What we like, Why we like and Why some things we don't

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StormandStatic
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Re: What we like, Why we like and Why some things we don't

Post by StormandStatic »

I doubt I could name 200 albums I love off the top of my head yet I probably adore more than twice that number. My head doesn't work in lists.

beantownbubba
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Re: What we like, Why we like and Why some things we don't

Post by beantownbubba »

The thread that never dies...

The old me would not have thought twice about raining on everyone's parade in the Grateful Dead thread, but the current me doesn't see why I should do that, so I'm posting here instead where perhaps my comments will be seen for the observations and musings they're intended to be and not the attack on the band or its fans one might make of it if one were so inclined.

I was struck by the last page or so of comments in the Dead thread. When read at one one time, as I just did, it seems clear that fans want to believe but there's not much to believe in. And yet it's obvious from the excitement, the media coverage, the ticket sales and all the rest that people are determined to make this weekend happen: I'll believe if you believe. But if part of the magic comes from it being a special moment in time, how can the magic possibly be recreated at a different moment in time? Beatlemania (the play), The Who's Tommy, tribute bands, Lynyrd Skynyrd... we're all looking for something I guess and all of these satisfy a need but it all seems to lack a certain....umm...authenticity. Sort of the same idea that everyone knows that calling something a "reality show" means that it's fake.

I take from the thread that "the Grateful Dead community" is a place where special effects are seen as a sign from God, the band members don't talk to each other, the band members have so little respect for the audience that they don't even bother to rehearse, the band and the crew eat in separate places, the band members "dress" in separate rooms and no 2 fans can agree on which part of the thing is authentic Dead and which part is the rip off but there's no lack of criticism for lack of authenticity. I'm as nostalgic as the next guy but I think it's important to know what's real and what's nostalgia.

First person to remind me that a certain band that starts w/ Drive and ends w/ Truckers famously doesn't rehearse wins a modern Jerry doll; you know, the one that looks like Trey. The situations are not comparable.
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Shakespeare
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Re: What we like, Why we like and Why some things we don't

Post by Shakespeare »

my other board is doing another all-time albums list so im getting ready to do another one. just re-read the one i did and posted here in 2014, thinking i could use it as a template and just shift a few things around/add some new stuff, but its amazing how different i can already tell the new one will be. its not even like theres anything on the old one i hate now, and between adding new finds and multiple albums for some artists, i can already see 200 being a soul crushing limit

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bovine knievel
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Re: What we like, Why we like and Why some things we don't

Post by bovine knievel »

Clams wrote:
dime in the gutter wrote:albums. entire listens. playlists/shuffles suck.
Hypocrite. You sent me the most awesomest 4 disc compilation 2 or 3 years ago. You even gave titles to each of the four CD's (Survey Says, No Whammies, High Roller and Need a Bigger Boat). Not a week goes by that I don't play it. Littlemama made a really good one too. I should upload them for you guys.

PS - Love me some Bob Seger.
I turned those CD compilations from dime and littlemama into Spotify playlists (there were a few tracks not available but 99% is there).
“Excited people get on daddy’s nerves.” - M. Cooley

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Kudzu Guillotine
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Re: What we like, Why we like and Why some things we don't

Post by Kudzu Guillotine »

Bumping this thread only because it's one of my favorites of all time and a similar topic has been on my mind lately. Surely one that's been discussed here before, but the topic of how some folks tend to look down upon what has come to be known as "Classic Rock" that champion more critically acclaimed artists as though the music the Classic Rock artists create is somehow supposed to be considered inferior. Case in point, how so many so called "Classic Rock" artists have to wait several years before being inducted into the Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame or to finally make the cover of publications like Rolling Stone (Kiss, Rush). Meanwhile, artists like R.E.M. are inducted the first year they're eligible. At this point, Grand Funk Railroad have never even been nominated. Same for Little Feat. Thing is with Little Feat, I'd consider them to be more in the critically acclaimed category. Another head scratcher is the Replacements. I figured they would be a sure bet to be inducted into the Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame the first year they were nominated. Instead, they were snubbed.

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Jenn
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Re: What we like, Why we like and Why some things we don't

Post by Jenn »

My musical tastes are so wide that I rarely have the luxury of sharing love for more than a handful of bands with any one person; nine times out of ten, they will dislike/actively hate/never give a chance to 70% of the music I dearly love. I’ve been so alone in my tastes for so long that I really don’t care any more how anyone else feels about any of it, much less one particular band.

However, while I say I don’t know why anyone would care what someone else likes or doesn’t, I myself have gone to bat many a time for DBT, Slobberbone, Centro-Matic, and other bands whose members I’m friends with. Maybe that makes the difference for me. Otherwise, though, I just let people think what they will, and let the kindred souls find me.

I’m really fucked up so forgive me if I shot past the topic!
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Kudzu Guillotine
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Re: What we like, Why we like and Why some things we don't

Post by Kudzu Guillotine »

Jenn wrote:
Sun Feb 27, 2022 12:01 am
My musical tastes are so wide that I rarely have the luxury of sharing love for more than a handful of bands with any one person; nine times out of ten, they will dislike/actively hate/never give a chance to 70% of the music I dearly love. I’ve been so alone in my tastes for so long that I really don’t care any more how anyone else feels about any of it, much less one particular band.

However, while I say I don’t know why anyone would care what someone else likes or doesn’t, I myself have gone to bat many a time for DBT, Slobberbone, Centro-Matic, and other bands whose members I’m friends with. Maybe that makes the difference for me. Otherwise, though, I just let people think what they will, and let the kindred souls find me.

I’m really fucked up so forgive me if I shot past the topic!
This topic came up on FB recently. Some of my friends said they have pretty much given up on trying to share their love of artists they're presently enamored of. I know in communities like this and others I was a part of in the pre social media days, members of those communities were more receptive to recommendations. I guess the answer to that is, the members of those communities were all fellow music geeks. I still manage to make some music discoveries via social media but something about it is not quite the same.

Cole Younger
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Re: What we like, Why we like and Why some things we don't

Post by Cole Younger »

Kudzu Guillotine wrote:
Sat Feb 26, 2022 12:07 pm
Bumping this thread only because it's one of my favorites of all time and a similar topic has been on my mind lately. Surely one that's been discussed here before, but the topic of how some folks tend to look down upon what has come to be known as "Classic Rock" that champion more critically acclaimed artists as though the music the Classic Rock artists create is somehow supposed to be considered inferior. Case in point, how so many so called "Classic Rock" artists have to wait several years before being inducted into the Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame or to finally make the cover of publications like Rolling Stone (Kiss, Rush). Meanwhile, artists like R.E.M. are inducted the first year they're eligible. At this point, Grand Funk Railroad have never even been nominated. Same for Little Feat. Thing is with Little Feat, I'd consider them to be more in the critically acclaimed category. Another head scratcher is the Replacements. I figured they would be a sure bet to be inducted into the Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame the first year they were nominated. Instead, they were snubbed.
Good post. I can’t imagine liking something or not liking something based on what critics think about it. A critic, as far as I’m concerned, is somebody who knows a hundred sexual positions but never had sex.

I love classic rock. Anybody too pretentious to enjoy it is probably not anybody I would want to be around in the first place.
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Kudzu Guillotine
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Re: What we like, Why we like and Why some things we don't

Post by Kudzu Guillotine »

Cole Younger wrote:
Thu Mar 03, 2022 6:52 pm
Kudzu Guillotine wrote:
Sat Feb 26, 2022 12:07 pm
Bumping this thread only because it's one of my favorites of all time and a similar topic has been on my mind lately. Surely one that's been discussed here before, but the topic of how some folks tend to look down upon what has come to be known as "Classic Rock" that champion more critically acclaimed artists as though the music the Classic Rock artists create is somehow supposed to be considered inferior. Case in point, how so many so called "Classic Rock" artists have to wait several years before being inducted into the Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame or to finally make the cover of publications like Rolling Stone (Kiss, Rush). Meanwhile, artists like R.E.M. are inducted the first year they're eligible. At this point, Grand Funk Railroad have never even been nominated. Same for Little Feat. Thing is with Little Feat, I'd consider them to be more in the critically acclaimed category. Another head scratcher is the Replacements. I figured they would be a sure bet to be inducted into the Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame the first year they were nominated. Instead, they were snubbed.
Good post. I can’t imagine liking something or not liking something based on what critics think about it. A critic, as far as I’m concerned, is somebody who knows a hundred sexual positions but never had sex.
I know some critics I look up to because they're sometimes able to describe music in terms I relate to. I have also written reviews in the past but the vast majority of the time I've had mostly favorable things to say. I have also been critical but when doing so I've tried be constructive rather than just slamming the artist. Some critics seem to find great joy in that. Years ago I was once asked to slam a Jesse Malin album just based on the fact that Ryan Adams had produced it. I refused. However, when I listened to the album I found I wasn't particularly enamored of it. Still, I also didn't feel compelled to write about it one way or another.
Cole Younger wrote:
Thu Mar 03, 2022 6:52 pm
I love classic rock. Anybody too pretentious to enjoy it is probably not anybody I would want to be around in the first place.
This is probably beating a dead horse as it's something I've mentioned here in the past but I don't think of Classic Rock as a genre, I think of it as a radio format and/or a period of time in rock n' roll. For instance, when someone like Cheap Trick releases a new album, I don't think of it as "Classic Rock," I think of it as new music from an artist that has been around for a long time. Same for Neil Young, Bob Dylan, etc. That said, there are artist some of the critics seem to frown upon like the ones I mentioned in my previous post. Yet, they fall over themselves about the more indie/alternative artists. I love a lot of those artists as well, I just don't get the discrimination towards many of the artists that have come to be known as Classic Rock as though their music isn't worthy of the same sort of praise.

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Clams
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Re: What we like, Why we like and Why some things we don't

Post by Clams »

The people who post in the 3dd listening thread are the only critics I need. As for the RnR HOF it's all champagne hand jobs and kissing ass by everyone involved, and I couldn't give a shit about it. And classic rock is fuckin awesome, obviously.
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beantownbubba
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Re: What we like, Why we like and Why some things we don't

Post by beantownbubba »

There's a bell curve for criticism just as there is for everything else. Excellent critics at the extreme right of the curve are rare. I love reading excellent criticism. First, it's just plain good writing. Second, I learn a lot. Third, I learn about specific artists I never would have heard about otherwise. Fourth I become a better listener/watcher/reader because a good critic can teach one a lot about how to listen/watch/read and to understand what's going on beneath the surface. Most criticism boils down to some version of "I like/don't like x and I have better taste than you, so there." That's pretty worthless but that's not good criticism.

FWIW Patterson has said that Christgau's A- for Southern Rock Opera is what put DBT on the map. There's real value in that kind of thing.
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Kudzu Guillotine
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Re: What we like, Why we like and Why some things we don't

Post by Kudzu Guillotine »

beantownbubba wrote:
Fri Mar 04, 2022 11:30 am
FWIW Patterson has said that Christgau's A- for Southern Rock Opera is what put DBT on the map. There's real value in that kind of thing.
For whatever it's worth I believe he also wrote favorable reviews for the first two albums for The Village Voice as well. Used to, when you would visit the DBT's website in those days you would see pull quotes from reviews that would lead you to the Press section of the website. I believe it was a Christgau quote for either Gangstabilly or Pizza Deliverance that I remember from those days. In a FB conversation from not long ago I also recall Patterson mentioning David Fricke's review of Southern Rock Opera for Rolling Stone also playing a big part in bringing DBT's to people's attention that may not have heard of them previously. I remember when I saw them in Wilmington, NC right when SRO was released the crowd was sparse at best. When they returned 3 months later just after Isbell had joined the place was packed to the gills. I'm guessing that turnout the second time around may have had something to do with that review and good ol' word of mouth, likely mostly through the internet.

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Clams
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Re: What we like, Why we like and Why some things we don't

Post by Clams »

beantownbubba wrote:
Fri Mar 04, 2022 11:30 am
FWIW Patterson has said that Christgau's A- for Southern Rock Opera is what put DBT on the map. There's real value in that kind of thing.
Those were different times. When people subscribed to and read magazines. Nowadays actual critics are a lot harder to find and read and are much less influential.
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tinnitus photography
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Re: What we like, Why we like and Why some things we don't

Post by tinnitus photography »

Clams wrote:
Fri Mar 04, 2022 12:36 pm
beantownbubba wrote:
Fri Mar 04, 2022 11:30 am
FWIW Patterson has said that Christgau's A- for Southern Rock Opera is what put DBT on the map. There's real value in that kind of thing.
Those were different times. When people subscribed to and read magazines. Nowadays actual critics are a lot harder to find and read and are much less influential.
this is very true.

btw i do agree w/ BtB's take on a good critic; they are good writers and a solid review can pull things together that on first or second glance aren't obvious.

beantownbubba
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Re: What we like, Why we like and Why some things we don't

Post by beantownbubba »

Clams wrote:
Fri Mar 04, 2022 12:36 pm
Those were different times. When people subscribed to and read magazines. Nowadays actual critics are a lot harder to find and read and are much less influential.
Interesting statement because I think it is true and I could make that case, but it's also false and I could make that case as well. Call it the duality of the internet thing. For one thing, the old borscht belt line that "everyone's a critic" has never been more true because of the access afforded to just about everyone by the internet. OTOH, because of all the dreck that now clogs the information highway, a good critic is more valuable than ever and even being able to influence a relatively small number of people (compared to, e.g., instagram or tik tok influencers) can have an outsized influence on an artist's career and $. I could OT1H but OTOH this all day but just one more quick observation: Traditional mags, "name brands" if you will, have less influence than back in the old days, but now the "brands" belong to the individual critics (and other writers) which has its own set of pluses and minuses.
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Kudzu Guillotine
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Re: What we like, Why we like and Why some things we don't

Post by Kudzu Guillotine »

I love to read a well written article (or review) about music for reasons previously stated but what tends to lead to most of my music purchases are recommendations from friends and others with whom I share similar musical tastes. I've rarely been steered wrong there. Also, sometimes catching a new to me artist either at a festival, showcase, or opening for someone else.

beantownbubba
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Re: What we like, Why we like and Why some things we don't

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What used to be is gone and what ought to be ought not to be so hard

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