Metal Sludge Gossip Board

Maybe your girlfriend say "ey come with me to see Michael Buble" or you've been in a cruise and a polynesean band was setting up stage and you say "well let's stick around for a song" and you ended up loving it?
Share your stories.

Not exactly what you are asking as I wasn't "dragged", but a friend of mine brought me to Judas Priest around 2010 (I think) and outside of their 2-3 biggest songs, I don't think I knew any of their music. Many times, sitting through 10-12 songs you don't know and a band you don't really have a connection with can be a drag. Now that I think about it, it was the British Steel 30th anniversary where they played the whole album. So, for someone who's not a fan it's probably not a good tour to go to, but I really enjoyed it despite not knowing a lot of the songs in the setlist. I have since see them a couple of times.

Again, not dragged, but my buddy really wanted me to go see G. LOVE and Special Sauce at Starland Ballroom in NJ. I knew the one big hit and that was it. Had a great time though.

Don't have any great answers, but a couple of close ones:

Had a friend with an extra They Might Be Giants ticket and called me on the way there and picked me up. Can't say I "love it" but it was a good show.

Me and a friend went to see Hank III in SF, who was opening for The Reverend Horton Heat (who I didn't care much about seeing).

On the way, we found out that Hank III cancelled, and considered not going and were like "ahh fuck it we're half way there". RHH was fantastic!

Kieth Urban and LOVED it. Back around 2006 or so and I didn't know a single song, however, he I remember that did like a ten minute Tom Petty medley.

Chicago in the early 90's. Forgot who dragged me, but they were REALLY good.

A few years ago, Luke Combs.

A large group of my friends went and I was against going at first because it’s not hair metal but there was an extra ticket available so I went. It was a great time. The country girls are so hot and had tons of beers and a lot of fun. I knew a few of the songs it was cool. I just would rather have it have been some cool hair metal.

my friend Fred worked at a record store. he got tickets for Stryper and white lion. I was not much of a fan of chjirstian rock. white lion was sub par and stryper blew me away. I spent ten years in church after that show..it was life changing. I am not so much into church at all any more but there were some gems of music among the many junk in the xtian world of music,

If I'm going to a show, whatever it is...I'm gonna find a way to have a great time.

Last one I really didn't want to go to was probably My Son The Hurricane.
Was described to be as "big band" which I'm not a fan of. Turns out, they mix big band with pop/rap/rock. Did covers of anyone from Elton john to Metallica to Chicago to Eminem. Their originals were pretty good as well. Put on a wildly entertaining show..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cztm8r1 ... l=BobMoran

I've seen Paula Cole & Barry Manilow a few times as my wife is a big fan of both. I never listen to either of their music, but they are both excellent live. Barry is fun as you know most every song & the crowd, mostly women, couldn't be any more into it. Paula is more dialed down and just an all around great talent. What with the singing & piano & songwriting, a true pro.

Neil Young and Crazy Horse with Patti Smith opening. A Match.com date took me and bought me dinner. NEVER liked Neil Young but it was a good show. Saw Soundgarden in the same venue (Patriot Centervin Fairfax VA) and they were terrible.

My dad and his friends had an extra BB King ticket more than 40 years ago and I found myself "dragged" to the show. Turns out it was a great concert and the seats were third row in a big theater. Got to go up on stage at the end with a few other people to shake his hand.

Steve Taylor at Magic Mountain in Velencia Ca.

Great show and great guy.

No.

Yes, but not because of the show (Jackson Browne). Our friend got shitfaced on Mad Dog and stuck out like a sore thumb amongst the crowd of aging yuppie hippies. He ended up pissing in his seat... time to go.

Bon iver. Good show. Most pretentious audience ever. I wanted to fight the crowd

Not exactly dragged, but my girlfriend really wanted to see Marty Stuart. We went and it was a great, ass kicking Country show. He came thorough again a few months later and we went to that one too and are going to see him again in a couple months. Another one is Billy Idol, it never would have occurred to me to see him but I bought my girlfriend tickets for Valentine's Day and we saw him a couple weeks ago and the dude killed it. Jackson Browne was another one I probably would have skipped if it weren't for my girlfriend. We saw him at Red Rocks a couple years ago and he sounded great, especially for being 73 and having to deal with the altitude (see below)

The closest I got to being dragged to a show was Jimmy Buffet. Not a fan at all but my girlfriend had tickets to see him at Red Rocks that she bought before Covid and the show kept getting postponed, it was finally scheduled for late 2021 and he was fucking horrible. I didn't care one way or another because his music always sounds horrible to me, but she was a big fan and had seen him before and was so pissed that we left before the halfway point. I honestly thought he may have been in the early stages of dementia, or maybe he was stoned out of his mind or maybe it was the altitude, but it was fucking bad.

I wasn’t dragged, but I was very underwhelmed by the Lollapalooza 93 lineup, especially compared to the first two years. I kinda half-assed dug AIC, Dinosaur Jr, and Fishbone. Never really cared for Primus and still don’t. But my gf wanted to go and so did my best friend and his girl, so I went. It was stupidly hot, so I decided to sit under the pavilion while the rest of my group walked around checking shit out. It was an audience of me and *maybe* 40 other people - tops - when a band I’d never heard of called Rage Against The Machine took the stage and blew the motherfucking roof off. They killed.

Your experience was pretty similar to mine - except I was one of the lucky Philadelphians to see them stand onstage naked with P - M - R - C painted on their chests for 15 minutes.

ArnieCunningham wrote: ↑Fri May 23, 2025 2:52 pm I wasn’t dragged, but I was very underwhelmed by the Lollapalooza 93 lineup, especially compared to the first two years. I kinda half-assed dug AIC, Dinosaur Jr, and Fishbone. Never really cared for Primus and still don’t. But my gf wanted to go and so did my best friend and his girl, so I went. It was stupidly hot, so I decided to sit under the pavilion while the rest of my group walked around checking shit out. It was an audience of me and *maybe* 40 other people - tops - when a band I’d never heard of called Rage Against The Machine took the stage and blew the motherfucking roof off. They killed.

That was my introduction to them as well. I had never even heard of them. Everyone was amazed at how great they were. Easily best band of the day

Not dragged, but in the early 2000's I attended Ozzfest every year.
They had a lot of good bands that I never would have listened to.
Stained, P.O.D., and Linkin Park come to mind.
My oldest daughter who was 14, 15, 16 at the time loved them all.
There were others that I can't think of offhand, but they were all very good live.

keyofgee wrote: ↑Fri May 23, 2025 4:45 am my friend Fred worked at a record store. he got tickets for Stryper and white lion. I was not much of a fan of chjirstian rock. white lion was sub par and stryper blew me away. I spent ten years in church after that show..it was life changing. I am not so much into church at all any more but there were some gems of music among the many junk in the xtian world of music,

Fuck you sound like me, went to see Stryper in 1989 (Was not dragged) and then spent 9 years at church and listening to Xtian bands

No. I've been dragged to four that I can remember:

1) Spyro Gyra while in college. I actually like fusion, but this was "just ok" at best.

2) Smashing Pumpkins in the early 1990s. It was god-awful. The worst concert I have ever seen.

3) Latin singer Emmanuel while living in Venezuela in the late 1990s. It was professional, but it just wasn't very good. And every song finished with the exact same flourish. My girl liked it. I was waiting for it to be over (but I was rewarded later).

4) Gypsy Kings in the early 2000s. They were actually pretty good, but it was so insufferably hot that evening for an outdoor show. I suffered (and was rewarded - after a shower. Or should I say, during the shower.)

Not dragged. My gf in 2001, now my wife of 24 years, bought tickets to Tool for a date. Of course I'd go. I'm not a fan. At all. And didn't enjoy it. At all.

On the flip side, a few years later, I bought tickets to Sarah McLachlan for Valentine's. The only song I partially knew was the one from the dog commercials. It turned out to be a very atmospheric concert, sonically as good as it gets, and a chill and romantic night where you don't notice you're sitting with 20,000 people. I wouldn't go again, but it was good.

Van Ailin' wrote: ↑Sun May 25, 2025 10:02 pm No. I've been dragged to four that I can remember:

1) Spyro Gyra while in college. I actually like fusion, but this was "just ok" at best.

2) Smashing Pumpkins in the early 1990s. It was god-awful. The worst concert I have ever seen.

Spyro Gyra, the Yellowjackets, the Rippingtons, etc. were fusion for people who didn't like fusion. 80s yuppie cocktail party music. And agree that SP blew goats live.

My wife and I had a day off around 1996/97 … was over at her brother’s house hanging out … friend of ours that I played basketball with in high school came over to hang out as well … my friend mentions to my wife and bro-in-law that The Cranberries were playing that night at one of the sheds about 45 minutes from our house. My buddy says he’ll buy all the tickets if I drive them out ( I am always the DD since I’m not a drinker ) … so my wife loved the Cranberries and my bro-in -law and buddy just love to party any way they can … I had ZERO desire to go … but they all wanted to go and we went to our mall ( old fashioned style ) and bought tickets 2 hours before the show at Ticketmaster counter at the mall… we got 12th row center stage … place was sold out when we got there … something like 22,000 people there … Cracker opened the show and they were ok …only knew the one Cracker hit …

Then the Cranberries came on … and I was blown away with the singer’s voice … again I only knew their song Zombie … but her vocals were as clean and crisp as I have ever heard … she was a true professional singer blessed with an unbelievable voice … I ended up having a way better time at the Cranberries concert than I woulda ever thought I could have … it’s a shame the singer died so young. I’ve never purchased any of their music, but I was very impressed !

Back in high school I got dragged to the Club MTV tour at Summerfest in Milwaukee. This tour had Information Society, Lisa Lisa & the Cult Jam, Was (not Was), Milli Vanilli, Tone Loc, and Paula Abdul. I was not happy about going, but it was actually a pretty good time.

Cheap Trick around 2010.

I had zero interest traveling 50 miles to see these guys play, but was completely blown away after watching their set.

ParaDime77 wrote: ↑Mon May 26, 2025 3:08 pm Cheap Trick around 2010.

I had zero interest traveling 50 miles to see these guys play, but was completely blown away after watching their set.

Had you never seen Cheap Trick before 2010? How is that even possible? they've opened for everyone!

Not dragged, to continue a theme,
At The Big Day Out in Melbourne at whatever year it was, in between bands we thought we’d go laugh at these upstart Nirvana clones Silverchair.
Fucken blown away, all of us, at the time only the Tommorow single was available.
They were great from the start.
I saw them twice more over their career and they never let me down.

BootyDaddy69 wrote: ↑Sun May 25, 2025 7:59 pm

keyofgee wrote: ↑Fri May 23, 2025 4:45 am my friend Fred worked at a record store. he got tickets for Stryper and white lion. I was not much of a fan of chjirstian rock. white lion was sub par and stryper blew me away. I spent ten years in church after that show..it was life changing. I am not so much into church at all any more but there were some gems of music among the many junk in the xtian world of music,

Fuck you sound like me, went to see Stryper in 1989 (Was not dragged) and then spent 9 years at church and listening to Xtian bands

the in god we trust was a great tour and album. I had friends that tried to expose me to xtian rock early on in my early teens, but it was lame. around stryper, most was still lame. I did see Petra on the "fired Up" tour. I thought that was good. Their album "Beyond Belief" was good too. So was the mini movie. I went back and looked up early Petra and i found I did like most of their music which I still listen to today. I would go to the local xtian "little drummer" book store, ran by a nice old lady that had a small section of xtian rock. Most bands would have labels that read "Sounds like AC/DC". Sounds like "Iron maiden".
I did like Whitecross. First band I ever saw that i knew for sure were using backing tracks, even though I now know stryper used them heavily. The Rez band was pretty heavy. I toured in a xtian prog rock band for about 5 years. There's a book there for sure..lol.
anyway. I still like the music.