... Okay, so mild rant ahead. Non-music junkies can probably skip ...
Can people please stop telling me that I *have* to love TV On The Radio? I've got their stuff, it hasn't done a whole lot for me. I'm sorry. No, honestly, I am. I know a lot of people love their stuff, but much of it just doesn't connect with me on any level. That isn't to say you can't love their stuff. By all means, love what you love. Please just stop treating me as though I'm strange because I don't like something everyone else is getting behind...
I get this problem every few years with bands. There's some new "it" band that critics everywhere are fawning over and I simply couldn't give a fuck. I'll hear some of their stuff and it just doesn't inspire or move me in any significant way. I get bored or disinterested, or it just fails to connect with me.
I sort of had this problem with Death Cab For Cutie a while back -- there's some DCFC songs I like, but a lot of it that just sounds whiny and pretentious to me. I don't get why people like Bjork, either. Or why people have been trying to convince me that Radiohead is still utterly brilliant, when I've been almost universally bored by their output post "OK Computer." I also never really understood what people saw in The Libertines. Or The White Stripes. Or The Strokes. Or a dozen other indie darlings that people kept telling me I simply "had" to enjoy.
I don't have to enjoy anything that doesn't connect with me. Sometimes stuff does, sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes I hear something and I'm just not in the right frame of mind to enjoy it, but will hear it later and fall in love with it. (Soul Coughing was a prime example of that...) And I most certainly try to avoid bashing on people because of their musical tastes. Want to enjoy Celine Dion? More power to you. If she inspires something inside of you, you go right on listening to her. Think John Mayer speaks only to you? By all means, carry on listening. (I personally think he's a great guitarist who's doubling as an okay songwriter, but hey, to each their own. My opinion is "less singing, more playing, John" but everyone likes different things.) Hell, my younger brother and I are pretty far apart musically on the scale of compatibility, and we don't razz each other anywhere near as much as I got when I told people that TV On The Radio just didn't do anything for me.
"They're on everyone's best of the year list! You have to like them!" Actually, I don't. "You like other stuff on people's best of the year lists!" Well, yes. But certainly not everything. I liked the new Sigur Ros album a lot (but still think ( ) is their best album), I loved Vampire Weekend's album (although the shine is starting to fade on me a bit, so I may be hearing it too much...), I was glad to see Ryan Adams' new album on some lists, I *still* don't get what all the fuss is about Bon Iver (again, does nothing for me) or Connor Oberst (and he's from my hometown, even), I don't know why MGMT's album wasn't on MORE lists (it truly was something remarkable) and I'm *still* wondering why people seem to be drooling over My Morning Jacket...
Look, I'm really not trying to be mean. I'm not trying to put anyone's music tastes down. Really, all I'm trying to say is that is music doesn't appeal to a person, that doesn't make it good or bad. Different things inspire different things in different people. I was amazed at the My Bloody Valentine concert last year (finally seeing them live after 17 years was great) but I certainly don't expect a lot of people to like their album "Loveless". I think it's gorgeous and transcendent, but a lot of people think it's just abrasive noise.
Music's a really subjective thing, and each critic is allowed to feel however they want to about music. A music review really is just a single person talking about how the sounds they hear affect them, and you ask ANY critic worth his or her weight in salt, they'll tell you it's just their opinion, and that your mileage may vary.
So please, stop telling me there's something wrong with me for not thinking TV On The Radio's "Dear Science" is the greatest thing invented since fire and I promise not to go on any long tirades about how much I really dislike *insert band name here*.
Unless you ask me for my opinion on *band X*, in which case all bets are off.
Can people please stop telling me that I *have* to love TV On The Radio? I've got their stuff, it hasn't done a whole lot for me. I'm sorry. No, honestly, I am. I know a lot of people love their stuff, but much of it just doesn't connect with me on any level. That isn't to say you can't love their stuff. By all means, love what you love. Please just stop treating me as though I'm strange because I don't like something everyone else is getting behind...
I get this problem every few years with bands. There's some new "it" band that critics everywhere are fawning over and I simply couldn't give a fuck. I'll hear some of their stuff and it just doesn't inspire or move me in any significant way. I get bored or disinterested, or it just fails to connect with me.
I sort of had this problem with Death Cab For Cutie a while back -- there's some DCFC songs I like, but a lot of it that just sounds whiny and pretentious to me. I don't get why people like Bjork, either. Or why people have been trying to convince me that Radiohead is still utterly brilliant, when I've been almost universally bored by their output post "OK Computer." I also never really understood what people saw in The Libertines. Or The White Stripes. Or The Strokes. Or a dozen other indie darlings that people kept telling me I simply "had" to enjoy.
I don't have to enjoy anything that doesn't connect with me. Sometimes stuff does, sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes I hear something and I'm just not in the right frame of mind to enjoy it, but will hear it later and fall in love with it. (Soul Coughing was a prime example of that...) And I most certainly try to avoid bashing on people because of their musical tastes. Want to enjoy Celine Dion? More power to you. If she inspires something inside of you, you go right on listening to her. Think John Mayer speaks only to you? By all means, carry on listening. (I personally think he's a great guitarist who's doubling as an okay songwriter, but hey, to each their own. My opinion is "less singing, more playing, John" but everyone likes different things.) Hell, my younger brother and I are pretty far apart musically on the scale of compatibility, and we don't razz each other anywhere near as much as I got when I told people that TV On The Radio just didn't do anything for me.
"They're on everyone's best of the year list! You have to like them!" Actually, I don't. "You like other stuff on people's best of the year lists!" Well, yes. But certainly not everything. I liked the new Sigur Ros album a lot (but still think ( ) is their best album), I loved Vampire Weekend's album (although the shine is starting to fade on me a bit, so I may be hearing it too much...), I was glad to see Ryan Adams' new album on some lists, I *still* don't get what all the fuss is about Bon Iver (again, does nothing for me) or Connor Oberst (and he's from my hometown, even), I don't know why MGMT's album wasn't on MORE lists (it truly was something remarkable) and I'm *still* wondering why people seem to be drooling over My Morning Jacket...
Look, I'm really not trying to be mean. I'm not trying to put anyone's music tastes down. Really, all I'm trying to say is that is music doesn't appeal to a person, that doesn't make it good or bad. Different things inspire different things in different people. I was amazed at the My Bloody Valentine concert last year (finally seeing them live after 17 years was great) but I certainly don't expect a lot of people to like their album "Loveless". I think it's gorgeous and transcendent, but a lot of people think it's just abrasive noise.
Music's a really subjective thing, and each critic is allowed to feel however they want to about music. A music review really is just a single person talking about how the sounds they hear affect them, and you ask ANY critic worth his or her weight in salt, they'll tell you it's just their opinion, and that your mileage may vary.
So please, stop telling me there's something wrong with me for not thinking TV On The Radio's "Dear Science" is the greatest thing invented since fire and I promise not to go on any long tirades about how much I really dislike *insert band name here*.
Unless you ask me for my opinion on *band X*, in which case all bets are off.
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