OT: Watcha Listenin' To? - Part V

[Rebels57]

Been on a big kick of The Boss lately, just kick on the Spotify playlist & go all the way through.

For some reason, i'm just not a Springsteen fan. I like him as a person but his music never resonated with me. I'm like that with Tom Petty and Rod Stewart as well.

 

[Rebels57]

Delete - double post

 

[deadhead]

Every band rips off the past, heck, go listen to classical music, Schubert rips off Beethoven.
The honest bands acknowledge their influences, including their "dirty" secrets (like bubblegum pop).

I hate the fantasy of authenticity, punk was total BS, nothing authentic about playing out of tune, and it's dishonest to charge your fans when you're too lazy to practice.
"Indie rock" tends to be built around the need for an in-group to feel superior, few indie rock bands were ever very good, and yes, I have some Replacement CDs.

It's all "popular" music, it's a matter of what you like, so roll with it.
One reason classic rock has remained is they simply wrote better songs, I think it's harder to get writers to collaborate these days, not many Jagger/Richard, Lennon/McCartney combinations, only a few writers like Neil Young or Peter Townsend or Paul Simon can write great songs over a career.
The other reason is record companies had to sell records, so you had to write songs people liked, now with the internet, too easy to be a niche band and wallow in your own ego, with your dedicated fans and the rest of the world shrugging their shoulders.

I download lots of bootleg concerts off the net, especially from festivals, to check out new music. There are some good bands out there, but a lot of crap as well.
My rule is I try to get through a 10-12 song concert, but if half way in I'm bored, I hit delete and move on (I edit out crowd noise, "hello Cleveland comments" etc).
I'm picky because I listen for my own enjoyment, not to prove anything - and I simply don't like heavy metal, rap and hip hop, or "hat" country.
Otherwise I'm all over the place, a big Gram Parsons fan, 60s Miles Davis, Bonnie Raitt, SRV, Dire Straits/Mark Knopfler, Chris Rea, Joe Ely, Drive By Truckers, Elvis Costello, the list goes on and on. Being popular is not a sin, Fleetwood Mac was a great band, so were the Jefferson Airplane (the Mac on acid).
I have a weakness for Americana, which started with the Dead (Workingman's Dead and American Beauty) and the Band.

My favorite CDs:
Layla - Derek and the Dominoes (Clapton and Duane Allman)
Live at Fillmore East - Allman Brothers
Live/Dead - Grateful Dead (of course)
Axis Bold as Love - Hendrix (still the GOAT)
Court of the Crimson King - King Crimson
Led Zeppelin IV - Led Zeppelin (so it's been overplayed to death, so what!)
Waiting for Columbus - Little Feat
Joshua Judges Ruth - Lyle Lovett
Viva Terlingua - Jerry Jeff Walker (yes, I've been to Luckenbach, Texas)
Making Movies - Dire Straits
Dark Side of the Moon - Pink Floyd (there's a reason it sold so many albums)
Warren Zevon - Warren Zevon
Damn the Torpedoes - Tom Petty
Quadrophenia - The Who (the greatest punk band)
Beggar's Banquet/Let It Bleed - The Rolling Stones
Yellow Moon - Neville Brothers
Something Else - The Kinks
Revolver/Rubber Soul - The Beatles
The White Album - The Beatles
Grievous Angel - Gram Parsons
The Gilded Palace of Sin - Flying Burrito Brothers
Younger Than Yesterday - The Byrds
Stop Making Sense - Talking Heads
Avalon - Roxy Music
I Am Shelby Lynne - Shelby Lynne
Seven Year Ache - Rosanne Cash
Rickie Lee Jones - Rickie Lee Jones
Happy Trails - Quicksilver Messenger Service
Neil Young - Neil Young
In a Silent Way - Miles Davis
Kind of Blue - Miles Davis
What's Goin' One - Marvin Gaye
Southern Rock Opera - Drive By Truckers
The Trinity Session - Cowboy Junkies
Past, Present and Future - Al Stewart
Highway 61 Revisited - Bob Dylan
Blood on the Tracks - Bob Dylan
Buffalo Springfield/Buffalo Springfield Again - Buffalo Springfield
Darkness on the Edge of Town - Bruce Springsteen
My Aim Is True/This Year's Model/Armed Forces - Elvis Costello
Trust - Elvis Costello
Fleetwood Mac/Rumours - Fleetwood Mac (two perfect "pop" albums that rock harder than people think)
It's A Beautiful Day - It's a Beautiful Day
Volunteers - Jefferson Airplane
Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes - Jimmy Buffett (before he became a self-parody and a corporation, he was a darn good songwriter)
Court and Spark - Joni Mitchell

Though I tend to put my own "Greatest Hits" together, computers make that easy.
A lot of great songwriters don't have great albums, but are perfect for 20 or so songs.
And I like soundboard bootlegs, live you can't hide, and a soundboard doesn't disguise you behind crowd noise and stadium distortion.
Some groups play the same set every night, so you just need one concert per tour (Led Zeppelin, Dire Straits, Rolling Stones), others mix it up (Neil Young).

The best Springsteen are the live performances in 1978. After that he started writing to sell records, and the great songs became rare, though 41 Shots is brilliant.
Tom Petty is eclectic, but a great songwriter - he is (was) unabashedly Southern.
Rod Stewart became a parody, but his work with the Small Faces and Jeff Beck and his early albums (up to about 1976) is great.
Elton John is similar, his early stuff is great, then he sold out.

 

[HerbertJGreen]

So I'm generally a classic rock guy and to me that includes 90's rock/grunge. I don't listen to a lot of newer music and the stuff I hear doesn't seem to last or I tire of quickly. I met this guy where I work who turned me onto a band called Highly Suspect, that really has a classic rock sound a bit like QOTSA to me anyways. Song that hooked me(because it was easy to learn on the guitar):
and couple other good tunes:

 

[Pantokrator]

Every band rips off the past, heck, go listen to classical music, Schubert rips off Beethoven.
The honest bands acknowledge their influences, including their "dirty" secrets (like bubblegum pop).

I hate the fantasy of authenticity, punk was total BS, nothing authentic about playing out of tune, and it's dishonest to charge your fans when you're too lazy to practice.
"Indie rock" tends to be built around the need for an in-group to feel superior, few indie rock bands were ever very good, and yes, I have some Replacement CDs.

It's all "popular" music, it's a matter of what you like, so roll with it.
One reason classic rock has remained is they simply wrote better songs, I think it's harder to get writers to collaborate these days, not many Jagger/Richard, Lennon/McCartney combinations, only a few writers like Neil Young or Peter Townsend or Paul Simon can write great songs over a career.
The other reason is record companies had to sell records, so you had to write songs people liked, now with the internet, too easy to be a niche band and wallow in your own ego, with your dedicated fans and the rest of the world shrugging their shoulders.

I download lots of bootleg concerts off the net, especially from festivals, to check out new music. There are some good bands out there, but a lot of crap as well.
My rule is I try to get through a 10-12 song concert, but if half way in I'm bored, I hit delete and move on (I edit out crowd noise, "hello Cleveland comments" etc).
I'm picky because I listen for my own enjoyment, not to prove anything - and I simply don't like heavy metal, rap and hip hop, or "hat" country.
Otherwise I'm all over the place, a big Gram Parsons fan, 60s Miles Davis, Bonnie Raitt, SRV, Dire Straits/Mark Knopfler, Chris Rea, Joe Ely, Drive By Truckers, Elvis Costello, the list goes on and on. Being popular is not a sin, Fleetwood Mac was a great band, so were the Jefferson Airplane (the Mac on acid).
I have a weakness for Americana, which started with the Dead (Workingman's Dead and American Beauty) and the Band.

My favorite CDs:
Layla - Derek and the Dominoes (Clapton and Duane Allman)
Live at Fillmore East - Allman Brothers
Live/Dead - Grateful Dead (of course)
Axis Bold as Love - Hendrix (still the GOAT)
Court of the Crimson King - King Crimson
Led Zeppelin IV - Led Zeppelin (so it's been overplayed to death, so what!)
Waiting for Columbus - Little Feat
Joshua Judges Ruth - Lyle Lovett
Viva Terlingua - Jerry Jeff Walker (yes, I've been to Luckenbach, Texas)
Making Movies - Dire Straits
Dark Side of the Moon - Pink Floyd (there's a reason it sold so many albums)
Warren Zevon - Warren Zevon
Damn the Torpedoes - Tom Petty
Quadrophenia - The Who (the greatest punk band)
Beggar's Banquet/Let It Bleed - The Rolling Stones
Yellow Moon - Neville Brothers
Something Else - The Kinks
Revolver/Rubber Soul - The Beatles
The White Album - The Beatles
Grievous Angel - Gram Parsons
The Gilded Palace of Sin - Flying Burrito Brothers
Younger Than Yesterday - The Byrds
Stop Making Sense - Talking Heads
Avalon - Roxy Music
I Am Shelby Lynne - Shelby Lynne
Seven Year Ache - Rosanne Cash
Rickie Lee Jones - Rickie Lee Jones
Happy Trails - Quicksilver Messenger Service
Neil Young - Neil Young
In a Silent Way - Miles Davis
Kind of Blue - Miles Davis
What's Goin' One - Marvin Gaye
Southern Rock Opera - Drive By Truckers
The Trinity Session - Cowboy Junkies
Past, Present and Future - Al Stewart
Highway 61 Revisited - Bob Dylan
Blood on the Tracks - Bob Dylan
Buffalo Springfield/Buffalo Springfield Again - Buffalo Springfield
Darkness on the Edge of Town - Bruce Springsteen
My Aim Is True/This Year's Model/Armed Forces - Elvis Costello
Trust - Elvis Costello
Fleetwood Mac/Rumours - Fleetwood Mac (two perfect "pop" albums that rock harder than people think)
It's A Beautiful Day - It's a Beautiful Day
Volunteers - Jefferson Airplane
Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes - Jimmy Buffett (before he became a self-parody and a corporation, he was a darn good songwriter)
Court and Spark - Joni Mitchell

Though I tend to put my own "Greatest Hits" together, computers make that easy.
A lot of great songwriters don't have great albums, but are perfect for 20 or so songs.
And I like soundboard bootlegs, live you can't hide, and a soundboard doesn't disguise you behind crowd noise and stadium distortion.
Some groups play the same set every night, so you just need one concert per tour (Led Zeppelin, Dire Straits, Rolling Stones), others mix it up (Neil Young).

The best Springsteen are the live performances in 1978. After that he started writing to sell records, and the great songs became rare, though 41 Shots is brilliant.
Tom Petty is eclectic, but a great songwriter - he is (was) unabashedly Southern.
Rod Stewart became a parody, but his work with the Small Faces and Jeff Beck and his early albums (up to about 1976) is great.
Elton John is similar, his early stuff is great, then he sold out.

Quadrophenia is my favorite Who CD, and a top 5 album for me. Axis Bold as Love is my favorite Hendrix CD, and I love Pink Floyd but do not like Dark Side of the Moon. I know that is heresy, but I can't stand the song Money and I hate the alarm clocks going off in the song. I like the Wall, Final Cut, Animals, Meddle, and Wish you were here all more than Dark side.

Regarding good music, I think every era has its good music, it is just that sometimes it takes a few decades for the chaff to blow away and for people to see the breadth of good stuff out there. I am just ignorant - my brother used to introduce me to all the new bands, but then he moved to Seattle so I am stuck with my 70s and 80s CD collection.

 

[VladDrag]

I'm working at home today, and I'm listening to my neighbor install a new kitchen.

The ensemble of the shop vac, drills and other power tools, the creaks and squeals of the old house, the yells between workers, and hard footsteps juxtaposed to the erratic, sometimes flat, staccato tones brought forth in the form of the nail gun begets self-reflection on the chaotic world in which we inhabit. One must clear out all obstructions in order to facilitate any change in life.

...Or it could make you want to blow your brains out. It's 8:30 in the morning, dude (and it started at 7:15).

 

[Amorgus]

My coworker was having a very bad Friday and to make things worse, her family wanted her to go to Darien Lake amusement park because her husband was going to see Slayer play live and she's NOT a fan. I said "At least it'll be good music to vent your rage to AND you'll get to see my friend's handiwork since he's their A/V tech for this tour." I never got too deep on the Metal train, but one of these days I'll pull the backstage connection for one of his clients. I'll probably have to wait until the next Dropkick Murphys tour.

 

[Young Sandwich]

 

[SolidSnakeUS]

 

[kudymen]

I wish I could find recording of Neil Young singing Long May You Run on Conan O'Brien's final Tonight Show. Youtube deleted everything, another video from vimeo.com was deleted too, I have no idea where else to look - only thing I found is a very low quality vid on facebook

 

[Rebels57]

Whoever it was that recommened the album Hope Downs by Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever, you are a terrific human being. What a great album!

 

[Captain Dave Poulin]

Off the top of my head, here is a small playlist of just a handful of great 90s songs by ladies:







(only get 3 pieces of media per post )

 

[Captain Dave Poulin]

 

[Captain Dave Poulin]

And then one from Superchunk, because they rule:



And one cute little nugget from Ben Lee:



And one to make deadhead's dead head explode:

 

[Oskar Man]

Off the top of my head, here is a small playlist of just a handful of great 90s songs by ladies:

(only get 3 pieces of media per post )

 

[Magua]

Big Aimee Mann fan.

 

[JojoTheWhale]

Off the top of my head, here is a small playlist of just a handful of great 90s songs by ladies:

It's surprisingly hard to find much from Exile that's not Never Said of a good quality on YT.

 

[mja]

See, this is why I like some of you so much. Liz Phair, Sonic Youth, the Breeders, and more.

Off the top of my head, here is a small playlist of just a handful of great 90s songs by ladies

LOVING the Bettie Serveert. That's a blast from the past. Tomboy & Kid's Allright are fantastic songs. I still have that album...on cassette.

Also, so much good stuff you posted. The single greatest show I've ever been to was Superchunk at the Troc in 95? or so. We were packed like sardines and you didn't have a choice, you were pogoing whether you wanted to or not.

I'd be remiss if I didn't take this opportunity to share some other great 90s tunes by the ladies:



I had a massive crush on Mary Timony.



"OH!, you've GOT the DAAAR-KEST EYEEEES!" Dig Me Out is such a great album.



And finally, the inestimable Polly Jean Harvey.

 

[Captain Dave Poulin]

It's surprisingly hard to find much from Exile that's not Never Said of a good quality on YT.

Yep, I was trying to find the studio version of "F*** and Run" and they only have live versions (and an adorable cover by this adorable Asian girl).

 

[JojoTheWhale]

The single greatest show I've ever been to was Superchunk at the Troc in 95? or so. We were packed like sardines and you didn't have a choice, you were pogoing whether you wanted to or not.

I definitely saw them too and was probably at the same show, but what your post reminded me of was this making the rounds a little while ago:

That's the October 1994 mailer they used to send out. I definitely did the double header on the 28th and probably made more than I missed overall. I went to damn near anything at the Troc in those days. It feels like a crime that I haven't been there in years.

 

[Captain Dave Poulin]

I definitely saw them too and was probably at the same show, but what your post reminded me of was this making the rounds a little while ago:

That's the October 1994 mailer they used to send out. I definitely did the double header on the 28th and probably made more than I missed overall. I went to damn near anything at the Troc in those days. It feels like a crime that I haven't been there in years.

Holy ****ing balls, what a lineup! Velocity Girl was one of my favorites. Where is the Troc, in Philly or NY?

 

[JojoTheWhale]

Holy ****ing balls, what a lineup! Velocity Girl was one of my favorites. Where is the Troc, in Philly or NY

It's in Chinatown in Philadelphia. It's an old theatre (late 1800s) that was kind of everything over the years -- movies, opera house, Vaudeville theatre, burlesque house, etc. By the time I hit my teenage years, it had become the local alt/punk/DIY mecca. That's not an uncommon month for that period.

 

[Captain Dave Poulin]

It's in Chinatown in Philadelphia. It's an old theatre (late 1800s) that was kind of everything over the years -- opera house, Vaudeville theatre, burlesque house, etc. By the time I hit my teenage years, it had become the local alt/punk/DIY mecca. That's not an uncommon month for that period.

St. Louis was so barren for stuff like that - bands just routinely skipped us, and I didn't blame them one bit.

 

[mja]

I definitely saw them too and was probably at the same show, but what your post reminded me of was this making the rounds a little while ago:

That's the October 1994 mailer they used to send out. I definitely did the double header on the 28th and probably made more than I missed overall. I went to damn near anything at the Troc in those days. It feels like a crime that I haven't been there in years.

Yeah, I've seen this, and it's f***ing incredible. I wasn't in Philly in Fall 04, it was my first semester of college in a cultural wasteland, so I missed all of that. That Pavement & GBV show. Damn.

 

[Captain Dave Poulin]

That Pavement & GBV show. Damn.

No joke, that's insane.

 

[bauer]

90s was a great decade for music. some of my favs from back then.