7 Aug, 2008
- Stevie Wonder - “I Just Called To Say I Love You” aside, no one has defined R&B better than Stevie Wonder. Funky, yet accessible, he continued to open the pop music door wider for African Americans, writing his own music and using synthesizers liberally. His songs, though musically complex, were usually easy on the ears but sometimes delivered a powerful social commentary. He paved the way for Earth, Wind and Fire, Michael Jackson and eventually rap. Oh, well.
The Sex Pistols - Very few bands come out of nowhere and completely turn rock music on its ear. Some will say that The Sex Pistols were not even the first or best punk band (Ramones and the Clash, respectively), but the raw energy, the in-your-face, screw-everyone attitude, and their brief, fiery career are the stuff of which legends are made. Sid Vicious and Johnny Rotten’s snarls have become the images of the punk rock movement; some point to the birth of punk to a concert on June 4, 1976 in which the Sex Pistols played for 40 people which included members of the Buzzcocks, Joy Division, The Fall, and Morrissey from the Smiths. Look to most post-punk and alternative bands of the 90s and 00s (Green Day, Blink-182) for the sound of the Sex Pistols still raging on.- Blondie - Blondie helped establish punk rock as a melodic art form, and then they deftly took it and created New Wave. I consider the angelic “Heart of Glass” one of the first true New Wave songs. And while “Rapture” was not the first rap song, as some have suggested (”Rapper’s Delight” beats it by two years), Blondie was one of the first mainstream groups to recognize the genre and use it to create a number one song. If it weren’t for them, we may not have heard of the Go-Gos and the Bangles.
Bruce Springsteen - Ignore Bruce’s Born in the USA album, his 3+ hour concerts with the E-Street Band, and his longevity in the music biz. Instead, consider this; He is the father of modern-day Americana music. From his blue jeans and gruff voice to his songs about lost hope and society’s ills, he has personified the American heartland and the changes that have occurred over the past 30 years. Springsteen clones are everywhere - John Mellencamp being one of the first - but the popularity of such roots-rock faves as the Jayhawks, Lucinda Williams, Wilco and Ryan Adams can all look to the Boss for inspiration.- Led Zeppelin - I’m not a big Zeppelin fan. In fact, I’m probably one of the few people on this planet who doesn’t really like them. But I must give my props to them; you can’t mention the 1970s without mentioning Led Zeppelin. And it seems that pretty much any metal/post-metal/grunge/alternative/indie rock group will quickly give them a nod. They are considered one of the first metal groups, and Jimmy Page has influenced scores of guitarists.
Honorable Mention: Kraftwerk. 90 percent of the world has never even heard of Kraftwerk, and I can’t really name any song by them. But when I listen to them, I hear the beginnings of New Wave, Techno and Dance.
High Honorable Mention: Sorry, David Bowie, Pink Floyd and Marvin Gaye.
Omission: The Eagles. I’ve never understood how The Eagles sold 30 million copies of their greatest hits package. That aside, they are simply a popular band that just sticks out from the 1970s, playing lukewarm country-rock. I can’t really track any progression of the Eagles sound, aside from well, Don Henley (whom I like a lot better than his former group) and maybe Sheryl Crow. The fact that they gave us “Hotel California” is reason enough to ban them from any list.
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6 Aug, 2008
- The Beatles - Despite the few naysayers out there - I actually got flamed for posting this piece on why The Beatles are the greatest band ever - it’s impossible to formulate a coherent argument against their influence. It’s like having to argue that Michael Jordan was a great basketball player. So here goes, in one paragraph:One of the first groups to write their own material, The Beatles paved new ground with each release, employing various innovative techniques such as feedback, tape loops, sitars and double-tracking vocals. They also established the album as more than just a piece of acetate that contained a few hit songs and filler. From Zeppelin to Oasis, most bands point to them as an influence. I mean, it’s a given, isn’t it? Do I really need to say more?
Bob Dylan - Sure, he can’t sing, and his music isn’t for everybody. But you probably know more Dylan songs than you think, with artists still covering his material 40 years later. He even influenced the Beatles, encouraging them to explore new sounds and validating their choice to write their own material. (Some even point to his introducing them to marijuana as a turning point in the Beatles’ career.)Dylan thrust the folk music scene into the spotlight in the early 1960s with a series of landmark albums, then angered all the folkies by playing an electric guitar (gasp!) during the Newport Folk Festival in 1965. And of course, there is Bob Dylan the poet, a man who sparked the protest era with his vivid, thoughtful lyrics.But foremost, he showed that you didn’t have to have a voice like Perry Como or have looks like Elvis to be a star. Songwriting became an important talent, and lyrics became an art form.- The Rolling Stones - It’s hard to pin them down to one decade, given their longevity. And since they incorporated all types of genres into their sound, from blues to folk to R&B and (later) funk and disco, you can hear a bit of the Stones in just about any group.But in the beginning, they were a rock band - not a very good one at first, but Mick Jagger’s prancing and attitude not only made lead singers the defining personality for a band, but it also put the naughtiness back in rock ‘n’ roll, something that had been missing since Elvis the Pelvis.
James Brown - So how do you choose between Sam Cooke, Otis Redding and James Brown? Cooke was a crooner, gifted with a fantastic voice - some call him the king of soul music. Those who don’t usually choose Redding, who in his short career transformed soul music.
But James Brown sticks out - literally and figuratively. Outrageous, sexual and at times asexual, his music was unlike anything being done at the time. He seemed to skip soul and rhythm and blues, going straight to funk years before Sly and the Family Stone, George Clinton and Parliament. And two decades later, Prince looked and sounded like a James Brown clone. Michael Jackson danced like him, and sold tens of millions of records. That may be the ultimate hat tip to the Godfather of Soul.
- Jimi Hendrix - If I were to play a word association game and someone mentioned the words Jimi Hendrix, I’d say “guitar.” His songs - meh. His singing - no thanks. His guitar playing, though - indescribable and phenomenal. One of the first to bring the guitar solo into prominence, he played the crap out of the instrument - sometimes even lighting it on fire to illustrate a point - and hard rock was never the same. Thousands of kids playing “Guitar Hero” should thank him daily.
Honorable Mention: The Velvet Underground. Even today, The Velvet Underground’s music sounds weird and cutting edge. And it’s stunning, considering their lack of popularity at the time, that you can hear their style in the music of artists such as R.E.M., Bjork and Of Montreal. You can pretty much point to The Velvet Underground as being the Adam and Eve of most alternative music today: Velvet Underground -> glam rock -> punk -> college rock -> grunge…You get the picture.
High honorable mention: You must know that I fretted long and hard about whether to include Redding, Cooke, The Who and The Kinks in the Top 5. Sadly, there was not enough room.
Omission: Johnny Cash. What? No Man in Black? I must confess that he was originally in my top 5, but when I tried to nail down his influence on subsequent music, I came up with nothing. He is probably one of the most respected men in rock and country music, and many artists readily admit to being a fan. They mention his original music, they talk about his imposing voice, and his noncomformist attitude. But you don’t hear much of his sound in today’s country music, and his music stands as an anomaly among all genres. Maybe it’s too original. Great? Yes. Influential? Um…
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17 Jul, 2008
Yesterday, I came across The Canonical List of Weird Band Names, which list, well, the weirdest band names. My dad always marveled at the names of bands I listened to (INXS, 10,000 Maniacs), but they’re like vanilla compared to these names. (Caution: Many of the band names on the site are R-rated.) Some of the names are really clever puns, and some of them are so bizarre I had to add them to the list as well. My favorites:
- Above Average Weight Band
- Abracadaver
- A Cat Born In An Oven Isn’t a Cake
- Afghanistan Banana Stand
- Alcoholocaust
- Alcoholics Unanimous
- Amputatoe
- Are These My Pants?
- The Band Formerly Known As Sausage
- Barbeque Bob and the Spare Ribs
- Beats the Hell Out of Me
- Beverly Beer Bellies
- Biff Hitler and the Violent Mood Swings
- The Bourbon Tabernacle Choir
- BowWowWowHaus
- Buck Naked and the Bare Bottom Boys
- Cap’n Crunch and the Cereal Killers
- Carnage Asada
- Cher UK
- Craig Loves Pots and Pans and He’s Going Places
- Cream of Whoop-Ass Soup
- The Dead Sea Squirrels
- Dukes of Hazardous Material
- Ethyl Merman
- The French are from Hell
- Full Throttle Aristotle
- Furious George
- Gee That’s A Large Beetle I Wonder If It’s Poisonous
- Gringo Star
- Guitarantula
- He’s Dead Jim
- Hitler Stole My Potato
- Hollow Chocolate Bunnies of Death
- Janitors Against Apartheid
- Jehovah’s Waitresses
- Jehovah’s Witness Protection Program
- JFKFC
- John Cougar Concentration Camp
- Kerrigan’s Knees
- Lee Harvey Keitel
- Lee Press-On and the Nails
- Manson-Nixon Line
- Mao Tse Helen
- Me First and the Gimmee Gimmees
- Minnie Pearl’s Jam (A play on the band Pearl Jam)
- The Only Alternative & His Other Possibilities
- Pandora’s Lunch Box
- QuarteRoy
- Rage Against the Coffee Machine (A play on the band Rage Against the Machine)
- REO Speed Dealer
- 76% Uncertain
- Sharon Stoned
- Shirley Temple of Doom
- Smorgasborgnine
- Snotty Scotty and the Hankies
- Stop Calling Me Frank
- Tall Dwarfs
- Vampire State Building
- The Vast Void of Empty Nothingness
- Vic Vaccume and the Attachments
- The Well I’m Sure I Left It There Yesterday Band
- Who The Hell Are You?
- Willie Nelson Mandela
- Wonderbred, the Refined White Flour Children
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