Bands you really want to love....but can't.

[Nel]

Steven Wilson's solo stuff for sure. I love Porcupine Tree, but his solo stuff doesn't grab me at all.

Marillion and Gentle Giant too. A handful of songs I like, but most of their output just doesn't grab me.

[Mladen]

of Montreal.
Largely due to the vocals and I guess the meandering/repetitive nature of their music.

Does not compute.  of Montreal is everything but repetitive as far as I'm concerned, their song structures are sometimes very challenging to follow. The chord progressions are sometimes insane as well. I get the comment about the vocals, though, they're quite eccentric.

well here's a longer explanation: https://allmediareviews.blogspot.com/2017/02/indietronica-great-history-but-ifwhen.html

of Montreal (Athens, GA) I often compare Apes and Androids to this band for those who never have heard Apes and Androids, but I say Apes and Androids actually can sing really well, whereas I have never been able to tolerate Kevin Barnes voice. Similar issue I have with bands like Radiohead, Circa Survive or The Flaming Lips (or The Postal Service/Death Cab for Cutie). Musically though I actually could enjoy them, although I've heard they have kind of dropped off or repeated themself a few times, to not look too favorably across their entire catalog. Because they have like 15 or 16 albums, which might be a case of quantity over quality. I can't imagine if we even had half that many albums from Apes and Androids, lol.

and actually beyond them and the others mentioned there, just in the Indietronica genre

Metronomy
Black Moth Super Rainbow
Alt-J
MGMT
Franz Ferdinand
Ghostland Observatory
Phantogram
Neon Indian

Great post. And the list is very appreciated, I've only listened to a few of these bands.

[DragonAttack]

Thanks, everyone, for mentioning Dave Mathews and The Foo Fighters.  Now I don't feel so guilty that I am missing 'it'.
I want to enjoy them, I think they're all great people and performers, but after one or two tracks of each, I'm done. 

[Cruithne]

The Foo Fighters are an odd one for me. I really liked the debut album and absolutely loved The Colour and The Shape, but after that it's been ever-diminishing returns until we get to Wasting Light, which I tried on Spotify and couldn't find a single song I liked. At that point it was time to call it quits.

In the mean time I have friends telling me Dave Grohl is a genius...

Motorhead were maybe one of those bands I wanted to like more than I did at one point. I've got a Spotify playlist of about a dozen great, great Motorhead songs, but there's only two from the same album: Doctor Rock and Orgasmatron. Orgasmatron is probably the only album of theirs that I can be bothered to listen to from start-to-finish.

[KevShmev]

The Foo Fighters are an odd one for me. I really liked the debut album and absolutely loved The Colour and The Shape, but after that it's been ever-diminishing returns until we get to Wasting Light, which I tried on Spotify and couldn't find a single song I liked. At that point it was time to call it quits.

In the mean time I have friends telling me Dave Grohl is a genius...

I like Foo Fighters, but I don't get that either.  Grohl has done a great job at building that band up into a major global act despite being fairly one-dimensional, but a genius? Let's be serious.

[King Postwhore]

Who's calling him a genius?  I've never heard that dialog.

I personally think they are a good old fashion rock band.  Nothing more, nothing less.

[Art]

I think Frank Zappa would be my choice. I like a lot of his ideas and bands that were inspired by him, but can't get into the music. 

[red barchetta]

Try their last album, Coma Ecliptic. Growls are still there but it's mostly clean singing.

OK, I will have a good look at it and tell you later.  Thanks

[Architeuthis]

The Foo Fighters are an odd one for me. I really liked the debut album and absolutely loved The Colour and The Shape, but after that it's been ever-diminishing returns until we get to Wasting Light, which I tried on Spotify and couldn't find a single song I liked. At that point it was time to call it quits.

In the mean time I have friends telling me Dave Grohl is a genius...

I like Foo Fighters, but I don't get that either.  Grohl has done a great job at building that band up into a major global act despite being fairly one-dimensional, but a genius? Let's be serious.

"To me you're a genius, to Amalie you're a genius,, but to a genius you are no genius"!  lol!

[chknptpie]

My husband would really like it if I loved the Greatful Dead and other jam bands... but I can't do it. END THE SONG ALREADY.

[Stadler]

My husband would really like it if I loved the Greatful Dead and other jam bands... but I can't do it. END THE SONG ALREADY.

HAHA, I joke with my wife - she's a big Keith Urban/Luke Bryan fan - that I have a "great new 65 minute version of Playin' In The Band!  We can listen to it on date night if you want!"   Her usual response is, "maybe you need another DATE." 

[SoundscapeMN]

My husband would really like it if I loved the Greatful Dead and other jam bands... but I can't do it. END THE SONG ALREADY.

has he had you hear Terrapin Station?..it's basically The Dead doing progressive rock. It doesn't drag at all to me.

[Zantera]

I don't know, maybe Dave Grohl is a genius? I'm a very casual Foo Fighters fan (I enjoy songs here and there but don't really know the albums that well) but you gotta give him credit for writing fairly simple and straight forward music that is still catchy and manages to really click with people. I have similar feelings for Bruce Springsteen, who I'm not really a big fan of either, but he has this greatness surrounding him and the music seems to really gel hard with the fans.

[Stadler]

My husband would really like it if I loved the Greatful Dead and other jam bands... but I can't do it. END THE SONG ALREADY.

has he had you hear Terrapin Station?..it's basically The Dead doing progressive rock. It doesn't drag at all to me.

GREAT call.   Probably my favorite song by the Dead, and I'm turning into a pretty big Dead fan (though I have my favorite era:  post-Pigpen through 1980).   Another good choice for prog fans is Anthem of the Sun.  It was created very similarly to Crimson's Larks Tongue in Aspic and Starless and Bible Black, in that it was a series of live tapes that were later massaged in the studio and assembled into final tracks (though I understand AotS to be a far bigger mess than either Crimson album, in terms of dollars and time spent, and direction of the material). 

[chknptpie]

My husband would really like it if I loved the Greatful Dead and other jam bands... but I can't do it. END THE SONG ALREADY.

has he had you hear Terrapin Station?..it's basically The Dead doing progressive rock. It doesn't drag at all to me.

GREAT call.   Probably my favorite song by the Dead, and I'm turning into a pretty big Dead fan (though I have my favorite era:  post-Pigpen through 1980).   Another good choice for prog fans is Anthem of the Sun.  It was created very similarly to Crimson's Larks Tongue in Aspic and Starless and Bible Black, in that it was a series of live tapes that were later massaged in the studio and assembled into final tracks (though I understand AotS to be a far bigger mess than either Crimson album, in terms of dollars and time spent, and direction of the material).

He has only taken me to live shows of jam bands and cover bands (Keller Williams, Dark Star etc)... so I'm sure I've heard it but when they do it live, I'm sure it goes on 5 minutes longer than necessary. I'm a fan of Prog - why else would I be here if I wasn't? lol But "jamming" is not prog. Listening to the same riff for 10 minutes with slight variations is mind numbing.


Oh and a 10 minute drum solo is just UNNECESSARY!

[Mosh]

I would call Dave Grohl a marketing genius. Love Foo Fighters btw

[Stadler]

My husband would really like it if I loved the Greatful Dead and other jam bands... but I can't do it. END THE SONG ALREADY.

has he had you hear Terrapin Station?..it's basically The Dead doing progressive rock. It doesn't drag at all to me.

GREAT call.   Probably my favorite song by the Dead, and I'm turning into a pretty big Dead fan (though I have my favorite era:  post-Pigpen through 1980).   Another good choice for prog fans is Anthem of the Sun.  It was created very similarly to Crimson's Larks Tongue in Aspic and Starless and Bible Black, in that it was a series of live tapes that were later massaged in the studio and assembled into final tracks (though I understand AotS to be a far bigger mess than either Crimson album, in terms of dollars and time spent, and direction of the material).

He has only taken me to live shows of jam bands and cover bands (Keller Williams, Dark Star etc)... so I'm sure I've heard it but when they do it live, I'm sure it goes on 5 minutes longer than necessary. I'm a fan of Prog - why else would I be here if I wasn't? lol But "jamming" is not prog. Listening to the same riff for 10 minutes with slight variations is mind numbing.


Oh and a 10 minute drum solo is just UNNECESSARY!

For his birthday, or if you need to curry favor, give Terrapin a listen.  It's not a "jam" song by any stretch.  It's a 15 minute composed piece by Jerry Garcia and is one of their more mature compositions. 

[SoundscapeMN]

My husband would really like it if I loved the Greatful Dead and other jam bands... but I can't do it. END THE SONG ALREADY.

has he had you hear Terrapin Station?..it's basically The Dead doing progressive rock. It doesn't drag at all to me.

GREAT call.   Probably my favorite song by the Dead, and I'm turning into a pretty big Dead fan (though I have my favorite era:  post-Pigpen through 1980).   Another good choice for prog fans is Anthem of the Sun.  It was created very similarly to Crimson's Larks Tongue in Aspic and Starless and Bible Black, in that it was a series of live tapes that were later massaged in the studio and assembled into final tracks (though I understand AotS to be a far bigger mess than either Crimson album, in terms of dollars and time spent, and direction of the material).

He has only taken me to live shows of jam bands and cover bands (Keller Williams, Dark Star etc)... so I'm sure I've heard it but when they do it live, I'm sure it goes on 5 minutes longer than necessary. I'm a fan of Prog - why else would I be here if I wasn't? lol But "jamming" is not prog. Listening to the same riff for 10 minutes with slight variations is mind numbing.


Oh and a 10 minute drum solo is just UNNECESSARY!

For his birthday, or if you need to curry favor, give Terrapin a listen.  It's not a "jam" song by any stretch.  It's a 15 minute composed piece by Jerry Garcia and is one of their more mature compositions.

nope, 1 of the big reasons I enjoy it. The whole album actually.

@chknptpie maybe give it a go soon when you have 15 minutes free.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3I7CLy70WtI

[KevShmev]

The Foo Fighters are an odd one for me. I really liked the debut album and absolutely loved The Colour and The Shape, but after that it's been ever-diminishing returns until we get to Wasting Light, which I tried on Spotify and couldn't find a single song I liked. At that point it was time to call it quits.

In the mean time I have friends telling me Dave Grohl is a genius...

I like Foo Fighters, but I don't get that either.  Grohl has done a great job at building that band up into a major global act despite being fairly one-dimensional, but a genius? Let's be serious.

"To me you're a genius, to Amalie you're a genius,, but to a genius you are no genius"!  lol!

 

[LCArenas]

I'm going to say Rush.

I've watched a lot of their music videos on youtube, and bought 2112 on iTunes. Yes, I can appreciate their abilities, and I can see the influence they have had on DT, but I'm still looking for that "gateway" song that makes everything click for me, and gets me hooked.

At first I tried with 2112 and Hemispheres (Those were the ones a friend recommended me to listen first to) but they didn't quite get to me. I found myself liking their songs via Clockwork Angels and Vapor Trails. I don't know if that's a proper or 'right' way of getting into them though

As for the bands, well...
Nightwish. I don't know, man. Their songs seem too over-bombastic to me I guess. Maybe I haven't listened to them enough.
Avenged Sevenfold. I don't really like M. Shadows voice, sorry.
Destruction. They pretty much made me realize how same-y Thrash Metal could become. It's not that I don't like German Thrash Metal, since Sodom is for me one of the best Thrash Metal bands in history; and at least I can get into a few Kreator songs, but... I can't really enjoy their songs.