Artists you used to hate but now love.

I can kinda understand that - I haven't played Guitar Hero in a while, but I remember those songs weren't really a lot of fun to play.

Like a lot of people, the first Ween I heard was "Push Th' Little Daisies", and at the time I kind of thought it was the worst song I'd ever heard. Years later this local radio station started playing "Mutilated Lips" and I started to "get" it. It's kind of interesting to me that Ween videos showed up on Beavis And Butthead three times, and the first time they hated it, but by the third time they were actually excited to see a Ween video and knew who they were - there probably wasn't an intentional "arc" there, but Ween are the kind of group that might completely repel you on first listen, then actually end up being one of your favorite bands.

Ween are definitely one of those bands.

Following the same arc, but musically something else entirely: Xiu Xiu. The first time I heard them, I found them overwrought, hysterical, and extremely uncomfortable. I still think that they are all of those things, but I see a different side to each of those qualities now, and at the moment they are one of my favourite bands.

I'll hide your name inside a word and paint your eyes with false perception.

Does it count if the opinion on the band changed because the band itself got better?

Because that seems to be the case with Chelsea Grin; their previous stuff is made of disgusting generic deathcore, but their "Evolve" EP shows they are now... evolved! Still deathcore, but listenable at the very least.

No regret shall pass over the threshold!

A few more:

• Green Day. As I said in another thread, I thought they were sheer ear rape when I saw them on Letterman ca. 2004, but my sister played me a few of their songs and they're really not that bad — not to mention a lot less raw than I remember.

• Until my teenage years, about 99% of my repertoire was country. I wonder if my refusal to listen to pop or any other genre was just rebellion against all my peers who hated country, because they all had that narrow-minded notion that it was nothing but hillbilly music about dogs, trucks and dogs in trucks. At the same time, I didn't realize that I had similar narrow-minded notions: that rap was nothing but profanity and womanizing, that harder rock/punk was nothing but "I wanna effing kill my effing family then effing kill my effing self and make the whole world bleed", that metal was nothing but Satan worship. I still haven't explored a lot, but I have found a few songs here and there that I like despite not being country. (I still haven't heard much from even flagship acts like Michael Jackson or the Beatles, believe it or not.)

• Finally, not artist related, but there were several country songs between 2001-2004 that I made snap judgments on and hated outright. Among the ones I remember were:
  • "American Child" by Phil Vassar (just thought the bridge about his grandfather being a soldier seemed tacked-on)
  • "Angry All the Time" by Tim Mc Graw (hated that he said "have came and went" instead of "have come and gone")
  • "Burn" by Jo Dee Messina (I hated that it used the phrase "I want you to burn" in a positive light)
  • "Bring On the Rain" by Jo Dee Messina (couldn't understand it)
  • "Complicated" by Carolyn Dawn Johnson (didn't like her voice)
  • "Courtesy of the Red White & Blue" by Toby Keith (hated that it used the phrase "boot in your ass"; thought it seemed too angry sounding even in post-9/11 climate, but it sounds downright tame now)
  • "Help Me Understand" and "Then They Do" by Trace Adkins (not sure on the former; couldn't identify with the latter)
  • "I Just Wanna Be Mad" and "I Wanna Do It All" by Terri Clark (couldn't understand the former, not sure on the latter)
  • "I Keep Looking" and "Perfect" by Sara Evans (not sure)
  • "I'm Gonna Miss Her" by Brad Paisley (hated that it had a crowd singing along when the song's set on a fishing boat)
  • "The One" and "Tough Little Boys" by Gary Allan (couldn't identify with the former and hated its production; thought the latter was sappy)
  • "The Good Stuff" by Kenny Chesney (couldn't understand it)
  • "Tonight I Wanna Be Your Man" by Andy Griggs (I thought "Surrender to my patient hands" sounded like he wanted to fondle, boob-squeeze or fingerbang her instead of the more inoccuous massage/other sensual touch)
  • "What I Really Meant to Say" by Cyndi Thomson (didn't like the breathy way she sang)
  • "What the World Needs" by Wynonna (didn't like the breathy way she sang)
  • "When You Lie Next to Me" by Kellie Coffey (really didn't like the breathy way she sang)

There are still a few songs from that era that I don't like, but I've come around on all the ones I listed above.

edited 18th Jul '12 8:58:05 PM by Twentington

At first I couldn't stand Bob Dylan''s voice but after I gave "Like a Rolling Stone" a listen his voice has grown on me

I suppose I kind of have to like Bob Dylan, partially because I'm a 1960sphile, partially because I've developed a certain affinity for folk and folk rock and its related genres, and partially because everyone seems to think my singing voice sounds like him. Or Michael Stipe, but that was only Blixty who ever said that one.

Insert witty and clever quip here. My page, as the database hates my handle.

I usee to utterly despise Crimson Massacre's ''The Lustre of Pandemonium" which just sounded like generic blasturbating wank that most "tech" metal is nowadays. While it still is a very modern and tech-heavy album to me, after I gave them a second chance, I personally found them to be perhaps the only actually "innovative" tech-death band at the moment.

While it does have the same hyper-speed harmomic madness associated with the genre, it's wisely put to use in the sort if epic narrative structures more associated with bands such as The Chasn and Graveland. There's a lot of melodies more in line with early At The Gates (debut album and preceding demo/EP) rather than the failed neoclassical shred contasted by destructive kind of Immolation/Demilich style dissonance. The end result is something like early ATG with Suffocation's technical expertise put at the frenetic pace of Liers in Wait or Cryptopsy.

edited 22nd Jul '12 4:44:06 PM by StillbirthMachine

Only Death Is Real

The only example I can think of for music I outright hated then grew to love is rap music in general, Eminem namely. That is only because I was young and didn't quite use my own mind yet, and just went by what adult figures in my life said. By the time I hit 12 or so, I started to open my mind to it and enjoy it.

Otherwise, there are bands I still don't like, but learn to like songs by them, always.

• A Day To Remember: All Signs Point to Lauderdale, and their remake of "Over My Head" by The Fray has grown on me.

• Nickelback: How You Remind Me. (I still like to passionately hate Nickelback more than any other band)

• Nirvana: I know I will get shit for this. But if it means anything, I used to completely hate them, but I've come around to just thinking they're overrated, and I don't care if they "started a whole new genre of music" I think grunge music is pretty overrated entirely. But, Dumb is a pretty good song to listen to stoned.

My PM box is always open to anyone who wants to talk/vent.

More or less the same for me. Except I think the artist I grew to like the most in that genre was Kanye West.

Insert witty and clever quip here. My page, as the database hates my handle.

I used to deliberately despite anything that wasn't country, entirely out of retaliation for my peers claiming to hate country. (Although in retrospect, I bet they owned every Alan Jackson album and just said they hated country to cheese me off.)

I like Nirvana (though I'm not the major fan I once was), but would never say they "started a new genre of music" - all they did was make an already existent genre much more popular. Unless that "new genre" is Post-Grunge, which they could be considered indirectly responsible for.

edited 2nd Aug '12 12:03:47 AM by MikeK

Fix yer arrows.

Insert witty and clever quip here. My page, as the database hates my handle.

Done.

Because that's not much of a reply, I'm also gonna add Primus. Them and Mr. Bungle are also two acts I have learned to never put on a mix cd unless I know the recipient is into something in the same vein.

Joni Mitchell. It took a bit of time to get used to her voice. Which is ironic, since I loved Tom Waits instantly.

Mr. Bungle's California album is great stuff, but I can't deal with their other works.

edited 2nd Aug '12 7:15:02 AM by Cthulboohoo

I used to hate Katy Perry with a fiery passion deep within my soul. After my sister dragged me along to see Part of Me... I'll admit, she puts on one hell of a show. Plus, that part where you see her torn up over Russell Brand is an absolute killer.

I can listen to most of her songs without wanting to change the station now, and one of her songs has found its way into my current music library (I'm Still Breathing).

What I love about Katy Perry is she seems to really put emotion into her songs, whether they're upbeat songs or downer songs, which most pop artists don't, considering a lot of them don't write their songs.

Actually, if songs we used to hate but now love counts, Katy Perry's "Thinking of You" is one of them. I hated the way she sang that song, but then one day on the way to school I listened to it on the bus and loved it.

My PM box is always open to anyone who wants to talk/vent.

Yeah, that's also what converted me. (Though I still don't like "I Kissed a Girl".)

Insert witty and clever quip here. My page, as the database hates my handle.

I Kissed A Girl was pretty overplayed; it'll take another year before I can enjoy it, I'd say.

Thinking of You is one of those songs with a sliiiiightly lazy chorus, but it grows on you.

Seconding Ween. I heard a lot of people compare them to Beck, who was my favorite artist at the time, so I decided to look them up and naturally the first song I found was "Push th' Little Daisies" and I thought it was the single worst song I'd ever hear in my life. It wasn't till I read somewhere that "Push th' Little Daisies" was considerably different from their usual output that I decided to look up their other songs and they pretty much became my favorite band of all time after that.

The thing that's kind of interesting to me about "Push Th' Little Daisies" is that when the full-band incarnation of Ween played it live, it started sounding more like a normal pop/rock song. So they pretty much came up with this catchy melody, then opted to deliberately arrange and sing it in the most irritating way possible. Which is sort of what early Ween was all about anyway.

edited 14th Sep '12 12:53:14 AM by MikeK

Stuck up in my own ass at the age of 12, I went along the Kanye West sucks bandwagon. Then I actually listened to a couple of tracks, a year later! Like 0dd1, though, I love his music, but good god, he's a horrible excuse for a human being.

Come to think about it, I dismissed all rap music not so long ago, but now I'm down.

And during the times I got a clear view of my prostate gland, I thought Lady Gaga was a meaningless waste of a human being, who was eww so weird. Once again, opened my ears to the fucking music.

On the opposite side of thayngs, I really loved the Black Eyed Peas, and Where Is The Love was my favorite song ever. Nowadays, I still like WITL, but not as much as I did anymore, and yadda yadda yadda, bland pop hits, worst band ever, you know the rest.

I also really really hated Katy Perry back then, and while I'm still not a big fan of her vocals, the music is upbeat, catchy, dancy, and all that.

If you wanna PM me, send it to my mrsunshinesprinkles account; this one is blorked.

Yeah, the live version was always kind of silly to me because of how much different the vocals were for obvious reasons. That kind of reminds me that I played "Push th' Little Daisies" after a couple more accessible Ween songs for my brother and he said "This song actually has a catchy melody if he'd sing it a few octaves lower."

Another band that applies for me: The Residents. I'm not really a hardcore fan of them or anything and I only listen to their music every now and then, but I used to think they were one of those bands that were just weird for the sake of being weird without much actual musical merit. I can't remember what exactly changed my thoughts on this. It was either hearing the Primus version of "Hello Skinny" and "Constantinople" or deciding a band with an album title as goofy as The Third Reich 'n Roll deserves a fair chance.

When I first heard "I Gotta Feeling", I thought that it was annoying, repetitive and bland. Then I realized that most other Black Eyed Peas songs are about a billion times worse ("Imma Be", anyone?). I then gained a new found liking "I Gotta Feeling", although I will admit that calling it "repetitive" is like calling the Atlantic Ocean "a little bit damp".

Then again, one of my favorite country songs in recent years is just as repetitive ("Lover, lover, lover, you don't treat me no good no more~").

I'm generally a lot more tolerant of the music that was popular when I was younger(like 12-14) than I was at the time.

Other than that, I tend to go on sort of sinusoidal love-dislike relationships with artists:

- I thought 50 was awesome until I started listening to more hip-hop, and then it was a pretty fast 180 to not liking him, but I think part of it had to do with The Massacre getting way overplayed at that point.

- Interestingly enough, something similar happened to me with Kanye West, I thought College Dropout and Late Registration were both great, but I really wasn't feeling Graduation or 808s and Heartbreaks. My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy won me back, though.

- There was once a time in middle school, circa 2004, when I would have called Linkin Park my favorite band and seriously meant it. Hybrid Theory and Meteora still are good albums. However, since they were a big part of the soundtrack to my personal Dork Age, I can't listen to most old LP the same way I used to, and none of their new stuff has done it for me. I would actually argue now that Reanimation has aged better than anything else they have done.

In general, I am a lot more tolerant of music that was popular when I was younger now then I was then if I didn't like it previously. I think a lot of that is due to me simply growing up, but also not hearing it all over the damn place.

https://soundcloud.com/rich-justice-hinmen Too white for the black kids, too white for the white kids.

He's a genius musically, but socially, the man needs help.

Insert witty and clever quip here. My page, as the database hates my handle.