Shortlist of bands you've more or less obsessed over

i keep buying boxed sets by beach boys

How many bands would you consider yourself a hardcore fan of?

That looks about right.

Then I became a hopeless dilettante: THE END.

though nowadays I'm find it pretty hard to justify shelling out a couple of odd quid just for one song that I haven't yet got.

then it kind of fans out into a promiscuous delta of lots of infatuation but nothing definitive

dEUS and related bands (which uquals a zillian side-projects)
Madonna
Massive Attack
Dead Man Ray

but I think it's a pretty low-level "obsession" these days

Gary Glitter
The Damned
Buzzcocks
Killing Joke
Theatre Of Hate
The Smiths
Aztec Camera
Prefab Sprout
Captain Beefheart
Tom Waits

Kiss
Pink Floyd
Devo
Ramones
Sex Pistols
Circle Jerks
Buzzcocks
KILLING JOKE
the Stranglers
The Mission
The Wonder Stuff
The Wedding Present
Cop Shoot Cop
Firewater

prior to them it was Madness.

go figure ..

now .. i suspect Joy Zipper is getting damn close ..

...I found myself buying a CD-R promo of The Sebadoh from a market stall in Ipswich a week before it came out - i think it was after listening to that i stopped obsessing.

kind of a crap list compared to all the music i love. which leaves me wondering why do we obsess over some bands and not others? do i only obsess over a band when i want to shag their guitarist? am i that sad? i'm depressed now.

Unfortunately as my taste in music has grown 'cooler,' my income has grown 'smaller.'

The Go-Betweens
The Clash
The Replacements
Husker Du
The White Stripes
The Pogues
X

those would be my big obsessions, as i was quite young when i developed them. i've been big into other bands, but not quite with the same level of fervour. here are some more recent ones.

massive attack
tricky
pavement
my bloody valentine
low
aphex twin
dmx
geto boys

...and a thousand others.

that's all I obsess over...

weird

Ooberman
Hefner
Flaming Lips
Radiohead

and I guess Super Furry Animals, if you go by the owning every album thing, but until recently I didn't realise I was that big a fan.

In my book it doesn't start to become "obsessing" until you've started buying all the singles in all the different formats too; even when you've already got all the tracks on them; and buying bootlegs and swapping live tapes....

ABBA
Queen
Blondie
Beatles
Marc Almond
Prince
Marc Almond (again)
Pulp
The Divine Comedy
The Magnetic Fields

These days, no-one and everyone. Marc Almond is the only artist whose entire oeuvre I own in just about every format imaginable. I don't really buy albums anymore, but when I do discover someone, I'll obsessively download everything I can find and sort the wheat from the chaff.

Wire
Nirvana
Aphex Twin
Pixies
NIN
Tool
Misfits

Highschool:
Jeff Buckley
Pavement
Liz Phair
Massive Attack
Portishead
Tricky
Radiohead

College:
The Clientele
notorious BIG
Lil' Kim
Kings of Conveniences (first album)
Bent
Sea and Cake
Zoot Woman
Bjork
Cat Power
Telivision
The Stooges
Alpha

Post College

Animal Collective
Iron and Wine
Eno
Sufjan Stevens
Duster
Electrelane
Deerhoof
Boards of Canada

Last 3 months (not sure if these will end up being classics or not, too soon to tell)
M.I.A
Grizzly Bear
Mice Parade
Great Lake Swimmers
Chad Vangaalen
The Chinese Stars
Arthur Russell
The books
White Magic

The only one that continues to the current day is The Fall. I generally stopped being obsessed with bands when I was about 19, although assorted electronic music producers / recor labels / genres have handily filled in the gaps.

2005 - Noise/Psych (see: Boredoms, Animal Collective, Os Mutantes)
2004 - Tom Waits
2003 - Reggae
2002 - Beach Boys
2001 - Autechre
2000 - Pavement
1999 - Aphex Twin
1998 - Beastie Boys
1997 - Pearl Jam
1996 - Radiohead
1995 - Boo Radleys
1994 - Blur

High School/Goth Phase
The Cure
David Bowie
Siouxsie & the Banshees
Sisters of Mercy (can't believe I owned up to this)

College/Present
Ted Leo & The Pharmacists
The Fall
the pillows

Moby Grape (briefly)

Pavement

Beefheart

George Jones

Everly Brothers

Kinks (a long time ago)

Stones

Funkadelic

I'm currently kind of obsessive about Bert Williams, those three Archeophone CDs of his work, fascinating

Faron Young

James Brown (obsession continues to this day)

blur
goldie/ metalheadz
mercury rev
flaming lips
joy division
radiohead
nirvana
wu-tang clan
dillinger
roni size
king tubby
lee scratch perry
amon tobin

its been at least five years since ive obsessed about anything tho, theres a lot of stuff i like but no real obsessions, not even for the previous.

i mean this is ok too, but I'm SURE we did this sort of year-by-year chronology somewhere else earlier.

as an aside, and NO OFFENSE intended, but i am so so glad that i never listened to pearl jam.

That's basically it - for any other performer, it's all about the MUSIC and nothing else. (I mean, I love Funkadelic, but felt no need to keep my Hardcore Jollies 8-Track tape once I acquired the CD.)

xpost

etc.

new order
the cure
ultra vivid scene
stone roses
happy mondays
ride
the wedding present
heavenly/fieldmice/blueboy/orchids(pretty much all things sarah)
moose
pale saints
cocteau twins

all of the above i own all the records (singles, inclusive) and had poster(s) AND t-shirt(s).

for both the cure and new order obsessions i had like those horrible baktabak interview picture discs and multiple bootlegs and all the videos and nme articles and select magazine covers and everything.

for the sarah obsession, i managed to complete the vinyl collection and have multiple dupes on cd (single/albums), all the cd comps, the fanzines (actually only really lacking saropoly), have t-shirts, etc

now i'm just sick of moving all this shit around.

I took it to be more in the sense of 'consumed everything it was possible to find' (recordings, concerts, tshirts, magazines or zines that featured the band). My 15 year old suburb dwelling self would have been hard pressed to put together a full Sonic Youth discocgraphy back in 1990 (at least until I discovered Replay Records mail order) but I certainly bought or copied everything I could gget my hands on.

Elton John
Steely Dan
The Police
David Bowie
Pearl Jam
Smashing Pumpkins
Toad the Wet Sprocket
Big Head Todd & the Monsters
Ben Folds Five
The Samples
John Mayer
Nikka Costa
Zero 7
Wilco
Dave Matthews Band (longest standing)
Thomas Dybdahl (most recent)

Badly Drawn Boy!

kind of depressing isn't it?

Higher Education:
Joni Mitchell
Parliament
Talking Heads
Elvis Costello
Dr. Buzzard's Original Savannah Band
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers

The 80s:
Paul Simon
Kassav'
REM
Sharon, Lois & Bram

The 90s forward:
Cowboy Junkies
Wilco*
The Old 97s*
Whiskeytown/Ryan Adams*
Tricky
The Roots*
Emm Gryner
Carlos Vives
Cafe Tacuba*
El Gran Silencio*
Rachid Taha*
Sleater-Kinney

* = still a live obsession

healthily obsessed: OMD, new order/joy division/factory stuff in general

compared to those, even my die-hard love for - say - mogwai or the weddoes or depeche mode looks like a one-night stand ;)

Well it's certainly true in my case (up to the point at which I stopped obsessing about a particular band / musician anyway).

With the exception of Gary Glitter (I was far too young at the time) Captain Beefheart and Tom Waits (I'm far far too old now!) I've also hitched the length and breadth of the country following tours; frequently with insufficient money to buy a ticket and only the vaguest plan of how to blag my way in to a gig when I got there - and usually with only the clothes on my back and no idea where I was going to end up sleeping afterwards.

I certainly wasn't alone in doing such things at the time either by any means.... has the depth and quality of obsessiveness really dropped so far that such behaviour has become extinct?

I thought that was obsessional at the time, given that I lived in Edinburgh.

i pretty much managed, though. i don't think there's a single recording i haven't at least heard, even if i don't own it. and i own most of them, believe me.

I thought that was obsessional at the time, given that I lived in Edinburgh."

That doesn't strike me as being so much obsessional as just.... well.... odd.

Do you have some sort of problem with the postal system?

as molly said, i thought some kind of sexual longing was necessary. i was always unsure how straight male rock obsession worked.

The kids from Fame
Culture Club

then

The Smiths
Pixies
Tricky
Autechre
Talk Talk
and
Smog who have sustained my interest most intensely and for the longest.

*current and/or ongoing
+no longer obsessed, but still entusiastic

Chronologically:
Motley Crue
Pearl Jam ongoing
Soundgarden
Nick Cave ongoing
Jeff Buckley
Beasts Of Bourbon
The Cruel Sea
Warped

ok - 23 skidoo. a bit. and arthur russell.

I was so obsessed with Elvis Costello in high school that I delayed buying all of his albums because I wanted to draw out the pleasure as long as I could. Hopefully over the course of my entire lifetime. (Now I don't buy them because I'm scared they'll suck- and also, no money).

And Basement Jaxx. God damn.

Loved lots of bands over my lifetime, but those are the real obsessions. Sort of a weird pairing.

Hah! Never say never - there must have been a gap of at least a decade between the end of my Smiths / Aztec Camera / Prefab Sprout obsessiveness phase and the start of the Captain Beefheart / Tom Waits phase.

Those are off the top of my head. there are many more. the beatles definitely started the obsessing.

mostly the first two tho

Currently: Lost Sounds

Well, I still get obsessed over certain artists but not to the degree that I'll buy every dodgy live album, compilation, book or poster that I see. And I know now not to go see 20-year-later reunion versions of bands with only one of the original members. Stuff like that. I also haven't worn a band t-shirt since I was 17.

Adam and The Ants
The Smiths
Jesus & Mary Chain
James
Happy Mondays
New Order
Television Personalities
Mercury Rev
Boo Radleys
Oasis
Belle & Sebastian
Lee Hazlewood

Queen - b. 1992 d. 1993

The Smashing Pumpkins - b. 1994 d. 2001 (i never do listen to those interview disks anymore...)

Nick Drake - b. 2000 - present (recently paid $40 for an imported CD of his home demos, even though i have them on mp3, just b/c i had never seen the photo on the cover of the CD)

Mid-Level Obsession Level (own every LP and listen to them at furious intervals on and off):

My Bloody Valentine - b. 2000 - present

Talk Talk / Mark Hollis - b. 2004 - present

The Verve - b. 2002 - present

The Dismemberment Plan - b. 2000 d. 2003 (RIP)

Jeff Buckley - b. 2000 d. 2002, b. 2004 d. 2005 (RIP)

My Bloody Valentine
Radiohead
Sonic Youth
Joy Division

The Smiths
Lloyd Cole/Commotions/Negatives
The VU
Luna

Aztec Camera
Belle and Sebastian
Jesus and Mary Chain
Manic Street Preachers
Mansun
Oasis
Radiohead
Suede
not admitting to owning the entire Supernaturals back catalogue
Teenage Fanclub
Trash Can Sinatras

Bob Dylan
David Bowie
Lou Reed
Patti Smith
George Jones
Merle Haggard
Charlie Rich
Elvis Presley
MILES DAVIS (lifelong)
JAMES BROWN (lifelong)

now I'm done

minor obsessions:
Stone Roses
My Bloody Valentine
The Charlatans
The Verve
Smashing Pumpkins
Sonic Youth (long since finished - haven't heard their last 2 records)
Suede

Foetus/related projects.

I have (shudder) 72 items specifically related to foetus, not counting T-shirts, posters and magazines containg articles/interviews. I own a Red Hot Chili Peppers remix CD purely due to a foetus remix. I have 10 subtly different copies of the album "Hole", all available formats represented.

This is not so much a boast, as a frightening cry for help, i fear...

Belle & Sebastian was probably the last all-encompassing obsession.

bassists:
Parcy Jones
Mick Karn

Frank Zappa
Led Zeppelin
Miles Davis
The Minutemen
John Zorn
Yo La Tengo
Parker/Brotzmann/Oxley/Bailey — European free improv

Kinda omnivorous lately, not obsessed with any one thing.

Now: None

Foo Fighters (still obsessed)
Nirvana (no longer obsessed with the BAND)
Killing Joke (still obsessed)
David Bowie (this was short live but very fun. still love him)
Psychedelic Furs (still and very much obsessed)

currently:
Red House Painters

Yes
King Crimson
XTC
Simple Minds
Roxy Music
Brian Eno
Husker Du
Replacements
Velvet Underground
John Cale
Fairport Convention/Richard Thompson/Sandy Denny
Gram Parsons
Byrds
Big Star
Gene Clark
Love
Teenage Fanclub
Stereolab
High Llamas
Beach Boys
Lee Hazlewood
Francoise Hardy
Curt Boettcher
Astrud Gilberto
Judee Sill
Bonnie Prince Billy

Priors:
semi-obsession with Hood
attempted obsession: Look Blue Go Purple. The Resources & opps to scour were just too scarce.
early hs: Dance Hall Crashers (acquired all records)
pre high school: No Doubt & Fiona Apple (bootlegs, unlistenable (quality of recording) live performances, everything I could find)
latter elementary school days: Ace of Base, even though my bff was all Nirvana and mourning for Kurt.
But I just wasn't feeling for anything much without a blip, yet. Then The Bridge came out.
I was so disappointed when I got the tape
and there were no lyrics. So, what I recall, I retreated to my room
took my fisher price tape player to my ear
and sat there,
rewind.
pause. play a little...wait, go back. pause. "The belly looming eighteen?"
It was an almost tedious task, plus I knew I'd risk wearing out the tape with all this overexposure and repetition but
several pages of Notebook paper and tiny cramp handed later
I did it.
Or, at least I now had what I thought they were saying through those thick accenteds. It would be a few more year before I found out they were actually saying "barely blooming 18."

Embarrassingly:
Disturbed (Only "Sickness")
Bright Eyes

Now:
Thursday
Jewlia Eisenberg

Alice Cooper
ELO
Blue Oyster Cult
Prince
MBV
Scott Walker
Laura Nyro
Epic Soundtracks

I pretty much don't obsess over musicians anymore...

except maybe black sabbath

High School:
Pink Floyd and BAD Pop/Rap

College:
Massive Attack
Kraftwerk
Modest Mouse
Talking Heads
Boards of Canada

Now:
David Bowie
Beck
CloudDead (including all the solo stuff by OddNosdam, Why?, and Dose One)

Later Grade School:
C.W. McCall
“Star Wars” and “Grease” soundtracks
Kiss
ELO

Jr. High:
Adam & the Ants/Adam Ant
Cheap Trick
“Rocky Horror” soundtrack
AC/DC

High School:
Talking Heads
Rush
Tangerine Dream
Yaz
The Violent Femmes
King Crimson

College:
Sonic Youth
XTC
Big Black
The Stooges
Big Star
The Vaselines
The Melvins
Mudhoney
Chrome

Mid-to-late 20s:
Blue Oyster Cult
Tall Dwarfs
The Saints
Billy Childish (etc.)
Pavement
Stereolab
Monster Magnet
Guided By Voices
Boredoms

30s:
The Kent 3
The White Stripes
Turbonegro
Black Sabbath
Magic Hour/Major Stars
Mick Collins (etc.)
Boris
Flower Travellin Band
John Fahey
Hollertronix/Diplo (etc.)

Most of these still hold true for me, though the Led Zep, Jeff Buckley, Tori Amos, Fiona Apple and Nine Inch Nails were definitely a high school thing (still love 'em, though).

Middle School:
The Boils
Spazz
Charles Bronson
Los Crudos
Kill the Man Who Questions

High School:
Belle & Sebastian
Wilco/Uncle Tupelo
REM
The New Pornographers
New Order
Sonic Youth

College (not done yet):
Destroyer
Devendra Banhart
No-Neck Blues Band

and then i stopped listening to a lot of bands and dance music consumed my life, which is where i am now. still into a lot of noise and older experimental stuff, though.

* = Cannot reconcile with current self