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What Are You Listening To?


mtutiger

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"The best" is hard to define. Do you mean music you personally prefer to listen to or do you mean who had the biggest impact on the whole spectrum of popular music (not pop but rather music consumed by millions of people)?

They've all influenced and entertained so many.  Personal taste is just that.  Depends on when you were born and what your listening preferences are.  The Beatles are so technically great, that can't be disputed can it?  The other 3 influenced so many though.  But they influenced different people and branches of music.  The Stones gave hope to so many garage bands that they didn't have to be as proficient and perfect as the beatles. They could be sloppy.  Zeppelin influenced more harder bands.

 

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9 hours ago, 1984Echoes said:

Speaking of which...

It's more interesting to listen to his songs as performed by other artists than it is to listen to his own renditions of his songs...

And that's a very long list...

There was a story back in the day that when Dylan heard the Turtles version of It ain’t me babe, that he didn’t recognize it as something he wrote.  

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13 hours ago, pfife said:

go vote and also discuss here

I got the Beatles.  I think then go Dylan, Stones, Zep.   I love them all but that's my ranking.   

I could argue Dylan #1 though 

 

Beatles are easily #1 to me.  Think about all the music they made and the impact on culture and the music biz itself. They did all that in about 7 years.    That's it.   To change that much about music, albums, culture, social attitudes in just 7 years is something that just won't ever happen again.  

Then I'd put Dylan who changed the way people listen to folk music and what folk music could really be.  

The Stones and Zeppelin are great bands but they basically were taking old blues music and modernizing it.    I would put the Kinks ahead of both of them because of how they shaped (and still shape) Power Pop.   

What, no love for the Eagles?   (Joking)

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11 minutes ago, Motor City Sonics said:

That's it.   To change that much about music, albums, culture, social attitudes in just 7 years is something that just won't ever happen again.  

right, the Beatles were a primary vehicle by which the youth wrested command of  culture from their parents. Sociologically that was huge, but that doesn't mean I want to be stranded on a desert island with "I Want to Hold Your Hand" !   :classic_happy:

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45 minutes ago, Motor City Sonics said:

 I would put the Kinks ahead of both of them because of how they shaped (and still shape) Power Pop.   

 

The definition of power pop has changed over the years but since the late 1970’’s, pretty much all rock music with a harder edge has been primarily influenced by a semi-talented, semi-successful band called The Ramones.   

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9 hours ago, gehringer_2 said:

the other thing with the Beatles if you are just my age was that pretty much except for side 2 of Abby Road, their celebrity had eclipsed their music. Nobody thought Rocky Racoon was great music, but we did spend hours taping the White Album anyway so we could play it backwards trying to solve the deeper mysteries of existence, or Paul's lack thereof.....

 

The way I would characterize The Beatles is that they were very good (and often excelled) at everything they did, often innovating new forms of music along the way (ie. Helter Skelter with hard rock), but ultimately they were never the best at anything they did.

Hardcore Beatles fans may think that's disparaging but it really isn't.... their range in sounds is what puts them damn near the top IMO and was something unmatched by any other band. But if I want to hear a bluesy rock song and am given a choice between "Yer Blues" and "Since I've Been Loving You".... it's really no contest, sorry. 

Edited by mtutiger
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30 minutes ago, mtutiger said:

The way I would characterize The Beatles is that they were very good (and often excelled) at everything they did, often innovating new forms of music along the way (ie. Helter Skelter with hard rock), but ultimately they were never the best at anything they did.

Hardcore Beatles fans may think that's disparaging but it really isn't.... their range in sounds is what puts them damn near the top IMO and was something unmatched by any other band. But if I want to hear a bluesy rock song and am given a choice between "Yer Blues" and "Since I've Been Loving You".... it's really no contest, sorry. 

I think this is correct. Also different skill sets. Paul and John were superb vocalists - the Beatles were a singing band. I had that really hit home one day when I heard a 'professional' tenor try to sing 'Imagine'. Listen closely and be impressed by all the vocal gymnastics John just sort of casually tosses off in that tune. Bonham, Jones and Page didn't even sing. Page operated much more like a classical composer - he would start with a theme on the guitar, a 'riff' as he would say, and turn that into some kind of composition. Plant would then come up with a vocal to counter point it. Not comparing him to a Beethoven by any means but the idea being that the mechanics of how Page and Zep did music was more in the style of classical music composition (theme and exposition) as compared to the Beatles, who worked more in the minstrel form of setting verse to music.

Edited by gehringer_2
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7 hours ago, gehringer_2 said:

I think this is correct. Also different skill sets. Paul and John were superb vocalists - the Beatles were a singing band. I had that really hit home one day when I heard a 'professional' tenor try to sing 'Imagine'. Listen closely and be impressed by all the vocal gymnastics John just sort of casually tosses off in that tune. Bonham, Jones and Page didn't even sing. Page operated much more like a classical composer - he would start with a theme on the guitar, a 'riff' as he would say, and turn that into some kind of composition. Plant would then come up with a vocal to counter point it. Not comparing him to a Beethoven by any means but the idea being that the mechanics of how Page and Zep did music was more in the style of classical music composition (theme and exposition) as compared to the Beatles, who worked more in the minstrel form of setting verse to music.

I'd consider both Paul and George more of a composer than Page.  Paul is such a good bass player too.

Edited by pfife
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5 hours ago, pfife said:

I'd consider both Paul and George more of a composer than Page.  Paul is such a good bass player too.

I agree George's tracks were often more interesting, but he accounted for so little of the Beatles' total output. (though obviously the best bits on Abbey Road)

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Sampling some local talent. Cody Christian (not to be confused with the actor) popped up in today's search. He seems to be a local legend for his resignation letter at Newport News Shipyard. The letter when out to all employees stating his intention to find a career that was more friendly to facial hair.

 

Edited by CMRivdogs
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On 3/20/2022 at 7:41 PM, pfife said:

go vote and also discuss here

I got the Beatles.  I think then go Dylan, Stones, Zep.   I love them all but that's my ranking.   

I could argue Dylan #1 though 

 

I think i'm with you.   In the innate feeling that I must disagree with you, I'd only say Dylan over the Beatles, and then the Stones and Zep.   In this case i'd be wrong though.

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On 3/21/2022 at 11:14 PM, pfife said:

More conversation fodder. Check out this year in albums.   

I think I'm going with Who's Next or Hunky Dory. 

 

In answer to this...

One note of caution: If an album has only 1 or 2 songs on it that I like then... I may like the artist/ songs but don't care for the album. I've never listened to the whole album by Bill Withers, Joni Mitchell, Marvin Gaye, some others... but I do know that I like a song or two. In either case, I wouldn't rank the album as I'm thinking in terms of loving the album, not just 1 or 2 songs. Aside from that:

Genesis was too much for me at that time period. I liked them more after Peter Gabriel left and they became a lot more pop, or easy to listen to. Now I really love me some Peter Gabriel... but not with Genesis.

The Rolling Stones/ David Bowie/ Pink Floyd/ have better albums than these, but there's at least one or two songs I like per album. Same with Bill Withers & Marvin Gaye, there's 1 or 2 songs that I absolutely love, but I can't speak to the whole album as I haven't listened. The Allman Brothers I know the whole album, but mostly just care about 1 song. None of these albums would gain a ranking from me... just not enough there when I'm thinking in terms of albums.

As an entire album, these are the ones that are historically great, I love them to death, equally. I can't put any one above or below the other: 

Led Zep IV, Who's Next, L.A. Woman.

These others, I absolutely love the album, even if they are not as iconic as the above albums (so they get the smaller font). I wouldn't be able to separate them or rank them, just as above, as I love each of them for their own uniqueness in sound and mood and excellence, but they are 1 step below the above list:

Fragile, RAM, Imagine, Masters of Reality, Aqualung.

Edited by 1984Echoes
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Dang we agree on something music.    I say Who's Next as well, and I also love me some Peter Gabriel Solo shit.

Bowie has a bunch of records I think are super great and Hunky Dory is one of them.   I could be convinced one of his other is better but I really like that one.   

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41 minutes ago, pfife said:

... Bowie has a bunch of records I think are super great and Hunky Dory is one of them.   I could be convinced one of his other is better but I really like that one.   

Oh, I'm sorry...

But...

The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust just completely blows Hunky Dory out of the sky.

My apologies...

😁

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A comment on Sticky Fingers:

I'm not really interested in listening to "Brown Sugar" anymore. And Wild Horses is too maudlin for me, at least as sung by the Stones. Oddly enough, I prefer even slower versions of that song by I-love-them-slow-core bands Mazzy Star, and The Sundays...

The only thing that really only still holds my attention from Sticky Fingers is Can't You Hear me Knockin'.

But I do love listening to The Sundays or Mazzy Star belting out their slow-core versions of Wild Horses (The Sundays I think is the better of the two...).

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16 minutes ago, 1984Echoes said:

Oh, I'm sorry...

But...

The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust just completely blows Hunky Dory out of the sky.

My apologies...

😁

Just to flesh that out a bit...

I like Changes and Life on Mars... but they're just ok songs to me... they don't knock it out of the park imo. And I know how popular Changes is, I actually do like the song... I just prefer other stuff by David Bowie. For example, aside from those two "decent" songs, the rest of the album is very meh to me... Except for one song that I think "knocks it out of the park":

My favorite song on Hunky Dory is "Queen Bitch".

A magnificent Bowie song...! This song really grabs me by the... ummm... yeah, ok... by the balls.

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