I’ve been tossing this list around in my head for a while now: a list of bands that a lot of people like and are perhaps ‘acclaimed’ but do absolutely nothing for me. That is, I don’t like their sound, no matter how many times I give them a chance. I listen to the best rock station in the nation — FM 94.9 — and they often play these bands, and every time they put on any song by any of these artists — whether new or old — I attempt to give them another chance and it never pans out. Part of the reason, admittedly, why I give them another chance is because there really aren’t any other good stations to listen to in San Diego, so I am happy with leaving the (digital) dial on 94.9. So here is my list, and reasons why for each one:

• Cake: I cannot stand their frontman’s voice at all. I appreciated the song–lyrically–that had to do with “All I want is a girl with a short skirt and a long jacket”, but it was still excruciating for me to listen to. To me, it doesn’t sound like the guy is singing at all but just kind of deadpanning the words. Does nothing for me.
• Beck: can’t stand his aesthetic, music, or lyrics. He seems like an absolutely pointless musician to me. I remember in 8th grade algebra when my classmate repeated “I’m a loser baby, so why don’t you kill me” over and over again. I thought what he was singing was so stupid and perhaps ‘edgy’, but when soon heard the actual song, I thought it was basically living up to its own proclamations of being a loser song as well. Ever since then I’ve listened to his CDs here and there and his radio hits and his videos and it just seems like nothing is going on.
• Beastie Boys: perhaps the most annoying voices I’ve ever heard, and the music seems disappointing to me. I know these guys have been around for a while, but I’ve heard better hip hop and DJ riffs elsewhere. “Sabotage” had a cool vibe as far as the music video was concerned, but I was never really into anything else they’ve ever done. That ‘intergalactic planetary planetary intergalactic’ song grates on my ears.
• Interpol: can’t stand the frontman’s voice at all. Reminiscent of Cake’s deadpan monotone, these guys are supposedly really cool and indie, but I can’t get past the voice. What’s odd is that I absolute love VNV Nation, an industrial band whose lead singer kind of does this ‘monotoney’ thing, but I think their music and vocals are phenomenal. Their Matter + Form album is one of my all-time favorite industrial albums.

And a close runner up: Sublime. I understand that this is considered to be one of the classic 90’s Los Angeles (Long Beach) bands and that they were very influential in the ska/punk scene, and some of their music is actually pretty good, but something about the grittiness and content of their lyrics just really turns me off. Their music actually makes me think of driving through the smog of L.A.