"I never could get into The Chambers Brothers. They make good records, but I never could get behind it"
About this Quote
A perfect little portrait of taste as both confession and quiet power move. Bruce Johnston isn’t trashing The Chambers Brothers; he’s doing something more revealing: granting craft while withholding allegiance. “They make good records” is the polite, musician-to-musician nod, a recognition that the work functions. But “I never could get into” and “couldn’t get behind it” draws a line between technical respect and personal or cultural identification. In pop, that gap is everything.
The phrasing is tellingly inert: no specific complaint, no spicy anecdote, just an inability. That “never could” casts taste as destiny, like a bodily reaction you can’t argue with. It lets Johnston stay above the fray while still signaling membership in a different aesthetic tribe. “Get behind it” hints at more than listening; it’s about endorsement, about the social act of standing with a sound. The Chambers Brothers weren’t just a band; they were a collision of gospel, psychedelia, and Black Southern grit that hit the late-60s rock mainstream with something raw and un-sanitized. To not “get behind” it can read as discomfort with that intensity, or simply the mismatch between Johnston’s polished, harmony-forward pop sensibility and their harder, funkier edge.
There’s also a gatekeeping subtext that’s common in music scenes: you can praise someone’s “records” while implying they don’t belong in your personal canon. It’s the softest way to say, “Not my world,” while keeping your credibility intact.
The phrasing is tellingly inert: no specific complaint, no spicy anecdote, just an inability. That “never could” casts taste as destiny, like a bodily reaction you can’t argue with. It lets Johnston stay above the fray while still signaling membership in a different aesthetic tribe. “Get behind it” hints at more than listening; it’s about endorsement, about the social act of standing with a sound. The Chambers Brothers weren’t just a band; they were a collision of gospel, psychedelia, and Black Southern grit that hit the late-60s rock mainstream with something raw and un-sanitized. To not “get behind” it can read as discomfort with that intensity, or simply the mismatch between Johnston’s polished, harmony-forward pop sensibility and their harder, funkier edge.
There’s also a gatekeeping subtext that’s common in music scenes: you can praise someone’s “records” while implying they don’t belong in your personal canon. It’s the softest way to say, “Not my world,” while keeping your credibility intact.
Quote Details
| Topic | Music |
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