Friday, February 09, 2024

La Fin de la Semaine Essay Question: Special "How Do You Say 'Comme C’est Prétentieux !' in Yiddish?" Edition

From 1993, please, er, enjoy (if that is the apt word) Anglo-French poseurs Stereolab and their nonetheless somewhat infectious ode to a "Lo Boob Oscillator."

Did I say enjoy? Jeez -- that track starts well in a sort of punk-Monkees way, but the instrumental second half is painfully unlistenable and seems to go on for about six hours.

In any event, I bring it up because I heard it for the very first time the other day -- in a TV commercial for Hotels.com, of all things...

...and it grabbed me immediately. Not knowing its authorship, however, I then did the research, and you can easily imagine my disappointment when I heard the song in its entirety.

Anyway, then it struck me -- I used to joke that I slept, musically speaking, through the '90s. And there was more than a grain of truth there, which is to say I was not hugely fond of most of the stuff on the radio back then (hell, I didn't decide I liked Nirvana till about ten years ago). And Stereolab was one of those bands I just couldn't be bothered with at the time.

Hey, I'm old and cranky. So sue me.

Anyway, that leads us to this weekend's business. To wit:

...and the critically well-regarded and/or commercially successful post New Wave-pre 21st century artist or band you most completely don't get on any level is...?

No arbitraary rules here, but obviously by post-New Wave we're talking about the mid-to-late '80s. So our time frame here is roughly from The Thompson Twins to Y2k.

Discuss/have fun.

And have a great weekend, everybody!!!

16 comments:

Sal Nunziato said...

Sleater Kinney. Horrible.

Gummo said...

The whole grunge movement - it was whining with fuzz pedals.

Took rock-n-roll from "fuck you" to "poor me."

Sal Nunziato said...

"Took rock-n-roll from "fuck you" to "poor me."

Brilliant.

Allan Rosenberg said...

Please don't spit on my grave when I'm gone:

Sonic Youth

Captain Al

mistah charley, sb, ma, phd, jsps said...

as a well-intentioned, somewhat forgetful elderly gentleman i can't specifically bring to mind the music i didn't like from those days - but i do recall that george harrison had cancer and was stabbed during that time span, and died soon afterwards, in the early 21st century

and speaking of the thompson twins, of course we all know they weren't really named thompson, and weren't twins, but i just found out courtesy of our friends at wikipedia that they carried on in 1993-96 after changing their band name to babble - their song 'take me away' could be seen as prententious, i guess, but i kind of like it

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Auzp4Yzs7Pg

paulinca said...

I found that much of the music labeled "independent" in the mid-to-late '90s that dominated mainstream commercial radio was boring. "Look, we're ironic!" or "mope mope mope" sure gave us a lot of bands that were cute for a hot minute. They're all playing at the local county fair this summer...

paulinca

Anonymous said...

Red Hot Chili Peppers, Counting Crows, Blind Melon, 4 Non- Blondes, Hoobastank, Incubus, Creed, Sister Hazel, Nickelback.... so, so much dreck to my ears

Anonymous said...

Joni MItchell. Oops, that's another thread, sorry.

Pearl Jam
Counting Crows
Red Hot Chili Peppers

I guess had I been in HS these would have resonated; alas I was in my early 30s.

Bless Nirvana for kicking the door open and ridding the world of hair metal, but the labels' signing frenzy led to a ton of garbage in its wake.

Pivoting off the above George Harrison mention, while undergoing cancer treatment his doctor brought his kid in and had him play for George. Also had him sign the kid's guitar when George could barely hold a pen. Thankfully, if I recall, the doctor was punished by a board of ethics.

Bob in IL

Gummo said...

I actually liked 4 Non Blondes and Blind Melon, but both were one-album wonders.

Nick Danger said...

Bob - Actually, it was at one of the Mayo Clinic hospitals and my source - who worked there - said the doctor got fired.

Alzo said...

The head guy is my neighbor but, sorry, I have just never gotten Wilco.

Anonymous said...

Nick Danger: Thanks for the George info.

My buddy: Didja ever listen to Wilco?
Me: Not intentionally.

Bob in IL

Anonymous said...

Red Hot Chili Peppers, Buns & Hoses, and Radiohead. The first is hair-metal to me: Empty, vacuous, teen-boy pretend rock where every 'song' sounds the same. The second: See #1, but I'll add that I also find it hard to listen to a vocalist who sounds like a cat getting raped. The third....I believe 'em, but save for a few songs, they just don't do it for me (and, oddly, the ones I like, I really like, so it seems to be all or nothing for me with Radiohead).
C in California

Anonymous said...

I'll second Sal's Sleater Kinney (tuneless dreck) and C in California's Radiohead (would someone put poor sad Thom Yorke out of his misery, please).

- Paul in DK

getawaygoober said...

Blues Traveler. Can hardly be called "blues" when Popper's harmonica sounds like a squeaky kazoo. Bob Hite is cringing in his grave.

Anonymous said...

Can't take Morrissey