[tjkurita]

I've been listening to Elliott Smith today. I never really liked him very much. Something about his guitar tone and his voice just bothered me. I bought one of his albums and listened to it and thought "What's so great about this?" and then I filed the cd away. I never really heard what was so great about it all. Well today I have been listening and I can't stop. It is great and I don't remember what I didn't like about it. I can't recall how I could have not liked it.

What makes Elliott Smith unique is that I didn't like ANY of his music until today. Usually, for example with a guy like Tom Waits, I like one or two songs, or the songs from a certain "era" in their career and then my taste expands into other periods in their music that I had originally not enjoyed. But with Elliott Smith, I thought it was all bad. And suddenly this afternoon, I am amazed by how good it is.

Strange and amazing. I really love music.

Let's hear about some of the musicians that you didn't "get" at first and did you experience some "revelation" when you finally did? Or have you continued to dislike them?

 

[robzy]

I remember the same thing happening with me when i first started listening to Elliott Smith a good long while ago. Kind of an 'awakening' where you can start to see the beauty of the music.

While not to the same extent that you post about i find that it does take me a while to get into just about any artist. Take Tool for instance - first time i'd ever heard them was 10,000 days - when i first heard the album it took me about 10 minutes to say "Meh, nothing special" and put it down for a while. Then, after listening to it a bit here and a bit there, it starts to grow on you until you - as you said - 'get it'.

Rob.

 

[Purgatos]

Autechre.

I listened to them for the first time and said "random blips and bleeps... what pretentious crap". Two years later I listened again and it hit me like a ton of bricks and nowadays Amber is in my top 10 favourite ever albums.

 

[Aman]

I had my share of musicians like that. Too many to name, almost!

Some big ones for me were Captain Beefheart, Saul Williams, and Bjork. But now I like them all and find them to be representative of masters of their craft and/or genre.

A lot of hip hop I had to get profoundly used to and understand. But my motto with ANY kind of music, unless it's corporate pop or rock, is that if I don't understand it, then it's due to my own limitations, and I must seek to understand it.

 

[Debaser86]

Happened to me a number of times but I can't remember any of them except the last one. So, over a year ago I got "You Turn Me On" by Beat Happening and I didn't really like it. I gave it a few more chances but I never understood why so many people I know who have respectful musical opinions always gushed about these guys. Then, just last week, I gave it another spin and something finally clicked, and I was really into the album. By the time "Godsend" played, I needed to change my underwear.

 

[aufeuer]

Same thing with me with Radiohead. I thought OK Computer was too slow and boring, and Kid A too weird, slow and boring. But these are now two of my favorite albums of all time. I would guess that I'm not alone in my experience with this band.

 

[desmoface]

Yeah, Elliott Smith was a musical genious who's life was cut tragically short...

Steve

 

[tjkurita]

Interesting stuff, all. I'm still enjoying Elliott Smith. The Radiohead mention seems very appropriate. A lot of people need time to get into it. There are only a few musicians who can do no wrong with me of whose music needs some getting used to when I hear new stuff. But rarely does my opinion change so dramatically and across the board like with Elliott Smith.

 

[TheBeave]

I had a similar experience with a very similar artist whose life was also cut short by tradegy, Nick Drake. And I've always liked Radiohead, but I listened to Hail to the Theif the week it came out and didn't like what I heard at all. I put it away for about two years, then was listening to it at 3 in the morning all by myself and BAM! It's a pretty neat phenomenon, this "getting it" all of a sudden.

 

[sonick]

Elliott Smith is amazing. I "got" him right away, the first time I heard "waltz #2" I was hooked; he had a beatle-esque to it.

As for artists that took awhile to "get"

- Broken Social Scene

- Pink Floyd

- Led Zeppelin (i knew they were good already, but it took awhile for it to finally CLICK at how f-ing awesome they were)

- My Bloody Valentine: Loveless

 

[rhythmicmoose]

This happened to me BIG TIME with The Decemberists. I went from not caring for them at all to systematically devouring everything they'd ever produced over the course of the next month.

Similar thing with the Arcade Fire. Listened to Funeral a couple of times, then deleted it, then scrambled to get it back a couple of months later and was blown away.

Modest Mouse too. I always thought they were irritating until a friend of mine played "Bukowski" for me. I think that was the moment I "got" them.

 

[desmoface]

I got some Decemberist stuff and I just aint diggin it. Maybe it will take some time, but it's been awhile and it just aint takin..Same thing with Franz Ferdinand..After hearing all these raving reviews - upon actually getting some stuff, it aint doing much for me. I admit, some of it's catchy but I don't feel the need to listen more than once.

Steve

Quote:

Originally Posted by rhythmicmoose This happened to me BIG TIME with The Decemberists. I went from not caring for them at all to systematically devouring everything they'd ever produced over the course of the next month. Similar thing with the Arcade Fire. Listened to Funeral a couple of times, then deleted it, then scrambled to get it back a couple of months later and was blown away. Modest Mouse too. I always thought they were irritating until a friend of mine played "Bukowski" for me. I think that was the moment I "got" them.

 

[Daryn Alexander]

The first time I got Elliott Smith, I was sitting in Starbucks listening to their rather good headphone setup and thought, "Why not? I'm here". I started with Wouldn't Mama Be Proud off of Figure 8, and was hooked from there.

That similar situation also happened to me with Interpol.

 

[desmoface]

I went to a local shopping center to check out Ipods at the apple store..had a half hr to kill till they opened so I went into Starbucks..Was surprised to hear The Smiths playing..got to talkin to coffee boy and he's into some good music..turns out that he was playing a "starbucks" cd that they had sent them...

He told me that they actually put good music on the store cd's that they have to play.

Steve

 

[falang]

"Rose Parade" was my first introduction to Elliot Smith and I was sold rather quickly.

"3rd planet" by Modest Mouse...instantly caught my ear and led me down a path of near obsession with the band.

Back to the OT, it took me a long while to get Pavement, I actually laugh at that now, considering how monumentally wicked this band was.

"Alligator" by the National was another LP that took a while to sink its teeth into me.

But for every band that takes a while to appreciate, there are those bands that immediately entranced me: The Wrens (LP: The Meadowlands), Spoon (all LPs), and the aforementioned Modest Mouse.