Songs That Turned You Off of a Genre of Music

[Trekker4747]

When I was in Jr. High School I used to listen to popular/alternative rock music. The mainstream junk that everyone listened to. Then I heard "Shiny Happy People" (by R.E.M.) and I was turned off on that genre of music. That song just made me think to myself, "Why am I listening to this junk?" I then started listening to country music and listened to that until I got tired of Country music and junk-pop meld together and pop mostly became the dominant personality, said "this is bullshit" and I then started listening to talk radio.

On AM.

How about you? Any paticular songs that turned you off on a genre of music or changes in music that turned you off that genre?

 

[Emher]

I think most Swedes will agree when I mention Kent. Pretentious crap. Well more like everyone think it's deep and meaningful while the guy who writes all the lyrics admitted a while back that it's all just random shit.

So I don't really have a main song, but more like types of music that I get seizures from hearing after being forced to heard it at work. (Förbannade jävla Lugna Favoriter! )

 

[USS Triumphant]

I used to like a lot of country, from the time that MTV purchased CMT going all the way back, but since then, most country music that has hit the radio has been formulaic crap with lyrics that seem like they could have been written using a Mad-Libs pad and music that seems like it was laid down by a 90s pop session band. And the country stations almost never play anything much before that point - almost like they're trying to make people forget what country is supposed to be like.

There are rare exceptions: I like a lot of Brad Paisley's stuff - he really seems to get how you should blend modern themes and instruments with the narrative style and tradition of country music. And it seems like if an artist has a string of four or five hits, one of them will be good country, or at least, good.

I don't think I'd really say I'm turned off to the genre, so much as that I feel like a Fiscally Conservative, Socially Liberal Republican does - my party has left me.

I guess I was just country when country wasn't cool.

 

[Bad Bishop]

When I was in Jr. High School I used to listen to popular/alternative rock music. The mainstream junk that everyone listened to. Then I heard "Shiny Happy People" (by R.E.M.) and I was turned off on that genre of music. That song just made me think to myself, "Why am I listening to this junk?" I then started listening to country music and listened to that until I got tired of Country music and junk-pop meld together and pop mostly became the dominant personality, said "this is bullshit" and I then started listening to talk radio.

"Shiny Happy People" was a hit 18 years ago. Is that when you gave up on pop music?

I don't get the hate for "Shiny Happy People." It's a good record, with a waltz in the intro and Kate Pierson of The B-52's guesting on vocals. The members of R.E.M. have disowned the song, even though it was a hit record. They don't sing it in concert (I am told) and they left it off their last "Best of" collection in 2003. Ironic, really. They had a certain snobbishness about commercial success in the past, and today they hardly sell any records at all.

 

[Flying Spaghetti Monster]

The hate for the song is because, well, uh, let me think... you mentioned the credits and the ales and all of that, but you never mentioned that... IT SUCKED

 

[Thespeckledkiwi]

Tool, a Perfect Circle made me hate a lot of Metallic, Queen and a System of the Down...

 

[Cap'n Crunch]

One of my best friends used to listen to Green Day all the time. Eventually I heard them so much (especially, American Idiot ) that now I can't listen to more than a few seconds of any of their songs, even the older ones.

 

[Trekker4747]

The hate for the song is because, well, uh, let me think... you mentioned the credits and the ales and all of that, but you never mentioned that... IT SUCKED

Exactly. I heard that song I just HATED it. It was so ridiculous and stupid that I changed the channel. I still listened to some popular music off-and-on but probably within a few months of that song coming out I switched to listening to country music and never looked back. Haven't listened to any appreciable popular music sense. I still listened to some classic, before my time, rock (I love The Who) but popular music I was done with, And even now, starting about 3 years ago, I gave up on country music too and now my car radio is on talk/news radio.

 

[barnaclelapse]

I always thought the song was supposed to be a joke that got way more attention than it deserved. I always thought R.E.M. was mocking a lot of the pop music that was around at the time, even going so far as to shoot a video for it, and they just got way too much attention for it.

I don't think they're snobs about their hits, especially since they've played "Losing My Religion" at just about every concert they've done for almost the last twenty years.

As for the overall question there's never been a single song powerful enough to turn me off an entire genre. I think that's remarkably close-minded. I don't think there's a problem with not caring for certain types of music, but it just seems stupid to me to disqualify an entire genre on the strength of a single song that you don't like.

 

[Canadave]

They had a certain snobbishness about commercial success in the past, and today they hardly sell any records at all.

Which is a shame, really, as their last record (Acceleration) was absolutely fantastic. And yet U2, one of their biggest contemporaries, still manages to sell millions of copies of absolute shit.

And I'd hardly say they're snobbish about commericial success. They certainly seem to have embraced songs like "It's The End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)", "Man on the Moon" and "Stand", after all.

 

[Pemmer Harge]

But REM have so many great songs! Damn, Murmur's probably burned into my brain more than any other album. I can understand how hearing a bad song might stop you getting into a genre of music, but not how it could turn you off a genre you already like.

In my experience people's taste in music changes over time as you develop and you hear more music. When I was 17-18 heavy metal seemed like the greatest thing ever, whereas now I hardly ever listen to it - I've heard so much more music and found out what really does it for me.

 

[Trekker4747]

You know, got to say, never cared for REM overall. I guess their "style" of music never appealed to me.

 

[byron lomax]

I don't think a single song has ever put me off a genre completely, as genres I like offer both good and bad in their overall output. Actually, it usually happens the other way around - i might dislike a genre, only to discover a song I like despite previous expectations.

However, I did grow to dislike the directions in which dance music headed from the late 90s onwards - not really a song in particular, but the way in which the scene became more commercialised and trendy. There was a shift from the colorful, manic energy of rave and hardcore, and the darker edge of drum'n'bass, to bland and cheesy trance, as well as a harkening back to house music's distant ancestor, disco. A lot of the "big beat" that emerged around that time (Fatboy Slim, Chemical Brothers) hasn't aged well at all either, in my opinion.

 

[NileQT87]

When I was a tween, I had a phase where I liked pop music (the mid '90s to early '00s stuff).

I bailed quick when the R&B/hip-hop/rap influx started to take over pop music. At first, it was just featured in the songs (which I hated) and then it morphed into it. The melisma thing also drove me away from current music.

I ran away entirely from it and went back to my old childhood oldies love with a side dish of classical. I remain there musically today.

 

[Kirk's_Tights]

Mainstream is poo.


Listen to less mainstream and you'll like music more.

 

[J.T.B.]

They had a certain snobbishness about commercial success in the past, and today they hardly sell any records at all.

I was a big REM fan when they were still "underground," got the newsletter and everything. I got a bit snobbish about their commercial success, as "original" fans have done for time immemorial, but I realize now that they were still making good records. I agree with barnaclelapse, the band doesn't seem snobbish about their hits. Their concert set-lists in the past 10-15 years are pretty light on stuff from the early '80s.

"Shiny Happy People" is kind of a silly song, but I always thought of it in an ironic way, and I like Kate Pierson's and Mike Mills' harmony vocals a lot, so the song's OK in my book. Not one of their greatest, but OK.

As for record sales, not many bands still chart new albums after almost 30 years, so I'd say REM are doing all right.

Never had a song turn me off an entire genre, but I never cared much about genre, anyway. I just like what I like.

--Justin

 

[Flying Spaghetti Monster]

REM and Stipe in particular are a bunch of snobs. First I don't know how people can complain about Geddy Lee when Stipe's vocals are far far more grating, at least to me. but the ultimate moment that got me to realize that they were snobs (aside from the stupid "dance" Stipe does in the "Losing my Religion" video) is their pretentiousness at the MTV music awards that year, where they were nominated for like 12 different categories for that one song and Stipe wore twelve t-shirts one for every award. Of course they didn't get every award, they lost one, the viewers' choice award. That award went to Queensryche's "Silent Lucidity", a far far far far better song. And Stipe was so smug about it during his speech when he said he was "happy for Queensryche".

 

[Goliath]

I don't get the hate for "Shiny Happy People." It's a good record, with a waltz in the intro and Kate Pierson of The B-52's guesting on vocals. The members of R.E.M. have disowned the song, even though it was a hit record. They don't sing it in concert (I am told) and they left it off their last "Best of" collection in 2003.

Maybe they're embarrassed about this.

But seriously...

I'm actually with Bad Bishop on this one, for once. "Shiny Happy People" isn't a bad song at all, IMHO. It's bright, and upbeat, with a catchy round-chorus.

But from what I've read, it's also an artistic failure, when measured against the band's intentions: and it's also an interesting example of the disconnect between authorial intention and audience reception.

REM wanted to be ironic, and, I think, make a point about the connection between pop music and political propaganda. But they outsmarted themselves, and were perhaps too subtle for their own good.

And, to be fair, I can see how some people would find the song annoying--especially if they heard it several times a day, on the radio.

As for the OT--the only song I can think of that sort of fits the bill is "Stripped, Raped, and Strangled" by Cannibal Corpse. That's actually one of CC's best songs--but even as I enjoyed listening to the music, I couldn't shake the feeling that I shouldn't be enjoying this--what kind of person enjoys listening to songs about rape and murder, from the rapist-murder's perspective? Ultimately, that one song turned me off death metal entirely.

 

[pigletsgiblets]

I used to like a lot of country, from the time that MTV purchased CMT going all the way back, but since then, most country music that has hit the radio has been formulaic crap with lyrics that seem like they could have been written using a Mad-Libs pad and music that seems like it was laid down by a 90s pop session band. And the country stations almost never play anything much before that point - almost like they're trying to make people forget what country is supposed to be like.

There are rare exceptions: I like a lot of Brad Paisley's stuff - he really seems to get how you should blend modern themes and instruments with the narrative style and tradition of country music. And it seems like if an artist has a string of four or five hits, one of them will be good country, or at least, good.

I don't think I'd really say I'm turned off to the genre, so much as that I feel like a Fiscally Conservative, Socially Liberal Republican does - my party has left me.

I guess I was just country when country wasn't cool.

I use to listen to country.I agree with what you said about it.

I do still listen to George Strait if he comes on but that is it.

 

[barnaclelapse]

I like that this has sort of turned into an R.E.M. thread.