Recently.
I’m ashamed to say this, but at 66 I’ve just really ‘got’……the Rolling bloody Stones!
This is after watching ‘Keith Richards, my life as a Rolling Stone’.
I’d never heard Gimme Shelter live before, but the Havana Moon version with Sasha Allen with Mick Jagger got my attention.
& is Keith Richards cool or what?
Yours, on a postcard please?
ABBA, they were at their peak when I was a pimply youth obediently liking what the NME told me to like until I realised they were a bunch of upper middle class white boys ( post tony parson’s) from the home counties (NME journos, not Abba obvs).
The Beatles, don’t like the early stuff. Then they disappeared up their own fundament. Macca is so overrated I can’t believe people hang on his every utterance.
Mind you if I knew hee haw about musicians or “the famous” then I’d be perfectly happy.
Coldplay. I despise them, Chris Martin is a bit of a wazzock and has churned out decades of utter dross.
But during a bout of prescription medication induced depression, for some reason, ‘Fix You’ appeared on something I was listening to. Bloody hell, that’s a cracking bit of indie pop balladry, that is.
I’m not sure Kae Tempest could be classed as big, but this absolutely changed my opinion of them. The first segment is so powerful, so raw. Blew me away.
Elvis in my case, I associated him with a series of naff films usually shown on black and white TV at Christmas with Hula girls and cheesy tunes. Then Youtube came along and I played a few vids of James Burton which led to Scotty Moore and the original Elvis formation with Bill Black riding his bass and DJ Fontana on drums. Those guys could rock and Elvis was the perfect front man.
As for the Stones, whilst I love his guitar work and even his singing I can’t cope with keef’s manner. This is 2022 and cats are things people have as pets.
sorry, was responding to 100th, who seems to have read the thread as ‘big bands I don’t get’ and missed the important bit.
I was thinking the same thing and read your post as such.
I’m not sure Kae Tempest could be classed as big, but this absolutely changed my opinion of them.
Yeah now that’s a good shout. I’ve been hearing their work for years thinking I’m not really into poetry and stuff, but I heard a performance this summer that absolutely captivated me and been meaning to dig into kae’s work.
U2, until a mate played ‘War’, and it started with ‘Sunday Bloody Sunday’. ‘Joshua Tree’ I think is when they peaked.
I don’t have the ‘hate’ for Bono, he can be a bit up himself, but he’s passionate about human rights, and does get carried away, but I don’t have a problem with that.
I love my music and like bands from a wide range of genres, but the Cure were never really on my radar even at their peak. I suppose I previously regarded them as 6th form gothicy emo depressing dirge.
During lockdown I compiled quite a few WFH playlists and I included a few of their tracks, which I found I enjoyed, and which led me to explore more of their back catalogue.
They probably won’t ever feature in my top ten bands but I am now of the opinion they wrote some decent pop songs as well as some more weightier tunes.
I don’t have the ‘hate’ for Bono, he can be a bit up himself, but he’s passionate about human rights, and does get carried away, but I don’t have a problem with that.
Ghost, when the first album came out a few mates were banging on about them, I bought it ready to have my socks blown off only to have a massive ‘meh’ reaction, mainly due to Tobias’s very soft vocals I suspect.
Fast forward 10 years and I’m looking for music my nipper will like and gave Ghost a try, he took to them like a duck to water and suddenly something about the song writing just clicked, love ’em now.
I think most big bands only have a period of good music. The beatles got better when they started taking drugs and stopped making music for teenage girls, the rolling stones had a solid 5 years then decades of crappness. The doors I never got until I started taking drugs.
As a massive R.E.M. nerd I’d always hated U2 as being overblown bombastic nothing music fronted by a shady donkey.
UNTIl
inadvertently gatecrashing a birthday party in an Auckland Irish pub we all got extremely drunk and watched an amazing (probably) U2 tribute band. By the end of the set I knew all the words and could sing them at the top of my voice, converted! Soundtracked the rest of our trip and I’m still fond of them for those memories.
I’ll go with Rolling Stones too. Unfortunately it was my Dad dieing that got me listening. He was never really into music, but through the long sleepless nights he had battling cancer, using his newly acquired iPhone, he started listening to music and enjoyed the Stones. When he died, I listened to the Gimme Shelter album and was a bit hooked. It’s bitter sweet listening, but enjoyable.
Other than that, The Killers. Saw them live in Las Vegas in 2006 and binged from there.
Growing during the Madchester / Rave era I was more interested in clubs and warehouses whilst a couple of the uncool mates liked Wu Tang and the Beastie boys. It wasn’t until MCA died I wished I’d went to see them and also Wu Tang who are immense. For really big artists Prince was another , would donate a left testi to have seen him. Only recently got into Mogwai , Arab strap and freightened rabbit . Whilst none of these are big I can still and have actually been to see two of them .
I never liked any music other than rave /dance…..then I started to learn electric guitar…now I’m loving the old 60s-90s rock and blues….right now I’m loving ” one way out” Allmans brothers.
It’s crazy…everyday I’m finding great stuff to listen to…its like my ears are suddenly open
Cheeky if you like the Allmans try The Black Crowes, start with Wiser Time and Descending from Amorica or the Southern Harmony album. Marcus King also some of that soulful southern rock feel.