Change My Mind About ____

You're missing Z, their best album. Give it a listen. Evil Urges disappointed me and while I like At Dawn, the band really came into their own with Z. So give it a shot.

Try the first song, Wordless Chorus.

Loser got pretty heavy play back in the day.

ETA: From the album Mellow Gold.

The entire Sea Change album.

Schwartz, try Soul Sucking Blues, Mountain Dew Rock (Fuckin' With My Head) and Nightmare Hippie Girl...all from Mellow Gold.

Every give Wordless Chorus a listen?

Word.

OK, I'll bite. I can't get into Kings of Leon. Some people think I'm crazy. Some people agree with me. They just kinda leave me cold. Where should I start? What should I do? Should I just give up?

What have you listened to before? Either you like 'em or you don't in my experience.

Their strongest albums: Aha Shake Heartbreak and Because of the Times

Tunes you should listen to: 'Red Morning Light', 'Molly's Chambers', 'Milk', 'The Bucket', 'Soft', 'Four Kicks', ' Charmer', 'My Party', 'True Love Way', 'Fans'

If you're still not converted, just look the other way and never look back.

I'm not into Beck as much as I was years ago, but Odelay is still worth a listen.

Parker's totally right.

Next try "Anytime" and "Off the Record," both also from Z. It's the only album by MMJ that I like all the way through and a real innovation on the early stuff; Evil Urges was basically them misusing most of the stuff they got right on Z.

I still really like It Still Moves, but it's also pretty different from the direction they took with Z and everything thereafter.

I'm a Rock fan (especially classic stuff), but somehow managed to dislike Springsteen, can take or leave Neil Young (I do like Cinnamon Girl however), and never got into Dylan (besides the Traveling Wilburys). What am I missing?

Tall order, I know.

Try Bringing It all Back Home, Highway 61 Revisited, and Blonde on Blonde. Those are more rock oriented.

Ok, can some one convince me on the Arcade Fire.

My basic exposure is they seem like a 'hipster band' that Pitchfork likes. From what I've heard it seems like a jangly bunch of pretentious crap. I also was unmoved by the Where The Wild Things Are trailer.

I basically haven't given them the time of day.

Try the Neon Bible version of No Cars Go. If it doesn't do anything for you, the band probably isn't for you.

Change my mind about Terry Crews.

For a second I thought that Crews started a music career. Anyway, his President Camacho in "Idiocracy" is great. You should check that movie out if you haven't already.

Speaking of Kings of Leon, I only like their first album. It's raw, but just fun to listen. Red Morning Light, Molly's Chambers, Joe's Head, Holly Roller Novocaine are standouts for me.

Tom Waits. Convince me.

Great idea for a thread. My suggestion regarding Beck would be to go for his album Gureo. Sea Change is great also, but I don't know if it's the kind of album that will pull somebody into his music. For me Guero is a brilliant album. I just play the whole thing from beginning to end. I can't say that about many albums in my collection. Start with E-Pro, Girl and Black Tambourine.

As a side note, the song that turned me onto My Morning Jacket is Off The Record.

"Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)" is a song that really sets them apart from other "hipster bands". Their second album, "Neon Bible", is a little more jangly that their first, so I would recommend trying that one later.

The answer is seeing them live. Or listen to Funeral.

Get the fuck out of here.



Ha. No, if there was ever a hard sell, it's him.

Might I recommend, "Hoist That Rag."

There's really no new ground to be broken on this one.

I'd say start with "Born in the U.S.A.". Many people frown upon it because of its plasticky '80s sheen production values, but it's easily Bruce's most accessible album. And while some of the songs--the title track, "Dancing in the Dark", "Glory Days"--have been spun ad nauseum, there are other lesser knowns that are just a blast. I'm particularly fond of "Bobby Jean" and "No Surrender".

That being said, the real magic lies in albums like "Born to Run" (see "Thunder Road", "Night", "Born to Run"... hell, just listen to the whole album) and the gloriously messy "The Wild, the Innocent and the E Street Shuffle" (see "Rosalita" and "The E Street Shuffle").

Actually, in retrospect, your best bet may be to simply give "Live in New York" a spin. If that concert doesn't sell you on the greatest bar band on planet Earth, ain't nuthin' gonna do it.

As for me, someone try to sell me on Led Zeppelin. "Ramble On" makes me want to punch kittens.

Jesus Christ. Shouldn't have to.


If that doesn't do it for you by now... there's no hope. And not just for Zeppelin. There's no hope for your soul.

But... go buy "How the West Was Won" and listen to the whole fucking thing until you get it. And played out as it is, "Kashmir?" "Dazed & Confused?" Come on.

You just need to find the right Led Zep album, Mattioli. Most of them have different vibes to them, so you need to find the one that grabs you the most.

Light, fun vibe: 'Houses of the Holy'. Probably my favorite album of theirs. 'The Song Remains the Same', 'The Ocean', 'Over the Hills and Far Away', 'Dyer Makr', it's just FUN.

Heavy Metal vibe: 'Physical Graffiti. Easily their heaviest album. There are a ton of deep cuts on here that could/should have been singles for the band.

Keyboard vibe: 'In Through the Out Door'. John Paul Jones comes to the front here, and the layers of keyboards that he brings in really do a nice job of augmenting the songs on here.

If you're burnt out on the band from radio over-exposure, avoid II and IV(untitled) until later.

I need somebody to convince me on Van Morrison and Tom Waits.

*faints, cracks his head on the tile*

oh hush.

There's probably no hope for me then on the Springsteen front. It's his early mainstream stuff that I'm most exposed to. And his latterday work just depresses me. And not in a good "Johnny Cash" kinda way. Maybe I will consider the live album. Thanks.

I second the "Houses of the Holy" Led Zeppelin recommendation. But you need to listen to it on cassette tape in a filthy gas-guzzlin car. That's how I remember my first exposure to an entire Zep album beyond their classic rock radio play.

Waits is an acquired taste, and I really dig his stuff, but I'll have to ponder on how to sell him.

Music.

What's THAT all about?

It's the Devil's handiwork, Brad. You wouldn't like it, really.

Prolly not. I only like songs about knitting anyway.

Need help finding your soul too?

On Waits, I would probably start with the album Small Change and then album following, Foreign Affairs. Those are probably his most accessable albums. Really though, he's changed styles and tone so much that it's hard to steer someone to just one period.

It's kinda easy to get someone to like him, though, just because of the vast shifts. It's like "Hey, you don't like Closing Time? Here, try Beautiful Maladies!"

Seriously, try Closing Time, then Heartattack and Vine, then for a total kick in the nuts, Bone Machine. Or Small Change and Foreign Affairs.

Goddammit, I can't choose. It's like trying to pick my favorite child.

Since people are wanting individual songs rather than entire albums to convince them, I thought I'd give this a shot.

Tom Waits (accessibility): My entry point was Beautiful Maladies a best-of compiliation culled from his years at Island, purchased shortly after I first heard "Innocent When You Dream" at the end of Smoke.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=61pp51kxvVM
(If you haven't seen the movie, there are spoilers, I guess.)

From Maladies, this one floored me:
"Downtown Train"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHyvjdn4rFk
I still get chills when I hear it, Rod Stewart be damned.


My favorite song of his, introduced to me during Fight Club, is
"Going Out West," from Bone Machine, not included on Maladies
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZChJus0qbWs

If you don't care for any of the above, chances are it's not your thing. Which is fine.

As far as Springsteen goes, these send me every time. Again, if you don't like either, I'd be hard-pressed to find a song of his you'd like. The production on both are very '80s, but the songs hold up, I feel.

"I'm On Fire"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wo1npZWR5qk

"Brilliant Disguise"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fx0E6EbpSn0

Like some other artists mentioned here, a live album might be a good place to start with Van Morrison, if hearing the hits on the radio hasn't sold you. The definitive one is the mid-70's 3-LP / 2-CD It's Too Late To Stop Now: tight, punchy R&B for starters, moving through some of the early hits, and building to the epics "St Dominic's Preview" and "Listen to the Lion" before taking it home with "Gloria", "Caravan" and "Brown-Eyed Girl."

Twenty years on from that, he recorded A Night In San Francisco: another 2-disk set that's nearly as good, with fewer hits and more jazzy funk and straight-ahead blues ("I've Been Working," "Stormy Monday," "Good Morning Little Schoolgirl"), with guests including Junior Wells and James Hunter. And as the name suggests, it was all recorded at one show, and if there's anything significant in the way of overdubs, they completely eluded me.

Both sets show off his transcendent vocal stylings, and the amazing places he can take the blues.

I love those two Springsteen songs, bendrix. Then again, I'm the guy that puts 'Tunnel of Love' up there as his best album.

I'll check out those Tom Waits songs when I get home (youtube is blocked here at work), but I've already heard 'Downtown Train' and 'Going Out West' before (although I can't remember GOW) and wasn't knocked out. I'll try again on those.

Disagree on this re: Zeppelin. I love Zeppelin, and they were a beast live, but I'd recommend starting with the studio albums before attempting to tackle their 15-minute long live incarnations.

Ha. This one was my entry point. I was watching Fight Club, the bar scene happened, and I was like "WAIT, WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT?"

My teenage mind was blown and I proceeded to buy his entire discography along with some bootlegs. I think all my money that summer went to weed and Tom Waits albums. Thank you, Dave Fincher.

To add to (not replace) the valuable advice others have given...

On Springsteen - I think we need to draw a firm line between what constitutes Springsteen's early mainstream stuff and his mid-80s mainstream stuff. If you're burnt out on the "mainstream" stuff like "Born in the U.S.A.," "Glory Days," and "Dancing in the Dark," this doesn't mean you'll be burnt out on Born to Run (which gets lots of play, sure, but it's a completely different animal and works much better in context than on the radio), the Wild, the Innocent, and the E Street Shuffle (which is really only represented on the radio via the occasional "Rosalita"), or Darkness on the Edge of Town (likewise, with "Badlands").

But since you mention Johnny Cash in a positive way, I'd point you to Nebraska, one of the most stripped-down, uncompromising, radio-unfriendly albums ever by a rock artist of his stature.

Dylan - the mid-60s rocky stuff, as raptor mentioned. But again, that Johnny Cash comment makes me think you're not necessarily looking for rockin' - just good. Blood on the Tracks would also make a great starting point.

Neil Young - the dude's catalog is chock full of landmines so you have to be careful. Decade is a superb collection of his 70s work and, unlike many of his albums, shows how diverse the guy can be (Young tends to settle into a style for entire albums, with a few more varied exceptions, like Freedom and Rust Never Sleeps). There are, naturally, some of the classic rock hits you're probably tired of on there, but tons of other stuff that'll probably surprise you.

If you want Young in guitar-heavy mode, you could do a lot worse than Zuma or Ragged Glory (or the live Weld, which came from the Ragged Glory tour and has energetic, expanded, and even crunchier versions of RG songs plus lots of old stuff). There's nothing like "Old Man" or "Heart of Gold" on those.

If "hipster" = irony and detached amusement, the Arcade Fire are the ultimate anti-hipster band. It's all heart-on-the-sleeve sentimentality, like old school U2.

Based on your tone, I suspect you're not going to be convinced.

As others have mentioned, Zeppelin covered a lot of territory. I don't think anyone's mentioned the quieter, prettier stuff like "Rain Song," "Going to California," and "Tangerine," so I'll mention those as yet another way in. Oh, yeah - try not to pay too much attention to the lyrics, but do pay attention to the artistry and nuance in the playing.

Van Morrison's easy - try Astral Weeks. Generally assumed to be one of his best albums (if not his single best), but seldom played on the radio. It's a lush combination of folk and jazz that has virtually nothing in common with, say, "Brown-Eyed Girl" or "Domino."

Waits - again, as others have said, he's evolved quite a bit over his career. The one relative constant is that his voice is a hurdle (although probably moreso the later you go in his catalog). I recommend Rain Dogs as a starting point, since it combines some of that fine, detailed storytelling that people love from his early work, but it eschews the straightforward bluesy stuff for a skronky, thumpy aesthetic that would become his general approach for the next couple decades.

I was the same way with Rush. Once I discovered them, I became totally OBSESSED with them to a pretty scary degree.

Every now and again, I reflect on how incredible it seemed back in the day that Springsteen would ever become a superstar: his music always seemed to me to be something that would be an acquired taste for most people.

Having said that, if I were to recommend one of his (legitimately released) live albums, I might go for the 1975 Live at Hammersmith Odeon that came out in the wake of the Born to Run 30th Anniversary a few years back. It obviously predates his greatest commercial success, and the longer songs give him a chance to show just how his work transforms itself in a live setting.

RE: Neil Young - If you get the chance, go see him in concert. While Dave's right about his catalog being full of landmines, the guy can absolutely blow the pants off of the crowd at a live gig.

ETA: He's also right about Rain Dogs, too. Get that instead of Bone Machine.

I actually thanked Paul Auster at a reading for writing Smoke so I could be introduced to Tom Waits. He smiled and said, "You're welcome," but whether or not he had anything to do with the decision to include that song is debatable. I still love that movie, with or without Waits (and despite Harold Perinneau).