Bands I Should Like (but don't)

I came across an interesting list the other day while randomly perusing the internet. People were discussing the 'Bands I'm supposed to like, but absolutely don't..'

See... modern popular music has a weird stigma attached to it.. sortof an 'insiders' club. Do you ever find yourself listening to records that you don't particularly like, or understand, but trying to force yourself to get into the music based on the fact that everybody around you seems to be raving about it, and thus, you feel like you should too?

So what are yours?

The following are some of mine:

1. U2. I mean, everybody is supposed to love U2 right? Greatest rock band of the modern era.. hit after hit, etc. etc. I like what I see of their live concert footage, and I think I'll end up seeing them someday as a matter of course, but I'll be honest... I own "The Joshua Tree', and 'Vertigo'. I like the first 5 songs of The Joshua Tree, I generally find Vertigo annoying, and I'm always left with an overall sense of... 'what the heck is the big deal with these guys?'

2. The Rolling Stones. These guys are paraded around as one of the greatest rock bands in history. I find them completely unbearable. Jagger's voice is.. well, it is a lot of what it is, and they always strike me as being a sortof quickly assembled high school garage band.

3. Led Zeppelin. Sorry Boombatty. Oh... good gracious. ohhh... mercy mercy. Does it count that I'm falling in love with Robert Plant's duet album with Alison Krauss? (in spite of the fact that I every time he starts doing that yelping repetitious thing over Alison's voice that he always did in Zeppelin, I wanna reach over and backhand him?)

4. All Hip Hop. teehee.. no, but seriously, please read the following Billy Corgan quote: "No, I think there's a tremendous amount of work, but it's inherently a negative expression in my eyes. It values skills that aren't necessary at the end of the day. I thinkn it's done a lot of damage. I think it will be looked upon someday as a sort of embarrassment. I know that's very unpopular." Preach it.

5. Tragically Hip. What is it with Canadians and these guys??

6. Nirvana. I know, I know... timing and uniqueness... but seriously. How many times do I hear Nirvana on the radio? Every day. And how many times do I immediately change the station? Always... unless it's 'Smells Like Teen Spirit', in which case I juice it and air drum like my life depends on it.


And probably the biggest one of all.....

7. Pearl Jam. Not only is Eddie Vedder's voice the original incarnation of all that is evil in terms of that 'Seattle Vocal' sound (Creed, Nickelback, and every other man who sings with his mout half open and his chin jutted out) but these guys' average song length is about 27 minutes. So 'Alive' comes on, and you're like.. oh crap, it's Pearl Jam, so you flip the radio over to CBC radio 2 to get the traffic. 5 minutes later, you flip back only to find that Eddie and the gang are just dropping out of the final triple chorus and sliding straight into that outro section they do on every freaking song, where the one guitar line is just the chorus repeated, and then another guitar is doing a repetitive 3 note solo over top, and then above it all, Eddie is crooning.. 'aawww huhh, awww huhh, awww huhh, awww huhh, awww huhhh, awww huhh, awww huhh, awww huhhh, awww huhh, awww huhhh, awww huhh... and then eventually, the guitars mercifully give way, and everything drops down, and just one or two electric guitars are left doing 3 note solos, abeit quieter versions of what preceded them, and so now it's just Eddie, still crooning 'awww huhh, awww huhh, awww huhh, awww huhh, awww huhh.......'

And I swear, because everybody shares this inexplicable reverance for Pearl Jam, you know those announcers wouldn't DARE step over the end of the song to lead into the traffic report or the upcoming set. No... they just stay the heck away, and wait patiently while Eddie takes us all home.

My goodness.

I'm still alive.. ehhyehhyaaaawwwwhuuhhhh. ohhhhhhh I'm still alive.

But barely.

J