I suppose this kind of thread could be considered "mean-spirited," but I see a real value in it. Too often, performers get their popularity through "hype." We get dragged along with the crowd, and end up surrounded with stuff that we really don't like - or at least that we don't like as much as some people think we should like it.

I think it's good for us to be honest with ourselves every once in a while, and assess what it is that we do and don't like.

As for me, I've worked really hard to appreciate Richard Thompson, but I just can't bring myself to like him. Same with the singing of Richard Dyer-Bennet, although I appreciate his scholarship. And John Jacob Niles sang just like Dyer-Bennet, and was infamous for faulty scholarship (but I still like some of his songs). And I really like most of the recordings of the Limeliters, but Lou Gottlieb and Glen Yarbrough both made me feel creepy. Gottlieb's humor was weird, and Yarbrough's solo singing was affected and shallow. Maybe I'm just hard on tenors, since I dislike the singing of Dyer-Bennet, Niles, and Yarbrough.

Oh, and I like many Dylan recordings, but the one Dylan concert I saw was an absolute rip-off. It was obvious he didn't care about us as an audience at all. I can't understand how he could charge full price for a 45-minute set. I had the same experience in a Bob Hope performance, by the way.

-Joe-