jimdrix

Sufjan Stevens - I remember reading all about his album Illinoise and how it was so amazing...Not just from reviews, but friends and even family told me i had to get this album. Having lived in Illinois i was intrigued about all the fuss, boy was i ever disappointed. I have even tried to listen a few more times, plus other stuff by this guy. I just don't get it and think it sucks.

Smashing Pumpkins - Most overrated band from the '90's. Actually anything involving Billy Corgan would qualify in this thread for me.

Ozzy Osbourne solo - Don't get me wrong, Black Sabbath is great, but solo just doesn't do it for me.

Linkin Park - I just don't like them.

Giles

what? you don't find the lyrics of 'Chicago' to be immediately catchy:

"You came to take us
All things go, all things go
To recreate us
All things grow, all things grow
We had our mindset
All things know, all things know
You had to find it
All things go, all things go"

Dan

Beck - I think his best work is what he did for the Scott Pilgrim movie/soundtrack. Other than that...

JAA

That's a big (and necessary) clarification. Being a big Bends/Computer fan, I now tend to agree with you.

Eddie W

Nirvana - I thought they were just one of the many ok Grunge bands when Kurt was alive. But I don't really get why they've be deified as the godfathers of Grunge. I can barely stand to listen to them now.

Beck - I really liked Odelay, but his latest stuff is the aural equivalent of Tylenol PM.

Smiths/Morrisey - God, everytime I hear that riff from "How Soon is Now" on the radio, I just can't switch fast enough. It seems to be rule that the radio stations I listen to must play this at least twice a day. I am certain that elevators in hell play a muzak version of this song.

DJLinus

Not so much recommendations from friends or constant airplay, but more about how their overwhelming critical adoration perplexes me:

Lucinda Williams - Her last-call-at-the-bar caterwauling is like nails on a chalkboard to me. She's absolutely ruined some songs that she's guested on with artists I like. (Elvis Costello, Flogging Molly, etc.) I suppose she could be added to the "good songwriter/terrible voice" category. "Passionate Kisses" is a nice little ditty when it's in Mary Chapin Carpenter's hands.

Antony and the Johnsons - An emotionally fragile Tiny Tim is not something pleasing to my ears. The music's fine, but that quivering voice... ugh.

For most music that isn't my thing I can just ignore it. There are very few artists that I actively dislike and those are two big ones.

A little more tolerable to me:

Bob Dylan - See everyone else's comments here. I like the reaction I get when I tell people my favorite Dylan song is his cover of "Must Be Santa." I actually like that one. He's playing a show in here this spring and I told my brother I'd go only if Dylan would perform just that song over and over.

Radiohead - Yeah, I don't get the slobbering over them either. Like with Dylan above, I love the reactions friends give me when I say "Creep" is my favorite song of theirs. Although I do also like "Karma Police," I can't really get into their Serious And Important Artist stuff. Believe me, I've tried.

Tom Waits (kinda) - I may be alone in preferring his early boho barman phase to his battery acid-gurgling industrial carnival barker act for the past couple of decades. And he's written some real gems - "I Don't Wanna Grow Up" is excellent and one of my favorites. I just like them better sung by other people. (Especially this album.)

Nico - I guess wanting at least a little emotion from a German singer is expecting too much. (Kidding! ) I think the Velvet Underground's first album is a classic and I can only imagine how much more esteem I'd hold it if she wasn't forced upon them. At least we have Lou Reed's version of "I'll Be Your Mirror" from that live acoustic album.

Stevie Nicks - I just don't like her voice, plain and simple.

hbilly

Lady Gaga - was recommended to me by pretty much everyone I know ("she's sooo talented and plays her own instruments and blah blah blah"). I didn't plan listening to her music because she seemed like a joke to me. I eventually did watch her MTV performance (Paparazzi?) on YouTube and not only did she look and sound like a Madonna clone, she was also imitating Madonna's legendary 'Like a Virgin' MTV performance.
Months later I thought I'd give her another chance and tried to watch her video, the one with Beyoncé. Didn't care for the music, but the video was like a blatant Quentin Tarantino / Jackie Brown ripoff.
I couldn't avoid hearing "Born This Way" and "Judas" on the radio. I first thought those were remixes of "Express Yourself" and "Like a Prayer" by Madonna. Turned out it was Gaga, again.
To me she's just a common thief without an ounce of originality.

Norm de Plume

Now, that's not very constructive. I don't get the adulation for V.U. either. The first album is great, but W.L./W.H., apart from the title song, is nigh-unlistenable noise, and the rest of the band's subsequent albums are pretty boring, in my opinion.

JeffTheAlpaca

Mariah Carey and Pink

Ringmaster

I could never get into Guns N Roses. I like their singles, but they never did it for me as a whole.

It's funny when a topic like this comes up, Bob Dylan is always mentioned. He's probably the most polarizing music figure of all time. Dylan is my musical hero but I understand it when others say they don't like him

mndtrp

I think of a good songwriter when just about every cover version of one of their songs is good. I don't like Dylan's songs, but I don't think I've come across a cover version I haven't liked.

Fleetwood Mac, I guess. Aside from some of the hits, I can't listen to them at all.

cungar

Definitely not a band almost everyone likes.

Mike86

Agreed with Radiohead. I've just never understood their appeal. They don't seem quite as big now but jam bands such as The Dave Matthews Band, The Grateful Dead, Phish, etc. don't appeal to me at all either. A lot of the reason is their fans annoy the hell out of me. I also don't really care much for AD/DC or The Doors.

Michael Corvin

The ultimate answer (and looks to be overwhelming favorite in this thread) is U2. They had a couple catchy songs in the 80's and somehow managed to fool everyone into thinking they were good enough to survive that decade.

Then you have lesser bands that have already been mentioned, DMB & Radiohead. I'll toss out Kings of Leon; musically not bad but the vocals are nails on a chalkboard for me. Last one, Bruno Mars. If I wanted to listen to late 70's-early 80's Michael Jackson, I'd just put on one of those albums.

Living Deadpan

KISS. I'm a metalhead who doesn't get why so many metalheads give KISS a free pass while accusing so many working-class bands of "selling out" when they reach some tiny measure of commercial success. I've talked to so many black/death metal fans who cry "sell-out!" when [insert band] becomes popular enough to (barely) make a living from their music, yet worship KISS - a band who epitomizes commerce over art.

AEROSMITH. I'll just quote from AV Club's HateSong piece:

CRM114

How could I forget? The Black Keys. The most overhyped duo of hacks ever. Yo, The White Stripes called, they want their shtick back. And since it was mentioned - Kings of Leon too. Throw in Queens of the Stone Age too. Mah.

Oh and if you don't like Sister Ray, you probably don't like a huge genre of music in general.

hdtv00

U2 and Bruce Springsteen

I cannot stand either one of them.

Spiderbite

Probably because Gene and Paul have never really shied away from admitting they wanted to hit it big and only gave a shit about money (and pussy).

That's easier to accept than a band that says they hate commercialism, hate being popular, etc. and then come across as the exact opposite.

covenant

The Clash.
I've tried London Calling many times, and I just can't like it.

CRM114

BobO'Link

This goes back to early years of rock...

Janice Joplin - I've never liked her voice and for years couldn't get past it enough to fully appreciate what she put into a performance. I still don't care for her voice but there are enough hints at great talent that I can now listen to her body of work.

Rod Stewart - I never liked his voice or style. Even now there are only a small handful of songs he did in his early years that I'll *occasionally* give a listen. I have trouble listening to Jeff Beck's "Truth” and “Beck-Ola" because of Stewart's vocals. To think... this is the guy Page wanted when he was reforming the Yardbirds! Yeah... a huge bullet dodged there...

David Bowie post "Ziggy Stardust." His work up to and including that seminal album was spectacular but after... blech.

Black Oak Arkansas - I never understood their appeal. I used to tell one guy who loved them and would ride with me occasionally to *never* ask to hear them as it wasn't going to happen in my car.

The Eagles - Just another generic and average country/rock outfit until Joe Walsh joined and showed them how to rock properly. Even then they are overrated on the non-Walsh tracks.

majorjoe23

The Eagles for me. I saw them a few months back and it was a good show, but I didn't feel any less indifferent than before the show.

On the other hand, I saw Fleetwood Mac a few weeks ago. In high school I think I actively disliked them. Aside from a few songs like "Don't Stop" still not being my cup of tea, I came away from the show a fan.

Paff

Strangely enough, I'm the opposite. In high school I was big into The Clash's more hard-edged punk sound, so with London Calling I pretty much only listened to Clampdown. I recently re-acquired the vinyl and listened to the entire album for the first time in 20 years. Holy shit what a work of genius that record is.

Living Deadpan

UAIOE

I don't mind "Creep" and I do kind of like "Karma Police", but "Paranoid Android" was really the song that made me say "What the hell is this crap?" (Yes I know Karma came out after it). After that people would talk up the group, but all I could hear is weird, whiny, half-assed ambient meandering.

DMB - This was the band people entering college liked because it made them seem more "adult".

Aerosmith - Without Run DMC, I wouldn't be making this comment. I could very well have been saved years of hearing their pop rock mediocrity.

John "Cougar" Mellencamp - Anthems for a mid-western town. Can I please hear "Jack & Diane" just one more time?