Birth of a Stoop Sale

I'm still working on the full-on TSP relaunch, with those Friday 10 Sticking Pointcasts for you... but in the meantime I thought I'd soft-launch with an entry or three. Rather than go into a drawn-out story that ends with my (unknowing) consumption of a dozen or so sunflower seed weevils last week, I thought I'd throw a question your way, and maybe have an interactive discussion in the "comments" board.

Of which band or album were you once a huge fan, but now -- with passing time and increasing sensibility -- can no longer tolerate?

I'll start.

In 2001 (April, as my Amazon.com buying history shows), I bought the entire Everclear canon. I went from zero to five CDs in a single one-click purchase. I had just read an article about Art Alexakis and was swayed by its sycophantic portrait of the old man as an artist.

Fast forward 7-10 days, the CDs have arrived and I'm listening. Try to imagine my face; it resembled someone who takes a huge bite from a steak sandwich and discovers he's been served rat's asshole. Uncooked!

Maybe you like Everclear. That's fine. I'm sure I have and enjoy 100s of CDs that would make most people laugh snobbishly. (That's for another day.) The 'clear is just not for me. And it is SO not for me that I cannot believe I was bamboozled into clicking away my hard-earned for a 5-disk earful.

I still have those CDs. I can't explain why, other than to say I have a tendency to keep things for that day in the distant future when the need will arise. (Like the ratty old pair of chinos balled up in the corner of my closet: there for a day friends may invite me for a game of pickup football in the mud, like they always do on commercials and the pages of J. Crew catalogs.)


But that's beside the point. The question, once again: Of which band or album were you once a huge fan, but now -- with passing time and increasing sensibility -- can no longer tolerate?

Comments

[so'c]

I'm having trouble coming up with one.

[Brian]

This may surprise many who know my love affair with all-things 80s, but the first thing that popped into my mind is Devo's song "Whip It." I used to think it was such a fun little ditty. Hell, when I ran for student council in 9th grade, my campaign slogan was "When a problem comes along, Brian Greene must whip it!" (not surprisingly, I lost that election)
These days, whenever the song pops up in a one-hit wonder countdown or during WPLJ's nightly "80s at 8" show, I have to change the station. Mark Mothersbaugh's voice annoys me, and even though it runs only about 2 minutes, it seems repetitive. Why has the song been practically canonized by retro music lovers? Come on people, it's a borderline novelty song!

[TT]

I have a bunch. I like to think it's because my tastes are evolving. Based on my tape collection in high school, I certainly hope they are.

OK, here's one: Red Hot Chili Peppers. I used to be a huge fan. I mean HUGE. I started listening to them when I was 12 or so, and couldn't get enough. I scrawled the band name all over everything in sight - notebooks, desks, pets. I got really proficient at drawing that asterisk thingy they call a logo. My fandom continued through college, and then poof, it disappeared. That's not to say I can't stomach anything they recorded pre-'94, but all those discs are gathering dust, and I haven't copied any of the cds onto my iPod.

Evolving tastes aside, I don't think it's just about growing out of something. There's plenty of music that I really liked at time and still like. But no, not the Chilli Peppers, not so much.

The list of discs I bought thinking I liked the artist but would up hating - that's much longer.

This has all been rather confessional.

[Tommy Himself]

SO'C: Duly noted. Thanks for writing. Also... aren't you the mind behind http://thefurthestpoint.blogspot.com/ ?

Brian: DEVO have recorded about 75 songs far superior to "Whip It," and that's what bothers me the most. The "borderline novelty song" is the one everyone knows. The inscription on the tombstone. They are one-hit wonders only by the strictest definition of the term.

TT: Yes, yes. I was never a huge RHCP fan, though I have everything from 84-95; the stuff just doesn't hold up for me. It seems flimsy and fake. *(And did you know they are getting a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame this year? Other legitimate superstars PDiddy, Erik Estrada, and Mariah Carey all beat the Peppers to the Walk by one year.

[HeathenBlog]

I used to worship Phish. Now, not so much. This is completely because of my disgust with the crunchy, patchouli-slathered fanbase, and not at all because of the music. I cannot listen to these four gentlemen any longer without gritting my teeth in memory of the secret band that was taken from me by rich white kids touting devil-sticks and hacky-sacks. Can't I do mescaline in peace?!?!

[Brian]

Just a heads-up that Everclear will be playing at Webster Hall (along with Soul Asylum and Cracker) on August 20. Want me to get you a ticket?

[Tommy Himself]

Heathen: I like when Trey plays on others' records, and have never been a Phish fan. BUT... I can definitely get my brain wrapped around the concept of losing a band to its fanbase. I'll chime back on the site with some f'rinstances ASAP.

Brian: Why would you go and waste precious bandwidth even TYPING that?