{"id":2703,"date":"2010-04-23T12:10:27","date_gmt":"2010-04-23T16:10:27","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2010-04-23T12:10:27","modified_gmt":"2010-04-23T12:10:27","slug":"artist-i-most-wish-i-could-like-if-only","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/artist-i-most-wish-i-could-like-if-only\/","title":{"rendered":"Artist I Most Wish I Could Like, if Only to Broaden My Rock-Related Social Skills"},"content":{"rendered":"

JwLJwHRJcn4]
\nAs an open-minded, true believer in The Power and Glory of Rock, I often wish I could better appreciate critically acclaimed bands that have never “done it” for me. Who doesn’t want to feel part of the In Crowd when hanging with rock ‘n roll tastemakers? You’ve heard my tales of revisiting bands like Love<\/strong>, Randy Newman<\/strong>, and others, and I appreciate that you have been moved by my efforts.<\/p>\n

Occasionally, howver, my desire to appreciate a critically acclaimed band is driven more by simple social climbing in the rock world than entry into rock’s secret society of taste-making. Sometimes I think about how my social network could be extended if only I could sincerely nod approvingly when a “cool” band I previously didn’t like comes on the stereo at a party populated by people I’d enjoy getting to know better.<\/p>\n

This feeling was more prevalent when I was young and single and seeking broader social networks and a girfriend. Being incredibly opinionated and taking pleasure in confrontation has its downfalls, Townspeeps. I suffer less for my ways these days because I exist in the comfort zone of a loving family and rapidly diminishing personal delusions, but when I was a young man I used to think about how much better my social life could have been if only I could like The Replacements<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

I sill wish I could find it in myself to better appreciate The Replacements<\/strong> and Paul Westerberg<\/strong>, in general. Coming of age as an aspiring musician and rock nerd in the first half of the 1980s, my preturnatural rock ‘n roll began to suck in 1983<\/em> mindset was detrimental to rock scene networking. For many of my peers the “college rock” or “underground” scene, as we called it before it became “alternative,” offered a bounty of exciting, promising DIY bands. Although I was as invigorated as anyone by the DIY spirit, I had trouble warming up to underground favorites like REM, Husker Du, and The Replacements. <\/p>\n

This not only limited my opportunities for making cool with other rock scenesters, it limited my opportunities of making contact with the young women hovering around the rock scene. I’d meet a cool girl at a show who would excitedly tell me about how cool she thought The Replacements were or how my band reminded her of REM and, rather than use this comment as an opportunity to accept some flattery and enable the bonding process I’d be unable to contain making some disgusted face<\/em> and uttering one of my tight-ass opinions about the celebrated band to which we’d been compared. Talk about a deal-breaker!<\/p>\n

Like I said, there were many artists in the mid-’80s that I should have liked but didn’t, but of all those artists the fans of The Replacements had the best selection of good guys I could have more easily befriended and good-looking girls I might have dated. But nooooooooooo!<\/em><\/p>\n

So I ask you: Is there an artist you most wish you could like, if only to broaden your rock-related social skills?<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

JwLJwHRJcn4] As an open-minded, true believer in The Power and Glory of Rock, I often wish I could better appreciate critically acclaimed bands that have never “done it” for me. Who doesn’t want to feel part of the In Crowd when hanging with rock ‘n roll tastemakers? You’ve heard my tales of revisiting bands like […]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[342],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2703"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2703"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2703\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2703"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2703"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2703"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}