Favorite songs by acts you generally don't like?

[Harmonie]

I generally do not like Led Zeppelin at all (blasphemous, I know.) but I love Stairway to Heaven, which is their most famous song - go figure. It's just unlike anything else I've ever heard from the band. It's got a beautiful folkish beginning which incredibly smoothly transitions over to rock, and most importantly never gets excessive - which is the word I'd describe most of Led Zeppelin's music... No strange vocals, just beautiful music. I know, blasphemy... I'm not saying they were ever a bad band, just not for me.

 

[Pendraflare]

Here's one that I feel like mentioning: as sick as i've been of Maroon 5 lately (especially Animals-mals), their newest release, "Sugar", has become a major guilty pleasure of mine, even if most of my reason for liking it has to do with its music video, which has the band jumping different weddings and performing at them. It's a pretty fun one to watch, i'd say.

 

[Treecko]

I don't really like a lot of Taylor Swift's music (I think she's wonderful otherwise) , but I'm really starting to like Blank Space lately and some others off 1989 like Style and Shake It Off. I don't like Kanye at all , but I love Stronger and Graduation is an album I used to really love. Hey Mama , Jesus Walks, and Power are good too. Kind of like Beyonce's Ego cause of Kanye's part in the remix.

 

[Thursday]

I dislike Kelly Clarkson (I know it's random but my mom plays the HELL out of her albums) but the song Miss Independent is awesome. I just have to love it and I can't stand that I don't hate it.

Vampire Weekend. I've had people mention them to me constantly and I just can't stand them.... except for 4 songs. Diane Young, Giving Up the Gun, Step, and Unbelievers.

I guess I don't like One Direction? I don't really listen to them enough to know too many songs past what comes on the radio?

 

[Sydian]

Soooo uhhhh am I not welcome in this thread with my Ariana Grande avatar because I am honestly hard pressed to find any song from her that I don't like and majority of this thread is like I JUST LIKE THAT ONE SONG. Oops. lol and pff hands on me or gtfo honestly

Anyway, I find Taylor Swift to be completely unsufferable, but Blank Space and Shake It Off don't actually make me want to jump off a cliff like...everything else she does.

Long ago, I used to not hate Maroon 5. I like their older stuff, but I find Adam Levine's voice in more recent tracks to be horrible. She Will Be Loved was one of my favorite songs back in the day. Sigh. what have u done adam

I'm pretty indifferent to One Direction but that Steal My Girl song is p cute.

I don't like Ariana Grande but I do like Almost is Never Enough and Love Me Harder. (I don't really hate Ariana. It's just that I wish she just stuck with the good-girl-Cat-Valentine look, since it suits her much better.)

Dying her hair so much for that role really wrecked it though, as it would anyone that dyes their hair that often. So if it were me, I'd definitely feel some weight off my shoulders if I was done playing a role that required me to kill my hair.

 

[Hikamaru]

Long ago, I used to not hate Maroon 5. I like their older stuff, but I find Adam Levine's voice in more recent tracks to be horrible. She Will Be Loved was one of my favorite songs back in the day. Sigh. what have u done adam

I agree. Maroon 5 are an example of an artist whose music has been trying to appeal to mainstream audiences as the time went on, but sadly at the expense of quality. Listening to their latest material makes me want to puke, but of course I do agree that She Will Be Loved was one of their best songs.

Vampire Weekend. I've had people mention them to me constantly and I just can't stand them.... except for 4 songs. Diane Young, Giving Up the Gun, Step, and Unbelievers.

I'm surprised you brought Vampire Weekend up, because I do love those guys and their extremely catchy music, but then again you also admitted that even if one doesn't like the band there's still a guilty pleasure in them. Giving Up The Gun and Step are, in my opinion some of the most unique songs from them because they sorta stray off from the usual fast-paced material you'd expect from them.

Also three of the songs you mentioned came from Modern Vampires Of The City, which was pretty much the band's most well-received album by critics and even won a Best Alternative Album Grammy award. No wonder why that one had such great songs.

 

[SV]

I do not like Bruno Mars, but maaaan, Uptown Funk is great.

 

[Firox]

The only thing that comes to mind - I hate almost all of the songs by the Beastie Boys, but they did made a song I really loved, but that was after I found out who the band was, I heard it on the radio - that song is "Fight For Your Rights"

 

[Ephemeral Euphoria]

Only one I can think of atm is Break Free by Ariana Grande. I remember hearing one of her earlier songs a few years back and it felt like my ears were undergoing the strangest burning sensation upon hearing that music but this particular song wasn't too bad.

 

[Hikamaru]

Another artist I haven't brought up yet here - Calvin Harris.

Yeah, he's that DJ who's been dominating charts for years now, and if one remembers the early days of his career he had such a unique vocal performance on those catchy tunes of his, but then a few years ago he took a back-seat and relied on collaborations, making me believe his music got ruined for the sake of going into a mainstream DJ role.

However, even if the newer stuff has not been as good as his early material (think of some old gems like Acceptable In The 80's and The Girls) there were some guilty pleasure to come out of the "new" Calvin, but mainly due to me liking the guest artist who was on it. Notable examples here include We'll Be Coming Back (Example), Sweet Nothing (Florence Welch), Pray To God (Haim) and both the Ellie Goulding collabs he did (I Need Your Love and Outside). They're good songs, even if it's not the same as the older material imo.

 

[Ice1]

I dislike Kanye's music, but I really like Power. I'm also not a big fan of La Dispute, but I really like I See Everything. The lyrics are so beautiful, and the shouty singing still really shows the pain that go in the lyrics.

 

[Dter ic]

Don't really like taylor Swift's music, however one thing I really love about Blank Space is the instrumentation. The snare is the sexiest thing I've heard. (reminds me of the kind found in trap music) I could listen to an instrumental version of the song all day

 

[Pepperton]

Not a fan of Justin Bieber at all, but he does have one good song, and I can't remember the name of it, so it must have not been that good, or else I would've remembered the name.

 

[starseed galaxy auticorn]

I'd say Nymphetamine (sp?) by Cradle of Filth. Normally, I don't like them because they are too heavy for my tastes. This is the only song I like of there's that's actually very beautiful. Plus, this song is also special to me because a dear friend of mine who I always miss recommended it to me years ago.

 

[Zoroark Cutie]

I really don't like or care about the majority of Miley Cyrus's music, but I am absolutely addicted to We Can't Stop. Since the first time I listened to it, I have not went one day without listening to it and I don't exactly know why I like it so much, there is just something about it that made me listen to it nearly 10000 times within the span of less than of less of one year. The only thing

I also don't like Nicki Minaj's music, but there are 3 songs that I absolutely love from her newest album. Those songs would be All Things Go, Pills N Potions, and Bed of Lies feat. Skylar Grey. I just love how they deviate from what Nicki usually does and I was more than able to tolerate them, and Skylar Grey is a plus for me since I really like her and her music.

 

[Pendraflare]

Another artist I haven't brought up yet here - Calvin Harris.

Yeah, he's that DJ who's been dominating charts for years now, and if one remembers the early days of his career he had such a unique vocal performance on those catchy tunes of his, but then a few years ago he took a back-seat and relied on collaborations, making me believe his music got ruined for the sake of going into a mainstream DJ role.

However, even if the newer stuff has not been as good as his early material (think of some old gems like Acceptable In The 80's and The Girls) there were some guilty pleasure to come out of the "new" Calvin, but mainly due to me liking the guest artist who was on it. Notable examples here include We'll Be Coming Back (Example), Sweet Nothing (Florence Welch), Pray To God (Haim) and both the Ellie Goulding collabs he did (I Need Your Love and Outside). They're good songs, even if it's not the same as the older material imo.

Given how much you've mentioned Calvin Harris in the WAYLT thread, I kinda thought you'd care for him more than this post implies. But as far as EDM goes, a lot of people will argue that lyrics aren't much in that genre, I mean you can look at, say, David Guetta, who (if i'm not mistaken) very rarely makes his own music and almost always collaborates and DJs. Although I never heard Calvin Harris' older stuff (my first exposure to him was his 2011 collab with Rihanna in "We Found Love"), I do see that he used to do his own work there. There are a handful of acts are out there who nowadays fall victim to rarely being able to hold songs on their own.

Not a fan of Justin Bieber at all, but he does have one good song, and I can't remember the name of it, so it must have not been that good, or else I would've remembered the name.

It wouldn't be "Baby", which had a guest verse from Ludacris, would it? Although if I had to choose one song from Bieber which I actually liked, it would be "Never Say Never" (although I might have already mentioned that here).

 

[Universe]

i honestly do not care for Adam Levine whatsoever, but his song "Animals" is pretty bombin'.

also i like this one song Justin Bieber did with Chris Brown called "Next to You". i really detest Justin Bieber, but to me that song is great.

 

[Foxrally]

Most people who know me well enough know I absolutely despise most pop music - mostly because it only talks about butts and bübies and how wonderfully marvelous they are.

However, the "All about that Bass" song did catch me for a few weeks, to the point I even listened to it when I was bored. Nothing against Megan Trainor, just her songs aren't that good usually.

Oh, I also enjoyed Eminem's rap god a lot - he's not my favorite singer but those superfast words are amazing.

 

[Omicron]

I usually dislike most of Katy Perry's music, but This Is How We Do is my guilty pleasure.

I can't really think of any other.

 

[antemortem]

the same friend that is not-so-coincidentally dragging me to South by So What tried to get me into Attila at one point. She knew I didn't like them, but she played Proving Grounds, a recent single, and I actually really enjoyed it. unfortunately that's lead her into thinking I went from 0 to 100 with liking Attila THAT'S NOT how it works jesuesnfkj

Oh, I also enjoyed Eminem's rap god a lot - he's not my favorite singer but those superfast words are amazing.

he's kind of like an intoxicating sound.. though I think the songs that are drier musically fall short even there.