So after the last two posts I guess I need to write something about Rock and Roll. Except what I know about Rock and Roll could be carved in courier caps on the Pirate's big toe nail.* I thought about putting up a link to Herebe's place, because he knows everything about Rock and Roll that I don't (which is all of it), but that would be a cop-out. So instead this is going to be an educational post... my education.
I'm getting bored with my current music collection and I want to find some new artists that I like. This is not easy for me. There are a lot of new artists out there, I'm picky, and I don't listen to the radio (except for Radio 4), which, I understand, is the main was of learning about 'hot new talent' (as they say in the 'biz).
So here's what we're going to do. I'm going to tell you some of my favorite artists and what I like about them, and you're going to play the Amazon game and suggest some new artists/groups/vocalists that you think I might like, based on your assessment of my taste. Sound like fun? No? Do it anyway.
I Like:
Simon and Garfunkel
Meatloaf
Brian Adams
Melissa Etheridge
Def Leppard (especially "Rocket," best drumbeat EVER)
some Billy Joel
Boyz 2 Men (ok, that's Motown not Rock, I know that much)
Indigo Girls
Jeff Buckley
some Kaiser Chiefs
Journey (stop laughing)
The Monkees
The Pogues
Flogging Molly
QUEEN!!!!
some Green Day (American Idiot is a great tune)
Survivor
In general, I like music with
a. Words I can understand
b. energy and a good beat, and
c. (and this is KEY) a melody I can hum
Inarticulate screaming rage just doesn't do it for me, I'm afraid.
So, my little Amazons! Can you suggest any recent artists that I might like? (You'll notice there's nothing on that list more recent than about 7 years old, and only a small amount of that. Most of it's from the 80's.)
I can't wait to read the comments!
*the Pirate doesn't have a nail on his big toe. Seriously.
26 comments:
"I thought about putting up a link to Herebe's place, because he knows everything about Rock and Roll..."
As his (once older now younger)sister I'd just like to point out that everything he knows about Rock and Roll he learnt from me! (except how to play the guitar).
My musical taste is, as F keeps telling me, so out of date as to be almost (but not quite) cool. It's definitely buried so far into the past as to be practically antique.
Therefore anything I suggest I do in the absolute knowledge it will make me into a figure of fun and everyone will laugh at me for suggesting it.
So here goes, try...
Francis Dunnery - The Gully Flats Boys (I'd say that if you like Simon and Garfunkel then you'll probably like this - but I don't like Simon and Garfunkel and I do like this so that probably doesn't mean anything).
Chris Whitley. My favourite of his albums is his War Crimes Blues but they're all really good.
Betty Davis (married to Miles had an affair with Hendrix) not quite Motown but bloody hell what a voice - best album "Nasty Gal"
Free - I know, I know... Paul Rogers. It's difficult to forgive him for Bad Company really. But in Free he had one of the best rock voices out and Kossof is a hell of a guitar player. Get the "best of" album and you'll get all their upbeat stuff but check out Tons of Sobs too.
God this is difficult. I've a got a whole heap of stuff that I listen to all the time but I don't think you'd like it. I'm going away to have another cup of a coffee and a trawl through my music collection. I will return...
This is fabulous, thanks HC. I've never heard of ANY of the people you mention. My exposure to music has been woefully limited I fear.
I actually think your taste in music sounds fine. All artists I listen to myself and enjoy. As I do enjoy a majority of the rock, preferably older, the one new group that I do like over the last couple of years is Nickelback. Good rock beat and it is one of the only few groups that I can easily listen to the entire CD without skipping a song.
Outside of that, an oldie but goodie that I always enjoy is Final Countdown by Europe. :)
Pandora.com will help you there. You enter some artists.songs you like and it plays music similar to those, some you will not have heard of. You canr ate whether you like or dislike a song it plays and it keeps adjusting itself to suit your taste.
I have discovered many new artists like this. It also helps to get the lesser known but still talented out there.
www.pandora.com
The bands I am currently jamming to, and I think you will like too if you haven't listened to. i.e. Not exactly unknown bands.....
The Killers, Jimmy eat world, Stellastarr*, Yellowcard, Goldfrapp, LCD Soundsystem, Broken Social Scene, Arcade Fire, Spoon
-Stellastarr* is rapidly moving up my favorite artist list and I think they may be unknown, but I think they are british, and this could just be my american naivete rearing its ugly head
'a. Words I can understand
b. energy and a good beat, and
c. a melody I can hum'
Gilbert and Sullivan seem to fit your requirements to a 't'. And you'll become British overnight too.
No offence, but you do need help. Not that it's all necessarily recent, but I would suggest the following:
Iron and Wine (calm and folky, good for a cold winter's night)
Nick Drake
And, for the Canadian portion of the list:
Feist (you WILL love it, it's pop perfection)
Ron Sexsmith (perfect for words you can understand)
Jason Collett
Oh, and yes to Pandora.com I was banned because I'm from Canada. Hiss. But it's great for finding new stuff.
Oooh oooh. I also forgot Metric. They are very upbeat and guitar rock oriented. And Canadian. And the lead singer Emily Haines is to die for.
I wanted to provide a brief list, I really did! But then my brain just kept churning them out, so here goes…
If you like Queen (my personal favorite): Pink Floyd, Yes, Jethro Tull, Emerson Lake and Palmer (ELP), Electric Light Orchestra (ELO), The Who, Supertramp, Kansas, Billy Squier
If you like Journey: Cheap Trick, Styx, Foreigner, Boston, Rush, Van Halen
If you like Simon and Garfunkel: James Taylor, Carly Simon, Warren Zevon, The Everly Brothers
If you like Brian Adams: Eagles, Bob Seger, Steve Miller Band, John Mellencamp
If you like Def Leppard: White Lion, Warrant, Cinderella, L.A. Guns, Bon Jovi
If you want to know what Motown is: The Drifters, Smokey Robinson, The Commodores, The Ohio Players, Luther Vandross, Marvin Gaye, Al Green, Sam Cooke, Gladys Knight, The Four Tops
Other artists you should know: The Clash, Tower of Power, Three Dog night, Thin Lizzy, The Small Faces, Squeeze, Ray Charles, Genesis (with Peter Gabriel), Los Lonely Boys, Counting Crows, Chicago, Bowling For Soup, Blood Sweat and Tears
Let me know when you’ve made your way through those and I’ll send you part two of seven.
You may want to look at http://liveplasma.com/ (you do NOT need to sign up, just type in an artist and hit enter).
Definitely Nick Drake and you could try John Martyn too (Solid Air) although all his albums are pretty good (apart from his eighties ones when he went a bit mainstream).
And I'm going to check out Iron and Wine cos I like folky stuff myself. If you're into folky stuff then Annie Briggs and Pentacle (or Pentangle - can't be bothered to check i-tunes for the right name) are hard to beat.
What Rimshot said. Of his list I regularly listen to and love...in no particular order...
Pink Floyd,
Thin Lizzy,
The Who
LA Guns (first album is the best and was written by a good friend of F's),
The Small Faces,
Genesis (Trespass is a good one to start with and then you can work your way through the Lamb Lies Down on Broadway),
Van Halen (or David Lee Roth's solo stuff - but no Van Halen without Lee Roth - try Van Halen 2 or Diver Down)
Rush - My favourite album by them is "Moving Pictures"
Three Dog Night
The Clash
The Eagles
You can also try AC/DC but only with Bon Scott - not that I've anything against Brian Johnson, but PowerAge and Highway to Hell are difficult to beat.
Guns and Roses - up to the Spaghetti Incident - anything after that just proves you should never give a lead singer a recording studio of his own.
The Red Hot Chilli Peppers - who have actually got better as they've got older.
The Cars - but not the drive you home song - try the album with my best friends girl on it.
Aerosmith - everything up to the Permanant Vacation Album although Toys in the Attic is a classic - basically with Aerosmith just avoid anything they've made which could conceivably have Liv Tyler in the video.
Seal
The Cult
The Police
ZZ Top
and that will do for now I think...
Jethro Tull is a bit of an acquired taste - you either love them or really really really hate them - they're one of my all time favourite bands (I tend to listen to one of their albums a day)
Anon: thanks for the suggestion. I've always been a fan of The FC, myself. I remember playing it in band in high school...
UCC: that sounds like a cracking idea, thanks!
S Vince: cheeers for that. I shall definately investigate.
Dave, you are the very model of a modern English minister.
Lawyerine: none taken. I don't think my selection is bad, just limited. Thanks for the input.
Rimmer: what happend to your cute new avatar? As for the music, thanks for trying, but I'm actually familiar with the vast majority of the groups you mention (listened to the Oldies station all through high school), and most of them fall into the category of "Wrote 2 or 3 good songs (which I already have), but find the majority of their work uninteresting."
It's funny you should mention James Taylor. I hate James Taylor, and i can't figure out why. He was a major songwriting influence on my most of my favorite artists (Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel have both named JT as a major influence), but I just don't get on with him. Something about his music just annoys the piss out of me and I can't for the life of me put my finger on it.
Oh, and I know all about Motown (my mother's from Detroit, for fuck's sake), but I was really after Rock here. I probably shouldn't have lumped B2M in with everyone else.
hendrix: sorry, i wasn't ignoring you, we passed each other in cyberspace.
This might be sacrilidge, but i can't stand Genesis or the Eagles. Three Dog Night, The Clash, Bon Jovi and AC/DC all fall into the infamous category of "Like 2 or 3 of their songs, and can't give a toss about the rest."
What I'm really hoping to find is another artist to two that elicit the response in me like I had when I discovered Meatloaf, where I was so happy, ecstatic even, that I could sit and listen to the album and loved song after song after song. I kept exclaiming to myself "I love this! I can't believe I'd never heard of him before!" and BOH I and II both floated right to the top of Favorite Albums of All Time List, right beside Graceland and Songs from the Capeman.
So what I really need are more recent artists (like the ones you named in your first post) that I've never heard of. I'm pretty familiar with just about everything written before 1985, and have already formed an opinion on it.
Hmm...here's a few suggestions of mine I think you'd like:
Goldfrapp, Collective Soul, Seal, the Police, Our Lady Peace.
Oh yeah...and Red Hot Chili Peppers.
Right then, I'll get my thinking cap on. I completely understand what you mean re listening to Meatloaf, the albums that make my regular playlist are all ones which invoke that response in me.
And no, it's not sacrilege not to like something - its only music you know...and in any case not liking Bon Jovi just falls into the category of having some taste..
The ones I already mentioned plus Nick Drake and John Martyn are worth a listen...(if you haven't already heard Nick Drake and John Martyn anyway).
I've found Wikipedia to help me find new music...I look up an artist and then they usualy list their inspiring artists or similar artists and I can look them up and listen to them. I've found alot of great music that way.
Sorry about the # of posts - I keep hitting return and making separate posts instead of a new paragraph. I'm done now honest...
> *the Pirate doesn't have a nail on his big toe. Seriously.
I pictured him with a wooden leg....
CB: I totally get it. I started to be indignant about you not liking some artists on the list, but then I realised how incredibly stupid that would be.
The only thing that bothers me is that the song you know from the oldies station are the songs that I heard when it was new and I played the LP over and over. *sigh*
So, in that light, here's round two of "'love 'em or leave 'em: the music"
Jason Mraz, My Chemical Romance
There.
Looking strangely like my own CD collection. So here goes nothing:
Dar Williams - Mortal City / The Honesty Room (folky, quirky stuff) Yes it's at least 12 years old, but if you like Indigo Girls and S&G maybe you'll like this.
The Killers - Hot Fuss and Sam's Town both have some brilliant tracks. "When You Were Young" gives me goosebumps.
Hayseed Dixie.
The Feeling. "I Love It When You Call" feels like something from the 80s, in a good way.
Oh, also, I don't know if anyone mentioned it but 'Fall Out Boy' is quite good.
Yes, I remember playing FC in band in High School too. Great song. Another one that was mentioned is Three Dog Night but the only real song I have gotten into is Joy To The World myself.
In response to your other posters here...
Pink Floyd - great for any and all albums
The Who - good beat, good feel and great songs all around
Genesis - These guys are great in any way shape or form. Great feel and beat to each song and ones that you can easily sing along with as well.
Rush - another great one. I am not too impressed with their live albums myself but all in all, they are good
The Eagles - I grew up on these guys so I like them.
The Red Hot Chilli Peppers - I agree that these guys have gotten better as they got older but some of their older stuff is real good too
Other good one to keep in mind:
Bon Jovi - great 80's hairband but the newer stuff is really upbeat and up with the times as well
Corinne Bailey rae? I think, Take that Very hummable, their latest album I can sing along to
Snow patrol might interest you too
If you want bollywood songs www.gloomx.com does fantastic free downloads
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYVyPk-LV5w
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtIcUrI1_1g
Remember you can always ask me for translations
If you like Def Leppard: White Lion, Warrant, Cinderella, L.A. Guns, Bon Jovi
No. Seriously. If you like Def Leppard (and the only Def Leppard worth liking is the Pyromania/Hysteria Mutt Lange produced before he married Shania 'I've married the world's best producer because I love him not because I want to further my career' Twain) then frankly White Lion et al are not even in the same category. Hysteria is a bulletproof album. There is not a single duff track on it. The White Lion's Poison's of this world sound as dated as the new romantics. Although Bon Jovi's New Jersey album is good to train to.
John Martyn - Solid Air and Bless the Weather. Shits on almost any other acoustic singer songwriter you can think of. Especially the new interchangeable James Blunt/Morrison shitehawks.
You already have the benchmark Led Zep album (IV) but the three before that are all good to. After that, the riffs got longer, the songs got more overblown, bonham died and percy plant didn't.
The Who - Go straight to Who's Next, do not pass go. Do not buy anything else. The album that introduced synth's to the world. A year before Stevie Wonder did it with Innervisions. A YEAR! If you don't get goosebumps when Baba o'Reilly kicks in then lose my number and don't ever call me again.
It Bites - Eat my in St. Louis. The mighty dunnery et al. Although Once around the world is worth it for the title track.
Floyd - Wish you were here. The end.
The Beatles - Revolver. Better than Sgt. Pepp's. Recorded on FOUR TRACKS. Bravado genius while the world watched.
There are others. (Free, metallica's Black album, Miles Davis Kind of Blue, Bill Evans, John Coltrane but we'll start with the basics and go on from there)
And I've finally finished recording your christmas present from last year. So you've that to look forward to as well.
Uncanny. I was about to suggest The Beatles/Revolver, since Norwegian Wood always reminds me of Nick Drake's Place To Be.
I assume as a Meatloaf fan, you've already got everything by Jim Steinman?
21st century? Evanescence/Amy Lee.
Nickelback. Alison Krauss. Darren Hayes. Tori Amos.
Can't stand Celine Dion or the one with the wavy arms, Mariah Carey, but they do have great voices if you like a wide vocal range and words you can hear.
Oh yeah, forgot to mention Van Halen
but only Dave Lee Roth era.
I'm dying to know what you liked.
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