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Topic: Bands/singers that deserved to become a lot more famous
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Stargazer
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 6061
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posted 17 October 2005 08:19 AM
One band, one man - Kyuss and lead singer John Garcia. John Garcia also sings on the newest Crystal Method CD, on the Born Too Slow song (remixed by Nubreed and a few other bands/DJ's). Kyuss sounds like old school psyche 70's rock and his voice is hand's down the sexiest ever. For background info, if anyone likes this stuff, Kyuss was the original band with Josh Hommes in it before Josh went from lead guitarist in Kyuss to lead singer in Queens of the Stoneage. IMO John Garcia is a far superior singer and the music is far better. http://www.stonerrock.com/kyuss/ [ 17 October 2005: Message edited by: Stargazer ]
From: Inside every cynical person, there is a disappointed idealist. | Registered: Jun 2004
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Scott Piatkowski
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Babbler # 1299
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posted 17 October 2005 12:06 PM
On Michael Franti, "Oh My, Oh My God" you're right.On Jason Mraz, which I had the pleasure of reviewing quote: I’ve been trying to figure out how to pronounce Jason Mraz’s last name. When I try to say it out loud, it sounds something like the sound of me vomiting – which is what I very nearly did when I listened to this disc. Now, to be fair, I’m not exactly part of the target demographic for songs that feature lyrics like “La-la-la-la-la-la-la-life is wonderful”, so I thought I’d ask someone who is. My daughters didn’t like it any better than I did. In fact, not only did they think his attempts at mixing in opera and hip hop were hilarious, they also thought that I was pretty hilarious for thinking that they might like it. On his website, Mraz lists Ani Difranco, Dan Bern, Beth Orton and Ron Sexsmith as some of his musical influences. They should sue him for defamation. And, Steve Lillywhite, why would you risk ruining your hard-earned reputation by producing this drek?
From: Kitchener-Waterloo | Registered: Sep 2001
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worker_drone
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 4220
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posted 17 October 2005 01:06 PM
re: Buffalo Tom quote: Two songs of theirs worth checking out, if you can find them, are Scottish Windows and their very minor hit single Soda Pop.
Soda Jerk is the name of the song. I think it was used in a Chrysler commericial recently. Bill Janovitz's latest solo album seems to be doing pretty well...Bill Janovitz and Crown Victoria: Fireworks on TV. It's a real return to the Buffalo Tom sound and apparently they are working on another album.
From: Canada | Registered: Jun 2003
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Yukoner
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 5787
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posted 17 October 2005 06:34 PM
I alway liked:Goddo - A TO band The Stars - I only found one of their albums; 'Violation' it was pretty cool progressive sounding rock Smashed Gladys - L.A. 80's hair metal. Not a bad song on the album JJ Cale - He is the man.
From: Um, The Yukon. | Registered: May 2004
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Stargazer
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 6061
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posted 17 October 2005 07:06 PM
Boom Boom, I just paid 100 dollars for the Stink album on vinyl and have also collected two of their later works as well at 50 per vinyl. So rare that one of the bassists works at the same firm and even he doesn't have these albums! ronb - so true, Chris Goss is amazing. I love all of the Master's of Reality discs. There are also the Desert Sessions as well as all the Kyuss splinter bands such as: - Fu Manchu - Unida - QOTSA - Mondo Generator - Masters of Reality - Hermano - Orquestra Del Dieserto - Fred Drake (solo album R.I.P Fred) - Trees of the Sun (Scott Reeder and one of the Metallica guys that left Metallica) Damn the Kyuss family tree is a very large one and I haven't even gotten into the other projects.
From: Inside every cynical person, there is a disappointed idealist. | Registered: Jun 2004
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Boom Boom
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 7791
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posted 17 October 2005 07:22 PM
Along with McKenna Mendelson Mainline, there was another great Canadian rock blues/band around this time, the Ottawa-based _Modern Rock Quartet_ (MRQ) that also played at Le Hibou in the late 1960's/early 1970's, usually at the midnight afterhours gig on Fridays.Peter Jermyn (from Luke & The Apostles) formed The Modern Rock Quartet with John Martin and two other guys I forget. They played at the Inaguration of Trudeau (!!!) I've heard the MRQ about a dozen times at Le Hibou, and had their two singles "Plastic Street" and "Games". Both songs were much better live. Of all the Canadian bands I miss, Mainline and MRQ are at the top.
From: Make the rich pay! | Registered: Dec 2004
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Lard Tunderin' Jeezus
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 1275
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posted 18 October 2005 10:10 AM
Teenage Head. For several years (5 or 6?) simply the best live rock 'n' roll band in the whole wide world. ...with the exception of the one year where their bassist Gordie was recovering, and that talentless and souless simp Bob Segarini managed to talk his way onstage. Pretty good on record, too, in those days. And from what I hear, not bad on stage after all these years - they still do the summer circuit at Bala.
From: ... | Registered: Aug 2001
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Ken Burch
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 8346
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posted 19 October 2005 01:22 AM
Eddi Reader, in and after Fairground Attractionand the late, lamented Kirsty MaCcoll. Luka Bloom. Spirit of the West(But mainly in their early days, when they did songs like "Mists of Crofton", "The Profiteer" and the one where they do a pub crawl through Vancouver.
From: A seedy truckstop on the Information Superhighway | Registered: Feb 2005
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Left Turn
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 8662
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posted 19 October 2005 03:28 AM
Geek LoveGeek Love was: Barrie Smith - Lead Vocals, Rhythm Guitar Cory Hawthorne - Lead Guitar, Vocals Darren Genovese - Bass Craig Zarazun - Drums Geek Love were a Vancouver area band from the late 90's. Their music was a hybrid of metal/punk/alternative/hard rock/pop rock. Their only claim to fame was a punkish cover of "Here for A Good Time" by Trooper, which appeared in an Molson Canadian advertisement in early 1998. Their only album, titled "Pop LP", was was released as a demo only. It came out a few months after the commercial, and includes the full cover of "Here For a Good Time". The Album was never commercially released. From what I heard, Barrie wanted to re-record it (though it sounds fine as is). This never happened, as the band broke up a week after pressing the demo. I got a coppy of the demo because I was taking guitar lessons from Cory Hawthorne at the time, and he gave one to each of his 40 or so students. [ 01 February 2006: Message edited by: Left Turn ]
From: Burnaby, BC | Registered: Mar 2005
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The Hegemo
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 5176
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posted 29 October 2005 02:04 PM
Bill Fox. I first became aware of him from the I Stayed Up All Night Listening to Records v/a comp, where he contributed the gorgeous folk-pop song "Eclectrocution."He started out with the the Cleveland power pop band The Mice, who released a couple of excellent albums in the 1980s (now re-released on a single CD) and then broke up. In the late '90s, he released two folk albums, Shelter from the Smoke and Transit Byzantium, which are two of the most perfect, achingly beautiful albums I've ever heard. And, afaik, has released nothing else since. Which is a shame, because with neo-folkies like Bright Eyes, Devendra Banhart, etc getting some moderate success these days, I'd assume Fox would fit right in.
From: The Persistent Vegetative States of America | Registered: Mar 2004
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swirrlygrrl
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 2170
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posted 03 November 2005 04:16 PM
People who haven't been mentioned (and are all good Canadians!)- Luke Doucet (new album: Broken and other rogue states, is BRILLIANT. The first, Aloha Manitoba and the live album were promising but uneven. This one is my new favorite depressing album - all about his breakup with Sarah Slean.) - Jim Bryson (the King of Ottawa, for a reason.) - Veda Hille (just damn beautiful music) - Jim Cuddy's solo work (All in Time is such an incredibly listenable album) - The Organ ("depressing" new wavish girl band, with an organ! Grab that Gun is a great album - Memorize the Cityand Steven Smith are the best tracks On people who have been mentioned: - Buffalo Tom (girls my age know Buffalo Tom, even if they don't know they know them. They appeared on My So-Called Life, the episode where Jordan finally admits he likes Angela. Soda Jerk is in the episode - I believe its playing when they're in the bar, but its "Late at Night" that I love. That's what they play when Jordan takes her hand and they walk down the hall together. *sigh* Bought a couple albums - my love faded after Smitten though) - Franti (word) - The Stars (Oh so good. they have a few songs available at New Music Canada - Heart is a great album. Also, there's cross over with Broken Social Scene, but how is that different these days?) - Doug and the Slugs (My stepfather introduced me to them. They're good times.)
From: the bushes outside your house | Registered: Feb 2002
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Gentlebreeze
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 4562
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posted 05 November 2005 12:57 AM
Just a few that I am saddened are not more widely known: 1)Okkervil River -Please,please buy their last two discs.
2)Rilo Kiley -Just listen to "More Adventerous" and you'll see what I'm talking about. 3)Andrew Bird -Grab "The Mysterious Production of Eggs" and "Weather Systems". Again, I say please.
From: Thornhill | Registered: Oct 2003
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'lance
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 1064
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posted 05 November 2005 02:38 PM
quote: Originally posted by ronb:
Amen. Neil sure had the Syd Barret/Mad Monk thing going - I heard he became a schoolteacher, which is kinda hard to picture.
Me3 thre33 on the Only Ones. As for Neon Rome -- good grief, I hadn't thought of them in years. (Neil Arbick -- was that his name? However it's spelled). Around 1985 I somehow got briefly entangled with a small clique of Queen Street/OCA bohemians* which included Meryn Cadell, later of "The Sweater" fame. Astonishing really, considering how conventional I was and am, but everyone goes through an experimental period. Anyway I ended up seeing A Neon Rome at least twice -- once at Larry's Headspace, or was it Hideaway? once somewhere else -- and Neil, solo, at an Elvis Monday at the Beverley. But I can't say I was ever much of a fan. I found a band like the Phantoms -- yes, I remember them -- a lot more fun. * yeah, yeah, I know, but they weren't altogether wannabes, even if I was. [ 05 November 2005: Message edited by: 'lance ]
From: that enchanted place on the top of the Forest | Registered: Jul 2001
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swirrlygrrl
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 2170
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posted 07 November 2005 11:38 AM
Meryn Cadell has an on-line journal!And I do love Bombazine (Johnny and Betty - yay!), but its Angel Food for Thought all the way, for Spelling Bee if for nothing else: quote: Spelling Bee I was the Spelling Bee Queen of 1965, man. The principal hauled me out of the grade two team spelling bee, out into the hall, told me not to be such a pain in the ass, and not to B-E-R-A-T-E the other little children. Well, I looked properly A-P-O-L-O-G-E-T-I-C, but inside I was thinking, “C-H-R-I-S-T. If this guy can’t A-P-P-R-E-C-I-A-T-E the fact that I’ve got a huge V-O-C-A-B-U-L-A-R-Y .... well that’s his hang-up man, not mine.” So I W-A-L-T-Z-E-D back into the classroom, stood up on my T-I-N-Y chair, and shouted, "Down with The Establishment, man! Disestablishmentarianism! D-I-S-E-S-T-A-B-L-I-S-H-M-E-N-T-A-R-I-A-N-I-S-M. Man."
It's even better when you hear her doing it.
From: the bushes outside your house | Registered: Feb 2002
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ronb
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 2116
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posted 07 November 2005 02:52 PM
quote: I found a band like the Phantoms -- yes, I remember them -- a lot more fun.
Gaaah! They were like a Stones cover band. Of course they were fun. They just weren't that memorable. There was an equivalent in every city in North America back then - The Florida Razors was Hamilton's version. The Georgia Satellites rode the same formula to brief, non-local fame and then well deserved oblivion. The Lawn. The Demics. Circle C. Fine unsung Canadian bands, shoulda been contendas. And from the early 80's LA scene, Green on Red, Dream Syndicate and the Rain Parade were a powerful combination, I expected more from them.
From: gone | Registered: Jan 2002
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'lance
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 1064
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posted 07 November 2005 09:02 PM
quote: Originally posted by ronb:
Gaaah! They were like a Stones cover band. Of course they were fun. They just weren't that memorable.
Well I didn't say they were great (though I don't remember any Stones covers -- was that literal, or just shorthand for "talentless hacks"?). On the other hand, they would never have been pretentious enough to do a song called "Ronald McDonald Sells Heroin" -- the actual title of a Neon Rome composition. (For that matter, the very name A Neon Rome... ah, why bother). And too besides, at one of their gigs I met someone who... um, but we'll not go into that, just now. quote: Ooh the Demics. Famous fake cockney accent. The "Snow" of the late 70's. God, I loved that band. 'Course I was also fond of the glam copycats at the Gasworks. Good taste and Molsen quarts do not always go together.
Just like non-Americans who sing "new country" always manage to put on southern/south-western accents -- apparently without effort, it just seems to go with the territory -- there was a certain kind of punk or (especially New Wave) band that did the same with British accents. God knows why. As for the Gasworks, on the rare occasions I was there it always seemed full of metalheads, rather than glam types. In my paranoia I imagined that some were bikers, but now I doubt that. A guy I knew told this story about the Gasworks: he was walking down Yonge late one Friday and had just walked past it, when someone came flying backward out the door -- which hadn't been opened for him, i.e. he came flying backward through so much shattering glass. Landing on his ass, he picked himself up and stalked back inside, muttering "I've just about had enough of this." In retrospect I don't actually believe this story -- definitely not the shattering-glass part, anyway -- but I still like it. quote: Last time I was at the Library - that's the Imperial Public Library at Dundas just East of Yonge there - they still had quarts.
Next time I'm in Ottawa I'll have to drop in on the old Lafayette Tavern, and see if they still sell quarts. Somehow I doubt it -- I heard a rumour the place has actually been... (whispering in horror) renovated.
From: that enchanted place on the top of the Forest | Registered: Jul 2001
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Scott Piatkowski
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 1299
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posted 07 November 2005 10:40 PM
RYAN ADAMS He's getting there, but he's not quite as big as he deserves to be. Releasing three albums this year should help.DAN BERN Like Dylan, before he started to suck. TRACY BONHAM Great vocal range. JONATHA BROOKE Wonderful songwriter. Wonderful voice. ANDREW CASH (and later THE CASH BROTHERS) Actually filed under "Americana" in a U.S. record store that I visited. LLOYD COLE AND THE COMMOTIONS Cynical without being sinister. CRASH VEGAS Their first album, in particular, was a Canadian classic. ENNIS SISTERS Nobody harmonizes like sibblings. STEPHEN FEARING A guitar god with a voice to match. LISA GERMANO Vulnerable, yet strong. JOHN GORKA The richest voice of any contemporary American folky. EMM GRYNER Never afraid to take chances. She'd probably be more popular if she didn't, but she'd also be less interesting. JOHN WESLEY HARDING The bastard son of Bob Dylan and Joan Baez. Biting sense of humour. THE JAYHAWKS America's Blue Rodeo. JOSH JOPLIN GROUP He sings like Michael Stipe... JAMES KEELAGHAN History in a song. KIRSTY MacCOLL Huge in Britain, but largely unknown on this side of the pond. DAYNA MANNING Amazing maturity in such a young singer. SCOTT MERRITT I sure wish he'd record more of his own stuff. PHIL OCHS He never sold out, and never got the recognition he deserved. THE PAPERBOYS They defy categorization, beyond "great music". RON SEXSMITH A songwriter's songwriter, but too few fans have caught on. THE SKYDIGGERS Bittersweet harmony. ANDY STOCHANSKY And to think I first new him as only a drummer. TOAD THE WET SPROCKET Political, without sacrificing melody. THE WALTONS Like Crowded House, trasplanted to the Canadian Prairies.
From: Kitchener-Waterloo | Registered: Sep 2001
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obscurantist
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 8238
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posted 07 November 2005 11:45 PM
"Pocahontas" is on a later Crash Vegas album - Aurora, I believe - which is good if idiosyncratic. Played it in the car on a trip with my dad up to Prince George ten summers ago, and I was constantly turning the volume down and then up, going "Sorry about that. I had no idea they were going to DO that." My favourite song from that album is "On and On". But I remember "Inside Out" and their cover of "Burned", which I'm guessing are both from their first album. I should get that. Great list, by the way, Scott. Some of them I know, some of them I'm meeting for the first time. I suspect it will end up costing me a lot of money. Mentioned them on another thread, but I'll mention them again: Robyn Hitchcock (his first band was the Soft Boys -- he has achieved considerable cult popularity with the Egyptians and in his solo career), and Art Bergmann (first with the K-Tels, then the Young Canadians, but he battled with a heroin habit as it was, so perhaps superstardom would not have been good for him).
From: an unweeded garden | Registered: Feb 2005
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Scott Piatkowski
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 1299
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posted 08 November 2005 01:39 AM
quote: Originally posted by 'lance: Damme -- how could I have forgotten? The Grievous Angels. (The Andrew Cash reference, of all things, reminded me of them). Shoulda spent the 90s blowing the doors off everything and everyone else in the Canadian music business.
Yeah, whatever happened to that Charlie Angus guy? Seriously, Andrew organized a musical fundraiser for Charlie in Toronto, featuring music by The Cash Brothers, The Skydiggers, Stephen Page, Grievous Angels and, yes, L'Etranger (!). I'm told that a similar fundraiser is being organized in my own backyard, in Guelph.
From: Kitchener-Waterloo | Registered: Sep 2001
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Tommy Shanks
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 3076
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posted 08 November 2005 05:00 PM
This thread (and some of the comments) got me digging through my old piles of vinyl laying around the house this weekend. My wife and kid wish to thank you all. Other one's I'd like to add. Nomeansno never got the attention they deserve. I saw them at the Rivoli a bunch of times and a memorable matinee on Easter Sunday in the basement of the Paddock. Great fun. Bad Brains Fishbone's first ep was terrific. Green on Red "Gas, Food, Lodging" is also pretty darn good. And I can't believe that this thread has gone on this long and Husker Du hasn't been mentioned. And some of the spots mentioned. 'lance and I must have crossed paths a few times. Larry's Hideaway, Ildikos, the place under the Italian grocery store at College and Crawford, etc, etc.
From: Toronto | Registered: Sep 2002
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Tommy_Paine
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 214
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posted 18 October 2008 07:56 AM
It is quite possible that I saw Teenage Head years ago at "Larry's Hideaway." I must have had a good time, because my memory of it is *ahem* quite hazy.It's not outside the realm of possibility that Rebecca West was also there at the same time. We did attend the same "Who" concert at about that time. Although, so did about twenty thousand other people. Considering what it would take to make each other stick out in our minds lo, these decades later, it's a good thing we didn't recognize each other from those events.
From: The Alley, Behind Montgomery's Tavern | Registered: Apr 2001
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Tommy_Paine
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 214
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posted 18 October 2008 10:04 AM
I think what hurt them was the single they released that was acoustic. (always on my mind? Something on my mind?) Anyway, it was a bad marketing idea. Turned off the fan base and attracted fans that were dissapointed with the real Teenage Head. Like, your gandmother.Godda love commercial radio. Rock 'n' Roll must be great if they haven't managed to kill it. Teenage Head, the Demics, the Ramones, the Clash and a good many others were a much needed relief from the over produced whinny dreck that was being marketed at us at the time, as "Rock 'n' Roll." I'd detail that, but it would bring you down....BRRRRUCE! Those days are long gone. Joey Ramone is dead, Joe Strummer, Now Frankie. And Johnny Rotten shills for British Butter; and "London Calling" is used to sell cars.
quote: 'N' every gimmick hungry yob digging gold from rock 'n' rollGrabs the mike to tell us he'll die before he's sold But i believe in this-and it's been tested by research That he who fucks nun will later join the church
*sigh*
From: The Alley, Behind Montgomery's Tavern | Registered: Apr 2001
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Tommy_Paine
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 214
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posted 18 October 2008 05:34 PM
I always thought Jeff Martin, of the "Tea Party" deserved to become a lot more famous. I think he and the band not just did justice to 70's style English electric blues, but brought new elements to the genre, with middle eastern influences. Similarly, the percussionist, Jeff Burrows, laid out some refreshingly intricate rythms. At least to this non-musician ear.Three years ago, when UrsaMinor mentioned Michael Franti, I wouldn't have known who he was. But yeah, for "Yell Fire!" alone, Franti deserves to be much more famous.
From: The Alley, Behind Montgomery's Tavern | Registered: Apr 2001
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Tommy_Paine
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 214
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posted 22 October 2008 02:02 PM
I am a huge Ramones fan (I am, in fact, wearing a "Ramones" T-shirt even as I type) but I wouldn't say they are the greatest rock 'n' roll band ever. I would say, however, that they saved rock 'n' roll. Things were getting pretty dismal until the Ramones reminded everyone that it was first and formost about having fun. Joey Ramones' quest for a number one hit on the radio was poigniant, I think. I think if they would have marketed themselves as too good or too cool for radio, they would have had at least one, maybe a string. And the radio is in the hands of such a lot of fools Tryin' to anaesthetise the way that you feel. ...As someone once said... For the greatest, I think you have to go way back. Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis, Chuck Berry.
From: The Alley, Behind Montgomery's Tavern | Registered: Apr 2001
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Tommy_Paine
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 214
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posted 22 October 2008 04:54 PM
Well, that's quibbling. They toured with the same guys, as a group. Anywho, the Chuck Berry riff that is the hall mark of Rock'n'Roll, was actually discovered by his pianist, the late Johnnie Johnson. Berry adapted it for guitar, and the rest is history.As I was motorvaton over the hill I saw Maybelline in a Coup de Ville A Cadillac arollin' on the open road Nothin' will outrun my V8 Ford The Cadillac doin' about ninetyfive She's bumper to bumper, rollin' side to side Maybelline, why can't you be true Oh Maybelline , why can't you be true You done started back doin' the things you used to do
From: The Alley, Behind Montgomery's Tavern | Registered: Apr 2001
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