Let's Just Get that asterisk outta the way right now.. It denotes that I hated either the very first exposure I had to a musical act, that later (sometimes much, much later) I came around to, and even loved. I rank these in the order of "how far they've come in my reversal of opinion," with number 1 being the band I thought sucked the most and then eventually liking the most now.... And with that...
10. Fleetwood Mac - In 1978, their Rumours LP was inescapable. Spin the dial all day long on your radio, and try to avoid "Dreams" or "The Chain"? FAIL.
It wasn't that they were just so overplayed, it was the importance that music critics were placing on them, as THE band of the 70's. Before that album was released, I was already so tired of "Rhiannon" I was ready to open up a vein if I heard Stevie Nicks' hideously raspy voice ever again. I still hate her voice to this day, but all the other things have since become quite bearable. I loved the video for "
Big Love," that used some pretty remarkable video editing for its time Their lyrics, at times sung so mumbly that I only understood them years later, are packed with reason and power. Lindsey's vocals, on the other hand, were impeccable. I can now sit through the entire album... once a year.
9. Stevie Ray Vaughn - Sometimes, a musician's style of music is so out of step with what is currently in style, and the stone cold blues of Vaughn was simply not on anyone's request lists in 1983. At least not any I saw. After I took more time, and listened to "
Cold Shot", it is now, and always will be, a favorite. RIP Mr. Vaughn.
8. Eric Clapton - As a kid, I didn't consider Eric Clapton anything more than a one-hit wonder with that infernally long, tedious "Layla" mucking up a perfectly innocent little kid's Saturday afternoon waiting for a new Elton John single to pop on the radio... Between, Clapton, The Who and Zeppelin, it was damn near impossible to hear anyone else in the early 70's and simple fatigue set in, and the extended length of Layla just drove me batshit crazy.. It never ended. I actually turned around when I heard the acoustic version 2 decades later. I circled back and fell in love with his late 80's stuff, such as "Lonely Stranger",
"Running on Faith" and "Old Love." I would seriously argue he was better after 1985 than before... Can I get an 'Amen'? (Tap... tap.... is this mic on?)
7. No Doubt - I think most acts on this list met with my wrath due to simply being overplayed by the nitwit FM radio programmers and the corporate bean counters at MTV.. "Don't Speak" seemed like a disjointed, whiny little bitch of a song that for some reason, kept getting played everywhere I turned.
I gradually heard other stuff from the kids from Orange County, and by the time their poppy "Rock Steady" LP came out in 2002, I was finally on board. 10 years late. Gwen Stefani is an absolutely awesome lyricist and songwriter, and I grew to like No Doubt purely out of
admiration for her skills. She made me question all that with her 2nd solo album "Love Music Angel Baby" and its odd fascination with Harajuku Japanese teenage pop culture...
6. The Grateful Dead - I can remember it like it was yesterday: 1970..sitting in my best friend's older brother's bedroom, staring at the black lights, and neon posters of Jerry Garcia and peace signs. I was 9 years old, and found the strange smells in his bedroom to be almost as annoying as the sloppy music emanating from his cheap 8-track tapes of the Dead. They were mumbling something about a Shakedown Street, and that stuff just goes right over your head, at age 9. The incense, the hippy nonsense and the demeanor of his idiot older brother shook me to my core... I would NEVER listen to that bunch of bearded freaks ever again. Until 1987.
For reasons I won't get into here, I had all kinds of help from my friends helping me ... adjust my attitude about the band. I loved the music video "Touch of Grey" and it showed me they were more whimsical than I took them for. None of their songs till then were relatable. No apparent love songs, just disjointed musings of some era I never participated in. Who sings a song called "Sugar Magnolia" on mainstream radio? The album "In the Dark" was their most popular (sales-wise) going double platinum, and brought a huge new set of fans to their concerts. Oh, the concerts! The joy there is something to behold. I dare you to not like the goofiness of "
Hell In A Bucket".
5. DePeche Mode - "Master and Servant" was such an eerie, droning sexually ambiguous song, that I simply wrote it off as a twisted anthem to all the early-adopter Goths out there. The only people who would react to a DePeche Mode song back then, dressed in pure black, wore guyliner, and had the most ridiculous hairdo's of any band's fans. They invited ridicule with their counter-culture fashions, and I was happy to add to the ridicule.
Then, I heard, "
Enjoy The Silence" and all was forgiven.
Before "..Silence," "Personal Jesus" sounded like another anthem only a Goth could worship at an altar, between sets of The Cure's similarly bleak sounding drum-machine laden death-march songs, such as "The Walk" or "Lullaby."
After " ..Silence" it fight right in. They toned down all the obnoxious reverb in the vocals, to where you could hear what the hell they were saying, and it revealed vulnerability, where before, it only seemed to be dark malevolent anger. These guys were going to last awhile, and had something meaningful to offer besides new-wave angst. The same became true of The Cure. I realized how much guitar The Cure used, and kicked myself for labeling them as a crappy synth band. I consider these 2 bands as the masters of the 80's sound. Everyone else except for U2 seemed to come and go. This brings me to U2.
4. U2 - I like a 4/4 drum beat. I like many variations on the 4/4 drum beat. U2 refused to play a 4/4 drum beat song for what seemed like forever. The snare-drum military sound of "Sunday Bloody Sunday" and the hyper speed of "I Will Follow" left me cold. I put up with some of their stuff in the years that followed. Then, in 1990, they released "
Achtung Baby." Wow. "
Mysterious Ways"... "One"... "Bad".... "Trying to Throw Your Arms Around the World" and on and on..... I've read that the time they spent arguing over the sound of that album nearly split the band up for good. Bono and the Edge wanted to embrace a more electronic sound, while Clayton and Mullins were stuck in the past. I am glad Bono won that dispute. The song "One" is what reconciled the band again... That album remains their best, hands-down, IMHO and sent me to their next concert at Mile High Stadium in Denver. I've been a staunch fan ever since, and I LOVED their latest album that was pushed down everyone's throats. It didn't taste so bad, did it?
3. Sara Bereilles -
If I heard "I'm not gonna write you a love song" one more time, I was gonna do something that might end up on the local news. That snarky sassafrass was overplayed by a factor of ten. And why in the hell was AT&T using "Brave" in their commercials that played every 3 minutes everywhere? I didn't even know that was her. Then I saw a YouTube clip of her singing Elton John's
"Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" and it was an absolute revelation. She took a song that no one dares to cover, and made it her own. Maybe better than the original? Changed the vibe completely..
She upstaged the legend himself. Then another YouTube clip played after that, ("
How Am I Gonna Get Over You?") and I felt foolish for not having a clue about her. Then "
King of Anything" .."Uncharted" .. "Brave" All awesome videos on YouTube. She covered Elton so well because she IS Elton...
At least she is this generation's Elton. Challenging, versatile to a fault, deep and fun all at once. Her song "
Hold on Heart" has the same heartbreaking power as "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me". If you've not seen her video presence, and her amazing live chops, check them out...By the way, I am getting tired of all the hype over Adele, with Billboard publishing an article naming Adele 21 as
the best album of all time? STFU! Bareilles is the real deal here. She writes everything, plays it, and kills it every time live. Her voice is every bit as amazing as Adele's, so this nonsense needs to end.
2. The Cars - In late 1979, I was into the semi-prog sounds of Kansas, Boston, and Styx. A debate soon ensued over which Boston band was better? Boston, or The Cars? I was incensed that they were being compared at all... The stripped down guitar and weirdness of "Just What I Needed" took nearly constant play by my college roommate to turn me around. In those days, that took effort. It was on cassette!
By the end of my freshman year in college, I loved The Cars, almost as much as I hated that first single. Their debut album is a must-hear for any self-respecting rock music fan of any age/era. It makes complete sense now, but it was just such a 180 degree for me then. Glad I turned around.
1. Coldplay - Trying to latch onto a musical trend in your 40's is like trying to join a game of double dutch jump rope. You see everyone jumping, and having a good time, but you can't see a way in, without tripping and killing the whole thing. They all seem to "get it" while you scratch your head and say "That?" Well, that was me with
"Clocks."
The somber repetitive piano melody, tied to an urgent, weird drumbeat along with lead vocalist Chris Martin's nasally voice, and an ethereal tone, just creeped me out. I just couldn't see what all the fuss was over. "Yellow" also seemed like an exercise in sad, nihilist futility. I found them boring and inconsequential. Their next album "X and Y" changed that. The same repetitive notes I hated in "Clocks" were tweaked in "Speed of Sound" and it sounded totally different. Uplifting, joyous. Innovative... Then I heard "Fix You" and "
The Scientist", with wonderful videos, such as the fully reverse-storytelling narrative in "The Scientist" video, and the rest is history... They can fill stadiums as fast as U2 or the Stones for 2 reasons:
they put on a HELL OF A SHOW, and there's something there for everyone. I am glad I kept listening.
That's it. The takeaways I'd like for any reader: listen ALL THE WAY through a song. So many songs end up entirely differently than they start out, and you could really miss out on a song rocking your world, which then leads to a band rocking your world.
For example, another band I hated was Matchbox 20. Rob Thomas's voice always seemed too over-expressive and melodramatic, that it was nails on a chalkboard. Then, they released "Bright Lights" and Thomas voice was toned down, and simply earnest, telling a story. The song starts out like it will be another cry in your beer waste of time, "she got out of town... on a railway New York bound...." but ends up rocking like crazy. It pays to hear a band out.
Bruno Mars, Neyo and yes, even Katy Perry are worthy listens to anyone who writes them off as top 40 drivel. They have got skills. Thanks for reading this far.
Next Post (Someday): 10 Beloved Bands That I Could Go The Rest of My Life and Never Hear Again.. Happily.
