Trek is too "popular" to be cool with the in crowd. Same with the road bikes. It's just like music. Once a band becomes "pop" there's a certain crowd who will dislike them for no reason other than the popularity.

That said...

My first mtn bike was a Trek 7000, and it was awful. The handling sucked and the fork was a piece of crap. I had some friends ride it who were much better riders than I was, and they concurred with my assessment. The bike was a bit too big for me, so I sold it to my room mate.

I moved from that Trek to my AlpineStars Al-Mega (bought used) and I went from playing catch-up to breathing down everyone's necks, overnight. I was suddenly very fast and able to do things I'd never been able to do on the Trek.

After a few years, the front derailleur braze-on broke off the AlpineStars, and I needed a bike fast for an upcoming trip. The LBS made me an incredible deal on a Trek 9700, and it was back to Trek again. But fortunately, the 9700 rode nothing like the old 7000, so I ended up liking that bike, which isn't what I expected. In fact since it's a carbon frame, I expected it to have exploded by now.

Now that bike's in parts because I pirated stuff to get my Jamis rideable. Once the finances are in better order I'll get the Trek riding again. It's really light for a mtn bike, and I miss it on certain trails.