I'm the same with Led Zep, and blame those at school who deified them to such an extent I resented the band without even hearing. Maybe it's time now to see what the fuss was about?

No Floyd other than The Wall, but did at least get that at the time it was out, even before Bob's links. Other rock 'greats' I've yet to grow into, and suspect I never will.

Dylan I don't think will ever appeal, just his voice that puts me off. I'd put Coldplay in that category too, and have a hardly played copy of Parachutes for which all offers gratefully received.

As for Rats contemporaries, never bought anything by Costello (other than Oliver's Army on single) until a greatest hits CD relatively recently, and much the same story with Police (wasn't a fan, and have realised with CD I'm still not). Slightly later it's exactly the same with U2; just the hits compilations (although I did tape Under a Blood Red Sky off a mate at the time). I'm sure the studio albums of all these had their moments but they've escaped me if so.

Now I think about it, the compilations only theme also continues with Presley, Queen, Bowie, T Rex, Dr Feelgood, Who...in fact I'm wondering how I can consider myself a music fan as I write . 

I have at least got Please Please Me and Sgt Pepper's to add to Red/Blue albums, but I'm sure there are dozens of Beatles' treasures that have passed me by.

Suppose in summary I've got tasters of the majority of 'massive' artists but surprisingly few albums that aren't just all their hit tracks.

With regard to films, I'm absolutely convinced I'm the only UK resident yet to read any Harry Potter or see the movies. 

ArrGee wrote:

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noelindublin wrote:

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As a big music fan it always strikes me that there are just some people I've never gotten 'round to listen for various reasons. It doesn't mean I don't know any of their material but more ofte than not circumstances have prevented me from ever giving them proper consideration. My list of  famous omissions are.....

Led Zeppelin

Bob Dylan

Joni Mitchell

The Clash

Elvis Costello

U2 (mainly coz I don't like em!)

The Who

This one is a bit like the movie fan who hasn't seen loads of famous films or films that he or she should have seen to be considered a proper movie fan.

 

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 I have yet to see an Indiana Jones film.  But have seen all the Star Wars films in last 6 years thanks to ArrGee Junior (now 11).

I would be much the same on Led Zeppelin and Joni Mitchell,  The former I don't care for having heard a few tracks, the latter not too aware.  Clash & Elvis Costello are odd omissions given they were contemporaries of the Rats, needless to say I am very familiar with them, and a Dubliner who hasn't heard much of U2 sounds unbelievable even if you don't like them.

Can't think of any to add except Pink Floyd, Grateful Dead and Zappa.  But really not worried about any of them.

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 With regard to Elvis Costello I know lots of the singles but haven't heard most of the albums. Generally like  Elvis Costello so my excuse is there is/was just so much music around that one cannot keep up with it all. I'm proud to honestly say I've never bought a U2 album or single in my life- forget the hands in the air nonsense of U2 and give my Geldof's world weary cynicism every time. Of course U2 seem to be on the radio in Ireland every ten seconds, so hearing them is always a matter of being stuck in a shop with slow service when they come on the radio rather than me choosing to buy their cd's.

Why listen to U2 when you could listen to The Only Ones or Magazine or Wire or Echo and the Bunnymen or The Saints? All much better bands in my humble opinion.

In the case of the Clash again I never really got around to buying any except their first  album. Did buy most of the Jam albums and preferred them to the Clash. Again I got really into XTC and was pretty happy giving them lots of devotion and attention hence missing out on some other bands.

As regards Led Zep that bloody Stairway To Heaven always put me off. In the worthy but dull category.

Suss you are not alone, I've not read any or seen any of the films and have no desire to! 

suss wrote:

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Now I think about it, the compilations only theme also continues with Presley, Queen, Bowie, T Rex, Dr Feelgood, Who...in fact I'm wondering how I can consider myself a music fan as I write . 

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I think compilations cover a good number of bands adequately.  Elvis Presley never made a decent album, Queen were very hit and miss on Lps,  The best T Rex LP (Bolan Boogie) was a compilation prior to EMI and The Who could be very self indulgent on LP. Try Quadrophenia for a couple of LPs worth of claptrap with the odd inspired moment.

I would add a lot of major acts like the Kinks, Stones, Sweet, 10cc, Status Quo, Elton John, Roxy Music, Hot Chocolate, Eurythmics, Pet Shop Boys, Erasure etc.  whose albums are all a bit non-descript and are better served by a compilation.

With Bowie, the LPs from Hunky Dory to Let's Dance are some of the greatest LPs ever, so should be tracked down.  Likewise with Dr. Feelgood, the first four LPs with Wilko Johnson on guitar are great LPs as well.

Dare I say it, but the Geldof solo career would be best distilled into a single compilation.  Maybe a 4-track. 

noelindublin wrote:

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Hopefully a teenager who gets his or her hands on the Boomtown Rats greatest hits will be suitably impressed to  consider further investigation

I reckon most bands would be insulted if people thought they were only worthy of a greatest hits package. As it happens I'm currently listening to Placebo's greatest hits and have known their music since the mid nineties but only the singles. Hearing them again for the first time in years make me consider buying one of their full albums as they are a pretty good band. Again the same goes for the US band Eels.

Mr Geldof should get at least a fifteen track best of compilation!

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There are some bands not well served by compilations and The Rats used to be one with the Loudmouth compilation that had a few solo duffers from Geldof.  The last Best Of did mostly address that, even if there are two or three tracks that could be replaced.

Pulp are a band whose compilation, especially the later singles, don't truly represent the group.

I have often used compilations as a springboard to explore a group more.  My first Beatles LP was the Blue one, and now I have everything from Rubber Soul onwards (don't like them much before Help!).    Similarly Case History was my starting point with Dr. Feelgood.

So the Geldof hits compilation

1. GSOI

2. This is the World Calling

3. Love Like a Rocket

4. Love or Something

err, no other hits were there...... (Crazy does not count as people only bought it for the Rats songs)

Led Zep - Yep, Stairway to Heaven put me off them too and I haven't really bothered to find out more. Ahhh the Godzilla theme was good. I have thought I should listen to more of them.

I once went to a small rock gig and Robert Plant was stood right next to me. At first, I didn't realise who he was until a mate told me. I just thought 'so what?'.

My brother had an album by a band called Dread Zeppelin which was very good. Imagine Elvis singing with Led Zep...

http://youtu.be/Sx70SR-yNGw

Pink Floyd - I can remember going around to a girlfriends house and she played Darkside of the Moon. Really boring. Years later, I went out with her sister. LOL.

The few bits of Pink Floyd I've heard are far too self-indulgent for my liking. I just don't get it. It is really, really dull.

The Clash - I thought they were a bit cheesy. Nothing special. Anyone remember Sonic Boom Boy by Westworld?

http://youtu.be/s9DMUnhfOQo

Elvis Costello - someone gave me a couple of his albums on a cassette tape and I thought they were good. 'This Year's Model' and 'Armed Forces'.

Bruce Springsteen - Chanting 'Born in the USA' ad nauseum switched me off.

The Who - I have a very vague memory of being a young kid and watching Tommy, Pinball Wizard - thinking it was dreadful.

Bob Dylan - I don't like his voice.

Rocky Horror Show - what a load of ****e.

Lord of the Rings - It's incredibly boring nonsense.

Harry Potter - not my cup of tea, but I can see why youngsters would like it.

-- Edited by BTR on Tuesday 21st of June 2011 07:11:33 PM

suss wrote:

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BTR wrote:

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The Clash - I thought they were a bit cheesy. Nothing special. 

Rocky Horror Show - what a load of ****e.

 Got to disagree on these. First Clash album is seminal. Lyrics on Complete Control among the best ever as an indictment of the industry. Ok so these guys weren't thick, and standing up for the hopeless via punk, but they never pretended to be. London Calling is an anthem, as is Rock the Casbah.

As for Rocky Horror, bit of a marmite experience I'll agree, but I love it. You need to embrace it to enjoy it, including shouting back at the screen (not that I do that to the DVD obviously ). I rate the music on follow up Shock Treatment as even better, even if film is not quite so interesting.

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The Clash just passed me by. At the time, I didn't even know anyone that liked them.

Rocky Horror - I've never liked any musicals on film. I've always thought 'oh no here's another song, just get on with it'.

Apart from the singles and select odd tracks the only album by the Clash I have heard is their debut. I certainly rate it highly but what put me off the Clash was their political agenda- they always seemed to have some right on cause and  were a bit too left wing almost for the sake of it.

Janie Jones and Career Opportunities possibly were my favourite two tracks from that album. Career Opportunities speaks up for people who may be forced into dead end, mind numbing jobs - the stark choice facing people being unemployment or tedium and pettiness at the less glamorous end of the workforce.

Have seen the Rocky Horror a few times over the years and always found it amusing enough- think its meant to be fun- but its probably not everybody's cup of tea.

BTR wrote:

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I can remember other people being into The Who, The Jam, The Specials, and Madness or they were into heavy metal. Most people were either mods & rockers.

 Very true for late 1979-1980, with a few new wave (those too young or scared to be out and out punks...me included) thrown in.

Clash had a huge following well before that though, based on that first album. I'd even go so far as they had more real fans than the Pistols, where people were probably more drawn to the idea or the image than the music itself, plus the Clash gigged more. Their refusal to 'sell out' on TOTP probably attracted/retained as many fans as other bands lost by going 'mainstream'. Not sure I'd compare with B52s...Dead Kennedys maybe? Or even Ramones, with a couple more chords added.

ArrGee wrote:

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BTR wrote:

I used to think of The Clash as like the B52's.

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I used to get the Skids confused with them.  For years I thought Working for the Yankee Dollar was a Clash song.  Probably just got it confused with Johnny Comes Marching Home.  

 

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 Now to my mind that's more shameful than me buying Boney M singles, and that Clash song is called English Civil war  (closest emoticon I could find for anal)

suss wrote:

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 Now to my mind that's more shameful than me buying Boney M singles, and that Clash song is called English Civil war  (closest emoticon I could find for anal)

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Get away!  Nowhere near loving Boney M, Take That, The Wombles and Girls Aloud (or was that the Spice Girls? Ah you probably play all of them in yer DJ set)

Johnny Comes Marching Home is actually an AMERICAN civil war song. All the Clash did was change the lyrics a bit.  Working for the Yankee Dollar isn't a million miles away from it.  Nor really were Into The Valley or Masquerade.  Either could have been Clash songs.  IMHO The Skids were a Clash tribute band.  Only when they became Big Country could you tell they were different.  What a hoot making a guitar sound like bagpipes!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/When_Johnny_Comes_Marching_Home

suss wrote:

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To pick up Noel's point, and imho, could understand C0ckney Rejects being confused with Sham 69 maybe, but Charlie Harper and UK Subs were far more bass oriented from my memory. Rejects were all thrashing lead guitar and oi oi saveloy weren't they?

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 Uk Subs were very different to the oi oi bands. Keep On Running was a great track.  I got a compilation (Recorded 1979-1982) which used to get played all the time.  Must dig it out of storage.

I did Like Sham 69 (paticularly Questions & Answers period), but the ****ney Rejects weren't very interesting.  Punk by numbers.

My point Jules is that the manufactured dross eg Beyonce or Edele is aimed at  todays teenagers of 14 or 15. I got into music in the late seventies when the Rats started out, and a lot of the chart bands at the time were a lot more sophisticated and had things to say than the current Generation X  Factor. Think what  was around then- the list is very long of great acts - Boomtown Rats, The Jam , The Clash, Sex Pistols, Blondie , Talking Heads, Kate Bush, The Police, XTC, The Stranglers, Ian Dury, Buzz****s Pretenders, Undertones- loads  more.

Probably not for me to say but our generation was spoiled for choice and not insulted or exploited. Most of the acts I list were adopted as heroes by a large part of the music loving population and still mean a lot today. You don't find a corresponding list of contemporary acts to match that of the late seventies- so to a large extent current teenagers are badly served by the music business. Granted intelligent kids will have their own great bands and hate as much as you or I the manufactured pap that seems ubiquitous.

Oasis were one of the bands I never really liked except the song Cigarettes and Alcohol.

suss wrote:

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The list Noel fired off makes you realise how blessed we were with a period of creativity that has stood the test of time, with some notable exceptions obviously.

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 The late 70s/early 80s were a time where there was a definite sea change.  The glam era had long fizzled out and all that remained was the blandest spearheaded by abba and the Bee Gees (and suss's faves Boney M).  Queen and 10cc were probably as edgy as you would get in the top 40 before the end of 1976.

Oddly a lot of what I would consider to be the best music of the era wasn't thatmainstream.

the top albums of 1979 look bar the number one itself incredibly bland...

 And the singles ain't much better (excepting 2,4,7,8,9)

Personally I think from 1989-1998 was the best time in music from Stone Roses/Happy Mondays to Pulp/Radiohead with the likes of Nirvana/Blur/Suede/Oasis et al inbetween.  But again all still a little off the mainstream.  There was a greater variety of bands as opposed to the narrow field of post-punk, and they all came post eighties which I consider to be the era with the greatest crimes against music.

charts from http://www.everyhit.com

Jules wrote:

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... in the late 80s and 90s when music on tv and radio was Nothing more than boybands. I just switched off and didn't seek out the good stuff. Hence why I recently discovered Pulp as being good. They did feature on the radio at the time but I just blanked all of it out.

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 And now we have the reality show singers.  Nothing changes.  The indie scene has become pretty dull in recent years as well.  Haven't discovered a new act I like for about 5 years now after the likes of Franz Ferdinand, The Killers and Arctic Monkeys broke through.  Maybe I'm just too old 

Jules wrote:

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I like White Lies, but I don't think they'd be your think.  Their influences are Joy Division and Ultravox.  Did you ever discover the Zutons?  For me they are up there with the Killers, the Arctic Monkeys and Franz Ferdinand.

Reality show singers - ugggghhh what it is with them?  All the same.  Even if someone comes through with a good voice it is ruined by the 'manufacturing' process.

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White Lies first LP is good, and I like the Zutons and The Coral.  There was a real surge in good music from new/unheard of bands around 2001 (White Stripes/Strokes) to 2006 (Arctic Monkeys), but the last five years have not come up with any new groups that really interest me.  

Saturday nights in our house is the kids watching that latest Simon Cowell phone in show and me doing something useful around the house.   Even when it's over, it isn't because then they want to watch the results show.  At that point I put my foot down as there is too much danger of seeing football results before I get to watch Match of the Day at around midnight.

suss wrote:

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I'm sure my 14yo would look at me incredulously and call me fogey or somesuch (usually it's worse) for suggesting all these acts are indistinguishable, and to be fair the female chart singers have something different about them I suppose. Can tell my Lady Gaga from my Katy Perry for instance, and Rihanna is distinctive and actually pretty good imo (not sure how much she writes though).

Guess my problem is how many of them register 3 or 4 hits (if you can call 2 weeks in top 20 a hit) over a couple of years tops then disappear forever. Is it the labels trying too hard to move on to the next best thing? Is it really lack of talent, or lack of anything over than a voice/sound that suits the moment? Or was it ever thus? Suppose Black Eyed Peas and Beyonce and even Lady Gaga are destined for longevity along with a few others.

Have to feel for some of the lesser artists though. Find it very hard to believe that in 2040 someone will put out a compilation of the calibre of say 'Going Underground' as released a month or so back. The list Noel fired off makes you realise how blessed we were with a period of creativity that has stood the test of time, with some notable exceptions obviously.

Maybe there's just too much back catalogue over 60 years for anyone to carve a new niche nowadays.

Changing subject, occurred to me that Wah (in various guises) were a band I liked that never quite made it big. Pete Wylie probably upset as many as he won over. Good voice though, and capable of a great tune. 'Come Back' hugely underrated. 

In one hit wonder territory, or not really even that in this case, anyone remember a track by Fastball called 'The Way' around 1998? Brilliant song, prob big in States/Canada but sadly not here. Now that was one that got away!

Find it at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0wfu3tOrtQ

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 Think I've heard that Fastball song on the radio back in the day- it sounds vaguely fimiliar. Must have been a US hit hence the four million YouTube views.

Does anyone remember a song called Indian Summer by Luna? or Deanshanger by Prolapse, one of the best songs of the nineties? Or the brilliant song by Tiger called Race [Pete Briquette mixed some of the songs on that Tiger album from 1996, which was called We Are Puppets]