I went through what I guess could be called a Progressive phase. I had the debut album by The Nice, Keith Emerson's pre-ELP band. I even saw them live in late '68. My favorite Rock 'n' Roll guitarist Dave Edmunds had his pre-solo band Love Sculpture, who did a Rock band version of "Sabre Dance" by Classical composer Aram Khachaturian, much as ELP later did with Mussorgsky's "Pictures At An Exhibition". Dave soon after saw the light, and devoted himself to celebrating American Rock 'n' Roll, recording his debut solo album which included an incredible version of Smiley Lewis' "I Hear You Knocking". Hail, Hail Rock 'n' Roll!
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The Ramones are a misunderstood band. They were an "inside joke", a wink between those who got it. They were waging a deliberate and calculated attack on Progressive Rock, which they and many other Rockers (myself included) despised. While on their first three albums they sound a little "weak" as a band (though the material isn’t), the replacement of Tommy (not a strong drummer) with Marky on the fourth (Road To Ruin, a great album. It was actually produced by Tommy.) cured that. Marky was a very "muscular" drummer, and had been in Richard Hell’s band The Voidoids (and in the Hard Rock band Dust, who put out one album in the early-70’s). The great Jazz drummer Tony Williams in an interview speaking of Marky: "Have you heard the guy in The Ramones? Now THAT is a great drummer." Here’s a fun fact about The Ramones: In polar opposition to Spinal Tap, the two remaining living original members of The Ramones are Tommy and Marky ;-) ! |
steve miller was a natural, which is both a blessing and a curse--on the one hand he could effortlessly knock off a great, simplistic AM tune like take the money and run or the joker, while on the other hand much of his stuff is remarkably underbaked and tossed-off. his late 60s records (e.g. sailor and the above-noted children of the future), when he still cared, are really well-recorded and advanced + he had some really outstanding musicians such as boz and ben sidran (also an uncredited paul mccartney). |
Steve’s debut album (Children Of The Future. It’s cover looked great under a black light ;-) was credited to The Steve Miller Band, and featured Boz Scaggs solely on rhythm guitar. Boz’s own debut album was a good one, with Duane Allman playing guitar.). I had seen the band the year before (’67), and they were going by the name The Steve Miller Blues Band, which they weren’t, really. I’ve long wondered if The Strawberry Alarm Clock name was a play on The Chocolate Watchband, the 1965-8 San Jose Garage Band. |
Music categories and labels are somewhat subjective. I consider ABBA to have been not a Rock Band---the OP’s category, but a Pop Group, and a great one. Benny & Bjorn wrote GREAT Pop songs (chord sequences, melodies, harmonies, arrangements, etc.), and the members had good voices, Frida Lyngstad in particular. She has made great music since leaving ABBA as well; watch her You Tube video of the great Jackie DeShannon song "When You Walk In The Room". Glorious! ABBA songs have been celebrated in Broadway shows for a good reason---they're real good ones! |
American Idiot (the album) actually has a lot of great hooks and rocks. It is very compressed sounding as I recall, haven’t listened to it in years. I’ve heard legendary bands/performers who were terrible in live shows, and others who were completely off my radar (and disregarded b/c I didn’t think much of them) who were surprisingly good live. If you are confining this to recorded performances only, it probably doesn’t reflect what the particular band/artist could do on a good night. Part of this is subjective too, isn’t it? If you don’t like punk or heavy metal, etc. you aren’t going to think much of someone playing in that genre. Use Bad Brains as an example- these guy were accomplished fusion/jazz players- could turn on a dime. They decided to do a sort of punk/rasta thing which isn’t to everyone’s taste (I dug them), but you can hear how skilled they are as instrumentalists. I can go from sappy radio pablum from the late ’60s or early ’70s to very heavy rock and enjoy it. Are there bands I don’t listen to? Many. But, probably more out of ignorance or a belief that they aren’t my cuppa than any judgment of musical quality. If you really want to take issue with musical capability, look at the long list of ’bands’ who relied on the Wrecking Crew to record their albums. A bunch of super-talented session people were really the force behind a huge number of hits from a lot of different bands back in the day. |
I would have to say that the worst rock band ever was probably the one hit non-wonder that recorded what IMO is the worst rock recording I have ever heard. Namely Vito & The Salutations, and their 1963 recording which utterly destroyed the beautiful song "Unchained Melody." And I say that as one who actually enjoys more than a few so-called "doo wop" recordings. For those having strong stomachs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dHwDeGDkEFk Regards, -- Al |
The worst concert I've ever attended, the 1969 Rolling Stones concert in Baltimore, MD. They came out on the stage at 10:25pm, took their time tuning up their instruments, seemed to be so drunk and/or stoned that they were out of tune, and the concert ended at 11:00pm. Fortunately, B.B. King was the warm up act and he was awesome! |
I would not have thought about Grand Funk Railroad or Blue Cheer as not being a good group, or even bad. But now that you mention it way back then I would buy an album for a particular song, listen to the whole album once, and just play that one song repeatedly. Just like mentioned above, Summertime Blues, or also Some Kind of Wonderful. There were of course exceptions where the whole album was great, notably the Beatles, some Stones, on and on. |
This one has potential but still a bit wet behind the ears. https://www.youtube.com/embed/MVogUqWScYc This one is much better! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6SPxgW0lSjA |
i also don't get the praise for foo fighters, whose music has devolved to generic, soulless arena rock. i gotta say, however, that the eponymous first album, which grohl played by himself, is a tight, ragged little masterpiece--he had a bunch of good tunes stockpiled before his muse fled. i've always like "learn to fly" too. |
That indeed is a LONG LIST. For me, its almost entirely about how good the vocals are LIVE. The right gear and effects musically are not that difficult to make a good guitar/keyboard/bass player sound exceptional. Where you separate the good from great are the vocals. Ive seen TONS of live performances over the last 35+ years. So many of them were so-so to aweful when it comes to the vocals. In fact its EASIER to point out which band were incredible live becasue the vocals were spot on. |
I really do not understand why the Foo Fighters are so popular. The lead singer looks the part, but when they start their music, its just dire crap...? Their music really gives Rock a bad name and a poor reputation, there is no artistic inspiration in their music. I don't see aspiring Rock guitarists wanting to play their music, there is no catchy riff or even melody in their music, just sensless noise. |
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STYX first albums with the lead guitarist John Curulewski are interesting because they approach to rock music is kinda progressive which is my fav (pop) music genre. However the "Man of Miracles" album saw them begun to turn into "mainstream", and I lost interest. Nevertheless, their leader Dennis DeYoung is kinda intellectual as he summarizes entertaining business on the "Return to Paradise" DVD, 1996 as "it´s somebody else´s fantasy, it´s all BS". Funny guy, isn´t he :) |
