Red Mosquito

Have you ever been initially "wrong" about an artist, album or song and found that your opinion has changed almost entirely upon closer inspection? These confessions are helpful to reinforce a grasp on self-awareness. Don't be shy.

I'll start:

-14 year old me thought Modest Mouse was a style over substance band getting by solely on the quirks of Isaac Brock, and lapped up exclusively by hipsters. I couldn't have been more wrong in my dismissal. In my defence, the drummer in the band I was in didn't exactly recommend the best songs to start on. Once I heard The Moon and Antarctica in its entirety, though, I was off on my MM adventure.

-When Kings of Leon released their sophomore album, Aha Shake Heartbreak, I was appalled at how much of a departure it was from Youth and Young Manhood. I even went as far as to call it a bad album. A few years later I revisited it and discovered that it was, in fact, a far better sounding and more cohesive effort than their debut. Whoops.

-In the build up to the release of Dear Science, TV on the Radio debuted "Dancing Choose" on SNL and it sounded rubbish. It really did. The mixing was awful and the performance as a whole left a lot to be desired. I failed to see through the constraints of playing live and dubbed it "one of the worst songs by a great band I had ever heard". Then when the record dropped, in all of its polished glory, I couldn't believe how wrong I was. Fantastic song.

-I used to listen to post-Yield Pearl Jam. I deserve a slap for that one.

I used to hate Smashing Pumpkins when I was in high school. I couldn't stand Billy Corgan's voice, his ridiculous pretentiousness and his guitar wankery.

Now those are the three things I love most about Smashing Pumpkins. I honestly don't know what changed, other than me.

Most recently?
I was duped by The Men. Milk Music too.

super nintendo chalmers wrote:Most recently?
I was duped by The Men.

we all were man

I recently started enjoying Bruce Springsteen after decades of derision.

super nintendo chalmers wrote:Most recently?
I was duped by The Men. Milk Music too.

Sounds like these are cases of bands doing 180s on you and not the other way around.

me: I used to think (death) metal sucked

Heathen wrote:

super nintendo chalmers wrote:Most recently?
I was duped by The Men. Milk Music too.

Sounds like these are cases of bands doing 180s on you and not the other way around.

Yeah, probably.

Smashing Pumpkins - Completely ignored them until the reissues.

Nirvana - Pretty much ignored until the reissues.

Old school prog rock; Yes, Genesis, Emerson Lake & Palmer - As I get older I have more patience for music without easily defined melodies.

Latter day David Bowie - Completely turned off by it when it first came out but now I think it's near the best of his career. The last six albums are killer.

90's to present punk - Music I previously derided I quite enjoy. Early Green Day, Blink-182, Rise Against.

Billy Joel - Used to love his music and now I think "what the fuck was I thinking".

I hated all metal until I was 17. Up until that point the heaviest stuff I would listen to was Nirvana or Smashing Pumpkins songs like "XYU" and "Tales of a Scorched Earth". It would appear that too much garage rock in my early teens rotted my brain. Now I can't get enough of the more abrasive art of shredding.

surfndestroy wrote:90's to present punk - Music I previously derided I quite enjoy. Early Green Day, Blink-182, Rise Against.

As long as it's early Green Day.

Soma. wrote:

surfndestroy wrote:90's to present punk - Music I previously derided I quite enjoy. Early Green Day, Blink-182, Rise Against.

As long as it's early Green Day.

Latter day Green Day is not punk. Same for latter day Blink but I still like it.

Most recently, I found The National pretty dull, now I love almost everything they do.

Yeah I skipped over them the first time around. They're due for a revisit. Psychobain won't shut up abut them and he likely never will.

Honestly, I can't think of an artist I've had to eat more words on than Pearl Jam. For years I dismissed them based on the singles from Ten and Vs, which combined with the proliferation of cheap knock-offs surrounding them on the radio made me think my ignorance of their larger catalog was a blessing. Then a buddy of mine gave me No Code and Yield, and I was bowled over--to my adolescent mind Pearl Jam was virtually indistinguishable from Creed and Staind, insofar as all of these bands wrote overwrought grunge-rock songs with absurdly affected vocals, so to hear Vedder and co. toying with relatively foreign textures and sensibilities and, in No Code's case, generally just being weird really threw me.

Later I came back to those first two albums and found a new appreciation for them. But even as much as I've come to love some of those songs, I don't know that I'd be as big of a fan as I am if it wasn't for the middle period, much of which I've found to still be markedly under-appreciated in most circles.

I'll throw Joni Mitchell in there, too. For a long time I told people her only good album was Blue. Boy, was I dumb.

I initially made fun of system of a down. I had only heard chop suey. I turned out to be way wrong about them. 3 terrific albums.

Blaine Ryan wrote:I'll throw Joni Mitchell in there, too. For a long time I told people her only good album was Blue. Boy, was I dumb.

you can stay here as long as you want, friend

malice wrote:

Blaine Ryan wrote:I'll throw Joni Mitchell in there, too. For a long time I told people her only good album was Blue. Boy, was I dumb.

you can stay here as long as you want, friend

Things I am not proud of..

Was not a big Pearl Jam fan in high school (couldn't stand listening to daughter or betterman when they came on the radio)
Thought the National were boring as all hell
Preferred the black album to all previous Metallica records in high school (as opposed to all my metal friends who were just the opposite)

I first tried to get into Joy Division in the mid 90s when I was about 16 or so. I thought they sounded terrible. It took until I heard "Love Will Tear Us Apart" on the radio in about 2003-ish for them to finally click with me.