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A to Z and Back in MusicJun 07 '05 (Updated Jun 17 '05) Write an essay on this topic.
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The Bottom Line I'm going to bed!
JAGUARDOG, or is it JUNKYARDDOG? No it's JAGUARDOG, an obvious reference to the NFL Jacksonville Jaguars. But seriously Ron, wouldn't JAGUARCAT make more sense? Oh well, we all know they do things differently in Florida, don't we? Anyway not to get off the subject at hand, JAGUARCAT, I mean DOG has invited me to participate in his first ever Write Off and it's right up my alley, being in music and all. Now when it comes to music, I have to divide my life into two distinct parts, pre and post Y2K so I hope Ron will give me a little latitude if I diverge from his suggested format and customize my list, by going from A to Z pre 2000 and back from Z to A post 2000. The reason for this is there was a definite shift in my musical taste upon entering the new century and it will become obvious if you read my list so here goes. A - It was close between Asia and Alan Parsons but I'm going to go with Parsons because he kind of set the music world on it's ear in 1975 with Tales of mystery and imagination, plus I've done a review on it: http://www.epinions.com/content_177909763716 B - Again it was close between Bruce Springsteen and Bush but as much as I like Bushes classic album Sixteen Stone, I just can’t force myself to give anyone named BUSH any credit, so it’s the BOSS man! “Born to Run”, “Jungleland” et al C - Concrete Blonde, no doubt about it, from “Ghost of a Texas lady’s Man” to Bloodletting, this was a breath of fresh air in a mostly stagnant music field. D - Dream Theater, the anointed Gods of Progressive Rock is a super group but you’d never know it. Today their latest album was released and I called up Best Buy to see if they have it and guess what? They have one copy on hand. This is a big time popular band. Wake up WORST BUY!. What you’ve never heard of Dream Theater? Not surprising since they’re rarely played on the radio but one song did get air time several years ago - “Pull me Under”. Ever hear it? I wish they would go back and rerecord the ending of that song. It’s the worst ending ever but it’s still a five star song. “Train of Thought”: http://www.epinions.com/content_119469084292 E - Enigma or Electric Light Orchestra. Oh well “Evil Woman” one of my all time favorites wins on this one. F - Another tough pick. I’m going with the short lived Frankie goes to Hollywood over the ever popular Fleetwood Mac because while their star was around it burned really brightly with songs like “Welcome to the Pleasuredome” and “Relax”. G - Guns and Roses, “Estranged”, “November Rain”, “Breakdown”, “Pretty Tied Up”, “You Could be Mine” and on an on. You thought I was going to say Garbage didn’t you? It did cross my mind. H - I’m stumped here on H for one I really like so I’m just going to go with Heart and leave it at that. “Wild Child”, “Barracuda” I - A real easy one. Is there any doubt, one of the most prolific bands of our time Iron Maiden “Seventh Son of a Seventh Son”, “Two Minutes to Midnight”, “Hallowed be Thy Name” etc. You should hear Cradle of Filth‘s cover of “Hallowed be Thy Name”, it’s awesome! J - They don’t get the love they deserve but I love em - Jefferson Whatever. “White Rabbit”, “Somebody to Love”, “Alien”, “Jane“, “Save your Love”, ׁ/5 of a Mile in Ten Seconds”, Volunteers, Plastic Fantastic Lover. Should I go on? “Modern Times”: http://www.epinions.com/content_172289920644 K - One of the first Prog/rock bands I was ever into. Why it‘s Kansas of course Toto, you silly. “Song for America”, “Carry on Wayward Son” and “Magnum Opus”. Honorable Mention - KMFDM L - Live is another choice by default. “Throwing Copper” and a few other good songs but not one of my favorites. Other considerations for L were Lita Ford and Loreena Mckinnett. M - Megadeth over Marillion by a hair. Marillion is great but Megadeth leader Dave Mustane lives in Phoenix. Good reason huh? “Prince of Darkness”, “A tout la Monde”, “Secret Place” and more N - Another letter that’s problematic. I guess I’ll go with NIN (Nine Inch Nails) over Nightranger and Stevie Nicks. “Pilgrimage”, “Where is Everybody”, “Closer” O - I’ll go with “the voice “ Roy Orbison. “Pretty Woman”, “Only the Lonely” P - Pink Floyd over Pearl Jam because Floyd’s been around longer and has lots of great records and P.J. only has a couple. “Wish You Were Here” “Welcome to the Machine”, “Another Brick in the Wall”, “The Division Bell”, “Us and Them” and “Comfortably Numb”. Q - Thought you had me there didn’t you? You forgot about one of the great concept progressive rock bands, Queensryche. I know what about Queen? Definitely good stuff but I’m sure everybody else will be using them. “Suite Sister Mary”, “Jet City Woman”, “Spreading the Disease”. “Operation Mindcrime”: http://www.epinions.com/content_163930803844 R - Renaissance, Roxette, Red Rider, take you pick. I guess Roxette because I like “Fading Like a Flower” and ”Listen to your Heart” so much. S - Lots of choices in ‘S‘. Let’s go with Scorpions over Styx by a nose. Listen to classics like “No One Like You”, “Still Loving You” and then let them “Rock you like a Hurricane” T - Lots of good ’Ts’ as well but it’s Tesla baby, by whisker over Tool. “Heaven Nine Eleven” and everything on “The Great Radio Controversy” :http://www.epinions.com/musc_mu-150142 Into the Now: http://www.epinions.com/content_136427179652 U - Uriah Heep over the obvious choice of U2 and the not so obvious choice of UFO. “The Wizard”, “July Morning”, “Sunrise”, “Tales of Brave Ulysses” “Salisbury” and about two dozen other great songs. Uriah Heep: http://www.epinions.com/musc_mu-153529 Salisbury: http://www.epinions.com/musc_mu-153525 Demons and Wizards: http://www.epinions.com/content_162102087300 V - Van Halen but only with Sammy Hagar. I couldn’t stand ole what’s his name. You know the first goof ball, David Lee Roth. “Right Now”, “Poundcake”, “Dreams” and “In and Out”. “For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge”: http://www.epinions.com/content_105230208644 W - Who has got the greatest rock and roll album of all time. Who? That’s right Who. I don’t know, Who? Who that’s Who. Says Who? Me that’s Who. What’s it called? Who’s Next. What’s Next? Who’s Next that’s Who. I give up. “Baba O‘Reily”, “Behind Blue Eyes”, “See Me, Feel Me”, “Won‘t Get Fooled Again”. Who’s Next: http://www.epinions.com/content_118471691908 X - X Japan is pretty much an X factor (excuse the pun) here but in Japan, X marks the spot. (there I go again). “The Art of Life”, “Dahlia“, “Forever Love”. Y - Yanni What you want me to name Yes. Ok. Yes, I mean Yes it’s Yes “Roundabout” and “Close to the Edge” and all that jazz Z - Of course it’s Zanzibar. What you never heard of them. Me either. I made them up. Ok, I give I’m sure nobody else is going to name them - Zebra. “Whose Behind the Door”, "Tell Me What You Want" are the only ones I can remember. Well it’s been fun going over all these older albums from older groups that I still enjoy from time to time but I still have yet to get to the second half of my list (the music I currently listen to) and right now I’m over twelve hundred words and this would get unwieldy if I continued on, so I’m going to stop here for now and complete the back part of my list in a couple days. I know, you just can’t wait. I can’t wait either. This has been my (Old Man Metal’s) entry into Jaguardog’s ferocious write off entitled “My Favorite Musical Artists of All-Time” A to Z http://www.epinions.com/content_4389118084 Thanks for the invite Ron. Part deux Z to A will follow.  |
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