The OFFICIAL Unofficial Achewood Message Board
Trivial Pursuits => Arts & Entertainment => Topic started by: jay-ell on September 16, 2010, 11:30:49 pm
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So, on a whim I put on last.fm's jazz station the other day (as I mentioned in another thread) and discovered that it played a huge catalog of songs that I have loved for years and years but never really collected together mentally in order to make the statement "I like jazz." It's weird, these are mainly songs I know by heart and adore, but I always wrote them off as stuff that I liked in spite of it falling outside my normal listening patterns (mainly classic rock). I guess I never thought of myself as the kind of person who would be into jazz -- white people who claim jazz as a favorite genre always seemed pretentious to me -- but here I am figuring out at the age of thirty that it's a part of who I am that I never took the time to put a label on before.
We can talk about jazz here if you want (apparently I was born a Chet Baker fan but never heard his name before Tuesday), but I'm also interested in knowing if anyone else has had a similar epiphany -- maybe your musical tastes have changed since you've gotten older, or maybe the image of a genre has changed while your tastes have stayed the same (like hearing Steppenwolf played on the "oldies" station). All of it interests me.
So who has a story?
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Blossom Dearie is my imagination wife.
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i knew my life was over when they started playing pearl jam and green day on the 'classic rock' station.
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i knew my life was over when they started playing pearl jam and green day on the 'classic rock' station.
not helping
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i knew my life was over when they started playing pearl jam and green day on the 'classic rock' station.
Pearl Jam I can maybe see, because some of their old stuff dates back but...Green Day?
Wow, nevermind, I just Wiki'd both of them and found out that Pearl Jam dates back to 1990 (a couple of years later than I thought) and Green Day started in 1987 (they didn't hit my radar 'til 1995 or later). Strange.
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wtf those bands.
the idea of "classic rock" bugs me enough without stations skipping over all the good stuff to play early 90s crap.
I have been thinking about this a lot lately: the fact that "Unsatisfied" by the Replacements is not played on every "classic rock" station, and isn't a song that every dad and son and sister and mother loves, is proof forever that people do not know what is good.
There are a lot of things where I can say "OK, sure, Pussy Galore isn't for you, that is fine. It isn't your thing, I like it, it's OK to disagree on this."
But that damn Replacements song belongs on Classic Rock radio. That is a Classic Song that anyone can enjoy as far as I am concerned.
It isn't even my favorite replacements song.
THE END OF THIS DAMN INTRO MAKES ME SHIVER. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7BUeO5YGF2Q)
Also that weird yell right before the guitar kicks in makes me think of Bruce.
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See I think that the term Classic Rock was invented to describe a very specific type and era of music, namely album rock from the 60s and 70s. It shouldn't shift. Music made in the 80s and 90s will never, by definition, be Classic Rock.
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See I think that the term Classic Rock was invented to describe a very specific type and era of music, namely album rock from the 60s and 70s. It shouldn't shift. Music made in the 80s and 90s will never, by definition, be Classic Rock.
I am intrigued by your ideas and would like to subscribe to your newsletter.
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I am fine with that definition as long as people don't think that being "Classic Rock" makes something a rock music "classic."
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The Jazz World is a dangerous world that will transform you into a person who gets MAD when AC/DC comes on the radio. Be warned, you may or may not like what you become.
Anyway, have you heard through these albums? If not, doing a joint or a fat bowl and giving a listen should be anyone's priority:
Dave Brubeck - Time Out (the ripe fruit of cool jazz is like drinking sweet nectar)
Miles Davis - Kind of Blue (the opening of Pandora's Box that influenced all music as we know it)
John Coletrane - A Love Supreme (a fitful prayer of anger and ecstacy culminate with an orgasm straight into the sky)
The last jazz show I went to was Ahmad Jamal at the Blue Note in the spring. Great band he had.
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I am fine with that definition as long as people don't think that being "Classic Rock" makes something a rock music "classic."
Yes and no. I mean stuff originally played on Classic Rock radio was considered classic, and that's why they called it that. But really we're just talking about album rock from those two decades. It doesn't matter if you like it or not. And of course there is good rock made after that era that has become classic, but it's just not Classic Rock. Today it clearly doesn't mean that. It probably means something like "rock music made ~20 years or more before today that was popular in its time." My main thing is that Classic Rock isn't something that shifts with time. As soon as a Classic Rock station starts to play early 90s U2, it needs to be renamed. It could also be that I don't know what the fuck I'm talking about, and I'm OK with that.
John Coletrane - A Love Supreme (a fitful prayer of anger and ecstacy culminate with an orgasm straight into the sky)
That and The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady by Charles Mingus are my two favorite jazz albums. Two of my favorite any albums.
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Yes and no. I mean stuff originally played on Classic Rock radio was considered classic, and that's why they called it that. But really we're just talking about album rock from those two decades. It doesn't matter if you like it or not. And of course there is good rock made after that era that has become classic, but it's just not Classic Rock. Today it clearly doesn't mean that. It probably means something like "rock music made ~20 years or more before today that was popular in its time." My main thing is that Classic Rock isn't something that shifts with time. As soon as a Classic Rock station starts to play early 90s U2, it needs to be renamed. It could also be that I don't know what the fuck I'm talking about, and I'm OK with that.
The local rock station here got around that by switching formats a couple of years back by playing both "classic" and "new" rock and calling themselves "96 Rock, EVERYTHING that ROCKS." I miss the old classic rock station, though -- they played a heavy dose of blues, too.
The Jazz World is a dangerous world that will transform you into a person who gets MAD when AC/DC comes on the radio. Be warned, you may or may not like what you become.
Then my conversion was complete before it began. I hate all AC/DC except "You Shook Me (All Night Long)." Why that one? I don't know.
Anyway, have you heard through these albums? If not, doing a joint or a fat bowl and giving a listen should be anyone's priority:
Dave Brubeck - Time Out (the ripe fruit of cool jazz is like drinking sweet nectar)
Miles Davis - Kind of Blue (the opening of Pandora's Box that influenced all music as we know it)
John Coletrane - A Love Supreme (a fitful prayer of anger and ecstacy culminate with an orgasm straight into the sky)
Thanky, much obliged. I wish to heaven I could smoke a joint along with a listen, but since getting married that particular game of golf has been verboten to me.
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I'm not that into jazz and I already get angry when AC/DC is on.
Not my thing.
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That and The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady by Charles Mingus are my two favorite jazz albums. Two of my favorite any albums.
My favorite Mingus album would probably be Pithecanthropus Erectus. I did an electronic cover of the title track a bunch of years ago and ironically I just happened to listen to it for the first time in years on like Monday.
There was this note for note 8-bit cover of Kind of Blue called Kind of Bloop that was pretty fun. But I never got the whole thing.
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wait, wait, A Love Supreme?
I have never gotten as into A Love Supreme as I am into Giant Steps. Giant Steps, when I heard it, activated the part of my brain that was like WOOOO JAZZ.
the way he lays out the insane chord changes on Giant Steps and then just GOES OFF like some sort of insane jazzy bird?
YEAH.
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I have never gotten as into A Love Supreme as I am into Giant Steps. Giant Steps, when I heard it, activated the part of my brain that was like WOOOO JAZZ.
Me too.
Thelonius Monk was who I'd been a fan of all my life but didn't know about it, at least in the jazz world.
Pithycanthopus is my favorite Mingus album too.
JL you should also check out some Bebop -- Bird and Diz were goin' crazy in the 40's.
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Thelonious is super awesome, too. YEAH.
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Pithycanthopus is my favorite Mingus album too.
I have a very decent Mingus collection, but embarrassingly I am missing this. I will fix that this weekend. In fact my favorite record store in town has a cheap copy. I almost bought it the other day.
As far as Coltrane goes, I love Giant Steps and all, but A Love Supreme is just... perfect.
I'm not that into jazz and I already get angry when AC/DC is on.
Not my thing.
This kind of surprises me. The jazz part. But also, what's up with all the AC/DC hate around these parts?
miles, I think you're onto something.
Man, I hope so.
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I love Jazz and I hate Jazz. Some of the things mentioned in this thread, A Kind of Blue, Giant Steps,and especially Time Out are fuck*ng exquisite. And I really dig dixieland and big band jazz. But much of the rest of it is just insane. It's all ching chang wing wang.
I hate all AC/DC except "You Shook Me (All Night Long)."
This conversation is OVER!!!
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Hate might be a strong word in my case. I don't own any AC/DC albums, and when they come on the radio I usually try to find something better on another station, but I don't find them actively offensive. They're just not my preference.
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I used to be with the AC/DC hate, but I'm a convert. Hella raw emotion. Also, my buddy Buddy, clued me into the fact that Angus Young is basically just playing blues licks at triple speed. So I'm ok with AC/DC these days.
Funny story from high school. I was hatin' on AC/DC and giving my friend a hard time about liking them. He gets drunk and spray paints a big AC/DC on the cul de sac in front of my house. My dad thought it was an accusation of homosexuality.
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I like jazz... seeing as I'm brownish, hopefully such a thing is not pretentious.
I like Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong, I enjoy some of the standards quite a bit too. I actually have a big collection of jazz Christmas tunes that I really enjoy each year, especially when I have to go to the mall. Plug in my headphones, listen to Chet Baker and somehow all the stress of holiday shopping fades.
For newer stuff, I like Amos Lee, and he's purty too. Regina Spektor draws a lot influence from jazz, and I quite enjoy her too, as I've expressed elsewhere.
I recently went to a Michael Buble arena concert because my MIL wanted to go, he's not someone I'm in to as much, but it was actually a wonderful show. I was surprized to find he has a strong gay following. A dude stood up at one point and yelled "make love to me Michael!!!" which was pretty fantastic.
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I can see that.
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Today it clearly doesn't mean that. It probably means something like "rock music made ~20 years or more before today that was popular in its time."
thats what i fingered...
Regina Spektor draws a lot influence from jazz, and I quite enjoy her too, as I've expressed elsewhere.
she makes me think warm, melt-y thoughts.
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One of my best friends in the world had a super crush on Spektor when she was just the most popular student act at his college.
Or, you know, that's what he said.
He wasn't out at the time as a gay-leaning-bisexual so, like in retrospect, it seems like some of his crushes on women were actually sexual and some of them were more admiration that he was trying to convince himself of at the time. It is, of course, awkward as hell to ask him to delinate now that he is at peace with the fact that he likes mostly fellows but occasionally ladies. Seems rude.
My girlfriend knew her in passing and I had a few friends at that school knew her somewhere in-between those levels of friendship.
It is still mindblowing to know, though, that this woman is a fairly popular entertainer when it is not that long ago that she was a girl my friend had a crush on and we'd grill him about to try and get him to come to peace with the fact that he was, if not totally gay, mostly into dudes. He was such an unhappy cat when he couldn't admit it and we'd constantly try to help him get to dealing with it.
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Regina Spektor is another one I don't really get. I don't like her voice, and that makes it hard for me to get into her music which is not my normal cup of tea. I think I could like it if I liked her and her voice better. On a personal level she seems... bratty? And I don't know if she ever looked good, but she looks like a train wreck now.
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Her looks kind of remind me of PJ Harvey.
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accusation of homosexuality.
That made me laugh.
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But also, what's up with all the AC/DC hate around these parts?
There has never been a rock station in New York that has not had the six biggest AC/DC hits in ultra-heavy rotation for their entire existance. Classic rock station plays em, "new rock" station plays em, the old alternative... well you get the idea. I've listened to these stinky pieces of shit at least six hundred times each in the past eight years, fuckin sick of it and I'm sick of these stations pandering to construction workers, I'm a fuck*ng doctor for piss sake.
At least the "new" rock station spares me Running With the Devil and Misty Mountain Hop. They have this promo, "the only station in New York that plays 'new' rock," and then it immediately goes right into AC/DC, and then thirty minutes later they play more AC/DC! Fuckin' cmon guys.
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I'm sick of these stations pandering to construction workers, I'm a fuck*ng doctor for piss sake.
This explains a lot.
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You don't really have an AC/DC problem so much as a radio station problem.
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I'm sick of these stations pandering to construction workers, I'm a fuck*ng doctor for piss sake.
Hey, watch it man. Some of my best friends are construction workers.
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listen to your own damn playlist.
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Dude, I'm prematurely an old fogie (and I pretty much always have been...) and even I don't listen to the radio for music.
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Even the local independent station- which is pretty good- pisses me off. Unless it is 10-12 Sunday morning: http://www.route78west.com/rt78w/plist10/plist10.htm
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Man, I haven't been working Sundays so haven't been listening to that. Turned one on at that link and found this awesome song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0oyx0oiW-tw
haha
I would listen to that show more but I can't find most of the shit he plays and that causes me to lose my shit, so instead I just pretend these amazing songs don't exist. If you don't have that problem I recommend this show more than anything if you like Americana/Surf/whatever else he feels like. Usually based on modal/middle east/eastern european gypsy scales.
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the independent station here seems to play nothing but folk/bluegrass/blues. once in a while I'll tune in and hear rock music.
there is this one show on sunday afternoons that plays all crazy eastern european folk music. He talks about it like you will know what he is talking about.
I told my friend who is from STL, and she said "oh, that's my dentist."
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there is this one show on sunday afternoons that plays all crazy eastern european folk music. He talks about it like you will know what he is talking about.
Perhaps he thinks his audience is primarily Bosnian?
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oh, damn. maybe. yes.
I always forget about that.
WAIT, YOU LIVE HERE.
I'm majorly dropping the ball on the "meeting TOUAMBers who live in STL" thing.
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Perhaps he thinks his audience is primarily Bosnian?
I guess he doesn't want outsiders to listen to his show.
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I have not listened to the radio on purpose for years. Damn you, iPod!
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There is a radio show on Sunday mornings on Utica's newstalk AM station that is mostly in Polish. Mixed language talk and music totally in Polish.
Their ads really push that they are longest running Polish language show in America.
Which is weird because, like, my friends of Polish extraction have grandparents that where totally born here in the United States and don't speak much of the language anymore.
Imagining where their demographic is befuddles me. Diversity is awesome but the people of Polish extraction in Utica don't speak Polish anymore so it is weird.
They got a lot of new Bosnians that still mostly speak the mother tongue. Cops suspect they were the ones that broke into our car for my girlfriend's GPS.
Big influx of Nepalese. Either of these languages would make a lot more sense.
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While you guys make an excellent point, I can assure you, no mix I make will ever have an AC/DC tune. Sorry, guys. Sorry about this.
Pretty much every piece of music that I have heard 600 times plus, I can no longer listen to, ever, with the only exceptions being Floyd and the Beatles.
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While you guys make an excellent point, I can assure you, no mix I make will ever have an AC/DC tune. Sorry, guys. Sorry about this.
Pretty much every piece of music that I have heard 600 times plus, I can no longer listen to, ever, with the only exceptions being Floyd and the Beatles.
This, so much. Basically every classic rock song falls into this category for me. Unfortunately this includes Pink Floyd, but I made a special effort to take about a decade and a half off from listening to Led Zeppelin, so I can listen to them again.
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Pretty much every piece of music that I have heard 600 times plus, I can no longer listen to, ever, with the only exceptions being Floyd and the Beatles.
I feel pretty much the same way, only replace Pink Floyd with Queen.
I felt that way about Led Zeppelin too until they released How The West Was Won (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iM6ppOUlxRY) which totally rekindled my love for this band. So my advice, I guess, is if your classic rock radio station has burned out music that you once liked try to find an alternate recording.
Damn that Zep Rocks!
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The only radio I miss and get nostalgic for is Oldies radio, but I imagine that's because that's how I really discovered music.
Now I ain't some kind of AC/DC fanatic or nothin, but if the main thing turning you haters off is that you've heard the dang songs too much, then I have some recommendations. Bon Scott era of course, because, well, that's the only AC/DC that matters. Better lyrics, better production and better vocals. Brian Johnson screeches. Bon Scott rumbled and growled. Much more menacing.
What's Next to the Moon (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLXNcFnYIJ0)
I should add that if the main thing that turns you off to AC/DC is lyrics so rife with misogyny Norman Mailer would wince, skip the following song in particular.
Squealer (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRJFqCfCqAk) (hey does that intro remind anybody else of the intro to this song (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ef3leoqA3GA))
Ride On (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wsDpwb3ILxM)
Sin City (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwan7FdbENc)
Jailbreak (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oIP1okixlfE)
I had never seen that Jailbreak video before and it's kinda hilarious.
Anyway, take em or leave em, I don't give a fuck.
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I love Bon Scott (and pigtails). (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E43PGKeq9gc)
I love Bon Scott (and pretty girls). (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_a3FCugMNZE)
I love Bon Scott (and the recorder). (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPK3_mDuXB8)