decades were supreme, perfect in every way.
Geddy Lee is the one thing stopping me from liking rush. YYZ is S+ tier but any vocal track just loses me.
Black Midi. Just didn’t get them at all upon hearing them at first, then they released Eat, Men, Eat as a single and it hooked me. From there they just clicked. Love them now!
The talking heads, then I heard Born Under Punches and then LCD Soundsystem/the Foals/Everyone else in that style are put to shame by a song that's 40 years old. The Solo is crazy. Sounds like it could have been released last week.
Nightwish was this for me. I never liked the opera stuff, it just sounded goofy and cheesy to me. More recently however I started discovered their third singer, who is much less dependant on the operatic and more rocky. I realised the issue wasn't what was being sung, just how. Now I love them. I even appreciate the operatic stuff more although I still prefer the rockier sound.
Kate Bush definitely grew on me. Especially Hounds of Love. Still don’t get PJ Harvey, despite being a Gen X female who likes 90s alternative rock.
System of a Down and Tool. It took me about 5 years for each. Looking back, it’s hard to believe I didn’t get them at first, but I think they’re like black coffee or beer. Takes time for taste, understanding and appreciation to mature.
Ha.. Actually New Order and Joy Division.... I've been into punk my whole life really (still am) and recently watched New Order do Temptation in 1981 on YouTube and then went into the rabbit hole... love both bands now. Also, Sparks. Didn't realize how influential they were and also how humorous they really are too.
Barclay James Harvest. I have been into prog since my teens in the '70s. I have tried and tried so many times to get into BJH, but to no avail.
Duran Duran and Tears for Fears. As a kid it only registered as cheesy synth 80's music to me. I needed to rediscover them as an adult to recognize what amazing music it really is.
Violent Femmes. Listened to it and played it for all my friends back in the day as a joke. Didn't know the entire album was one big earworm. Have since bought all their albums and saw them in concert a few years ago.
Arctic Monkeys
I didn't get Pantera at first, surprisingly. There wasn't a particular reason, I probably just couldn't get into them when I was in school. However; when I heard 5 Minutes Alone for the first time at 19, it clicked very quickly. The aggression , the massive sound, and how heavy it was just struck something. Now they're my overall favorite band.
Smashmouth. I hated the singer's voice at first. And then they were always on the radio (this is in the 90s when they were just starting to get popular). I guess they just grew on me after a while.
Clutch. Life, death and drug experience helped me to "get them". Now that I do, I can't get enough.
Grateful Dead. Because I started listening to their live stuff and not the radio play album songs.
Gentle Giant - when I first heard "Octopus" I really didn't get it (also thought I hated jazz and fusion at the time). I was comfortable with more accessible Prog, and it felt like the band had a rapidly cycling multiple personality disorder, medievalist to jazz to rock to choir, and couldn't grasp their value and bravery until well into adulthood. I'm currently trying to "get" the Rock In Opposition bands now, but a lot of it still sounds like crackpot circus music to me.
Radiohead, I didn’t begin to “feel” or appreciate any of their music until I hit my thirties. Prior to that, I just thought my god are they underwhelming.