Is there a musical act you hated as a teen....and like now?

I don't mind country music now, but I hated it back when I was a teenager.

That said, the country music I hated then, I still hate now, but today's country music is much better.

My favorite bands as a teenager were: Zeppelin, Rush, Pink Floyd, Metallica, Guns N Roses, U2, Springsteen, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Alice in Chains, AC/DC, Beatles and that's mostly what I listen to today.

 

A couple of trips to Nashville and the influence of an old-school country loving friend really opened my ears to guys like Johnny Cash and others. I am also really into a lot of alt-country acts like the Old 97's, the Jayhawks and Canuckistani's awesome Blue Rodeo.

 

I always liked Johnny Cash. I just didn't like Garth Brooks and Billy Ray Cyrus and those were the two biggest country acts when I was a teenager.

I think, not counting Johnny Cash, the first country act I liked enough to buy the CD was Tim McGraw.

 

I hated Johnny Cash as a teenager -- basically I thought he was a novelty/joke artist, kind of a slightly-more-serious Ray Stevens.

Consdering the big song that really broke him on pop radio was "A Boy Named Sue," not too surprising. Then a few years later he followed up with "One Piece At A Time" and basically I just though he was a joke-song peddler.

I had heard "Ring of Fire" and "Jackson" of course but I figured those were just fillers thrown in among all the goofy stuff. Then for a while in the 70s and 80s he did indeed veer deep into self-parody. The teevee show I basically considered another version of "Hee Haw."

When some of the "giants" like Bruce, Dylan and U2 started citing him as a fundamental influence, I started to dig into him a little more. Then came the mid-90s Rick Rubin series, and holy god. I went back and checked out some of his early rockabilly stuff, and more and more I really started to "get it." I'm not a completist or collector or anything, but I did a good bit of catching up.

And "Hurt" is probably the best music video ever made.

 

I would virtually have a seizure growing up if I heard any bluegrass. I associated it with my hick hometown I was dying to escape and every bad mountain stereotype imaginable. Now when I get homesick, that's my go-to.

 

Cash first crossover hit was 'I Walk the Line' in 1957.
I grew up in the 70s and 80s, and didn't start digging Cash until I was in college.

 

Funny thing about Cash:

While I was growing up in the 70s and 80s in Nashville, Cash & George Jones (and to a lesser extent, Waylon) had a decidedly un-hip vibe. And by un-hip, I mean "could be opening acts for Lawrence Welk." I never would have thought any of them would ever be considered cool.

 

Growing up in the late 60s and early 70s it was Frank Sinatra. Here was this "old" singer (Now I'm older than Sinatra was at the time) who was one of these guys liked by old people who didn't like rock and roll. Also, he did some songs which were kind of goofy - like when he would do songs like "Bad, Bad Leroy Brown by Jim Croce.

As I got older, I listened to some his stuff from the 1950s and some of the better stuff after that. I remember reading Downbeat in the 70s and seeing he was a top jazz singer. I never thought about that, but he really is a jazz singer on his best records.

Another guy I never appreciated until I was older was Tony Bennett. His son did a great job of managing him during the 1980s and beyond. A couple years ago, I went to the Hollywood Bowl for a concert because we had my wife's sister as a baby sitter and that was the only concert that I could really find. He was incredible and I just felt so positive coming out of the concert. If you find yourself a little down and depressed, put on some Tony Bennett music on.

 

Outing alert: Mizzou is Joe Dirt.

 

Yup. I hated the music my parents liked 15 years ago. Now we plug my iPod into the car when I'm home because I have the better music collection. I was born in 1985 and I daresay I have more music on it from before I was born than afterward. I remember going to the library when I was a freshman in college and checking out the Queen Greatest Hits CD. Now Queen is easily my favorite band -- I have almost their entire discography, plus a few live albums.

I've always been a huge fan of Motown and Sinatra and the Rat Pack. Before I went to college, my musical tastes were almost entirely country (from virtue of growing up in a house where my mom controlled the radio and she didn't go much for Dad's classic rock. Now, I'll put my iPod on and whenever a song that she should know comes on, we'll make her guess until she can at least name the artist.) but they've definitely diversified into the classic rock genre since.

 

I want to add Cream to this list. I listened to Crossroads on the way to work this morning. It was the on-drugs version, not the sober version, and that song, along with Tales of Brave Ulysses, are so much better than anything GnR has ever recorded, [/crossthread]

 

Hey, it's not like I said Kid Rock and Limp Bizkit.