Bands that at one time you hated.. but now you LOVE them!

The Weakerthans live in Concert! - festival d'été (Quebec City, Quebec) - July 4, 2008, originally uploaded by Cody La Bière.

I'm sure *some* of us have had this experience, at one time younger in life when you absolutely HATED a musician for some reason, whether that you thought the lead singer looked like a douche bag, they were too mainstream/hipster/loud/boring for your taste, but then one day you start to actually enjoy the same band you... hated. Has it happened to you?

I know it has happened to me before, the largest case of this was the Winnipeg band The Weakerthans. If you know me, I'm VERY much for supporting the local music scene, I believe the music scene starts at home. However, one band I absolutely *HATED* was The Weakerthans. I think it was because one of their songs contained the lyrics "The Guess Who sucked, and the Jets were lousy anyway." That's probably it, being a huge fan of the Guess Who (huge is probably an understatement), I just had to hate the band. When I read the lyrics of One Great City for the first time around 2003 or so, I thought they were a no-name punk band or something. Nope, around the same time I discovered on the old e-zine of CBC Radio 3 (oh how I miss thee), they were the usual slowish alt rock band.

I refused to listen to their music for the longest time, I never went to any of their concerts, but then.. I realized.. wtf?! This band was from Winnipeg, the song One Great City was moreso an observation (and in some cases.. but not really at all.. a satire) of Winnipeg. When their album Reunion Tour came out, I finally stopped being all snobbish against the Weakerthans and gave them a listen.. fiiiinally!

Well, I fell in love with Reunion Tour, it is ONE of my favourite albums of all time (after The Guess Who's Artificial Paradise and a few others). I love the songs like Virtute the Cat Explains her Departure and Tournament of Hearts.

So I went from a guy who HATED the band alot, to someone who proudly wears his "Weakerthans curling jacket" around town here in Brandon, Manitoba! Ha, imagine that! Sometimes you need to let go of your personal ideals, open your mind and try something new!