The Things We Do For Love: Stories of Current/Ex's Questionable Taste In Music

We had a jumbo rat repeatedly in the garden the other week, pissing off the birds and stuff. During several days attempting to get it, I got Roland Rat stuck in my head, grrr

One of our foxy fox friends got it eventually, phew. Poor rat sod but there we go. At least it didn’t make a record while it was here.

 

Been there with other women and other artists. It's the visual thing.

 

Just like a friend of mine. He just loved Olivia Newton-John back in the 80s. I gave him several of my LPs when I bought the albums on CD. He was so pleased.

I never heard him play the music, though, and he never knew any of the songs. Strange, that. (I was gay, so this was uncharted territory for me. To a certain extent, at least.)

 

A girl I dated in 2003 -- the last one before I met my wife -- thought Kenny Frigging Loggins was a musical genius, the greatest songwriter the world had ever known. It was so hard to pretend to take her seriously when she told me this. She also liked Corey Hart and thought "Intuition" was Jewel's best song. After dating me for about three months, she took a liking to my best friend of fifteen years, and he left his wife for her. Unfortunately, my friend and I drifted apart, but it saved me from having to listen to any more Kenny Loggins.

My wife is really easygoing when it comes to music. Our tastes overlap a lot, but she has a higher tolerance for stuff outside her preferences than I do for stuff outside mine. The one band I love that she really hates is Dire Straits, which seems like an odd choice. I think I listen to a lot of music more off-putting than theirs, none of which she's strongly objected to.

 

There’s a TV episode, or even an art installation in that story somewhere, just waiting to happen.

 

My wife loves The Fall, Robert Wyatt, Chic, Ellington, Mingus, Joni, Steely Dan, and The Beatles (among many others). I consider myself very fortunate.

 

Sorry Bruce scares ya!

 

Ha! I do wonder how many Bruce shows I would've seen if she and I'd stayed together.

I saw Bruce 14 times in 1999-2000 - she went to 42 shows, though she said some of that was because her then-boyfriend was a Bruce fanatic as well, so they'd travel together.

I have no doubt that if we'd been together in 2002-03, I would've seen Bruce even more than the 30 shows I went to on that tour!

 

It's sort of the opposite with me. I'm down with pretty much everything my SO likes, but oftentimes I'll be playing something and receive a "You like this?" response, usually said with a combination of amusement and horror.

My Simply Red, Streisand, and Oasis collections only get played over headphones, or when I have the place to myself.

 

Ooh, that reminds me. I semi-dated a woman in 1994 who thought Debbie Gibson was a musical genius.

Seriously.

I disagreed - I didn't say DG was untalented, but I didn't think she was anything special. That drove this woman nuts.

She was never a girlfriend - I never even tried to kiss her, as I could never quite decide if I found her attractive enough - but damn if she didn't love her some Debbie!

 

Not "scare", I just find his personal style distasteful. And I've never been impressed enough by his music to bother to try to work past that distaste.

 

Give Barry M. another chance. He rocks. Spinning a greatest hits of his as I type.

 

I don't know if I would use the term semi when it comes to dating. Check out the slang definition.

 

Different form me is not equal to questionable. I keep an open mind, and find a few things I like that I didn’t expect.

 

I find it perplexing that you class a man's 50-year history of "style" as one big lump, as though he's Angus Young and has worn one outfit for all that time. All because some dudes in HS hassled you!

 

Barry Manilow is schlock's greatest achievement?

 

That implies there's a smutty definition, but here's what I found:

"A semi-date is an encounter between members of the opposite sex or of the same sex, whereby at least one of the aforementioned members is attracted to the other and hopes that the friendship becomes something more."

And that's actually what happened with this woman in 1994. I'm pretty sure she wanted us to really date, but I never did anything to push that way.

It was weird. We only went out every three weeks or so, and I was never sure if I wanted to go out.

I'd think "maybe I should give J a call", but she's always end up calling first.

We'd talk and then I'd ask her out just because it felt like I was supposed to.

And I'd pay for the dates - again, because it felt like I was supposed to.

But it was never romantic - and I guess it's possible she was fine with that. She always could've made a move if she wanted to do so.

I remember that as the months wore on - we "dated" maybe 5 months - she'd get nastier to me on the phone. She'd start to criticize me more - to the point where I would think "if you hate me so much, why do you keep calling me?" since I literally never initiated contact.

Eventually I was aloof enough on the phone that she got the hint!

 

I am grooving to Copacabana as I type.

 

I've said before, I agree with him politically, we'd probably get along if we hung out, but he dresses like a high school bully and I've never been impressed by his songwriting - especially his lyrics. I'm under no legal obligation to like every songwriter, performer or band and I can dislike someone even if my reasons are petty.

As I said on a previous thread, it's no great loss for either me or Bruce. It's not like he exactly needs another 50-ish, overweight, balding white guy fan.

 

Wow. I learned something new with that one.
Sorry I have dirty mind.
Now that I think about it, around 90% of my dates were semi-dates. Unfortunately I was usually on the losing end.

 

I did enjoy that song when I was a kid.

Saw Barry live in 2008 - tickets were $10 (face value) so I figured why not? Got upgraded to better (more expensive) seats because the show didn't sell that well.

Pure schlock!

 

We all like different things. I have to admit, when that final chorus (modulates) shows up in Weekend In New England, I cannot be around others because I lose it.

 

I couldn't care less if you enjoy Bruce's music. Love him, hate him, think he's meh - I'm not debating that.

I just don't understand the apparent attitude that Bruce chose one style of dress and never changed.

Either you do believe that Bruce always dressed like he did in 1984-85, or your bullies boasted an enormous variety of sartorial choices!

 

I think you're referring to a "semi" as

Spoiler

a partial hard-on

.

I know that definition, in which case yes, I had dates that caused that interpretation of the word "semi", but I never referred to them as "semi-dates"!

I just used the term to mean "date-like occasions where it was unclear if they were actual dates"!