Reason I bring it up is because, for most his career, I could take or leave Billy Joel, but mostly leave. Only album of his I ever listened to for pleasure was Glass Houses, i.e., his New Wave move, and thus atypical; other than that, starting with "Piano Man," I kinda found him embarrassing.
The odd thing is, all these years later I suddenly think he's terrific. I even went to one of his now legendary run of shows at the Garden, and thought it was among the best concerts I'd ever attended.
"We Didn't Start the Fire" still sucks, though. 😎
Which leads us, inexorably, to today's business. To wit:
...and the artist you basically disliked in their prime but have -- seemingly inexplicably -- come to appreciate lo these many years later is...?
No arbitrary rules, and no, it doesn't have to be a superstar of any ilk. Just somebody who you didn't care for in their commercial heyday but now think are kinda cool.
Oh, and in case you're wondering, my choice -- aside from Billy Joel, obviously -- is Queen.
Who -- with the exception of one or two tracks -- I mostly couldn't stand back in the day. And then I saw the movie, and now I'm their biggest fan. Go figure.
I mean -- how did I not get how stone gorgeous this is? I mean, sweet Jeebus -- I can listen to that for the bass and drums alone!!! 😎😎
So -- who would YOUR choice(s) be????
Discuss.
And have a great weekend, everybody!!!
32 comments:
I hated the Grateful Dead from the minute I first heard "Casey Jones" and continued to hate them until the early 90's, when I heard an acoustic live show from 1970 (Dick's Picks 8) and realized what an amazing guitar player Jerry Garcia was. Then, I finally got it. And now I am a fan. Though I still don't like "Casey Jones."
Led Zeppelin. Of course I liked their music at least briefly when it came out, but I lost interest quickly. Much later I discovered Houses of the Holy and Physical Graffiti, and the Motherlode collection, and the songs from 4 that aren't Stairway. I can't say they are my favorite or anything, but I do appreciate their music.
My feelings about Billy Joel are the opposite of yours. I used to love him, now meh.
Fleetwood Mac. Still don't like the Peter Green era or post Rumours stuff though.
Fleetwood Mac post Peter Green pre Lindsey Buckingham is the best, and woefully overlooked.
The Danny Kirwan/Bob Welch era. Yes -- some wonderful stuff.
I was always meh on David Bowie, but I've been rediscovering his music lately, especially live recordings, where the music is much heavier rocking. Dude was good! Also, as a young'un I was put off by the slickness of a lot of black music (there was an element of unconscous suburban racism there, too), but now I love old-school funk.
The Sweet - too glam and bubble-gummy back then, but they did have some good tunes. (Still hate the Grateful Dead with a passion and still haven't caught onto Queen). I didn't like Billy Joel until I was gifted "Songs in the Attic".
Johnny Cash. "Ring of Fire" was his biggest hit in my area/era and I hated it. And he was country(!), about as uncool as you could get.
Then over the years I started to grudgingly notice all the great songs:
Too many to list.
The macho/religious/egotistical posturing still irritated, but I appreciated his political/humane leanings which he never compromised on, which took courage in the southern country world.
And he gave us Roseanne; reason enough to become a fan.
Here's my Fleetwood Mac Middle Years 1970-1974 compilation. Load it up into the streaming service of your choice and enjoy:
From Kihn House 1970:
1. This Is The Rock (Spencer)
2. Jewel Eyed Judy (Kirwin, J. McVie, Fleetwood)
3. Tell Me All The Things You Know (Kirwin)
From Future Games 1971:
4. Future Games (Welsh)
5. Lay It All Down (Welsh)
6. Sometimes (KIrwin)
From Bare Trees 1972:
7. The Ghost (Welsh)
8. Homeward Bound (C. McVie)
9. Bare Trees (Kirwin)
From Penguin 1973:
10. Remember Me (C. McVie)
11. Dissatisfied (C. McVie)
From Mystery To Me 1973:
12. Somebody (Welsh)
13. Believe Me (C. McVie)
14. Hypnotized (Welsh)
From Heroes Are Hard To Find 1974:
15. Heroes Are Hard To Find (C. McVie)
16. Silver Heels (Welsh)
17. Come A Little Bit Closer (C. McVie)
I was a teenager in the '80s. Always thought Springsteen was just a ham-fisted dork. His videos from the BITUSA era didn't help him. In the mid-90s, maybe because I'd grown up quite a bit, I suddenly "got him." He's been my favorite artist basically ever since.
Yes indeedy.
One of my Desert Island discs (top 10) is Future Games - still listen to it
Great list - I can see that you are also a Future Games fan
The story of a favorite band that I initially HATED then embraced is family lore.
We had friends who when we visited would put on "Can't Buy A Thrill".
I, once again hated it. "Get Back Jack So It Again...stupid
Everything changed when the Dan released its 2nd album "Countdown To Ecstasy " - I am still in love with the album and a life long S/D Fanboy
rob
Frank Zappa - with and without the Mothers. I actually saw them at one of the Roxy shows they filmed and I just didn't get it at all. Flash forward to 2006 when my startup audio training company was producing a title on live sound engineering and we had - somehow - set up Dweezil Zappa's backing band to be the band for the video. We just told them they could play whatever they wanted to - because we were just focused on all the engineering tech stuff - and Holy Shit! They had an upcoming tour and just ripped into a bunch of the song for that. I literally almost couldn't do my job. I just sat there and finally picked my jaw up off the floor and got through it, but man, I became a total Zappa completist at that point (no small feat with his discography!) Anyway, that's my story and I'm sticking to it!
Quick aside for fans of Kirwan/Welch-era Fleetwood Mac: go on YouTube and dial up the band on a German TV show called "Beat Club" doing a live version of a song called "Dragonfly" (the studio version was a non-LP single). The harmonies and the chords are gorgeous and Danny plays a beautiful guitar solo at the end of the song. Three minutes of bliss :-)
Queen. I didn't like them at first, not because of their music, but because someone I worked with, and didn't like, loved them. I almost didn't like The Who for the same reason, but fortunately, I already had a couple of their albums, and already liked them.
The Allman Brothers qualify for this for me, although it was more that there was really only one rock radio station I could pull in during my formative years, and the only ABB they played was “Ramblin’ Man” which I have never liked. And the ABB were lumped in as Southern Rock, right along with Molly Hatchet, 38 Special, and Lynyrd Skynyrd (I know that music mensch Al Kooper discovered them and produced them, but even a mensch can be wrong on occasion), so that was another reason to not get into them. But a few decades later, a friend hipped me to “At Fillmore East”…and the magic happened; great, great stuff. And the Warren Haynes/Derek Trucks era had plenty of great moments too, not just the stuff before Duane died.
On the Billy Joel topic, I was a teen when I saw him live, on the “52nd Street” tour, and yeah, he killed it; 45 years later, still one of the best shows I’ve ever seen. But I have a profound distaste of everything he’s put out starting with “An Innocent Man” so I don’t want to ruin my memories by seeing him again in concert.
And regarding Queen…”Fat Bottomed Girls” is great garage rock - could have been a Sonics song back in the day - but I don’t understand their current status as can’t do no wrong. But de gustibus non est disputandem…
The above is me; still haven’t gotten used to the latest Blogger interface…
Thanks, Rob. CJ
Countdown was and is a great one. My personal fave from SD. CJ
I liked the early Journey with Aynsley Dunbar. But when Steve Perry came on as singer, I disliked the guy's voice. Years later, I read an interview where he said he adored and emulated Sam Cooke (!), so I gave him another listen and now I get it.
I too had to get past Casey Jones, which does indeed suck, to realize the Dead put out some great music.
Always thought Mystery to Me was their best.
Hall and Oates. Best of the blue-eyed soul stuff IMHO. White hot hated the late 70's and early 80's stuff. But then I discovered Live from Daryl's House--and what a stupidly good vocalist Hall is (no, he cannot sing metal) and what talent his band has.
Won't say that I have completed a discography, but enough to scratch my itch.
I didn't actually dislike H&O in their commercial heyday, but of late I'm a raving fan. I think Live from Daryl's House was the game changer for me too. In any case, their 70s hits which either annoyed me or left me cold at the time now sound like genius. 😎
Live From Daryl's House had great visiting musicians.
I was a friend of the carpenter who built Daryl's House. Most of the wood came from old barns
Bee Gees. I hate to admit I started to like disco about 10 years ago..
I think 'Jive Talkin' was excellent. But what they were about to unleash...
Barry Manilow… just kidding. I still hate him.
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