Grab a beer or two before settling in to read this.

[OsCKilO]

The subject is massive!!!!!!!


Is saw this post the laughed my ass off.....

This Rick Wakeman?? 

I dont even know who Rick Wakeman is, but the monkey was funny!

I lost my train of thought then........Lol


This site is truely a musical education for me.....

Thank you BB, Blooby and all for this insight and great pearls of wisdom on this site!

[assassin]

iLL Tell him to stick with Punk Rock --- its all  good



PEACE .

[Blooby]

Thank you, all, for commenting.  I hope some more will follow suit as I am genuinely interested in your input.

After a cursory read I noticed a few influencial bands missing, the Stooges, Ramones, Pixies, Sonic Youth, and possibly Nirvana.  

My nephew is pretty hip the bands you mentioned, so I didn't include them.  I, however, am trying not to be arrogant about this endeavor and am, in turn, trying to expose myself to bands to which he listens.  Everybody can stand a wee bit of growth (although the folks on this board seem remarkably open-minded...perhaps because we all respect the creative process more than your "mere [said with sarcasm]" listener).

Peace.

Blooby

[Bluesberry]

Its a hell of a list, a whole lot of my favorites are on here, its is overwhelming actually to see it all listed like this.  For me I slowly came to my musical understanding bit by bit, genre by genre, connection by connection, and to see it all laid out here is quite a bit to take.  It takes years, decades, to digest, and absorb and understand all of this music.  Sometimes I try out a band and don't get into them and years later re-discover them with fresh ears and intense passion (Jethro Tull and Cream are two that happened to me like this a couple of years ago), I just get them better now in my 40s then I did before, and I adore them now, Wilco is another one that this happened to me lately.

Speaking about Wilco, I find that whole Folk-rock, Country-rock, country-folk, Alt.country vein to be strangley absent.  From Hank Williams (mayby not that far back), up through Neil Young, The Byrds, Buffalo Springfield, Gram Parsons, Poco, The Band (where is The Band!!!)... up on through to the great Alt.country bands of the 90s like Uncle Tupelo to name one, these alt-country guys tried to join Punk with folk and country rock (and they rocked too!!!), which brought us bands like Wilco, Son Volt, Blue Rodeo (in Canada)... this is a huge movement in the Canadian musical scene, lots of bands, lots of clubs, lots of fans.  I find it strange to pass over this whole gigantic and very important vein of popular music (its as wide, deep and important as the blues stream is IMO), but in putting together a list like you did it would be hard to include all streams I guess.

In closing, I say you put a lot of effort into this, it may take your nephew many years to grow into all of this, but at the very least it may make him think, and start exploring, and for that I applaud your efforts.  Good job, here is hoping that a small bit of this sinks in.

[Bosko Schwartz]

Speaking about Wilco, I find that whole Country rock, country folk, Alt-country vein to be strangley absent.  From Hank Williams (mayby not that far back), up through Neil Young, The Byrds, Buffalo Springfield, Gram Parsons, Poco, The Band (where is The Band!!!)... up on through to the great Alt-country bands of the 90s like Uncle Tupelo to name one, these alt-country guys tried to join Punk with folk and country rock (and they rocked too!!!), which brought us bands like Wilco, Son Volt, Blue Rodeo (in Canada)... this is a huge movement in the Canadian musical scene, lots of bands, lots of clubs, lots of fans.  I find it strange to pass over this whole gigantic and very important vein of popular music (its as wide, deep and important as the blues stream is IMO), but in putting together a list like you did it would be hard to include all streams I guess.

And let's not forget the Old 97's!!!

[Ferryman]

This is very interesting and it's a great insight to see one person's perspective. I think the challenge is that there is no right or wrong view in any of this, and as someone who rejected all heavy rock and prog when he went punk in the 1970s, I know you will find it hard to convince someone who is into punk (and really believes in it) to listen to something like the Mahavishnu Orchestra. I found it hard to listen to them when I was out of my head at the Reading Festival in 1975, let alone in 1978 when I was a punk! People mellow and mature and will listen to different music as their outlook on life changes, so as your nephew grows up and becomes less "punk" in his outlook, he will probably appreciate different music.

I always hated C&W with an intensity when I was younger and altho traditional stuff does not appeal much, I now really enjoy some of the alt.country stuff that Bluesberry talks about. I would add Lambchop to that list, and  would also recommend the Broken Family Band from the UK who marry punk with country in a very accessible way. No way would I have ever listened to that when I was a punk but as I have got older I've really enjoyed the new twist on a traditional style. I even quite like the sound of a pedal steel guitar now!

Your list has some great stuff on it but it is a very American one and misses out on pretty much everything I would regard as influential from about 1978 to 1985, excluding punk, because a lot of that was European. There's no Krautrock, and the omission of Can is startling to me, as they were, and are, hugely influential but probably only known about to most Europeans. And very punk in their attitude as well. For me, post punk bands like Wire, Magazine, PIL, Gang of Four, Joy Division, Psychedelic Furs and Killing Joke just drive so much of what happened in the 90s and beyond (there would have been no Nirvana without a lot of that stuff), and then subtler bands like Japan just created their own version of an amzing style of music. US equivalents would be Talking Heads, and of course bands like Devo, Pixies and Pere Ubu should be considered. I'd also add some electro pop, no perspective on modern music can be complete without Kraftwerk or even the Yellow Magic Orchestra, which of course led to the likes of the Pet Shop Boys and Soft Cell. And then there's the Britpop bands of the 90s. Oasis, Blur, Sleeper, Pulp, Elastica, Ash et al produced amazing music, harking back a lot to the sixties and the punk era (Blur were the Kinks of the 90s). And what about Roxy Music and Brian Eno? Eno deserves a whole category to himself.

So I'd add a whole range of bands and musical styles myself. But as I said earlier, there's no right or wrong answer in any of this. Just shows how hard it is to define what is "influential" or "important" music. There's just so much out there no one person can take it all in.

Cheers,

Nigel

[Bosko Schwartz]

And you are right on about the Beatles.

Here's what Blooby said about The Beatles:

The Beatles - John, Paul, George, Ringo, and producer Sir George Martin created the ultimate pop band.  It's cool to hate The Beatles, and it's cool to love them...odd.  To dismiss them or love them wholly in either respect would be rash.  They never stopped developing, and in the process of writing a lot of rubbish ("Yellow Submarine" is my most hated song perhaps only behind "Jammin'" by Bob Marley), they came up with some incredible gems.  To think that bands had the freedom to do songs like that back in the late sixties.  It is another world compared to the corporate pabulum offered these days immediately after a new band or scene breaks.

Davo, I have to humbly disagree, but of course this is coming from a Beatles freak.  I don't see how in any capacity it's actually cool to hate The Beatles.  Perhaps the proverbial young 14-year-old punk who only listens to Green Day might think it's cool to hate them, the irony being that there would be no Green Day without The Beatles.  Rock 'n' roll was a one-way street before The Beatles.  Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Elvis Presley, etc., took music to a new level of energy and power, but The Beatles took that and expanded upon it to exponential and infinite dimensions.  It's also funny to think that The Beatles were considered a "pop" band (and they were), whereas if their music were released today, they would be considered far more "alternative" than Radiohead, Death Cab for Cutie, Modest Mouse, or any other alt band anyone can think of.  It's also odd that the word "pop" has been raped and twisted by society.  Back then, it referred to The Beatles, The Hollies, The Byrds, The Kinks, etc.  Now when people think of "pop," they think of Britney Fucking Spears or Hannah Fucking Montana.  Michael Jackson falsely dubbed himself the "King of Pop," and that was about it for that word.  All downhill from there.  I still tend to use the word "pop" in an old school way and even refer to my own music as pop, but I probably shouldn't since no one in the mainstream world seems to understand how a rock band can be pop.

Blooby, I understand your dislike for goofy songs like "Yellow Submarine," but when you compare the amount of "rubbish" in their catalogue to the amount of genius, we are talking about ratios that no other band in the history of music could compare to.  Of course, this is just my opinion, but I was still taken aback at the notion that it's "cool" for any sane lover of music to hate The Beatles.  I just can't wrap my head around that one!

[Blooby]

Ferryman, your point is well-taken with the bands you mention, but they were ones I never delved into.  I obviously only felt comfortable with music in which I was familiar.  Having said that, I have loads of blues discs and failed to include BB King's Live at the Regal, Albert King's Born Under a Bad Sign, Muddy Waters, or Robert Johnson (among others).  Doh!

Perhaps [to] the proverbial young 14-year-old...it's cool to hate The Beatles.

That's actually how I meant it.  It took me till after my teenage years to start to like them.  It took me till my thirties to recognize their genius.

As for "Yellow Submarine," I know its a novelty song, but it grates on me the way only few songs do.  I put these in a personal category akin to listening to fingers down a blackboard where I reach for the radio dial in an almost frantic fashion.

"Jammin'" by Bob Marley
"Yellow Submarine" by The Beatles
"Crocodile Rock" by Elton John
"Iko Iko" by loads of folks (Does anybody really know these lyrics?)
          Iko iko an nay (whoah-oh)
          Jockomo feena ah na nay
          Jockomo feena nay

Blooby

[Bosko Schwartz]

Perhaps [to] the proverbial young 14-year-old...it's cool to hate The Beatles.

That's actually how I meant it.  It took me till after my teenage years to start to like them.  It took me till my thirties to recognize their genius.

As for "Yellow Submarine," I know its a novelty song, but it grates on me the way only few songs do.  I put these in a personal category akin to listening to fingers down a blackboard where I reach for the radio dial in an almost frantic fashion.

"Jammin'" by Bob Marley
"Yellow Submarine" by The Beatles
"Crocodile Rock" by Elton John
"Iko Iko" by loads of folks (Does anybody really know these lyrics?)
          Iko iko an nay (whoah-oh)
          Jockomo feena ah na nay
          Jockomo feena nay

Blooby

I should have known that's what you meant.  Thanks for clarifying -- you had me scared for a minute, there!

Here's another candidate for the Worst Songs Ever Made list: "Life is a Highway," by whoever that piece of crap was who did that song.

Maybe a fun topic for a new thread ...

[launched]

Here's another candidate for the Worst Songs Ever Made list: "Life is a Highway," by whoever that piece of crap was who did that song.

You mean Tom Cochrane of Red Ryder who also wrote "Lunatic Fringe"? Which brings to mind why Jerry Harrison shat bad solo albums.

And why I wasted money on the Melvin's "Bootlicker" or "Snivlem/Prick". I keep asking myself that one...

All I can think of is: "The heroin/coke baggie be low - need to score some mo'" Why else would somebody release a goofy pop song or 58 minutes of unlistenable turd?

I got robbed, that's why!!

I just want to forget about "Worst Songs Ever Made"

I want my money back