music seems to be a pretty good topic of conversation at the moment
so i will ask you all a question..... what type of music do you all listen
to? i will start off by saying i like punk music (bands such as mofx,
rancid, ramones, the hives), some metal music (system of a down,
rammstein, fear factory), i also like ska punk music (bands such as
[spunge], mad caddies, and alot of local bandss from near where i
live..... if you are interested checkout www.morganspuffadder.com and
go to mp3's, or www.martin.uk.net if you wanted to you could
download some of their tracks and tell me what u think, just a
suggestion though. i also like rock music. (queens of the stone age,
foo fighters, and bands like that) any replies would be appreciated.
thanks for reading this....
ash.
(Hmm, won't let me post it all in one post, will split it up into two)
Rather than just name a few bands, say that they're great, name a
few more bands, say that they're terrible, I thought I'd pad out what I
like with a bit of personal blithering.
I've always been a big fan of REM. Big regret not going to see them
live at Glastonbury in 1999. I think I'm right in saying that they've
never had a No. 1 hit (single) in the UK, which, to me, just seems
bizarre.
I didn't really start listening to music until quite late, when I was
perhaps 17. Used to listen to "What's the Story, Morning Glory"
and "Definitely Maybe" by Oasis for hours and hours. The songs "Life
Forever", "Supersonic", "Cigarettes and Alcohol" and "Wonderwall" very
much made up the soundtrack to my life at the time, whether I was
aware of it then or not.
The band that really struck a chord was The Verve, arguably Britain's
last great band (millions would disagree, that's the beauty of music). I
remember listening to the radio one day and "Bitter Sweet Symphony"
came on. Couldn't believe it. Had never heard anything like it in my
life. All those stringed instruments seemed to fit in perfectly, as well
as giving the song a shot of emotion. Embarrasingly, I'd never heard
of The Verve until then. A few weeks after that I think it was they
released "The Drugs Don't Work". I'd sit in my room listening to that
song with shivers going up and down my spine. It had a profound
effect on me at the time. Made me think about a lot of things.
Remains to this day one of my favourite songs. I went out and bought
the record "Urban Hymns", the record that those two songs appeared
on and was gutted. Absolutely distraught. I thought it was terrible.
Ashcroft's whiny nasal vocals...apart from the two songs I'd heard on
the radio I hated it.
I got taught a lesson then about music. Being a stingy, miserly git (I
was born in Scotland(!)) I wasn't prepared to spend £12 and not get
anything from it. So I made myself listen to "Urban Hymns" over and
over again, in the hope that I'd come to like one more song. I came
to like them all. And then love them all. Took about 20 listens to it
before I began to lose the dislike. I don't know whether it's just a
simple matter of knowing what comes next, or whether you start to
*get* what is going on, but I realised how stupid I had been in
deciding that I didn't like something simply on the basis of one or two
listens to it. "Up" by REM was a similar experience. I wanted songs
like "Losing My Religion", "Bittersweet Me", and so on. I thought I had
wasted my money, but realised after a while that I so hadn't.
One more thing on The Verve. There was a programme late at night
on television in the UK coupla weeks back...turned out it was an
interview with Richard Ashcroft talking about moving on from The
Verve and becoming a solo artist. After having recorded "Bitter Sweet
Symphony" he was unsure of how it would be greeted. So he got in his
car and drove round finding as many sets of traffic lights as he could,
windows down he'd have the song blaring out. He'd look round at the
other people in cars waiting at the traffic lights alongside him, trying to
gauge their reaction to the music that was coming from his car.
At the time my father kept telling me to start listening to classical
music. No chance. Even less so if it was an idea of my own father's.
How uncool I thought would it be to take his advice on music. Few
years later I realised that I had been taught another lesson about
music. Talk to people about it, find out what they like, listen to it. A
very special gift that you can give someone is a band/song/musical
genre recommendation.
Anyone who likes vocal based music, slow, mushy, easy to listen to
stuff, won't go much wrong with David Gray. I remember how glad I
was when I first saw a picture of him. He was a 30ish not especially
attractive man, who looked kind of normal. And after years in the
musical wilderness (relatively speaking, he did have an Irish fan base
I believe before) he'd made it with the song "Babylon" and then the
album "White Ladder" and he'd got there because of his songs and
word of mouth, not anything else. Of course, there have been people
to make it like that before him but he was the first I knew of since I
was only just beginning to listen to music.
The summer before going to university I and three others seemed to
spend a lot of time in the car that one of them owned. Living in Wales
the Stereophonics were obviously widely adored. Whether Kelly Jones
could sing or not (OK he can't) didn't matter. Whenever I hear a song
by them (especially "Local Boy In The Photograph" for some reason) I
am back there in that car with those three friends. I think it was bbar
who said in an earlier post that such and such had formed the
soundtrack to his life at that time. It's a superb phrase. A phrase I
unashamedly copied in the second paragraph. The Stereophonics were
providing just that during that summer.
Getting to university (and having a superfast LAN connection) suddenly
made (without wishing to discuss audio piracy) an awful lot more
music "accessible", if you know what I mean. I started listening to
lots. I started reading about music and history and the importance of
people like Buddy Holly, the Beatles. I felt almost cheated when I
read about Nirvana. A band that had a huge impact on millions and
millions of people and I had barely heard of them. Grrr. I was living
with 11 people who I didn't get on with and was increasingly isolated
and unhappy. University in my 1st year was not much fun. So I stayed
in and listened to music. Mainstream stuff at first, then things which I
thought were non-mainstream but in fact relatively they were, then
things that were underground.
One of the mainstream bands really got to me. Counting Crows. The
first line to the song "Round Here" is, for me, one of the greatest first
lines there ever has been. I love Counting Crows. They are touring the
UK early next year I think. I'ma do everything I can to be there. For
all my talk of listening to non-mainstream stuff it's mainstream music
that I seem to like the best. The Strokes's first album, "Is This It" is,
for me, superb (lot of people hate it). I so hope they can carry on and
make a quality second album. Third albums are usually tricky (ask
Oasis and countless others). Red Hot Chilli Peppers are another band
I'll happily spend a lot of time listening to. Their last album seemed
like something of a departure. It was a lot more mellow I thought.
I started listening to some older tunes as well. The Beatles were/are
just amazing. Bob Dylan sang poetry, a lyrical legend. On a lesser
note, I went through a big Tracy Chapman phase a while back. And
arguably my most embarrasing admission, like I care, is a liking for
The Boss, Bruce Springsteen. I can be an emotional sap at times, OK,
all the time (can't watch many films without tears down my cheeks,
Forrest Gump and Amélie especially), and "Streets of Philadelphia"
and "I'm on Fire" just get me every time.
On the Jo Whiley show about 3 years back I remember watching the
video to Dre's "Forgot About Dre". Hip hop, rap, I hardly knew these
things existed at the time. But there I was watching this video,
listening to this song. I looked up the lyrics after. There was this guy
who seemed quite old like he should have known better using all
kinds of profanities, with a seemingly negative attitude towards
women trying to rap in that slowish, methodical style he has. Big deal
I thought. But then reading the lyrics it was apparant that it was about
him. It was like a personal statement. Most of the music I had been
listening to seemed like it was being sung by attractive nobodies, the
lyrics being made up of words from a dictionary with only about 100
entries and the words being used in a different order over and over
again. Musicians are fortunate people, they have an opportunity to
speak to masses of people, does my head in when they waste it on
bland lyrics or instead of making dance music that will become
anthems they just turn out something insipid.
So there was this guy who I knew nothing about seemingly making his
music about him, about something he wanted to say, that people had
forgotten about him, that people should remember what he did for hip
hop and rap, and that he was still around. "y'all say Dre fell off, what?
because I've been in the lab with a pen and a pad tryna get this damn
label off?". Struck a chord. I love people being personal and talking
with just some kind of passion.
Eminem. I think Eminem is tremendous. His passion for his words, his
linguistic skills, the brutal honesty of his songs, the self-realisation of
who and what he has become. All the knowledgeable off beat real
hardcore underground music lovers will be groaning and will no doubt
say why he is little more than a joke, a gifted self-publicist who is
misogynistic, sold-out, and that he gives "serious" rap music a bad
name. Then there are those who'll take the morally superior view that
he promotes violence, aggression towards woman, and is the root
cause of many of society's ills. I'm no good at arguments, I'll just
carry on liking him. By the way, anyone seen the video to "Without
Me"? Didn't stop laughing for a week.
My Dad was right. Grrr, I hate saying that. 2 years ago (and about 2
years after he told me to) I went to a small classical music concert on
my own that the university orchestra was putting on. There was roughly
as many people sitting up on that stage than there were in the
audience. They played Bartok's "Concerto for Orchestra" and I
wondered what the hell I was doing here. Bartok! Who's Bartok?! And
why is classical music so unfathomable? were some of the thoughts in
my unhappy head.
Then they played Dvorak's 9th Symphony "From The New World".
There are times in one's life that you hope never to forget. The next
42 minutes or so will stay with me. I sat in my chair, disgruntled at
wasting my money, reeling from Bartok's seemingly knock out blow.
As the music played I was just blown away. All four movements are
stunning. The 1st and the 4th especially. The 4th. The noise.
Unbelievable. I sat in my chair gently sobbing as the music unfolded,
my whole body tingling with the same feeling I get when I watch
archive footage of footballers like Garrincha and Pele. I was watching
my fellow students play a piece of music that was over 100 years old
and I was getting it. I felt like I was understanding it. Of course, I
probably was missing loads of things and the more I listen to it the
more I find something I like to this day. It was like, hmm, you're in
this room and it's dark, you listen to a song you haven't heard before
and you discover an object on the table then you move to the next
bit. Sometimes you hear a new artist and you discover a large piece of
furniture, the table that the objects are on perhaps. Sometimes you
hear more and more stuff from a genre you were unfamiliar with and
you find the light switch to the room. Then you move on to a different
room. Here, it felt like I had been shown a new house entirely, in a
new street in a new country.
Next concert was Beethoven's Violin Conerto, next one was
Rachmaninov's 2nd Piano Concerto and so on, piano music by
Schubert followed symphonies by Tchaikovsky, piano concerti by
Beethoven followed clarinet and flute concerti by Mozart. But
Beethoven. Beethoven especially. I love Beethoven more than
anything.
Mark
The Music Lover
PS Just in a passing conversation, months later someone told me that
Bartok is a notoriously tricky (but eventually rewarding) composer to
get to grips with. His "Concerto for Orchestra" is famed for being a
particularly unfathomable piece.
I have known many people that felt the same way about classical
music untill they actually had the same sort of experience that you did.
It really is breathtaking. Me being a trumpet player I have always
loved classical music. To actually not only get to see Wynton Marsalis
in concert once but get to sit and talk with him was one of the most
exhillirating moments of my life.
Thanks for sharing all of that Mark!!
Dave
- Joined
- 04 Jan 02
- Moves
- 11961
Great post. It would take me all day to list all the music I listen to-- I
am first and foremost a metalhead, and I write reviews for a metal
website. (And Ash, I'm not looking to start an argument here,
opinions are opinions, but Rammstein and System of a Down are NOT
metal😉. My favorite band of all time is Black Sabbath (first six
albums=essential). In no other particular order, bands I listen to a
lot: Borknagar, Porcupine Tree, Orange Goblin, Kyuss, Unida,
Anathema, Anthrax, Armored Saint, Monster Magnet, The Gathering,
The Haunted-- I could go on and on. For non-metal, I listen to
traditional American folk, blues, bluegrass, OLD country (Hank Sr.,
early Johnny Cash), old punk like X, Black Flag, and The Clash, Elton
John, Grateful Dead, Widespread Panic, Miles David, classical.
Queens of the Stone Age rule!
i would agree with u when you say that rammstein and systenm arent
metal but to be honest, i couldnt be bothered to type out rammstein
are german industrial metal and i dont actually know what system of a
down are. :-s, i think i forgot to add on the end of my post that i also
like red hot chili peppers, i prefer their older stuff but i do like the
zephyr song, thats great. a few of my mates listen to rage against the
machine and they say that they r funk, but i think they r too heavy for
funk, but if i am wrong, please correct me.
ash.
p.s. thanks for all of your replies, keep them coming. and if anyone
bothers to download songs from http://www.morganspuffadder.com/
or http://www.martin.uk.net/ please tell me what you think of them.