Albums you do not get...a plea for help and understanding


So like most of you (I bet), I listen to tons of music.  But there are just some albums I never learned to appreciate.  I hope this thread can serve as a teaching tool.  I did not get Mingus at first but now he is one of my favorites.

Perhaps ending each post with, "What am I missing?" would be a good idea.

I will start with Graceland by Paul Simon.  Most of my friends call me crazy (still after all these years...OUCH that was bad) but I never desire to listen to this record.  I get the African influence and rhythm but it just does not impress me.  Alternatively when Peter Gabriel did the African influence thing I found it stunningly good. Paul Simon as a musician impresses me in his other works.  What am I missing?

bancsee

Lou Reed's Metal Machine Music was a disappointment to say the least. I had just discovered Rock n Roll Animal and MMM was my second album. Should have bought Transformer instead. 

To me the Grateful Dead was a live band.  Bluegrass on drugs, literally and figuratively.  Their studio stuff did lack energy, though the album Reckoning is great.  But that is live in the studio even.  Joni Mitchell is where I go off the rails, though I can wrap my head around her lyrical prowess.  My folks never had music playing in the house and we had only classical, country and what is now considered classic rock on the radio where I grew up. None of which was interesting at the time.  A friend had cable and I got hooked on the very beginnings of MTV.  Sad but true.  And DEVO is one of the most anti-establishment bands of all time, more punk than most punk but without the angry facade.  Satire at its finest. Except for "whip it"- who knows what that was.  

Totally agree on 

...sorry.  Totally agree on how we chase the sound of our formative years.  

 

Bands that are, or were, really big and popular that I can’t understand the appeal: Rush - my all time most hated band by a wide margin - words can not describe how awful I think their music is.

Boston - just ughh

U2 - first album is pretty good, and it went downhill from there, and Bono is just the worst

Aerosmith - again, just ughh 

For context, some of my favorite artists are:

Yo la tengo- Juana Molina - Califone - Willie Nelson - Talking Heads - Iron and Wine - Miles Davis, and many, many more

Hey @therobert,  I love your opinion on Rush's music.  I happen to be a Rush fan, but I have definitely heard similar comments from a few people, even from a colleague who happens to be from Canada.  😀

I have to say I only like their early stuff.  I stopped following them after the "Signals" LP.