Artists everyone likes that you don't understand

[Rimshot]

Wow! You might as well just throw your radio in the dumpster. I do agree with 95% of your list.

Um...radio?

 

[Huw Phillips]

U2 I even met them and thought they were twats, lots of EDM, a lot of modern jazz .....

 

[Mike Whitfield]

I have so much hate that I must form categories. There are genres I generally hate - country, modern corporate pop, rap - even though I might like a very few songs or artists within those genres. Outside of that there are myriad acts that aren't my cup of tea (e.g. Springsteen, Dixie Chicks, Lennon without the talented Beatles, Zappa, Beyonce, Nickleback, Kanye, U2, Ed Sheeran, Adele, Lady Gaga, Bruno Mars, Madonna, Cher, Coldplay, Spice Girls, Ozzy Osbourne, Billy Eillish) but at least I can understand how they could appeal to someone else without that person having previously suffered serious cranial impairment. Often these acts have produced at least one song I like or can at least tolerate, and they can demonstrate some actual musical talent. Then there are artists who are huge successes whom I can't stand and don't understand how they ever became a thing because they seem to me to be utterly without talent - Ariana Grande, Taylor Swift (aka She who has an ass wrangler even though she has no ass), Lenny Kravitz, Justin Bieber. These are the performers that I literally do not understand how anyone can possibly like them. This last category is the one that utterly baffles me. Though to be fair, some of my all-time favorite bands (Grateful Dead, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Rolling Stones) are on a lot of people's lists.

 

[drumvsbass]

Meh. I’ll take a lighter roast for more caffeine than risk bitter acid water any day of the week... and I’ll STILL add Irish Cream creamer regardless

So you like things that are coffee flavored. Not coffee.

I'm obviously not being serious, but after working at a coffee house for several years, I always found it funny to see the burliest of dudes put half a cup of cream and 10 sugars in a small cup and they talk of how they love coffee. No. You love coffee flavored milk and sugar.
My aunt, who just turned 70, drinks it black as tar.This is her afterwards.

(also, it's the caffeine that makes it bitter...)

 

[Nevada Pete]

Almost any New Country song I don't get. That is, I don't get why anybody listens to it, or how they can listen to it. All of my friends except for one think the same way. And that women is tone deaf.

My barber and I were talking about this one Saturday, and he asked me, "Why doesn't anyone like Country?" I replied, "I think people like Country. It's New Country they hate." Dang! The whole joint erupted with people loudly saying, "Yeah, I hate New Country, etc., etc"! it was like pandemonium in there for a few minutes! There were 10 or 15 people in the barber shop of various age groups. It was incredible the emotion that comment stirred up.

I will say it's getting better. On terrestrial FM these days to my ear maybe every one out of fifteen or twenty songs they play is listenable. In that group, some of the tunes are outstanding.

 

[Obeseyus]

What did the Phish fan say when he ran out of weed? "Dude.....this music sucks".
Charles

A joke as old as time. I've heard it referring to both Pink Floyd and The Grateful Dead.

 

[Lagado]

I just play around with the lines, That Nickelback track for instance:

"This is how you remind me..." to

"In the pub's where you'll find me..."

 

[Nevada Pete]

Simon and Garfunkel. I have nothing against either of them, and I like some of Paul Simon's solo stuff. But the S&G albums, I just don't get it. I guess I just can't relate.

Maybe you didn't smoke enough weed.

 

[Dick Lont]

I like Bob Dylan covers, but not Bob Dylan originals.

 

[Nevada Pete]

Comrade Springsteen . How does one get to be the Boss when they never had a real job? And stopping in the middle of his show for a political rant from someone so out of touch, But so Desperate to belong that he had a 69 Chevy with a 396 Fulie heads and a hurst on the floor. But a 396 is a big block and Fulie heads were small block so as with all his songs he proves he is just a POSER

Yeah, and the fulie heads were available without Rochester fuel injection.

 

[pbass2]

It's just personal taste. And I totally understand. Because I think Chris Cornell was arguably the greatest rock vocalist, ever! (RIP)

He was killer. Even though the "Seattle Sound" didn't do it for me generally speaking, he was the one thing that stood out. Heck, I LOVE his performance on the James Bond theme he did.

 

[FishDub]

Wham! I get the George Michael thing, but did he really need a dance partner to launch a solo career?

Our foremost and prominent resident expert on everything George Michael, @armyadarkness, should be along any sec to resolve this "yoyo-wake-me-up-before-I-no-no" business.

I will agree to a point Spidey but I listen to them here and there for Deon Estus ONLY;-)

 

[Nevada Pete]

Nah. When I started this thread, I was thinking of two artists in particular, one who was very popular back in the day and the other that has a devoted fan base even now. There's nothing about those artists that I have a visceral or intense dislike of, per se. One of them has written some great songs but everyone raves about his voice, which I find average at best. So it's not about dislike. It's about not understanding why some artists who seem average to me are exalted by others.

But, again, it's just taste. Everyone's got their preferences, and we're all different. That's not a bad thing.

I think a lot of it, maybe more than we would like to admit, has to do with the promotion budget. When there was such a thing, that is.

The old adage used to be: People don't know what they like. They like what they know.

 

[FishDub]

Was talking with someone this evening about this. He brought up a song and I said I just don't get how anyone liked that artist. Then I mentioned another artist i also feel that way about. I probably shouldn't even name them because I know that at least one would offend a very large number of people here. But, really, have you ever just listened to music by someone popular and said, "I just don't get it?" Sure you have.

Taste is subjective, that's the lovely thing. We all have things we love and hate, and none of us are the same. But it's funny, isn't it?

Foo Fighters, Mumford and Son, Florence and the machine

 

[JeezyMcNuggles]

Oh God, definitely Khruangbin. There seems to be a big buzz about them, they're getting good reviews and all, but I don't get it (and I listen to instrumental music almost exclusively). Their stuff bores me to tears.

What the hell is Khruangbin? I'm checkin them out

 

[Rib 13]

This is *EXACTLY* what makes life worth living! Imagine for a moment living in a world where we all like the same thing, have the same opinions of everything, drive the same make/model/color of car, live in identical houses, choose the same clothing, eat the same food, play the same brand and color of bass, use the same type of bass amp, and like the same exact music. That would be a freakish, overly-creepy science-fiction world that I would never want to live in! So when someone expresses an opinion/like/preference that differs from mine, I breathe a sigh of relief thinking how incredibly fortunate we are that we don't live in that awful world of everyone liking the same thing.

For example, in my opinion, rap, hip hop, country, grunge, and blues all suck bigtime! Should someone be offended by me having that opinion just because it differs from theirs? No! That would be silly and juvenile. That would be like someone being offended because I like eating sushi and they don't. They should be thankful and relieved that we don't live in the freakazoid world of everyone liking the same thing. That's why I always encourage everyone to pursue whatever brings them happiness in life (as long as it does not involve hurting others). So if someone says to me that they love a type of music that happens to make me vomit, I smile and say "very cool" and I encourage them to keep enjoying it because that is the music that brings them happiness!

Please note that I didn't have all of that figured out when I was a youngster in my 20's and 30's. Back then, my under-developed brain couldn't understand how someone could not like what I like. Somewhere in my 40's, the light bulb finally went on in my head and I "got" it. I'm 63 now, and life has been so much more enjoyable and relaxing for the past 20 years since the "enlightenment" happened! It's very liberating!

Oh, and since some posters are listing specific artists, here are some that make me barf:

Foreigner
Skynyrd
Sting
U2
Clapton
Springsteen

Im going to go out on a limb and say that most people responding in this thread know that, including myself......... but that just takes the fun of the discussion away

 

[devnulljp]

Prince. I just don't get the adulation. Not just the music, but the constant gushing about what a genius he was. I don't hear it, and can't listen to his music for more than about 15 min without the 'meh' setting in (and I really tried). Just not my thing.

 

[MrLenny1]

Prince. No offense,RIP.
All I heard was a little James Brown & Michael Jackson

 

[Snibborwocky]

Pretty much everyone on Billboard's Top Artist 100 list. I just don't have time to type out all those names. I'm going to go eat some carrots now.

 

[Frank77]

What the hell is Khruangbin? I'm checkin them out

It is a reverb-drenched guitar wanking, super repetitive/as quiet as possible drum playing, wig-wearing bore fest is what it is. Or pure musical genius, apparently.