Unpopular music opinions

[S_M_Cumberworth]

I cannot stand the Rolling Stones, and I think that the Animals are dull at best. I really like the Beatles, although I think that John Lennon was a joke. He was a mediocre musician and a sub par poet who would have gone nowhere without the melodies of Paul McCartney. That said, George Harrison was the best.

I do like Elvis though. Not saying he was original, I just like his voice. Not huge on Sinatra, love Dean Martin. I wish that people still wrote such great songs, so that Michael Bublé would not have to continue to sing 60 year old material.

On to concert music.
I rather like Wagner.
I think that Shoenberg was one of the worst things that happened to western music (not that his was terrible, it just set a bad precedent.)
It is a shame that more people did not imitate and build on the style of Gershwin.
John Cage does not deserve to be called a composer.
Puccini may be the Andrew Lloyd Webber of opera, but he gets me everytime (by the way, Webber is a bit of a guilty pleasure of mine).
I may be starting to like Donizetti.

Ah! I always love finding someone who appreciates McCartney over Lennon. I think Lennon had some great stuff, but the quality of his output diminished greatly with time. I can't stomach any of his solo records.

Puccini really was the Andrew Lloyd Webber of opera — and I hate Andrew Lloyd Webber. I'd rather not talk about Donizetti. There's something about 19th and 20th century Italian opera in general that I don't like.

I don't have a problem with Schoenberg per se, only what he spawned. That said, I've always preferred some of his contemporaries to him. I think the harmonic and melodic textures of, say, Janáček, Kodály, and Bartók were more interesting than any of his own tonal experiments.

 

[LizzieMaine]

-Music critics became a profession during the Romantic period. Music criticism was a source of income for both Hector Berlioz and Robert Schumann.

True, but "Cultural Studies" is a different animal from music criticism. Music critics actually criticize music for its musical and performance qualities. "Cultural Critics" really have no interest in music as music -- they're interested only in how it can be used to illustrate the decay of capitalist hegemony in a poststructuralist society. (And that's putting it more succinctly than they themselves ever will.)

 

[S_M_Cumberworth]

Alba Berg is just great if you want to make that boring relative to go away from your home. (But Wozzeck opera is interesting).

I think that's the best assessment of Berg I've ever read.

The russians had a lot of good modern composers. Gliere, Kachaturian, et alii. Tonal music, but you can feel them "modern".

Don't forget Prokofiev.

 

[S_M_Cumberworth]

I feel the same way after listening to the Beatles.:eusa_doh:

Ok, name one song that bears merit---not something that they were copying Chuck, Elvis or some of the other stars of the time. Definitely not any of the maggot infested hippie stuff from later either. Duck! :laser::hippie: Got him just before he got away.

I'm sorry to beat this dead horse, but the following should satisfy all of your criteria. (It should also be noted that McCartney was never really doing the whole 'hippie' music thing, but Lennon definitely was. Just listen to the suite on side 2 of Abbey Road — McCartney can write.)

[video=youtube;-SbCIFbJQDk]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-SbCIFbJQDk[/video]

 

[Bogey]

Beatles ? Chapman was an amatuer...

Springsteen ? Yawn and a ho hum again. Again.

 

[jamespowers]

You wanna talk about embarassing music on your iPod, that you really don't want others to know you enjoy. I was cruising with my buddies, going through my iPod on the truck radio. Waylon Jennings, Kenny Rogers, Conway Twitty, Merle Haggard, Johnny Cash, then boom Abba...... Others in my truck were exchanging glances.

Please don't tell me it was Dancing Queen.lol

 

[AtomicEraTom]

'twas Fernando it was.

Please don't tell me it was Dancing Queen.lol

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

'twas Fernando it was.

Did you have to mention Fernando??? Now I can't get the tune out of my head. I remember hearing that song constantly everywhere I went when I was growing up in the late '70s.

The one song from that period that I will admit to liking is Blondie's Heart Of Glass.

 

[Lillemor]

Waylon Jennings, Kenny Rogers, Conway Twitty, Merle Haggard, Johnny Cash

Someone forgot to tell me that's embarrassing. I don't own any music by them but I've listened to their tapes (you all do remember what that is, right?!) in the past.

The Limeliters, Bill Monroe, Hall & Scruggs, Ralph Stanley, Ricky Shaggs, folk singer Jimmie Rodgers, Gary Numan, Depeche Mode, Annette Funicello, Frankie Avalon, Connie Francis (don't know why but people think that's strange), Bobby Rydell, Bobby Vee, Bobby Vinton, and apparenty some think I should keep quiet about listening to Andy Williams, Early years of Sugababes. Well, most of my peers and those that are up to a couple of decades older wouldn't be listening to the music I listen to from the 50s-early 60s. Oh, and someone let me know that Emmylou Harris and 70s country is hokey!

When I was a kid I was a loud and proud Emmylou Harris and Dolly Parton fan.

 

[Fly Boy]

I think Bob Dylan is a poor man's Woody Guthrie.

 

[martinsantos]

Don't forget Prokofiev.

...And Shostakovich!

(but for XXth Century russians composers, I really love Rachmaninoff. Sorry that I never could play his music at the piano - too difficult).

 

[Blackjack]

True, but "Cultural Studies" is a different animal from music criticism. Music critics actually criticize music for its musical and performance qualities. "Cultural Critics" really have no interest in music as music -- they're interested only in how it can be used to illustrate the decay of capitalist hegemony in a poststructuralist society. (And that's putting it more succinctly than they themselves ever will.)

I'll respond as soon as I get a dictionary to try and figure out what the hell you just said...
and I like the Beatles, a lot,
and even with his rudimental King Kong abilities, Gene Krupa could out swing Buddy Rich anyday,
and I don't care what anyone says, Glenn Miller was the king of the jukebox in WWII...

 

[Lillemor]

How could I forget THE CARS When I was a pre-teen I told someone I liked it because it had a genreless sophisticated appeal. Don't even know what I meant by that.

 

[vitanola]

American Pop Culture criticcism can trace its roots at ,east as far back as Sigmund Spaeth, Deems Taylor, and Carl Van Vechten, can it not?

 

[Amy Jeanne]

Thank God no one mentioned they're still listening to Culture Club...

LOVE THEM! Don't care what anyone thinks. Love Wham, too. Never was huge on Duran Duran, though. I love ALL 80s music. It's all in my iPod

 

[Amy Jeanne]

You wanna talk about embarassing music on your iPod, that you really don't want others to know you enjoy. I was cruising with my buddies, going through my iPod on the truck radio. Waylon Jennings, Kenny Rogers, Conway Twitty, Merle Haggard, Johnny Cash, then boom Abba...... Others in my truck were exchanging glances.

lol lol lol
I get "embarassed" when these songs come on in front of people: No Doubt, Gwen Stefani, my lone Grateful Dead song, Rockapella, Janet Klein (people usually look at me like "WTH is this?" lol), and a few songs with sexually explicit lyrics. "My Girl's Pussy" by Harry Roy is NOT one of those songs, though

Everything else I play loud and proud.

 

[jamespowers]

'twas Fernando it was.

Ok, just as bad.:eeek:

 

[jamespowers]

I'm sorry to beat this dead horse, but the following should satisfy all of your criteria. (It should also be noted that McCartney was never really doing the whole 'hippie' music thing, but Lennon definitely was. Just listen to the suite on side 2 of Abbey Road — McCartney can write.)

[video=youtube;-SbCIFbJQDk]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-SbCIFbJQDk[/video]

lol lol lol Psychodelic nickelodeon music. lol lol You are kidding right? It sounds like something they used to play for chase scenes during the silent Keystone Cops movies.
You can hear it at the 50 mark:
[video=youtube;a2xTwyPrxWw]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2xTwyPrxWw[/video]
Much more enjoyable too. Oh and:laser::hippie: Got the filthy hippie.

 

[jamespowers]

I'll respond as soon as I get a dictionary to try and figure out what the hell you just said...
and I like the Beatles, a lot,
and even with his rudimental King Kong abilities, Gene Krupa could out swing Buddy Rich anyday,
and I don't care what anyone says, Glenn Miller was the king of the jukebox in WWII...

Uh, she just described the Beatles music with "Cultural Critics" really have no interest in music as music -- they're interested only in how it can be used to illustrate the decay of capitalist hegemony in a poststructuralist society. (And that's putting it more succinctly than they themselves ever will.)" lol lol

 

[Blackjack]

Thats what I though she said, but what she's really saying is the stratification of society by cultural critics actually has little to do with the homogenization of musical styles as they have changed within the sociometric paramaters of our culture? Oh....WHY DIDN'T SHE JUST SAY SO...