Popular groups of the 70s/80s that you didn't 'get'?

[PaulB]

For me, there were certain bands that I never got into at all and failed to understand their popularity. Here's the ones I never 'got'.

Led Zeppelin (considered 'drop-out' music)
Yes (pretentious pseudo-classical nonsense)
Emerson, Lake and Palmer (see contents of previous brackets)
Black Sabbath (completely passed me by)
Rory Gallagher (couldn't stand his haircut)
And in my opinion, the worst of the lot, Uriah Heap (disjointed music and that standing on one leg! Pick the other one up)

Yes, it's raining and I'm bored.

 

[accountantpete]

And in my opinion, the worst of the lot, Uriah Heap (disjointed music and that standing on one leg! Pick the other one up)

Yes, it's raining and I'm bored.

I think we can safely add Jethro Tull to your list then Paul

 

[Adasta]

Early Genesis.

Do you like Phil Collins? I've been a big Genesis fan ever since the release of their 1980 album, Duke. Before that, I really didn't understand any of their work. Too artsy, too intellectual. It was on Duke where Phil Collins' presence became more apparent. I think Invisible Touch was the group's undisputed masterpiece. It's an epic meditation on intangibility. At the same time, it deepens and enriches the meaning of the preceding three albums.

 

[ColinJ]

For me, there were certain bands that I never got into at all and failed to understand their popularity. Here's the ones I never 'got'.

...
Yes (pretentious pseudo-classical nonsense)
Emerson, Lake and Palmer (see contents of previous brackets)
...

Er, yes, and no!

My mate had the early ELP albums and my sister the early Yes albums and I got quite into both bands, but then ...

I was watching Keith Emerson[sup]1 [/sup]sticking knives into his organ once (Hammond, not todger! ) and I suddenly thought - "That's really stupid, that is!" so that was the end of ELP for me.

As for Yes - there was a big gig coming up at Bingley Hall Stafford in 1977 and I had a ticket for it. My mates all had tickets. The thing was, I was beginning to have nagging doubts about them, along the lines of, er, "It's all pretentious pseudo-classical nonsense, that is!" I couldn't quite put my finger on it though, until I discovered The Sex Pistols and it all became clear to me!

I ripped up my ticket in disgust and binned it in front of my friends. One of the girls in my crowd later fished the scraps out and Sellotaped the ticket back together and my mates went to the gig without me! A few months later and they were all into punk too ...


[sup]1[/sup]Keith Emerson was born in Todmorden!

 

[Tim Bennet.]

Middle Genesis.

Oh, and early Genesis.
And late.

 

[slowmotion]

U2 - annoying on almost absolutely every level

Particularly that bloody stupid "eyewear".

 

[Zoiders]

Pink Floyd.

 

[Chromatic]

Er, yes, and no!

My mate had the early ELP albums and my sister the early Yes albums and I got quite into both bands, but then ...

I was watching Keith Emerson[sup]1 [/sup]sticking knives into his organ once (Hammond, not todger! ) and I suddenly thought - "That's really stupid, that is!" so that was the end of ELP for me.

As for Yes - there was a big gig coming up at Bingley Hall Stafford in 1977 and I had a ticket for it. My mates all had tickets. The thing was, I was beginning to have nagging doubts about them, along the lines of, er, "It's all pretentious pseudo-classical nonsense, that is!" I couldn't quite put my finger on it though, until I discovered The Sex Pistols and it all became clear to me!

I ripped up my ticket in disgust and binned it in front of my friends. One of the girls in my crowd later fished the scraps out and Sellotaped the ticket back together and my mates went to the gig without me! A few months later and they were all into punk too ...


[sup]1[/sup]Keith Emerson was born in Todmorden!

I was there, great stuff. You should have went. Yes, IMHO, get a bad press these days, they were a great band and someone must have like them, at the time they used to very well in the music press readers polls. Nowadays finding someone who admits to liking Yes is like finding rocking horse shoot. At the time the stuff they produced was far better and much more interesting than the anodyne pap that Genesis used to turn out.

Back to the OP, I never got Led Zep. A couple of years ago we were feeding a friends cats while they were on holiday and I borrowed Led Zep remastered (or whatever it is called, double CD of all their good stuff apparently) thinking I'll stick it on my ipod and give it another go and see what all the fuss was about. Apart from the one track I knew I liked (Kashmir) it's all crap.


PS I never got punk at all, still don't.

 

[accountantpete]

Phew! - no-one has mentioned Budgie or The Groundhogs yet.

 

[Smokin Joe]

For me, there were certain bands that I never got into at all and failed to understand their popularity. Here's the ones I never 'got'.

Led Zeppelin (considered 'drop-out' music)
Yes (pretentious pseudo-classical nonsense)
Emerson, Lake and Palmer (see contents of previous brackets)
Black Sabbath (completely passed me by)
Rory Gallagher (couldn't stand his haircut)
And in my opinion, the worst of the lot, Uriah Heap (disjointed music and that standing on one leg! Pick the other one up)

Yes, it's raining and I'm bored.

All of those, plus Deep Purple, Yes, Genesis, U2.

 

[numbnuts]

Progressive rock what was there to understand except brilliant musicians that new how to play and not the crap we have to listen to today. Yes and later Rick Wakeman were and still are my greatest groups of the 70s/80s

 

[TVC]

The Police

 

[PaulB]

I think we can safely add Jethro Tull to your list then Paul

What a feel I fool! Thanks for putting me right on that one, I genuinely forgot. But then I have had amnesia for as long as I can remember!

 

[Yellow Fang]

I never really got The Clash. I liked Rocking the Casbah and This Is England, but can't work out why they were so highly rated.

 

[PaulB]

I never really got The Clash. I liked Rocking the Casbah and This Is England, but can't work out why they were so highly rated.

Now I LOVED The Clash until they undid themselves and went on the missing at the time of the inner city riots in the 80s.

They had the style, the sound, the attitude. After the incomparable Ian Dury and the Blockheads, The Clash were my favourites. Then came The Jam, Elvis Costello and the Attractions, The Beat, Madness..but I never got The Damned at all.