Books, Movies, Music & Entertainment - Classic Albums That Don't Move Me

Queen: A Night At The Opera

Cream: Disraeli Gears

Allman Brothers: At Filmore East

Wilco: Yankee Hotel Foxtrot

Eagles: Hotel California

Derek And The Dominos: Layla

Beatles: Sgt Pepper

In all cases of the above, I've tried, really tried, to connect with the music, but I just can't. Now I'm getting old enough where I can say, probably never will. I bought into the hype of the new McCartney cd and the anniversary of Pepper and took out my well worn copy and played it for the first time in many years. Maybe I was in a foul mood, but, trickery aside, many of the songs just aren't that good to these ears.

For me its the entire Greatfull Dead catalog.

For me its the entire Greatfull Dead catalog.


Not a fan of Dead, either. Never understood the fanaticism surrounding that band.

Me: Entire Led Zeppelin Catalog.

WOW ,you just eliminated so many definitive works, varied works at that. What DO you like ?? Any hint at all? Are you 20 years old yet ? I can understand not loving all of them but no liking ANY of those. Define "moving" . Seems fishy.

Me: Entire Led Zeppelin Catalog.
NOW you're talking. OP, what have you to say about ZEP ??

I can't get into Pink Floyd. I can sometimes listen to some of the really early Syd Barret stuff because of it's weirdness, but that's all.

Layla is a good solid album that highlights Clapton before he became boring. It was among my favorites at one time.

On the last Grateful Dead tour my wife and I were given tickets and backstage passes to the show. As a veteran of hundreds of concerts as a 70’s teen, I kept wondering why I wasn’t as excited as I thought I’d be.

We went to the show. Got a tour of the stage before the concert, met some of the band members, walked with, but didn’t talk to, Jerry Garcia. And nothing. No connection for me.

I have never bought a GD album and hardly every listened to a full song. I thought maybe this concert would give me some kind of transformation. Nothing.

I was told there was a section during the concert called “Drums In Space” and that this was a good time to get a beer and take a pee. Instead it was the final nail in the coffin. The show had been so boring up to that point. I kept waiting for something to happen. The crowd was as bad as the music. I’d rather be mowing my lawn.

We left.

Grateful Dead, Led Zeppelin or Pink Floyd.

I can't stand them.

U2 - The Joshua Tree
REM - Automatic for the People

BORING.

might as well jump in here.
Firstly its difficult for me to separate the emotion/memory from the album and
be subjective.
Led Zep I and II were excellent, III so so and after that they became rather
pretentious.
I cannot (and refuse) to listen to GNR, I think Axel is an absolute tool and over rated. My cat
yowls better than he can sing.
Lynrd Skynrd does nothing for me, I think I like one song, everything else is mediocre at best
(but Freebird highly colors my sophmore year in college it played in every room except mine).
The Dead, take em or leave em. I was never a deadhead, only song I really like is Touch of Grey.

but as I said before it's difficult to seperate the emotion from the song/lp. Sgt Pepper will always
be at my friends apt in NY, and quite colourful. Magical Mystery Tour will be the breakfast joint
we used to frequent before school in Bed Stuy.

Marty

I have never been even faintly amused by Sgt. Pepper--maybe I'm too young. Rubber Soul and Revolver, just before it, knocked me out when I first heard them and they were both about fifteen years old then! I've always thought that Pepper was a matter of rich guys with too much dope and too much studio time.

1. Never have seen the big deal with Eric Clapton. It's like Blues for people who prefer their Blues with absolutely no soul whatsoever.

2. Except for perhaps the first couple albums, Sting's entire solo career.

3. Anything by John Cougar Mellencamp, Bruce Springsteen, U2 and REM post 1990.

If you like any of the above, it's probably a good sign you are well past middle age and your kids are very embarrassed of you. Drop them off a little distance from wherever they're going.

Pink Floyd, the Dead, Skinnerd, Deep Purple, Zepplin.....almost all the
70's icons except the 'Stones...
I :love: the Stones !!

Thank goodness for NY rock and the sEx PiSt0Ls !! :D

the entire Yes catalogue

I liked early Clapton (John Mayall's Bluesbreakers, Cream), but everything after Derek and the Dominoes I could care less about (and IMO Derek and the Dominoes is only good because Duane Allman played on it...)

Rod Stewart after he left the Small Faces

Eddy Van Halen: I heard him say that he grew up listening to Eric Clapton, and that to him Hendrix sounded ''weird'' - I am still so embarassed for that fool.


Red Hot Chili Peppers: What kind of country is this where these guys can make hundreds of millions of $$ and the members of Fishbone - another punk/funk/ska band from LA with only 27 times more talent is living on welfare checks and some miserly royalties?


Kenny G: He may not be a rock guy, but he is loved throughout the world - probably second only to Michael Jackson. I thank God my dad used to play John Coltrane when I was a kid, and that I got to listen to Fela Kuti so that I could come to know what a saxophone is really supposed to sound like. His music is truly ubiquitous throughout the world, you could probably travel to the outerskirts of timbuktu and you'd still find somebody playing Kenny G.. I never understood 'why' ?? He is corrupting the entire planet, and he is white-washing the vulnerable brains of millions.. make it stop.

Red Hot Chili Peppers: What kind of country is this where these guys can make hundreds of millions of $$ and the members of Fishbone - another punk/funk/ska band from LA with only 27 times more talent is living on welfare checks and some miserly royalties? Couldn't have said it better myself, including the reference to Fishbone. Only song I ever liked by them was Under the Bridge, but other than that, I just don't like their sound overall. A little too hollow for me...

I also never really got into the Dead, but then I haven't had all that much exposure to them either.

Another more contemporary band I've never really liked is the Dave Matthews Band. I understand that they're all amazing musicians, but their music quite frankly bores me. Oh, and I can't stand Dave's voice...

1. Never have seen the big deal with Eric Clapton. It's like Blues for people who prefer their Blues with absolutely no soul whatsoever.

2. Except for perhaps the first couple albums, Sting's entire solo career.

3. Anything by John Cougar Mellencamp, Bruce Springsteen, U2 and REM post 1990.

If you like any of the above, it's probably a good sign you are well past middle age and your kids are very embarrassed of you. Drop them off a little distance from wherever they're going.
True all except for the first John Mayall and the BluesBreakers album with Clapton on lead guitar; a great blues album and one of the few decent ones by a blue-eyed performer; another was the second John Mayall album with Peter Green replacing Clapton. My genuine vinyl LPs are getting moldy as well as oldie but still sound good.

The Beatles aren't my cup of tea, or Dave Matthews for that matter.

Never got into the Stones myself. Dylan... I admire his skill at songwriting.

When Paul Simon put out "Graceland" it was supposed to be the greatest album since, well the beginning of time, according to the critics. It literally put me to sleep. Also, almost any album that wins a Grammy for album of the year is likely to be a dud IMHO. I'm a Beatles fan, but the new Paul Mcartney CD really blows.

the entire Yes catalogueReverse your aging process so that you become a teenager again, then add LSD. You'll see the light.


Note: This advice holds true for a lot of the albums listed so far.

Couldn't have said it better myself, including the reference to Fishbone. Only song I ever liked by them was Under the Bridge, but other than that, I just don't like their sound overall. A little too hollow for me...

I also never really got into the Dead, but then I haven't had all that much exposure to them either.

Another more contemporary band I've never really liked is the Dave Matthews Band. I understand that they're all amazing musicians, but their music quite frankly bores me. Oh, and I can't stand Dave's voice...

+2

Give A Monkey a Brain... is still one of my favorite releases by any band. I bet they were a great live show.

This may surprise you but "Lawrence Welk Band plays Frank Zappa Hits" does nothing for me.

Never got into the Stones myself. Dylan... I admire his skill at songwriting.

Then perhaps you should listen to Woody Guthrie sometime and you will see where all of his "skill" came from.

Anything by The goddamn Sex Pistols, later Clapton, late Van Halen and the modern Guns and Roses. Old Guns and Roses was incredible, I don't care what you say.

Pet Sounds...meh.

I hate LAYLA. especially the part where Whoever Allman enters the song with his squealing pig.

t

Wilco: Yankee Hotel Foxtrot



NOT classic and certainly not very moving. Try Summerteeth.

Eric Clapton, The Beatles, Cream, Stix, The Eagles besides Hotel California, Foreigner, and the Amboy Dukes.

Derek And The Dominos: Layla

Beatles: Sgt Pepper



Ok, I have to say Bell Bottom Blues is one of the greatest songs ever and if it were the only song of note on the album it would still be worth it. As for Sgt. Peppers, it's not a traditional album and isn't well served by listening to the individual tracks. It's a lot more like a classical record were you have to listen to the whole thing through to appreciate it.

Sounds like an "age" issue to me. You're not supposed to like your parents music, kid.
Not when you're young anyway. Then later in life, when you grow a brain -and I don't mean "you" as in you personally- and your tastes broaden and grow up a little, you discover how cool some of the old s**t sounds.

Janis Joplin. No matter how many times I hear people say she was so emotionally stirring, I just don't get it.

Anything by:

The Doors. (Great movie, awful band.)

The Dead. (Fun fans, awful music.)

The Mothers. (Wonderful musicians, awfully adolescent.)

:p

I don't really like much by the Beatles and I can't stand Elvis.

Stones fan since '64.

First off, I grew up on a heavy diet of jazz, while all my friends were doing the normal rock/pop thing. So I'll start with that: John Coltrane's "A Love Supreme"....sucks. I've tried. But I cannot stand it. Nor anything from that late period Colrtrane.

Now, I came to rock rather late in life. Mostly my thirties. But when I get into something I really dive in head first. So the entire rock catalogue was all new to me as I listed to tons of stuff in the 90's. I tasted everything from Buddy Holly to Sonic Youth (and beyond).

My "dead-to-me Classic Album List:

Led Zepplin (all)
Grateful Dead (all)
Eric Clapton (all)
Jimi Hendrix (all)
The Doors (all)
Boston (all)
Styx (all)
Van Halen (all)
Aerosmith (all)
AC/DC (all)
Metallica (all)
Guns and Roses (all)
Kiss (all)
Michael Jackson (all)
Red Hot Chilli Peppers (all)
Bruce Sprinstein (all)
Genisis (all)
Bon Jovi (all)

I'm sure I'm leaving plenty off.

You may ask, "what then do you actually like"? Well, come to my house. I have a collection in the thousands, and thousands, of great vinyl and CDs. The Beatles I love (but not as much as many... I have my skeptical moments with them). REM-love 'em, even the recent stuff. Nirvana. Liz Phair (early stuff). Green Day (not everything), Oasis (some), Blur, Radiohead, Yo La Tengo, Tom Waits, The Shins, Guided By Voices, Pink Floyd, Death Cab For Cutie. I could go on and on. I like tons of stuff, but I don't buy into 'fashion' or what others say I should like. It speaks to me or it doesn't.

People are so fixated on what they don't like. It bothers me. I think a lot of people insist that they dislike things that they have never given an honest listen, or taste, or what have you. I think it is a part of our obsession as a culture with individualism that people create these meaningless laundry lists of things they hate so that they will appear to have taste, and the more unconventional the supposed taste the better. Not liking something just because everybody else likes it is just as stupid as liking something because everybody else does.

That said-I think the Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, and Led Zeppelin are three of the best bands that have ever been. Their catalogs are without parallel in pop or rock music. John Coltrane's 'a love supreme' may be the best jazz record ever written.

I guess you guys are all entitled to your opinions-I just question whether or not those opinions are based in an atmosphere of true intellectual honesty.

Rod Stewart sucks.

Although I've listen to these bands as a teen and later as an adult, They just do nothing for me.

The Beatles....was never impressed and I'm still not.
The Rolling Stones...their O.K. but again...I think overrated.
Grateful Dead...I've heard not one single thing that I thought showed real talent. Most of it sounds like a drug induced haze. Oh wait...that's what is is supposed to be!
U2...This is one of those bands that I keep giving a listen to expecting to come to some epiphany and end up asking myself... what the hell do people see in these guys?
While there are parts of their catalog I like, I think the Eagles are overrated as well.

People are so fixated on what they don't like. It bothers me. I think a lot of people insist that they dislike things that they have never given an honest listen, or taste, or what have you. I think it is a part of our obsession as a culture with individualism that people create these meaningless laundry lists of things they hate so that they will appear to have taste, and the more unconventional the supposed taste the better. Not liking something just because everybody else likes it is just as stupid as liking something because everybody else does.

That said-I think the Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, and Led Zeppelin are three of the best bands that have ever been. Their catalogs are without parallel in pop or rock music. John Coltrane's 'a love supreme' may be the best jazz record ever written.

I guess you guys are all entitled to your opinions-I just question whether or not those opinions are based in an atmosphere of true intellectual honesty.

Rod Stewart sucks.

Coltrane is one of the greatest geniuses in all of music, but Love Supreme is just no good (at least to me...especially the "love supreme, love supreme chanting" (and same goes for all his later mystical , exploratory catalogue).

I'm not going to 'defend' my laundry list, but as I've stated, I am a serious music man. I actually played saxophone professionally here in NY for a number of years. I'm a jazzer first and foremost, but came to love all kinds of rock and pop and learned the bass and guitar to get even closer to the music I like. It's just that I know exactly what sounds I love and what I respect as a fellow musician. It's a mystery to me how one can love the Beatles and at the same time love Hendrix, or Zepplin--they are nothing alike. I guess for me, it's ALL about the art of songwriting. I don't care for posturing and stage antics or what is hip to like. I get off on the integrity and beauty of the music.

Edit: I'm aware that I'm extremely opinionated!! (To some I may be closed minded, but I say no to that. I've tried it all. I just know what pushes my buttons, honestly and without fashion)

People are so fixated on what they don't like. It bothers me. yea

but the Beach Boys always get on my nerves
These days, any American Idol winner makes me wish we had satelite radio here. I like local acoustic stuff, so I'm a drop out. (I bet this crowd hates Jack?)

yea

but the Beach Boys always get on my nerves
These days, any American Idol winner makes me wish we had satelite radio here. I like local acoustic stuff, so I'm a drop out. (I bet this crowd hates Jack?)

American Idol makes me want to throw up. (Jack's cool in my book. First heard his music on a boat in Key West...will for me forever be the sound of warm weather and nice water. He's a good guitar player as well.)

I'm sorry if it seemed that my rant was directed at you, gfrance. This is just a pet peeve of mine (if you couldn't tell). I know Jimi, Zeppelin, and the Beatles are completely different. I love them for different reasons and don't feel that what makes them good is posturing or stage antics. I totally agree with you that songwriting is the most important element of music. While being technically adept (Steve Vai for instance) is interesting-groups that only have that virtuosity going for them tend not to do it for me. I think some people (particularly musicians) get too wrapped up in that and lose sight of what really makes good music.

What Jimi, Zeppelin, and The Beatles do have in common is soul. Say what you like, but I hear and feel soul music when I listen to them (and I don't just mean the blues that they are all rooted in) and that is a key element for me. I enjoy music from many genres and find it boring to only listen to groups that sound similar.

You probably don't like '*****es Brew' or Miles' later stuff, eh? How about Sun Ra? Jazz is no temple to be kept pure. At least that is how I feel. Coltrane laid his soul on that record. It is beautiful. I'm sorry you don't hear it.

I'm sorry if it seemed that my rant was directed at you, gfrance. This is just a pet peeve of mine (if you couldn't tell). I know Jimi, Zeppelin, and the Beatles are completely different. I love them for different reasons and don't feel that what makes them good is posturing or stage antics. I totally agree with you that songwriting is the most important element of music. While being technically adept (Steve Vai for instance) is interesting-groups that only have that virtuosity going for them tend not to do it for me. I think some people (particularly musicians) get too wrapped up in that and lose sight of what really makes good music.

What Jimi, Zeppelin, and The Beatles do have in common is soul. Say what you like, but I hear and feel soul music when I listen to them (and I don't just mean the blues that they are all rooted in) and that is a key element for me. I enjoy music from many genres and find it boring to only listen to groups that sound similar.

You probably don't like '*****es Brew' or Miles' later stuff, eh? How about Sun Ra? Jazz is no temple to be kept pure. At least that is how I feel. Coltrane laid his soul on that record. It is beautiful. I'm sorry you don't hear it.

Very well said my man!! Technical virtuosity, just for the sake of it, does little for me either. I can appreciate how good Eddy Van Halen is, but as music, it does nothing for me. I could say the same for any number of jazz musicians as well (and even classical--I tend to not care for the showy concertos and stuff).

And we agree on the idea that too much sameness is boring. I don't want everybody to sound like the Beatles. When I say Hendrix sounds nothing like them I mean it, but I don't dislike Hendrix for that reason. I want as much variety in music as I can get. I listen to everything from ancient Medieval music to the current Radiohead album. But I screen out that which doesn't push my buttons (whatever those are... I still am not always sure what it is that does it.) And I am very opinionated for sure... I know that rubs some the wrong way.

Yeah, you're right... not a fan of electric Miles. But, his early to mid stuff is just so awesome. Maybe I'm stuck in a kind of traditional thing. That said, I also agree with you that jazz shouldn't (and isn't) a temple of purity. I LOVE the current jazz scene today. Tons of truly great stuff getting recorded right now. I love Brad Mehldau, The Bad Plus, the singer Tierney Sutton, Jason Moran, Joshua Redman, etc.

i think one reason the Dead was so popular is that their fans were too stoned to notice how mediocre they were. I'm grateful they're dead!

i remember when i was in school, carole king's tapestry was this big huge hit...among girls. I hated it! SHe does write good songs, but i never could stand her sh*tty singing and the way she bangs the piano...they'd say,"Well that's her STYLE" as if i were missing out on something...well her style sucks!!!

Janis Joplin. No matter how many times I hear people say she was so emotionally stirring, I just don't get it.


amen. Sounds like someone just ran over a cat.

Radiohead is meh as well.

Any Beatles after Revolver. ANY and ALL Pink Floyd. Any U2--The Edge keeps recycling the same couple of Tom Verlaine licks (badly) in song after song.

Coltrane is one of the greatest geniuses in all of music, but Love Supreme is just no good (at least to me...especially the "love supreme, love supreme chanting" (and same goes for all his later mystical , exploratory catalogue).




+ one.


over-rated.


I wouldn't call it 'no good' (dood, what about 'resolution' - teh suite #2??) .. but unfortunately it has been pretentiously raved about for decades by the hipster hippy intellectuals - you know, because it's like, all reminiscent of 'eastern stuff' and the total Supremeness of 'love' and all that.. or something. I dunno ..

But I think we can all agree that the quartet definitely put out stuff that is much better than the LS album .. btw, when I say 'we' - it is implied that there is no implicit reference to the pretentious beat-nik hippies - who by definition only know what's 'hip' - while clueless to what they may personally actually like or dislike. okay ..

I'm glad we could have this talk. (I found it most informative). :) :beer: