Music that you were embarrassed for liking but have embraced as you got older

[KujoJosuke]

When I was 7/8 in 94 I first heard "Only Wanna Be With You" by Hootie & The Blowfish. It led to me getting their album Cracked Rear View on cassette and playing it a ton. But times change, it kinda became a meme to joke about ol' Hootie and his Blowfish. I put them away. I laughed at the fact I liked them, it was just boring rock for suburban dads. Early 2000s arrive and now I'm into pop-punk, emo, post-hardcore. But the past week I've been going back and just re-experiencing stuff from the 80s-90s that I liked, a lot of stuff I had put aside or just engaged with as a 1 hit wonder without really putting any thought into. So on Youtube I ended up watching H&TB's videos for "Let Her Cry" and "Hold My Hand" and of course the song that got me into them, and you know what? It's good fun. Darius has a great voice. He sounds great on "Let Her Cry" especially. I went on Spotify and listened to Cracked Rear View for the first time in like 25+ years. It's good. (it's still kinda goofy but who gives a fuck)


View: https://youtu.be/1aVHLL5egRY

(video for Let Her Cry)

 

[scottbeowulf]

I listened to mostly rock and rap when I was young. So anything pop was made fun of. Now I don't care at all. Give me all the throw away pop, I'll eat it up like a pop glutton I don't care.

 

[Dest]

Creed

 

[blast0rama]

Hootie & The Blowfish is a great example. It's not their fault they blew up as big as they did.

Coldplay would be mine. Specifically the first few albums before they went full U2.

 

[PlanetSmasher]

I had a rollercoaster of a relationship with Queen's Don't Stop Me Now. It was my favorite song of theirs as a kid when I got Queen Greatest Hits Vol. 1 as my first CD ever. Then when I got a little older, I realized the whole song was a gigantic metaphor for gay sex, and as a demi teenager who was trying really hard to present as a "normal" kid in the early 2000s, I got really squeamish and awkward about it.

Then I got a little older and a good deal more comfortable with myself, and it quickly became my favorite Queen song all over again. Toxic masculinity sucks.

 

[Eros]

i've gotten clowned for my general enjoyment of rock and metal growing up. i didn't feel embarrassed for it tho. more like people who made fun of someone for liking music is lame.

 

[AvianAviator]

Vocaloid music.

 

[Exist 2 Inspire]

I really liked the Backstreet Boys when i was a kid lol. Definitely didn't go around telling everybody when i got a CD, nowadays i have zero problem singing along when they come on the radio or whatever.

 

[Drachen]

Loved Linkin Park growing up, felt bad when everyone was mocking them ruthlessly so I stopped listening, rediscovered my love for the first two albums in my 20s

 

[zeher]

In middle/high school I was (still am) really into metal but thought I had to only listen to "true" stuff and that anything "-core" was instantly trash. Now I dgaf and love all the djenty metalcore that's been coming out in the last decade.

 

[KujoJosuke]

i've gotten clowned for my general enjoyment of rock and metal growing up. i didn't feel embarrassed for it tho. more like people who made fun of someone for liking music is lame.

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It wasn't even that I was made fun of directly for liking Hootie or anything. My embarrassment essentially spawned from they way 90s culture changed and treated them like a joke. Hootie & The Blowfish were a joke. They had a stupid name and made music for dads or college frat bros.

Loved Linkin Park growing up, felt bad when everyone was mocking them ruthlessly so I stopped listening, rediscovered my love for the first two albums in my 20s

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Now about LP they hit it big when I was teen but I just didn't vibe with them outside of like Crawling but they didn't stick with me. Then for a long while they were a meme band. I think the re-evaluation of them is interesting nowadays because I had spent years thinking their lyrics were overwrought and ridiculous but no, Chester really was in a lot of pain. I've been watching the vids for In The End, Crawling, Numb, and Faint and stuff this past week and yeah it's good.

 

[SwampBastard]

I listened to mostly rock and rap when I was young. So anything pop was made fun of. Now I don't care at all. Give me all the throw away pop, I'll eat it up like a pop glutton I don't care.

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Same. Coincidentally, I started leaning into enjoying pop music right around the time that GTAV came out and DJ Cara (voiced by Cara Delevingne) had some really great quotes about exactly this sort of thing.

I know, I know. You're too cool for school. You're too cool for pop. You stand there, all moody wondering why girls don't like you. Because you act like a dick. Smile, be happy. Dance. Laugh. Please.

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This is your home for all the music you used to pretend not to like, back when you were trying to be cool. You weren't cool, not ever! Nobody is! It's such a lame concept. It means staring into the middle distant and acting like you're constipated. It's not fun! Be happy! Not cool. And not constipated.

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I know. You only like underground music. You're too cool. You know everything. You've got all the best friends, you've got all the best taste. I wish I was you. Please can I be you friend? You sound great. Loads of fun, a real laugh. Non Stop Pop FM is less serious, and it's actually about having fun.

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You can stop judging people by the kind of music they listen to. There's nothing worse than a music snob. That boy at the party who has a comment about everything and listens to Drake and can never enjoy themselves? Stop being a critic and commenting on everything. Just live your life! You'll feel so much nicer!

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I also remember watching a Triple J cover on YouTube several years ago and them talking very briefly about how awesome pop songs are just before they played a cover of Cher's Believe.


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MmwFnoMoDDg

DMA'S cover Cher 'Believe' for Like A Version

DMA'S do their own version of Cher classic 'Believe' live on triple j.Subscribe | http://bit.ly/2FYj5jC Like A Version on Spotify | https://spoti.fi/2UpMDcU ...

www.youtube.com

 

[BassForever]

I guess video game osts and anime music I was slightly concerned about, but the only people I talked with about music also liked them so it wasn't an issue.

 

[Bladelaw]

Post Black Album Metallica and Linkin Park in general.
Not so much embarrassed just sick of having the same two discussions about both bands (lol Metallica sold out, Napster bad, etc) so I just never put them on when I had company.

Hell add Evanescence, Drowning Pool, or really any Nu Metal to the pile.

 

[Ashionok]

well, pop music in general specifally from female artists when I was younger lol. Glad i'm out of that phase now though.

 

[KujoJosuke]

Post Black Album Metallica and Linkin Park in general.
Not so much embarrassed just sick of having the same two discussions about both bands (lol Metallica sold out, Napster bad, etc) so I just never put them on when I had company.

Hell add Evanescence, Drowning Pool, or really any Nu Metal to the pile.

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Last year I bought my wife the 20th anniversary vinyl for Evanescence's Fallen

 

[John Rabbit]

Ace of Base specifically comes to mind

Really any kind of cheesy, teeny-bop, eurodance kind of pop music. I had the moody, elitist teenager phase real bad and basically shit on all of it for years. But pop music can be real good. Like REAL good.

 

[Jakten]

I've never been embarassed for liking any music. Polka, disco, numetal, yodelling, ska, HiNRG, video game and anime music, muzak, corny cowboy music, corny electronic/eurodance, circus music, internet meme music, silly Japanese new wave, DDR music, top 40, noise, medieval music. Anything. Still remember driving to school with my friends proudly blaring humppa music to the people walking to school. Even as I got older and many friends turned thier back on certain songs or types of music. If it sounds good, it's good.

 

[OrangeKnight]

ABBA. Like the most uncool music you can listen to as a teenager. But I loved it.

Now that I am older I am convinced I was right, ABBA is actually genious

 

[dphrygian]

I didn't have a music scene when I was younger so I only knew what was on the radio. I loved Third Eye Blind and Matchbox 20, and I was never embarrassed about it but I definitely got clowned on a lot by friends who had more specific tastes. I still think those bands' debut albums are all time greats.

 

[KujoJosuke]

I didn't have a music scene when I was younger so I only knew what was on the radio. I loved Third Eye Blind and Matchbox 20, and I was never embarrassed about it but I definitely got clowned on a lot by friends who had more specific tastes. I still think those bands' debut albums are all time greats.

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MB20 is def good

edit: "Unwell" just came up in my youtube mix

 

[xmonkeyofevil]

When I was a kid, everyone at school liked the Backstreet Boys. Everyone. Then Millennium came out and I guess we just got to the point/age where they were hated and you'd get mocked for liking them. Really anything that was straight up pop was just weirdly taboo if you were a guy.

 

[DarthKamen]

Um...my entire musical library?

I had a weird thing growing up where I was embarrassed to admit to liking any form of music, so my family though I was just this anomaly that didn't "get" music.

I mostly listen to 80s-00s rock now though.

 

[Violence Jack]

As a black kid, the looks I got listening to grunge rock in the 90s made me feel bad for enjoying them.

Anime OSTs

I also caught flack for listening to 90s Mariah

 

[Venatio]

Wham! and George Michael. I kept that one a secret as a teenager, but I've fully embraced my love of both as an adult. My first concert was George Michael on his Faith tour in 1988.

 

[Mesoian]

Disco.

Then it will came back around in the electronica scene and now disco is cool again.

 

[mangopositive]

I remember hating Lionel Richie. I hated a lot of great stuff as a child in the 80's, but All Night Long is a freaking banger.

 

[KujoJosuke]

Wham! and George Michael. I kept that one a secret as a teenager, but I've fully embraced my love of both as an adult. My first concert was George Michael on his Faith tour in 1988.

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Watched the video for "Freedom '90" a couple times recently. Good track

 

[Kyuuji]

Pop music stereotypically for women.

 

[NosgothNihilist]

Finally I can reveal my joy for Yanni: A night at the acropolis

 

[KujoJosuke]

Finally I can reveal my joy for Yanni: A night at the acropolis

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this is a safe place, embrace your Yanni

 

[Kor of Memory]

I literally went to Hootie-Fest last year. It was a great time.

I loved my cheesy bands from the 90s.

BNL, Hootie, Everclear, Goo Goo Dolls, and Cowboy Mouth. I had a blast.

 

[JuicyPlayer]

Here's a hot take , The Real McCoy version of "Come and get your love" is better than the Redbone version.

 

[Randroid]

Got bullied for liking emo bands like MCR. I'm over it.

 

[echoshifting]

Basically everything that I like lol. Internalized homophobia thing, so all pop, house, electronica etc. Madonna, Britney, BT…now I roll down the highway blasting Cobrah and Slayyyter haha 💅🤘🤷‍♂️

 

[Lil Bee]

Pop music stereotypically for women.

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This. From guy hating on call me maybe to trans woman losing my shit every time i listen to carly like OH MY GOD THIS IS SO GOOD WHAT THE FUCK

 

[RichardHawk]

None really. I listened to shit like Madonna in high school and never got shit for it. Probably because I was also into black metal and punk.

 

[Sabercrusader]

Honestly I feel music discourse on the Internet in general is so toxic that I've pushed back against it hard in my own life and strove to not care if I like a memey band or song or genre. Like what you like, who gives a shit? You like Nickelback? Wanna look at this photograph? Creed? If that's what takes you higher. Some indie band that's basically barely graduated from garage shows is your favorite band? Great!

I used to feel bad that I still really liked Linkin Park, but honestly, I don't give a shit now. I unironically love All Star from Smash Mouth because I grew up with Shrek.

 

[Kyuuji]

This. From guy hating on call me maybe to trans woman losing my shit every time i listen to carly like OH MY GOD THIS IS SO GOOD WHAT THE FUCK

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*Literally* the best.

 

[KujoJosuke]

Got bullied for liking emo bands like MCR. I'm over it.

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My wife bought me a shirt that says "Elder Emo" on it for christmas. I'm wearing it right now.

 

[Spiritreaver]

Savage Garden/Darren Hayes for sure. First band I ever got into and as a kid I always got the vibe that it was bad+"gay" for a dude to be into it. Even my family sometimes gave me flak for it.

I never stopped listening though and Darren's music has become a core part of me thanks to his songs focusing so heavily on his mental health struggles and growing up gay. My only regret is that I ever was embarrassed by it, that was all on society, not me.

I still want to hear Truly Madly Deeply at my marriage ceremony if that ever happens. Cheesy as fuck, but I would have it no other way.

 

[Dice]

This thread + life experience tells me you should never feel bad for the music you like. It's arbitrary and everyone has "bad taste" in music.

 

[balohna]

Embarrassed isn't the right word maybe, but I was a little bit careful about broadcasting how much I love the Beastie Boys when I was younger. I was really into them for a time to the level that it became a thing I was known for (this was in the late 90s - they were still popular, but not exactly the biggest thing with preteens). Made me back off and downplay how much I actually liked them. Now I'll praise them to anybody. When they had their comeback in 2004 I was 16 and felt like the only person my age that was actually hyped for their new album and not writing them off as corny old men or whatever. They were like 40ish at the time, so it's funny in retrospect with how many rappers are now still releasing music well into their 50s.

 

[KujoJosuke]

Savage Garden/Darren Hayes for sure. First band I ever got into and as a kid I always got the vibe that it was bad+"gay" for a dude to be into it. Even my family sometimes gave me flak for it.

I never stopped listening though and Darren's music has become a core part of me thanks to his songs focusing so heavily on his mental health struggles and growing up gay. My only regret is that I ever was embarrassed by it, that was all on society, not me.

I still want to hear Truly Madly Deeply at my marriage ceremony if that ever happens. Cheesy as fuck, but I would have it no other way.

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And then anime JoJo's Bizarre Adventure uses I Want You as an ending theme and Darren was so happy.

Band rules.

 

[Anoregon]

90's eurotrash dance music. Was way to cool for anything even close to that as a teenager, but now I'll get down to some La Bouche at the drop of a hat.

 

[TheMadTitan]

Nothing. The only thing I pretended to not like as much a I actually did growing up was anime. Music was largely fair game.

edit: I guess anime music now that I think about it.

 

[Spiritreaver]

And then anime JoJo's Bizarre Adventure uses I Want You as an ending theme and Darren was so happy.

Band rules.

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Yes!!! Blows my mind that it was featured there. The comments section on the music video makes me smile every time.

 

[J_ToSaveTheDay]

I got into Death Cab For Cutie around the time that Transatlanticism came out and I was still in high school, but was embarrassed to express that enjoyment because I also grew up in an environment where toxic masculinity was normalized. So I never listened to it in ways that I thought others could hear. Oddly enough, I was also super into Weezer at the time and was very open about that, but that also caught me a lot of flak in that environment (never any brutal or memorable bullying but it got a lot of micro aggressive comments about my taste in music). Maladroit was the most recent Weezer album by the time I graduated, and Make Believe came out like a week or two after I finished high school. I just vaguely remember the local radio station actually playing Weezer and Weezer being featured prominently on MTV, so I figured since it was so visible, it would be less of a problem.

When I graduated and moved off to college, I was just plainly open about my enjoyment of Death Cab For Cutie, and Plans came out my freshmen year of college and I listened to it out loud so much that people I knew back then still associate that album with me lol.

But yeah, even just reminiscing about it makes me kinda do a double take about how my insecurity worked when I was in high school in ways I hadn't though about in a long time, like I just got triggered back to those memories. So weird, but at least I don't feel any reason to feel anything like that anymore.

 

[Reym]

Mine was Linkin Park, but I see that's already been addressed.

Basically the very idea of mocking someone for their music is really strange to me. Like, I do get, humans love to feel superior to each other, but art in general and music in particular is just so personal. A piece of music can become important for a wide variety of reasons that have nothing to do with quality.

If you ever feel bad about your music taste though, rest easy. I love show tunes and I will always say it loud and proud, so I can be the punching bag.

 

[KujoJosuke]

If you ever feel bad about your music taste though, rest easy. I love show tunes and I will always say it loud and proud, so I can be the punching bag.

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When I was young my mom took me to see the Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat musical with Donny Osmond, I remember being really into the songs and even getting the soundtrack on tape. I haven't listened to any of that since the mid 90s but I was thinking about it the other day.