Bands You Hated and Then Realized You Don't Anymore

[Peace Heavy mk II 7200]

So you're trying out a band that you thought seemed interesting and you hate their music. The vocals are lame, you can't even hear the bass, and everything about them just makes you want to grind your teeth. You may or may not have posted somewhere to vent your disgust with this band / artist even existing.

But then you listen to them x weeks later and you still don't particularly like them but it wasn't as terrible an experience as you recall.

You take another short break from listening and then all of a sudden you have an urge to listen to them every so often. This urge happens more frequently the more you give into it's lust. Not that you'd publicly admit to doing any of this though.

Then you wake up and you're a fanboy. Thankfully it's been long enough since your conniption of rage that no one really remembers how much you hated them, but you can't help but feel like a hypocrite in the back of your mind.

This didn't have to happen to you exactly the way I wrote, but I'm sure I'm not the only one who could star on True Life: I Waffled on my Opinion of the Band ___ . This isn't limited to Japanese bands by the way, but since it is a Japanese forum feel free to out your love for various Nihonjin that you formally condemned.

This happened to me with Madeth Gray'll. I tried them out because I read on Youtube (no0b move, stop judging) that Hizaki formally was in this band. This was around the time when I first found out a lot of things, i.e., it was shortly after my realization that that chick playing the guitar has a dick. At around the same time I found out that I didn't hate metal, nor music that's loud, and that I can enjoy Japanese music that varies from T.M. Revolution. Long story short, Hizaki was never in Madeth Gray'll and it was the first time I heard music like that in my life.

My initial thoughts: Wow, this guy can't sing in tune for his life; Why is he screaming so much?; This is just angsty emo music >:C

Eventually I grew out of that and started liking their music a lot more. I still think Hisui has horrible intonation, but I got used to it and used this band to introduce me to other kote-kei bands (or bands of a similar musical / can't sing for my life style).

The only other example that I can think of off the top of my head isn't Japanese, but she's so VK she's WL. I hated Lady Gaga around the time she made her radio debut. At the time, where I lived at least, she only had her song "Just Dance" which was before she realized she could pretty much do whatever the fuck she wants with anything. I actually liked the song when I heard it, but I am accustomed to being around people who hate pop music because it's pop music. Gradually I grew into a closet fan and still liked a few of her songs. It wasn't until this Spring or so that I openly admitted that I like her music. The crazier she became the more I liked her songs. Additionally, the more people bitched about how much of attention whore the more I replied with "that's no way to speak about god." Idgf if you like her or hate her, this is my monologue that's still on topic. :x

Share your to stories!

[dracolicious13 1]

MUCC...Tatsurou is a HUGE turn off..both physically and vocally..but I got past that due to the fact that they DO have good music. < not much of a story D:

[jarrad 1]

This happened to me with Dir en grey, I tried them once didn't like them, then one of my friends a few years later kept pestering me to try them so I did, still didn't like them and kept trying them eventually liking them.

I hated the Gazette at first too, then tried them thought they were decent and eventually I got over them. So long story short I went from disliking to liking to disliking all in a period of a few weeks.

Aicle is another one, I thought that Emiru had horrible vocals and the music was too upbeat for me, but eventually saw that they were actually good and Emiru isn't all that bad.

Other japanese bands also include MALICE MIZER, where the first song I tried was ILLUMINATI and I thought it was horrible. 凛??????時雨, I thought that the vocals were horrible but now they are one of my favourite parts of their music. GACKT, at first I thought he was boring but now I think he is good.

That is all the Japanese things I can think about, but as for other non-japanese stuff this includes the whole genre of metal. I hated it at first but kept trying still convinced I didn't like it but soon realised I did. Specific bands include Strapping Young Lad, Devin Townsend, Children of Bodom (went through a phase where I liked them, now I realised that they aren't that good and Alexi is annoying and I am only listing them because they lead me to melodeath which lead me to my favourite band) and a few others.

[Senedjem 510]

The entire visual kei scene

And then I found out it used to be kind of like really frilly deathrock.

And then I kind of started liking the new shit.

[doaseternity6 93]

Same as Sendejem. At first I was largely turned off by the scene, then I found I liked quite a few a bands in it and even had a phase of trying out as much as could, to now it being pretty mellowed out among my other stuff.

A recent example of a single band though, isn't Japanese but Coheed and Cambria. Years ago I'd only liked maybe 1 or 2 songs from them but largely didn't really care for them. Then earlier this year I was feeling kinda nostalgic and re-listened to those songs on my old ipod, decided to give it another go since my likes have changed a lot since then and now I think they may be the artists I've played the most period this year. I could kick my former self.

[Jigsaw9 6783]

I can think of Alice Nine and Nega. I hated both because of the horrible-sounding vocalists. Since then, Shou kinda learnt to sing better, and I've just gotten used to Jin's voice, lol.

[LIDL 692]

ah yes, this mood swings within music are often happen.

I, of course, went through this phase too.

Mostly because their musical styles changes or fits better with the vocalist.

Some bands just don't know what they're doing until they doing it.

Some just not cut out to growl or scream no matter how they tried and some just have to played instruments than singing.

It's rare for me to leave bands that i already like from the beginning. Doesn't matter how far they had change,

i can always find excuse to still listen to their music, DeG, Buck Tick, and RHCP for instance.

Different case with bands/singers that i liked from a specific album, i either stay faithful or back to abandon them once they are taking another direction in music that didn't suit them or when they are already wore me out, examples: MCR, girugamesh.

Since i always trying to try everything once,

bands/groups/singers that i labeled as 'stay away' will never get my attention, in this case Orange Range and J.Bieber. I somehow do not stand them, ever. I could say they're the first and the only group and solo act that i truly despised, so far. Hell even i listened to Ke$ha and doesn't mind her music so much, just her trashy clothes that makes her look like she smell.

[ramrod 108]

There was two i LOATHED, for no reason.

Shinkou Shuukyou Gakudan NoGoD and Himmitsu Kessha Codomo A (because of the bald guy...)

deadman and mucc were also on my disliked list.

Now i like them all ;D

[sai 868]

Matenrou Opera mainly. I couldn't stand the guy's voice, but I got used to it and now I kinda like them. And Vidoll and Nightmare. Thought it were both talentless bands until I found some songs I really liked. Then I started downloading albums, and now I'm a fan of both.

[Cupcakes 55]

Well, like, everything Tenten related. I couldn't stand his voice D8

Now I do like KuRt, Benii (Kari.), Chemical Pictures and Hanamuke

And DOLL. Loathed them, now dig them.

[tosinn 3]

Hmm... I'd say it's NoGoD and Plastic Tree. I didn't particularly hate NoGoD at first, but I just didn't understand what was so great about them, until I listened to their Gokusaishiki album, that is. And that's when I became a fan. Same thing happened with Plastic Tree, I didn't like them much at first, except for a song or two, but now I can say that they're one of the best bands in the scene. And their Utsusemi album is pure sex.

[TheBistroButcher666 228]

Oh man, too many to list haha.

When I first got into VK I came from listening to mostly death metal and punk bands, so lighter sounding bands I didn't like (BAISER, (early)Rentrer en Soi, NéiL etc). Anything that didn't have excessive screaming. I was pretty much into stuff like DEViL KiTTY, Aliene Ma'riage, Deadly Sanctuary, Noir Fleurir etc etc, it wasn't strictly limited to screamy heavy bands but for the most part that was it. After a break from VK and falling back into metal, I started listening to those 'girly' metal bands I use to not like (power metal (where the guy actually sang)) and after that whole affair and falling back into VK I'm more open about everything. I think it also just has to do with age and getting out of college and working, I'm not so tied down music as being a part of my identity. I don't dress punk rock or VK and hang out with cliquey friends that will disown me if I listen to something that is not approved by the clique.

[Guest]

As far as VK goes I can only think of Kagrra. I think I gave all their first 4 albums as well as all their EPs 10 listens each without falling for them. SO after listening to (at the time) all their albums and EPs, I just gave up on them. Unil I, half a year later or so, heard Sakebi and fell in love. After falling for Sakebi all their albums just lined up to be fallen in love with. But I never hated Kagrra, though.

But that's probably the only "problem" I've had with a good VK band. When that's said, they also ended up as my favourite VK band, and one of my all time favourite bands.

Another band that is not VK is Lifelover. Heard their albums only a few times each, and at the time they had released two albums. Just hated it, actually, and I gave up after only a few listens. I usually give all albums 10 listens, but I disliked this so much I gave up pretty fast. Then a year later I found myself singing this melody on repeat. And after a time of doing that I found out it was the meoldy of a Lifelover song. I checked out the albums again and fell in love! The melody was actually so good I remembered it a year after I last heard the song. And I had heard the song at most two times. Good stuff!

[CAT5 9075]

I think one of the biggest examples of this for me was 凛??????時雨. I was still fairly closed-off musically at the time I'd first heard them (late 06 or early 07), as I remember people drooling over them in the indie thread of some Jpop forum. I'm pretty sure I heard TK's voice and quickly went about my way in fright. It wasn't until the release of "Inspiration is DEAD" that I decided to give them another go.

The album seemed to receive nothing but praise (and by people whose taste I respected), so I felt obligated to check it out. I still hated TK's whiny, ear-gratingly high-pitched vocals, but the musicianship of the band was undeniable. I found myself playing songs, and replaying them, simply to hear some of TK's cool guitar riffs. It eventually got to the point where I could tolerate the vocals, if only to enjoy the music. Though, with the exception of "am3:45" which was sung solely by Miyoko (who I considered the more tolerable vocalist of the two), the band still did not get heavy rotation from me.

It actually wasn't until last year, after the release of "just A moment" that I REALLY started to dig the vocals. Simply tolerating them transformed into an appreciation for them. High-pitched vocals are nothing new in Japan, but TK's vocals are actually distinguished enough that they add to 凛??????時雨's sound methinks.

[SUBLIMINAL 52]

D'espairsRay is, naturally, the only one that stands out as they've come to be my favourite band. The first song I heard was murder freaks, back in '03 when a friend forced an omnibus they happened to feature on upon me. I wasn't at all impressed. It was too... "much," too strange for me as a fifteen year old (who had only been introduced to the kaleidoscopic world of visual kei only a month or two prior) to digest. But it was parasitic. And I kept going back to it at the most peculiar times. I'd find myself humming it and asking myself why because I was sure I had disliked it and eventually, finally, the song and the band burrowed their way into my heart. ♥ murder freaks is also one of my favourite D'espairsRay songs now.

On the flip side, the more I listen to Dir en grey (one of the bands I credit with getting me into j-rock, alongside LUNA SEA) lately, the more I dislike them. Kyo is really starting to grate on my nerves.

I wanted to hate Merry, too, but they ended up growing on me. At least their older material. I'm not a fan of nor do I pay attention their newer releases.

[bakteeri 7]

Gazette.

Back in 2008, I really disliked them. I used to despise everything they did. I always liked Miseinen though. Then I pulled my head out of my ass and realised that they're not that bad, and they do have talent when they want to. Especially when they released Guren. I also really liked Hyena, even though I didn't care about that kind of music at all back then. I listened to some of their old stuff, and I thought Disorder was pretty good. NIL was kinda good too. Even to this day, I think most of SR is pure garbage, but I really started to like them. Then with DIM, I became what you could call a fanboy. And now that they released Red, I like them even more.

I also used to hate everything Miayvi did, but some of his stuff has grown on me too. Especially after the song he did with Sugizo.

[Guest]

Gazette.

I also used to hate everything Miayvi did, but some of his stuff has grown on me too. Especially after the song he did with Sugizo.

That's pretty cool, and it is still his best song. If he would just release an entire album filled with the quality that songs such as Ashita, Tenki ni Naare, Hi no Hikari Sae Todokanai Kono Basho de and Papa Mama ~Nozomarenu Baby~ and Torture. That would have been something to talk about.

I forgot about -Oz-. It was Versus that made me really fall for them. I had heard everything before Versus, but nothing really did anything for me. Something was decent, but not good enough. Hate the shit called SIX. But after Versus everything, except for SIX, has grown on me. So now I really like the old stuff and the new stuff.

[Skidium 15]

Well first band that comes to my mind is Luna Sea. Well i didn't hate them, actually i never have hated any band , but i just thought that their music was boring and i didn't liked Ryuichi's vocals at all, but now Luna is one of my favorite bands.

[Tse 0]

girugamesh, and golden bomber.... have a prejudice about their music, but well, one day i listened a song; and then was a maxi single, and then a mini album, and well... i have the complete discography of both now, hehe...

[Miasma 162]

the GazettE

I think the first song of theirs that I heard was FILTH IN THE BEAUTY, and I really didn't like it, and I still dint' like it much. Then SR came out and I laughed at how bad the album was, so I just deleted it off my computer. A couple of weeks later I saw the video for BURIAL APPLICANT and I grew a small liking to them. Then Guren was released, which I didn't like much, but then i listened to the b-side Kugutsu e, which became my first favorite Gazette song. DIM came out, and I became a fan of theirs.

-OZ-

I had never wanted to listen to them, because I recall seeing their vocalist in a sorcerers hat for a photo-shoot of theirs, which I thought looked pretty stupid. So I kept my distance from their music, yeah I know I was too quick to judge. Then one Sunday on TW I remember somebody had posted their DETOX single and nearly everybody was cumming over how great it was, and I noticed Natuski wasn't donning a sorcerers hat any more, so I gave the single a try. I've been a fan since.

Heartless

lol more judging a book by it's cover... I saw the artwork for their MASQUERADE single and lol'd pretty hard. Again, I ignored everything Heartless-related. Until somebody had uploaded a DVD in which Heartless participated, and said their performance of HORIZON was the best performance of all the bands on the DVD. I had the urge to download it, but I didn't. Until somebody uploaded

onto YouTube and I fell in love with the band. I then decided to download their discography and loved every minute of it. A couple of months later the news of their disbandment came out, and I was pretty bummed. I just hope Rouga and Shuu become active again.

[Number Girl 48]

I used to hate all Japanese heavy metal. I liked visual kei-related metal and I enjoyed non-visual indie hardcore stuff, but I just couldn't stand anything that remotely came from the 80's just because I couldn't take the whole hair thing seriously (ironic that I liked bands like Antic Cafe at the same time, but fourteen-year-olds fail at logic ). Then one day about 2007/8-ish I was lurking in this obscure J-Music forum (after typing in "Dir en grey sucks" Google Search lol), I was told about Loudness and I listened to the song "Let It Go" on YouTube and since then I've come to love heavy metal. Now bands like Anthem are one of my most favorites!

I also used to hate Melt-Banana and Boris. I just couldn't, no matter how hard I tried, get into noisy-type rock (especially Melt-Banana with the vocals). However, one day I just . . . couldn't get enough of it . . . and now those bands are also some of my top favorites along with many other noise-type bands. I think my frequent listening to Number Girl between the time I first listened to them and when I tried them out again, really helped me grow an ear for more "stranger" sounds.

Finally, I used to hate Color and Dynamite Tommy. Now I'm kinda interested in them and have bought a few albums to try out. Tommy's voice and the old raw punkish sound has grown on me in a strange way too (but hey, if you can get comfortable with Melt-Banana's vocals, no band's singer is a challenge). To be fair, I'll also say I used to hate Dir en grey with a passion, but I've realized they have a couple of okay songs like "Yokan" and stuff off Uroboros. I don't think I'll ever fall in love with them and I can't see myself buying their albums or anything, but it no longer invokes as strong of anger within me to see them mentioned. Same with the Gazette. ^^

[ficsci 50]

The entire visual kei scene

Me too, kind of. Well, at first I thought they're annoying, and then I see their genius after listening for the xth time.

Plastic Tree got me into visual kei. I found them on YouTube while looking for ART-SCHOOL. I thought Plastic Tree was "too emo" and, it's not that I hated them, but they made me giggle (like ART-SCHOOL isn't emo enough already, lol). And then I totally fell in love with them. I also giggled at first at Moran and Dir en Grey's old stuff, even though I started listening to them way later.

I didn't like deadman at first too. But I kept trying to listen to them because their fans love them so much. And then one day it just clicked. Same thing with 9GOATS BLACK OUT.

As for before getting into visual kei, I thought the Get Up Kids were really annoying, but then I really fell in love with them right after they broke up. Looking back though, I think the Get Up Kids isn't one of those "annoying catchy" bands. Their catchiness of their later stuff is very well-calculated/constructed, it's not just because they keep blindly repeating cliched cheap tricks. And even before that, I also didn't like Radiohead, but really got into them for a while.

This kind of stuff happens so often that I realized the trend. If I don't like something at first, then maybe i should give it another chance, and another, and another, depending on the reason too I guess. I try to be conscious of why I don't like something. Who knows, I might end up having 1000-5000 plays of them on Last FM, lol.

Hah, and most recently, I just realized the genius of Slipknot's "Psychosocial", and I used to really stay away from that kind of "metal" because of their stupid 12-year-old fans.

[ficsci 50]

Well, like, everything Tenten related. I couldn't stand his voice D8

Now I do like KuRt, Benii (Kari.), Chemical Pictures and Hanamuke

omg, I totally agree with you! I thought he sounds like someone who can't sing but trying so hard to sound cool. But eventually I think his voice is so "ugly" that he's makes such a convincing character. But on top of that, I think he really knows what he's doing, how to create certain impact for the listeners, how to make you want to cry when you listen to him T__T . Actually, until now I think my main reason for listening to CPS is still only because Tenten is their vocalist (sorry, CPS .___.)

[Kyo-sama 0]

Dir En Grey - I hated them, I didn't know why they are so popular at all, I hated the screams, the music sounded uninteresting to me... (I think I've listened to them before I discovered mucc - with them I started to like screams) but then I don't know why I listened Ryouyoku no ame (I found out I'm kinda possessed with a word "ame" so that's why I guess). And I was like ah that's awesome! And I fallen in love with the screams and music! -still in a phase of discovering though-

almost the same goes for System of a down (I just listened to bad songs ) and Maximum the hormone (here I wathed Death note once more time and found out the ending is kinda crazy and awesome in the same time, but I still don't get why they're so popular )

And there're also some artists like this:

I downloaded some album and my feelings from it: "It's not that bad that I have to delete it but not that good I want to listen to it on purpose.." but then, after some time, I found out I love them for example 9GOATS BLACK OUT

or there are also some artists I still hate/don't like - Matenrou opera (I'm lazy to delete them I guess) or Devil Kitty they're horrible to me but the vocalist has so interesting voice (only voice I don't think he can sing) that I just don't want to delete them = that's only my personal opinion so sorry if you love them

[anieresus 270]

Chemical Pictures, I thought they were going to be complete shit D: But they weren't Also, Sound Horizon, and Nightmare.

On the other note, I hated kpop too, until I tried a few groups and I actually liked them D:

I have more bands that I used to like but kinda dislike them now.