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OK so what's wrong with me?
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Subject: RE: OK so what's wrong with me? From: Lin in Kansas Date: 13 Aug 01 - 09:14 PM Jed, I'm a "born and bred" Texan, and sacrilegious or not, here's my opinion on Elvis: My older brothers took me to see "Love Me Tender" when it first came out, at the old Canadian movie theater. Elvis' character was killed in the movie. At the end, they showed a "ghost" of his face, full-screen. All around us, teenage girls were sobbing. My brothers and I looked at each other and with a single voice shouted: "Shoot him AGAIN!" Don't care for the Beatles, never did. DougR, your cowboy list almost matches mine, with the addition of Hank Williams and Hank Thompson. I was raised on country music, the only kind any of the radio stations in our area ever played. Well, there was KOMA in Oklahoma City, but we really didn't pay much attention to it, except when it turned up its power so far you couldn't HEAR anything else... And although it's really sticking my neck out, I've never been able to listen to Bob Dylan, although I adore some of his songwriting--done by almost anyone else. Lin |
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Subject: RE: OK so what's wrong with me? From: Firecat Date: 13 Aug 01 - 08:30 PM Sorcha, don't slag off Limp Bizkit! I love them. Fred Durst is absolutely GORGEOUS!!!!!!!!!! And Marilyn Manson's supposed to be weird! My favourite song of his is "Disposable Teens", even though "The Beautiful People" is great as well. Mind you, I can't comment on Nine Inch Nails, cos I've never heard any of their music. Hate Elvis, though. And Cliff "I'm too angelic for my own good" Richard! He makes me feel sick. Even George Michael slags HIM off! As to not liking the same bands as everybody else, a few years ago, there was a band called North And South. You may remember I've mentioned them before in "Favourite song" threads. Anyway, when I was at school, I was (still am, for that matter, even though they've split up now) a massive fan of them, and I mean MASSIVE!! I couldn't stop talking about them, never missed an episode of their TV show, was always singing their songs, had a picture of them inside my locker, all that sort of stuff. My mates really took the p*** out of me for that, but as far as I could see there was nothing wrong with it! I still get got at, even now, cos I like stuff like Hear'Say and Steps. I got teased when Take That were big as well, cos I HATED them. I didn't really get into pop until I was 13. Mind you, having said I hated Take That, I'm a really big Robbie fan now! I even got teased for liking folk music! Can you believe it?! While everyone else was singing stuff like "Back For Good" at parties, I was singing "She Moves Through The Fair" or "Lowlands", stuff like that. That's the sort of stuff I was brought up with!! Sure, I heard pop on the radio, but I never paid much attention to it! |
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Subject: RE: OK so what's wrong with me? From: Pinetop Slim Date: 13 Aug 01 - 05:46 PM What I don't get is why people get so excited talking about the things they don't like. |
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Subject: RE: OK so what's wrong with me? From: lady penelope Date: 13 Aug 01 - 03:47 PM Kendall, have you ever heard Cilla Black? Now how she ever got termed as a singer I shall never know, vile vile vile. Makes Barbara Streisand sound like a choir boy. Yech! TTFN M'Lady P. |
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Subject: RE: OK so what's wrong with me? From: GUEST,Mudweasel Date: 13 Aug 01 - 02:51 PM This whole thread reminds me of the Garnet Rogers song "Jesus and Elvis", which is really the closest I've ever gotten to appreciating mr. Presley. I do like the fact that the 4-chord sequence to "Blue Moon" segues rather humorously into several traditional folk-songs, and it's a good vocal warm-up. Though I am a die-hard folkie, my guiltier pleasures include 80's heavy metal, Jimmy Buffet, and the broadway musical "hair" And, in defense of my fellow canadian, Mr. L. Cohen, he's a brilliant, if depressing, songwriter who should jsut sit bakc and let others, with a vocal range more than a half-octave, cover his work. Jennifer Warnes did an entire album of cohen covers, and it was great, if a little bit poppy in places. My 2 cents. Cheers, -Mudweasel |
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Subject: RE: OK so what's wrong with me? From: Kim C Date: 13 Aug 01 - 02:50 PM I love Johnny Cash, and I love June's personality... but she is one of the WORST singers I think I have ever heard. |
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Subject: RE: OK so what's wrong with me? From: DougR Date: 13 Aug 01 - 02:31 PM Jed, when I saw your original message, I thought probably you and I would really be in the minority on this one. I was really surprised so many people agreed with us on Elvis and the Beatles. I also join you in your dislike of Streisand (and not just because of her songs). I was a teenager when Sinatra burst on the scene and the 14 year old girls (and some a bit older) reacted to him just as the 14 years olds did to Elvis. I never understood it. As far as Crooners go, I felt Sinatra didn't hold a candle to Como, Haymes, and Crosby. I listened mostly to country and big band music in my teen years. Eddy Arnold, Gene Autry, Bob Wills with Tommy Duncan and The Texas Playboys, Tex Williams, Spade Cooley, Jimmy Wakely, some of Ernest Tubbs stuff, Tex Ritter, and several others were my heros. Lady vocalists I liked were Jo Stafford, some of Dinah Shore's music, and Margaret Whiting. DougR |
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Subject: RE: OK so what's wrong with me? From: Peter T. Date: 13 Aug 01 - 11:06 AM A whole genre of music I have never been able to like is all that British late 60's, early 70's folk stuff, Pentangle, Fairport Convention, etc. I keep thinking someone will explain it to me one day in a way that will make me like it. I know I ought to like it, but zero. yours, Peter T. |
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Subject: RE: OK so what's wrong with me? From: Murray MacLeod Date: 13 Aug 01 - 10:43 AM Peg, your likes dislikes and guilty pleasures tally with mine almost exactly. Spooky. I even paid 60$ to see the Moody Blues a few months back ........ However, I am going to throw the cat among the pigeons here and say something totally heretical by saying that I cannot stand the sound of Dick Gaughan's voice. He is a sincere human being, his political convictions are right on and he is an amazing guitarist (when he chooses to show it) but I CANNOT listen to his singing. Unfortunately he has spawned a whole host of clenched-teeth imitators. Sad. Murray |
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Subject: RE: OK so what's wrong with me? From: Peg Date: 13 Aug 01 - 09:52 AM I don't get the cult-like popularity of: Ani diFranco (like her politics okay and she seems like a REAL nice human, but her voice and style of singing grates on me no end) Oasis (I know they admit they steal their sound from the Beatles, but could they at least do it well?) South Park (yeah it's cute and funy and subversive; but why do people feel the need to memorize all the dialogue?) Cats (the show, not the critters) ('nuff said, I hope) Survivor (who CARES about these wanna-be people in this highly-artificial situation???) Barbar Streisand (yes, an amazing voice; but 300 bucks a pop for concert tickets?) Ricky Martin (I just don't get it) My guilty musical pleasures include:
The Moody Blues
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Subject: RE: OK so what's wrong with me? From: JedMarum Date: 13 Aug 01 - 09:35 AM Ah Seamus - you're a wise and thoughtful man! Of course you are correct. I must admit there are a few things Elvis sang that I liked - and even my favorite artists had songs I didn't like!
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Subject: RE: OK so what's wrong with me? From: GUEST,Celtic Soul Date: 13 Aug 01 - 09:18 AM He had a much bigger R&B style before he made it big. He had to tone it down (make it a little more palatable to the white audience) in order to make it. So he did. What I have heard of his earlier work is quite good |
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Subject: RE: OK so what's wrong with me? From: BobP Date: 13 Aug 01 - 09:11 AM The thing so remarkable is that his explosion in 56' (and you really had to have been there to appreciate the simplicity of the times and the state of popular music) was so huge that he could coast for so long under the control of that goddam carnival sleaveball manager (who's efforts on EP's behalf oddly parallel what HH did for those who put their faith is him). I appreciate that this is an awful thing to say, (but it's a good way to understand the man and the phenomenon): If he had died in a tank accident in Germany (about '62?) his legacy on record and on the screen would have equalled Dean. But that didn't happen, so now he's remembered as a carnival act, what else? Just like most of HH's stable of beauties who thought they were going to have actual careers. Two of a kind - the Colonel and the Creep. Says me, Bob P
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Subject: RE: OK so what's wrong with me? From: kendall Date: 13 Aug 01 - 08:18 AM Edie Gorme' sounds like a cat fight thrown into a pig pen. Why are there Mel Torme records? I love Kate Wolf, Ann Mayo Muir, Caroline Paton, Kathy Barton, Cilla Fisher, Kate Breslin, and a few non pros whom you have never heard. When it comes to singers like Striesand,and Edie Gorme, I call that screeching on key. |
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Subject: RE: OK so what's wrong with me? From: John Hardly Date: 13 Aug 01 - 07:59 AM can't listen to a whole cd of Steve Earle. ditto Emmylou Harris. I love Sinatra's voice but also can't abide Judy Garland's (or Dinah Shore's either for that matter) with Earl and Harris though it's not the voice, it's the song selection. F'rinstance I love John Prine and Kate Wolf. Earl and Harris cds seem to be full of filler songs---you know, "well, we gotta put SOMETHING on here to fill the rest of the cd." |
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Subject: RE: OK so what's wrong with me? From: gnu Date: 13 Aug 01 - 05:53 AM I must be absolutely screwed up. I like em all. Don't get me wrong... I don't like every tune or antic, and I surely have a hard time liking any who use violence or really weird stuff, but essentially, I can find something to like about each of them. Then again, I'm a Hranner, so maybe it's got something to do with understanding tolerance... oppression ? |
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Subject: RE: OK so what's wrong with me? From: Seamus Kennedy Date: 13 Aug 01 - 03:02 AM Jed, of course there's something wrong with you. You have taste. I find that I like one or two songs from just about all of the above named performers, but not their entire oeuvre. I like Sinatra doing All The Way, for example. Elvis doing Gospel..and so forth. Each performer something worth listening to, Jed Marum singing Look Ahead Tommy, for instance. Seamus |
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Subject: RE: OK so what's wrong with me? From: Ebbie Date: 13 Aug 01 - 01:03 AM My notion is that the folks who went gaga over the Beatles were all 14 years old when they first heard them. I was older- and they lost me with their first five or so songs. Later, I'm sure they did some really great stuff- hey, can 40 million 14 year olds be wrong? I do like Yesterday, but I know nothing about anything else they performed. But I'm willing to agree that's my limitation. Elvis, ah, that's different. I'm just a year younger than he, so I 'knew' him from the start. I hated his movies - such bad acting- and I never went to his concerts when he came to town because I agree with Sorcha- I don't understand the need to scream over a performer. But I really liked his voice at the beginning, much the same way I liked Dean Martin's singing- both had that tender curl in the voice. We bought all his records and learned all his songs. Helen, I too loved the backstage thing he did sitting around with the group. I remember one very revealing moment. He had sung a bit of lead on a number and some girls in the back squealed. He shook his head and in true wonderment (He was no actor!) said, I'll never understand it. I'm just sorry his life ended up so badly. Ebbie |
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Subject: RE: OK so what's wrong with me? From: Mudlark Date: 13 Aug 01 - 12:29 AM I not only detest the sound of Sinatra's voice I can't stand Judy Garland either...could never, never understand the appeal.... On the other hand, I love Tom Waits and The Roche Sisters ("Please, Mr. Sellack, can I have my old job back...") yet can understand why some uninitiated can't stand 'em. I still like a lot of Beatle's stuff...listening to Emmylou sing "She No Longer Needs You" is a heartbreaker...and I liked their sense of humor...while Dylan's music, then and now, bores me blind. |
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Subject: RE: OK so what's wrong with me? From: Peter Kasin Date: 12 Aug 01 - 11:47 PM Nothing wrong with you Jed - it's all taste. I'm solidly in the pro Elvis (and Beatles) camp - the early rockabilly Elvis. -chanteyranger |
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Subject: RE: OK so what's wrong with me? From: Sorcha Date: 12 Aug 01 - 11:40 PM Uh Oh....kendall actually LIKES something......this is scary, no? I don't much appreciate either Sinatra or Streisand either, actually. I do like Mason Williams, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Arlo, and (hate to say it, but.......)PPM and the Kingston Trio.........ruined my rep there, didn't I?(grin) |
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Subject: RE: OK so what's wrong with me? From: kendall Date: 12 Aug 01 - 11:19 PM david, dont sugar coat it ok? I'm glad there is another Sinatra hater here, never could abide him. I've been accused of not liking anything, but, I'm going to stick my neck out and say, I LIKED Simon & Garfunkle. |
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Subject: RE: OK so what's wrong with me? From: JedMarum Date: 12 Aug 01 - 09:58 PM ... great to see all the fellow Mudcat "I just don't get it" lists! I must say I loved the Beatles music, still enjoy much of it, and even sing a couple now and then. When people talk about how wonderful Elvis was, I usually just keep my opinions to myself - otherwise I'd feel kinda like I was saying "hey, your baby's ugly!" ;-) My other non-favorite has got to be Barbra Streisand (hope I spelled that right). Great pipes, maybe - more of a gymnast then a ballerina - and singing ain't about how great the equipment is ... but, same thing here as with Elvis; I know I'm in the minority, so I keep my opinions to myself ... 'cept here, of course! |
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Subject: RE: OK so what's wrong with me? From: hesperis Date: 12 Aug 01 - 09:58 PM I like Elvis's voice. He also did some great stuff until he was sold to another record company, went downhill from there... before that he was just a guy with an awesome voice, having fun. After that, he became a commodity instead of a human being. Blech! I hate Sinatra's voice. No, I detest Sinatra's voice. I like some of the somgs, though, but not done with his voice! AAAAAIIIIIEEEEEEUUUUUUUUGGGGGGHHHHH! Aside from that, I like a lot of stuff, but I don't get hip-hop and a lot of trance. "Phat" bass and dark synth sounds jsust don't turn me on. Probably because most of it sounds really despairing. Even when they are singing lyrics about beautiful stuff, the music itself casts a very bleak atmosphere. |
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Subject: RE: OK so what's wrong with me? From: RangerSteve Date: 12 Aug 01 - 08:55 PM Elvis was great in the beginning. The Beatles, in my opinion had alternating good and bad days. It happens to a lot of people. Even Buddy Holly seemed to be getting wimpy during the later part of his career. Jed - there's nothing wrong with you. I grew up in the same town as Billy Joel, even had the same 10th grade math class. I'm one of the few people from my home town that doesn't idolize him. Some of his tunes a good, but I wouldn't go to a free concert if he gave one. But that's because I knew what he was like before he was famous. |
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Subject: RE: OK so what's wrong with me? From: Sorcha Date: 12 Aug 01 - 08:42 PM Hey Jude,When I'm 64 and Yesterday are pointless lyrics? Nah, I don't think so. Now, Lovely Rita and Lucy in the Sky, maybe. You had to do the stuff to know, I guess. |
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Subject: RE: OK so what's wrong with me? From: ddw Date: 12 Aug 01 - 08:37 PM Sorry, Beatles fans, but I think the group sucked. The main problem early on was that I remembered the songs they were covering so badly — and they were AWFUL! Then they heard Frank Zappa's Moog synthasizer, jumped on that bandwagon and did bad copies until they heard sitars and other eastern instruments and then tried those. The sound they finally came up with was a gutless hodge-podge of noise overlaid by whimpy vocals of pointless lyrics. Never saw the attraction, myself — but then I don't understand soap operas and reality TV, either. I listened to some Elvis a couple of months ago and, although I no longer particularly liked him, was reminded again of what he did for music — he (and, to a greater degree, Jerry Lee Lewis) kicked the first bricks out of the wall between white and black music in North America. If they hadn't recorded the songs they did, a lot of people would never have gone looking for the originals. cheers, david |
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Subject: RE: OK so what's wrong with me? From: GUEST,aesop Date: 12 Aug 01 - 07:25 PM I loved Elvis when I was 15. Later when he got fat and drug crazed I just felt sorry for him. I didn't appreciate the Beatles when everyone was screaming over them, but they were damned fine musicians. I didn't catch on until later. My son doesn't "get" them. I can't stand Madonna. Nothing wrong with any of us. |
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Subject: RE: OK so what's wrong with me? From: Cobble Date: 12 Aug 01 - 07:15 PM Bugger you lot. the Beatles bring back some happy memories of that time. I LIKE THEM, so their. Cobble. |
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Subject: RE: OK so what's wrong with me? From: Amos Date: 12 Aug 01 - 07:10 PM Jed: Nothing. Why do you ask? What gives you the idea there is something wrong with you? Agreeing with mass trends is MORE likely to indicate something wrong with you than not agreeing with them does. That said, I am very fond of Dylan up to a point, Beatles in moderate doses, and Elvis in small amounts evenly spaced. A |
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Subject: RE: OK so what's wrong with me? From: Sorcha Date: 12 Aug 01 - 07:10 PM Whatever is wrong with Jed (and you others) is wrong with me too. Elvis always looked "greasy" to me and made me want to hurl. I actually like quite a lot of Beatles stuff, but I was never a screamer. I preferred to be quiet so I could hear the music.
I'm with Justa on that list,too. I don't get Limp Biskit, 9 Inch Nails, Marilyn Manson et. al, either. That is music??? I did (do?) like Santana and Jethro Tull, tho. |
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Subject: RE: OK so what's wrong with me? From: Helen Date: 12 Aug 01 - 06:57 PM vindelis, That's is my definition, word for word, for Leonard Cohen. A friend of mine that I shared a house with in late 70's used to get depressed on a regular basis and would play LC at mealtimes. I used to make jokes about slumping so far down in our chairs that we would end up with our faces in the soup. I like some of Elvis's commercial songs, but the documentary which made me get an inkling of his real talent was the one where he was on the road and he and his backing group would start singing gospel songs together off stage. Beautiful. I like some of the Beatles songs too, but not the Beatles as a whole phenomenon. Never took to Bob Dylan at all, especially when he sings his own songs, but Dylan's & Cohen's songs sung by other people can sound good. Helen |
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Subject: RE: OK so what's wrong with me? From: kendall Date: 12 Aug 01 - 06:32 PM Actually Murray, Elvis and I are close to the same age. I've never liked the popular music of any age. |
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Subject: RE: OK so what's wrong with me? From: vindelis Date: 12 Aug 01 - 06:19 PM Dislikes? Leonard Cohen (music to slit your wrists by), Jimmy Hendrix, and what is euphamistically termed 'White Noise' music - ie that discordant racket, that passes as certain modern 'Classical' music. |
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Subject: RE: OK so what's wrong with me? From: Lee Shore Date: 12 Aug 01 - 06:10 PM I always though Elvis was a fair-to-middling honkytonk singer, but it makes me cranky they way his idiot fans promoted him to Immortal status. "King of Rock and Roll?" Reigning over who? B.B King? Chuck Berry? Dodiddley? Muddy Waters? Gimme a break. Some sage once compared Elvis to Jesus, saying: "He was a pretty good guy, but his followers can be a real pain in the ass." |
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Subject: RE: OK so what's wrong with me? From: sophocleese Date: 12 Aug 01 - 05:56 PM We've just been through the 50s and 60s Rock and Roll Street Festival Thingy along with the Power Boat Celebration Whatsit down on the waterfront. A mixture of Elvis impersonators, clasic cars on display, and power boats. No wonder I normally go out of town this weekend. I'm not a fan of Elvis myself but if he's still around, I pity him watching some of his impersonators. I wouldn't mind it so much if they did their act with a live band but to do it to tape is pathetic. |
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Subject: RE: OK so what's wrong with me? From: toadfrog Date: 12 Aug 01 - 05:52 PM Well, I'd say, I'm about 5 years younger than Bill D, and really liked rock and roll back when it was the white guy's R&B. But agree with him about all those people except the Beatles (who I would put well ahead of Brahms or Mahler), Richard Dyer-Bennet, and The Beers Family (Who the hell is the Beers Family?) Actually, I suspect Elvis was a guy who had great talent, wanted success more than anything in the world, and was induced to pander and go for the least common denominator. More and more, as time went on. He wanted to sing ballads. And his earliest known recording, singing My Happiness, is very good, although never commercially released. |
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Subject: RE: OK so what's wrong with me? From: Murray MacLeod Date: 12 Aug 01 - 05:12 PM It's a generation thing, kendall. Most people of your age would have had the same opinion of Elvis as you. Murray |
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Subject: RE: OK so what's wrong with me? From: Bill D Date: 12 Aug 01 - 05:09 PM when I was in my teens, Rock & Roll appeared...I didn't like it....when I was in my 20s, Elvis, The Beatles and Bob Dylan appeared: didn't like them either (though I have heard a few individual items from the last two that were 'tolerable')...and then I discovered Pete Seeger, Richard Dyer-Bennet, Jean Redpath, The New Lost City Ramblers and The Beers Family...no problems from then on..*smile*.... I seemed to be immune to 'fads', no matter what they were about, and just didn't care for the music of my adolescence. I listened to big bands, Dixieland jazz, classical stuff...etc...before I found 'folk' |
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Subject: RE: OK so what's wrong with me? From: Liz the Squeak Date: 12 Aug 01 - 04:55 PM I never liked ponies or horses. I was the only girl in the school who didn't like them. I still don't. I prefer my horse to be steel or have multiple horsepower under the bonnet. I was always liking the wrong people. When everyone under the age of 16 in the UK was into the Bay City Rollers, I was into Hawkwind...... LTS |
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Subject: RE: OK so what's wrong with me? From: kendall Date: 12 Aug 01 - 04:22 PM I never could stand that cow eyed geek. No one ever went broke underestimating the taste of the American public. Never liked the Beetles either. So there! |
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Subject: RE: OK so what's wrong with me? From: Murray MacLeod Date: 12 Aug 01 - 03:30 PM Elvis in his later years, with the white jumpsuit, was just a parody of his former self In his prime (which was before my time I have to admit) he had more charisma in his little finger than any other entertainer of the time had in their entire body. I feel sympathy and compassion for ANYBODY who was a teenager during Elvis' prime years and disliked him. Murray |
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Subject: RE: OK so what's wrong with me? From: DougR Date: 12 Aug 01 - 03:02 PM Elvis and the Beatles were two musical acts I predicted to my two daughters, who were teenagers then, would never last (their popularity). I do like some of the Beatles music though. Elvis I never could get with. Generation gap I suppose. DougR |
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Subject: RE: OK so what's wrong with me? From: GUEST Date: 12 Aug 01 - 03:00 PM Thread drift alert: To those who never liked The Beatles, is it true that you don't like anything that they did? To my mind they covered such a huge gamut of musical styles, it would almost be impossibe to not like any of their songs Just curious JJ |
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Subject: RE: OK so what's wrong with me? From: Justa Picker Date: 12 Aug 01 - 02:53 PM Here are some that for me are in the "sorry-I-just-don't-get-it" category. - Sinead O'Connor - Prince - U2 - Madonna |
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Subject: RE: OK so what's wrong with me? From: SINSULL Date: 12 Aug 01 - 02:49 PM Didn't and don't like the Beatles or Jimmie Carter. |
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Subject: RE: OK so what's wrong with me? From: Peter T. Date: 12 Aug 01 - 02:46 PM As a screaming leftie, I have nevertheless always admired Margaret Thatcher: She is a hideous monster, but I particularly liked the way she beat up on all the dreary men in her own party, I always got a laugh out of it the way they were all so terrified of her. Always despised Ronald Reagan and the rest. I think it is because she looks exactly like my old nanny, who I adored. One of those weird things, has nothing to do with my politics at all. yours, Peter T. |
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Subject: Beatles blow chunks! From: Clinton Hammond Date: 12 Aug 01 - 02:46 PM And I'm one of them JJ... And I'm proud of it! |
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Subject: RE: OK so what's wrong with me? From: GUEST,JJ Date: 12 Aug 01 - 02:34 PM I've even heard that some people don't like The Beatles! Now they are freaks! |
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Subject: RE: OK so what's wrong with me? From: Rt Revd Sir jOhn from Hull Date: 12 Aug 01 - 02:34 PM Guest-I agree, thats why I just put music/singing! |
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