As a flipside (B-side?) to Linda's Losing your love for an artist retroactively, who are some artists that you used to really dislike until something suddenly made you love their catalog?

For me, the most egregious example would be the Beach Boys -- all through my teen years and early-to-mid-twenties I utterly dismissed them as just a lame pop band who had nothing of value -- and then in '87 the Sgt. Pepper CD was released and PBS was running a "Making Of" special to coincide with the 20th anniversary of its release, and Paul was talking about what a huge influence Pet Sounds was on the making of Pepper and they played snippets of "I Know There's An Answer" and "God Only Knows" and the instrumental break for "Here Today", which absolutely blew me away, and then someone threw "Good Vibrations" on a mix-tape for me and I was reformed.

I never owned a Grateful Dead record until "Touch of Grey" went Top 10. The whole Deadhead thing turned me off, and, while they're still not one of my favorite bands, in retrospect they made some fine music.

With me it was Chris Rea. I never knew that much about him and kind of wrote off "Fool (If You Think It's Over)" as a kind of one-hit wonder. Over the last couple of years, I've gotten to know more about his recent stuff and have slowly been going backward. Sometimes he remind me a little of Mark Knopfler, but in general I just think he's a really talented guy.

Just about any old-school country artist--Loretta Lynn, Johnny Cash, etc. When I was a kid, I hated country music (pretty much because I grew up in the suburbs) but when I got older, I came to appreciate that sort of old-school Nashville songwriting.

Rush & Scorpions come to mind. Thin Lizzy also.

Late comer to Grateful Dead. Took American Beauty to be featured in Freaks & Geeks for me to get interested. Now I own all the studio albums and the majority of the official live releases.

Bee Gees.

I saw them do "This Is Where I Came In" on Letterman and was really impressed. Picked up that album and liked most of it.

Their 2-disc comp "The Record" came out shortly thereafter, and it opened me up to all their pre-disco stuff, so then I filled in the back catalog.

Linda Ronstadt finally won me over with "Mad Love" and "Get Closer," which eventually made me listen to and appreciate almost all that came before. But then she lost me again with the Nelson Riddle albums and all the "Canciones." Lured me back intermittently, with "Cry Like a Rainstorm," "Winter Light" and "We Ran, " all of which I still like and listen to.

Another artist that pops into my head is The Byrds. For years I associated them with a particularly annoying commercial for Time magazine which endlessly repeated the chorus of "Turn, Turn, Turn", and all I really owned of them on CD was their live set on the Monterey Pop box set which was punctuated by a band member's (David Crosby?) inane between-song ramblings. But I picked up a $20 used copy of their 1990 boxed set earlier this year and was amazed by a bunch of the vintage album stuff that I'd never heard before, and then I bought a Roger McGuinn best-of (from our very own Geff) which was also pretty good.

Rush, Metallica, Iron Maiden for examples - should have related at the time - as the 80s was my 14 - 24 period, but I was into 60s - 70s, and then punk and new wave and all things 'college radio' - so had no time for all that shit...now I love it...never got into the 'hair bands' though - I do give props to Bon Jovi just for endurance...

Listened to maybe 20 seconds of Anarchy for the UK before dismissing the Sex Pistols in the 70's. Passed on seeing them live during their '78 tour of small venues throughout the U.S.

Put on my wife's LP of Never Mind the Bollocks twentyfive years later and understood what the fuss was about.

Another vote for Rush here. In high school I dismissed them as just another "heavy metal" group with a screechy singer. I also thought "Tom Sawyer" was totally overplayed. But in college one of my friends introduced me to their newer material (Presto, Roll The Bones) and took me to see them live. After that, I gained an appreciation for their earlier albums, and now I rank them among my favorite bands.

I think for me with Rush i was as a teenager & young adult I considered "commercial arena metal" bands like Rush & early Scorps beneath me. Then in my late 20's I listened to some of these bands & reailised i liked them. I actually went on a kick where the Scorpions were my favorite hard rock band band for a year or so in the late 80's after dating a Scorpions fan & then seeing an amazing show in Spokane, Wa.

I have an old KBFH Vinyl LP of Ian Hunter where Rush is the "other" band. I think that's what turned me on to Rush.

I completely agree!

I'm with you, Jimbo - although I'm a little more partial to their early-1970s country rock.

Almost the same deal, here. I don't own any of their albums but American Beauty is a beautiful song.

Allman Bros. I used to think they were lame but now I have a handfull of songs I like, by them.

I really love John Mellencamp's new album, but I've never liked any of his hits. Perhaps I should go back and check out his lesser known material.

For me, it's The Smiths.

Two come to mind.

Springsteen. The first album of his I bought was The Seeger Sessions, which encouraged me to sample his earlier stuff.

Dylan. Had a greatest hits when I was 20, but only really explored beyond that 20+ years later when I grabbed some of the SACDs of his earlier stuff.

The Rolling Stones. At one time I let their bad boy image and the "worlds greatest rock and roll band" hype get in the way of my enjoyment of the music. Also, there was that whole stupid Beatles vs. Stones argument, as if you could only enjoy one or the other. I slowly turned around, buying a single here and a hits collection there, and I now consider myself a fan.

Duran Duran for me. All to much MTV exposure and all initally but when they fell out of favor and honed in their craftmanship I became a big fan. Some of their later stuff really excited me and now with the reissues I am really gaining an appreciation.

Rick A.