to answer the question, i absolutely loathe dave matthews' music. and no, i'm not close-minded (unless you think somebody with 5000+ albums can be). when i first heard about him, i was in high school and hung out with some deadheads who tried to turn me on to DMB. i read some stuff about them, how they were multi-racial, had a sax player and a violinist, mixed jazz and folk with rock, etc., and was intrigued. when i finally heard it, i was appalled by matthews' annoying vocals and lack of balls or beauty in any of the music. and what's worse, they've only gotten lamer over the years.
and i hate it when DMB fans refer to him as "dave" and expect you to know who they're talking about. oh really, you saw "dave" last night? i'd rather think of dave fucking navarro instead (and that's not saying much).
anyway, some other random thoughts:
and I've gotten back to my obsession with the late 70's LA punk scene: The Weirdos, the Germs, X, and best of all...the Screamers.
mucho points for dropping the screamers, chaz. i finally just got a collection of demos and outtakes on vinyl. groundbreaking stuff that has (directly and indirectly) influenced a couple of generations of synthy post-punk.
i know it's hip to hate the dead, but i ain't buying it. they were a great live band in the '60s and their records weren't too shabby, either. i like them pretty much up until 1975, and then they got bad pretty quick. you can say the same thing about genesis, steve miller, and fleetwood mac (though i can find some worth in their california cokehead phase). i did see them a couple of times in the early '90s and those were two of the worst shows i've ever seen.
the allman brothers were also great on record until 1975. though they sucked less than the dead, their records were just predictable exercises on the same formula. however, i have seen them live a couple of times as well and they were terrific (though i have no idea what they're like without dickey betts and with derek trucks). i'm not really intrigued enough to bother, though if someone gave me a free ticket, i wouldn't turn down an opportunity to hear "blue sky" or "whipping post" live again.
i hate phish but not as much as DMB.
