Other people SLAMMING the music you like

[Stoneage Dinosaurs]

Played some Cardiacs to a guy at uni just after I'd got very heavily into them and he just dismissed them as "a really shit version of Madness". He turned out to be a massive tory who grew up in Dubai so I felt sort of vindicated

[non capisco]

My granddad dismissing Beastie Boys as sounding "like a load of fucking gnats."

[The Mollusk]

This isn't a SLAM but that's reminded me that when we were in our early teens, a friend of mine told me his grandma overheard him listening to Less Than Jake and said it was "good, clean fun."

I just had to post that because I find it fucking hilarious and cute and I think about it often.

[chveik]

Now, I wholeheartedly agree with this one.

Lemon Kittens is quite fun

[sevendaughters]

My granddad dismissing Beastie Boys as sounding "like a load of fucking gnats."

had a similar thing once. The only ever time I had a one night stand, I woke up in her house and in the morning her dad came over and he'd seen the Beastie Boys at Live 8 or Live Earth, and he gave me a full 20 mins lecture about why they were the shittest thing in music including rhyming the word "rap" with "crap" for emphasis. He was more irate about that than me failing to get his daughter off.

[Oz Oz Alice]

Lemon Kittens is quite fun

From Karl Blake's other work it's probable he's behind a lot of what makes them good: I do really like The Jesus Egg That Wept though so who knows.

[Sin Agog]

Up in the big house they're branding n


CANCELLED!!!

[Blinder Data]

While tripping on acid with a friend, I put on Electric Ladyland for the first time which sounded amazing. Big old drums slopping about the place, phat guitar, sexy lyrics, it was perfect.

Then my friend said in an exaggerated American accent "it's grooooooovy baaaby!".

Ruined.

[flotemysost]

Not exactly slamming music that I like, but at a previous job, one day the team manager brought in a radio to have on while we worked, (to much jubilation, as that was about the most exciting thing to have happened there in months). She decided that it would be tuned to Radio One but threw me an apologetic look, adding "Sorry flotemysost, I know you like your... grunge music, and all that."

No idea where she got the idea that I was specifically into grunge (and would therefore be intrinsically opposed to Radio One, apparently), other than that I probably looked quite miserable a lot of the time as I hated that job, but it still makes me laugh when I remember it.

I also once sent a mixtape (well, CD) to someone I was seeing, he had fairly indie-pop sort of taste and I'd put an Aztec Camera track on there, thinking it might be along the lines of stuff he was into. He was texting me a song-by-song appraisal of it as he listened, all seemed to be going well until that one and I got rinsed ruthlessly for being 'cheesy'.

[sutin]

I was listening to Felt in work one evening and my boss said "this is the sort of thing they play in a spa. Don't you like any rock 'n' roll?".

[Icehaven]

When we were teenagers I ruined some band (who's name I can't for the life of me remember) for a friend of mine that he'd recently fallen in love with, and I had not, by pointing out that the singer sounded exactly like Bender from Futurama. Wish I could remember who they were, late 90s, American or Canadian, quite earnest indie rock, singer sounds exactly like Bender from Futurama, if this sounds familiar to anyone do share.

[Chriddof]

Lemon Kittens is quite fun

Yeah, the material from that band that I've heard I have actually enjoyed - it's more to do with her than anyone else in that group. She just seems genuinely horrible as a person, above and beyond the usual rock twats like Lou Reed or Mark E Smith or whoever.  A bit like one of those creepy power electronics sorts -  I just get that vibe off her. I don't have much to prove this, but there was an incident related in this book where her and the other Lemon Kittens bloke visited John Peel in his BBC office demanding to know why he didn't play them more often, and one of the two (or both?) did / said something that so disgusted Peel he angrily ordered them out of the building, and refused to even discuss it later on with their record plugger.

Hope this doesn't hijack the thread, sorry.

[wosl]

I was listening to Felt in work one evening and my boss said "this is the sort of thing they play in a spa.

Can imagine Lawrence taking that as quite a compliment (in recent times, of course, he's been making the sort of thing they play in SPAR).

[Sin Agog]

Yeah, the material from that band that I've heard I have actually enjoyed - it's more to do with her than anyone else in that group. She just seems genuinely horrible as a person, above and beyond the usual rock twats like Lou Reed or Mark E Smith or whoever.  A bit like one of those creepy power electronics sorts -  I just get that vibe off her. I don't have much to prove this, but there was an incident related in this book where her and the other Lemon Kittens bloke visited John Peel in his BBC office demanding to know why he didn't play them more often, and one of the two (or both?) did / said something that so disgusted Peel he angrily ordered them out of the building, and refused to even discuss it later on with their record plugger.

Hope this doesn't hijack the thread, sorry.

She's basically Toyah Willcox but with some occasionally good music to match the hubris.  Wish someone would bring back Star Test with the exact same graphics: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQj6niP0kOE  I thought she came across as a thoroughly reasonable individual here.  And I'm saying that as someone with an ingrained prejudice against the Essex accent.  Seem to recall reading in an interview from a couple of years back that she's now an interior designer.

[Oz Oz Alice]

Yeah, the material from that band that I've heard I have actually enjoyed - it's more to do with her than anyone else in that group. She just seems genuinely horrible as a person, above and beyond the usual rock twats like Lou Reed or Mark E Smith or whoever.  A bit like one of those creepy power electronics sorts -  I just get that vibe off her. I don't have much to prove this, but there was an incident related in this book where her and the other Lemon Kittens bloke visited John Peel in his BBC office demanding to know why he didn't play them more often, and one of the two (or both?) did / said something that so disgusted Peel he angrily ordered them out of the building, and refused to even discuss it later on with their record plugger.

Hope this doesn't hijack the thread, sorry.

Apparently Dax tickled Peel's foot and he threw them out saying he didn't appreciate being sexually manipulated. All well and good til you remember Peel's unseemly history with teenagers.

Funny you mention power electronics types as Karl used to play bass with the fash adjacent Sol Invictus and now spends a lot of his time trying to get events by his former bandmates shut down. Sol Invictus were never great but anything good they did (i.e. when they were still using synths and drum machines and hadn't become Fairport Convention for the stiff right arm set) Karl played on. He's now disowned everyone he played with in that period. He's a very gifted and somewhat unhinged man and it's a shame he's not made a record in years.

This quite neatly links into Current 93 nearly having been ruined for me when it was pointed out how much David Tibet sounds like Jasper Carott.

[Brundle-Fly]

- Johnny Cigarettes, NME

That makes me double angry now as this person must've been passing this line off as his own barb.

[PaulTMA]

I've been listening to krautrock for long enough now to not question the genre name at all. It's just an ingrained piece of musical vernacular. But I remember being pissed with a few pals a couple of years ago and someone was on about a specific type of music and wondered if there was a term for it. I said that what they were describing sounded "a lot like the kosmische end of krautrock" which, judging from their reaction, was the single most hilariously absurd string of words they'd ever heard. They outright refused to believe that either of those terms was real and that I was just taking the piss. I thought that was so delightful that I couldn't even really be bothered to try and enlighten them beyond showing them a quick flash of the wiki page. They were right to laugh, out of context it is funny.

That's up there with Dieter Meier's critique of Mike & The Mechanics for me

[Chriddof]

That makes me double angry now as this person must've been passing this line off as his own barb.

Oh sorry, I was making a joke there. It just sounded so exactly like a typical NME line to me that I put an imaginary byline there. (Along the lines of that same NME hack's infamous review of a late 90s Stereolab album.) Erm, sorry again.

[PlanktonSideburns]

My uncle once described Big Black as sounding like "a watered down Pet Shop Boys". I have no idea what he meant.

STRONG uncle comment

[Chedney Honks]

I was engaged to a Chinese girl at one point, maybe twelve/fifteen years ago. She said Animal Collective made her feel 'itchy', which I thought was a great Chinglish description of their unique energy.

"Can you explain what you mean?" I asked, grinning in anticipation.

"They're shit."

I broke off the engagement the next day.

[PlanktonSideburns]

thats the most CAB anecdote ive ever heard

[Lisa Jesusandmarychain]

This quite neatly links into Current 93 nearly having been ruined for me when it was pointed out how much David Tibet sounds like Jasper Carott.

" looks like", Shirley? When  I was shouting for " Funky Moped" at a Current 93 gig, it was cos of Tibbo 's extreme physical resemblance to the Brummie erstwhilecomedian and complicated quiz show presenter, rather than his somewhat effete singing voice. Besides, I would rather have listened to him singing that, instead of wittering on about big black ships eating the sky and Reese fucking Witherspoone.
Also, Dannielle Dax can tickle my foot any time she likes; and she did quite a decent version of the Beatles' " Tomorrow Never Knows", still got that on 7 inch somewhere.

[Lisa Jesusandmarychain]

That makes me double angry now as this person must've been passing this line off as his own barb.

All of your friends should have started laughing mockingly at the feller, while you could have interjected with " you bollocks! I hate you!"

[Dusty Substance]

I shared that Guardian list of The 100 Best U.K Number Ones on Facebook a couple of months ago. There were a few valid comments about certain missing songs (ie: Back To Life) and that some singles should have been ranked higher or lower, but the most vitriolic comments were regarding the song and band at number one - West End Girls by Pet Shop Boys. PSB were branded as both 'vile' and 'disgusting' - The latter comment made by a friend who added that there hasn't been any good music since 1979.

I was shocked at the amount of 'likes' the comments got. Dunno if I just being super defensive because I love Pet Shop Boys so much, but there seemed to be a very slight undercurrent of them being 'poofs with keyboards'. I was tempted to post a link to Suburbia with a comment saying "Run with the dog(whistles) tonight, in Homophobia", but concluded that might just open a pointless can of worms.

[kngen]

When me and my best friend were starting to get into hardcore punk and thrash in our teens, his dad would refer to it as 'Bus Stop Music'.

After about the third time of him poking his head around the door to tell us to 'turn that bus stop shite doon!', I asked my pal to elaborate.

'He says it's the kind of music people listen to while flinging themselves in front of buses,' he explained, wearily.

While there was plenty of scare stories in the press at the time about slamdancing and stagediving being a grave new threat to the health and wellbeing of the nation's youth and indicative of decaying social values, none of them had the wit to conflate it with mass transit-induced suicide. I have to applaud him for that, at the very least.

[turnstyle]

Teen me in the 90s listening to to Different Class on Christmas day (a present I'd asked for), minding my own business.

Nanny Turnstyle bursts into the room like a priest on fire. 'WHAT'S THIS DISCORDANT RACKET???? ABSOLUTE TOOT.' Then she leaves. Thanks Nan. 

I think she was more of a My Life Story fan.

Funnily enough, a well meaning Aunt purchased her the Beautiful South's 'Blue is the Colour' album a while later, after she'd heard a 'lovely song on the wireless', that was 'Don't Marry Her'. Having only heard the radio edit, the album was yanked from the player before it even got to track 2, and returned to HMV. I believe a Robson and Jerome album was purchased as a replacement, although I can't be sure.

[jobotic]

Oh sorry, I was making a joke there. It just sounded so exactly like a typical NME line to me that I put an imaginary byline there. (Along the lines of that same NME hack's infamous review of a late 90s Stereolab album.) Erm, sorry again.

Whassat? What did he say?

[Lisa Jesusandmarychain]

Said it was a load of wank basically, and gave it 0 out of 10. The album was that " Milky Cobras, and That" album, the one that had that single  what sounded like a wonky version of " Dancing Queen" by Abba on it. It really wasnae one of their strongest albums, to be fair.
Johnny Cigarettes went on to shag Emma Anderson from Lush at least once, as she had his baby. Not bad for a humble little music journalist from Hull.

[The Mollusk]

https://www.nme.com/reviews/reviews-nme-1392-339214

What an abysmal piece of writing. I really like that album!

[Bently Sheds]

I've shared this here before, but I was playing Livonia by His Name Is Alive one time; all reverb drenched ethereal gossamer sonic cathedrals and female vocals. Mrs Sheds offered the opinion it sounded like Sarah Brightman.

I never played that CD again.