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OT - Music Genre

Mostly 60s rock, soul and Jazz for me. Beatles, Stones, Who, Traffic, Van Morrison Paul Simon. Soul would be more Jr. Walker, Percy Sledge, Sam & Dave than Motown but I like that too, Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder, Jazz: Miles, Cannonball Adderley, Grover Washington
 
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superjohn said:
Curious, why do you call hip hop a guilty pleasure?
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Because I'm a middle-aged, suburban white guy and I'm sure I look plenty silly busting out the Biggie, for example.

The music speaks of a life I know nothing about and often uses extremely inappropriate and offense language that I don't condone or use generally myself. So I feel a bit guilty when I'm jamming it and singing it at the top of my lungs. And I'm sure it ain't pretty.

I'm aware that some seminal artists like the Beastie Boys (whom I love) defy the stereotype, but they are the exception.

And I should clarify that what I'm talking about would be considered "old school" rap/hip-hop. I started with Blowfly on vinyl back in the day, then Sugar Hill gang. Growing up in Stratford near the Bridgeport line, I was among the minority on my Pop Warner and Little League teams as a Caucasian, and our teams would routinely sing every word on the bus, with some memorable choreography, so the seed was planted early for me to like a lot of what would follow, up through about Public Enemy, N.W.A., Run DMC, Biggie, Snoop, Beastie Boys, Dre, Wu Tang and Jurassic 5, which is probably about as recent as I get with the genre. I don't know or listen to any of the more recent hip hop or rap artists. The Backspin channel on Sirius captures most of what I'm talking about (it's a preset for me).

But the question of genre always blurs for me. Some say that Dylan's "Subterranean Homesick Blues" was one of the first rap songs; others trace it back to Gil Scott Heron--and I love them both.

Americana really does seem to capture the "roots" that cross a lot of the music I love, which can probably all be traced to the Blues. As Wynton Marsalis put it when I saw him speak at Yale, the Blues is to good music as olive oil is to good food.

And to come full circle with that, I present perhaps the best cover ever, by a great band from Austin, the Gourds. I've seen them a couple times at Rhythm & Roots, including on the day that Dr. Dre's son died, when they played this song and were remarkably respectful and irreverent at the same time, as they segued into "Amazing Grace" at the end when it mentions him, and then back into the song again:

 
David 76 said:
Mostly 60s rock, soul and Jazz for me. Beatles, Stones, Who, Traffic, Van Morrison
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Beatles, Stones, Van, Dylan and the Grateful Dead would probably be my Mount Rushmore. I have more music from those five than all my other music combined--and I have a lot of music.

Love Traffic and the Who, too.
 
A few of my favorite albums : Keith Jarrett - "Facing You" , John Coltrane Quartet - "live at the village vanguard", Gang Starr - "Full Clip", Donny Hathaway "Live " and most works by Cassandra Wilson + Anything Afro- Cuban


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8893 said:
Because I'm a middle-aged, suburban white guy and I'm sure I look plenty silly busting out the Biggie, for example.

The music speaks of a life I know nothing about and often uses extremely inappropriate and offense language that I don't condone or use generally myself. So I feel a bit guilty when I'm jamming it and singing it at the top of my lungs. And I'm sure it ain't pretty.


But the question of genre always blurs for me. Some say that Dylan's "Subterranean Homesick Blues" was one of the first rap songs; others trace it back to Gil Scott Heron--and I love them both.

Americana really does seem to capture the "roots" that cross a lot of the music I love, which can probably all be traced to the Blues. As Wynton Marsalis put it when I saw him speak at Yale, the Blues is to good music as olive oil is to good food.

And to come full circle with that, I present perhaps the best cover ever, by a great band from Austin, the Gourds. I've seen them a couple times at Rhythm & Roots, including on the day that Dr. Dre's son died, when they played this song and were remarkably respectful and irreverent at the same time, as they segued into "Amazing Grace" at the end when it mentions him, and then back into the song again:

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Damn eloquent!
 
8893 said:
Beatles, Stones, Van, Dylan and the Grateful Dead would probably be my Mount Rushmore. I have more music from those five than all my other music combined--and I have a lot of music.

Love Traffic and the Who, too.
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Dead wouldn't make my Rushmore (like them OK) so I would probably knock them off and add TheBoss and Paul Simon. I am more amazed by Simon all the time. Graceland is something I wouldn't not own.

BTW, The Gourds are great. Remind me a little of The Band.
 
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Melodic that scares your children



But I'm just as good for some mid-90s gangsta rap

 
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Two things that some older music lovers told me a while ago: Donny Hathaway was a huge lose and influenced Stevie wonders adult work and if Ottis Redding Lived , James Brown would've been sharing a lot of the spot light he had.
 
A couple of mellow alternative albums I like to listen to at work are Armchair Apocrypha by Andrew Bird and Andorra by Caribou.
 
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David 76 said:
Dead wouldn't make my Rushmore (like them OK) so I would probably knock them off and add TheBoss and Paul Simon. I am more amazed by Simon all the time. Graceland is something I wouldn't not own.

BTW, The Gourds are great. Remind me a little of The Band.
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The Band and Bruce are probably both in my next five, and Bruce is hands down the best live performer of my generation imo. The man brings it every single night.

I like Paul Simon a lot, too, especially Graceland, and also a lot of his earlier stuff. But I have to admit that I soured on him a little when I read about the rift between him and certain members of Los Lobos, apparently stemming from some of the music that ultimately became Graceland. I don't remember the details but iirc the claim was that they introduced him to and taught him a lot of that music (e.g., he allegedly didn't even know how to pronounce "zydeco" when they first met him), and that he used them and failed to credit them.

I realize that stuff happens a lot to varying degrees. Hell, Dylan has apparently lifted some stuff wholesale, especially from some Japanese poet; and Robbie Robertson screwed Levon and the rest of The Band out of songwriting royalties when Albert Grossman advised him to take credit and the others didn't know any better. And I've always held a grudge against Robbie for that. But I still like most of his music, too.

I guess if being decent people mattered we'd probably be crossing a lot of these people off the list.
 
Never heard about the Los Lobos thing. I had heard he was "abusing" Ladysmith Black Mumbazzo (I thought that charge was bogus)
Ever hear Capeman? Simon's short-lived Broadway musical. Another of my favorites.
 
David 76 said:
Ever hear Capeman? Simon's short-lived Broadway musical. Another of my favorites.
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I bought Capeman when it came out and I tried to like it but it never grabbed me. Maybe I should give it another spin--I don't think I've listened to it in more than a decade.
 
8893 said:
Beatles, Stones, Van, Dylan and the Grateful Dead would probably be my Mount Rushmore. I have more music from those five than all my other music combined--and I have a lot of music.

Love Traffic and the Who, too.
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I'm in a major Van Morrison phase right now with a minor of Ray Charles classics and duets. A Van Morrison radio on Pandora goes off in lots of strange/varied but usually great directions.
 
Growing up I loved almost everything. But reggae was always the consistent #1 joy. British band Steel Pulse is my all time fave band.

There is a reggae band out of Hawaii who I think should be grammy worthy. amazing. If you ever get a chance to see The Green please do.



Definitely a lovers vibe throughout their songs.
 
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CAHUSKY said:
I'm an old school hip hop/rap guy. Came of age in the 80's.
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You're blind. And you can't see...

You need to wear some glasses like DMC!
 
NDakotaHusky said:
What type of music does everyone listen to? Like most people, I like a wide variety. But I love the "modern" alternative rock that has come out in the last 5-6 years. Here's an Arcade Fire song I really like. YouTube Video I'm frequently looking for music that I can listen to at work. Mellow stuff with a good beat. Something that's not too distracting. Any suggestions? Bands that I really like (not necessarily great for work listening): - The Nationals - Arcade Fire - Fleet Foxes - The Killers - etc.. Most of the alternative music I listen to is about 3-5 years old. I'm always looking for newer stuff.
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Based on your list would check out Tame Impala, their newest album "currents" is my favorite of the year and I listen to a ton of music.

Also, I've seen the national 6 or 7 times, they put on an amazing show if you haven't seen them, and usually have good openers.
 
If we're talking Rushmore's mine would probably be Zeppelin, Daft Punk, Radiohead and... geez, the first 3 were easy, the next one could be a revolving door of bands and groups. Gorillaz? M83? Arcade Fire? Pink Floyd? Interpol? Jay-Z? Arctic Monkeys?

If we're talking genres, I'll readily listen to just about anything from rap to classical, but my favorites are probably:

Classic rock (Beatles, Pink Floyd, Bowie, E.L.O., Stones, Queen, Led Zep!)

'80's rock (The Clash, Tears for Fears, The Smiths, Stone Roses, G 'n R, Echo and the Bunnymen)

'90's alternative (Nirvana, Rage, Weezer, Pumpkins, Radiohead!)

Techno/electronica/edm whatever you want to call it through the years (Fatboy, Chemical Bros, Prodigy, Underworld, M83, Justice, DAFT PUNK!, Disclosure, LCD Soundsystem, Zhu, Flume, Bassnectar, Gorillaz, Empire of the Sun, Grimes)

Older rap (Big L, Biggie, NaS, Jay-Z, Eminem, Wu-Tang, Canibus, Danger Doom, OutKast, Tribe, Jada, Beasties)

And over the past 10-15 years, music that would fall into the indie rock genre and sounds that blur those lines (Broken Social Scene, Metric, Vampire Weekend, Phantogram, MGMT, Edward Sharpe, Foster the People, Awolnation, Naked and Famous, Black Keys, Arctic Monkeys, Interpol, The National, Doves, Editors, Alabama Shakes, Shins, Arcade Fire, Fleet Foxes, Dr. Dog, Grouplove, Muse, Delta Spirit, Local Natives, The Dig)

I just wish I had more time for finding and listening to new music these days, so keep the suggestions coming.
 
Is it bad that I haven't heard of 99% of the musicians in this thread? Louis Armstrong and although I know a lot of people like him, I was never much of a Sinatra fan. Taste I guess or maybe because he was so overplayed and I got sick of him.
 
Dogbreath2U said:
I'm in a major Van Morrison phase right now with a minor of Ray Charles classics and duets. A Van Morrison radio on Pandora goes off in lots of strange/varied but usually great directions.
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I've been in a major Van phase since college. IMO he is the second best songwriter of my lifetime (Dylan being the first), and the best singer. Also a helluva musician and band leader. One of many things that he and Ray have in common is how incredible their ears are and how fierce and demanding they are as band leaders. I have seen both stop a live performance in the middle of a song to chew out a musician who was off, and then start again from the top. You can see the fear in some of their musicians' eyes if you are close enough. I imagine it's a bit like playing for JC.

Since you mentioned duets, I am hoping you know that they each have an album of duets, and that Ray's has one with Van ("Crazy Love"). Van's is more recent, so unfortunately it doesn't include Ray, nor John Lee Hooker, with whom I think he worked best (check out their work on "I Cover the Waterfront" and "Never Get Out of these Blues Alive").

Too bad Van's live U.S. performances are getting fewer and farther between all the time. I just saw him at Forest Hills a couple months ago and he was great, but I made the effort because it's getting so rare for him to be here at all.

ETA: Van fans, check out James Maddock. I think you'll like him.
 
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Good thread theme. I also work on my computer a lot and listen to a lot of music while I work. My taste of music runs from one end of the spectrum to the other and it really depends on my frame of mind as to who I want to listen to at any given time.

I've been listening to music for over 50 years and as I said, I like all kinds. Some I would recommend you try are;

Bag Raiders INXS
Empire of the Sun Little Feat
The Allman Brothers (Live at the Fillmore) Michael McDonald
Atlanta Rhythm Section Midnight Oil
Beatles (of course) Steve Miller
Dire Straits Mr.Mister
ELO Alan Parsons Project
Genesis Pink Floyd (of course)
Jerry Garcia Band Chris Rea (this guy is great!)
Fleetwood Mac Steely Dan
Paul Simon Simply Red
Sting Toto
The Tubes Stevie Ray Vaughn
Steve Winwood Traveling Willburys
Yes ZZ Top

If you want to listen to some smooth jazz type, you may try;

Acoustic Alchemy Shahin & Sepehr
Peter White Al DiMeola
Burt Bacharach Frank Sinatra
Natalie Cole Govi
Ottmar Liebart Tommy Emmanuel
Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass The Piano Guys

Just a few of the artist I like to listen to while I work, give some of them a try and see what you think.
 
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