What Music Do You Listen To?

Great Thread! I feel as though most of the time my Gaming Success is directly related to my state of mind or present viewpoint on things. Music has always been a key avenue for me to elevate my "Altitude" and drape me in a positive outlook. Some of my favorite songs to adjust my mood are; Passion Rules the Game- Scorpions, Danger Zone- Kenny loggins, Ready or Not- lou Gramm, Face Up- Rush, Eddie's Comin out Tonight- Night Ranger etc..,
Yeah I know, I'm stuck in the 80's. Good music back then, not tryin to shake it.., :cheers:
 
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A topic worth coming out from under-a-rock to talk about...



There's a lot you can tell about a person by what music they list. Someone touched on the 80's, an era that gets too much criticism at times. I've often heard musicians that I truly admire, continually bash the 80's for being too cold and simple. Maybe so, but the mainstream 80's music that was playing on the radio at the time, is x 1,000,000,000 better than the mainstream music that's been making my ears bleed since late '98/early '99.


All of the boy & girl bands, the glitz 'n ice gangs, the IDOL winners (or not) & Mickey Mouse Club members, metal+rap blends, punk & ska wannabees, recycled rock & blues bands, and new wave jazz (it was EXCELLENT to begin with), forced me to NEVER want to listen to the radio again (essentially everything that's up for a Grammy). And for all of those Canadians (and I'm one of them) that may know a thing or two about which I speak, CBC radio used to play JAZZ, Classical, & Opera exclusively, and there was nothing wrong with that. I'm not some grandfather either. Instead of EVERYTHING having to be louder, faster, and angrier, or trying too hard to be weird when it's not, CBC radio was once an escape to something... better. I don't live in the past, but it's okay to go there once in a while.


It's funny isn't it, over the past few hundreds of years, medicine, technology, communication, education, whatever, have all made significant strides over that time. And then you have guys like Mozart, Beethoven, Bach, and a host of others, who pretty much showed us the peak of complete and perfect (near-perfect) music. What would Mozart make of Ricky Martin's writing skills? Would he say bravo (unless he was gay... then it's understandable I suppose)? Or Beethoven taking notes from Jay-Z and how to improve and refine his sound? Or Bach trying not to be "too far removed" from understanding a duet with none other than Snoop Dog and Britney Spears titled "Chew on dis thang". I'm certain they're rolling over in their graves at this very moment.


I wouldn't write off all of the music over the past 50 years, there's tons of great stuff. I'm sure the great composers would also approve of some of the stuff being made now and over the past 100 years. But... there's tons (to the power of 100) ofgreat crap that came and keeps coming.


Enough of that, bands I like (and probably some that you'll most certainly hate)...


Britpop


- BLUR (each member artistically gifted, never settled on a particular sound, always adding to their portfolio... )

- PULP (the peak was quick, but they were around since the early '80s!!!)

- LUSH (ended all-too-quickly, hottest lead singer... sigh...)

- The Verve (all too sudden... came at the peak and end of BritPop)

- The Good, The Bad & The Queen (not really BritPop)

- The Cranes (highly influenced by Robert Smith of The CURE)

- Radiohead (always creative in their sounds, the critic's darlings)

- ColdPlay (people just think overrated, what they don't hear is great music)

- Suede (there first 2 albums were brilliant... and then... ho-hum)

- Supergrass ("St Petersburg" should have been a #1 hit)

- The Stone Roses (some of it... well... their first album)

- Prodigy (when you get past the make-up of '97, they made some great stuff)



Country/Rockabilly


- The Mavericks (album "Music For All Occasions" would make country haters like country... #3 favorite album)

- Dwight Yoakam

- Roy Orbison (haunting voice in a great way)

- Patsy Cline (I realize Willie Nelson wrote a ton of her stuff, but he can't sing like her either)

- Chris Isaak (a great performer who's too often discounted like some Michael Bolton knock-off)

- Hank Williams Senior (NOT junior... yuck!)

- K.D. Lang & Lyle Lovett (they're not a pair, but I read that they're performing together... both often joked about, but are terrific artists)

- Blue Rodeo (for those Canadians that are reading this)

- Jim Reeves


'80s post-punk/romantic/new wave


- The CURE (similar to BLUR, that they really made some serious transformations in their music, although they've gone full-circle)

- Depeche Mode (I used to call them gay when I was a metal-head, but they're one of my All-Time favorites... "Shake The Disease" is my favorite)

- The Smiths (overrated in the U.K., but only in the U.K., perfect song writing)

- New Order (critics love them over DM, but I think DM are slightly better)

- The Pixies (hard to categorize this group... glad they're together again)

- James (should have been bigger)

- The The (I saw them w/Johnny Marr opening for Depeche Mode)

- Lazzarus Q (only hit was "Goodbye Horses" in "The Silence Of The Lambs")

- Joy Division (hey, I love JD and NO, but they're overrated because Ian Curtis dying so early)



Personally, I'm Canadian and generally hate Canadian music. Most of it sucks the big one!!! But, here's a short list of redeemable and good/great bands/singers.


- Sloan (probably will never be big outside of Canada, but they're likely Canada's greatest band... garage band sound)

- Eric's Trip (Julie Doiron and I share the same last name, and that's about it)

- Hayden (his body of work is greatly underappreciated... not to be confused with the Classical Composer from Austria)

- The Guess Who (they're probably considered Canada's greatest band by most... maybe they are... they had enough hits)

- Van Bran 3000 (got rollin' a bit late...)

- RUSH (always huge with college kids... along with "Steely Dan" and "The Greatful Dead"... something I never understood really)

- Neil Young

- Cowboy Junkies ("Sweet Jane")

- Diana Krall/Holly Cole

- Melissa Auf der Maur (the hot redhead that I used to have a crush on who played with "HOLE" and "Smashing Pumpkins")

- Oscar Peterson/Glenn Gould



Great '80s bands/singers (usually 1-hit wonders)

- Kim Wilde ("Kids In America)

- Men at Work ("Who Can It Be Now")

- Crowded House ("Don't Dream It's Over)

- A Flock of Seagulls (I Ran)

- Chicago ("It's So Hard To Say I'm Sorry)

- Olivia Newton John ("Magic")

- Alan Parsons Project ("Eye In The Sky")

- INXS ("I Need You Tonight")

- Duran Duran ("Rio")

- Fine Young Cannibals ("Good Thing")

- Earth Wind & Fire ("Let's Groove")

- Til Tuesday ("Voices Carry")

- Michael Jackson (he "THRILLER" album is/was great... so much talent...)

- Thompson Twins ("If You Were Here")

- The Human League ("Don't You Want Me")

- Rick Ashley ("Never Going To Give You Up")

- Rick Springfield ("Jessie's Girl")

- Kim Carnes ("Bette Davis Eyes")

- Simple Minds ("Don't You Forget About Me)

- Cindy Lauper ("Time After Time")

- Madonna ("Get Into The Groove", her early stuff was good)

- Wham! ("Careless Whispers")

- Falco ("Der Kommissar")


Grunge/Metal/Hard Rock


- Guns n' Roses (they're greater then their genre, and could have been on par with Led Zeppelin - behind only the Stone and The Beatles - if Axl wasn't such an idiot... great lead singer though)

- Scorpions (I will always love the "Blackout" album)

- Led Zeppelin (with possible exception to the Beatles, I'm not sure a band OWNED a decade more than Led Zeppelin OWNED the '70s)

- Nirvana (funny that Kurt Cobain was going to flee with Michael Stipe to create a new electronic sound... never happened of course)

- Def Leppard (Hysteria was a memorable album for me)

- Stone Temple Pilots (they were often called posers, but they sure had some great hits)

- Alice In Chains ("Would?)

- Van Halen (like GNR, could and should have been one of the greats... "Panama"!!!)

- HOLE (their 2nd album "Live Through This" will always be exceptional... even if Love blows)

- L7/Babes In Toyland (like Hole, hard girl bands that both caved early)


Other stuff


- Ben Folds Five (people will remember "Brick", but know nothing about a HUGELY talented band)

- Elliot Smith

- Weezer (I liked the original line-up oh-so-much more)

- The Smashing Pumpkins (I liked the original line-up oh-so-much more)

- Bloc Party (sorta' good)

- The Beastie Boys (don't discount all hip-hop/rap... they're head and shoulders above the rest... "Pass The Mic")

- The Spice Girls (blame them for today's music, but at least they NEVER took themselves seriously... or acted that way expect for "Posh")

- The Sugar Cubes (Bjrk's first band)

- Talking Heads ("This Must Be The Place", Top-10 All-Time Favorite song)

- Mazzy Star ("Fade Into You")

- Leftfield & Lydon ("Open Up", my favorite rave song from circa '93-95)

- Billy Idol ("Sweet Sixteen")

- Zombies ("The Way I Feel Inside"... can't stop crying...)

- Catherine Wheel

- Everything But The Girl

- Arab Strap

- Cat Power

- Belle & Sebastian



Jazz & Classical


I pretty much like all Classical music pre-1900's. I suppose you could throw in Gershwin, and John Williams has always been masterful with his movie scores (most other composers ridicule his work, but why?). Personally, I like the work of Tchaikovski's Nutcracker Suite as well (someone mentioned it earlier); in particular, the Arabian as well as the Russian dances. Everyone loves Chopin, and myself included. I really like Eric Satie's "Gymnopedies" (3), probably because I'm a big fan of the movie "Another Woman" (it was used as the main song throughout the film). My ealier years, I preferred Mozart over Beethoven, and I felt while both are true geniuses, I can't imagine any composer being more naturally gifted and brilliant than Mozart. Now, I prefer the darker tone set by Beethoven, and his greatest work isn't any less worthy than Mozart's greatest achievements.


I pretty much love all Jazz prior to the mid-60s (although lots of the 60's stuff I would consider to be the best). I truly like most Jazz artists, and if the U.S. ever produced great music, Jazz has to be at the top. I don't care for the new less-traditional stuff floating around these days, passing itself off as "Jazz". We don't need a mixmaster (DJ) to keeping things real on the low (if you know what I mean). Favorite artists would have to be "Bird", Chet Baker, and Miles Davis. Favorite Jazz song, is probably "Take 5".



Gospel


Just jokin'! Go "Stryper"!



Thanks for giving away 1 hour of your life that you'll never get back (moahahahahaha).



Steed

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tennis_balls

Steed:

How many sports anthems did The Guess Who record?

hmmmm......top 10 sports anthems.....i smell a new thread coming on....


Well, seeing that I'm from Winnipeg, and they're from Winnipeg, and I used to go to JETS games, I can only think of "American Woman". I don't think "These Eyes" really went well with a hockey game (although oddly enough, I did see Burton Cummings sing the National Anthem on more than one occasion). I'm thinking they only had one song that is routinely played at sporting events. But come to think of aside, aside from "Welcome To The Jungle", literally each and every song that's been overplayed at sporting events, will NEVER get play on my stereo/Real-Time Player! As much as I love "BLUR", if I never hear "Song 2" again, that'll be just fine with me. :cool:


I can certainly come up with a "Top-10 (likely expanded to 100 if you give me a week) Worst All-Time Songs Played At Sporting Events" list, but that may insult some folks here. I elect to keep that list in my closet. :oops:


Steed

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QUOTE: Someone touched on the 80's, an era that gets too much criticism at times. I've often heard musicians that I truly admire, continually bash the 80's for being too cold and simple. Maybe so, but the mainstream 80's music that was playing on the radio at the time, is x 1,000,000,000 better than the mainstream music that's been making my ears bleed since late '98/early '99.

"All of the boy & girl bands, the glitz 'n ice gangs, the IDOL winners (or not) & Mickey Mouse Club members, metal+rap blends, punk & ska wannabees, recycled rock & blues bands, and new wave jazz (it was EXCELLENT to begin with), forced me to NEVER want to listen to the radio again (essentially everything that's up for a Grammy). And for all of those Canadians (and I'm one of them) that may know a thing or two about which I speak, CBC radio used to play JAZZ, Classical, & Opera exclusively, and there was nothing wrong with that. I'm not some grandfather either. Instead of EVERYTHING having to be louder, faster, and angrier, or trying too hard to be weird when it's not, CBC radio was once an escape to something... better. I don't live in the past, but it's okay to go there once in a while.

"It's funny isn't it, over the past few hundreds of years, medicine, technology, communication, education, whatever, have all made significant strides over that time. And then you have guys like Mozart, Beethoven, Bach, and a host of others, who pretty much showed us the peak of complete and perfect (near-perfect) music. What would Mozart make of Ricky Martin's writing skills? Would he say bravo (unless he was gay... then it's understandable I suppose)? Or Beethoven taking notes from Jay-Z and how to improve and refine his sound? Or Bach trying not to be "too far removed" from understanding a duet with none other than Snoop Dog and Britney Spears titled "Chew on dis thang". I'm certain they're rolling over in their graves at this very moment.

"I wouldn't write off all of the music over the past 50 years, there's tons of great stuff. I'm sure the great composers would also approve of some of the stuff being made now and over the past 100 years. But... there's tons (to the power of 100) ofgreat crap that came and keeps coming. UNQUOTE

Another *classic* post, JS - good to see you back.

Whilst I might not be in tune with all of the detail, I have to agree with the broad brush strokes of your opinion, despite finding most jazz too improvised, self indulgent and often at a dischord!

On the rapper front, when you can decipher what they're saying, the wave of strangely dressed artistes or just plain gangstas we've been relentlessly bombarded with for the past several years may be social commentary poets, but for me it ain't music, but a dumbing down of what should be a continually evolving and vibrant aspect of an entertainment that can relax and stimulate, inspire and educate - real music!

That said, we all have our own views on what appeals, and there must be something about today's soul warbling or speaking in tongues that works for most people - it's lasted almost a decade and unfortunately shows little sign of departing the scene LOL!
 
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Jetset

That said, we all have our own views on what appeals, and there must be something about today's soul warbling or speaking in tongues that works for most people - it's lasted almost a decade and unfortunately shows little sign of departing the scene LOL!



Great "Talking Heads" album by the way... ;)



Exactly! All of that over-the-top-singing nonsense goes back to Whitney Houston - maybe not originally... but as far back as I can think of - overdoing all of the gospel stuff, force feeding us with trying to determine how talented they are based on their range, rather than what truly matters most... a good song. I'm vomiting in my mouth as I write this next part, but some of her earliest stuff ain't so bad. :oops: Songs like (and I can't believe I'm pointing this out) “Saving All My Love for You,” “How Will I Know” and “Greatest Love of All" (thank you Wikipedia.com :notworthy), were solid and well produced (not over-produced like her post '93 career).



Her downfall (not financially though) was when Mariah Carey came onto the scene in the early '90s, showing great range in each of her songs, as well as the emergence of Boyz II Men (and their soulful ways) really forced her to compete on a different level. When you look at her earliest work, and compare it to "I Will Always Love You", there was a tremendous amount of over-emphasis on displaying her pre-choir girl range. That song was absolutely huge for her (I'll always prefer the original far more subtle Dolly Parton version any day), and it seemed that around that period, every human being with a bit of range needed to perform "The Star Spangled Banner" at every sporting event. Oh, here's a wonderful link over at YouTube from SuperBowl XXV - (
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) - and another SuperBowl (2002) with Mariah - (
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) Have fun with them folks! :cool:



Side Note II: My favorite rendition of "The Star Spangled Banner", fantastically performed by Carl Lewis. :notworthy:D (
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)



Side Note: I don't sit around listening to Whitney Houston, and I never really did at any point in my life. But... my father had her 1st album (self titled album... sure blame him for having to listen to her back in the day) for some unknown reason, and it wasn't so bad.



Side Note III: I can't believe I'm going to admit to this either, but Carey's producers (not her) have flukishly made a few fine songs for her; maybe "Heartbreaker," "Dreamlover," and especially "Fantasy"; which got me to thinking that I'm 99.99% certain that Mariah has absolutely no inkling that samples of "Tom Tom Club's" hit "Genius Of Love" were used to make her song.



Now, speeding up to the late '90s, and all of the boy and girl bands that sprung-up (and continue to do as solo artists), they feel that it's absolutely necessary to display their range as singers, their dancing skills, rather than making a good song.



It's precisely the same thing that's been happening out here in Korea over almost that same amount of time. All called "talent" (rather than performers), but what talent? They can dance (but hardly on that M-Jackson level), can sing a little (on a "Backstreat Boys" level... no higher), and posture and look semi-pretty/semi-handsome while still looking too cutesy/boyish/girlish. Producers do all the work (not great work at that), and it's all aimed at making that 1-hit that will be a global hit (rather than it being a good song). All of the "art" is taken out, so anytime they're tossed-off as "artists", I want to yank all the hair out of my head. It's an art acting cute and wide-eyed? Almost every song is lazily construction. Start off with some hip-hop guy (who's never left Korea where there's absolutely no "hood" or "projects") with a scowl on his boyish face, 3 minutes after a sweet angst looking cute girl who sings for 1-minute (to give the song depth... that's what I'm told), followed by the closing of the scowling rapper singing-over the girl singer trying to be Mariah Carey (which is actually pretty damn hard to do).



There you have it! Crappola... All for the price of a free download, or a $10 CD.


Don't get me wrong, some "non-artists" get the right producer, and fluke off some decent sounding tunes (1/1,000 times), but shouldn't we be more demanding of substance over flash and image?


cont...

On the rapper front, when you can decipher what they're saying, the wave of strangely dressed artistes or just plain gangstas we've been relentlessly bombarded with for the past several years may be social commentary poets, but for me it ain't music, but a dumbing down of what should be a continually evolving and vibrant aspect of an entertainment that can relax and stimulate, inspire and educate - real music!


I agree with what you're saying here. I can't and will not lump every singer/act from that genre as being not-really-talented and repetitive, but for the most part... yes. Too much of this bad boy posturing has do with trying to earn some "street cred", and acting like thugs with no heart. It seems to be okay for Snoop Dog to come out with an orgy video in his crib. You'll occasionally read the up-and-coming music critic talk about how he's giving back to the community and a great father. Sure... :cool: All I read about in main stream publications like "SLAM" (basketball magazine), is how they go and on about how some of today's ballerz act too white. Is that not racist? I don't recall "hatin'" on anyone black, and don't dislike anyone based on their cultural background/ethnicity. Enough of the race card being force-fed down our throats, when you're slurpin' "Cristal" off of some bimbo's booty in your next "I'm Making A Million 4 Nottin'" video. Always dissin' people for being too "corporate", when you're buying useless gold cars and guns, making millions upon millions pretending to be punks (or being exactly that).



Today's "Grammy" scene, is too much about who can make the biggest "IT" party, rather than quality music. Is that NOT what music is about? I'm sick of reading about how some punk had to make it out of the hood, one time selling smack, just to be free. And now that he's free, he's still trying to connect with the hood. Okay, sure. And then he's got to stay connected with the gangs. Hmmm... Was there ever any moment where he had to make music along his troubled path?



I've often read that a lot of the older African American artists are ashamed about all of this "bling-bling" crap. Charlie Parker may have gladly taken P. Diddy's coke and had a grand 'ol time, but the next day I gather he'd trash his crib with whatever sax was nearest to him, after listening to Diddy's body of work, and thinking about how he got from there to where his bankroll is sitting. :confused:



I can go on and on and on about these two topics.



Steed

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"Always dissin' people for being too "corporate", when you're buying useless gold cars and guns, making millions up millions pretending to be punks (or being exactly that)."

Right on!:thumbsup:
 

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