This was in interesting. I really liked the dynamics, the dramatic pauses in the instrumentation and the fact that the song felt like a journey, like a mini-prog song. Hoon’s voice is kind of grating to me (said the death metal and hardcore fan) but I think he does have the ability to carry a tune. The band is tight as hell but also tightly controlled. It sounded like something my buddy would play during a road trip; all-in-all I enjoyed this but I won’t be ordering the album any time soon.
Let’s stick with 1992, shall we? I didn’t listen to Blind Melon back then, but I did listen to this band that released their 2nd album, Blues For the Red Sun in 1992. I bought this only because a friend had made me a mix tape with an awesome song from their first album that had the kick-ass title Son of a Bitch and featured lots of yelling of the title phrase with added profanity. I went home and popped it in the CD player and heard Kyuss - Thumb.
Once again, the kyuss came across as kind of Soundgardenesque (perhaps I am partly being influenced by the word “sun” in the title) but very competent and fairly complex musically, even if it’s not so much my taste. I did like it better starting at about 3:18, when the guitars began to take on a sound more reminiscent of L7.
I actually always kind of liked the Blind Melon singer’s voice, though admittedly I had previously known it only from that one smash hit they had. But here, his voice and some of the guitar was reminiscent of Smashing Pumpkins from the same era, and the latter is one of my all-time favorite bands. I would call this a poor man’s version, to be sure; but still pretty good.
The Little Racer reverb may be kind of a cheap trick (no pun intended), but the way it interacts with the vocals and guitar is really what I love about their music.
You can probably tell I don’t listen to a lot of bubblegum pop, but that song “Classic” was the occasional one that comes along and gets me obsessed with it for a while (in this case, for a couple weeks last summer). I overplayed it, which like overdoing it on most candy-sweet things has created a bit of an aversion, but it still deserves a spot in my top five, even if I still can’t listen to it just yet.
The Ibeyi song (“Ghosts”) made the list chiefly on the strength of the rhythmic chanting they start only in the last 42 seconds of the song. I don’t know why they didn’t bring that in earlier, but I’m not a music producer.
Good call on Lucius! One of their songs (“Two of Us on the Run”) did make my Best of 2013 list, and that album cover (for Wildewoman) is super hot sexytimes. I will go ahead and make that my next submission to the thread:
Maybe I shouldn’t have beat-up on Hoon so badly but he’s let me down. All of the live (recorded) performances I’ve ever seen/heard of theirs have me pouring siracha in my ears to dull the pain of his voice. I think they did well to capture it in the studio, but it had to be hit-or-miss on the road. Glad you both liked the tune, too.
Kyuss. This looked familiar. Even felt familiar. But I was sure I hadn’t heard it before. I kinda dug the second half of it more than the first and like the groove presented at about the 3½ mark. That song was okay but I had to hear something more to put things in-perspective. I left u-tube to play its robotic mix in the background when “1 inch Man” started spinning. Ok… that’s where I’ve heard them. I musta had that song in the library on my older Macbook. And I’m not sure why, when or how. Perhaps I heard Homme doing it with The Queens (of the Stone Age)?
Wow… Lucius. Now you’re talking. That’s a great tune. I find I’m just losing interest when it breaks with the quippy vocals, “it’s no race, it’s only the runner…” that brings it to a nice, clean finish. I loved those girls almost from the minute I heard them. What I appreciate most is their simplicity and how they often manage to chart new waters with it. Probably too much harmony for Bo**
I don’t know that we’ve double-shot any artists in this thread yet. I’ll risk the ridicule and post another from Lucius. “Turn It Around” from their NPR Tiny Desk concert. It’s simple, yet captivating, too. Everything about this short show is performance gold. Dig the dresses and note the placement of the hair bows. The link here is s’posed to start at “Turn it Around”, but if you go so far… the last song is a fun improvisation, of sorts.
Preach it, brother. Yes, “Classic” is EXACTLY one of those songs. Right now it sounds so fresh yet it’s painfully sticky. I’ve got to listen to it very sparingly. In fact, one dose and the little hooks keep playing in my head for hours… damping my best efforts to contain the beat.
Never heard of Lucius but I did enjoy that whole performance (and I’m a fan of the Tiny Desk concerts). Love their look and enjoy seeing someone else using a Harmony Rocket beyond Alabama Shakes (although she is now solely using her SG from what I’ve seen). I have an H54 which is what I think this guy is using and it also has the gold foil DeArmonds. They are some hot single-coils that sound great.
And to post a mainstream artist, I give you Bruce:
Great solo recording/video that he makes seem so easy - the strumming and picking. Wish I could play like that and sing as well.
Bruce does a fine job on that song. I don’t know what else to say. I have most of Bruce’s albums but for some reason, I haven’t listened to any of them for about ten years now. I don’t know why.
I recently discovered a new artist. He is a Swedish man who performs under the name Avicii (pronounced A-Vee’-Shee). The song “The Nights” is one of my favorites. He often is content to just mix the music and let some other artist do the singing. His music sounds fantastic over good headphones and played LOUD.
By the way. I’m not sure what the OP meant by the “two click rule”. I would guess it means that if anyone wants to hear a song, they should be able to listen to it without having to click more than twice. Is that correct?
Not my cuppa at all. Banal beyond belief. A well-off young-ish guy showing everyone what a great time he’s having spending a shitload of money. I do agree with you that the generic Eurosong pop music is well produced, but it doesn’t help; if anything it made this even more shallow. I hope to never hear of this guy ever again.
The Springsteen track was okay. I’m not a fan of his, altho he does have a handful of great songs. I thought this performance was really good tho. His voice sounds terrific: strong and nuanced at the same time and his signature timbre is still intact.
The first Lucius song, Two On The Run, was awful. The second one started out making me want to drill a hole in my skull, but got better as it went on. If I ignored the handclapping and the singing, it was pretty good. I liked the drum part and the lead guitar, and I want whatever kind of guitar he’s playing (not the H54, the one with the lipstick pickups).
[The two-click rule:
](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=7697028#post7697028)
We’re not always good about that in this thread; we usually just flag something with (NSFW) and most of us know that many songs have curse words in the lyrics so it’s not exactly an unexpected phenomena. However, as luck would have it, I can show you an example of conforming to the 2-click rule:
This horribly-named Belgian band began their recording career when the 4 members had an average age of just 15½ years old. Nearly every song they write sounds different from every other song. They are often described as a post-sludge band, but I don’t that signifies. They are more of a stew band, throwing lots of different elements together to create their own sound, the sum being more than the parts might seem to indicate. I found out about them when Metal Hammer included a free copy of their 2nd album with an issue back in 2012. Since then, they’ve only gotten better, but the first thing I ever heard from them is prolly still my favorite:Steak Number Eight - Dickhead
Wait, that Steak Number Eight business is still just sitting there waiting for me to comment? I cannot resist.
Oh Fuck Yeah! That rules. Heavy as hell, with hints of Don Caballero and Drive Like Jehu in it, for 2 minutes before the distorted, sparse snarly vocals start up. I’m gonna have to buy it. They have an odd name, yes. They’re Belgian, the same folks who make delicious, odd perfume-y beverages and still call it beer. What are you gonna do?
BANANA!
I liked the Lucius more than I expected to. Quirky, kinda neat. Thankya.
To be honest, I didn’t reply for awhile because every time I read the name Roger Miller in conjunction with Mission of Burma, my brain kind of went on vacation. I’ve owned and loved their Rykodisc CD for something like 25 years, and never realized there was a name collision with the country singer, who I also own a few records by. drad_dog brought him up in another thread around the same time, so I kept getting a breaker tripped for awhile.
And for my contribution, I’ll pull out yet another oldie. I bring it up because Steak Number Eight reminds me of them. Plus, I opened for them ages ago. One of my bandmates asked the guitarist about writing the guitar parts for this record, and he replied “I just wanted to write a bunch of guitar parts that people wouldn’t be able to figure out easily”. He could probably say that again.
Spoilered for naughty words and simulated Marcia Brady orgasam:
Well since Snowboarder Bo didn’t answer my question, I’d just like to say that I think it’s a shame it seems to be so difficult to recommend a song by itself - without tying it to the video portion. Does anyone know a way I can link to a song on Youtube without the video portion?
Seems to me that Snowboarder Bo made it clear the thing he disliked most about that Avicii song I recommended was the video more so than the music. I must agree the video was indeed silly and - sad to say - it did indeed detract from the enjoyment of the music.
This is criminally under-produced, is the first thing I noticed. The second thing I noticed is that the drummer rocks. Overall a very good punk/post-punk song; had the production been better the fact that it’s quite catchy would have stood out more. I’ve been wracking my brain to try and think if I ever saw them, but to the best of my recollection, I did not. Pity that; I bet they were terrific live.
Charlie, I described your song in the second sentence of my post: banal beyond belief. IMO it is musically devoid of any interesting or catchy or musical aspects. The lyrics are a paean to privilege. It is formulaic, boring, and self-congratulatory. It isn’t even good pop/dance music. Deaf children with developmental disabilities have created better songs with eJay.
It seems to me that I was clear in my first post, but since it wasn’t clear to you, I hope that clarifies what I thought of Avicii and his “song”. The video didn’t detract from the enjoyment of the song because for me there is nothing to enjoy in that song.
Two other things: if you’d like to continue participating in the thread (which would be great; the more the merrier), please post according to the rules in the OP.
And you can link to a song without any video by a) finding one on YouTube or b) making one yourself. A lot of the videos I link to are ones that I made specifically for this thread because I listen to a lot of music that isn’t very popular. A simple scan of the album cover with the song playing is how a lot of YouTube music videos are constructed.
I’m gonna stick with my “awesome opening song on an album that has a music video featuring people in animal costumes running” theme. From the best rock album yet made, 1998’s The Shape of Punk to Come: A Chimerical Bombination in 12 Bursts, here’s Refused - New Noise.
I thought the Refused song was so-so for the first 45 seconds, then starting to sound pretty cool with the introduction of the electronic sounds at the 46 second mark…but at 1:07 the vocals kicked in, and words cannot describe the hate I feel for those vocals. Both for the screaming, and the talk-singing (as from 2:04 - 2:17). The instrumentals got interesting again around 3:25, but of course the vocals had to return. Definitely would not want to hear them again unless they ditched the singer.
Charlie Wayne, the song you shared is not really my style, but I certainly did not hate it. It was pleasant enough, and I didn’t even mind the video.
Lest anyone get the idea that I am automatically allergic to any music with guttural, “roaring” style vocals, I will share one of my all-time favorite live performances (I saw the band not at this show but on the same tour, as well as again a couple years later). Spoilered for explicit lyrics and images some might find disturbing:
[spoiler]Ministry - “So What”
ETA: Please try to listen to this one LOUD for proper effect.
I tried to like the song you posted - Ministry - So What.
But, I just couldn’t relate to it at all. It’s like it comes from an entirely different world. I suspect the reason is that I’m a 65 year-old Caucasian and I’m guessing that most fans of Ministry are under 20 and usually listen to Rap Music or something similar. I do like some forms of Rap - but they are usually the type of Rap for squares - like me - like Run DMC. Isn’t that awful?
However I would like to suggest a song called Grenade by Bruno Mars. The reason I am suggesting this song is because I love its fabulous heavy bass “beat”. It begins to thump almost right from the beginning of the song and the tune is also really nice as are the vocals. I hope you will like it.
Someday I hope to find a song to recommend that will hit on all cylinders - meaning … the video, the audio and every other component will **all **be good.
As you suggested, I did listen to your song "LOUD" and I would like to likewise recommend that people try to listen to this Bruno Mars song the same way - LOUD.
I've got to tell you that I find the music as played on Youtube in the above link just does not compare very well to the same song played over headphones from a CD or a FLAC file. So, I'd like to suggest that if you can listen to this song from a CD or a FLAC file, it would be a whole lot better than listening to it from Youtube.
Hmm, I actually like the song. Catchy chorus, nice build up done with primarily the drums and bass. I thought it was terribly over-produced until I followed your advice and found a copy that wasn’t the official video. That song’s a lot better (and sounds a lot tighter) without the thunder and other “atmosphere” of the video added.
But I’m not crazy about his falsetto. I think I’d like it more if it was sung in a lower register. Really, I’m not crazy about falsetto unless it’s convincingly seductive. He’s basically channeling Michael Jackson, which is probably a good play commercially, but it doesn’t win me over. Maybe I’d like it more if he channeled Prince instead.
If I could make a request, Charlie Wayne, since you’re the most long-lived person who’s actively participating in the thread (as far as I know), what’s the oldest song that you think still rocks?
Yep, Bo, Steel Pole Bathtub was a force to behold. Opening for them and Killdozer was the best show that band ever got booked for. Almost every good record was criminally under-produced back then. Sonic Youth’s Sister, for example. SlackerInc, that’s my favorite ministry record.
Ok, for my current bout of submission/foisting, I’ll stop giving you oldies (ok, it’s released in the last decade). I give you Bob Log III - My Shit is Perfect . I’m not going to spoiler it, if you’re clicking on a song titled “My Shit is Perfect” at work, there’s nothing I can do for you.
Why? Because he’s damming himself with faint praise, and I don’t think I’ve forced anyone in this thread to listen to him yet. He’s a one man band who plays guitar (yep, that’s one guitar, the lowest string is somewhere around low B) better than I do, and his feet play drums better than I do (ok, a drum machine is doing the claps). The combination makes for a looser/tighter combo than you could ever get from a band that didn’t share a brain. He sings into a telephone glued to a motorcycle helmet, and it’s awesome sounding. Plus, he doesn’t need instructions to know how to rock, and he’s my hero. Go see Bob Log III. I can almost guarantee that if you’re living in a non-Islamic country (he’s got a song named “Boob Scotch”, I don’t think he can play where alcohol is verboten), he’s going to be playing near you soon.
“I’m a professional, God damn it. I live in a car.” - Bob Log III
Way to make me feel like an old geezer. Heh. Heh. Just J/k.
I will tell you that I may be 65 years old. But I sure don’t feel 65 years old. I still feel like I’m 17 and I have no idea what that means. Probably means that I never grew up.
OK. Scabpicker,
I listened to “My Shit is Perfect” by Bob Log III and I’m sorely tempted to lie and say that I appreciated this song. But the truth is that it just went, “Whoosh” … right over my head.
I didn’t get it. Except maybe as a joke. It was kind of funny in an anti-establishment kind of way.
But now I will try to answer your question. What is the oldest song I think still rocks?
Well, I had to look at two sources. The first was Chuck Berry. Roll over Beethoven (1956) was an easy choice.
But then, I also had to check Phil Spector. He produced severl songs by The Ronettes. I think the "rockingest" of them all is Da Doo Ron Ron (1963):
Phis Spector must have liked The Ronettes a great deal because he married their lead singer.
But the OP said I can only pick one. So, I will have to go with Chuck Berry’s Roll Over Beethoven.
After all, how can I throw over Chuck Berry?
But you may still want to listen to The Ronettes. It’s a great song.
Not following the rules…just want to comment. I watched a couple videos of Bob Log III playing live and it was a very surreal experience. The playing, the interaction with the crowd, the beer drinking… I’ll definitely go see him if he ever plays around these parts. He’s an entertainer.
He’s almost certain to be there sometime. He puts on a hell of a show. Buy all of his merchandise, and buy him drinks. Plus, he’s a really nice guy, if you can talk to him without destroying the mystique, I recommend it.
Hehe, it’s absolutely not to be taken seriously. He thinks of rock 'n roll as party music. If you could shake your butt to it, you got it.
Ahhhh, I’ve watched that clip many times, and had to watch it twice again. An awesome live take. The whole set is available online, every minute is great. Berry in his absolute prime. I assume the backing band is the studio band for the TV station. I think they’re better than the band that appeared on the studio recordings. If nothing else, the drummer is. He should have hired them as his touring band.
One thing that those live takes shows is: Berry was an extremely fluid guitarist, but he was totally willing to go crazy, let his hands land where they may, and bend it into the note he wanted. Those solos are crazed, and never safe. Love it.
I’m familiar with Spector and the Ronettes. I like them, but I can’t explain how pleased I was that you decided to lead with Berry, and that particular clip.
And hey, I was just trying to mine your experience. If you’re listening to Bruno Mars regularly, you’re probably closer to 17 than I am.
And to back up my fogey-ness, I’m gonna go pretty far back. It’s more precise than Berry, but possibly more crazed in it’s own way.
Les Paul is usually mentioned because he might have invented the solid body guitar. That’s debatable, but he’s as good a candidate as any. He didn’t actually invent multi-track recording by himself, either, but he rocked it very hard. Lover has him showing off what he could do in 1948. Extreme pitch shifts, with decades to go before you could correct it digitally. The first half is mellow, and lulls you into a relaxed state. Then it takes off. Listening to it for the umpteenth time, the second half still makes my frontal lobe feel like it’s going to escape.
I believe he was still recording direct to acetate at the time, which was destructive. If he messed up a take, he had to start again at the beginning, with the first of 8 tracks to re-do. It’s extreme stuff for 1948, but still a pop hit, that has the roots of a hell of a lot of the 20th century’s music in it’s technology. Without multi-track recording, the Beatles would have sounded a hell of a lot different, not to mention the studio manipulation Les Paul started (and obsessed about) that’s still being used and expanded on today.
I listened to Lover and that is some pretty amazing guitar playing. He may not have invented the solid body guitar but he sure was a virtuoso.
But I’m going to try another tune in the line of “Rocking Tunes”. This one does not have the strong bass beat that I love so much. But there is just something so very catchy about this tune.
The first couple of minutes had an excellent bassline, fantastic vocals, meaty horn stabs and a terrific flow. Then it was completely ruined for me at the 2:35 mark or so when it stopped and restarted as a confused mess. I suppose one could argue that musically the song was emulating the plight of the singer, but for me it fell apart and never got back together again. It’s a real shame too, as before that happened I was hearing all kinds of references to the music of Curtis Mayfield, Teddy Pendergrass (and of course Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes), Isaac Hayes, etc. I’ve never heard of Aloe Blacc before, but I’ll keep an ear out and hope that the first couple of minutes were more representative of his work than the last 90 seconds. Thanks for the intro.
Bob Log III totally fucking rocks!
The Les Paul tune was cool and made even cooler knowing the technological limitations he faced and overcame. Les Paul was one of the coolest people to ever walk this planet, IMO; I’m proud to own a '73 Custom.
The Ministry song is one of their best, but that live version just goes on too long, IMO.
My pick is a band who formed from the ashes of NYC’s awesome hardcore band Gorilla Biscuits. They recorded two albums and then broke up, even tho both albums are fantastic. Named after the lead singer, Anthony Civarelli, they enjoyed some airplay success but IIRC their sales never took off the way other breaking bands of the time like Offspring and Helmet did. I still think their music holds up well and enjoy pounding my steering wheel whenever one of their tunes shuffles it’s way up on my iPhone; some of y’all may even remember hearing this on the radio yourselves; here’s CIV - Can’t Wait One Minute More.
