hi guys! i'm writing a blog because i recently had the revelation that even though i love music, and i love to play music, and i guess i probably love a ton of bands that have been heavily influenced by rock music, that until now i consider myself completely rock impotent. yes, rock impotent. like if a girl was like oh my gosh bone me with your bad-ass chops you rock god!!! i would be like *thup* nope this isn't gonna happen sorry babe gtfo
i had no prior appreciation to classic rock music, mostly because i had never really listened to it or even been the slightest bit interested in it.
i've never really listened to led zeppelin, with the exception of stairway to heaven, i guess. i've only heard a few songs by the doors. i didn't even know jimi hendrix was black (jk, wait he is black right) but i've never listened to him either except i've heard that song foxy lady but who hasn't heard that song. the name jimmy page only rang a bell because i've heard a song called "i hate jimmy page." i didn't even know that led zeppelin, eric clapton, the rolling stones, the who... etc, i had no idea they were british LOL. i thought they were like "classic american rock bands"
the term british invasion to me meant "the beatles"
do you see how fucking noob i am at rock & roll
please, post in this blog if you love and appreciate classic rock. post your recommendations for bands, songs, influential people, and defining events that helped shape rock & roll. yes i know i could just wiki this but i'd also like to hear from people and get some discussion going maybe
Zeppelin Rolling Stones Simon and Garfunkel Boby Dylan Nick Drake The Beatles The Who Yes Moody Blues Cat Stevens The Animals Jethro Tull Rush Clapton The Yard Birds Cream
-Overview: Gillan's soaring vocals are just wicked, and one of the best solo's i've ever heard as Blackmore rips through his guitar and performs one of the best solo's ever.
Led Zeppelin 1 Led Zeppelin 2 Led Zeppelin 3 Led Zeppelin 4 Houses of the Holy Physical Grafitti Machine Head (deep purple album) Made In Japan Love it to death Pretties for you Easy Action Killer Electric Warrior Tanx Ziggy Stardust and the spiders from Mars Cream Cage in August Black Sabbath Paranoid Volume 4. Sabbath bloody Sabbath High Voltage (R.I.P Bon Scott, johnson is fucking nothing compared to you) The Velvet Underground and Nico
The New Wave of British Heavy Metal (frequently abbreviated as NWOBHM) is a heavy metal music movement that started in the late 1970s, in Britain, and achieved some international attention by the early 1980s. The era developed as a reaction in part to the decline of early heavy metal bands such as Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath. NWOBHM bands toned down the blues influences of earlier acts, increased the tempo, and adopted a tougher sound, taking a more hardcore approach to its music. Not intended to win a wide audience, it was a scene directed almost exclusively at heavy metal fans. The era is considered to be a main foundation for heavy metal sub-genres with acts such as Metallica citing NWOBHM bands like Diamond Head and Motörhead as a major influence on their musical style.
New Wave of British Heavy Metal's music reacted against the artifice of contemporary pop, placing an emphasis on musicianship and amplification, the former trait setting it apart from punk rock. Yet, unlike progressive rock, which placed a far greater emphasis on musical complexity, and unlike post-punk, which emphasized 'strangeness' and innovation, the NWOBHM thrived on volume, speed, and directness, with an idealised working class image.
Reviled or ignored by many mainstream critics in both the UK and the US, the NWOBHM nonetheless came to dominate the hard rock scene of the early-mid 1980s. NWOBHM was musically characterised by power chords, fast guitar solos and melodic, soaring vocals, with lyrical themes often drawing inspiration from mythology, fantasy fiction, and the occult.
Most of the bands of this era were signed to Neat Records, who has released volumes of NWOBHM compilations in later years.
(wikipedia)
Early NWOBHM is my fave (maiden, priest). Second fave: + Show Spoiler +
Hey I just wanna reaffirm that kefkalives has great taste.
Especially recommend you to explore The Velvet Underground and David Bowie (bowie just lots and lots of good stuff).
The Velvet Underground and Donovan, probably cited as the most influential bands/artists of the 60's. The former, while a cult band today, were virtually unknown at the time to the public -- at the same time they were greatly influential because so many great bands/artists bought their records.
Good velvet underground songs to start with: Sweet Jane, Stephanie Says, Venus in Furs, Femme Fatale, Heroin.
Dunno if Pink Floyd really fall under classic rock as such, but you should listen to them regardless
Other bands I like though maybe not fitting your search criteria fully: Queen, The Kinks, Frank Zappa. More recent continuing in the tradition: Remy Zero, Radiohead.
I find it really hard recommending bands though, as there are so many one hit wonders in rock history and albums that suck immensely apart from 2-3 good songs.
OH SWEET FUCKING JESUS HOW COULD I FORGET TRANSFORMER AND CONEY ISLAND BABY FROM MY LIST
Reed's lyrics are so powerful.
Heroin, Venus in furs, Sweet jane, Perfect day, andy's chest, sattelite of love, I'll be your mirror, Coney island baby, A gift. Perfect day and heroin make me particulary emotional :<
For an example...
I'll be your mirror The Velvet Underground
I'll be your mirror Reflect what you are, in case you dont know Ill be the wind, the rain and the sunset The light on your door to show that youre home
When you think the night has seen your mind That inside youre twisted and unkind Let me stand to show that you are blind Please put down your hands cause I see you
I find it hard to believe you dont know The beauty that you are But if you dont let me be your eyes A hand in your darkness, so you wont be afraid
When you think the night has seen your mind That inside youre twisted and unkind Let me stand to show that you are blind Please put down your hands cause I see you
I'll be your mirror
---
Such a simple metaphor, yet so poetically deep and powerful.
I'm not sure I'd call pink floyd rock at all. I can appreciate a genre being diverse, but there comes a point when a word can be stretched to mean so many things that it becomes pretty meaningless. To me, rock is this more upbeat, freeform genre that bred out of post-war electric blues in the 1940s. 12-bar blues structures, call and response features... Rock has a distinctively bluesy feel to it. Prog, like pink floyd/king crimson/genesis/whatever gets so eccentric that it has very little in common with rock (besides some instrumentation). At the very least a distinction has to be made between rock-rock and prog-rock or post-rock.
R.E.M is a gurrrreat band too. They aren't really "classic rock" since they are supposed to be alternative or something but who gives a crap about genres anyways. Their first album, Murmur, is delicious. Automatic for the People is their most known album and it's savoury also, a very different style though.
That's Sitting Still from Murmur, has a nice beat and of course that awesome clean guitar sound that the dude always has.
This one is Find the River off Automatic for the People. That song has such a sick atmosphere, the accordian and reverby sound are just so good seriously.
edit: Oh yeah gonna add this in case any R.E.M fans wanna bust my chops for some reason. Yes I know R.E.M have said that they think coldplay is a good band and even have been "influenced" by them for their later albums. My response to this is that their last 2 albums, while I haven't heard them, well I'm sure they suck. Well I heard one song and it was pretty crap. Anyways yes, booo coldplay, boooo.
U2 - Anything up to Achtung, Baby. Joshua Tree and Achtung are my favorites Rush - 2112 through Moving Pictures, if you like Zep and Cream you could also check out the first two albums The Who - Live at Leeds, Who's Next Van Halen's first and maybe second album Boston's first album Soundgarden - Badmotorfinger, Superunknown UFO - Strangers in the Night Iron Maiden - I like the live albums best
Velvet Underground- Influential to nearly all alternative genres we see today. Good Starting Point: Velvet Underground & Nico Heroin is way too great.
Beatles- Started the pop movement Revolver and Rubber Soul are by far my favorite cds
Frank Zappa - Fusion at it's best. Many albums are not very accessible for someone who isn't too open minded towards music. Hot Rats is his most accessible album. From on then I'd recommend listening through both discs of Make Jazz Noise Here
Talking Heads - Arguably one of the most technical bands of the 80s and pioneers of new wave. Start with their debut (Talking Heads 77) and follow them in order. Don't listen to Speaking in Tongues or later. Remain in Light is amazing
Bob Dylan - Probably not your style but so immensely influential that I mine as well put it.... Lot of good albums... Blood on the Tracks is a favorite of mine
David Bowie - Friends might call you gay but in your heart you will know that he is amazing and they are stupid. Creater of many sub-genres we see today. Hunky Dory will always be a favorite of mine. Ziggy Stardust is also a fantastic album. I like all his work in the 70s but that's because of taste in music
Funkadelic/Parliament - EVERYONE NEEDS FUNK IN THEIR LIFE Maggot Brain is a good starting point from Funkadelic
The Who - Just listen :D Quadrophenia and Tommy are their best work
I could list more but chances anyone will listen to this is low but whatever just trying to help lol
(I know you said Classic Rock but why not learn the about rock in general :D)
Also i must add, Coldplay are so amazingly untalented/bad it makes me want to chop my dick into tiny little pieces. Holy fuck, listening to the lyrical content the band comes up with is like reading from a cliche book. Some of the most shallow music i've ever ever ever heard. Fuck you coldplay.
On November 23 2008 06:31 kefkalives wrote: Pink Floyd is progressive rock. They have elements of psychadelica in their music, but they are not "psychadelic rock".
Cpt.Cocaine, there is so much of a "bluesy" feel in all of gilmours guitar work. pink floyd is a ProgressiveROCK band.
Pink Floyd is the definition of a Psychedelic Rock band...
On November 23 2008 06:33 kefkalives wrote: Also i must add, Coldplay are so amazingly untalented/bad it makes me want to chop my dick into tiny little pieces. Holy fuck, listening to the lyrical content the band comes up with is like reading from a cliche book. Some of the most shallow music i've ever ever ever heard. Fuck you coldplay.
Cpt.Cocaine, there is so much of a "bluesy" feel in all of gilmours guitar work. pink floyd is a ProgressiveROCK band.
Well, I guess it depends on how broadly you want to define 'bluesy'. I listen/play a lot of straight up blues myself and I never really thought of glimour's playing as being remotely bluesy, especially compared to, say, led zeppelin. Not to say it's bad, I actually love pink floyd, but I think it's a category of it's own.
Deep Purple. Early Deep Purple rules, like Mk II and 3. So.
In Rock (great stuff, speed king, blood sucker, living wreck, into the fire) FireBall (awesome, kinda experimental, but great tracks, fireball, strange kind of woman, demons eye, although it is on a different release.) Machine Head I mean, come on, not a single weak track. Everyone always says, highway star or smoke on the water, but I listen to the whole thing. Theres SPACE TRUCKIN, Maybe IM A LEO, PICTURES OF HOME. And the single NEVER BEFORE. perfect songs. Made In Japan(if you want to listen to 3 minute studio versions of songs here, you went to the wrong place, this is the way its supposed to be, its like epic 11 minute versions of the masterpieces) Burn, great Mk III album. Perfect Strangers, the MK two reuinion. Awesome AWESOME album. Great stuff. Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow Rising. And Stargazer, I believe. Anything by Rainbow. its good hardrock. Classic Hot tunes.
Queen. seriously. get that huge Greatest ever thing. it has basically everything you need by them.
David Bowie, Heck yeah Ziggy Stardust, Aladdin Sane.
Pink Floyd, It IS classic Rock. eff, its the stuff that resonates in everyone's DNA, what the crap, just get it, its stuff you NEED in your brain.
Black Sabbath, Master of reality. Black Sabbath(self titled) Paranoid, National Acrobat.
I just youtube bands I wished I learned of, like I did that with sabbath a year or so ago. like, I wanted to hear their stuff. Youtube is an excellent tool.
Europe, The final Countdown album, ninja is a cool song.
WhiteSnake, Still of the night.
Bon Jovi( just get the guys, start riding in the car, loud music, bust those cocks out for the rock.) haha, bon Jovi is awesome. I mean its in the 80's but come on, you gotta love it.
Theres so much more, just get all you can.
To me, Classic Rock, is not just the sound, its something everyone can get down to, no matter how musically closed minded they are.
Bah, get out of here! Its like the greatest love ballads ever! The epitomy of the 80's right there. Sure they are ridiculous, but its like, good music!
I mean, Slide it in? Heck yeah! Bust those out and effin push ! At least you have to get the music in your head and bust it out once in a while.
This version kicks trash
Cryin in the rain as well. Thats actually a real heavy song, to me anyways. the riffs.
On November 23 2008 06:31 kefkalives wrote: Pink Floyd is progressive rock. They have elements of psychadelica in their music, but they are not "psychadelic rock".
Cpt.Cocaine, there is so much of a "bluesy" feel in all of gilmours guitar work. pink floyd is a ProgressiveROCK band.
Pink Floyd is the definition of a Psychedelic Rock band...
Uhhhhhh... anything with Barret at the helm can be categorised as psychadelic, however in the Waters era its the most pure and fundamental prog rock :>
Cocaine, if your listening and playing to Robert Johnson and Leadbelly, then no, gilmour is not a 'blues' guitarist, however no guitarists of the 60's 70's really were pure blues guitarists in that case. Gilmours foundation is in blues imo.
btw HooHa, national acrobat is off Sabbath Bloody Sabbath... ;|
Oh my god, u2 is the most infuriating band ever. The Joshua tree was good, however im convinced everything since that was absolute shit. The album with vertigo on it (maybe that was name of album too) was such a shit piece. YEAH YEAH yEAH YEAH YEAH YEAH YEAH YEAH YEAH YEAH yEAH YEAH YEAH YEAH YEAH YEAHYEAH YEAH yEAH YEAH YEAH YEAH YEAH YEAHYEAH YEAH yEAH YEAH YEAH YEAH YEAH YEAHYEAH YEAH yEAH YEAH YEAH YEAH YEAH YEAHYEAH YEAH yEAH YEAH YEAH YEAH YEAH YEAH HOLLA COME STAI ESSE YEAH YEAH yEAH YEAH YEAH YEAH YEAH YEAHYEAH YEAH yEAH YEAH YEAH YEAH YEAH YEAHYEAH YEAH yEAH YEAH YEAH YEAH YEAH YEAH ESSE HOMES HOMES HOMES
On November 23 2008 06:31 kefkalives wrote: Pink Floyd is progressive rock. They have elements of psychadelica in their music, but they are not "psychadelic rock".
Cpt.Cocaine, there is so much of a "bluesy" feel in all of gilmours guitar work. pink floyd is a ProgressiveROCK band.
Pink Floyd is the definition of a Psychedelic Rock band...
btw HooHa, national acrobat is off Sabbath Bloody Sabbath... ;|
Yeah! thats right, I totally forgot, I just remember looking for that song forever cause I liked the riff.
EPT
