Thursday, April 24, 2008

Cleanin' out the Closet

I was so happy the other day when I realised that its Omar in Trapped in the Closet. Anyway...
So.
I've been loitering around here for a little while, getting in the way more or less, and I figured now is the time to plunge in properly. To whit I thought - since we're all friends here right? - that I might as well start by getting a few little secrets off my chest. That way we can all move forward with a bit more freedom. Full disclosure and all that.
Here, then, are a few of my darker and more revealing confessions....

- I don't own a single thing by the Beatles. Its not that I don't appreciate their influence, its just that they have always left me a bit cold. I just don't really GET it.
- I once went to see Kula Shaker live.
- I almost always, without fail, love a band when they are little and I saw them in the Ramsbottom Cock'n'Thistle, but go right off them once they have become everyone's favourite band.
- I have an overbearing love for the work of Jim Steinman.
- I have seen Meat Loaf live. Twice.
- When I hit 20 I realised that, completely by chance, I didn't own a single record with a female vocal on it.
- The Pixies? Meh.
- I have always been quite badly swayed by critical opinion.
- I have seen Elton John live. Twice.
- The first album I bought with my own money was by Bon Jovi.
- The second was Aerosmith.
- The first record I ever asked for was 'Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Yellow Polka Dot Bikini' by Bomballurina ft. Timmy Mallett.
- The second was Ed The Duck.
- I only really started to listen properly to the lyrics of songs about three years ago.
- I have never been to a festival.
- I know very little about any music in a tongue that is not English.
- I often get overwhelmed by just HOW MUCH music there is and how little of it I can hear.
- I HATE the Red Hot Chilli Peppers.

Obviously I realise that the last one may not be controversial if, in fact, any of the above is. Still, at least I've started the ball rolling and got some things off my chest. I do this in a spirit of comradeliness and make no excuses for my sins. Please be gentle.

So, anyone else got something to confess?....

52 comments:

CB said...

snadfrod.
So honest and so brave! Has this been brought on by an existential crisis caused by reading 'The Road'?

I too have seen Elton John.

I prefer the Beatles early stuff which I bought for the kids on CD just to aid their music education. I had the White Album once but only played it once or twice.

I don't think Nick Cave is a genius.

When I think of Kate Bush the first thing I think of is the poster in the tube stations when Wuthering Heights came out.

I have never owned a Velvet Underground album.

I have never knowingly heard a Nico track.

I got kicked out of the school choir at age 8 for singing flat.

I know nothing about music theory. Not even what singing flat means let alone a 4 4 beat.

I like the BeeGees singles.

I haven't been to an outdoor gig since Dylan at Blackbush.

I prefered the dark one in Abba.

I like the Carpenters and Dione Warwick. (And I think Elvis Costello's album with Burt Bacharach is nearly as good as 'Get Happy'.)

I think 'Get Happy' is Elvis Costello's best album.

I hope I never hear 'Smoke on the Water' again in my life. Ditto 'Stairway to Heaven'.

I have never owned a Led Zeppelin album.

I can't stand Chris Moyles and cannot understand why his show is so popular.

And (blush) my taste seems to be getting more middle of the road as I get older.

I sing along when I hear Toto songs.

Anonymous said...

Snadfrod, I concurr with 4 of the confessions you made, although I'm not going to say which ones!

Although I will say that it's perfectly fine to hate the Chili Peppers as they're a godawful waste of space.

ejaydee said...

I too concur with 4 of Snadfrod's.
-I know what a 4/4 beat is, but what's the middle eight?
-I like some songs form the Red Hot CHilli Peppers that aren't Under The Bridge
-I've heard 2 songs by Nick Cave, No Pussy Blues and the one about adolescence that Blimpy's posted. I like them both but I've never dug deeper.
-I like Peg by Steely Dan (it's because it was sampled, which automatically makes a song 80% better for me)
-I didn't think Sting's song with the luthe was that offensive, but then I only heard it in the background on a TV show.
-The last record I asked for was Genesis' We Can't Dance, or was it Michael Jackson's Dangerous?
-I though Puff Daddy was alright back on his first album, the one with I'll Be Missing You, and thought those shiny silver suits and showing your Rolex looked like good fun [Disclaimer: I was about 15/16 at the time]
-Isn't Uptown Girl by Billy Joel quite nice.
-The first single I bought was Soul Asylum's Runaway Train and this: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1aihu_native-si-la-vie-demande-ca_family actually this is a complete rip-off of Soul II Soul, which makes it not that bad. I haven't heard this in ages
- I like Feist.
-There were some good songs on the first Coldplay album, I think.
-I can't always resist to 50 Cent's In The Club
-I like Alicia Keys' No One
-I can't get into most of Curtis Mayfield, falsetto overload.

Will you still love me in the morning?

ejaydee said...

Oops, a pretty big one slipped through the tracks. I have a particular fondness for the big HMV on Oxford Circus, and will be sad when it inevitably goes. I used to imagine that maybe today will be the day that they declare a free-for-all for a day, and wonder which strategy to adopt when it's time to rush through the aisles. It never did happen.

ejaydee said...

They're pouring out now! I like a song by Jack Johnson, not the cool boxer, the surfer troubadour I mocked only yesterday. The song just came up on iTunes, and its playing as I type this, which makes it even more perverse I think.

DarceysDad said...

Takes deep breath, straps on tin hat, crosses fingers a-a-a-n-n-d ...

# I own no albums by any of: Bob Dylan, Aretha Franklin, The Beastie Boys, Leonard Cohen, Velvet Underground, Siouxsie & The Banshees, Carole King, Blur, Sam Cooke, Beach Boys, The Happy Mondays, Patti Smith, The Kinks, Billie Holliday, Echo & The Bunnymen (a hanging offence for a Merseysider of my age), or indeed The Beatles.

# I own and love albums by Sammy Hagar, Swing Out Sister, Yes, Embrace, Status Quo, Less Than Jake, Morcheeba and Texas.

# I've never ridden on either seat of a motorbike 'cause I'm too scared.

# I'm guilty of old-fart generalization dismissals like "Rap is just people who can't sing over music they've nicked 'cause they can't play".

# My idea of fashion is a new colour scheme for Adidas Gazelles (I've seen this ace pair of green and yellow ones...)

# In my house, if you mention R&B, it means Chicken Shack and Dr.Feelgood.

# I talk about going to loads more gigs than I actually end up getting to, 'cause I don't wear the financial trousers in my house!

# As a child I was given all the musical opportunity you could need - piano and lessons, guitar and lessons, requests from school that I stay in the choir - and chucked 'em all back because I wanted to play drums and was refused a kit. [Boy do I regret that one!]

# I choose Leeds over Glastonbury. [Ask me why, I dare you!!]

# I now expect The 'Spill to quietly move house, sending change of address cards to everyone except me . . .

Hello?


HELLO?



Anybody there?!

ejaydee said...

I think it's just us DsD. I thought I heard whispers, a door shut and then a car driving off. It's been silent ever so quiet since...

snadfrod said...

Man this is making me proud guys. See together we can do it!
A couple of addenda after the above:
- I own, enjoy and regularly return to all of Embrace's albums. Nowt wrong wi' a bit of chest beating man-ness every now and then. Also, I never understand why people peg them as 'that band with the fella who can't sing'. I think his inability to carry much of a tune is part of the point. I mean, I can't sing but would I like to be in Embrace?...
- My (then not yet) wife and I both used to work the bar at the Manchester Academy. I persuaded her to work a DJ Shadow gig (the tour where RjD2 supported, mnnnmmhmmnmmh) and she memorably, at one point, claimed that he was "ruining all those nice songs by putting his hands on the record". I've never quite been able to shake that notion since.
- And my big one, since DsD took us a little off music with his motorbike reference, how about this. I have studied English Literature all my life, I have a Masters in the stuff and yet I. Just. Cannot. Get. Poetry.
- Oh and Chick Fit by All Saints is brill. Lol.

steenbeck said...

What a great first post, Snadfoot! (Who's Omar and why was he in the closet?) When Dorian posted a list of bands he would never like I thought it would be fun for everyone to do that, although we don't want playground scuffles.

I've got some...

I REALLY don't like the Beatles, which I've already mentioned a few times.

When I lived in Boston I was editor of an arts and entertainment magazine, and in that capacity I went to a Coldplay concert, met them backstage and wrote a very positive review of their first album. I even wished them good things for the future, so it's my fault they're all popular and married to Gwyneth and everything.

That sexy RR list made me feel out of touch with humanity because I don't think Prince is sexy at all, and I think Goldfrapp is like a parody of someone trying too hard to be sexy.

I liked Funeral a lot, but I bought Neon Bible and...I've just never been in the mood for it. I didn't even import it into iTunes. Turned off by the hype perhaps.

I'm sure I've got more...

Mnemonic said...

I've been to the Prince's Party in the Park (extenuating circumstance - 8 under 14-year old kids to keep an eye on).

I saw Michael Jackson at Wembley on the HIStory tour.

I own more than one Sting album (and I've seen him live)

I've never been to Glastonbury (or Reading or Leeds or indeed any festival rquiring me to camp except Green Man last year and that was only because we had the biggest F**-you tent you've ever seen).

If it's a relatively quiet band, I prefer gigs where I can sit down.

I dpn't own any Led Zeppelin either and LOATHE Stairway to Heaven, except the Frank Zappa version. She's Leaving Home by the Beatles will also make me leap across the room to change radio stations. (but I do like the rest of the album).

In all Abba lyrics I can tell you that where they sing "funny", they mean "fun". It's one of the commonest mistakes Swedes make in speaking English. So it's not funny in a rich man's world, nor is it funny to dance with you.

I've never really liked Massive Attack.

Although my friends assure me I was there, I have no memory at all of having seen Gang of Four.

Oh yes, and I own several Billy Joel albums.

snadfrod said...

@ Steenbeck, thankyou very much, I was worried it would just be me... Just to answer your question, though, Omar is one of the finest TV characters of all time from a show called The Wire and the actor who plays him also plays the cop in the film of R Kelly's absurd 'hip-hopera' Trapped in the Closet. I can heartily recommend watching the whole thing on youtube, but if you want a taster may I suggest you open with chapter 9?
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=jyvzfgxY0kc
He's come home and is SURE the wife is up to something...

ejaydee said...

NO NO!! START FROM THE BEGINNING!!

ejaydee said...

Sorry I just meant that you should trust snadfrod's advice and watch the whole thing. You can even see him introducing some of the episodes on this site:
http://www.ifc.com/static/sections/kelly/trapped.html
Actually it's not like you can't check out Chapter 9 before you see the rest. Check out the birth of the concept here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trapped_in_the_Closet#Development

Anonymous said...

*****rolls through blog****

snadfrod said...

s'ok EJ, I completely agree with you. The whole thing should be watched in its full order. Ideally with some spare pants lying around for when you've laughed off all your others. I only suggested starting with 9 as it was my own personal gateway drug. "He says 'move'." "She says 'no'..."

New confession too:
- I can't watch snooker (should I stop there? Is that bad enough?) without being endlessly amused by the potential for smut in the commentary. Balls. Pocket. Cue. Tip. Screw. Pot the brown...

Just me?
Oh.

steenbeck said...

Snadfrod, I'm sorry I spelled your name wrong, and...
HIPHOPERA!!! I'm on it. Thanks for the links Snadfrod and Ejaydee. Why is R. Kelly's voice always such a surprise?

I have to confess that although we don't ever watch TV--we don't have cable and don't have any television reception--I watch A LOT on youTube. Whole movies, BBC dramas, other series. One thing leads to another...

And I'd like to confess that if I had to take MY intro's quiz from a few weeks back (If someone else had prepared it) --well obviously it's all songs I know and love--I don't think I'd do very well on it.

treefrogdemon said...

steenbeck, have you got a DVD player?
If so, get you to the video shop and hire you The Wire season 1. You won't regret it. (I have to watch it with the subtitles on myself.)

Omar is my favourite character - I gather they were thinking of doing a spinoff series just about him, but it wouldn't have been so good.

Carole said...

Gosh, this is like one of those Maoist "self criticism" sessions. Catharsis or what?

So, my guilty confessions;

I like Hall and Oates and the Doobie Brothers.

I cannot abide The Arctic Monkeys, Franz Ferdinand or the Kaiser Chiefs.

I have never been to Glastonbury.

I used to own Whitney Houston's first album.

I don't like Nick Cave, except for the Wild Roses with Kylie - because I love Kylie.

I don't like a lot of that serious lesbian folk music stuff, even though I am supposed to because I am a lezzie.

I used to, and still do have a massive crush on Robert Plant (see above for why this is A VERY BAD THING for me).

I tried to like that Jimmy Barnes stuff that DsD recommended but I couldn't get on with it - because I hate his voice (soz DsD)

I think that Feist, Sandy Thom and Devendra Banhart are rubbish and should never be let near musical instruments ever again.

I like the Allman Brother Band.

I like Little Feat.

In fact, I like a lot of 1970s choogling boogie music.

I own two Emerson, Lake and Palmer CDs.

I also like Yes and Genesis (but only with Peter Gabriel) and have loads of their stuff.

God, but that felt good!!

ejaydee said...

I'd love it if Dorian chose this post for his first 'Spill comment.

Carole, does that mean I should have admitted to liking It keeps You Running by The Doobie Brothers. I tell you, ignorance is bliss when it comes to music tastes. I've never really heard of them, only know this song, but I just love how it starts. Hmm, maybe that'll be in the next quizz...

Anonymous said...

Ah well, Carole, we tried!

Even more of a surprise that you can't be doing with him given the Little Feat / Allmans / 70s boogie comment, but hey, thanks anyway.

DsD

See you all later.

CB said...

Nothing wrong with liking Little Feat surely Carole. No need for confession or penance.Or, if there is, Mea culpa, mea maxima culpa.

However Emerson Lake and Parker. Well. I bet you feel better for confessing.

Carole said...

My two ELP offerings are the eponymous first one and Pictures at an exhibition. Sort of bombast-lite, I suppose.

Not a fan of their later stuff tho'

treefrogdemon said...

OK, now it's me:

I don't like jazz of any kind, except maybe the New Orleans funeral kind. I DO like blues and what used to be called r&b however.

Nor do I like hiphop or rap, or anything that involves mixing bits of someone else's record up with your record.

I do like all the people that are on my profile and which Blimpy recently posted for some reason.

I do fancy Bruce Springsteen, Roger Daltrey and Don Everly - RD and DE as they were in their youth, but Bruce for ever. I do NOT fancy Richard Thompson although I'm a huge fan of his.

The first record I bought was 'Are You Sure?' by the Allisons, which was Britain's Eurovision Song Contest entry in 196ty-something.

Can't remember which was the first LP I bought but it may have been 'The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan'. I subsequently bought his first album, and then each as they came out till 'Blonde On Blonde' because that was a double and I couldn't afford it. (I've got it now though.) I'm a completist and usually buy all the records of someone I like.

My son thinks my musical choices are very cool and thanks me for the good musical education I gave him. My daughters remain silent on this subject.

As a family there were a few records we all liked and we taped these and played them in the car. These included practically the whole oeuvre of Dire Straits.

I once bought my kids a set of Police singles each on different coloured vinyl.

I have two singles by Shane Fenton, and when he had a second burst of fame as Alvin Stardust I hoped they would become valuable but they never did.

Sadly I never saw Fairport in concert and I'm not interested in the present line-up.

I have a bad habit of singing along in folk clubs. This embarrasses anyone so unfortunate as to have come with me, and it annoys the performers. Mostly I go to gigs on my own though as I don't know anyone who likes the same music as me!

Also at most of the gigs I go to the audience are mostly men. (Except Mary Gauthier.) What's lesbian folk, Carole?

ejaydee said...

One more: I think I've realised I don't like be-bop in general.

TFD, I think Blimpy got you confused with GHE.

Carole said...

Lesbian folk music - all that Ani DiFranco, Phranc, Holly Near, Ember Swift, Meg Christian and other sort of stuff.

Not all the performers are lezzies but they all have big lesbian followings.

I suppose you can include others in there, Tanita Tikaram from the mainstream, Tracy Chapman.

Not my sort of thing but I do love k.d lang.

ejaydee said...

Does that include The Indigo Girls? Because I feel I should admit I like Ghosts by them. In my defence I discovered it through RR, so I blame...I think it was AdamK.

nilpferd said...

-the first (and only) records I ever owned were:
Henry Mancini- Greatest hits
and
Henry Mancini- Greatest hits vol 2.
-I'm not really that into album covers. (see above)
-I never understood the fascination of vinyl- (I got so angry after my Henry Mancini LPs got scratched that I vowed never to buy it again- see above again)
-I have a soft spot for christmas songs sung by Bing Crosby.
-If you play me a new album by any new guitar band, I'll secretly be thinking what can they do that The Smiths couldn't.
-I own far too many crappy albums and compilations, and instead of just getting rid of them, am so pig-headed that I continue to play them occasionally in the forlorn hope that they might suddenly become good.
-I have a couple of Wynton Marsalis albums, and like them.

snadfrod said...

I had a friend visiting me recently and he remarked, not entirely admiringly, upon the fact that in my CD collection I have Ben Folds Five catalogued under 'B' and yet Ben Folds under 'F'. I know there was a criticism implied, but for the life of me I cannot work out what it was...

CB said...

I used to have my Cds arranged in Chronological order by genre. My wife made me change it so that she could put away the pile that used to accumulate by the CD player.

Carole said...

Re: lesbian folk - actually i quite like the Indigo Girls and I like Michelle Shocked a lot too, although she falls outside of the genre mostly.

I just thought of something else I can confess;

I really hate Arcade Fire.

Someone told me I'd like them because I like the Flaming Lips, but I don't. I really cannot abide them.

Oh yeah, and I really cannot abide Joanna Newsom.

goneforeign said...

Well, as the resident 'totally out of touch with reality' I'll mention those I don't have since many of those I do would probably be from another planet. I assume that the list below which I compiled from all your likes/dislikes are groups: Never heard of any of 'em, am I missing much?
But first there's a couple of comments I'd like to make; 1. Ms. TFG, Did you listen to the Boss of the Blues? If you did I'm at a loss to know how you can like blues and not like jazz, I mean real jazz. 2. Puff Daddy is not an appropriate name for a musical group. 3. There used to be a huge record store at Picadilli Circus, is it still there? I discovered Christie Moore there. 4. DD, do you know of the Dave Alvin band, I suspect it's your style, a friend has just finished a performance film that I saw yesterday and thought was great, I thought of you. 5. Like TFG I tend towards being slightly obsessive, the first record I ever bought was 'Skin Deep' by the Duke Ellington orch. I now have about 125+ albums and quite a few CD's by him, ditto Count Basie.
6. I was near Glastonbury once en route to Welles cathedral, but I did go every year through the 80's to JA for Sunsplash, an annual 4 day/night event. 7. Definitely start at the beginning. 8. I saw ELP a long time ago, I was at the extreme back/top balcony in a basketball arena, the intensity and volume of the bass frequencies had a physical effect on my abdomen, I think I was right at the focal point of a parabula. 9. When I first heard be-bop I HATED it, but I grew to idolise Charlie Parker and now I have all of his albums also. 10. And to make it an even ten I'll say I'm not big on Henry Mancini.

OK, here's my list of unknowns.
'Smoke on the Water
'Stairway to Heaven
Toto
Soul Asylum'
Coldplay
50 Cent's
Jack Johnson
Siouxsie & The Banshees
Happy Mondays
Echo & The Bunnymen
Swing Out Sister, Yes, Embrace, Status Quo, Less Than Jake, Morcheeba and Texas.
Embrace
Chick Fit by All Saints
Chicken Shack
Goldfrapp
Funeral
Neon Bible
Massive Attack.
Gang of Four
The Arctic Monkeys, Franz Ferdinand or the Kaiser Chiefs.
Kylie
Feist, Sandy Thom and Devendra Banhart
Shane Fenton
Alvin Stardust
Ember Swift, Meg Christian
Ben Folds Five

ejaydee said...

Hihi GF, Puff Daddy is a man, whose real name is Sean Combs, but he's gone by Sean "Puffy" Combs, Puff Daddy, Puffy, P. Diddy, Diddy, and some others I forgot.
There was a Tower Records on Piccadilly Circus, which then became a Virgin, which is now zzavi, but I'm not sure it's still a record shop now.

Catcher said...

Oh, I like this, catharsis:

- I love the first two Spice Girls albums.

- I absolutely hate reggae, and have been known to leave rooms/pubs/clubs if it comes on.

- The first album I saved up for and bought with my very own money was Madonna's "Like A Virgin" on cassette. About two years ago, I bought it on CD and still think it's great.

- The happiest I've ever been handing over money for a CD was the soundtrack to the original "Willy Wonka And The Chocolate Factory". Once, while in London, I went to see an awful play just because Gene Wilder was in it. That's up there in my happiest moments too.

- I don't get Bob Dylan or Van Morrison, and don't own anything by either. They're also responsible for two of the worst shows I've ever been at.

- I know virtually nothing about classical music.

- I was once listening to a piece of music by Pauline Oliveiros while reading. I thought it was a fantastic piece, full of very subtle microtonalities. After about 15 minutes, I thought it had been going on for longer than the sleeve indicated, looked up and saw that it had been skipping over the same half-second or so for I don't know how long. I was annoyed I could never replicate this.

- I think U2 are a national embarrassment.

- I have always owned a guitar, but still wouldn't play it front of anyone. Never really got the hang of it.

I'm sure I have darker musical secrets than this, so I may return.

Anonymous said...

@ gf - just discovering Dave Alvin over the last month or so, funnily enough. Turns out I have quite a few songs from him over various compilation CDs, so am piecing together quite a bit.

Cheers.

DsD

Anonymous said...

I have a couple I will freely admit to...

- I liked not only the first, but also the second Coldplay album. In fact I'd go so far as to say I loved the second Coldplay album - I just don't listen to it much these days because it's one of those albums I've heard a few too many times and need a bit of a break from it. X&Y was pretty rubbish though.

- I secretly love 'Romeo & Juliet' by Dire Straits, and 'The Walk of Life'. And I openly loved 'Money For Nothing' when I was about 8.

Abahachi said...

It's all a bit like the game in a David Lodge novel where respected professors of English Literature have to confess which great novels they've never actually read. Since one of the common characteristics of everyone on this blog seems to be a tendency to listen to enormous amounts of music, perhaps it's inevitable that we all have a lot of guilty secrets. I've decided to limit myself to the top ten.

1. The first song that I ever heard and thought "oh, I like that" was by Showaddywaddy.
2. I first got into jazz ten years ago because I thought that ALL music sounded like an inferior version of something done decades before, especially Nu Metal.
3. I've tried to like rap, honest, simply because I pride myself on having broad taste, and the only songs I would ever willingly listen to again are Coolio's 'Gangster's Paradise' and Warren G's 'Regulate'.
4. I find the Beatles entirely uninteresting; not only do I not own any of their albums, but they're one of the things that would induce me to turn the radio off.
5. With the marginal exception of 'How Soon Is Now', for the guitar part, I never saw the point of The Smiths either.
6. Not only was Posh Spice my favourite, but despite everything I still think she's gorgeous. I even liked the solo career.
7. I love pre-'Brothers in Arms' Dire Straits, and used to be able to play all Mark Knopfler's solos in 'Sultans of Swing' by heart.
8. I have tried, and I still cannot understand the Fall.
9. Bonnie Tyler's 'Total Eclipse of the Heart' is in my view one of the greatest records ever made.
10. Classic (i.e. pre-America) Whitesnake. I can offer you a sophisticated analysis of the way in which they remained true to the blues tradition to a much greater extent than e.g. Led Zeppelin, I can assure you that I try not to listen to the lyrics on the grounds of gross sexism, and it would all be lies...

Abahachi said...

And as a sort of P.S.: I live five miles from Glastonbury, and not only have I never been to the festival but I've never had the slightest inclination to do so.

treefrogdemon said...

@ CaroleBristol: I like kd lang and Michelle Shocked also. And I have met Michelle's brother Max, who's one of the Gourds

@ gf: sorry, if I'd thought it was jazz I wouldn't have listened to it. Maybe I will now! You may be thinking of the ginormous HMV at Marble Arch - I bought my first ISB record there. You are better off not having heard of S Fenton and A Stardust.

Carole said...

@treefrogdemon

I wan't aware of The Gourds, so I looked on YouTube.

Fun band, liked the bluegrass Gin and Juice, deffo preferable to Snoop!

Which one is Michelle's brother Max then?

treefrogdemon said...

The fiddle player...

Mnemonic said...

On the other hand, Adam F is Shane Fenton's son, so he's not all bad.

goneforeign said...

tfg: Just as I thought, it was that word 'jazz' that did it, I suspect that those who think they hate jazz are getting it confused with some other stuff that started going around in the 60's, deadly, deadly boring! If I were exposed to that first of all I'd 'hate jazz' also. I think if you like blues and you like N.O. you'll recognise what's going on in that album.
I was hoping also that Tracy would recognise the poetic content and would suddenly realise that this wasn't what she thought jazz was.

treefrogdemon said...

gf: I think part of it is that, as a folkie, I'm always wanting to find and hold on to the 'real' tune. A lot of jazz is improvised and that's what I don't like. An example. The other day my dad was listening to a jazz programme on the radio, and I wasn't listening, but my ears caught the words 'send in the clowns.' Goodness, I thought, can there be another song that includes those words? So I listened harder, and the song was indeed 'Send In The Clowns' (one of my favourite songs) but the way it was being sung made it (almost) unrecognisable.

Whereas, with blues, you have a pattern. Lots of blues songs are similar, but it's a pattern I like.
Serendipitously, Bob Dylan is playing 'San Francisco Bay Blues.'

TracyK said...

Heheh, TFD, you and are have pretty much the same reason for not liking jazz. Let's form a Spill-linter group! I'm a bit like Jimmy Rabbitte in the wonderful Commitments: (disgustedly) "That's a jazz haircut!" Also Joey the Lips says "Soul has corners" and I know exactly what he means!

The game mentioned in David Lodge (I use to love DL) is called Shame and my teacher mates often play it. Mine are:
~ I don't really get the Fall either. I think it's mainly a boy thing. Quite like F.Olding Money though,
~ Can't BEAR Dylan. At. ALL>
~ I'm starting to prefer gigs where you get to sit too. And I also get very cross at people who talk through gigs, especially intimate ones, like the industry wankers who ruined my first Bright Eyes gig at Dingwalls circa the Lifted lp.
~ I judge people on whether they really love music or whether "It's just background music".
~ I get very, very cross about Red Hot Chilli Peppers, to the extent I found ti hard to think of one of my best mates in the same way once she told me she'd been to one of their gigs.
~ If I *REALLY* love something, I don't actually want to share it with anyone else. I am essentially selfish!
~ I don't see the point of The Velvet Underground and only own one Best of Bowie cd. Can't stand the Berlin period stuff.
~ Iggy Pop. Meh...
~ I *HATE* The Sex Pistols. I almost swore at Malcom McClaren spouting off today when my media group were watching Pop Britannia and only just caught it.

Does this make me a bad person?

treefrogdemon said...

Had to google Adam F, Mnemonic, but as he's Shane Fenton's son I wonder if he'd like to buy two of his dad's first snigles?

Anonymous said...

The first record I bought was "Lily the Pink" by the Scaffold.

I adore Yes and Genesis too!

Glastonbury is sooo overrated.

I have 5 CDs in my car. They are:

Roundabout - the best of Yes Live
Money for Nothing - Dire Straits
Then There Were Three - Genesis
Rain Dances - Camel
Kasabian

I'll get my coat...

CB said...

Wow! Camel! I had forgotten about them. I went to see them at the Hammersmith Odeon in about 1976. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I think they did 3 or 4 encores and had to start playing songs they had already done earlier in the night. A great time. You could smoke at concerts then. That probably helped.

Anonymous said...

I think most of my skeletons have come a-rattling out of the closet (Dollar?? Rolf??) but in the spirit of unstinting honesty which has been 'spilling over....

The first record I ever bought with my own pocket money was Long Haired Lover from Liverpool by Jimmy Osmond.

I like U2

I have never knowingly heard a song by The Arctic Monkeys. Hype turns me right off.

I get annoyed by the fact that the quality of bands' music seems to drop in direct proportion to their fame and the budget available for their recordings. Coldplay's Parachutes is a case in point.

I think Parachutes is a masterpiece and sing "Yellow" in the shower.

I still love ELO.

It pisses me off when my favourite disco classics are sampled and trendy youths, who will never bother to listen to the original, jump on the bandwagen.

I used to be scared of Nick Cave until I saw him interviewed on telly and realised he's a very nice bloke.

Blimpy said...

I intend to do a proper "first record" post, with mp3 and sleeve art, quite soon - and I think all Spillers should do the same!

DarceysDad said...

I once sang for Mr. Fenton, just as his Alvin Stardust persona was beginning to take over the world - well, TOTP anyway.

Anonymous said...

How Soon is Now is the only Smiths song I like too, and also because of the guitar. Hate Morrissey and his whining voice.

I've never listened to a record by the Fall.

Tempusfugit said...

Would die happy if I never heard Hotel California or Stairway to Heaven again. These are staples of the Phillipino cover bands that abound in the bars of hotels here in the UAE.

Can’t get on with Jeff Buckley or Anni DiFranco

Love Bob Dylan, Captain Beefheart, Tim Buckley, Neil Young playing endless long electric guitar solos live and Van Morrison.

Loved early Sting (Dream of Blue Turtles), but now find him a pompous egotistical prig(ck). And his music is stale.

Attended Glastonbury twice in the 80’s and revelled in it. I don’t remember seeing anybody at the first, enjoyed Husker Du at the second.

Got into punk after attending two horrendous concerts: Pink Floyd’s Animals tour and The Eagles. Both were in Earl’s Court and both were dull to the point of mindnu . . . zzzzzzzz . . . .

One of the best concerts I ever saw was The Beach Boys at Wembley, followed by one of the worst – Elton John. He announced that he would sing the whole of his latest release Dirt Brown Cowboy and thousands voted with their feet.

First album was Hard Day’s Night – which I still play occasionally as I love The Beatles.

Got a copy of Are You Sure by The Allisons with our first Dansette.

Don’t get on with rap or hiphop or the ‘new R’n’B.

Can’t abide gangster rap for its violence and misogyny.

I like a fair bit of George Michael and Madonna – despite loathing them when they were teen idols.

Will give anybody in music who hails from the ‘The Toon’ a second listen to, apart from Sting.

Not too big on 80’s synth music, and even less so on Trance/Acid House etc. I reckon the latter is pretty meaningless without the acid/ecstasy.

Love lots of World Music, probably as a result of having lived as an expat for the last 28 years.

Like ‘weird’ (challenging?) stuff, like The Boredoms, Wooden Shjipps and Sunburned Hand of the Man.

Love reading everything, inc. poetry, writing.

I think The ‘Spill is indispensable.