People who know me very well know that there are all sorts of bands I don’t like for all sorts of reasons. People who know me just a little less well are sometimes suprised that I don’t like a particular band that would seem to make sense with my stated tastes. “Mmmm, I would have pegged you for a fan of The Soft Boys,” they might say. I know what they mean, but the band never quite cuts it for me.

Have you been on the receiving end of such a comment from a friend? Is there a band you’re reasonably expected to like yet don’t? Do tell!

Among all the world’s confessional singer-songwriter-type numbers, which confession went too far, which confession do you regret having had to hear?

Which genre is more unfairly overlooked by rock scholars and other rock nerds, Heavy Metal or Disco?

It’s easy to tell the difference between a song sung by any of the four vocalists in The Beatles, but it’s not always that easy to tell who’s singing in a band with multiple vocalists. What band with multiple vocalists that you like is most difficult for you to distinguish among lead singers?

Who’s your second-favorite sitar artist?

Can you recall one of the first times you heard a song and incorrectly thought it was being performed by another artist? (For instance, I clearly recall hearing Andy Kim’s “Rock Me Gently” for the first time and being certain it was sung by Neil Diamond. Even when the DJ announed the artist, I thought there was a mistake.)

Is there a pretty cool offshoot band that you like better than that band’s critically cool predecessor (eg, you like New Order better than Joy Division)?

I look forward to your answers.

This old post never got as much play as I’d hoped. Perhaps people were simply turned off by my use of Jethro Tull as an example. As we revisit this topic, perhaps it will be helpful to think of what I’m getting at as a form of trash picking. There can be beauty in understandably discarded bands. There may be something to learn. See if this makes any sense a second time around. See if you haven’t identified the promise of greatness in a band or artist you don’t really like.

This post initially appeared 11/3/07.

The title of this entry about says it all. Here’s my example: I’ve always dug enough elements in Jethro Tull to think that they could be great…if only they didn’t go so wrong in a few key areas. If you could salvage all the good parts of Jethro Tull, I think, and start fresh, leaving out the bad bits, you’d have a very cool band. Do you have a band or artist you feel that way about?