Who have you warmed up to after either being unimpressed with, or straight up disliking at first?

My list ...

Robin Trower ... I got a copy of his no longer available live recording "Beyond the Mist" on casette. I picked it up years ago to see what the buzz was about. It didn't do much for me, but I didn't play guitar at the time, just keys.

Fast forward years later, I read on a web site that one of the best recordings of Bridge of Sighs is on that album so I go dig it out. HOLY CRAP ! THIS GUY ROCKS ! We'll chalk it up to musical maturity.

Phil Keaggy ... His recordings never grabbed me at all. I saw him live and it was literally life changing. He did things on a guitar that are just plain unfair.

Duane Allman ... One day, all of a sudden I was suddenly groovin' to the best slide player ever. Play Duane, play !

George Harrison ... Who didn't like the Beatles? But George was just a rhythm player to me until I realized that I really am an idiot. His guitar lines really were like vocal lines. Perfect.

Crosby, Stills & Nash.

Never was my kind of music whatsoever, but lately when I hear the hits on the radio, the tunes bring about good feeling for how cool music was back in the 70's.....so much so, this week I'm picking up a couple of their cds....Deja Vu, and the new Greatest Hits one.

quote:

Originally posted by JoelEric26:
Phil Keaggy ... His recordings never grabbed me at all. I saw him live and it was literally life changing. He did things on a guitar that are just plain unfair.

Phil is an absolute monster that I never listened to for years simply because he plays Christian music, stupid me. Some of his music doesn't do a whole lot for me, but his playing is always fantastic. I got the "Glass Harp Live" CD from the early '70s - oh my gosh!!! That guy was doing things on a Les Paul that should be illegal! Again, the music is kind of mediocre, but Phil could have walked on stage with any rock guitarist of the time and more than held his own, and blown 99% of them away.

Clapton--I know, everyone here hates him and I didn't see the big deal until "24 Nites" came out--that rocks!

Jimmy Page--I thought Zep was alot of hot air when I was younger, but he and the band are growing alot more on me lately (Pageitus?? ), I use to just think he was a great songwriter/arranger, but the new Zep DVD showed that he can play and his tone on that was pretty killer. Of course, that was a few moons ago...

I've gotten more respect for songwriters in general. I still love the whole guitar god thang, but it's so easy sometimes to forget that the vast majority of the world's population doesn't play guitar, let alone could care less what kinda tubes are in my amp.

I've been steadily beating this notion into my head for the last 2-3 years and I think it's actually paying off. I feel that in my current band, we approach each song as an "individual piece." We are not always consistent, but it's getting there. It's so much easier on the listener as well...just my .02

Page and Vai...I knew that they were doing things I couldn't do and were hearing things differently than I hear them but it wasn't until about the last year (while taking an unscheduled hiatus from the guitar) that I started to listen more. Suddenly it became more than fretboard acrobatics and strings upon strings of obscure notes. I can't say that I've become a huge fan but I definately have come to more appreciate the music as much as the guitarists ability to play the music.

Queensryche - couldn't get past the opera-esque lead vocals for a long time.

BB King - I bought a "best of" album back in about 1987 and with the exception of a couple of songs, I didn't like it at all. And, although he is one of my all time favorite emissaries of music, I wrote him off for a long, long, time because of the poor song selection on that album. I'm happy to say I now own about 4 BB CDs and love them all.

Cinderella - another "I can't stand the vocalist" thing. Once I was able to adjust to the lead singer's constant "Edith Bunker" impression, I quite liked their stuff. Heartbreak Station in particular was an excellent "big hair" album.

U2 - I think mainly because they came out of the "New Wave" period, I didn't really give them a listen until the early 90's. Now "Joshua Tree" and "Achtung Baby" are two of my more prized CDs.

V

The Ramones. I was working at a record store when their first album came out. I was in high school, and I was a prog n' jazz snob. I didn't even like chords with only three notes in them, much less songs containing only three chords!

I'd read about how this band was going to revive the rotting carcass of rock n roll, so when it came in, I pulled "Tales from Topographic Oceans" off the store turntable and put it on.

I couldn't stop laughing (derisively) for half an hour. I thought it was the stupidest, most horrible thing I'd ever heard. I couldn't believe that someone had given these boneheads a record deal. When people would buy the album, I'd smirk and say stuff like, "hey, this'll be a great album to listen to while you practice your Nobel Prize acceptance speech!"

But after I got into college, my tastes began to widen (I was even finally able to accept and enjoy the dreaded southern rock), and I started to see their charm.

Now, compared to all the corporate punk posers out there, the Ramones are like a breath of fresh air.

The first time I hear a Dream Theater album I almost throw the cd in the window. That piercing vocal almost mad me cry. The second time I listen to then I give more attention to the guitar player and I realize that John Petrucci is one big monster besides that over processed guitar tone. He has the chops from hell but his tone is very plastic.

Elvis Costello - when I heard this guy in my younger days I thought the vocals were whiney and the songs were bubble gum pop. Suddenly "Allison" came on the radio and I "got it".

Elton John - I've grown to appreciate him. He's come out with some sappy material and worked with Disney but overall he's an very important songwriter of the 70s.

The Flaming Lips - At first glance a one hit wonder. I discovered "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots" because of it's critical success and it became a personal favourite. I went back into the catalogue and found out that I love how they think.

Devo - Almost a concept band based around the DEVOlution of the common people in north american society. The sound is quirky and needs to be thought of less seriously to be appreciated. Somehow it reminds me of the Dada art movement.

quote:

Originally posted by mongoose_eyeball:
The Ramones. Now, compared to all the corporate punk posers out there, the Ramones are like a breath of fresh air.

1234!


hey, ho! let's go!

The Cars. I never hated them but was never a huge fan, but I have listened to them over the years. Not too long ago I filled in for my old band and did a Cars tune. I then started paying a little more attention to Elliot Eastons guitar work. He does some pretty unique and cool stuff.

Agreed Elliot Easton is very underrated and overlooked.

At the risk of hijacking this thread...are there guitarists out there that when you first heard them, thought they were were great, only to slide into the "are you kidding me" column. Personally, Alex Lifeson comes to mind.