I've tried listening to Radiohead (especially Kid A) many times over the years and while they are certainly a band I respect, I'm about to give up on actually enjoying their music. I just think I might have to reckon with the idea that I dislike Radiohead in general, though I liked A Moon Shaped Pool at the time for whatever reason
― Paul Ponzi, Sunday, 11 October 2020 23:17 (three years ago) link
It’s Radiohead for me as well. I just gave Kid A another shot, and apparently I’ll just never hear what others hear.
― Guitar Dick (morrisp), Sunday, 11 October 2020 23:30 (three years ago) link
i think u have to be a sad youth to start with them honestly, dont know any other way
― cointelamateur (m bison), Monday, 12 October 2020 00:28 (three years ago) link
otm
― pomenitul, Monday, 12 October 2020 00:30 (three years ago) link
u cd try thinking about how much your parents dont udnerstand u or how hard it is to talk with people u r sexually attracted to or how much capitalism sucks and -- i repeat -- u r not fucking, that is a major source of consternation
― cointelamateur (m bison), Monday, 12 October 2020 01:06 (three years ago) link
I’ve seen Radiohead twice (Bends and HTTT eras) and both times I thought they were outstanding, totally felt they were worthy of being an era-defining band - and yet I don’t have any interest in listening to their music at home
― umsworth (emsworth), Monday, 12 October 2020 01:21 (three years ago) link
Maybe it's just lazy critics-- back in the New Weird America shit, ISB were often mentioned in reviews of Espers and Wooden Wand and more ornate chamber folk stuff. I was just unable to hear it, and tbh hated that second Espers album, but I've tried to come back to ISB since and they've never taken
― healthy cocaine off perfect butts (the table is the table), Sunday, 11 October 2020 bookmarkflaglink
From my vague recollection of that new weird America stuff ISB...isn't that, no.
― xyzzzz__, Monday, 12 October 2020 08:37 (three years ago) link
Which might explain why I can't get into it! That first Espers album is sick, and I love Wooden Wand and a lot of the more free-floating, noisy New Weird America stuff.
― healthy cocaine off perfect butts (the table is the table), Monday, 12 October 2020 15:58 (three years ago) link
Radiohead for me too; I make an effort every few years, most recently in response to that Guardian article about their influence on black music. I made a 4-hour playlist for a long solitary car journey and sat through the whole thing, when it ended I flipped to the radio just as "Time Is Tight" by Booker T and the MGs was played - the feeling of relief was amazing, it was like putting the car into a higher gear.
― fetter, Monday, 12 October 2020 17:13 (three years ago) link
tbf, "time is tight" would probably have that effect 95% of the time.
― Totally different head. Totally. (Austin), Monday, 12 October 2020 17:30 (three years ago) link
Radiohead are very much in that Porcupine Tree vein of "they're clearly very good at this but I find it hard to enjoy this at all"
― frogbs, Monday, 12 October 2020 17:34 (three years ago) link
^ that's a really good comparison
Also, maybe we are veering off topic a bit here, but since someone mentioned New Order: I love New Order but every time I put on a Joy Division record I am bored to tears
― Paul Ponzi, Monday, 12 October 2020 17:35 (three years ago) link
I love Joy Division, but I have a hard time getting into any New Order beyond their singles.
― Mr. Cacciatore (Moodles), Tuesday, 13 October 2020 02:23 (three years ago) link
Similarly, I like The Cure's singles, their poppy and eclectic songs, but albums like Pornography and Disintegration are completely lost on me.
― Mr. Cacciatore (Moodles), Tuesday, 13 October 2020 02:26 (three years ago) link
Sparks keep coming up on my Discover Weekly and just no - viscerally no.
― Vanishing Point (Chinaski), Tuesday, 20 October 2020 15:53 (three years ago) link
Recent Sparks, old, none whatsoever? They're one of my favorite bands of all time, but I certainly get how Russell's voice is a turnoff for many.
― Three Rings for the Elven Bishop (Dan Peterson), Tuesday, 20 October 2020 16:07 (three years ago) link
Agree (but not with the "keep trying to like" part from the thread title). Very few acts are as Not For Me as Sparks.
― but also fuck you (unperson), Tuesday, 20 October 2020 16:46 (three years ago) link
Very few acts are as Not For Me as Sparks.
cosign
― pomenitul, Tuesday, 20 October 2020 17:10 (three years ago) link
I’m not a huge fan but I dig number 1 in heaven and terminal jive a lot. and “amateur hour”. and “cool places” with jane wiedlin.
― brimstead, Tuesday, 20 October 2020 17:16 (three years ago) link
I think I've mainly heard older Sparks. It's strange how quickly I have to turn them off: something to do with the voice, the hyperactive bombast, the archness.
― Vanishing Point (Chinaski), Tuesday, 20 October 2020 17:33 (three years ago) link
It's strange how quickly I have to turn them off: something to do with the voice, the hyperactive bombast, the archness.
Yep. All of this.
― but also fuck you (unperson), Tuesday, 20 October 2020 17:39 (three years ago) link
this discussion is funny. i was working at a used record store and the owner was a huge sparks fan. would often commandeer the store stereo to play them. one time he did that and he was all into it and singing along and i thought it was funny but i remarked, "it's like they're being annoying on purpose." to which he replied, all excited, "yeah, exactly!"
pretty much sums up my disinterest in them.
― Totally different head. Totally. (Austin), Tuesday, 20 October 2020 17:43 (three years ago) link
I love Sparks but didn't really "get" them until Hello Young Lovers, specifically 'Perfume', but they are like the definition of an acquired taste and I totally get all the folks here who can't hang
― howls of non-specificity (sleeve), Tuesday, 20 October 2020 17:44 (three years ago) link
Ha, Sparks is me, but opposite-land!
Like, I can't imagine a band who were so more completely tailor-made as something I should completely adore, with all the hyperactively arch camp bombast - and I just cannot get into them at all.
― Branwell with an N, Tuesday, 20 October 2020 17:46 (three years ago) link
this conversation is bananas
― Paul Ponzi, Tuesday, 20 October 2020 18:52 (three years ago) link
People who think they might like Sparks but don't like the most well-known stuff should try listening to Sparks and A Woofer in Tweeter's Clothing, the first two records made when they were an LA-based quintet. Songs like Fletcher Honorama, Saccharin and the War and Angus Desire have a post-psychedelic weirdness to them that they pretty much abandoned by 1974.
― Halfway there but for you, Tuesday, 20 October 2020 18:56 (three years ago) link
sleeve: I'm exactly in the same boat! All I knew about Sparks was annoying better-than-Zappa-but-not-much-and-with-a-whiff-of-Meatloaf 70s stuff, and then 2006 came along and "Dick Around" destroyed my brain. A friend of mine (avid Sparks fan) told me I should check out the 80s albums and ya they're great, I like them too, and all the recent albums of theirs
Still don't care for their "classic" stuff aside from being weird camp curios
― flamboyant goon tie included, Tuesday, 20 October 2020 19:06 (three years ago) link
The only song of theirs I can make it more than 30 seconds into is The Number One Song In Heaven because there's so little ~~Sparks!~~ and so much arpeggiated synth wibbling.
― Branwell with an N, Tuesday, 20 October 2020 19:13 (three years ago) link
what is "most well-known" sparks stuff? for a long time, i thought it was kimono my house, the earlier more operatic stuff? but i think that's just how i first became familiar with them.
but then there's also the moroder-produced no. 1 in heaven, which has "Beat the Clock" on it. somehow, i thought that was a massive worldwide smash, because i feel like i've always known that song. but it didn't even chart in the US?
― president of my cat (Karl Malone), Tuesday, 20 October 2020 19:26 (three years ago) link
No 1 in Heaven is pretty spectacular imo, if you have any interest in giorgio moroder and haven't heard it
― president of my cat (Karl Malone), Tuesday, 20 October 2020 19:27 (three years ago) link
i have an extremely soft spot for them in my heart because they were my first literal "what is THIS playing?" moment in a record store. i wish i knew which sparks it was, but at the time, as a scared teen escaping my dorm room for a few minutes, it sounded like otherworldly avant pop. i didn't really track anything down by them for a few more years, but i mentally noted them as cool stuff
― president of my cat (Karl Malone), Tuesday, 20 October 2020 19:32 (three years ago) link
"being annoying on purpose" is pretty much my favourite type of music
― Specific Ocean Blue (dog latin), Tuesday, 20 October 2020 19:52 (three years ago) link
I remember hearing "Tryouts For The Human Race" as pre-show music for Har Mar Superstar and thinking it was some of the greatest music I've ever heard...but I didn't know what it was!! Discovering Sparks a year later and going..."hey...it's that fuckin' song!" was a pretty cool experience
they're definitely a polarizing group - I pretty much loved them right away. like, two songs into Kimono My House I thought surely this was one of the best bands to ever exist. but I understand the opposite reaction. I played them for one of my friends and his reaction was "never play that band for me again". later he said he was frustrated because he couldn't get "As I Sit Down to Play the Organ at the Notre Dame Cathedral" out of his head. I thought that was pretty impressive - even people with an allergic reaction to their music still get their songs stuck in their head
― frogbs, Tuesday, 20 October 2020 21:04 (three years ago) link
Propaganda was a favorite as a kid and I still enjoy it when in the right mood, but I’ve never been able to get into anything else they’ve done.
― beard papa, Wednesday, 21 October 2020 06:30 (three years ago) link
I listened to a bit of Sparks last night (I only previously knew 'TTABEFTBOU', 'Beat The Clock' and 'Number One Song In Heaven'. I can confirm that this is exactly my thing and I'm confused about why people would hate on some fun upbeat glam/disco/new-wave with flamboyant singing and esoteric lyrics really.
― Specific Ocean Blue (dog latin), Wednesday, 21 October 2020 12:04 (three years ago) link
I like Sparks but have never understood the rabid reactions pro- or anti-. Some good songs and records, but nothing to get too excited about, IMHO.
― healthy cocaine off perfect butts (the table is the table), Wednesday, 21 October 2020 14:10 (three years ago) link
Everyone has always, always said I'll absolutely love Sparks, but it hasn't quite happened yet
― Chip-vill-A (imago), Wednesday, 21 October 2020 14:16 (three years ago) link
I like them in small doses, don't quite get the fanaticism
― Mr. Cacciatore (Moodles), Wednesday, 21 October 2020 14:19 (three years ago) link
I think I have similar with Zappa. Everyone sees that I'm a Cardiacs fanatic and assumes I'll also love their supposed American progenitors, but it's a completely different vibe
― Chip-vill-A (imago), Wednesday, 21 October 2020 14:23 (three years ago) link
you just haven't heard the right albums /lol
― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Wednesday, 21 October 2020 15:05 (three years ago) link
The problem is you have to complete a set of increasingly tedious quests to unlock the right albums
― Mr. Cacciatore (Moodles), Wednesday, 21 October 2020 15:06 (three years ago) link
zappa cannot fail he can only be failed
― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Wednesday, 21 October 2020 15:13 (three years ago) link
The secret connection is that Ron Mael had a thick Zappa-style moustache in 1971.
― Halfway there but for you, Wednesday, 21 October 2020 15:17 (three years ago) link
That's two different moustaches, though: toothbrush vs. walrus (w/ added soul patch.)
https://i.etsystatic.com/19924296/r/il/5675c7/2395827332/il_794xN.2395827332_4f7v.jpg
― Three Rings for the Elven Bishop (Dan Peterson), Wednesday, 21 October 2020 16:34 (three years ago) link
I'd be more inclined to recommend Sparks to someone who loves say, They Might Be Giants than Cardiacs
Cardiacs fans are weird, their tastes tend to be all over the place. the only bands they universally seem to like are XTC and like, Koenjihyakkei
― frogbs, Wednesday, 21 October 2020 16:40 (three years ago) link
frogbs are you into Harry Merry at all?https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fx-tu63ONGo
― brimstead, Wednesday, 21 October 2020 16:48 (three years ago) link
Ron Mael is sporting a pencil mustache these days. He's really evolved.
being annoying on purpose" is pretty much my favourite type of music
can't imagine a band who were so more completely tailor-made as something I should completely adore, with all the hyperactively arch camp bombast
Yeah all that sounds very good to me, what are some records I may not have heard that fit this description?
I recently recommended Sparks to a kid who's obsessed with Foxy Shazam and the Baby Driver soundtrack but I haven't checked in with him since.
― Cabo Weibo (卡波微博) (Deflatormouse), Wednesday, 21 October 2020 17:13 (three years ago) link
Thanks for the Harry Merry link. Good to know Sparks *aren't* the most annoying band on earth after all!
I absolutely don't get the "being annoying on purpose" thing as a USP.
― Vanishing Point (Chinaski), Wednesday, 21 October 2020 17:38 (three years ago) link
I work with teenagers and I have kids of my own. I don't need it in my music as well!
― Vanishing Point (Chinaski), Wednesday, 21 October 2020 17:39 (three years ago) link
my comment was a bit pinch of salt but like p sure bands like Pere Ubu fit into the 'annoying on purpose' category
― Specific Ocean Blue (dog latin), Wednesday, 21 October 2020 17:42 (three years ago) link