What music do you NOT like? May we suggest you try______?

[ThunderHorse]

I'm not usually picky when it comes to music. HOWEVER, I simply cannot tolerate rap.

[Snowshoe]

For one, I have an aversion to a lot of metal, especially the more recent stuff I've heard. Anything where the vocals are screeched or growled or just buried under so much noise to the point its just painful and loud... I guess I've been pointed to some stuff that was okay, and I do like classic hard rock and some of the earlier metal bands, but just somewhere along the way most of it became just kinda hard for me to listen to.

Try keeping away from death metal and the like. You mentioned earlier metal bands, so that's awesome. Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, Motorhead (my personal favourite). Our tastes are mostly similar though xD I haven't found much good modern metal yet.

For more modern stuff, I recommend the following:

Kamelot. They do symphonic metal, and while a few of their songs do have a black metal singer growling out some lyrics, the main body of the work, the singer keeps the singing rather clear and easy to understand. Check out March of Mephisto, it shows off what I mean.

Like Led Zeppelin or Dragonforce with their sometimes fantasy-themed lyrics? Like Trans-Siberian Orchestra? Check out Savatage, an 80s metal band made up of the early members of TSO. Hall of the Mountain King.

Coming to more modern stuff, there's Disturbed. Sometimes their singer gets a little growly, sometimes the music gets noisy, but then you get things like their absolutely stellar cover of Genesis' Land of Confusion. Content warning: some of their songs can get rather intense. I highly recommend listening only to the Canadian Radio Edit version of Down with the Sickness, which has a relatively disturbing screamed section toward the end, which most radio edits, especially the Canadian one, gets rid of entirely.

These next too fall more into the hard rock category over the metal category, but I'd say they straddle the line a bit. I highly recommend Halestorm, a female-led hard rock/alt metal band. Check out their cover of Lady Gaga's Bad Romance. Content warning: a good number of their songs deal with..."adult" situations, and while the language is usually tame, if you don't like songs about "romance", keep away.

And finally, Shinedown. Their library changes up rather often. On one hand you have some great hard rock like Sound of Madness (no link due to mild language) and Devour, but then you also get things like Unity, an amazingly upbeat and awesome song.

Enjoy the rock, my friend. If you have a good hard rock station in your area, I'd recommend listening to it once in a while. Or if you're bored, Buffalo, NY has a great alt-rock/metal station called 103.3 The Edge. You can check their stream here if ever you get bored online.

[brianblackberry]

Are there any particular genres you just don't like...or THINK you don't like?

Tell is about it, and one of the friendly folks at Canterlot will post something that just might change your mind!

I for example am not a huge fan of Electroclash. Care to change my perception?

[colour=#ff0000]Note: this it to broaden your horizons, not trash other people's taste in music. Keep it civil, folks! I'll have one of the mods lock it the second it gets out of hand Don't make me pull this car over![/colour]

Two musical genres I don't care for is Country (or Country/Western) and Gangsta Rap. I would love to see some videos from these genres that would give me a reason to give either more of a look.

[Snowshoe]

Two musical genres I don't care for is Country (or Country/Western) and Gangsta Rap. I would love to see some videos from these genres that would give me a reason to give either more of a look.

Peruse the thread and check out Flutterscotch's suggestions. Bro's got a great taste in country xD

[flutterscotch]

Maybe I can give you an narrower target:

I liked "country roads" by John Denver

Oh see, when you said modern, I went with "within the last 10 years". John Denver is not EXACTLY country either, it's technically folk, although that song is more towards country. It actually sounds like you'd probably like a bunch of 70s stuff in that folk/rock/country triangle of life. It's not quite like Country Roads John Denver, but

and

come to mind. And if you've never heard him, Townes Van Zandt. For sure. In the 90s he covered the Rolling Stones' Dead Flowers and it is AMAZING (as is most of his work)

As for modern stuff sounding like that particular John Denver song, I haven't really heard anything. I know he influenced a bunch of indie folk bands, though.

Christmas music covers. They're everywhere and unavoidable this time of year.

This is one I definitely can't help you with.

For one, I have an aversion to a lot of metal, especially the more recent stuff I've heard. Anything where the vocals are screeched or growled or just buried under so much noise to the point its just painful and loud... I guess I've been pointed to some stuff that was okay, and I do like classic hard rock and some of the earlier metal bands, but just somewhere along the way most of it became just kinda hard for me to listen to.

I am a big fan of the NWOBHM genre, and its predecessors, and I do prefer things that pull from that pool without the "hair metal" or "industrial metal" influences. Bands influenced by a combination of Sabbath/Zeppelin (the very coinage of the Heavy Metal moniker) + 70s Glam rock is kind of the magic dial for me, no matter when they released. I think Pantera is the cut off for me, that route metal took is just not my thing.

If you DO like the older stuff, I ADORE Blue Cheer and this super obscure Massachusetts hard psych protometal band

.

These are two recent-ish bands that stick closer to its roots. Basically influenced heavily by Black Sabbath

Black Mountain

(official youtube channel run by the band)

Caustic Resin (who are actually kind of weirdly connected to the band Built to Spill.) They might be a bit too drony and acid-rock-y, but I thought I'd throw them in.

(link from Alias Records' RealMeaid stream. Good Luck!: http://www.aliasrecords.com/audio/craudio/niacin.rm

Iron Maiden's Wicker Man is 12 years old, but is a pretty good indicator of their current output. it's one of my favorite songs by them, and I've been a fan a LOOOOONG time.What I consider the perfect gateway to Iron Maiden for non-metal fans, though, is

(links to video uploaded by emimusic) (bonus points for the band looking like they love what they do and completely dorky in the video) Or like the first two Def Leppard albums which are basically them sounding like Iron Maiden lite.

There's another band, Boris, that I am starting to listen to, but I haven't decided how I feel about them. My husband likes them a lot though.

And I will ALWAYS endorse the Darkness and (old) David Lee Roth era Van Halen. They're dumb, but they're funny.

Brian, my knowledge of Gangsta is totally nil, but I am going to point out the Star Wars Gangsta Rap just because it hits some of the tropes and is funny.

For country I am going to recommend to you: Flowers on the Wall by the Statler Brothers and Del Reeves' Girl on the Billboard. I think you will get a giggle out of both of them, especially the Del Reeves one. It's saucy!

[Parker_Izing]

Uhm, there's Rap, or how I call it : " The hatchling of a "Culture" about lacking culture" songs about murder or beating women aren't my thing.

Latino music deserves extra Wammie, because it's just Rap + SpanGrish also I seem to grow a special hate towards music composed for phone's ringtone sake due the idiotic AD's those 'services' have.

[weesh]

(googling the difference between folk and country)

Ok I still don't get the difference, but it seems that the country songs that I like are indeed actually folk. I assumed that if they had a drawl, it counted as country. Further complicating my tentative understanding, that Zandt guy is described by wikipedia as a "country-folk" singer! He is pretty mellow too, and I like what I have heard so far.

And yes, America is a fine band that was part of my home's rotation of CDs. That PPL song also brings back fond memories. Thanks for that. I would never have been able to tell you the name of the band that wrote "Amie".

Christmas music covers. They're everywhere and unavoidable this time of year.

Unavoidable? Yuck. I start listening to Christmas music on about the 23rd or 24th of December. But the last four cities that I lived in had "Sacrificial" Christmas stations. That is, there was a single station that started playing it on Thanksgiving, and all the rest played their normal line ups. So you could easily get it or avoid it. As far as as helping you to appreciate the genre thought...that is hard but not impossible:

Miss Piggy is in rare form, especially as the song progresses : )

[flutterscotch]

I'm not usually picky when it comes to music. HOWEVER, I simply cannot tolerate rap.

Some of these responses might apply to you as well, after the embedded video.

Uhm, there's Rap, or how I call it : " The hatchling of a "Culture" about lacking culture" songs about murder or beating women aren't my thing.

Not touching the Latino music one because that encompasses such a wide variety of styles and genres that I can't even begin, and don't really have a good handle on to do so.

In regards to your view on Rap, you seem to be focused on only one subset of it. A LOT of it is not like that. Especially before the early 90s, a lot of it is about things like positive partying, social empowerment, or even really deep issues presented really cleverly (check bands I mentioned like De La Soul, Arrested Development and even the Roots) There are very specific social and economical reasons that the genre evolved as it did, and it DEFINITELY had its own very rich and historied culture. And then kids in the suburbs kept buying that one subset of lifestyles being sold through song that you are talking about, and that's why it's popular.

I am going to let KRS-ONE tell you all about that though, because he knows more about it than I do.

This is possibly not safe for work, but it is a lecture at Temple University, so NSFW might be one or two questionable words, and a frank talk about how damaging drugs were to certain time periods of time, nothing more than an on-regular TV anti-drug PSA would say though.

(uploaded by the guy who filmed it, it's newly to Youtube, but other Hip-Hop blogs have been citing him for years as being the source of this film)

You should definitely try to steer towards things that self-label as Hip-Hop and less as Rap if you want to explore the genres. They do have a somewhat fluid barrier between the two. And if you do go for rap, go for Alternative rap. I can really really not recommend De La Soul and Black Star enough to people who say they hate the entire genres of Rap and Hip-Hop. Not to mention Mos Def gets loads of nerd points for being Ford Prefect, in addition to being a very very clever part of Black Star.

Hopefully Allura will pop in here and add, I know he's a big fan of the genre and knows way more about it than I do.

That PPL song also brings back fond memories. Thanks for that. I would never have been able to tell you the name of the band that wrote "Amie".

Funny story. My name was supposed to be Ian, no girl name picked out at all because my mum was FIRMLY convinced I was a boy. On the way to the hospital, this song played on the radio, so when I popped out, that song was the last thing on my parents' mind. Spelled Aimee though.

[The-Jaded-Bug]

As someone whose range of music is a leeeeetle bit varied with perhaps a few shining trends (I like a lot of folk rock/folk in general, soul/neo-soul, synth music - yes, even some dubstep, (can tolerate some) modern pop, a whole bunch of music from the early 50s and back...), I'm having a hard time deciding. Also Scotchie, LOVE the links you've put up for alt. country music. Admittedly, I don't quite like as many modern country song (okay, so maybe you could find some more of those that are good, but eh), but I'll have to say that music from said genre back then is a little different than that of today's (on a good way).

Though to list some modern country artists/bands that I've found/like IMO: Lady Antebellum, Christina Lambert, Crystal Bowersox (yes, the one American Idol contestent with the sister-locks), Darius Rucker, and Little Big Town. Does anyone else have a few more to add to the list?

...as for anything else? I'll just lurk back into the shadows, waiting for someone to point out much they loathe choral music. I'll make sure to spam them constantly with as much Eric Whitarce as possible show them a few beautifully arranged songs by Eric Whitacre, along with some other interesting choral stuff. :3

[Apolline Allura]

Uhm, there's Rap, or how I call it : " The hatchling of a "Culture" about lacking culture" songs about murder or beating women aren't my thing.

Latino music deserves extra Wammie, because it's just Rap + SpanGrish also I seem to grow a special hate towards music composed for phone's ringtone sake due the idiotic AD's those 'services' have.

Though flutterscotch seems to have handled most of the points I'd present quite well, I cannot stress enough that this music, be it referenced as hip-hop or rap; it represents a movement. When you say culture lacking culture, you more or less are getting at a way that an entire race communicates with itself. In hip-hop, there are many different backgrounds and places and people being represented. If you'd like to condemn the genre, you could do so by labeling gangster rap, which is the subset of the music of which you speak.

And even then, the subgenre of gangster rap is very insightful, considering the impacts that artists like Ice Cube or Public Enemy or Mos Def had on the music industry as a whole.

The songs containing the language and/or subject matter that you so despise are really only reflections of the conditions in those areas where they came from. What's more, other genres aren't without their songs with such things. Metal, Rock, Alternative--plenty of different genres include these things, and yet they aren't the center of them. Likewise, murder and misogyny aren't the center of hip-hop. That's simply a fault of your lack of exposure.

And that's okay; I sure as heck didn't get down with metal until I heard System of A Down, and then other genres in rock like psychobilly.

I leave you with two great songs, between the times, so that our argument doesn't specifically last in the 90's (the golden era of hip-hop, in my opinion).

One from now.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WrhHH3_t218 And one from way back when. :3

[PIJIN]

The only type of Christmas music I've heard are the oldies, from way back when. Its actually good once you listen to it for about the 80th time in one day!

I'm generally into all kinds of music or any language. Although, I'm stuck between whether I look for a good beat/instrumentals or vocals and meaning within the song. All the music here is really good, although since I have musical A.D.D. I'm partial to the Muppet's Christmas Song at the moment XD

I'll leave you all with this, some of what I think are the greatest instrumentals ever.

Some of the greatest piano I've ever heard. Its very fast paced which I love in music, yet with a "classical" groove to it. Vocals are cute, yet I really don't listen to it for that. It gets me hype, its like unexpected fight music which some people think to be grungy, metal-esque music, but I think this tops that. There are endless covers and redoes of this song, which is why I think its simply an awesome song.

[starswirlthebearded]

I'm not a fan of Christmas music covers either... But there are a few that are worth while imho... Warning these will be highly biased, and two are instrumentals by two of my favorite guitarists... And the third is just two of my favorite vocalists in one songs. And such an odd combination at that. (though the original vocalist is in the duet)

(Media removed pending search for legal means of sharing)

(Media removed pending search for legal means of sharing)

I also have a whole album of christmas jazz covers that is just lovely!

[WhiteSlash]

Did I hear Christmas!? XD

Ta da! For music I don't like, I honestly don't know. I guess pop?

[flutterscotch]

Ta da! For music I don't like, I honestly don't know. I guess pop?

Gonna have to be a little more specific than that. Pop is a very VERY broad genre.

[weesh]

(drummer boy)

Ah, I love drummer boy. Some acquaintances of mine had a band that performed this as an excuse to do 2 minute long drum solos. The dude was amazing. I ended up seeing him do several more performances, and it turns out he was improvising, because they were all very different. They still send shivers down my spine thinking about them. Blasting out high quality audio candy fits the theme of the song so well.

[WhiteSlash]

Gonna have to be a little more specific than that. Pop is a very VERY broad genre.

It's hard to say, just the general stuff in the charts right now to be honest. If I could be more specific I would :L I'll think on it!

[weesh]

It's hard to say, just the general stuff in the charts right now to be honest. If I could be more specific I would :L I'll think on it!

Guys like "Adele" and "Mumford and Sons" break into the pop charts with high quality unique work.

[TemplarFrost]

I also don't really resonate with most types of dance music. Most of it is just repetitive, frequently annoying and just not very interesting to listen to. There are exceptions of course, but just generally speaking, most of it puts me off. This is especially true of all the electronically driven types of it today; I don't get this dubstep thing like at all. It's probably actually the often vapid dance-pop of the genre I find the most listenable.

You don't get Dubstep, do you?

Well... see what mood best fits you the most.

Funky?

Sad?

Far out?

[Dunes]

Two musical genres I don't care for is Country (or Country/Western) and Gangsta Rap. I would love to see some videos from these genres that would give me a reason to give either more of a look.

I used to be unable to stand rap at all. All I ever heard or saw was incredibly degrading. Even as a lady fond of other ladies, the booty-shaking videos made me really uncomfortable.

But I wanted to like rap, because I liked the idea of flowing wordplay and all that. There's a lot of really, unfathomably stupid rap out there, but I've recently been coming across some artists who seem to have more depth to them.

That said, I've only been dabbling in the genre for maybe a month. I'm pretty sure these don't count as gangsta rap, just regular rap, since violent themes and rivalry seems to be an integral part of the 'gangsta' bit. But you're not the only person who's said rap so far, so! Clueless white chick here, forgive my misclassification.

Lupe Fiasco has been really impressing me so far.

does have some NSFW language in it (and apologies if it's out of bounds to even link to it - if so and it needs to be unlinked, the video is Around My Way by Lupe Fiasco).

I've read Kid Cudi described as "alternative hip hop" and I don't know if that's a thing. This seems less straight-up rap (maybe?), but I love it anyway.

I'm sure I'm probably too clueless to come in with any suggestions about rap, though. If anyone else knows of some good rap music they'd like to share I am all ears!

EDIT: While I'm at it, opera. I have heard exactly one opera aria that I like at all, and every time I hear the real version I think, "That was better when the blue chick in Fifth Element sang it." Is there opera that doesn't sound like someone's attacking your eardrums with a chicken?

[RarityDash]

Thanks for the replies to mine. Let's see...

@Sturmmann - None of these really connecting with me, at least not from the links provided. The two covers linked aren't bad, but I don't see how either really improves on the original song. Thanks for the suggestions though.

@Futterscotch - your music tastes continue to impress, Scotchie! I'd say most of the stuff you mentioned or linked was pretty cool. Never really paid much attention to Iron Maiden past their 80's output. Definitely gonna look at more Black Mountain too; they sound pretty cool. Thanks!

@TemplarFrost - listened to all of them; still not really getting it. It's just a lot of bleeping computerized sound effects and random noise. If there are lyrics, they're drowned out in noise and indistinct. Granted, its not terrible to listen to, as much of the metal I have problems with is, it just doesn't really do anything to connect with me. Thanks all the same.

[Inkwell]

Wow, there sure is a ton of music being bandied about here. I don't really know that much about music, despite my efforts to broaden my horizons. I don't recognize chords and notes, and I have no idea how to tell a good singer from a bad one. I just happen to find certain music more powerful than others, mostly only thinking of the lyrics and the sentiment behind various songs.

As for genres that I normally don't care for, I'm gonna notch another point for country and metal. Rap used to be one of these, but ever since I started watching Todd in the Shadows (who you should definitely check out), I started thinking that the genre had more to it than the thug life cliches other posters have talked about here.

It always bothers me now when people say that rap has no substance to it, so I'm always on the lookout for any rap songs that have depth and such. I'm gonna post whichever ones I can name off the top of my head here:

CONTINUED BELOW

[Inkwell]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1BSVjGu27A

I can't actually find a good Youtube video of the studio version of this song, so it's up to you to look it up elsewhere, like on Spotify or something.

I know there's more of this kind of rap out there (like with Lupe Fiasco, who I've heard good things about but haven't had the chance to listen to), and I did say I'm not a music expert and the like.

Oh, and there is one metal song I really like. See if you've ever heard anything like this:

[Dunes]

As for genres that I normally don't care for, I'm gonna notch another point for country and metal. Rap used to be one of these, but ever since I started watching Todd in the Shadows (who you should definitely check out), I started thinking that the genre had more to it than the thug life cliches other posters have talked about here.

I LOVE TODD IN THE SHADOWS. Aaa! My brothers and I will crowd around a computer and watch Todd and Nostalgia Chick and it's one of the ways we all bond (besides ponies). He's the reason I know even half of what I do about pop music.

I've been checking out Rap Critic's stuff too, hoping to find some more substantive rap music. He's been pretty cool so far, too!

[RarityDash]

I LOVE TODD IN THE SHADOWS. Aaa! My brothers and I will crowd around a computer and watch Todd and Nostalgia Chick and it's one of the ways we all bond (besides ponies). He's the reason I know even half of what I do about pop music.

I've been checking out Rap Critic's stuff too, hoping to find some more substantive rap music. He's been pretty cool so far, too!

Heh. I'm a big fan of Todd's stuff too. His reviews kinda got me to give a lot of pop music a second look (even though they are almost always negative... ). He's also pretty funny. Of all the internet video review people I've seen, I find him to be one of the most consistently enjoyable to watch.

[kamerad]

I think the only thing I categorically don't like (and I listen to crazy weird stuff) is probably speedcore.

It just sounds like noise to me.

For anyone who's not a fan of rap or hip-hop, I suggest they look up instrumental hip-hop or some jazz-hip-hop fusions.

And as for country, may I suggest steering clear of contemporary country rock (or songs about running over a dog in the rain while having wife issues) and looking for folk songs (Show of Hands omg) or old-timey country?

Also, Korkiplaani is one band in a very neat genre called Scandinavian power metal (really just power metal, but Scandinavians have their own way of doing it so yeah--music spergpurists come at me bro). Sabaton is another example, and so is Nightwish, and Finntroll sort of comes in, though they're less "power"y and heavier. Or getting into much heavier stuff, check out Lordi. Lordi is nuts.

Or hey, while I'm rabbit-trailing, check out industrial bands. Rammstein is kinda the prime example.