off topic - Bands/musical artists you didn't really like

[Volznut]

in their prime, but absolutely love now!

1 - Rush - They were mostly a late 70s early 80's band and I thought they were weird at the time. Didn't really appreciate their talents till I was in my 40s. I would say they're my favorite band now
2 - Supertramp - Highly underrated for their time. Now that I listen to them, I love their stuff
3 - Bob Seger - When they were in their prime their music bored me. However, when I listen to them now - wow, what a great voice he has, and lyrically so damn good!
4 - Foreigner - Another late 70s - 80s band. They were very successful, but I never got into them back then. Now when I listen to songs like Jue Box Hero and Cold as Ice - wow. Lou Gramm was a master vocalist.
5 - Heart - Wasn't into them when I was in High school - but appreciate them immensely now.

[Black Diamond Vol]

My formative years were in the 80's. And at the time, I HATED most of the music of the day. I was more into what was then called classic rock (I guess now it's just "oldies")-Zep, Pink Floyd, Eagles, etc. But today I've come around to much of the music of my time. Specifically some of the new wave/pop stuff.  The Cure, Duran Duran, Elvis Costello, Joe Jackson, Howard Jones, etc. The "Next Wave" station on Sirius gets a lot of play in my rotation.

[Volznut]

Howard Jones I actually liked when he was popular. The Cure I never really got into and still don't.

[BanditVol]

I recently realized that Power Station was more than a gimmick.  They had Andy Taylor from Duran Duran and also Robert Palmer was on vocals prior to hitting the big time (pun intended!) later in the decade.  I also saw a doc on them, and back in the day I though Simon LeBon was the main driving force, but now I think Andy Taylor was their biggest talent for sure.  They briefly split into Power Station (Taylor) and some other group (LeBon) and Power Station was much better, period, dot.  LeBon's band had one hit I didn't even like.

I also appreciate the Go Go's more than I did back in the day.  Watched a documentary on them, gained a new appreciation.  Belinda Carlise is an effing beyotch though.  She constantly was kicking other band members to the curb, and in the doc, she always explained as "we decided...", but it was clearly HER, lol.  Put it this way, by the end of the band's first run, the only "we" left was her and the lead guitarist, and the lead guitarist was only kept around because she wrote most of their songs.   

The most interesting thing about the Go Go's was that they initially were four people who had never played an instrument. At all.  Later they added the lead guitarist who had a music degree (and was the best looking one IMO).

As for your list VN, I already liked all those groups except Rush, which I more or less can tolerate.  Bob Sieger I always kind of liked but do like better and appreciate more now. Frankly I think he always has been more of a favorite with middle -aged people, he sings a lot about life's hard knocks and so forth.

[Black Diamond Vol]

Another band I’ve recently come to appreciate is Dire Straits. I never really liked their 3-4 songs that get played on the radio, but a lot of their deep cuts are fantastic. I was turned on to them by the finale of The Americans, where I heard “Brothers in Arms” for the first time.

[BanditVol]

Another band I’ve recently come to appreciate is Dire Straits. I never really liked their 3-4 songs that get played on the radio, but a lot of their deep cuts are fantastic. I was turned on to them by the finale of The Americans, where I heard “Brothers in Arms” for the first time.

I have Brothers in Arms and liked it a lot back in the mid 80s.  Turns out they did that album in Monserat in a studio founded by former Beatle's manager George Martin.  This is also where the Police produced Ghost in the Machine and Synchronicity, and some other big artists did some stuff there, I think Elton Johns big early 80s comeback record was there.  That's yet another doc, lol.  But anyway, "Walk of Life" is a song about Monserat, which I never knew till I saw the doc.  One of the interesting things about the doc is that there was a hurricaine that hit Monserat that put a ding in the studio business right about the time that the industry started converting to digital.  So that, for instance, Synchronicity was one of the last big hit albums produced "the old way" with an all analog studio, which was very expensive.  Nowadays you can produce an album on your phone, literally.     But they did say that artists will still often take a first cut at an album in an old school studio then clean it up at home on their own sound system.  Intersting stuff looking back at how they did it in the day.

[Volznut]

Another band I’ve recently come to appreciate is Dire Straits. I never really liked their 3-4 songs that get played on the radio, but a lot of their deep cuts are fantastic. I was turned on to them by the finale of The Americans, where I heard “Brothers in Arms” for the first time.

Always liked dire straits

[FLVOL]

Rush - I've always been a fan, I still listen to them on the daily

Heart - Wasn't into them when I was in High school - but appreciate them immensely now. They've never been more than luke warm for me, but my brother lived in the same apartment complex in Redmond WA before they hit it big. I'll just comment that she was a beautiful woman  

Another cool thing my brother was involved with back in the day was he worked with one of the band members of QueensRyche and he brought home a demo tape of take hold of the flame. I would listen to it while riding the bus to and from school, and I nearly shat my pants the first time I heard it on the radio

[PirateVOL]

Rush - I've always been a fan, I still listen to them on the daily

Heart - Wasn't into them when I was in High school - but appreciate them immensely now. They've never been more than luke warm for me, but my brother lived in the same apartment complex in Redmond WA before they hit it big. I'll just comment that she was a beautiful woman  

Another cool thing my brother was involved with back in the day was he worked with one of the band members of QueensRyche and he brought home a demo tape of take hold of the flame. I would listen to it while riding the bus to and from school, and I nearly shat my pants the first time I heard it on the radio

I never cared for Rush, no particular reason other than their music just never appealed to me.

Heart on the other hand, was always a favorite, and yes beauty was a part of it.
Alone was always fav

[Volznut]

Rush - I've always been a fan, I still listen to them on the daily

Heart - Wasn't into them when I was in High school - but appreciate them immensely now. They've never been more than luke warm for me, but my brother lived in the same apartment complex in Redmond WA before they hit it big. I'll just comment that she was a beautiful woman  

Another cool thing my brother was involved with back in the day was he worked with one of the band members of QueensRyche and he brought home a demo tape of take hold of the flame. I would listen to it while riding the bus to and from school, and I nearly shat my pants the first time I heard it on the radio

I love Queensryche....but I always did

[BanditVol]

Queensryche! I had forgotten them, though they were (for me at least) more of an early 90s thing and not 80s, but yes they are amazing.

So very timely discussion of Heart. I just watched a vintage performance of Barraduca in 1977, and yes, Ann Wilson was HOT 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PeMvMNpvB5M

If IIRC, she gained some weight in the 80s, so I never had seen this version of her till now. 

[BanditVol]

So going back in time a bit, I also watched some Sweet a bit yesterday.  Never realized they did Ballroom Blitz and that they were the artists that did "Love is Like Oxygen".  I was definitely aware of Fox on the Run, that's one of my earliest memories of being aware of a top hit in the 70s, my older cousins were really into that song.

So yeah, Sweet was a pretty good band, if before my time.  Also are considered pioneers of "glam rock" which they stole partially from David Bowie.  Apparently Bowie told their bass player at one point that he was wearing too much makeup.   

The article on all that is well worth a read IMO.

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2020/jun/05/steve-priest-the-sweet-bassist-heavy-metal

[BanditVol]

Finally, I was just in a mood to listen to music yesterday, so I went through the entire of Heartbeat City and the eponymous Cars, by...the Cars.

Definitely two of the greatest albums of the 80s!  Oh man, did I wear out my cassette tapes back in the day.   

Also did another listen of the eponymous Boston by...Boston. One of the greatest of the 70s, loved and still love every song on there (possible exception of "Take Me Home Tonight" is a bit repetitive. I regularly listen to "More Than a Feeling" and "Peace of Mind" but I hadn't heard "Something About You" for years (there is a scratch on my CD and I've been too lazy to replace it lol).

Boston was my favorite group for awhile in 83-84, because I got serious about music in 83 and my sister gave me some old 8-track tapes, including Boston/Boston, Kansas?Point of Know Return and Eagles greatest hits.    

Boston is still a favorite.

[BanditVol]

On the flip side, I really have grown to dislike the Doobey Brothers.  I was introduced to them by my bro in law in the late 80s and liked them, but then one day I woke up and realized that China Grove is just a horrible song. All they do is repeat "China Grove" over and over and over again, and there isn't much else to the song.  I also don't like the way their lead vocalist sounds.

Then later I realized that it was Michael McDonald, singer of some absolute (IMO at the time and even moreso now) complete trash pop-light-adult-comtemporary-"so called yatch music" in the early 80s and now I just loathe them. I will turn the channel if I hear Doobey Brothers.   

Specifically one the songs I hated is "Can't Forget/Every Time You're Near", which is just trash IMO.  I wish I COULD forget it!   

[Black Diamond Vol]

On the flip side, I really have grown to dislike the Doobey Brothers.  I was introduced to them by my bro in law in the late 80s and liked them, but then one day I woke up and realized that China Grove is just a horrible song. All they do is repeat "China Grove" over and over and over again, and there isn't much else to the song.  I also don't like the way their lead vocalist sounds.

Then later I realized that it was Michael McDonald, singer of some absolute (IMO at the time and even moreso now) complete trash pop-light-adult-comtemporary-"so called yatch music" in the early 80s and now I just loathe them. I will turn the channel if I hear Doobey Brothers.  

Specifically one the songs I hated is "Can't Forget/Every Time You're Near", which is just trash IMO.  I wish I COULD forget it!  

Pretty sure MM didn’t join them until later. He was definitely not the lead vocalist on China Grove.

Early on in the Covid scare when everyone was locked down, they put out a video of them doing “Black Water” over a Zoom call, including the a cappella part at the end. It was really good.

Edit: here it is…

https://youtu.be/4ZLY2ht9iBM

[VinnieVOL]

I wasn’t alive in their heyday and I know it’s weird but two I’ve come to really enjoy:

ABBA and Steely Dan 

[BanditVol]

Pretty sure MM didn’t join them until later. He was definitely not the lead vocalist on China Grove.

Early on in the Covid scare when everyone was locked down, they put out a video of them doing “Black Water” over a Zoom call, including the a cappella part at the end. It was really good.

Edit: here it is…

https://youtu.be/4ZLY2ht9iBM

Well I'm not saying every single song they have sucks.  But China Grove definitely does.