February 07, 2005

showing my age

Bejus. I've seen some bloggers posting the "Top Ten Rock Bands of All Time" and I've never heard of half of them. Once you get past "Hootie and the Blowfish," you've lost me. I am an old-timer. These wonder-bands of today all sound alike, they are over-produced in the studio and they have too many fucking tattoos. I don't like a goddam one of them.

Nobody is going to remember those cheap fucks in five years.

Here's a REAL Top Ten from an old fart:

#1) Elvis Presly. He WAS the King and he always will be, even if he became a parody of himself later in his career. He changed music forever.

#2) The Beatles. From bubble-gum to psychedelic, they did it all. Their show on Ed Sullivan in 1964 is what made me want to play guitar. GOT-DAM! What a band.

#3) The Rolling Stones. A garage band that went big-time but still sounded like a garage band. I have to give them credit for longevtity. But I NEVER liked big-lipped Mick Jagger.

#4) Led Zeppelin. If I have to explain that choice, you wouldn't understand anyway. Nobody else ever sang like Robert Plant.

#5) Steppenwolf. John Kay just might be the grittiest rock & roll singer of all time. How often do you still hear "Born to be Wild" or "Magic Carpet Ride" today, 30 years after those songs were recorded? I rest my case.

#6) Fleetwood Mac. I know I'll piss some people off with this choice, but when they were in their early days, they were damn good. They had it all-- musicianship, harmony, great songs and good-lookin' wimmen.

#7) The Marshall Tucker Band. ABSOLUTELY the best band I ever saw play in concert. Those guys cooked until the stage boiled. My ears rang until the next morning.

#8) The Allman Brothers Band. Georgia peaches with some of the best guitar licks you'll ever hear. They were ahead of their time, although I never liked Dwane that much.

#9) The Beach Boys. Sweet Bejus. I still like hearing that harmony today. That was some amazing work on what were mostly shitty songs.

#10) The Eagles. Probably one of the most over-inflated EGO bands of all time, but damn good at what they did. "Desperado." "Hotel California." "Take it Easy." You don't get much better than that.

Heh. I think I dropped off the radar screen around 1978. So, you young shits tell me how good U-2 is and how I don't know shit because I don't appreciate the Seattle Sound. Go get another tattoo and kiss my Cracker ass.

Those are MY Top Ten Bands.

Comments

Hands down, the best rock and roll concert I ever attended was BTO.

All in all, a good top 10

Posted by: MM on February 7, 2005 06:58 PM

U2 does whip the shit out of half those bands, and have been doing it for almost as long.

And where the hell is Johnny Cash?

Posted by: Mr. Lion on February 7, 2005 07:06 PM

Non-political-troll moment here . . .

Bombast Bubba--

You missed a few . . .

Bob Seger . . . Old Time Rock and Roll . . . you cannot leave Detroit City Bobby off your list, Dude!

The Lick Meisters . . . Joe Satriani, Jimy, Ritchie Blackmore (an absolute MOTHER in concert!) . . .

Marshall Tucker is among the best, I agree ...

How can you leaveMotor City Ted off the list? He has invented chords and notes and licks others only dream of, and he can kill, dress and eat his own venison. You missed him completely, Dude!

Aerosmith . . . longevity with class

McCartney . . .. last night was proof . . . class act next to anyone from the Jackson family

Tied to Whipping Post . . . yeah . . .

Dicky Betts could play some kick ass licks, too

Moody Blues? No better musicians . . .

Except may be for Tom and BOSTON

John Prine holds the all-time "down-home"

Stevie Ray . . . kicks ass from the grave!

Ray Charles . . . play your shit blind and black and make millions anyway . . . pert damn good

Thunderclap Newman . . . the best one-hit wonders ever

CSN&Y . . . whoever can play Suite: Judy Blue Eyes knows guitar well

I could on, but I am damn near as old as you and the kiddies only know the recent pretenders

:-) jb

Posted by: jb on February 7, 2005 07:52 PM

Two words: Steely Dan

Posted by: Rivrdog on February 7, 2005 07:55 PM

and that's why my 27 year old daughter is named Rhiannon!

Posted by: heather on February 7, 2005 08:03 PM

when you said, old time, these people were still in there dayy's nut sack. Lets see how long these new groups, stay famous and remembered, Cat.

Posted by: Catfish on February 7, 2005 08:11 PM

I'll take Skynerd over Marshall Tucker for Country Rock any day.

I'll also take Jimi Hendrix over almost any "guitar hero" you can name. (Don't bother naming Page or Clapton. I said almost.)

Finally, I'd walk over you to see The Who. (and Yes, I was at that show.)

Posted by: Ralph Gizzip on February 7, 2005 08:15 PM

You need to check out Evanescence: "Fallen" CD (don't get the live version - it sucks. Get the studio version). And try Venessa Carlton: "Be Not Nobody". Both worth listening to.
Yeah, I'm as old as you are , but I keep up with a lot of the newer stuff. Hate most of it, but you do find some gems in the muck sometimes.
Styx; Emerson, Lake and Palmer; Rush (Neil Pert on the drums) to add to the list.
But for vocal orchestration, nobody does it like The Beach Boys.

Posted by: Wichi Dude on February 7, 2005 08:16 PM

Rverdog

Gotta agree . . . Steely Dan was way ahead of their time, like Wakeman and YES. Add to the longevity list alongside Aerosmith . . . REO, and Foreigner. Them boys can play.

As for a pure musician . . . google Pete. Frampton was something special . . . even when I saw him balding and doing acoustic. . . he had 1976 all to himself.

Blast from the past . . . think I might do some picking and grinning tonight myself.

"Well I woke up this morning
Put on my slippers
Walked into the kitchen and died"

:-)

Posted by: jb on February 7, 2005 08:42 PM

What a great list! Yeah....we could have a pissin' contest 'cause you left off a few that I would have put on there, but all in all, a really great list! BTW, graduated from HS in 1961, Army from 1961 to 1964, graduated college 1968. I think we're about the same age or reasonably close.

Posted by: Vulgorilla on February 7, 2005 09:18 PM

Great choices. But what about the Doors and Van Halen?

Posted by: Ole Eichhorn on February 7, 2005 09:18 PM

Hmmmmm, no gangsta rap?

Posted by: Robert on February 7, 2005 09:33 PM

One more . . .

Bryan Adams . . . acoustic

Posted by: jb on February 7, 2005 09:36 PM

Your list is my list.

Posted by: Kathy on February 7, 2005 09:50 PM

Your list is my list.

Posted by: Kathy on February 7, 2005 09:50 PM

Last time I tried to do a Top Ten music list, I had to quit when I hit 114.

Posted by: McGehee on February 7, 2005 10:15 PM

You forgot Rare Earth, dude - "Hey, Big Brother..."

Aw, yeah.

Posted by: Mark Shaw on February 8, 2005 12:17 AM

It's Elvis PRESLEY and DUANE Allman, Mr. Piss and Moan about other people's spelling and general ignorance. Sheesh.

Posted by: Vitriolics on February 8, 2005 03:19 AM

Lynyrd Skynyrd--
I like "Sweet Home Alabama." I would like "Free Bird" but I don't have a lighter that I can hold up while they sing it.

Posted by: Woody on February 8, 2005 12:32 PM

1) I've read this BLOG for nearly 3 years, and this is the first time, despite your musical interest and experience, that I've seen a reference to The Allman Brothers. I've always wondered about that. Was your complaint with Duane Allman musical? Or something else?

2) Sometime in the Winter or Spring of 1974, I saw a double header of Marshall Tucker Band and The Eagles at Chicago's Aragon Ballroom (later nicknamed the Aragon Brawlroom). I think that was my peak rock concert experience. (Many thanks to Joe's cousin Jacob for assisting us to those 2nd row seats!) The Eagles, playing second, were excellent, but IMHO they just couldn't match the intensity and excellence of the opening act.

Posted by: Mark on February 8, 2005 12:57 PM

I agree with your choices but not in that order, but the difference is not enough to think about.

Posted by: James Old Guy on February 8, 2005 01:37 PM

Not a bad choice at all but there is still some good stuff coming out now . Totally agree tho' about U2 - overblown, up their own asses crapola. And I'm Irish.
Now I''ll show my age. Fleetwood Mac were the first band I saw live at the age of 16 and this was long before Stevie Nicks and America. They started off as a straight blues band and they were wonderful then. Still good at the Rumours stage but lost it later on. Bands can get too big. Think U2. Got to go. My cat has just thew up.

Posted by: Nelly on February 8, 2005 02:09 PM

how about willie dixon? he not only rocked, he wrote some of the best stuff ever. him and koko taylor could bring the house down with wang dang doodle.

Posted by: daryl on February 8, 2005 04:45 PM

Elvis? King? Feh! All those early records that supposedly "changed music forever" -- he could not have made any of them if he hadn't grown up listening to records by Roy Brown and Wynonie Harris and the other real pioneers.

I'm serious. Go to this site: www.hoyhoy.com It's dedicated to the great rock & roll of the late 40s and early 50s. Go to the "Artists" section, to the Roy Brown page, and click on the RealPlayer clip of "Hurry Hurry Baby." He sounds exactly -- and I mean exactly -- like Elvis at his rockingest. And since Brown made that record in 1953, it's pretty obvious just who was imitating whom.

From the site:

While others were rocking their boogies and jumping their blues, Roy Brown was writing songs and cutting records that were so far ahead of their time, it's as if he left the 1940's and jumped into a time machine, attended a Led Zeppelin concert, and went back to the 1940's, dazed and confused, all shook up, and with a mission. Roy Brown took all the pieces of the puzzle and put them together into the first full-blown rock and roll.

Posted by: Steve Teeter on February 8, 2005 05:45 PM

RE: the Beach Boys: "I still like hearing that harmony today. That was some amazing work on what were mostly shitty songs"

God help me, I think the same thing about the BeeGees.

Good list.

Posted by: Strider on February 8, 2005 06:02 PM

Dwayne Allman was a GOD!

Great list!

Posted by: Florida Bill on February 9, 2005 08:47 AM

No arguments from me. Even though I detest the Stones, can't deny their appeal.

I'd swap out Steely Dan for the ABB, though, just because I'm not that big a fan of Dixie rock.

It's just a heritage thing...

Posted by: Kim du Toit on February 9, 2005 10:54 AM

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February 07, 2005

showing my age