TOP 10 Bands You Wouldn't Expect Us To Like

As you should know, Andy and I prefer rock music with a special spot for grunge. His favorite band is Soundgarden; mine is Pearl Jam. But we are all guilty of branching out into unexpected/embarassing genres. The ten bands below are bands that are either are far cry from grunge, or just flat out awful. But it's not our fault; love finds you, you don't find love...

Dave has ranked the bands we picked. His list is designed to reveal more the embarassing picks as we approach number one.

10. Michael Jackson (Andy's Pick) - Yeah he's pretty much a pedophole and an overall insane individual, but simply put, arguably one of the better musicians of all time in any genre and an absolute top-notch performer. "Billie Jean" is a top 100 all-time song. It's ok to like Michael Jackon, well, his music, I'm still trying to tell myself that.



9. Simon and Garfunkle (Herb's Pick) - Before I listened to "real" music (that didn't happen to college), my tastes were swayed by what I heard in movies. My playlists were made of film scores and soundtracks, and the soundtrack to The Graduate was phenomenal. It's hard to explain what's great about the soft tunes and melodies of S&G because it's the polar opposite of the screeching and hollering in rock music. Still, they have some sort of magical quality to their sound, and it's really quite beautiful. "Sound of Silence," "Mrs. Robinson," "April Come She Will," etc. etc. All great tunes. Below is my favorite, "Scarborough Fair."




8. Robert Palmer (Herb's Pick) - I came across a lot of his stuff while endlessly searching for GOOD songs for my wedding reception. He had a handful of hits in the 80's, and after listening to "Simply Irrestible," "Addicted to Love," "Some Like it Hot," and "Bad Case of Loving You," I downloaded his Best Of compilation album. Not only is the music a lot of fun, but his cheesy 80's music videos are hilarious. Check out Simply Irresitible below. As one internet commenter put it, "It's like porn for CEOs."

Robert Palmer - Simply Irresistible



7. Bob Marley and the Wailers (Andy's Pick) - I guess it's fairly in vogue to be a fan of Bob Marley. All of the "music experts" in high school and college wore the Marley shirt, smoked a little weed, and listened to some of his tunes. Me, being firmly entrenched in the 90s grunge movement, and often ridiculing other bands and genres that don't fit my specific needs, it wasn't my thing to listen to a lot of reggae. That being said, I am kind of a pocket Bob Marley fan. A lot of the Rastafarian's tunes have been covered including some pretty big hits by Johnny Cash and Eric Clapton, but it's tough to beat the original versions. Whenever "No Woman No Cry" is on the radio, the volume is turned up and the channel does not change.



6. the Beach Boys (Herb's Pick) - No great story behind this pick. I was going to VA Beach in 2005 and needed some beach tunes to get in the mood. Being the lazy person that I am, I figured the Beach Boys would do the trick, and they did. "Kokomo," "I Get Around," "Sloop John B," their hit list is practically endless. When they were on my master playlist, there was something pretty awesome about chuckin' grenades and shooting guys in the head on Call of Duty while singing along to the Beach Boys.



5. Creed (Andy's Pick) - This probably doesn't come as too big of a surprise as I have exclaimed my liking for Alter Bridge, Creed minus Scott Stapp, on this very website. The problem with Creed is that they became too big. It's a problem when a rock band starts having their songs played on pop stations. Right now Mark Tremonti is one of the better guitarists in rock with AB but was a little hindered with Creed. A little too popular and a little too preachy spelled doom for the cool crowd following, but I still sometimes listen to their greatest hits, and it's still enjoyable.



4. Brooks and Dunn (Herb's Pick) - The only pick I regret. And I mean realllllly regret. If you have to pick one country artist to like, it might as well be Brooks and Dunn. They don't have that twang, twang, twang redneck sound to their music, and they aren't tweeny-bopper pop country like Rascal Flatts and Kenny Chesney. Still, I am disappointed that, for a brief period in late 2005 (my World of Warcraft phase), I downloaded 5 or 6 songs from Napster and held on to them for about a month. For that I am sorry.



3. Hall and Oates (Herb's Pick) - Another band that I got into when looking for fun wedding reception music, Hall and Oates are awesome. I secretly enjoy dancing by myself to their hit songs. A couple weeks back when we had our 1 year anniversary, I posted the SNL Weekend Update clip where they parody "You Make My Dreams Come True" for the election. But seriously, "I Can't Go For That," "Out of Touch" (from the awesome GTA: Vice City soundtrack), "Rich Girl," "Maneater," "Private Eyes," these are all great songs, and leagues ahead of the filth you'll see in the next two entries



2. Jon Bon Jovi (Andy's Pick) - The grunge movement was a response to the crappy rock that characterized the 1980s, and it's now ironic that I am listening to more 80s stuff after experiencing all the grunge for so many years. Yeah chicks and homos like Jon Bon, but the hit songs are pretty good. Rock band players know "Wanted Dead or Alive" and pretty much everyone else recognizes "Livin on a Prayer" and "You Give Love a Bad Name." Even some of their newer stuff is good, I always thought "It's My Life" was a solid song.



1. Nickelback (Andy's Pick) - Chad Kroeger and crew falls into the same trap as Creed. They got way too popular. Silver Side Up is by far their best album, released in 2001, it contains and plethora of their best hits, "How You Remind Me" and "Too Bad." Since that album, they starting singing slower songs and mainly just chicks went to their concerts. Over the past five years or so their hard-rock, fast songs have still been pretty good, but their slow, pedestrain songs, which attracted all the chicks and gays, made them sort of an embarrassing band to like. Even with that said, if they came out with a greatest hits, I'd still probably buy it.

Nickelback - Rockstar