Musical Confessions
My Unpopular Opinions
Yeah, now that I’ve included this Usher meme, what do you think is stuck in my head? Nope, not Usher. It’s actually a “Weird Al” Yankovic parody, Confessions Pt 3. I may have to include the video at the end just for fun. And no, this isn’t an Earworms Challenge, but I’ll probably do one in a day or two. Be on the lookout!
I’ve always been somewhat of a Music Snob, and that’s taken several forms over the years, since while my tastes are all over the place, they’re pretty specific. If I don’t like something, I really don’t like it. And when we mature as human beings, learning important life lessons and such, sometimes our tastes evolve right along with us. Even so, I still hold some rather Unpopular Opinions, and I’m confident enough to share them unapologetically. Besides those, I’m including a few random bits of interesting trivia. So here we go with Kristen’s Musical Confessions!
I don’t really like rap much at all, but there are a handful of rap songs I could karaoke like a beast (and maybe I should). For example, 11-year-old Kristen knew almost all the words to Baby Got Back. As an adult, I heard the song again for the first time in many years and absolutely could not believe what I had been rapping along to as a child, because by then I understood what the lyrics actually meant! I mean we all already knew it’s about how he likes big butts (and he cannot lie), but still, I had a Surprised Pikachu Face, for sure. I could also probably do Ice Ice Baby (I’ve heard it done several times and always thought I could do better) and Gangsta’s Paradise. There’s actually a 10-year-old boy at karaoke that’s started doing Gangsta’s Paradise recently, and I can’t tell you how happy that makes me. It’s adorable. As it should be.
I’ve never liked Gotye’s Somebody That I Used to Know. When it came out, everybody seemed to love it right away, and I just didn’t get the appeal (still don’t). I think an appropriate alternate title would be Guy Gets Upset Over Normal Breakup Behavior. Quit whining, dude. I do actually know most of the words cos it was inescapable when it was new, and it’s still everywhere. It is definitely catchy and gets stuck in your head, so that much I do get. Anyway, I couldn’t find a meme that wasn’t lame, so I made one. It’s still probably lame, but I’m ok with that.
There are multiple bands/artists that everybody loves, that I absolutely can’t stand. Most notably: Fleetwood Mac. I cannot, cannot stand them. What??? You hate Fleetwood Mac??? Yes, yes I do. There’s a song or two that I like ok, but for the most part I find them utterly boring and completely beyond overrated. And I for real think Stevie Nicks’ voice is kinda mediocre at best. You might wanna fight me, I don’t care. I said it, I stand by it. There’s a chick at karaoke that does a lot of Fleetwood, and she has a great voice, so I don’t mind so much when she sings their tunes. She does a much better job than they did. But yeah, I hate them.
Who else do I hate? Most (but not all) of these came from my parents making me listen to them when I was little and I didn’t like it then, still don’t. (Don’t get me wrong, I love a lot of the music my folks introduced me to, and a few of the ones I initially hated, like Chicago and ELO, I eventually got over that hatred.) Anyway the first is ZZ Top: my mom loved them, I couldn’t stand. I haven’t changed my mind. Hall & Oates: my parents loved them, but even as a 6-year-old, to me they sounded like has-beens who were desperately trying to sound like they were still cool. Thumbs down. Of Monsters and Men: Not from my parents, I’ve just always found every single song of theirs to be unbearably annoying. Can’t explain it. Destiny’s Child/Beyonce: Also not from my parents, but aside from them just not being my style, my extreme dislike probably began with Say My Name, which is so idiotic that I swear it destroys my brain cells. Linda Ronstadt: This one is from my parents, my dad especially loves her. Honestly I think she’s overrated, and to me her voice is not only not that great, but the way she strains and screeches just does not sound pretty. No thanks.
I’m late to the party a lot, especially with material that is really popular. In fact, really popular things tend to turn me off. I can remember multiple times as a teenager, I’d get a new cd, fall in love with a song on it that I’d never heard before, and then like two weeks later that song would start playing on the radio. That would kill my love for it, because once everybody else knew a song, it wasn’t special anymore. A good example of this is Alanis Morisette’s Ironic. Well anyway, that’s kind of the flip-side of this last confession. Some songs or artists, I am initially repelled by simply because everyone is super into them…but then something happens like a switch getting flipped in my brain, and suddenly I get it. A good example being Coldplay’s breakout hit Yellow. I found it boring at first, but everyone was crazy about it. Not sure what happened to make me suddenly change my mind, but I eventually got it, and actually, the whole Parachutes album became one of my favorite albums of all time. Similar story with Billie Eilish; I didn’t like her at first, it seemed like she was trying too hard at being weird just for the sake of being weird. And believe me, I highly respect weird. She just rubbed me the wrong way. But eventually I heard a song or two of hers that I absolutely loved (namely, Everything I Wanted and Lovely, her duet with Khalid). I gained a new appreciation for her style and her beautiful vocal range. Now I think she’s great.
I could probably come up with more Confessions, but I’ll quit while I’m ahead. As promised, here’s that Weird Al tune for you:
Well that’s all I’ve got, for now anyway. So what about you, what are your Musical Confessions? Got any Unpopular Opinions you’d like to share with the class? I’d love to hear about them in the comments!
And why not share this on socials, or more specifically with other Musical Snobs like myself who might also have some thoughts like these?
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