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Steerpykes musical hall of fame (in response to Jaguardogs write-off challenge)Jun 07 '05 Write an essay on this topic.
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The Bottom Line an A-Z of my most loved bits of my music collection.
In response to Jaguardogs musical write-off, here is a totally English perspective from across the pond. In a blatant self-promotion I would just like to say that if you like the flavour of the bands listed below check out some of my reviews. A is for… All About Eve. Mixing folk, hippy, rock and Goth sounds they produced a string of top class albums from the late eighties onwards. Their eponymous debut album remains an all time favourite ranging from romantic lilting ballads to full on rock and featuring the rich and evocative voice of Julianne Reagan. B is for…Blyth Power This band is so obscure that even some members of the band haven’t heard of them. With a career spanning twenty years most of which have been spent in the back of a Transit van, Blyth Power have attempted to take over the world using only the chords of A, D and E and on the way have produced over a dozen original albums. Playing a strange combination of punk and folk, their songs come over like a history lesson set to music and feature such heroes as Wat Tyler, Richard III and Caligula, learning about history shouldn’t be this much fun. C is for…Clannad The Clash and the Cult both vied for this space, but on reflection the haunting tones of Irelands finest won the day, I’m probably mellowing in my old age. Mixing gorgeous vocal melodies, folk instrumentation and contemporary pop rhythm’s, Clannad are in a class of there own. Praised and criticized in equal measure for their treatment of Irish musical traditions they have kept Celtic music alive and re-branded it for the modern age. D is for…Dogs D`Amour The Dogs were the bastard sons of the Rolling Stones, drunkenly staggering around every venue in London and bringing their sleazy brand of rock and roll to the small stage. Their loose and laidback style and full on attitude belied their ability to write and deliver great tunes, sort of Ginsberg set to music and a very under-rated band. When they split up the sales of eyeliner pencils plummeted, apparently. E is for…. Steve Earle Even though I normally favour home grown bands, I have always had a great admiration for this boundary breaking performer, moving between rock, country and folk as the mood takes him, Earle has produced some classic tracks over the years. Having lived the rock star life almost to the point of destruction, Earle writes with a passion and truthfulness that is missing from most modern music. F is for…Fields of the Nephilim In the wake of the departure of the Sisters of Mercy from the music scene, the FOTN leapt into the breach waving the banner of gothic rock. Mixing a theatrical style, an overtly mysterious demeanour and a bunch of brooding tunes, this band grew into a top act before the usual problems ripped the band apart. The band were heavily into the works of H.P. Lovecraft, wild west imagery and strange haircuts, it makes you wonder what their home town of Stevenage was like to grow up in to have thrown together such a group. G is for…Georgia Satellites In their own words the band were influenced by Chuck Berry and Jack Daniels and that really is all you need to know… H is for Hanoi Rocks Before we had Guns `n` Roses there was Hanoi Rocks, coming to the world’s stage from their native Finland via Stockholm and Peckham, they can only be described as glam punk rock. Spandex, leather, hairspray, make up and twelve bar blues all formed a major part of the act but it was their razor guitars and sleazy saxophone lead punk tunes that set them apart from the rest. I is for…Icicle Works The Icicle Works hailed from that music factory of the north of England, Liverpool. Meaningful lyrics, intricate musicianship and a drive and verve rarely found in pop music took this band to the top of its game in the eighties. Their biggest hit “Love is a Wonderful Colour” has since been scientifically proven to be the best single of all time and as singer Ian MacNabb put it at the time “this is the song that paid for my house”. Bless him. J is for Jethro Tull This band has been through more changes of direction than a supermarket trolley. From jazz/blues to folk and progressive rock, Jethro Tull are responsible for some of the most sublime and original albums of all time, and a front man who can play the flute whilst stood on one leg. He’s quite mad you know. K is for…Kiss I will have to qualify this choice by saying that it represents the music of the original full make up days when the band were still scary, aggressive and lived on the cutting edge of their music. Detroit Rock City is an all time great…Crazy Crazy Nights is not. L is for…The Levellers The reinvention of mainstream English folk music was in their hands in the early nineties. This collective of scruffy, rebel road warriors travelled the country spreading mild anarchy and social unrest in bite sized chunks through their fantastic brand of music. Highly charged live shows and a bunch of great albums ensure their place in music history. M is for…The Men They Couldn’t Hang Again many bands presented themselves for the category, The Mission, and Marillion spring to mind, but historically minded folk rock troubadours TMTCH won out in the end. Any band who can write a song about the conditions of a Napoleonic era ship of the line heading out to fight the French navy at Trafalgar will get my vote every time, that and twenty years of delivering the goods. N is for…New Model Army New Model Army write songs about ordinary people and their every day struggles and yet fill their music with a passion and stark beauty that is yet to be bettered. Emerging from a punk background their music evolved into a soundscape of bittersweet violins, driving beats and acid guitars, the soundtrack to a generation of underdogs. O is for…John Otway The man is a lunatic. For twenty odd (very odd) years Otway has been giving us such weird offerings as Beware of the Flowers and Head butts. Typically eccentric, typically English and as mad as a bucket of frogs. P is for…Pendragon Originally seen as a poor mans Marillion, Stroud’s finest evolved into a fine act in their own right. Still carrying the standard for progressive rock, this little known band have plugged away at their craft for years and turned out a string of great albums. Q is for…Quireboys Probably only in the running because there are not that many bands beginning with Q, Quireboys hail from the same school as the aforementioned Dogs D`Amour. A fat free, lightweight version of their rivals, the pop sensibilities of the Quireboys made them more accessible to the general public. Like the pop acts they borrowed from, even though they came across like the Black Crowe’s meets Rod Stewart, they had a short shelf life. R is for…Rainmakers It could have been Rush, Rainbow or The Ramones, but another stateside band made the grade for me. Using a mix of bible belt imagery and a great county rock sound the Rainmakers find their place here if only for the song “Let My People Go-Go” S is for… Sisters of Mercy The godfathers of the British Goth sound. Stark clinical soundscapes underlay dark lyrics and an industrial backbeat drove this mysterious combo to the top of the underground scene. T is for Thin Lizzy The ultimate rock band. A charismatic front man singing songs with a passion, twin guitars blending together in a fusion of Celtic rock melody, not to mention the finest drummer of all time. Alongside the well-known full on rock numbers, Lizzy had a softer romantic side, which resulted in a host of ballads, and B-sides that most bands would kill to have written. Whether rocking out or setting a laidback and romantic pace, they could not be bettered, and if anyone mentions the Darkness I will have to reach for the disembowelling spoon. U is for…Undertones Teenage Kicks…no more said. V is for…Suzanne Vega From a flurry of female balladeers that surfaced at the time, Vega, for my money was the cream of the crop. A range of stories from social issues to fairy tales delivered with a crystal clear voice and a light guitar style puts her alongside the likes of Carole King. W is for… The Waterboys Moving from epic stadium rock to raggle taggle folk and stopping at all points in between, Mike Scott wrote some of the most evocative songs of the eighties and nineties. Whether cranking up the guitar and rocking out or encompassing himself in the swirling sounds and musical washes that only he could create, the spiritual quality of his music was ever present, his creations tapped into the soul. X is for…XTC. My adopted home town of Swindon has not given much to the world since the demise of the railway works in the fifties, but it did give us XTC. Evolving from punk upstarts to power pop chart toppers and finally to mature and unclassifiable song writers, XTC are a top act. Y is for… Yes Although known for their over the top performances, eccentric musical creations, in band bickering and spending more money than the national debt of Brazil, they created some great music, and were the reason punk had something to kick back at. Either way you don’t lose. Z is for… Zodiac Mindwarp and the Love Reaction Lead by a tongue in cheek front man, these innuendo ridden cartoon rockers gave us humour and top rock tunes in equal quantity. Its sophistication nil, rock and roll ten. I Thank You..steerpyke  |
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