aborted musical journeys -- clean out your closet of shame

[ж]

we've had 'musical journey' threads galore here. what about artists you used to dig with complete innocence 'til you found out most people thought they were totally lame? what do you think of them in retrospect? LET'S START THIS OFF. this is a very detailed list.

elementary school: got the first backstreet boys cd as a party favor from a friend. LOVED THAT SHIT. then i became a reactionary anti-bsb dude, when i discovered a little band called....
LIMP BIZKIT. those dudes were so bad ass, they cursed whenever the fuck they wanted, and even sang about beating up faggots and stuff. from there i started digging korn who were like limp bizkit's weak little brothers who got their asses kicked and had to live in the basement. songs like 'cut my life into pieces' or whatever it's called by papa roach and 'wait and bleed' by slipknot were also favorites.

THE FINAL VERDICT: backstreet boys had some decent songs, limp bizkit is awesome, ingenious, and hilarious, but korn sucks. i immediately hate anyone who talks shit about limp bizkit. they're part of a venerable tradition of dumbass rock bands, and their music aged horribly. in a few years they'll sound like vanilla ice does now, which is awesome for us. i bet a buncha 'hipsters' from my gen'll be digging up their limp bizkit tshirts to wear ironically 'round that point. i'm more embarrassed about digging 311 and the offspring than any of those bands.

middle school: moved to miami and every damn papi chulo & yoni goldstein i saw was a total wigger. i got into some truly awful shit like nelly, etc. i remember listening to 'put it on me' by ja rule once and thinking 'god, this is a beautiful song.' also dug mystikal, cash money in general, xzibit, ludacris, etc. started hanging with 'punk' kids later and got outta that shit in favor of sum 41 and some other lame mall punk. i loved those sums, i even memorized that little rap they do. you wouldn't know what i'm talking about unless you were a sums fan. i can still remember all of their nicknames: cone, hot chocolate (changed his name to brown sound later on), stevo 32, and dizzy bone or something. i guess i don't remember all of them., then i got into 'punker' bands like nofx, lagwagon, and my favorite of all, operation ivy. operation ivy were all about bringing the scene together with some sweet ska pastiche. love peace and anarchy

THE FINAL VERDICT: liking ja rule is unforgivable in every way. the other hip hop i dug is actually pretty good. all those 'punk' bands suck, with the exception of operation ivy, who i still sometimes listen to with only a little embarrassment. they really are a good band even tho they're totally uncool.

around 7th or 8th grade i started getting into 'good' music. in high school i got into a bunch of bad indie rock, some of which i'm a little embarrassed about. my love of the smiths has ultimately been a curse, as i used to invest in a lot of questionable NME hyped bands hoping they'd be "our generation's smiths." thankfully i've given up on that quest.

there's more where that came from, but i'm tired and bored so i guess i'll just stop typing,

[BigBlackSmoke]

band that really got me into music: queen
4th grade my dad got me a who cd so that was my second obsession
5th grade I got into genesis (peter gabriel era) I still loove that. it rules. genesis is an amazingly talented gorup of musicians.
6th grade I met my new best friend. enter ramones, clash, sex pistols, the misfits. the clash and the misfits are still cool. and the buzzcocks as well. from the buzzcocks I got into wire and the fall. from there it branched off to everything else. yeah that kind of explains it

[ж]

you don't have a very spotty music past. only genesis and queen really, and they're not anything to be ashamed of. i guess i should've been the same way -- my dad played the ramones, the clash, roxy and eno a lot when i was a kid but i rebelled and got into all that good stuff i wrote about up above.

[feeling_retro]

hmm.. well the first cd's i ever recieved were janet jackson, celine dion, alanis morrisette, and shania twain. a wide variety of female artists, because being an 8 year old girl, you could go for as much girl power as possible.

that's why i liked the spice girls so much too, not to mention the typical boybands.

oh, i had a giant hanson phase. but you have to admit, those boys were and still as quite talented and they created some great pop masterpieces (have you heard the song madeline?)

as time progressed i stuck to the mainstream. 8th grade ushered in some of the typical radio rock music, nickleback, creed, you know those type of bands.

9th grade, something corporate all the way. they're still one of my favorites. plus the pop punk stuff, you know, good charlotte, simple plan.

10th grade- i was introduced to elephant 6. via amazon.com reccommendations. they were exactly what i was searching for.

yep, a trip back through time.

[clouds-chan]

i liked michael w. smith when i was 12. my mom had got me a cd(first cd owned.) I then proceeded from there to audio adrenaline, dc talk and a few other bands, First concert was steven curtis chapman. Some of this I'm ashamed of (michael w., Steven curtis), but i canlive with dc talk and old audio adrenaline. And yes, it's all christian.

[pierrecoghill]

lots of hours spent listening to spice girls and mariah carey. i still have the spice girl cds, but rarely listen to them. although sometimes i will sing two become one in the shower.

mariah carey i dont ever listen to anymore, and i kind of see why she is not good, but im sure if i were to listen to the album butterfly i would enjoy it on at least some levels.

[birdman]

It all started with a song called i miss billy the kid by a man named billy dean. Country was my first step into music. I was 5. We would request the song on the local country station. This occured once on my birthday. I soon moved on from country into the typical alternative radio seen, though some where there is a 1950's period. I dont remember where though. In third grade I was into the offspring. This continued on until about 7th grade, with appreciations for bands like bush, the sound garden, sublime and the presidents of the united states. I loved the video for black hole sun, the barbie doll melting on the grill, and singing loser at camp. I thank my dad for his influence for getting me into this scene. I think I knew about bands like the cure and squeeze before most children my age did. When I got to 7th grade, everythign shriveled up. I was fed up with the radio and had no outlet to explore. So i revisted my cds.

I did homework to bands like god lives underwater, beck (finally at an age to appreciate odelay), and sublime. I dont think i bought any new music until 9th grade, after listening to 40 oz to freedom. (up into that point i was only aware of the self titled) I then got into ska for a short period, listening to the specials and reel big fish. I had an edited version of their album with sell out on it ( though that would later get eaten by my house, falling into the wall). The first concert i went to I was introduced to the song zombie nation, which sucked me into the world of techno.

I spent two years listening to techno, loving the sound of the chemical brothers. Dig your own hole and Surrender, rarely tiring of. In 11th grade, I actually did a speech on them. The psychelidia background though has been a good foundation for my tastes. I explored techno, and thought it was going to be the music of the future. I stumbeled upon the avalanches at this point, whose album is still a favorite. After a big change of character, i was starting to get tired of the synths, I started looking into indie hip hop with bands like aesop rock, cannibal ox, el-p, and rjd2. I also heard godspeed you black emperor at the record store. I bought the yanqui u.x.o. and started exploring the the anti-corporation american life style suburian backlash movement. My interests and tastes complimented each other nicely.

It was around this point that I discovered Pitchfork media. After getting high for the first time at a marching band competition my senior year of high school I listened to dark side of the moon as dark side of the moon should be listened to. I then delved into the flaming lips, wilco, and other bands that pitch fork recomended. I pretty much went through their top 100 lists and started checking bands off.

During that Winter I bought Loveless and that album changed my life.

The night of my senior prom, rather than going, I went to see supersize me and bumming some money from my friends, bought On avery island. It was my first introduction to the E6, which has become my current fix. Though, is becoming too sweet for life.

I am currently swirling about in the ocean looking for some life boat to take me towards a new direction.

[Figglyduff]

I don't have any particular bands that I'm ashamed of, but when I was younger I used to pretty much get compilations of things and they're the CDs I keep at the back of my CD drawer, things like some 'Now That's What I call Music' and some love song collections :cool: I did get some pretty bad CDs as presents from people though but thats ok, at least I didn't buy them. There were some of my parents that I used to listen to, like Meatloaf. Not very exciting :(

[okinomiyaki-sensei]

I used to love Weird Al Yankovic when I was eleven. But then my musical tastes evolved and I started listening to Dj Jazzy Jeff and The Fresh Prince, as well as the unforgettable Rap Traxx series... 1 and 2, mostly. To impress my grade six-eight friends, I bought four 2 live crew albums... my favorite was 'Get the F--k Out of my motherf--ckin' house'.

[Harnk]

I was a huge huge KISS fan for years. I still stand by the first 6 albums.

I was really into The Lemonheads as well.

[jalfredprufrock]

When I was very little, my dad would play classical (he was particularly into Vivaldi) and my mom would play Wilson Phillips. And since I played cello, I've always kept a love for classical, but the Wilson Phillips thing has kind of faded.

In elementary school, it was all about *NSYNC and Spice Girls. In fact, I think my first CD was probably the *NSYNC Christmas album, a hand-me-down from my sister. Or maybe it was Fastball. Because I was digging them too.

Middle school was primarily Weird Al and very bad numetal bands. Good God.

Eighth grade/freshman year was some hardcore Dashboard Confessional. God, that's embarrassing. That led to Jethro Tull, for some reason, and King Crimson. Which led to the Clash and some select hardcore punk. Sophomore year everyone was into hardcore, so I decided to "rebel" and got really into ambient electronica, like Stars of the Lid and A Small Good Thing. At the end of that year I got REALLY into Pink Floyd. (I think everyone has to have that phase.) Junior year was filled with Pedro the Lion, big band artists and possibly Elliott Smith. At the end of that year, I discovered Neutral Milk Hotel, and that basically dragged me into the whole Elephant 6 thing. And here I am.

[Edited on 8-21-0606 by jalfredprufrock]

[Pål]

When I was 15 I listened to bands like The Offspring, Green Day, Rancid and NOFX. When I go back and listen to their earliest records, I'm not necesseraly ashamed, but the bands that followed, like Good Charlotte and Simple Plan are very, very bad. A New Found Glory. Also very embarassing to listen to.

[untalkative]

i dont really dislike any music that ive liked before. the first album i bought was third eye blind, which i still listen too.

maybe except Jet. when the original version of Cold Hard Bitch came out, i liked it and kinda still do, but then realised how boring they were when they released an album.

this is all my CD collection, ive never got rid of any albums ive bought...
http://www.recordnerd.com/lists/untalkativedamnit

[ErinStarR]

For my first post here, why NOT spill my guts and just come clean about my dirty musical background?

It started in junior high, with my first music purchase - the soundtrack to the movie "Xanadu" (Jeff Lynne and Olivia Newton-John). Yes, it was on vinyl. (Does that make it OK?) From there, Purple Rain and Slade (those don't seem too bad now!), Queen (OK) ... and then it gets dicey.
Whitesnake, Poison, Styx, J. Geils band, Cinderella, Def Leppard, Queensryche, Boston. (Ya know what - I still like Boston!) Then I discovered Nirvana...and along with that came some bad imitations...Then, later, Collective Soul, Puddle of Mudd, etc.
Please don't hate me 'cause of my bad musical decisions. It's all in the past, I swear. Though I admit I caught a little bit of "Operation Mindcrime" on VH1 a few months ago during "Metal Month." Remember spandex pants on guys? Yeah, I've tried to forget too.

[Lusitania]

Nirvana is the band that really got me into music - my first album was a cassette copy of "Bleach". I still think they are a good band, but I don't listen to them very often.
Around 8th-9th grade, my favorite band was Rammstein. I was also really into System of a Down around then. You know what? They were freakin' good. Listen to "The Metro" or "Marmalade". I don't apologize!

[auxiliaryoctopus]

two words: jam bands.

[Wild-Beards]

Pop->Rock->Punk->Hardcore->Emo->Indie

[Gokk]

http://www.toaster.org/cards/toast.jpg

[Edited on 12-18-0606 by Gokk]

[Fwching]

Originally posted by ж
i guess i don't remember all of them., then i got into 'punker' bands like nofx, lagwagon, and my favorite of all, operation ivy. operation ivy were all about bringing the scene together with some sweet ska pastiche. love peace and anarchy


In middle school, I loved me some AFI. I'm quite embarrassed of the fact that, of all the bands in the world, the Shins pulled me out of my East bay punk hole.

But, seriously, ж, Operation Ivy will be good forever. I don't care what anyone says.

[Gokk]

http://www.toaster.org/cards/toast.jpg

[Edited on 12-18-0606 by Gokk]

[Soma]

Elementary it was Third Eye Blind for me which I'm thinking isn't that bad, they had some fun songs.

Early middle school was The Strokes for me, and some Beck. Also I tried to get into some of my sister's music which was the typical Something Corporate and then stuff like Taking Back Sunday, and everyone around me was in that stuff, and I couldn't stand it. So come late 7th grade I set out to find some bands for myself, I was purpoasely trying to get away from the horrid crap everyone was listening to around me.

And that is when I became a fucking huge Radiohead fan, and then also a huge Wilco fan. I also found a love for some older 60s bands, mainly with Jefferson Airplane and The Kinks. Pretty much I owe my musical change to Radiohead. Also during this time which is like late 8th grade, I got In The Aeroplane Over The Sea which I really liked (I got my friend obsessive over Holland 1945), but I didn't pursue down the E6 path just yet...

I really liked Kid A and such, and from there got into some electronic music with Boards of Canada. By then I was already getting into most indie music. It was pretty much the summer now.

This past school year, my 9th grade, early in the year I pretty much developed a crush for a girl named Olivia. So of course the name "The Olivia Tremor Control" caught my eye. I then learned that they were connected to Neutral Milk Hotel and got into the whole Elephant 6 collective which is where I'm situated now. Also I found a strong liking for Belle & Sebastian (which I thought I should mention cause they are one of my favorites).

[ж]

yeah, i was listening to operation ivy a lot for a period this year. they are definitely one of the most important bands in my life; i once knew pretty much all the lyric to their songs, i gleaned every scrap of info from all the fansites in existence, and i downloaded all the b-sides and live outtakes i could find, which was a first (and perhaps only time i've ever done it). i stopped just short of buying one of those stupid hoodies with the ska dude on the back. they're one of the few bands whose passion really makes them timeless. people say that about a lot of bands and it's usually fanboy bullshit, but it's actually true in their case. the build-up and the initial explosion of "knowledge" still gives me chills.

i was once in a big '89 gilman st./east bay phase as well. isocracy, crimpshrine, cleveland bound death sentence, op ivy, and green day were all pretty rad. the post-ivy band downfall had an awesome song about pushers or something. i was always disappointed that they never did more.

fuck samiam tho, they suck and their lead singer is bald and fat

[Edited on 8-22-0606 by ж]

[ж]

Originally posted by Soma
Elementary it was Third Eye Blind for me which I'm thinking isn't that bad, they had some fun songs.


i was a big third eye blind fan too. looking back on the lyrics for "semi-charmed life" really shocked me. there are really explicit drug and sexual references, none of which were censored for the radio. when i was 8 or 9, i thought i knew every lyric to that song, but i guess i didn't...

the summer of '98 had a lot of really good modern rock singles: fastball, barenaked ladies, the verve pipe ("freshmen" is a classic in any decade), third eye blind, everclear, tal bachman, meredith brooks, the wallflowers...i'm sure i'm forgetting some. that was the summer i got cable, and watching videos had a big impact on me.

[Edited on 8-22-0606 by ж]

[Soma]

There was this one one-hit wonder band called the New Radicals, and I actually bought their album as an elementary kid, and they had this one song that was seriously just about cocaine and overdosing, and being young I thought when they said "coke" they meant coca-cola.

[Gokk]

http://www.toaster.org/cards/toast.jpg

[Edited on 12-18-0606 by Gokk]

[hockywierdo]

young-oldies and top 40 alternative int he 90's (ex: beach boys and wallflowers) > pop (nsync bsb. ) > pop punk (green day when good, simple plan, all american rejects) > emo/poppunk (dashboard, AAR, spill canvas, fall out boy [early days!]) > EMOOOO (90s emo like Mineral, Promise Ring, American Football, CapNJazz, etc) > indie rock (big names of the early 2000's: modest mouse, franz, upandcoming Death Cab, bright eyes, cursive) > unknown indie (insert NMH! as well as other stuff) > elephant 6 and indie pop and collective group obsession (Where i am now.)

[damonin]

bare naked ladies, than green day, tahn a bunch of crusty stake punk, than some hardcore, than the pixies, than more indie, now more experimental, leads me to mount eerie. omg

[tomatoesandradiowires]

First album ever was smashmouth, it's like a disney soundtrack in every bite! i was real young though. Then I had a somewhat embarrasing 8 year love affair with the offspring, own all their albums..the fact that most of their songs are 'fun' keeps me from too many regrets, but when i listen to their serious balads I groan at what I once believed to be the epitome of musicianship. I kept a good streak of 70's and 80's music along side all those years, mostly thanks to my dad's vinyl collection, the clash, the sex pistols, ac/dc, aerosmith, boston, the cars, queen, guns n roses and whatnot. Still like the clash and queen and appreciate what the sex pistols did for punk but arent crazy about them anymore, then one day while folding laundry, I saw a modest mouse video and kind of liked it. heard them a couple more times and was sold, modest mouse branched into a couple weird places like franz ferdinand but eventually steered me towards indie nirvana i.e. NMH Olivia tremor control the apples in stereo of montreol. Pgrube is actually largely responsible for my listening to indie as well. I've developed a taste for the classical as well because of the french horn, mostly grainger and holst.

[jaimi]

As a kid, I was weaned on a confusing mixture of shitty top 40 and even shittier R&B (thanks mom) with modern rock radio and my dad's old records. Around age 7 or 8, my favorite singer was Mariah Carey and my favorite band was Alice in Chains.

4th to 8th grade was all about No Doubt and Lilith Fair crap. I also liked Smashmouth and the Barenaked Ladies quite a bit. My friend introduced me to Weezer and Cake midway through 8th grade. It only got worse when I got into Incubus, 311, Rage Against the Machine, and various other forgotten and completely embarrassing rock bands riding the nu-metal frat rock wave created by the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Who, by the way, I cannot trash for personal reasons.

Around 15/16, I started to get into my dad's old records, the Pixies, and various other better things, though occasionally I got sidetracked on bullshit like the Mars Volta and um, Glassjaw for like a week.

Currently I am really into all things Flying Nun/New Zealand.

[okinomiyaki-sensei]

Maybe after this I'll go to a retirement home so I can feel young again.

[Cecil]

Like everyone in 4th grade, I had a Backstreet Boys album. Which isn't really shameful, just a sign of fad following.

Anyway, in middle school I like Slipknot for about a month, although my favorite band was System of a Down. I had a brief stint with Papa Roach and the All American Rejects.

Enter high school and the classic rock obsession hits, Hendrix, AC/DC, Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, etc. (The Beatles remaining as constant listening through my entire life). After that I got really into Nirvana, Op Ivy, Misfits, TSOL....punk pretty much. More of an emphasis on Nirvana.

End of freshmen year I bought Trompe Le Monde by the Pixies. Then I bought all their other albums. I also started listening to the Flaming Lips, Gorillaz, Sonic Youth, My Bloody Valentine, and Radiohead. I started smoking pot during this time, if you couldn't tell.

End of sophomore year I got really into ska. Then I got really sick of ska.

Then, in the winter of junior year, I stole a copy of In The Aeroplane Over the Sea. The rest is history. I actually ended up buying a copy from the same store because I felt bad. That, and I needed a replacement because I had worn out the original.