Artists you used to hate but now love.

(The title is slightly misleading, I know.)

Yesterday, I was going through my (non-physical) music collection, and reminisced on how I used to dislike a fair few of the artists that I'm really fond of nowadays. And, thus, the idea for this thread was born.

To sum the point of this thread up: are there any artists you can think of that you used to dislike (whether strongly or mildly), but now like (again, whether strongly or mildly)?

Lupe Fiasco. I didn't think too much of him when I thought he'd just be a one-hit wonder with "Kick, Push". Then I picked up Food & Liquor and The Cool. He's now one of my favorite rappers and I'm anxiously waiting for Lasers.

The Rolling Stones, I used to think they were just the Beatles, except messier and with worse vocals. Then one day I listened to their Forty Licks abum...and I understood them. It was like when I listened to the While Album 3 years after first hearing it, I just suddenly realised why they were so acclaimed.

Also, Oasis. Used to hate them for their constant ripping offs of artists and Liam's Mancunian accent, but I've softened up on them recently. they did some decent stuff, like All Around the World. Still not Blur quality though

I didn't post a list of examples before, so here it is. Walls o' text incoming!

Immortal — I used to hate black metal that wasn't Emperor, and Immortal were one of my major targets for criticism. I perceived them (wrongly) to have an incredibly stereotypical "kvlt" image, and that their music was incomprehensible crap. One day, I decided to give Immortal another chance, and Immortal turned from being one of my least favourite bands to one of my all-time favourites; they were also the major reason that I stopped hating black metal.

Opeth — Back when I was first getting into metal, I found Opeth unbearably dull, and couldn't understand why people were fussing over them (this is a very common viewpoint, actually). Then I heard "Bleak", and suddenly they were one of my favourite bands, though it still took a while for me to be able to sit through one of their albums all the way through.

Burzum — Initially, I avoided listening to Burzum altogether due to Varg's rather assholish nature, but I gave him a chance when I was made aware that his music had little to do with his views. And for a very long time after that, I filed Burzum under the "incomprehensible crap" category that, at the time, I filed most black metal under. A while later, I found a couple of Burzum songs that I liked, and I very gradually warmed up to him. I don't consider him to be one of the best black metal artists, but I enjoy his music a lot more than I used to. And I adore "Dunkelheit", it's a perfect example of a song that's way more than the sum of its parts.

Despised Icon — I've never been a fan of deathcore (used to find it meh, now it's probably my least favourite metal-related genre), and Despised Icon used to be one of the deathcore bands I hated the most. One day, I randomly checked them out again, and to my surprise they weren't too bad, even with the pig squeals. They're not a particularly great band, and not something I listen to regularly, but they're a good deathcore band, which is an achievement in my eyes. The pig squeals still suck, though.

Carcass's grindcore material — My first-ever taster of Carcass was a song off Symphonies of Sickness; I wasn't used to grind yet, so I was turned off by it. Later, I checked out Heartwork and loved it. For a while afterwards, I only listened to Carcass's last three albums, and stayed away from the grindcore stuff. Soon enough, I'd warmed up to other grind acts, so I checked out the first two albums again and thought they were awesome.

Cradle of Filth — An odd example: I liked them to begin with, then started to find them incredibly annoying. I checked out Dusk... and Her Embrace and thought it was awesome; due to this, I revisited the two albums I had on my computer (Midian and Nymphetamine), liking Midian a lot but finding Nymphetamine somewhat lacklustre (though still not all that annoying).

Slipknot: I used to look at them as over-rated, agonizingly pathetic at times and laughably feeble in the originality, instrumentation and talent department. Now I realize that's exactly what makes them work; if they were high artists or eloquent poets, their message and attitude would have far less impact. The rage and emotion translates better because they're pathetic, because they aren't fancy and because they're not gods among men like most rock stars paint themselves: they're just like you and me. Say what you will about their music, but never say they don't have passion.

Linkin Park: I was forced to listen to them throughout much of my teenage years, giving me a good reason to be sick of hearing even a few notes out of them. Musically, I thought of them as the lowest dreck of the nu-metal heap. These days I can see where they're coming from and their value as artists and performers. Hell, I might even call them innovators.

Creed: I don't actually listen to them anymore than I used to, but Alter Bridge made me realize that Mark Tremonti is an awesome guitarist. I sometimes look into their catalog for his work alone (also, Bullets isn't that bad).

The White Stripes: Not so much hate, but I tended to look at them as another one of those alternative turkeys who wreak havoc on the image of "rock" in the mainsteam. Then I heard Icky Thump; can that man play guitar. This has actually affected my view on all the revivalist bands (The Vines, The Black Keys). Except Wolfmother. Still can't really stand them.

Sadly, my list of groups I was initially mellow towards but grew to hate is significantly longer: Godsmack, Metallica, Stone Temple Pilots, to name a few.

I used to have incredibly narrow views of what constituted good music, so for me it's a question of entire genres I used to hate but now love.

For a while, I hated all metal and hardcore punk—the old "it's not music, it's noise" argument. Then I realized that some of the Ska Punk songs I was listening to were really hardcore with brass. Then my brother got into hardcore and metal and started playing that stuff constantly, and I started finding it a bit catchy. Then he played "The Spy Hunter" by Project 86 for me, and that was the moment I admitted to myself that I liked the stuff.

Had a similar experience with techno, though instead of my brother forcing the stuff on me, it was my own interest in videogame music that led me to Overclocked Remix and liking the techno stuff on there in spite of myself.

Megadeth-Once I could get past Dave's Eunuch with a cold vocals, I could appreciate how awesome at the guitar he is.

Fall of Troy. The vocals used to put me off, but then I realized the guitar riffs were godlike, and thus now I am a huge fan. Too bad they broke up.

Mclusky/Future Of The Left. Spent about two years, since FOTL released Curses thinking they were another silly screamy Post-Hardcore band and that Mclusky were just a bit naff and immature (I'd only heard Lightsabre Cocksucking Blues).

Then they released Travels With Myself And Another and I actually bothered listening to it, and I realised that Andy Falkous is hilarious and the music is too awesome for words and makes me want to throttle two snakes simultaneously while blowing things up and riding a basilisk.

I used to find Emilie Autumn's music rather boring, but then I read her page on TV Tropes and... I still find her music boring. But her persona is hilarious and wonderful, however.

I used to hate Nicki Minaj, because I thought she was weird and confusing sometimes. But after watching her documentary on MTV (Nicki Minaj: My Time Now) I really felt like that added some depth to her, once I knew her background. She is Trinidadian and in the documentary, she went back to Trinidad to visit and talked about her childhood there and what not.

I used to find Queen extremely irritating, and now they're one of my favourite bands.

I also initially disliked REM, because I didn't like the singing.

Lemon Demon. Yes, I used to (irrationally) hate his music because of a rabid fan I knew...

Tvtropes changed that when it introduced me to his song Word Disassociation.

edited 11th Jan '11 12:49:12 AM by Fuzy2K

I used to be really creeped out by Bjork despite having barely heard any of her music, and now she's kind of among my favorite artists.

I used to really dislike metalcore/death metal bands with female vocalists such as The Agonist and Arch Enemy. (Dammit Wiki! Not that Arch-Enemy) Now I think that female vocalists in metalcore and "screaming" metal are freaking Crazy Awesome, and they make male vocalists of bands like Underoath look like whimps.

edited 10th Mar '11 9:10:39 PM by LoveHateAngst

I used to think Lady Gaga was just some stupid, generic, pop star. I hated Poker Face. But then I heard the live version of Alejandro and I grew to love Bad Romance.

Katy Perry was the same way. I hate I Kissed A Girl, but she won me over with Hot & Cold and You're So Gay.

How's this for one, music in general.

'til age...oh, seven or so. I hated music.

Completely hated all forms of it.

edited 11th Mar '11 10:36:37 AM by SpainSun

More or less this.

Awesome.

Hell, I still hate music sometimes.

Not so much hate, but I certainly wasn't interested in music at all until I was sixteen/seventeen. Didn't get what all the fuss was about.

I think I always kinda liked music, but until age 17 or so I considered metal in general to be mere noise. Then I actually listened to it and realized it could be good music.

Incubus. I heard on bad song and got turned off (whatever song was on the Spawn CD, worst track on an otherwise great album) but then I heard the BEAUTIFUL "Punch-Drunk" and a few other songs, now I like them.

I also never used to like chill or ambient music when I was a kid, it was all about the fast techno. As I grew up that started to invert, LOL.

Oh yeah, also The Pogues. I blame a combination of a college roommate who constantly overplayed them and just plain not being able to tolerate Shane MacGowan's singing. Now, while I haven't really listened to much else of theirs, Rum, Sodomy And The Lash is among my favorite albums.

I liked that Incubus song...

Billy Joel.