Who Is an Artist or Group That You Cannot Get Into? [MUSIC]

He became a caricature of himself with "Born In The USA".

I saw him on the Darkness on the Edge of Town tour at the Summit in 1978. Played from 8:30-10:15, took a half hour break, and rocked the house from 10:45 until nearly 2AM. At 1AM, they turned all the house lights on in the Summit to get him to quit, and he kept going and going and going. A memorable show...one of the best shows I have ever seen.

 

I have a few Bruce CD's friends have burned me to change my mind. I'm open to it. Haven't spent time with them yet. A great lot of my bias against Bruce (and the Dead) has to do with the way they're lumped in with Dylan. I get marrying Dylan to L. Cohen, N. Young, Elvis Costello, Tom Waits, even to a much lesser degree Tom Petty. I don't get the connection to Bruce or the Dead. They're just so lesser to me that the comparisons actually offend me. Sort of like lumping Edward Albee in with Beckett and Ionesco. Albee's great but people who group him with Beckett just make me think they don't get Beckett.

rimbaud: Thanks for the reply. That's funny. I'm actually a much bigger fan of his voice and his sense of rhythm than I am of his songs. There's almost nothing more grating to me than the way The Byrds or Peter, Paul and Mary used to 'fix' his songs for him.

allan: Same bout the reply and see above. Just a taste thing. I certainly wouldn't argue mine's more right than yours. Hi to Susan. When's the baby due?

 

Amen!!! No big screens flashing pictures or videos, no explosions, no fancy colored light displays. He doesn't need the gimmicks. Dylan's music stands by itself. If you don't "get it", it's your loss.

 

Its not about gimmicks. its about rhythm and soul. Robert Johnson for example had none of these gimmicks you mention, but I love his music and all he had was an acoustic guitar and his voice. Its the way he plays and sings that I find exciting and appealing. Im sorry, but Bob doesnt appeal to me in the same way.

 

interesting, i would bet that radiohead would actually find your "nails on a chalkboard" assessment to be quite a compliment. coldplay, on the other hand, sounds like an eraser on a chalkboard i.e. BORING.

 

It's funny you mention Robert Johnson's rhythm. That's the first thing I noticed about Dylan the first time I heard him. His rhythm is very similar to RJ's. The way he phrases his words in a song is uncanny. He never plays his songs the same way, always changes tempo, key or the phrasing of the song. Dylan is certainly gifted in the rhythm department.

 

I'm supposed to like these but they put me to <i>sleep</i>! :
Radiohead
Norah Jones
John Mayer
Dido

Some others (not sleepy, just can't get into like everyone else does):
Liz Phair
Ben Folds
Oasis
Moby
Outkast

most recent rap and country; Britney and J-Lo (most everybody probably feels this way though)

 

Nirvana and early 90's rock in general

 

Nirvana
Cranberries (I HATE that voice)
Oasis
Pearl Jam
Björk (I HATE HATE HATE that "music")

and a lot of other crap that some people might like

 

lets see what sucks:

hybrid bands...linkin park etc
hoobastank
nikelback
creed
angry bands...

 

You know, what surprised me the most about Dylan was that he's such a damn fine guitarist. He's very underrated. Kinda like a lot of people who didn't see Zappa live, and just went on the strength his records, might not realize that he was one of the finest players of his generation. To roughly quote a line from Almost Famous and apply it to Frank, his guitar was just incendiary... incendiary!

 

Yeah, he is certainly an underrated guitarist. I miss his fingerpicking style of guitar playing though. Songs like "Don't Think Twice" and "Girl From the North Country" are just an example of his ability. After his 1966 Tour he just stopped playing that style alltogether and has never done it since.

 

The Beatles
Rap
Country
R&B
Brit, Xtina, NKOTB, et al
Moby
The Strokes, Vines, and White Stripes

 

Run, don't walk, to your local record store. Buy World Gone Wrong and then buy Good As I Been to You. Best Dylan guitar playing ever and it happened inside the last fifteen years. Unfortunately he never plays guitar anymore. He's been exclusively playing keyboards for the last couple tours. Think he might have arthritis or something. But I swear by those two records.

 

I haven't had a change of heart with any album like the one I've had with In the Aeroplane Over the Sea--the first two or three times I listened, I couldn't get past track three without quitting. Then, a few months later, I got all the way through. A few listens later I got into it. I don't adore it the way others do (some have rather alarming spiritual experiences listening to it), but I respect it as much as any other record. I can totally see why others love it.

Haven't heard any Sun Kil Moon, though I may have name-dropped it in the past. All I've heard is Ocean Beach, which is pretty great.

As for the thread topic:

Hip-hop: I like the concept--heavy emphasis on lyricism and rhythmic flow--but I've never heard any album that lived up to the promise...and there's a tendency to be really lazy with the music, which usually ends up boring me into a coma. I guess part of the problem is the low standards of the key demographic (16-year-old white suburbanite boys)--same goes for "alternative" radio. I've really tried to get into hip-hop, but I even gave up on that new Madvillian album after five tracks because the lyrics were so bad. I will say "Hardware", which the Roots played on Chappelle's Show, is one of the best songs I've ever heard, though.

XTC: Skylarking's great, but the rest I've heard is really lightweight.

Metal doesn't interest me in the slightest, though I can't say I've ever tried to get into it. Same for jazz. Punk and the like aren't too high on the list either, but this new Plastic Constellations album is phenomenal, so maybe I'm turning a new leaf.

 

rudager: You liked Skylarking but the rest of XTC's too lightweight? That's weird. I'd always thought Sklarking was one of their lighter records. Have you ever checked out Dukes of Stratosphear? That's XTC too, under another name, doing a psychadelic pop project. Great, great stuff.

 

By "lightweight" I didn't mean light--Joni Mitchell's Blue is light, but definitely HEAVY. Know what I mean?

Thanks for reminding me I have Chips from the Chocolate Fireball on my hard drive! (I got some 460 albums recently from an Internet friend.) I'm listening to it right now.

 

word. they are next on my list.

B_J, I updated the Dylan/Willie Nelson thread. I got my tickets, so if you are in town, give me a holler.


and for the band I just can't get into:

Dave Matthews Band

 

x110: I am jealous as hell of you hearing World Gone Wrong for the first time. I love Time Out of Mind and Love & Theft and Infidels (and even Empire Burlesque and Street Legal), but it's actually my favorite since Desire. On a sadder note, I'll almost definitely miss the New Haven show. The play in Pittsburgh's just going too well and I can't duck out on opening weekend. I actually think I'll try and see most of the run, which will probably mean I'll miss the tour. I'll let you know if anything changes.

rudager: Got it. The Blue reference brought it home. (Isn't Blue one of the top five records of all time? Yes, it is.) Let me know what you think of DoS.