Rock Albums People Who Don't Love Rock Like

Ethereal fistings, truly a genre unto itself

i own this record. it's my token gay lashing record:

http://hansonrecords.bigcartel.com/product/whipsmen-the-sounds-of-discipline-lp-zorro

everyone should at least own alternate-timeline universe dicaprio record...

https://fbcdn-sphotos-d-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xpf1/v/t1.0-9/1610798_10153317432587137_2985780421934300814_n.jpg?oh=7bfbe79c99977a75ef08fab14b51d82a&oe=54A60F77&__gda__=1418806600_2c7279c4b5eedec8a6a1152c3cc71205

i can't stop staring at that cover...

it's weird -- i know music fans that are into really out-there experimental stuff, and even they ride hard for zz top and early van halen. the jazz guys like rock, the folk guys like rock (newport was a long time ago). it's only the classical people that are all "eww" about it -- unless it's some new amsterdam crossover act that the new york times approves of, and those acts are never guitar-centric

I come from and electronic and dance music background (though nowadays I listen to all sort of stuff, including classical music, but I wouldn't call myself a "classical person" in any way), and I've never really liked rock. I'm sure there many others about the same age as me or younger who are like this: we grew up with electronic music, and rock never felt that relevant to us, it was the music of earlier generations, not of ours. Kinda like swing and bebop were to the boomer generation.

Me suggesting that this thread happen was prompted by reading Simon Reynolds' Wire piece on Radiohead circa 2001, where he suggested that in the late 90s lots of UK dance fans started using certain rock albums as "comedown" albums - OK Computer, Ladies and gentlemen we are floating in space, etc.

Assuming that this is true, I'm interested in the idea that certain "rock" albums work well with listening modes that are not centered on rock music. It's the inverse of tendency for non-rock music with rock friendly values or signifiers to be embraced by rock-centric listeners.

Certainly there seems to be a certain consensus about good rock music amongst the goon crew, though I'd struggle to explain its underlying basis.

Beardo and balearic revivalism obv gave rise to several instances of music that was superficially rock but was really designed for dance audiences.

Or that might be going too far: post-dance audiences who also like rock

plenty of people on ILM don't listen to rock music. i see what Tim's saying though, although if the thread title had been more specifically about rock albums that dance fans like, or as you say, the opposite of the token dance album rock fans like, I'd also be interested in that. Is there a hypothetical genre here? I've never heard their music but Doves always struck me as a possible example of this, considering their earlier incarnation as Sub Sub.

Yeah I was thinking about the comedown rock album thing - there were a rash of quieter, gentler albums that gained a lot of traction in publications like Mixmag around 2000. Lambchop's Nixon, Kings of Convenience, etc. In fact Erland Oye has basically made a career out of walking this line.

Goon-friendly rock seems to mostly be emoish punk pop (My Chemical Romance/Green Day/Fall Out Boy), some metal, and the kind of brawny modern rock bands that veer closer to classic rock (the Gaslight Anthem etc). Although I can't imagine the Gaslight Anthem possibly appealing to anyone who doesn't identify as liking rock music in some way.

My experience of African radio stations is that they play no rock music at all except Coldplay, U2 and and Oasis.

has a rock band ever actively tried to do this?
We've had failed attempts like the Klaxxon's nu-rave thing I suppose. But is there a rock equivalent of, say, U.F.Orb? I'd genuinely love to hear a rock band's take on post-club chill out music.

Hole is interesting as a bona fide rock act whose second and third albums definitely work as confessional teen pop avant la lettre

Have to say, I know very few 'rock fans' who listened to Hole beyond the first album.

what I mean is, the only time I really remember hearing much Hole discussion lately is through the ILM pop/dance crew.

I have to say, I know loads of rock fans who listened to a lot more than the first Hole album. But, like, lots of them were gurls.

Just thought - Queens of the Stone Age - Songs For The Deaf strikes me as a key example of a rock album adored by non-rock fans.

the hole => ashlee => paramore lineage is definitely the most interesting thing touched on itt so far, if only because the connections are pretty straightforward and explicit, but it's actually harder to tell which elements are "bona fide rock" and which are not. i'd put kelly clarkson's second and third albums in there too.

sky probably reveals that the constant is in lyrical voice rather than specific sonics, given that her album seems to draw on pre-90s rock (that i'm not v familiar with) rather than hole/courtney (apart from image-wise!).

xpost Wasn't Hole's second album the one that broke them with a larger rock audience? It seemed like only indie people paid much attention to the first album.

the hole => ashlee => paramore lineage is definitely the most interesting thing touched on itt so far, if only because the connections are pretty straightforward and explicit, but it's actually harder to tell which elements are "bona fide rock" and which are not. i'd put kelly clarkson's second and third albums in there too.

Of course most rock fans would argue that this is technically pop music with a heavy reliance on rock instrumentation. You could kind of hedge in everything from Pink to the 1975 into this bracket without too much trouble. The first Hole album strikes me as bonafide rock without a doubt, but then we're in danger of getting bogged down in semantics.

xpost, maybe my own (UK, indie-based) experiences are off but every little grunge/punk/indie kid I knew was into the first Hole album in the mid-90s and 'Violet' got a load of rotation on UK radio whereas I just don't remember a whole heap of enthusiasm for subsequent releases. YMMV.

"Violet" was on the 2nd album, the one that came out right after KC's death. The first album was the one Kim Gordon produced.

There were three modern rock hits, including a #1 and #3, on Celebrity Skin.

(http://www.billboard.com/artist/303552/hole/chart?f=377)

LOL you guys always focus on the most boring issues. Question is not "is it rock or not" but whether/how it's heard diferently by different audiences.

Is a goon who listens to Fall Out Boy hearing something different to the ordinary Fall Out Boy fan? And, if not, does the reverse also hold: that any ordinary Fall Out Boy fan would probably make a decent goon?

wtf is a goon in this context?

Rap fan who posts in the rolling rap threads.

is Fall Out Boy really a goon consensus band, or is it Whiney's cheerleading?

Shit! Forgot Live Through This wasn't a debut. Sorry for confusion

Of course, there are always people who are convinced that "rock" doesn't necessarily come from the blues. Yes, those pains in the ass who think "classical" affectations redeem a rock work.

Other people are put off by something they feel is too "macho".

What about post-grunge and NU-mentalists from the late 1990's? Are they "not rock" because they pander to an anti-50's / 60's / blues mentality?

Off topic, perhaps, but what are the true roots of EDM, since many EDM fans shun guitars and drums? Does it annoy anyone besides me?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-xUwDARVb4#t=35

i would say i have a certain style of rock im into but it's kind of soulstrut-ish, kind of dahnce-ish, but prioritizing songcraft and originality more than the latter, while de-emphasizing the canonical focus / received wisdom of the former

latin pop music

So albums by Chayanne, Ricky Martin, David Bisbal, Marc Anthony, Alejandro Sanz.... if you see any of those in someone's collection, I'm positive you wont see any rock albums (safe for a couple of token ones, if any).

Refer to this thread for Token rock albums. Pick any. Token rock album

Lol sorry I misread the title as "Albums people who don't love rock like"

For the real question in this thread I would say the real answer would be the best selling ones:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_albums

Creedence is missing in there, though, I guess it's because they don't have a real iconic album (Cosmo's Factory?) and most people opt for their compilations but it seems to me like almost every house I visit has a CCR album.

That's not the real question in this thread.

Though I find the default assumption that non-rock fans necessarily = 12 CD people amusing.

i definitely don't find myself in either dahnce or soulstrut camps ... in some ways, i'd say, i'm actually closer to the traditional unexamined rockist just in terms of taste, although for different reasons. I'm also more interested in a lot of stuff that has been forgotten, but not to the extent of creating an alternative canon (like soulstrut type dudes) as much as discovering a personal one; treating it as a journey or experience, a kind of 'the records find me' sort of thing. Which I think has an element of dahnce crate digging to it more than record collector crate digging (obv there's overlap but).

But I think dahnce folks often value texture and superficial elements of style ... nothing wrong with that per se, but I probably put songcraft on more of a pedestal, personally, than the kind of stylistic costume changes I detect as being at the core of dahnce-appreciated rock music. (I also tend to not be all that interested in retro albums in this vein, give or take a single or two)

I think i get your point but I'm not sure. Do you mean, like, the belearic/beardo veneration of dennis wilson despite him not being a terribly great songwriter?

"superficial elements of style" - presumably this + texture = "vibe"?

That's not the real question in this thread.

― Tim F

The opening post seems to ask what are the token rock albums (and we have that thread already)?

I think i get your point but I'm not sure. Do you mean, like, the belearic/beardo veneration of dennis wilson despite him not being a terribly great songwriter?

― Tim F, Monday, November 10, 2014 3:02 AM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

he's a hard one to explain bc i kind of think he is a good songwriter lol although maybe not traditionally so

texture & vibe is a better way of putting it? i mean ... i never really 'got' map of africa, is another way

def radiohead. realised this when hip hop connection had ok computer in their top 20 albums of whatever year it came out and people who mostly listened to black music or dance music i know were checking it out ('its soulful' etc). but def since then, its weird how people i know who dont 'do' rock like thom yorke. radiohead kind of represent a cool alternative, sophistication, adventurous taste, for people who arent reading the wire. theyre like a benchmark of progressive, cerebral music. also a way to show you listen to other types of music. i suppose their interest in sonics and production helps a lot too. 'its not just noisy guitars!' (never heard anyone say this, but im guessing they might think it).

Moka the point of this thread is "what are rock albums embraced by people who don't identify as fans of rock (but as fans of other types of music) and why" - lots of people maybe struggle with this basic concept because, idk, ilx people are dumb sometimes, but it is what it is.

texture & vibe is a better way of putting it? i mean ... i never really 'got' map of africa, is another way

― deej loaf (D-40), Monday, November 10, 2014 11:19 AM (55 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Yeah okay cool but this rubs 'n' tugs against another divide which is album listening vs dj set listening. Thinking "heeeeeey this heavy Equals cover is kinda cool b/c context" is one thing, but idk anyone other than beardo obsessives who bothered listening to the whole map of africa album. Texture / vibe / superficial style is enough to coast on for four minutes in a DJ set but I think across an entire artist-album rock fans and dance fans are both looking for some sort of deeper engagement however it's wrought.

I'm not sure Harvey should have been trying to make actual rock music as an extended ~project~, I haven't really been able to make it through the Wildest Dreams albums for e.g.

Vampire Weekend

the 1975, Paramore

lol this thread isn't "name bands that ilxors other than me like." There are no non-rock fans on iLX who like either of those bands to my knowledge and probably very few relatively speaking outside of ILX either.