Do you have an irrational hatred? Or, maybe not even hatred, because hate is a very strong word. Call it an intense dislike. It could be people chewing with their mouths open, or wearing baseball hats indoors (especially at tables in restaurants). It could be dumbass drivers on the roads, or people who misuse the word ‘like’ when speaking.
Well, I have an intense dislike of all of those things listed above. You may agree or not, and you might have your own to add to that list. But I think it’s safe to say there’s got to be something that really gets on yer tits.
Probably my most intense dislikes are music-related. Of course they are, I am wired to think about music all the time. And there are some things I just cannot stand. I tell you these things now with the trust that you may laugh at me and say WTF, but that you won’t abuse this knowledge. *
So why am I even posting this? Because it will probably generate conversation and debate. That’s a good thing!
Here is a list of 5 things that are Kryptonite to me:
1) Anybody singing Behind Blue Eyes. Yes, even The Who’s version. But especially Limp Bizkit’s horrendous butchery of an already bad song. Sorry, I just don’t like this tune at all, in any version. All deference, I know many love it.
2) Adam Ant – Goody Two Shoes. So fucking bad. What a brutally bad song. [James! Knock it off!]
3) Sloan – The Other Man. Yes, one of my favourite bands makes this list. I just do not like this song. It was ill-advised, and it just grates on my nerves. When James and I went to see them play in Saskatoon, we were right down front at the barrier and when the band launched into this song James elbowed me and gave me the biggest “haha here’s your favourite song of theirs!” look.
4) Anything by Simon and Garfunkel. It’s a long-standing dislike, which I don’t even think I could explain to you anymore, at this point. I just spend my time avoiding songs by these people, these days.
5) Anyone other than Leonard Cohen singing Hallelujah. Seriously, everyone. Leave the song alone. Enough is enough. Fuck off. Especially you, k.d. lang, leave it alone. You all miss the sex and humour in the song, and you turn it into some sort of painful dirge (which it is not). Only Leonard gave it the sly wink, and sang it properly.
Ahem.
Well then. How many times, reading this, did you say WTF? Haha well, I did say these were irrational dislikes, my own personal opinions. I have many more, but these are the ones that came to mind as some of my strongest dislikes.
How about you? Do you have songs or artists that really grind your gears? Drop a comment below. I’m curious to hear what other people say about things that really bug them, in music.
* Please note: This is not an invitation to mock me, or send me MP3 files of these things. I will just delete them. Even sending me lyrics from a particular song below (James, I’m looking at you) is not required – you’ve done so many times in the past already. Thanks!
keepsmealive 
Interesting post and discussion. You mention having an “irrational dislike” and I sometimes wonder if there really is such a thing, or whether there’s always a reason behind the dislikes and we just choose not to try to figure it out.
But anyway, I really really can’t stand these “sensible” morons who’ve just discovered Nick Drake, picked up an acoustic guitar, wrote a bunch of cliche-filled lyrics (usually about heartbreak) and sing them as if it’s high art and super-insightful. 90% of the cases, they can’t write a memorable melody to save their life. First example that comes to mind is the elf-voiced guy who sings that ‘Let Her Go’ song, but I’m sure there are worse. Makes me wanna go all Bill Hicks on them: “FUCK SAFENESS. PLAY FROM YOUR FUCKING HEART!”.
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Hey Ovidiu Boar, thanks for the Follow and your comment! You make a good point about the word irrational when it comes to dislikes. It was an unnecessary word. Those 5 things are things that I do (personally) dislike, and that dislike is for a reason. Maybe calling it irrational was just being preemptively defensive, on my part, and there’s no need for that. It’s my post on our site!
Your dislike is also a good example, you’re absolutely right. Oh man, that happens a lot. Too much. I youtubed that song you mentioned ‘cos I didn’t know it, and at least it becomes a full band song – would have been far worse if it was a full four minutes like the intro. That voice is something else, like Mumford sucked a helium balloon.
Thanks again for joining the discussion, I hope you enjoy our site!
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Hope you don’t mind…this post may inspire a post-RST.
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Oh I totally mind. Don’t you dare steal my ideas!
Hahahahahahaaaaaa! I’m kidding, get in there and give ‘er, man. Glad I could be the wind beneath your wings.
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Thanks again for the inspiration! I have written a post-RST inspired by this!
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“I give meaning to your life, I’m the INSPIRATION!” Hahaha!
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Nice idea – nothing’s leaping out at the moment, I’m probably most like Rich with disliking the sweeping blanket statements.
I do have an intense like for quoting soft rock ballads whenever possible, well played with both Bette Midler and Chicago!
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I used to have intense musical dislikes, but as I’ve gotten older and somewhat mellower they’ve morphed into “music I just avoid.” I pretty much disagree with everything on your list but can’t fault you for having passionate opinions about music. When I tell Pearl Jam-loving friends that I don’t like Eddie Vedder’s voice they give me an incredulous look and tell me I’m wrong. Now THAT is something I intensely dislike. Haha.
I also dislike when people make sweeping statements like “I hate country music,” “anything with a synthesizer makes me cringe,” “I can’t listen to female singers,” “songs with saxophone are awful” and “reggae is all the same song.” I’ve heard all of these from more than one person, and I just feel bad for them to have such rigid rules. I also usually give them an example of something that disproves their opinion and they always backtrack into a different but related statement of dislike.
Nice topic. I hope it doesn’t become an all-out brawl.
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No rigid ruled allowed! I’ve even found rap I enjoy when opening my ears. I own a one Beastie Boys and a few other things.
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Glad you agree, but I’m sure you also know a lot of people who have those rigid rules. In general I don’t like rap & hip-hop (especially since I’m subjected to them at the gym every day) and never choose to listen to either, but I can’t say I hate them because there have been some cool songs I’ve heard over the years. I am, however, fairly certain that no one will ever be able to convince me that Kanye West is the “musical genius” that he & so many of his fans believe him to be. Does he (or his collaborators) have an impressive record collection? I suppose. But that doesn’t make him a musician.
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Oooo. You hit upon my Kanye peave.
I think Kanye has some really interesting songs. I think he is the most over-inflated ego around. Not just in music. Not just in entertainment. In the public eye, period!
He seems to think his music transcends all, and should enlighten the world. That’s the impression I get from Kanye. But he’s just a rapper making tunes, that’s all. He’s not even at a U2 level of importance.
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I have several music-obsessive friends like us who swear that Kanye is a genius, and I just don’t get it. They often cite the songs he chooses to rap on top of, which plays into my response that he’s got a good record collection but it doesn’t make him a genius, or even a “musician.” I can often find something to enjoy in many of the rap/hip-hop songs I hear at the gym, but anytime one of Kanye’s songs comes on I just cringe…and wish I was listening to the original song being sampled (Steely Dan and Curtis Mayfield being two examples).
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Iggy Azalea. She bugs me intensely. Just thought I’d throw that out there. Don’t know what her talent actually is. Faking accents, I think.
I’m sure from what I’ve read that Kanye is musical, but rapping over other songs is like karaoke to me.
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There’s a difference, at least to me, between being “musical” and being a musician. Perhaps it’s the difference between creating something from scratch, even if it involves using pre-existing ideas, and using an existing recording as the basis for your own creation. If I buy a print of The Mona Lisa, paint a moustache & goatee on her, and tell people that this is my painting, “Hairy Lisa,” that doesn’t make me a painter. It may be artistic, and I may be making a statement, but I’m not one of the masters or a genius.
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Fully agreed with all of that.
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Ditto.
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James Brown is a big one. I hear so much of the Godfather in this music.
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Bet I couldn’t even name three of his songs, and I like rap and hip hop!
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Ooo the record collection thing. That includes every DJ ever, too.
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Lots to discover in that genre. I have an idea for a series that may help you out. It’ll be a metric shit-ton of work, but totally worth it. Lemme see if I can get to it…
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Thanks Rich! I knew I was putting myself out there a little bit, with this one. We all care about music so much, and it’s so subjective, and I was likely to step on at least a couple of toes when I posted this. I wasn’t expecting a brawl, but I was hoping to drum up a little conversation, and that seems to be happening!
I can only hope that I mellow like you have as I age (my lovely wife would likely say the same thing). So far, it hasn’t really happened and, although I do just tend to avoid those things, when they come on I am still unable to avoid comment or making barfing noises.
I understand your Vedder point. I think Scotty called it yarling. I am a fan, and I still totally see what you’re saying. It’s all good. Lots of singers hit people sideways. Dylan. Young. Cohen. Waits. Jagger. Heck, I even dated a girl who hated Gord Downie’s voice (we didn’t last, though that wasn’t the reason for the split).
Sweeping generalizations are one of my biggest beefs, good one! Actually, I should make that #6 on my list! I listen to so much different music, from all over the genre map, that it doesn’t even register when someone says they hate ALL of a genre. Doesn’t even compute. I hope the stuff I put up here on the KMA reflects that.
Sitting here thinking about it now, I would say the only genre I’m unlikely to pursue further is opera, and I’ve been to the opera, and I’ve heard some of the big recordings and even played some of them (I was in a concert band) and it just didn’t click. If it comes on, I’m cool, but I wouldn’t choose to put it on. And even at that, in my mind I put it all together with classical music, and I love a lot of that stuff, so it’s just a portion I wouldn’t play. Not hate, just don’t choose it. Hey! Maybe I am maturing like you did!
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Apart from Behind Blue Eyes I’m with you. I’d obviously extend the Sloan one to include all of their other songs. Although I have actually heard that one and it is particularly bad. Even for them.
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I knew you would, and that’s OK. You don’t have to like them. But that one Sloan song never clicked with me at all and I’m a pretty big fan.
The Behind Blue Eyes was one I’d avoided so successfully for so long, it was when I was writing up my review of the Who greatest hits recently and talking about all the songs that had been left off and saying even then that I wouldn’t include it that I was even reminded of it. It may have been the impetus for this whole post, actually. Ah well, it’s why I said all deference in my little paragraph about it. Don’t get me wrong, I really love the Who. They’ve done so much that rocks me and excites my brain. But that song, to me, was a full mis-step. But I’m glad you mentioned it, because it’s certainly fair that others like it!
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I don’t hate that Sloan song. It wouldn’t make my mix tape though.
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Actually I don’t mind Adam and the Ants either. They’ve done some good stuff.
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I should look up more of them. I just really don’t like that one song.
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I’m happy it’s a hit for them, but I don’t ever need to hear it.
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Here’s a question — you’re an album guy like me. Do you skip the song when playing the album through?
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Sure do. Unless I’m not near the player, but that rarely happens.
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That’s some intense dislike!
Who knows maybe this will turn into a series among us. I like the five I came up with although I doubt any will be controversial amongs us.
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I looooove Flying Colors version of Hallelujah. The only other one I’d listen to.
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Never heard it.
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I won’t send it to you but it’s on their double live album, should you ever hear it, it’s an amazing album otherwise. That’s the only cover on it.
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Thanks, I appreciate your restraint. I am really done with hearing other peoples’ versions of that song. I’m starting to think (because it’s really so easy to play) that guitar teachers are giving it as a practice tune to all their students. I hear buskers wrecking it. Every damn local coffee shop show has a ‘rendition.’ It isn’t just professional recording artists. It is everyone.
Back in 2009, on Q with Jian Ghomeshi on the CBC, Leonard himself said enough was enough.
“Let me ask you about Hallelujah, because it’s been an interesting year for Hallelujah – it took on a new energy. A song that you wrote in 1984, and it appeared at No 1 and No 2 on the UK charts, and your version was also in the top 40. What did you make of that?
LC: I was happy that the song was being used, of course. There were certain ironic and amusing sidebars, because the record that it came from which was called Various Positions – [a] record Sony wouldn’t put out. They didn’t think it was good enough. It had songs like Dancing (sic) to the End of Love, Hallelujah, If It Be Your Will. So there was a mild sense of revenge that arose in my heart. But I was just reading a review of a movie called Watchmen that uses it, and the reviewer said “Can we please have a moratorium on Hallelujah in movies and television shows?” And I kind of feel the same way. I think it’s a good song, but I think too many people sing it.”
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Am unlikely to.
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Inane stage chat between songs – thank us for showing out, talk to us, tell us stories – all fine. Shouting ‘whoo! Rock and roll!’ Isn’t.
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Ooo that’s a good one. I recommend you check out Henry Rollins’ rousing story about seeing Ratt in concert, for the ultimate in stage banter mishaps. Oh man.
Here’s part 1:
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Brilliant stuff! Ever seen him do spoken word. I did once, hundreds of years ago, it was great.
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Well it sure is better that catshit! Hahaha.
Yup, seen him twice spoken word, once at University of Toronto in Convocation Hall, I wanna say… 2005? Then again last time we were in Montreal – we were front row just off center. Brilliant. Also saw the Rollins Band (Mother Superior line-up) in Montreal for Get Some Go Again tour. Holy crap that was awesome.
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It must have been about 93/94 for me and I saw him on a co-headline with the Beastie Boys about a year before. The word intense was invented for him live.
I once followed him into a record shop in Leeds (cliche alert!), he’s not as big a guy as you might think.
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Rollins Band in 1994 would have been hot off the heels of the monstrous End Of Silence with the mighty Weight! Original line-up! Oh man, that would have been huge! And Beasties too? I think I would have passed out.
He is indeed intense on stage. That 2000 show in Montreal, the whole night I thought he was gonna kill somebody, just the look on his face. He gave it all.
I knew he was short. I’ve had lots of chances to meet him, not yet done it (I just like knowing he’s out there). I still wouldn’t test him or his strength.
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No I didn’t dare speak, I just followed him around a bit in a completely non-creepy manner.
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Haha like a Nat. Geo. explorer, following a wild animal in its natural habitat.
I got to know a record shop guy in Montreal who told me Rollins had been in. He checked his own section in the store and left. I assume he was looking for illegal boots and stuff.
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Another great one: “Are you ready to rock?” …pause… “I said ARE YOU READY TO RAWWWWK???”
Oh dear.
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Hello, Cleveland!!
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Only appropriate when you are, in fact, in Cleveland.
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Remember Dangerous Toys? They opened for Faster Pussycat once, two songs in ‘it’s great to be here in Cardiff, England!’ … Not clever in, fiercely independent, Wales! Poor sods looked genuinely scared and bewildered. In equal measure.
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Ouch! That… that’s not cool. At least they knew what town they were in, that’s half the battle. Hahaha oh man. Zero points on the dismount!
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Not that Wales wouldn’t fit into their native Texas 355,000 times, or anything! But, not smart.
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Haha Texans. You mean there’s anywhere else in the world? Seriously? Like, outside Texas?
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I don’t understand at least five of these.
– JK
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I knew you wouldn’t, buddy. 😉
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