This month’s collaborative article idea came from long time Picky Bs contributor Rick Larson. We all know at least a band or two that everyone says we should like, but for some reason things just aren’t clicking. And at the other end of the spectrum, there are those artists who we feel aren’t really for us but we can’t help but love them. Here, Picky Bs writers tell you about the acts that fit those categories in their weirdly fussy music brains:
Rick Larson
Should like, but don’t
I’m a white man that rocks. I’ve hurt myself in a Mudhoney pit, among other rock-related misadventures. A big, bruising rock band with ties to the Seattle scene (Mark Lanegan of Screaming Trees! Dave Grohl on loan from the dreary Foo Fighters and back behind the kit where he belongs!) should be right up my alley. At least with American bands, specific geographical origin is important. Pacific Northwest bands get my attention; San Diego bands don’t (with the sole exception of ‘Interstate Love Song’ which rips. See above: Rocks, white man that.)
QOTSA has built up a potent mythology of themselves as rock and roll saviors, some of it self-generated but a lot of it organically grown by its enthusiastic fans, some of whom seem to have otherwise reasonable opinions.
I find it all pretty tiresome. Just taking their most streamed song on Spotify as an example, ‘No One Knows’ kind of sounds like a Foreigner song to me and not in a good way because there is no good way for that to sound. Frontman Josh Homme looks and acts like a parent who would get in a fight with a Little League umpire. He is actually a guy who kicked a photographer’s camera into her face then initially denied it. As part of the extensive research I do for these pieces, I watched a short, reverential documentary about the band doing a recent acoustic show in the Paris catacombs. Fuckin’ skulls, dude! I recommend it for some real Spinal Tap-esque comedy. Homme is all pained macho bluster but speaks in new age gibberish. There is a moment where he inscrutably strings some words together for his son and the wtf look on the kid’s face is priceless.
Then I learned that Homme is in fact from Palm Desert, CA (Seattle, you are absolved) and has described his music as ‘desert rock,’ which is accurate as it’s arid and empty. If you want the beauty and mystery of the American desert in rock music form, put on Meat Puppets II and leave this dreck for the shopping mall parking lot.
Shouldn’t like, but do
Frog is two brothers from New Rochelle, NY. Older brother Dan Bateman, the driving force, writes the songs, sings and plays guitar and piano. Steve plays drums. They have been around for over a decade, but I first heard of them last year with the album 1000 Variations on the Same Song. They followed up quickly this year with Frog for Sale. I am very suspicious of singer-songwriter stuff and quick to hostility at the first sign of navel inspection. I’m not interested in you telling me in hushed tones about how you worked/failed to work things out. I wouldn’t cross the street to see Sufjan Stevens.
I have only scratched the surface on the Frog discography, but Dan Bateman seems to record and release everything that comes to mind without filter. And some of it is not very good. But, he seems to know that. I feel like Frog gives you their tacit blessing to skip songs. More often than not, Dan sings in a falsetto which, also, is not technically very good. All of this sounds entirely self-indulgent. But it’s not somehow. The successful songs are completely guileless, funny without winking and nudging at you, and sometimes have an off-off-off Broadway show feel without camp. ‘Je Ne Sais Pas’ is one of my favorite songs of the year and I’m hard pressed to articulate exactly why, but I just tried.
Fat Roland (find more Fat Roland music waffle over on his blog)
Should like, but don’t
I am a natural contrarian. If you tell me to do something, I won’t. “Listen to this great new band, Fat Roland.” “Don’t drink that pint of vodka, Fat Roland.” “Don’t steal that child’s lunch money, Fat Roland.” In the words of Rage Against the Machine’s Zack Ferrero Rocher, or whatever his name is, fudge you I won’t do what you tell me. So here are several things I should like but refuse to: The Beatles, anything Oasis did after 1996, any music artist
beginning with the word Taylor, musicians in hats (even dapper ones), synth pop legends and the most annoying act ever Sparks, and your dad pole-dancing to Aphex Twin. Oh and I don’t
think Daft Punk’s Discovery is anywhere near as good as people think it is.
Shouldn’t like, but do
I am, obviously, a cool dude who likes techno and rave music, and that’s why I always wear sunglasses and a backwards baseball cap because I am a super hip guy. Despite that, I really love Aussie pop princess Kylie Minogue. In 1995, she made the murder ballad ‘Where the Wild Roses Grow’ with Nick Cave and I was hooked. Her discography is beyond decent, from 1994’s sultry ‘Confide in Me’ to more recent anthems ‘Tension’ and ‘Lights, CameraAction’. The homoerotic flesh-fest that was her ‘Aphrodite’ tour would have turned me gay if I wasn’t already gay. My favourite Kylie moment was when she became a typeface in the
single ‘GBI (German Bold Italic)’. It was a collaboration with Towa Tei, producer for Dee- Lite and pioneer of Shibuya-kei micropop. “You like my sense of style,” said typeface-Kylie to Towa’s crunchy house beats. Too damn right.
Lisa Whiteman
Should like but don’t
“The artist I should probably like but dont” is Stereophonics. I’m a 46 year old woman born and living in South Wales. I dont just “should” like Stereophonics, I’m morally obliged to like them. I work in and around the Cynon Valley for crying out loud mun. We are born with enough to go around both them and the (deserving, far superior albeit doesn’t take much) Manics.
But I don’t. Middle of the road, repetitive, bland toss. How they sell out arenas and stadia outside of a 40 mile radius of Cardiff beggars belief, and proves fools and cash are easily separated. More on that in a mo. And before anyone around here starts coming for me with pitchforks and torches, their current Facebook page photo includes Kelly Jones in tan brogues and a sodding Bella Freud jumper. He left the South Wales Valleys long ago.
As it happens, my husband went to uni with him and said he was a bit of a twat, apparently threw his toys out when his first band didnt get selected to open up for INXS in Cardiff Uni in 1993. All fairly irrelevant, dont like ’em because they’re guff. Worse than Wet Leg, and that’s a low bar.
Shouldn’t like, but do
BTS. That’s right. The Kings of KPOP, recent completers of South Korean military service, subject of my then 10-year old’s guest PB writer slot and emptiers of my bank account.
Before anyone starts, no I did not see this coming. I still listen to Slint on the way to work and would walk over hot coals for a Carter USM reunion, but I am now a BTS fan. Blame the aforementioned daughter, who played/plays them to death for 5 years, who has every version of every album, who cried when the military service induced hiatus happened. Turns out, lean against the post hard enough and it breaks. Like Alexa-enabled Stockholm syndrome. I knew it was happening to me when she started listening to another KPOP cash cow, Enhypen, and I referred to them as “fucking pretenders”.
It gets worse/better – I strongly suspect at least two tracks off this year’s album will be in my tracks of 2026. A hill I’ll die on.
I have no business liking them – they are too cool for a 46 year old mum fan, and I am obviously too cool for a collective of Korean young men in designer combat pants. But, here we are and there we’ll be in July, on a school night, in touch-the-sky level seats on night one of their London shows, singing along in faux-rean to songs I cannot name.
James Spearing
Should like, but don’t
First I have to get out of the way the fact that I don’t buy into the premise of this article at all. Nobody should or shouldn’t like anything because anyone else thinks they should or shouldn’t. If you want to know more about why, you can read my thoughts on this elsewhere on the site so I don’t take up all the space here and I’ll get back to the actual point.
So I’ll jump in at the deep end and pick Radiohead for this one because why not. They’re the archetypal band for people who are into serious music. And often it has felt like I am the only one who isn’t. I’ve listened to them plenty of times but for me there’s still a whininess and a smugness and a we’re-so-clever-ness that has never clicked with me. I’m glad they exist(ed) in the sense that I can appreciate how influential they have been to other artists but that I think is as about as positive as I’ll ever get. See also Geese for a more up to date example.
Shouldn’t like, but do
In this category I’m thinking it’s probably got to be some sort of sugary pop thing that someone else might think I shouldn’t like. Dua Lipa immediately springs to mind as it’s one small area where this 40 year old serious music man’s taste crosses over with that of a 7 year old unserious girl (my daughter). We went to see Dua live together at Anfield stadium last summer and I was not just there as a responsible adult accompanying her to her first stadium pop concert – I was there as a fan too. If you enjoy singing along to a catchy tune then just fucking enjoy it, never ever let what other people might think of you get in the way.
Fliss Clarke
Should like, but don’t
I’m not going to come across well in this exercise, but here goes. The band I feel I should like, have tried, and frankly regret that I don’t like, is Joy Division. I know, I should. Seminal, important, deep… but I just don’t get it. I am perfectly happy to admit it as a personal deficiency – whenever I’ve tried I’ve just found it to be boring, drony and bleak. There are aspects I like about Joy Division: the band name, despite the horrifying origins; and I watched and wept at the Control biopic. The story moves me deeply. The music not so much. Love will tear us apart is fine, but fear this is only by way of repeated exposure and I can only get on board with the central conceit by way of some philosophical acrobatics (transcendental love could tear apart the fixed tribal identity of an “us”?). It is with regret that I don’t like Joy Division, but I really feel I should.
Shouldn’t like, but do
And the band I have no business liking but do is also somewhat regretful because it is at the absolute opposite end of the musical and perceived integrity spectrum: Girls Aloud. Manufactured before our very eyes on Popstars: The Rivals, Girls Aloud feel somewhat indefensible here as musical heroines.. and yet! The bangers! The actual JOY! Biology is bizarre pop perfection. Call the Shots is truly excellent. Something kinda ooh, jumping on my tutu?! Wake Me Up, Sound of the Underground, Love Machine, Sexy! No, No, No.. hit after odd and unreasonably glorious hit. And the 2006 E4 fly on the wall series Girls Aloud: Off the Record is a riotous noughties pop culture historical document (available on YouTube). I return to the 38 minute Whole Damn Show megamix of their triumphant 2024 tour for a high octane blast of pop delight. I’m not thrilled about it from a credibility perspective, but can’t mistake my biology.
Kate Burke
Should like, but don’t
I don’t (generally) like to yuck anyone’s yum – so when I don’t feel immediately pulled to a band I assume that it’s a me thing. Apart from Mumford and Sons, nobody should like them.
I feel like I’m sharing a dirty secret when I say that I’m not hugely into The National. They’ve been on my periphery for a long time – I can appreciate the craft, but I’ve never had the ‘feels’ that would usually draw me in when I hear a new artist. However, while contemplating this article I had a chance chat with a fellow parent at the park (the blissful tonic of adult conversation that includes NOT talking about your children), who entirely unprompted, unapologetically sung their praises for a full fifteen minutes. I feel like I now need to give them another chance because that’s the level of fan commitment that garners my utmost respect for any band, so I might need to circle back on this one.
Shouldn’t like, but do
Many of the artists that fall under this category for me could be classified as Stockholm Syndrome. Do I really admire KATSEYE, or does my daughter just play their entire back catalogue every time she sets foot in the fucking car? Has the Lush Life given me a rush, or has delirium simply set in?
However, I take full responsibility for my adoration of Huntrix. Otherwise known as the K-Pop Demon Hunters, they’re not even a real band. They’re fictional, they’re technically not even real people – although the vocalists getting together in real life to perform was absolutely inspired, and I adore the fact that they leaned into their characters through hair and wardrobe choices. What it Sounds Like is a perfect pop power ballad, and Golden is an absolute banger. I will appear on any dance floor where it is playing. Even Biffy Clyro whipped out a cover during a Radio 1 Live Lounge session, and I feel like that speaks volumes in itself. There’s a reason why multiple tribute bands have popped up over the last year (aside from the obvious money grab at the children’s entertainment market, but who am I to judge) – Huntrix are definitely here to show us How It’s Done.
Tom Burrows
Fundamentally, I don’t agree with the idea that anybody ‘should’ or ‘shouldn’t’ like anything. It’s a free world, there are no gates here. But that answer gets me no marks, and wouldn’t make a very good article…
Should like, but don’t
I’ve written about it before; I’m very partial to an eloquent, world-building singer-songwriter. I get lost in the stories they tell. In recent years, these qualities have been attributed to indie folk wordsmiths Adrienne Lenker of Big Thief, Katie Crutchfield of Waxahatchee and Tamara Lindeman of The Weather Station. All have released critically acclaimed albums in recent years, and all seem beloved by people whose music tastes I often share. But for whatever reason, none of them truly connect with me. Lenker has come closest – I do quite like Capacity, Big Thief’s second album. But the works of these artists that have supposedly truly hit the heights of modern classics – whether that is U.F.O.F, Two Hands, Saint Cloud, Tigers Blood or Ignorance – have fallen completely flat with me. The only emotions that resonate are indifference, boredom and sometimes even irritation. And I’m starting to think: maybe that day when they all click is never actually coming.
Shouldn’t like, but do
Shouldn’t like, but do
I was thinking about this brief when, on a solo car journey, ‘Beat Up Chanel$’ by Slayyyter came up on my rotation playlist. With music like this, for me there’s a public and a private self. In public, I’ll awkwardly skip these sugary pop moments on the playlist and question what I was thinking when I added them. In private, on a headphones listen or like this moment in the car, I’m cranking that shit right up. Because, before the notion of taste entered my musical consciousness, my first loves were not the respectable names in my record collection – they were Five, Westlife and the Backstreet Boys. Artificial, ultra-processed tunes designed for the brain’s pleasure centre which I ate right up. And now we’re in an age where there’s a respectable face on these music makers. Experimental pop. Hyperpop. Slayyyter. Underscores. Charli XCX. Do I, a man in his mid-thirties who counts famed miserabilists like Joy Division and Radiohead among his favourite bands, have any business also counting Pop 2 among my favourite records? Probably not. But am I still partial to a sugar rush as pure as the Brat tour? You bet your bottom dollar that I was in that arena with everybody else, and loved every second of it.
Fran Slater
Should like, but don’t
I found it hard to pick a single example for this half of the question. Largely because, when it comes to my musical taste, I am just about arrogant enough to believe that I like all the bands I am supposed to like and all the bands I don’t like are shit. But, anyway, I’ll have a go.
Many of the other Picky Bastards love Wolf Alice. I don’t. The others are so confounded by my hatred of Wolf Alice that every time I make them listen to a rock band with a frontwoman they say ‘how can you like this but you don’t like Wolf Alice?’ Well, my answer is – Wolf Alice are shit, and whatever I just made you listen to is great. So maybe I should be into Wolf Alice. Who knows?
I do always find it a little odd that I like so many of the bands that came up around, and immediately after The Strokes, but I think The Strokes are a streaming pile of garbage. For many people they’re the band at the forefront of that early 2000s sound that was so popular and continues to be influential today. But, yeah – all their songs sound the same so they can get in the bin if you ask me.
And then there are all the older bands that so many of my favourite artists are influenced by. The ones that standout are The Beatles, Pink Floyd, and Fleetwood Mac. If you asked many of my all-time favourite acts to name their biggest influences, many of them would come from that shortlist – but the truth is that later bands have surpassed these ones, and we can now comfortably send them all to Room 101. The world will be a better place for it.
Shouldn’t like, but do
This one, on the other hand, come to me easily. It’s Self Esteem. I was an early adopter of Rebecca Lucy Taylor and her band, seeing them play in tiny rooms and at libraries in the days when three sold out nights in a row at Manchester Academy seemed like an impossible dream. I have seen them live on every tour since, and each album has been a contender for my album of the year in the year came out.
But people are often really surprised by love for them. And I get it. In general, pop music is not a genre I get excited about on a day-to-day basis. Also, if we are going to get really specific about it, Rebecca writes music that is very much for and about the women she represents in her songs. So it would be fair to say that I am maybe not the target audience for this music.
Do I care? Not one bit. Self Esteem’s music has moved me more than anyone else’s over the last few years, and it is pretty much the only gig I go to when I have to let go of all my awkwardness and have a big old dance. So if I have no business liking Self Esteem, I guess that proves that music is for everyone and you can like whatever the fuck you want to like. Unless it’s The Strokes, of course.
Picky Bastards 