Weekly survey: Artists you loved when you were younger but are embarrassed about that now.
We all have regrets about how we misspent our youth. That bad haircut. Those terrible clothes in which you wouldn’t be caught dead today. That relationship you thought was true love but turned out to be a crazy person nightmare.
What about music? Surely there’s an act or two you used to love when you were younger but are loathe to admit it now.
I know this is a touchy topic because as we evolve, many of us develop the attitude “Respect all music, listen to what you like.” But there are still memories of music tastes past that may make you shudder.
For example, I was once besotted with pre-Saturday Night Fever Bee Gees, specifically their Main Course album from 1975. For reasons that I can’t fully explain, a single note from that album (“Jive Talking,” “Nights on Broadway”) now sends shivers of shame through my body. Illogical, I know. But music can have deep psychological effects on a person that can last decades.
Perhaps you had a tween crush on David or Shaun Cassidy. It could be that you spent far too much money on disco records. Or that at one point your favourite song was “Undercover Angel” by Alan O’Day.
‘Fess up. What musical choices from your youth do you now regret?
Steve Miller Band Book of Dreams.
Ted Nugent – fortunately that didn’t last long.
When I was young I really liked Deee-Lite. I hadn’t heard them in about 20 years & tried listening to some of their songs again recently. I couldn’t listen for very long
There are a few – Barry Manilow, Donny Osmond, Styx. Frightening, really.
Weezer for me. Their later albums retroactively wrecked the blue album and Pinkerton for me too. “Oh they were actually always insipid shit.”
A lot of the cancon I listened to the in the 90s has aged poorly for me too, but it just feels dated more than anything.
Echo Ted Nugent. I still listen to Free for All and Cat Scratch Fever but I sure don’t tell anyone. Until now.
I wouldn’t say I’m embarrassed by anything I used to listen to. Some things I grew out of, like a lot of the metal I used to play. Metallica might make the list. I kinda think they’re goobers now. I never got caught up in the fad pop stuff, so I never had to worry about discretely disposing of Milli Vanilli or Ace of Base tapes.
Most of the stuff I listened to as a kid has aged pretty well, my sister and brother in law introduced me to a lot of cool stuff in the 70’s and from the time I was buying my own records and tapes in 81 I was doing alright in picking decent stuff. Had a lot of Split Enz and XTC and Joe Jackson and Elvis Costello, more than the average 11 year old.
Although there are artists i don’t listen to anymore, as my tastes have changed, i’m really not ashamed of any of the music I’ve listened to. Although my wife tells me I should be!
One of the first artists i really remember getting into was Elton John, thanks to my parents. And he had a song named Daniel, and that’s my name, so as a 6 year old I thought that was pretty cool. nd although i can;t recall the last time I heard an Elton John tune, and I don’t own any of his music, I don;t hide that info away.
And I rarely mock others for their tastes. heck, I still readily admit my love of hair metal, so who am I to judge?
Unless you like country music. Than hahahahahahahahahahaha lolz.
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Limp Bizkit, Korn, and lately Green Day – like the Weezer comment, the albums since American Idiot have revealed them to be weak, repetitive, overindulgent cringeworthy performances. And I LOVED them for 20 years. I bought everything they ever did. But now even the old stuff is starting to age poorly.
Blink 182, Creed – oh my Creed. Hoobastank.
I’m not embarrassed by any of my musical choices. I’ve been a fan of Donny Osmond’s since I was very young. He is a phenomenal singer who can do many styles and appeal to a huge variety of audiences (as evidenced by his success as the Peacock on the Masked singer); he is good to his fans; he puts 100% into every performance; he’s versatile and an all around great guy. Other soft rock people such as Manilow, Neil Diamond, Eric Carmen, Elton, Billy Joel, Journey, and so many more were/are excellent songwriters and musicians. Yes, my tastes have grown as I have and different artists have come and gone through my music collection. But ya know what…. most of the people I’ve enjoyed along the way could write, play, sing and perform their own stuff. And they didn’t use auto-tune, lip syncing, a DJ or a bunch of scantily clad women to put on a show. Just saying…
I don’t understand the scorn for “Main Course”. That was a great and pivotal album in their career. It has such a great blend of the old and new style they were about to fully adopt. A song like “Wind of Change” or “Songbird” really bothers you that much???