I grew up listening to Michael Jackson and Madonna and was never really into the music scene. I was into videogames and books. I didn’t have a walkman, I had a gameboy. I’ve never even paid money to go to a concert. Most of my exposition to music came from the radio and sporadic exposure to mtv during my summer vacations.
My music collection is a mishmash of memorable songs, anything from the mediocre to the great. Here is a random 12-song selection from my itunes Party Shuffle list:
-Fields of Gold (Sting)
-I am a man of constant sorrow (“O Brother, Where Art Thou” movie soundtrack)
-Viva Las Vegas (Elvis Presley)
-Ghetto Superstar (Pras f/mya & O.D.B)
-Djobi Djoba (Gypsy king)
-Smooth Criminal (Alient Ant Farm)
-Dinosaurs Will Die (NOFX)
-Butterfly (Aqua)
-Circle of life (Elton John)
-Self Esteem (Offspring)
-No Diggity (Blackstreet)** <— Why do I like this song so much?**.
-Gangasta’s Paradise (Coolio)
The only albums I have that predates the 80s are Bob Marley’s. Since my aquisition of an iPod and my use of music enhancing products such as good speakers, headphones and others, I have come to believe that I am living in mortal sin. No more. I am yours to save.
So what are some of the greatest songs of the 60s and 70s I ought to check out? Please don’t just recommend whole albums. Recommend invididual songs. I like variety so I’m not going to impose any conditions but if your favorite tracks are obscure ones, please mention it so I can configure my search accordingly. **I vow to listen to all the tracks I can find. **
All countries and languages are welcome. I understand spanish, french and arabic but I don’t need to understand the lyrics to enjoy a a nice voice and a good melody. (I didn’t understand the english songs I grew up listening to and I enjoyed them just fine).
I’ll try to come back and let you know which songs made it to my favorites list. I can’t say I’m a set of virgin ears or that I won’t be biased by previous exposure but the results might be interesting.
The sixties gave us SIMON AND GARFUNKEL!!! I was born in '82 but S&G will always be my favorite band. I’m not a big fan of most of their big hit songs, but here are some I really like:
For Emily, Wherever I May Find Her
The Boxer
American Tune
Patterns
Cloudy
Kathy’s Song
Scarborough Fair
April Come She Will
Flowers Never Bend with the Rainfall
The Dangling Conversation
The Boxer
Homeward Bound
A Poem on the Underground Wall
Most of them are on their “Parsley Sage Rosemary and Thyme” album.
Nothing like an open ended question. I’ll leave off the obvious Beatles, Rolling Stones and Who oeuvre. Here’s some random thoughts:
Instant Karma (We All Shine On) - John Lennon
Imagine - John Lennon
Respect - Aretha Franklin
Light My Fire - Doors
Good Vibrations - Beach Boys
Purple Haze - Jimi Hendrix
Whole Lotta Love - Led Zeppelin
All Along The Watchtower - Jimi Hendrix
Mr. Tambourine Man - Byrds
Proud Mary - Creedence Clearwater Revival
Somebody To Love - Jefferson Airplane
Eight Miles High - Byrds
Bad Moon Rising - Creedence Clearwater Revival
Oh, Pretty Woman - Roy Orbison
Blowin’ In The Wind - Bob Dylan
Wild Thing - Troggs
I Got You (I Feel Good) - James Brown
Evil Ways - Santana
Me And Bobby McGee - Janis Joplin
Oye Como Va - Santana
Layla - Derek & the Dominos
What’s Going On - Marvin Gaye
Proud May - Ike & Tina Turner
The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face - Roberta Flack
Black Dog - Led Zepplin
Killing Me Softly With His Song - Roberta Flack
Do It Again - Steely Dan
Walk On The Wildside - Lou Reed
Lust For Life - Iggy Pop and the Stooges
Space Oddity - David Bowie
Ziggy Stardust - David Bowie
Suffragette City - David Bowie
Bridge Over Troubled Water - Simon and Garfunkel
The Boxer - Simon and Garfunkel
God Save the Queen - Sex Pistols
Anarchy In The U.K. - Sex Pistols
Accidents Will Happen - Elvis Costello
London Calling - The Clash
Rudie Can’t Fail - The Clash
Amen. Marvin Gaye’s What’s Goin’ On is a must-have.
Gangsta’s Paradise? Try *‘(For The Love of) Money’ * by the O’Jays.
Rare Earth’s I Just Want To Celebrate. Blue-eyed soul, kickass guitars.
(Loved all that ‘We need to talk about this shit’ music.)
Santana’s Soul Sacrifice will put you right smack in the middle of the crowd at Woodstock.
But I think the quintessential 60s/70s song is Feelin’ Alright. Written by Dave Mason (for Traffic), every other band in the world did a cover of it, each in their own style. Most were good. Some were excellent. Joe Cocker’s version is probably most famous (I like Three Dog Night’s version from Captured best).
A Song for You by Leon Russell Coming Back to Me by Jefferson Airplane Rainy Night House by Joni Mitchell Room to Move by John Mayall Ocean Gypsy by Renaissance Mad, Mad Me by Wendy Waldman Golden Lady by Stevie Wonder Uncle John’s Band by The Grateful Dead I Ain’t Marchin’ Anymore by Phil Ochs Pearly Queen or John Barleycorn Must Die by Traffic Tam Lin by Fairport Convention Hot Summer Day by It’s a Beautiful Day Inside by Jethro Tull
and of course Koeeoaddi There by The Incredible String Band
Oh and Gozu, I had big dumb dog named Diggity so I love that stupid song, too.
Pretty much any Jethro Tull or Pink Floyd album from the 70s, just throw a dart and listen to that song. I will try to come back and make specific recommendations tomorrow, but seriously, those are two awesome bands and their best stuff was in the 70s.
I think his point was that by asking only for individual songs and not whole albums, Gozu is missing out on the fading concept of an album as a “single” work, where the songs are meant to be heard together and often in order.
For the love of man, don’t forget The Kinks! Check out “You Really Got Me” and “Lola.”
I’ll take a stab at The Who: “A Quick One While He’s Away,” “I Can See for Miles,” and “Baba O’Riley” make up a pretty good sample, I think.
Other random suggestions:
Television - “Marquee Moon” (the song, not the album)
Talking Heads - “Psycho Killer”
The Ramones - “Blitzkrieg Bop”
ELO - “Livin’ Thing”
David Bowie - “Queen Bitch”
The Zombies - “Time of the Season”
Bob Dylan - “I Want You”
The Beach Boys - “Wouldn’t It Be Nice”
Warren Zevon - Desperados Under the Eaves. Warren Zevon - Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner Warren Zevon - Lawyers, Guns and Money Pink Floyd - Comfortably Numb The Band - The Weight The Band - The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down The Guess Who - American Woman Don Henley - Dirty Laundry The James Gang - Funk 49 Lowell George - What Do You Want The Girl To Do Meatloaf - Paradise by the Dashboard Light Supertramp - From Now On Supertramp - School Supertramp - The Logical Song The Stray Cats - Stray Cat Strut The Tragically Hip - New Orleans is Sinking The Tragically Hip - Boots or Hearts Van Morrison - Moondance The Who - Baba O’Reilly The Who - Behind Blue Eyes The Who - Won’t Get Fooled Again
These are all great songs. Some a little more obscure than others, but all great.
The O’Jays- For the Love of Money
David Bowie - Ziggy Stardust
Killing Me Softly
James Brown - I Feel Good
Oh Pretty Woman
Layla - Derek and the dominoes
Somebody to Love - jefferson airplane
Imagine - lennon
Whole Lotta Love - zeppelin
Aretha Franklin - Respect
The Beach Boys - Good Vibrations
Scarborough Fair
Rare Earth’s I Just Want To Celebrate
I knew all of the above songs and either had them or wanted them. So they were very good guesses.
I have only given the most cursory preview to most of the songs so far and the last one I previewed (Soul Sacrifice by Santana) sounds promising. I’ll probably adopt more songs after I listen to them in their entirety a few times.
That is true. Go ahead and recommend albums, just be sure to specify the one or two best songs on each. I’ll check out the rest of the album if those songs pan out.
