Music

[Stacy B.]

Man, I am really gonna be in the minority here! 

I love my folky stuff, Ani Difranco, Patty Griffin, Utah Phillips.

But my real love is delta style blues. 

Mississippi John Hurt was one of the most amazing musicians ever! Just listening to him can set the mood for an entire day!
Pink Anderson, Son House, and of course Robert Johnson and Tommy Johnson. R.L. Burnside is great as well. I listen to a lot of different blues artist.

I've played bass guitar for the last (omg, I just realized... ) twenty four or so years and sing as well. Damn, I feel old.  I started out in metal bands, moved to the alternative stuff, and finally settled into the jazz, blues and folk vein.  Being born in the Delta and living in Mississippi all my life, the Blues just came natrual. LOL

Anybody else here listen to Pandora radio?  I usually have it on at least half the day while I am at work. It's a great way to discover new artist based on what you like.

[Navarre]

People in their 30's need to stop telling me they feel old!  

Stacy, my ex-wife loves Ani Difranco. She also loves Shawn Colvin and Kings of Leon and some of that.

She considers her taste in music to be discerning and exceptional. She considers my taste in music to be crap. lol

Maybe you'd get along with her.

It's funny that I started this thread but seem to have the least diverse tastes and number of artists.

My current playlist would be something like:

Hollywood Undead
Disturbed
MudVayne
Linkin Park
Eminem
Judas Priest
WASP
Doro Pesch
Stabbing Westward
Rob Zombie

[Stacy B.]

People in their 30's need to stop telling me they feel old! 

Well, when you you look back and realize that something that feels like yesterday was really that long ago, you kind tend to feel a little old! 

Don;t get me wrong, I love my blues, but I occasionally slip some harder stuff into the old iPod.

I like me some Linkin Park, Rob Zombie and such. And while it is not harder, I am a pretty big Fall Out Boy fan.  Hell, I even have a funk/disco station set up on my Pandora account! My wife is a school band director, so I get exposure to the classical and all through her, but then she turns around and likes the really heavy stuff.

If it is music, I will at least give it a listen for a bit.

[Navarre]

Life is a collection of memories. As life goes on the memories accumulate. It is absolutely amazing to me sometimes just how many moments we experience in life and how much of it can be recalled.

I think music makes the ability to remember even stronger. I hear certain songs and it instantly takes me back to a specific moment in life that previously was far from my mind.

If you are listening to music right now, beware. One day you will hear that same song and all you'll think about will be that crazy rapid-posting, philosophical, Magik-loving geek who came in one day and started consuming space on the forum like it was the last batch of Twinkies ever made.

Y'know, it's funny though that this thread, random as it was, is getting so many more replies than the comic-related threads upon which the forum is based. What up wit dat?

[morpheus11]

Now, I am going to have to throw my 2 cents in. 

When it comes to music the only thing I don't like is country.  Usually b/c I can't stand that stupid twang that country singers have.  I also get sick of all the sad stories that are in country music. 

But, enough of what I don't like.  How about my favorites right now (they change on a daily basis but these are usually up there):

Three Days Grace
Seether
Ben Folds (and Ben Folds Five)
Buckcherry
Beatles
Maroon 5
Queen
Me First and the Gimme Gimmes
Theory of a Deadman
They Might be Giants

Those are probably my tops on my iPod at this moment.

[Beta Ray Bill Cosby]

How did y'all come across some of the artists that are not widely known? Have you sought things out, had artists recommended, or just stumbled across them?

largely through talking to people about music. The best thing to do when someone mentions a band you're familiar with is to say, "If you like [band x] you'll probably like [band y]"

also Pandora.com is pretty amazing for finding new music

[uglyhooker]

Ok so my iTunes library consists of Atmosphere, Billy Joel, Botch, the Bronx, Circa Survive, Coheed and Cambria, Converge, Daughters, the Distillers, Dustin Kensrue, the Gaslight Anthem, Glassjaw, Green Day (mostly odd stuff), the Grouch, Isis, Jay Z, the Killers, Meshuggah, Mew, New Found Glory, Norma Jean, Oh Sleeper, Paramore, Rancid, Sparta, Strata, Thrice and the Twilight Singers. This is just to name a few.

That's my lise.

[Gaumer]

I honestly can say that Billy Joel is one of my favorite song writers of all time.

I was born in Allentown, PA and it was almost required listening when my parents were younger.

[uglyhooker]

I honestly can say that Billy Joel is one of my favorite song writers of all time.

I was born in Allentown, PA and it was almost required listening when my parents were younger.

I love that damn song!! It's SOOOO good!!

[The_Julian]

I usually find my new music by following the blogs of my favorite music creators. Thom York from Radiohead and Steven Wilson from Porcupine Tree for instance always talk about what they're listening to and 9 times out 10, I like what I hear.

I also like the occasional recommendation from iTunes Genius too.

I find I've sort of stopped seeking out classics too... I mean, as much as I love me some Zeppelin and Hendrix, it's usually a lot more rewarding to follow a band that still consistently writes new music and are just cementing their legacy.

[Navarre]

Does this decade seem to have passed without an artists, or even genre, being the standout for the last 10 years?

In the 50's we had the advent of Rock & Roll (stemming out of the late 40's). We had a breakthrough artist named Elvis Presley.

In the 60's there was Woodstock and everyone associated with that concert and sound. Hendrix, Zeppelin, all those cats. There was a band named The Beatles too. I heard they had a fan or two.

The 70's was the disco era. Donna Summer, the Bee Gees, etc. were the big thing. This is also the decade where Fleetwood Mac came into mainstream success.

The 80's gave us hair metal and pop. So we had Motley Crue on one hand and Madonna & Michael Jackson on the other. The 80's was a powerhouse decade for music in all regards.

The 90's had both its Mariah Carey and its grunge. Carey to Nirvana to Britney to boy bands, there was a range of genres. But by the 90's I felt music had failed to produce too many artists that would go into legend in the same way Zeppelin or Elvis did.

Now the 00's are winding down. Looking back, I remember some artists but no one seems assured of legendary status. Likewise, I am not sure that there is any genre that truly captures the feel for the decade.

And maybe that's the problem. Maybe there is no feel for this decade. Maybe it is a bit random and unfocused and the music reflects that.

What are your thoughts?

[Gaumer]

I see it as another 1980s where there was a lot of different music spread over all genres but no new genres like you said.

If anything, this could the decade music went digital and we finally buried physical formats, and that's pretty cool.

Worldwide I think Coldplay sold more albums than any other artists. Not my cup of tea but it's still worth stating.

[The_Julian]

Does this decade seem to have passed without an artists, or even genre, being the standout for the last 10 years?

In the 50's we had the advent of Rock & Roll (stemming out of the late 40's). We had a breakthrough artist named Elvis Presley.

In the 60's there was Woodstock and everyone associated with that concert and sound. Hendrix, Zeppelin, all those cats. There was a band named The Beatles too. I heard they had a fan or two.

The 70's was the disco era. Donna Summer, the Bee Gees, etc. were the big thing. This is also the decade where Fleetwood Mac came into mainstream success.

The 80's gave us hair metal and pop. So we had Motley Crue on one hand and Madonna & Michael Jackson on the other. The 80's was a powerhouse decade for music in all regards.

The 90's had both its Mariah Carey and its grunge. Carey to Nirvana to Britney to boy bands, there was a range of genres. But by the 90's I felt music had failed to produce too many artists that would go into legend in the same way Zeppelin or Elvis did.

Now the 00's are winding down. Looking back, I remember some artists but no one seems assured of legendary status. Likewise, I am not sure that there is any genre that truly captures the feel for the decade.

And maybe that's the problem. Maybe there is no feel for this decade. Maybe it is a bit random and unfocused and the music reflects that.

What are your thoughts?

Alright Navarre, I'm about to go Radiohead fanboy on this board so if I come off as snarky, please forgive me.

Radiohead is that band that rises above the rest.  If people want someone who constantly reinvents themselves with every single album that they put out, people often pint to Radiohead. I think the reason that so many people don't immediately just point to them as this decade's music is because, lets face it, there's so much stuff out there.

With iTunes, Myspace, and other digital download services, it's easier than ever for people to get their music out there.  I think this major saturation of the industry is both a blessing and a curse. Blessing because it allows more people with talent to find fans without a bottomless budget and a curse because because so many people with talent get swept under the rug in favor of those with more publicity.

So in conclusion, Radiohead is perfect.

[Navarre]

I accept your support of Radiohead. But I don't see that the current fan base is more prominent for Radiohead right now than for sevreal other artists.

More to the point, in 2040 or 2050 do you believe that the culture will look back and say Radiohead defined its genre (whatever that may be) or was one of the standout acts of this decade?

I'm not saying there aren't talented artists in this decade. There certainly are.

I am suggesting that this decade doesn't seem to have a genre to which it is indisputable tied nor does it have an artist who represents either that genre or that has polarized the population of music lovers.

That may be because, as Gaumer implied, we no longer are a culture who hears all of its music on the radio or television. Perhaps the sheer volume of music available through the digital age has created the effect I am describing.

If so, the value of that is that we are exposed to a much greater variety of music than ever before and lesser known artists can shine.

The drawback will be that my children may not be able to look back on music at 40 and recognize eras of music as I did in the original post. Not the end of the world; just a very different way in which we think of the evolution of music.

[The_Julian]

I was mostly being satirical with that Radiohead fanboy love (if you ever try to tell a real Radiohead fanboy that X band is better than them get ready for a fight).

I was mostly trying to get at the fact that there's so much stuff out there now.  The reason we don't have a single defining artist/group this generation is because of that amount of volume and that, like you said, no one listens to the radio anymore. 

My one issue with the way this happens is that I can't stand when people get famous when they shouldn't be.  Though to be fair, this was actually happening as far back as the 90's (Blink 182, Sum 41, I'm lookin at you). 

I too don't think it's a problem, it just is what it is...