The ABC's of Rock n'Roll--A Personal Odyssey
Submitted by jgandcag on Tue, 02/27/2001 - 03:12
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- A-Aersomith- Okay it basically came down to Aerosmith and AC DC. With me being Boston born and bred, I had to go with the Hometown discount. Of course if I had to choose a band whose music I want for the 23 hour drive of eternity, Im going with AC DC; loud and screaming into that not so gentle night.
Another reason for going with Aerosmith is their collaboration with RUN-DMC on "Walk this Way", a very influential record which has impacted Music on many levels. Some which I have personal and philosophical differences. However,I can not deny the impact. I almost didn't choose them for basically regurgitating the same song again and again with their latest reincarnation. Its a good tune and I know originality is the first thing to go when you become superstars but this is bordering on pathetic. Can you sue yourself for plagiarism?
Personal note I once saw Aerosmith in a warehouse practicing in Waltham Massachusetts when I was 10 or 11. I still remember it very vividly. Lots of Booze and arguing. I stayed for about a half hour with my cousin who knew someone who got us in. Great childhood memory that once almost got me laid from a drunken girl who believed I was close to the band. Not when I was 10 but rather in college when I told the story too many times. Also considerd for the A's - Tori Amos, very underrated, Afghan Whigs, The Animals, probably number #3 in the ratings, The Alarm, The Allman Brothers. - B-Beatles- B Might be the most difficult letter to choose in this list. I know what you are saying "What are you talking about fool?" Most people say the Beatles are the greatest group in Rock and Roll history; its a slam dunk. For those doubters, I have three names for you; Beach Boys, James Brown and Chuck Berry. Three of the most influential musicains or groups in the History of Popular Music. I say Chuck Berry has had more effect on the path of Music than the Beatles. His Guitar riff is found in almost all subsequent types of Rock and Roll. The Beatles actually win because their music is better, simple as that. Check out my rankings of groups and individuals with the name beginning with B for the complete list of B's. It is a pretty impressive list.
I remember the first time I heard the Beatles. It was in 1967 and I heard the Sgt Peppers Lonely Heart Club Band album that my Mother bought. I remeber it because my Mother was more likely to play Tom Jones, Dean Martin or Frank Sinatra and this certainly wasn't that music. My Mother told my Father she bought it because it was good Music. my Mother was a cool lady. - C-Ray Charles-. Another tough letter to choose. it came down to three- Brother Ray, Elvis Costello and Credence. I probably like Elvis best but this list isn't stricly my taste. Ray Charles shaped Rock and Roll music long before he came a shill for the conglomerate that is Pepsico. I always give him a little slack because when he was making great music..he wasn't making great money. If you only know him from his Pepsi ads, may I suggest "The Best of Ray Charles; The Atlantic years". But let me warn you, if you like that one its not long before you are going to want "Genius & Soul: The 50th Anniversary Collection" This is a not cheap 5 cd Box Set.
My personal note on this letter doesn't have anything to do with the greatest artists. It has to do with Jim Croce, probably best remembered for Leroy Brown and dying young. Out of all the Albums I have ever owned I think I can safely say I have played Jim's "Phtographs and Memories:His Greatest Hits" more than any other (this might make a great cross-lister list-most played Albums). Now I think I have pretty good and somewhat sophisticated taste in Music and Jim Croce is not usually considered great Rock and Roll, but to me it is. My Mother passed away when I was 16. It was 1977 and boy was I one pissed off sad teenage boy. Not the greatest company, I stayed locked up in my room for hours and invariably this Album would be played a few times. Every time I heard the song Photographs and Memories, I would just cry and cry. It was those tears and that song that helped me overcome my grief. This is a great example of what I am trying to do with this list. I think great music more than almost any form of popular entertainment is wonderfully subjective. What touches one person can mean nothing to another. that is the beauty of it. Whatever moves the soul is great. - D-Bob Dylan-Bob Dylan is a great study of Rock and Roll superstardom. My question for this listing is what would Bob Dylan be if he was born in the 1800’s instead of the 1900’s; a poet, a farmer, a minstrel, a curiosity and/or an outcast. With the explosion of Mass-market culture that was the latter half 20th century he is an icon, a superstar (certainly a 20th century term), a voice of his time and ultimately a recluse/outcast. Is this progress? Probably but don’t you think ol Bob would enjoy the 1800’s a little better. Dylan is the run away winner for the D’s. I love Fats Domino and Dire Straits but they are a very distant second and third.
Personal suggestions for the letter D include Iris Dement and Del Amitri. As I am not a great barometer of what is popular anymore I don’t know how famous these 2 are but I love a lot of their stuff. Iris’s voice is an acquired taste but if you don’t mind it you will find some of the best lyrics and melodies to come out of the Folk scene in the last 10 years. Del Amitri is a Scottish band that had a hit a few years back with the song “Roll to Me”. Nice Catchy folk-rock stuff with a great voice fronting them. - E-Everly Brothers- Cathy's Clown is one of the finest examples of Springsteen's "We learned more from a three-minute record than we ever did in school" quote than I can think of. Every guy alive has had a relationship like this one."I've gotta stand tall,You know a man can't crawl,For when he knows you're tellin' lies,And he lets them pass him by,He's not a man at all" Hell there is so much wrapped up in those four lines. Is the woman telling lies? Is the singer paranoid or has pride taken over because he imagines people are making fun of him. You know the answer is somewhere in the middle just like almost all answers are. I challenge you to look at all their stuff and not marvel at the craft of their writing. Sparse, concise songs that tell so much in so little. Put all that to some great music played by great musicians and you have magic. If only some of the musicians of today would listen to this stuff.
The letter E has some eclectic choices. Steve Earle is one of my personal favorites, I loved the English Beat back in the eighties and Dave Edmunds has almost always impressed me as a great Pop musician. - F-Aretha Franklin-. I am a lapsed catholic bordering on a totally failed catholic, but the indoctrination of my childhood sometimes leaves me doubts of my disbelief. It also has left me with a great case of the guilts, but this is probably a good thing. My disbelief of a supreme being is seriously challenged when I hear Aretha sing. Some higher power must be responsible for something so sweet and powerful. Despite my religiuos indifference, I find her gospel music to be some of the best music made in the last 50 years. The raw emotions of love and desire that can be heard in that voice, in that presentation in those performances is truly awe inspiring.
If she never turned to secular music, I think she would still be revered for her talents but Aretha was the right woman at the right time to lead women into the Rock and Roll universe. There had been women before Aretha who were stars like Ruth Brown, Etta James; tough no nonsense blues singers who where marginal stars and great singers. There was also the girl groups; male created fantasies of what men (Like Phil Spector)thought women were like and what they should be like. Darlene Love, The Crystals and also Motown's (Berry Gordy's Fantasies)Supremes, Mary Wells etc... This is all wonderful music but certainly did very little to tell a woman's story from a woman's point of view. Then came Aretha, it was the mid to late sixties and the world was changing, women were being listened to and Aretha had something to say. I vacillate, but many times I think the song Respect as sung by Aretha Franklin might be the defining moment in Rock and Roll history. She tells everyone who cares to listen. No more, I am here and all I want is some respect for being who I am. It gets me everytime. - G-Marvin Gaye-. Marvin Gaye is still the greatest artist to come out of Motown studios. If Aretha helps me believe in a higher power, Marvin Gaye is a strong damnation for organized religion and all its inflexibilities. Like many great artists of all expression, Gaye was a product of a complex home life and a troubled soul. These conflicts and demons helped shape his art and ultimately led to one of the more hideous forms of death; killed by your own father-a pentacostal Minster. I once heard him called a sensualist and I always liked that term. Barry White should listen to Midnight Love to try to get his schtick done right. Yet that is only a small part of a great career. We had the sweet Gaye of his early sixties and Duet career, We had the confused Gaye of the Late Sixties and ultimately we had the angry everyman, voice of his people in his masterpeice "Whats going On"
My personal note for the letter G is for a band that got a cursory thought for the top spot; The Grateful Dead. I am an exception to the rule that either people love or hate the Dead; I am indifferent. I find some of their stuff is pretty good and some of it is a dreadful excuse for musicians too stoned or simply not good enough to come up with enough material to fill out albums and concerts. However, I want to talk about their infamous fans known as Deadheads. I am a child of the seventies suburban lifestyle and to that particular species of teenager the Dead was a lightning rod of separation. You were a Deadhead or you hated the Dead. Even as a teenager, I was somewhat astute enough not to hate too much in life, but the Dead and their fans constituted a world unknown to me. Though smart enough not to hate, I definitely feared (and therefore avoided) this foreign world. Then in the mid Eighties, I was working at an all girl secretarial school in Boston. As a 24-year-old guy at the time, I don’t think I need to express the appeal of this job. One of the appeals was a girl named Meghan, a lithe dirty blonde 19-year-old girl who adored the Dead. As I was somewhat of an authority figure (boy is that a funny thought now), I became involved in Meghan’s life. She was a product of a troubled home-life; a father who was never around too much and a mother who wanted to be her friend more than her mother. Meghan was a smart girl who never did real well in school because she would spend her life following the Dead around in concerts. Her mother would tell me all the time she could do so well if she would get away from the Dead. I spent a lot of time talking with Meghan (Yes some of this was based on lust) but it gave me a glimpse of the unknown world of Deadheaddom. My conclusion at the time, and still my conclusion to this day; Meghan found her family, Meghan found her place to belong. At 19 or 39 that is a very good thing. Since then I cannot hear a Dead song that doesn’t make me think of that 19-year-old girl and that doesn’t make me smile. I like to think she met another deadhead fan and they built a nice life together. My postscript to this story is I never slept with Meghan but I did end up dating her roommate for three years. We had sex occassionally :) - H-Buddy Holly- Holly or Hendrix, Hendrix or Holly? H is a difficult letter and probably best exemplifies one of my golden rules of personal taste; Shorter is better. It must be the journalism training, but I am always more awed by someone touching me in a three minute song than I am in a six-minute opus of musical calisthenics. As all rules, they are meant to be broken and Hendrix is one of those rulebreakers. The man could play...but Buddy was something special. The really first Great white singer/songwriter, Holly has influenced most Rock Music that has come after him. What made Buddy so important was his melding of White music (Country) with Black music (Rythm and Blues)on his own terms. Elvis was the king, but what he did was R and B music pilfered from the Black musicians. Holly wrote his own stuff and he borrowed from all types of music but his music was uniquely his own.
My personal note for H is an opinion. To quote Jimi Hendrix "Once your Dead, your made for Life". More prophetic words may have never been said about many dead Rock stars. Someone on the Listology has a poll what Dead Rock Star should God Bring back. My answer wasnt on the list. My answer would be None of the Above. It would be bad for business. I think Hendrix, Holly, Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin and many others made the greatest career move by dying young. I like to think I am not as callous as that statement may come across, but it is undeniable to say Buddy Holly is revered today because he went out on top. Compare him to say Jerry Lee Lewis or Chuck Berry. Both known as great influences but also remebered not too fondly as novelty acts and for the ruination of their careers through questionable moral choices. I am not suggesting Buddy Holly would have ended up marrying his 9 year old cousin or in an out of jail for paranoid fits of persuction. But the arc of his contemporaries careers indicates something would have brought him down a peg or two in the adulation meter. I may have borrowed the idea from somewhere, but I have always wanted to write a story of The Great Rock and Roll Dead musicians tour. The plot would be; its 1997 and Some old time Rock and Rollers are on an oldies tours but all the musicains would be the stars who are famous for dying. Holly, Hendrix etc... It would give the story of what would have happened if they all lived. In my mind it would not be a happy story. Maybe some day I will write it. - I-Isley Brothers- I almost went with INXS as I feel this list is showing my age too much and I wanted to look a little cooler. Oh well, maybe I will have to show my cool by some other means. I really loved the Matrix, that’s a pretty cool movie, right?
The Isley’s have had a long distinguished career spanning many decades and many reincarnations but the output for the most part has been strong solid R/B, soul and Funk music, we must forgive them and many others for their output during the Disco era. I say the drugs and sex made everyone too tired and wired to realize what they were doing.
Interesting notes on the Isley’s they did not do the original (but it was the best) “Twist and Shout”. It was a group called the Topnotes who had very minor success. The Isley’s had a little more success and The Beatles who basically copied the Isley’s version turned it into a smash. To their credit the Beatles always admitted their thievery. Another little bit of trivia, the Brothers were very important to the development of a pretty fair little guitar player known as Jimi Hendrix. Hendrix started out playing on some of the Isley’s albums of the early sixties and they also put out some of his early blues stuff on their label.
My personal note/rant for I involves that neo-rockabilly/actor known as Chris Isaak. Though I admire his choice of musical influence and taste, I have never been a big fan of his execution. I think its his voice a little too monotone for my rockabilly tastes. However, I have become a huge fan in a very short time of his Showtime TV show. Showtime is a pay service and they really haven’t had any big hits so the service is not as popular as HBO, but if you are a fan of HBO’s Larry Sanders then you will love this show too.
My rant though is the bad rap Popular TV gets these days. You know the line “TV sucks, there is nothing good on…200 channels and nothing good on, blah,blah, blah…” I am here to disagree and to be almost sacrilegious, I propose some of the best, most innovative stuff coming out of Hollywood these days is found on the small screen. Compare stuff like The Sopranos, The Chris Isaak Show, The Job (Dennis Leary’s bitterly funny police show), Ed, Once and Again, Law and Order, reruns of The Larry Sanders and Seinfeld to 95 percent of the Hollywood dreck that is out today. I can almost guarantee, I will find more enjoyment, surprises and skill in the above-mentioned shows plus many others each week. I would not or could not say that about the new movies that open each week at my local Cineplex. I am even willing to admit I will find more enjoyment in an episode of Survivor than in 75% of new movies. Of course that’s just my opinion and as with all opinions feel free to do what you wish with it. Rant Over. - J-Joy Division- This is a letter where critical praise and influnce outweigh my personal taste, not to say I dont appreciate some of there stuff, Curtis was a great songwriter. Its just after listening to this stuff I feel I need a nap or a couple of hits of speed. Since I have not dabbled in illegal substances in sometime and sleeping is always an iffy proposition, I always feel a little restless after listening to one of their albums. I think that is the effect they were looking to acheive. Though not a profilic band with the death of Ian Curtis, Importance is hard to argue. Along with The Cure and The Smiths, they have influenced a good portion of 80's/90's Alternative music.
Other people considered are the safer more popular selections such as Billy Joel, Elton John, Micheal Jackson/Jackson 5 and my personal favorite Joe Jackson whose first few albums were as good as anything that was produced in my teens/early twenties.
My personal recollection is a lengthy conversation I once had with a girl over 12 beers or so. It concerns One William Joel a Piano player out of Long Island NY. At the time of this conversation Mr. Joel was married to a Model Actress known as Christie Brinkley. As did many men at that time, I said, "Damn Billy is lucky to be able to get Christie" My co-drinker of this particular evening insisted quite vehemently that Ms. Brinkley was the lucky one. As alcohol is inclined to induce some of the great arguments or debates, I remember quite vividly my companions point. To paraphrase and shorten greatly; Bimbo Blondes with great teeth and other natural wonders are easy to find, but men with talent are much harder to find. (Not to mention a shit load of Money) Basically she insisted talent and intelligence are the greatest aphrodisiac. Now she obviously was persuasive as this many years later I still recall her arguments, but I think if you ask any man and this probably includes the afore-mentioned Mr. Joel, Billy was one lucky sumbitch. - K-Kinks- The Kinks are a perfect study in familiar relationships and the positive and negative effects of working with the Family. Ray and Dave Davies are just another in the line of great brother acts who have publicly feuded in a Rock and Roll Band. The list probably starts with The Everlys but also includes Tom and John Fogerty from Credence, Duane and Greg Allman, The Robinson brothers from the Black Crowes and The Gallagher boys from Oasis (my personal favorite feuding brothers. A side note it still cracks me up every time when they show Oasis on MTV or VH1 talking they have subtitles so we can understand what the bloody hell they are saying about each other.) I am sure I am forgetting others.
Having had 2 brothers of my own, neither of which I was close with, I am always amazed when brother play in a band together, I am never amazed when there are problems. Ray and Dave have fought and fussed for many years and some mighty fine music has been created.
The Kinks have had a sporadic career as the sometimes forgotten fourth member of Great British Invasion Bands. Never as popular as the Beatles or The Stones, or never as good as the Who, People forget their many contributions to Rock and Roll. Hard Rock certainly used You really Got Me's power chord as a cornerstone building block. Punk was very much influenced by the early Kinks music and Lola has to be mentioned as the greatest Transvestite song of all time. (Just edging out Tim Curry from Rocky Horror).
Also seriously considered for K was BB and Carole King. Both are highly divergent major influences that deserve their surnames. I usually play BB at least once a month. I am not sure I can say that about any other artist. Carole changed many things with Tapestry but it still is remarkable what a great piece of music it really is - L-Led Zeppelin-Led Zeppelin is the choice for L, but give me a Little Willie John record any day. Zep has been a factor in my musical life for as long as I can remember. My rebellious teenage years were often pierced by cries of "turn that noise down" as I played Zeppelin loud in my basement. My late High School and Early college years saw my disdain for Zep grow, as punk became the message of my generation. Somehow in my mind and my friends mind, Punk was the answer to the bombast of Zeppelin and other music. On reflection now, I know Punk was the answer to something. I just don't think it was Zeppelin anymore. Actually I think it was Journey and maybe Kool and The Gang but I digress. Zeppelin is now a pleasant remembrance of the wonders of adolescence. I know that may make their music seem trite but I actually consider it a high compliment. You will still find me pulling out Zep IV for some long road trips. Turn it up Loud baby, only way to play it. Plus their Ode to Joni Mitchell "Going To California" always gets me and still to this day makes me wish they had done a folk album
Other choices for L include the already mentioned and very underrated Little Willie John who would probably be Robert Plant's choice for L. Also Jerry lee Lewis and Little Richard need to be considered. Jerry lee was a genius and he certainly lives up to that stereotype by some very questionable personal and moral choices. Little Richard I always consider a phenomenon more than a musical talent but I think that shortchanges some of his classic stuff. - M-Van Morrison-My father is of Scottish descent. His Family came over to Canada from Scotland at the same time the Irish descended on North America because of the great potato famine of the mid 1800's. My Mother's heritage is a little harder for me to define but it's a mixture of mainly Irish with a little English mixed in. (We rarely admit to the English, We all have our dirty family secrets). This lineage always leaves me to my favorite stereotypical joke; I am Scottish Irish so that makes me a cheap drunk.
Being Irish and Scottish do not make me unique in the Boston area. The Irish are littered all over New England and have had as much to do with the flourishing of New England as any Boston Braham. As Boston has always been a haven for recent Irish immigrants its impossible not to come in contact with the complexities of the Irish. Almost always portrayed as fun loving, hard drinking, and somewhat simple people who are part of a matriarchal society, The Irish are far more complex than that statement indicates.. As one of the very few matriachal societies in existence, Art and family are prized above almost all else. The land of Yeats and Joyce is breeding ground of many great artistic geniuses. Rock and Roll has had its share.
People have asked me what are the Irish like, I almost always answer the same, listen to Van Morrison's "St Dominic Preview", "Van Morrison and his Street Choir" and "Irish Heartbeat" and you will know as much as I can tell you about the Irish.
Morrison has always been my favorite musician and I love lots of musicians. Ubiquitous, iconoclastic and cantankerous are just three of the many adjectives that best describe Van. You can add prolific, sporadic and just plain weird. I once saw him perform a whole show in Boston with his back to the audience and another show I saw him literally thank his piano player Georgie Fame 58 times. (I counted) I should say I loved both of these shows and the other 10 to 12 times I have seen him perform. 'Astral Weeks" is always considered his masterpiece but so much of his catalogue is wonderful. Whenever feeling depressed or a little lonely I always put on a Morrison Disc. I do not know why, but it almost always makes me feel better.
M is another strong letter as Morrison is no run away winner. Also considered was Madonna, Bob Marley, Curtis Mayfield and Metallica (I am not a fan of their music nor their stance on Napster, but none the less a very influential band.) - N-Nirvana- N is a qurky little letter in the Rock and Roll Alphabet. Lots of great influential musicians, like New York Dolls., not so great Musical influences like new Kids on the Block(We have no Backstreet Boys or NSync without the New Kids and Yes I would be fine wthout any of them but 20 million teenagers is a pretty strong counter argument.)N also has one of the very first teenage hearthrob and maybe the best musician to ever live with that moniker, Rickey Nelson. One of my favorite lines from any rock and roll song is still "You see, ya can't please everyone, so you got to please yourself ". N also has its share of just great musicians like the Neville Brothers and NRBQ both proponent of the good times rock and roll can and should be about.
But ultimately N for me came down to AlterNative music icons, Nine Inch Nails and Nirvana. Nine Inch Nails always makes me feel the generational gap that exists between me and the current crop of musical faves. Industrial Music has always seemed like an oxymoron in definition and practice to me. Nirvana on the other hand, I get and I love. To me the band was never about the lifestyle of slackerdom it perpetuated but more about some damn good catchy pop tunes, and I mean Pop in the best sense. Nevermind is a killer album and Cobian is one of the few dead musicians I would have been very interested in follwing his musical Arc.
I also considered Willie Nelson for N but if I didn't give it to Johnny Cash for C than I dont think I will be awarding any letter to a country musician. But that doesnt mean this Born and bred New Englander does not like Country music. In fact, I would hazzard a guess a good 25 percent of my music collection is Country and Folk stuff. I come to the love of country music from 2 summers living in Laredo Texas. I drank Lone Star Beer, listened to Country music and did my damndest to stay out of the sun. All in all, a good times. - O-OJays-The OJays win on sentimental and personal choices. I am large white guy, so I grew up thinking this music isn’t for me…hell its dance music. Aren’t stereotypes wonderful, especially when they can be shattered so easily by the joy, sorrow and down right enjoyment of music.
One of the major artists in the so-called Philly sound of the 70’s; The OJays had a landmark album with their 72 release; Backstabbers but their whole 70’s output was some wonderful urban soul.
I still remember putting on an OJays record when I was sixteen and practicing dancing down in my basement bedroom. I was practicing for the local High School dance. I was a large oaf through most of my High School career but not during those dancing sessions. There I was Gene Kelly, Fred Astaire and Michael Jackson all wrapped up in one nimble hoofer. Of course I never did any of those moves when I went to the dance. At the festivities all I did was the white-boy shuffle. You all know what I am talking about with that dance.
There is not a lot of great choices in the O universe. I considered Oasis but they seem to be verging on a shooting star career-fast, bright and spectacularly burning out quickly. I gave a cursory consideration to The Offspring. I almost went with The Ohio Players just for their album covers. Oingo, Boingo, Orchestra Maneuvers in the Dark, Outlaws…..Oh my! - P-Elvis Presley-The World did change the day a shy southern boy from Tupelo Mississippi walked into the small Sun Studios in Memphis Tennessee. Elvis was the King. Of course, it was a very thorny crown that Elvis never really felt comfortable wearing.
People often talk about legendary fandoms and obsessions like The Deadheads and earlier incarnations like Sinatra and the bobby-soxers. But none rival Presley and his legions of fanatics. 25 years after his death, millions still flock to Graceland. You can still find his likeness on everything from designer plates to 18-wheelers. (I saw a big rig with Elvis plastered all over it in Vermont a few years back)
Sometimes in the Elvis phenomenon we forget the music. It was basically country rhythm and blues that drove his white audience crazy but didn’t insult his black inspirational source. I have always loved Elvis music, especially his early Sun sessions, his big comeback in the sixties and most definitely his music he did in Memphis in the late 60’s. His 1969 release From Elvis to Memphis is my favorite disc and I am not sure it isn’t his best.
His musical impact is unquestioned but I think his cultural and sociological impact might even be more important. Along with Jackie Robinson, Elvis Presley had more to do with the lessening of racial boundaries that led to the sixties revolution than anyone this side of Malcolm X, Martin Luther King and The Kennedy brothers.
I almost went with Prince because I really do love that little narcissist. I used to argue with my friend Billy all the time about Prince. Billy was a couple years older than me. He was a quadriplegic from the age of 23 who loved music and used to blast it loud. He had a real good knowledge of music but when it came to Prince he just had a mental block. Billy passed away about a year ago and to this day I cannot walk by his house and not feel like there is something terribly missing, loud music cranking and an ornery SOB sitting out in the sun. Maybe in the afterlife William has found an understanding and appreciation of Prince. Of course if there is a heaven and hell then in heaven William gets to listen to whatever he wants but in hell for William it would 24/7 Prince. - Q-Queen- Q is one of the tougher letters for me to write about. It was very easy to decide. Quicksilver Messenger Service, Suzie Quatro, Quarterflash, Queensryche, Quiet Riot do not make any compelling arguments for any other decision.
Queen was a musical maelstrom. They were the perfect band for the 1970's. Like the decade, Queen was over-the-top gaudy example of the excesses that followed the 1960's and their more socially conscience artists. Freddie Mercury personified this band like almost no other lead singer. Full of camp, spectacle and bombast, Mercury was a showman, a show-off, shaman and charlatan, but mainly Freddie was fun and so was his music. That being said I can barely ever listen to Queen music. Not because I don’t think it is good, but because of my brother.
Astute readers of my earlier entries would see slight references to my brothers in the Kinks entry. My brother was a homosexual and he died of Aids in 1993. Freddie Mercury was a homosexual and he died of Aids in 1991. In my brain, Queen will always be a reminder of my brother. Hell I don’t even know if he even liked Queen music but it is amazing how the human brain needs to compartmentalize things. Queen, homosexuality and my brother fit nicely in that back closet of my brain. The closet I rarely visit except for a very infrequent inventory. They seem to fit nicely on that shelf.
Of course that’s what I like to tell myself but the brain is a messy thing that likes to wander. I find myself at the oddest times thinking over my troubled relationship with my brother. We were never close, growing up in the same house but completely different worlds. Conflicts were many and there are plenty of painful memories that I am just now coming to understand. I remember holding his hand as the doctors unplugged the Machine that kept him breathing. I watched what little life was left in him leave his emaciated body. With that life went so many questions and answers.
As I write this entry I keep hearing the Queen song "Fat Bottomed Girl" playing in my head. Funny tricks the brain can play. - R-Rolling Stones-The Rolling Stones are probably the most overrated band in the history of Rock and Roll. They also might be the best band in the History of Rock and Roll. These are contradictory statements for sure but I say both can and are true declarations.
We can certainly blame the Stones for much of the overrated tag. We can blame the Stones for the braggadocio of the self-proclaimed World’s Greatest Rock and Roll Band moniker. We can blame Jagger for his early art-school pretentiousness and his latter day calculating businessman greed. We can blame Richards for threatening his talent with a very questionable lifestyle. We can blame everyone from Charlie Watts and his sometimes indifferent drumming to Brian Jones excesses. But what you cannot question is the results. (Oh Ok you can question some of it like Goat’s Head Soup, Metamorphosis and just about everything done after Some Girls)but Exile on Main Street, Let It Bleed, Aftermath and at least a dozen more are essential Rock and Roll requirements.
I always find myself in the Stones camp in the decades old Beatles/Stones debate. The Beatles were pretty and oh so relevant. The Stones were sexual and nasty. If I am having sex for the last time in my life, I have the Rolling Stones accompanying me (Probably Let It Bleed). I will leave the Beatles for the perfunctory after copulation cuddling. - S-Bruce Springsteen-Bruce Springsteen has been the musical soundtrack to my life. Like a really cool older brother, Bruce has been there advising, bitching, dreaming and cajoling me along the bumpy road of life. With Greetings from Asbury Park, we learn you need to speak in your own voice and do things your own way or no one is going to be satisfied. With The Wild, The Innocent… we learn to find our own voice. With Born to Run we learn of the quixotic duality of life; the need to run and the need to find a home. With Darkness we learn to look in the shadows and see there are no easy answers. It keeps on going right through Tunnel of Love, where we learn adult relationships are very hard and guilt and blame are easy to find but harder to justify, and Tom Joad where we find the answers might be found in the fringes of society.
Springsteen is the only choice I considered for S. This is the only letter I can say I only considered one artist. So central and so important has Bruce been to my generation and me, I have ignored many other great artists including Steely Dan, Sly and the Family Stone, The Smithereens, The Smiths, Patti Smith….
It is also because of Bruce Springsteen I married a neighborhood. My friend Billy, who I talked about in the P entry, and I met taking a class together back in the summer of 1988. We got along well enough but I always have been a little cautious about expanding my circle of friends, so I always politely declined his invitations to visit him at home in his neighborhood in Cambridge MA. In 1988, I had very little money and Bruce Springsteen came out with his Tunnel of Love disc. I could not afford to buy it but I really wanted to hear it. Billy owned the disc, so I reluctantly agreed to head over to his house to borrow it. I really haven’t left that neighborhood too much since that day.
The neighborhood is like a walk down memory lane. The same neighbors have been living there for the past 75 years. One of Billy’s neighbors was a French-Canadian family that has been in there 2-house complex for the past 80 years. The youngest daughter is now my wife, Claudette. I now live in the top floor of one those houses. My in-laws live below me, various other in-laws live in the house across the driveway.
For a boy who turned into a man who spent much of his life alone, it has been a unique learning experience. Most of the time, I think I have found the place where I belong. At least most of the time I think I have. - T-Temptations The Temptations were my entry point for Motown music. The song "Just My Imagination" was one of my first love affairs with a song. You know the feeling where you could listen to the same song 24 hours a day. Something about the melody of that tune was just so soothing. Eddie Kendricks voice has always been better than any illegal drug to calm me down. After my infatuation with that song, I moved on to the rest of this band's output and soon followed it up with much of the rest of Motown's remarkable collections. To me the key to almost all of it was the stunning rythm section led by Bass player James Jameson.
T was the closest choice in letters for me because I have always loved the Talking Heads. Byrne is a genius and they certainly have been an extremely inspirational band. Also considered for T was Traffic, Taj Mahal, Tears for Fears and many others. - U-U2-Everything about me screams I should be a huge U2 fan. I was in my mid 20's in the eighties when U2 was their most prolific and popular. I grew up in the Boston area and U2 is very big up our way. Just about every person whose musical tastes I respect loves U2. Their music is earnest, occasionally inventive and oh so socially aware. You would think I was a big U2 fan but I cannot say its true. I do not hate them (their albums War and Joshua Tree I will still pull out occasionally for a spin). I think I can best say I am indifferent bordering on slight disdain. Something about them seems forced and calculated. There is no need to flame me on these comments, boy do I know how much I am in the minority on this topic. Part of the problem is I have spent much more time arguing about U2 then ever really listening to their music. About once a year, I think it’s my stubbornness that has the best of me and I dive in again and spend some time listening to U2. Usually all I end up doing is getting pissed off for questioning my own convictions. I really would like to like their music; it would make my life a lot less argumentative.
Of course, if their name didn’t start with U, I would not even need to open myself to more arguments on this list. But the only competition for U is UB40, UFO, Uriah Heep… Anyone have any other suggestions.? - V-Velvet UndergorundThe Velvet Underground just ekes out the choice over Van Halen. I just love Moe Tucker’s Drumming and the influence of the Underground is hard to argue. Plus give me Lou Reed any day over David Lee Roth. The Velvet Underground was a band out of place in the hippie 60’s, dark, surreal and just a little kinky. They sounded like they knew all the great secrets and all you needed to do was decode their music and you too could be hip.
I almost went with Van Halen because I can not remember a party I went to in the 80’s that did not play some Van Halen (ok I don’t remember a lot of the parties from the 80’s but that is a completely different story.) I actually thought of Van Halen recently when I read an article on Paul Cox’s new film Innocence. The article theorized that no love is or can be like the first time you are in love.
I don’t know if Joanne was the first true love of my life but she is certainly my greatest regret. Joanne also loved Van Halen and that is the connecting piece of information in this thought thread.
I was 22 or 23 years old and I had moved home to the house I grew up in. After a few years of literally and figuratively drifting through life, I got a job working in a package store in a small town next to my hometown. I fell in with a group of kids close to my age and we spent a lot of the summer drinking our paychecks and trying to figure out the meaning of life. One of the girls in this group had a Sister home from College for the summer and she too started hanging out with the group. Joanne was not beautiful (she was cute), she was a little awkward and shy but we hit it off. She was an avid reader; she loved to write and had a keen sense of appreciation for art in all its forms. Joanne also had a boyfriend at College and because she was graduating the next year from College there was serious discussion of marriage between them.
I had known a lot of girls and a few women before I met Joanne but I had never met anyone who I felt so comfortable with, who made me feel so alive and still challenged and infuriated me like she did. I could not stop thinking about her and I did everything I could to do to be with her. The feeling was mutual; at least these many years later I firmly cling to that belief. Like all great stories of remorse and regret this did not end well. I still remember the day she told me she was going to move in with her fiancé (The first time she used that term). In only the truest of clichéd form, it was a very rainy day and I remember having to walk home from the restaurant.
I would like to say I was noble like Bogey and wished her well and we are still friends today, but since I don’t live in a Hollywood movie, I did not handle it well and in the end I acted the fool that led to my true story of regret. Her sister, who firmly was in my camp, spent an evening trying to console me but of course I was young, I was male and I was hurt so I did the stupidest of things and tried very hard to get the sister to sleep with me. She politely and tactfully rebuffed my awkward advances and she did nothing but tried to be a good friend. Of course this only made me angrier and the next time I was together with the guys, I told lies of our sexual debauchery and how I was not hurt at all by the whole thing. Of course ultimately the story got back to both sisters and I was justifiably ostracized from that group of friends. I don’t know if Joanne was my true first love but whenever the theme is discussed she is my first thought and there is not any time I don’t feel great remorse and regrets for my stupidity and loss. - W-Who-When I was a teenager, way back in those wild 70’s, The Who was me and my comrade’s barometer of taste. This is generalizing but it went something like this; we meet someone new and inevitably a question would be asked. What is your favorite rock group? If you answered the Beatles you were approached cautiously, if you said The Stones you were accepted with slight reservations but if you said The Who you were in. Of course these many years later it seems oh so foolish that we were so territorial and judgmental. But isn’t that what youth is inevitably about.
Of course our motivation and tactics were questionable at best, but not our taste. I still love the music of The Who. These days, I find myself listening more to the late 60’s “The Who Sells Out” stuff than their more popular 70’s “Who’s Next” stuff, but it is all great. (Ok some of their later work like Its Hard and Face Dance are at best gloriously failures and at worst just bad).
The Who were four divergent personalities who were led (sometimes, kicking and screaming) by a genius whose talent was only matched by his ego and pretensions. Townsend is one of the more fascinating character studies of Rock and Roll. He was part madman, part artiste and part businessman. Throw in a healthy dose of paranoia, bipolar disorder, self-abuse and sexual confusion and you have the makings of a genius. Now add in the mixture of envy and loathing that was Roger Daltrey and the complete madness of Keith Moon and the stoicism of the Ox, John Entwistle and boy now you have the makings of a legend.
I look back much more favorably on High School now than I ever did when I was in life’s own little purgatory. The one thing I knew when I was young and I still know now is the power of music in getting you through whatever life has to offer. High School was a time of so many unknowns. Does he/she like me? Why the Hell do I need to know about geometry? (It really helps you become a better pool player). Why am I being ostracized? What do I want to do with my life when I get old? Should I partake in that drink? Smoke? Fill in your own peer pressure… The one constant for me then and still today is the power of the artistic message. No matter the medium; painting, movie, music or something else, Art can help you to understand, can help soothe the madness and it can provoke greatness. This seems as relevant to me today as it did back in those wild 70’s. - X-XTC-Time, as you become an adult (even if it is screaming and bitching like me), truly does become the greatest commodity you have. It is not even really related to the inevitable realization that life is simply a grand game of Beat The Clock. It has much more to do with the reality of never having enough time to do everything you need and more importantly want to do in your life. If you hope to become a functioning healthy member of the adult world, you better learn the wonderful skills of prioritization.
When I was a young man fighting the good fight of detached emotions and the avoidance of intimacy and responsibilities, I had plenty of time to maintain and expand my love of art in all its forms. My record collection consists of approximately 3000 plus different music (Tape, Album and CD) pieces. I would say 2000 of these are in album and tape format and these were purchased, stolen or borrowed well before my inevitable adulthood. Since then I still purchase and download lots of music but I am not able to keep up with the true expanse of the musical scene.
I bring all this up because of my love of XTC. They have never been my favorite band, but I was a completist up until the late 80’s and to this day I think Skylarking was one of the best discs of the eighties and that The Mayor of Simpleton is one of the great singles of that decade. But my inevitable maturation in the early 90’s took a lot of patience and more importantly it took a lot of time. Music became less of a priority (so did Movies and most of all books). The 90’s became a strong decade of trying to make my life work, with marriage and career moved up the priority scale. Music, Literature, Movies and sports moved down the scale. These were some harsh compromises.
I then changed jobs after eleven years at one job last December. This new job was a large mistake, (I have since rectified this by moving on to another job) but it allowed me a lot of free time with a huge Internet pipe. I stumbled across a little site called Listology (now I am really pissed that I do not have the time to investigate all the wonderful recommendations and opinions found here). One of the frequent posters on Listology is Lbangs and his list of 100 best albums included XTC’s Apple Venus Vol 1, I was shocked to see this album because I knew nothing about it. I soon went out and purchased it and I was hooked again and I spent a couple of weeks listening to this and some of their older stuff.
What does all this Mean? I don’t know for sure but as I have spent the last few months writing this list, I have also spent time adjusting priorities in my life. I still do not have enough time to do it all but Music, Books and Movies are creeping back up the list. If nothing else, I thank the Listology Community for that and all the great opinions you can find here. Plus Apple Venus Volume 1 is definitely one of the better CD’s of the Nineties. - Y-Neil Young-“Anyone under thirty who is not a democrat is a cynic. Anyone who is over thirty and is not a republican is a fool”. So said one of the great Americans Mark Twain. Well I find myself 10 years past my thirtieth birthday and I find myself a cynical fool. On this list, I have delved into many of the taboo discussions like religion and sex; I figure I might as well go for them all and discuss a little politics. Neil Young seems as good as any place to dive into my political beliefs.
Young’s music is wildly inconsistent. For every After The Gold Rush there is a Journey through the Past. For every Rust Never Sleeps there is a Re-act-or. Actually I think this is one of his strengths. He is not afraid to experiment and he is not afraid to share it all. For if nothing else the man has been prolific. I love a lot of it including his work with CSNY and Crazy Horse. I also loathe a lot of it and my reaction to him has definitely depended on my last taste of his stuff.
When I thought about writing about Neil Young the Twain quotation came almost immediately to mind. I have always thought of Young as a political dichotomy. I am pretty sure Young would consider himself a conservative. I know his early Eighties record Hawks and Dove left little question about his beliefs at that time. It is probably the uniqueness of finding a conservative in the Rock and Roll world that brought up the Twain quote. Most certainly Rock and roll is a young man’s game and the idealism of the Democratic Party is best left to a young man also; or at least the young at heart.
There is much wrong with the current American political system. Our last election is certainly proof of that statement. The line between democratic and republican is blurrier than it ever has been. I believe the majority of voters now register as Independent. I fear we are becoming a nation of cynical fools; with the emphasis on cynicism.
A co-worker recently told me “I’d rather not give my money to the government because whatever they try to use it for gets lost in political corruption. I would rather give it to my favorite charities.” You know it is hard to argue that statement and it just that fact that has caused the democratic party so much trouble since the glory days of Franklin Delano Roosevelt and his political and social change. I replied to my coworker that this may be true but do we forget a whole portion of our country in need because a small portion (our elected official) are either too corrupt or inept to do the right thing.
I have always found this argument the crux of the differences between our political parties. Who should control your money and how should those in need be helped. I would like to think we could count on everyone who got a huge tax break to distribute to the right causes, but I don't, this is the cynical part of me. I would like to think we could count on our political leaders to distribute the tax money collected to the right causes, but I dont, this is the fool in me. I have no easy answers. I only have a belief that the greatness of a society is measured by how it deals with their least fortunate. America, I fear is on the verge of defaming its greatness. - Z-Frank Zappa-As I start to write this last entry in this list and complete what I started 8 months ago, I take a look at my life in totality. I recently turned 40 years old. I just received some personal bad news. We are in a war and the world is a much scarier place to live. Despite all these things, I want to write of hope because hope is what keeps us all going. Hope for a better life, Hope for a better world and finally Hope that beauty, laughter and understanding dominate the rest of my life on this earth.
It is funny and a just a little ironic that I will end this writing of Frank Zappa, the ultimate outsider who wryly made a living writing sarcastically and satirically of the world he saw and the world he saw coming. As a young man I firmly empathized with this point of view and I went to journalism school in hopes that I would make a healthy living writing wry sarcastic comments that proved how smart I was. Of course, the need to show the world how smart I was simply was verification of how much I needed to learn.
Frank Zappa was a piece of work. No other way to describe him, Satirist, absurdist, talented and weird has been used to try to explain him, but they limit the scope of his uniqueness. Boy did some of his stuff suck, and some of it so good and so right about the culture that is America and it also was an uncanny barometer of where America was heading. The one thing that gets forgotten about Zappa with his dirty and sacrilegious lyrics is how great a musician he and the Mothers of Invention were. I cannot truthfully say I listen to much of his work these days but I am sure sometime in the future I will pull out my vinyl copy of Over-Nite Sensation and have a laugh or two. There is certainly nothing wrong with that.
When Zappa was a regular on my turntable the thought of turning forty was just too mind boggling to ever consider but if those thoughts did enter my head I don’t think I would have ever imagined the life I now live. Much like many others in America I am a conventional white-collar employee who needs to lose some weight, watches too much TV and drives too big of a gas-guzzling car. Conventional sure, unique you bet.
I still some times like to show people how smart I think I am. But I am much wiser. I am infinitely more patient. I know the beauty and hardship of a committed relationship. I know the true value of a life is not measured in money, possessions, awards or sexual conquests but rather in laughs, friends and love. The greatest gift that comes with age is not wisdom (I know plenty of very unwise old people), but it is a sense of contentment. It is not a state of satisfaction because that seems to belie a completion of life, but is a sense of understanding of who I am and what I bring to the world I live in. I am a man who knows his faults and his strengths and I wake up every day hoping that I will have a great day. Sometimes I am satisfied with that hope and sometimes I am bitterly disappointed. That hope I think is my greatest accomplishment and I think it is the secret weapon I have used to keep me going through many troubles.
Author Comments:
Wow, only eight months to complete this list. When I first started writing this list last February I never expected it to become the diary it has turned out to be. My apologies to anyone who has found this all too self-indulgent. Many times I certainly found it to be just that. But like many things in life, what we start out trying to be or do has a way of changing with the whims of fate and circumstances.
I can say much like a lot of the great rock and roll I barely squeeze into this list between my meandering pontifications, this list has been a surprise to me. I hope some of you out there have stayed with me till the end and if not I certainly understand.
I would like to think this is over with but I fear as I re-read this whole mess I will have to redo some of the weaker entries.
Here is the theme of this one. I did a list back in the mid 80's. I know a lot of you were attending grade school at the time so you may have missed it in my college newspaper. The list caused a lot of debate, which is always a good thing. Most people did not agree with me but then I am used to that.
the premise is name the greatest artist of Rock and Roll whose name begins with each letter of the Alphabet. For Example R's Lou Reed, The Rolling Stones and Radiohead are all considered R's. Last names for individuals and First Letter of the groups name excluding common words like "the" and "A". of course like every rule it needs its exceptions like the group "The The" which of course is included in T's.
Now what is my determination for selecting the best? Of course it is subjective but it should fall into at least two of the three following criteria’s. 1. Critical acceptance 2.Highly influential and 3. Personally love it. I would like to say the first 2 are more important but I am sure 3. will be the deciding factor.
Who is to be included? This is the more difficult question. I use rock and roll in the title but it probably should be Popular Music of the past 45 years...excluding Jazz and most of Country. I think blues; R&B, soul and Rap music is definitely rock and Roll. A lot of Country is too. Jazz is wonderful music and I love a lot of it but somehow it just doesn’t fit in this list.
Personal information for those who have not read my previous lists, I am 39 years old, this will probably weigh heavily in musical tastes but it will be fun to see if it is true when I do some research. I have a huge musical collection encompassing most musical genres. I love it all with a bent towards old soul music and early catchy punk.
Great list, though I'm biting my tongue at CCR's victory over Elvis Costello... :)
For H, there's always Jimi Hendrix, John Hiatt, Buddy Holly, Emmylou Harris, Husker Du, PJ Harvey, blah, blah, blah....
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs
Really a list off the top of my head I might go with Elvis C. as I am a big fan of the majority of his stuff. Cant believe Hendrix or Holly didnt come to me I was going to put Hall and Oates but it embarrased me too much.
This List will look very different when I am done. it seems I like these serial lists that allow me to elaborate at my leisure.
I posed the question in my A listings can you sue yourself for Plagarism? I knew there was a famous case on just this issue. I just remebered while researching the C's. Does anyone remember? It was actually a record company suing an artist for ripping off one of his earlier tunes. Give it a guess.
John F. was sued for ripping off an early CCR song he wrote but that somebody else owned the rights too, if I recall...
Great job with the list so far! I can live with Brother Ray as the C choice.
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs
And the suspense builds. What will he pick for H? Jimi Hendrix? Buddy Holly? I can't wait...
Great job so far - I especially enjoyed the Aretha and Ray Charles write ups, and your defense of the Everly Brothers was apt and dead on.
Keep up the great work!
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs
Actually I think Im gonna go with Hootie and The Blowfish..(grin)
Cracked, indeed! :)
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs
Great work, as usual. Your selection of The Kinks and your observations on their influence on punk and the sibling rivalry mold so often used in rock music are apt and dead-on.
I await the rest of your excellent list.
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs
Thank you for the Kind words, as you know I have questioned if the Listology is the place for this type of List. Im glad to know at least one person out there is enjoying my stream of consciensce ramblings. Seems you are the only one to comment on it.
I love this list!!! A highly-personal tour through the history of rock 'n roll.
I am a bit shocked however to see P designate Prince rather than Elvis. I love Prince, but the King always trumps other royalty. I couldn't live without my 50s box set. Even without the hips, Presley rocks.
X would actually be one of the hardest letters for me. I love X and XTC and would hate to have to choose between the two.
Zeep! Zeep! Zeep!
Thanks for the kind words. I have always wanted to do something that reflected my taste and my knowledge of music, but most of all the memories and feelings it has enriched in my life.
Dont worry when I get to the P's Presley will be there. I will probably be changing some of the other letters also.
I could probably write a diary centered around songs. Perhaps this list is as much your history as that of rock? I love it.
I'm hip happy to hear Elvis will be represented.
Zeep! Zeep! Zeep!
This list continues to impress. Your examination of the dualistic nature of the Stones was dead-on, and your tribute to Queen and your brother was very touching.
And Nirvana kicks Nine Inch Nails ass any day...
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs
As always I aprreciate your feedback. Writing can be such a cathartic endeavor. Writing about my brother is difficult. I do not want people coming away from this list depressed. I have lived too much of my life in random bouts of self pity and uneasy moments of others akward attempts at sympathy to write about death too much, but Death is so essential to living and appreciating that life. I could not conceive writing about rock and roll any my personal odyssey without diving into the Big D. Interesting that it comes across as a tribute. I am not saying it isnt correct but...
I really appreciated your honest heartfelt story in the V section. I think that that was nice departure from the rest of your list.
AAA, I am going to take that as a compliment. Of course I could interpret that as you telling me I was a disingenuous liar in all my other posts. I am kidding, I appreciate the nice words
hehe, its best taken as a compliment. :)
Only three to go! I'm going to be sad when you finish. We need at least 10 more letters beyond "Z."
Well, as expected, it's a bittersweet moment to see that you've closed out a list that I've enjoyed following for these past 8 months. But what a terrific list it is! Thanks so much for posting it here!
I sincerely hope your "personal bad news" wasn't tragic.
Jim, thank you for the kind words. It is funny, I really did want to be a sarcastic columnist when I was in my twenties. I just was never really good at it. I find with writing I am far more honest than I am in my every day life and I find I am more sarcastic in real life than I am in my writing.
I don't know how I missed the "TV vs. Movies" gauntlet you throw down in your "I" entry. It's a very interesting topic, and I really have no idea which medium is producing more worthwhile material these days. I do know that I could easily list 100 movies I'd like to own for rewatching, but I'd be hard-pressed to list even 10 such TV series (but if you count by the episode those numbers might tip in TV's favor). Our TV has been strictly a VHS/DVD terminal for quite some time, so I'm not really in touch with anything new to the past five years, except for The West Wing (which my folks tape for us) and The Sopranos (been getting these from Netflix, and I'm almost through the first season).
I do think TV produces some great stuff. I actually happened upon this comment because I was searching Listology for Sopranos fans. What a great program. It beats the pants off all but the most masterful mob movies, and holds it's own admirably against the rest. Being able to build character depth over 12 hours and beyond can be a pretty big advantage for TV series.
For what it's worth, we nuked the TV not because we didn't enjoy it, but because we didn't want our daughter to be bombarded by commercials. And I do think that's one major strike against network TV - the shows have to be structured to allow interruptions every 10 or 15 minutes. Of course, they don't have as much product-placement distraction as movies (not positive of that), but then again I don't find product-placement quite as jarring.
The other weird thing about TV now, when I see comedies, is how intrusive and artificial the laugh-track sounds. I never noticed when I was exposed to it every day.
I've seen this list before but never really read the whole thing until today. It's times like these when I wish I was 40. I have a weakness in appreciation of rock 'n' roll; I simply can't experience the Rolling Stones, The Who, Led Zeppelin, etc., the way you can. I didn't grow up with this music. As it is, I'm stuck growing up while Eminem, Avril Lavigne, Britney Spears, and the Backstreet Boys are popular. Ugh. I wish I was a baby boomer.
I greatly enjoyed reading about your life experiences, both involving the music and having very little to do with music. Your honesty and openness on the Internet is overwhelming; I could never make a list like this. I think this brilliantly written list has become one of my favorites on Listology.
It seems almost wrong to criticize a choice like this on such a beautifully personal list, but I strongly disagree with the choice Joy Division. I would've picked Mr. John or Mr. Joel, but Michael Jackson or Jackson Five or Joe Jackson would've been good too. I'm not sure about Joy Division's influence, but I don't think their music is as good as the other choices, and it seems from your comments that you're not a huge fan either.
You said that you didn't want this list to leave readers feeling depressed. At times your list was depressing, but it also inspired many other emotions in me, including, as you can see in my first paragraph, some kind of anachronistic nostalgia. Bravo!
AJ, first off thanks for the kind words but enjoy being a teenager and dont worry you will be 40 before you know it and then you will wonder how you got there so fast.
Your comments about the J selection are very valid. It was one of the tougher choices. Joy Division is definitely there for influence as opposed to Personal choice. It could easily have been Joe jackson, Michael Jackson, Elton John, Billy Joel, The Jam....you get the point.
It's nice to know some people out there are still reading my meandering thoughts.
jgandcag - I just discovered this spectacular list yesterday, and let me tell you, it has become my absolute favorite on Listology. The personal notes were so interesting, and I really enjoyed reading them. Also, just so you know, AJ wasn't the only one feeling that anachronistic nostalgia he mentioned. I just hope that in 20 years I can look back at my life so far and have such great stories to tell.
Now stop; you are going to make an old man blush.
My only advice is spend less time worrying about making memories and lots more time enjoying your life and you will have nothing to worry about.
I'm 14 and I cam only say that I wish I had lived back in the sixties or seventies. As a big fan of the Velvet Underground, Warhol, the Stones stuff from the late sixties to early seventies, Led Zep, and the Sex Pistols, I often feel totally out of place in a time where the other people my age are obsessed with Avril Lavigne and whether or not Brittany Spears is getting married. Unfortuanetly for me, my parents (even though they grew up during the 60's) never were in to the stuff I am now, so they are sort of puzzled that their daughter is listening to Lou Reed and Iggy Pop. Ah, but it is such a curse to have been born in the wrong time. Thank you for a wonderful list.
I had planned to wait until I had listened to all of Devils and Dust before I paid you this tribute. However, I haven't gotten beyond "Maria's Bed" and I could wait no longer. You were right, I do love Springsteen's latest album (as always.) But (as always) it is too emotional for me to listen to all at once.
the same old story same old act, one step up...