« Erm, I'm Not Depressed | Main | Also Thursday At The Met » Songs That You Loved That May, In Fact, Suck31 Jul 2009 09:50 am Boyz II Men's "End Of The Road" came on the other day in the barber shop. Every fool in Baltimore had that joint on his slow jams tape circa 92. I'd throw something like "Distant Lover" on there too, so the shorties would understand that I was deep. But of course I had "End Of The Road" on there--right after En Vouge's "Don't Go." (The way old girl started, "I'm so glad to see you..." said so much back then.) I still thing "Don't Go" is decent. But "End Of The Road," eh....I'd say I'm getting old, but a lot of the 90s joints hold up--I still love Jodeci's "Stay." Or there may just be no acconting for taste. One problem with all these R&B joints is how precipitously lyrics fell off in the early 90s. It's like all the great lyricists became MCs. I'm saying, what happened to "Voyage To Atlantis?" Oh right, he's Mr. Big now. [MORE] Comments (108)Post a comment |
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I never got the big deal with that song - honestly. As far as Boyz II Men slow jamz go, I always preferred Bended Knee.
Also, that was the era of "turn off that bullshit, turn of the muthaphlunkin' radio" courtesy of Ice Cube, and "this ain't no R&B song" courtesy of Tribe and Ms. Vinia Mojica. I was staunchly, almost fascistly, anti current-R&B at that time (13 years old). Now I look back on alot of that 90's R&B lovingly.
And their cover of "It's So Hard To Say Goodbye" was basically written for Middle School graduations, too.
I freaking loved that song in 6th grade. I bet I still have the cassette somewhere lurking around...
I think you mean, "Yesterday," and it was written by The Beatles. Nevertheless, you're right...lol. They turned that song into a graduation anthem.
Naw, Yesterday is a whole different song. The song they covered was originally a part of the Cooley High soundtrack.
you're totally right...my bad.
It's almost like they wrote that song solely for senior proms.
This was supposed to go here:
And their cover of "It's So Hard To Say Goodbye" was basically written for Middle School graduations, too.
A little unrelated, but I remember everyone using Green Day's "Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)" in the late 90s for graduations and proms and such. I always thought it was hilarious, because people clearly didn't know the name of the song. They just thought the chorus about having the time of your life was so apropos.
Worst misuse of that song ever--post funeral party. Yeah. That actually happened.
I was on an airplane that played this as we deplaned.
When I was in high school- Class of '99- my friends and I voted for "Good Riddance" as our Prom theme primarily because of its title. It won.
hahaha.....that song was our prom's theme!
Maybe it wasn't meant as a slow jam. Check out this punkish cover by Me First and the Gimme Gimmes:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JfYRLGAAcFE
Thanks for that link!
As someone who was really into R&B in my childhood (I grew up black and poor in south ga, you don't really have a choice in music down there), I have heard every BoyzIIMen Jam there is. Now I'm mostly into punk rock and metal, and that MeFirst and the GimmeGimmes cover made my day.
I might pull out my guitar when I get home and mess around with some other R&B slo-jams and test their have rock-out potential...
Glad you liked it. You might want to check out the entire album it came from, Take A Break. It's all covers of R&B.
Love Me 1st... best cover band? Hmmm. Elenor Rigby set to London Calling ... such a perfect circle.
kids played "end of the road" on my high school bus about six times a day everyday for at least a year. i liked a lot of the r&b at the time but hearing "end of the road" that many times made it clear even then that it wasn't that good. and yes it was custom made for high school prom and graduations.
Why doesn't Troop ever get any love?
"Spread My Wings" still holds up.
I'm glad someone said that. I was listening to them the other day. They just kinda got lost in the shuffle.
I saw TROOP last summer on a 90"s R&B revival tour along with, Ready for the World, BBD and Mint Condition (which one of these does not belong?). Anyway, TROOP in their late 30's early 40's splendor rocked baggy jeans, white button-ups and sneaks and did the same 1989 moves. It was both sad and strangely entertaining.
No doubt, and don't forget "All I Do Is Think Of You", and "Sweet November".
Or Ruff Endz for that matter?
Personally, I like Boyz II Men's version of "It's So Hard To Say Goodbye To Yesterday
" better than "End of the Road". That song came out round the time my grandmother died, and to this day it stills makes me weep. Besides, it's also the song playing on the saddest scene in Cooley High
Damn Cooley High was a good movie.
I feel the same way about Johnny Gill's "My, my, my". Uff does that song suck now.
I saw him with BBD and the illustrious Keith Sweat at their Triple Threat tour. Johnny brought down the hosue with that jam, but despite BBD's popularity at the time, it was Keith Sweat that really tore shit up. In retrospect, Johnny Gill's body of work is garbage. I still love Keith Sweat. I'd put it on before exercising my clumsy back seat manuevers in high school.
So I'm with you on Johnny Gill, but I will fight to the death anyone who says Keith Sweat does not stand the teset of time. He made it last forever.
Stop hating on Johnny, mayne. That album STILL works on sistas ages 30-45.
Put 'Lady DuJour' on for your lady tonight and see what happens.
Worked on me more than a few times. (Ahem.)
I loved Keith until I realized how much he whines his songs, though whining totally worked on I Want Her.
That album really works on Eddie.
That's because Teddy Riley put some of his best efforts into Keith Sweat's material.
Thanks for getting that chorus stuck in my head.
Other 90s slow jam staples:
- "If I Ever Fall in Love" (acappella or not) and "COmforter" both by Shai.
- Whatever the hell Silk's first single was called.
That's all I can think of right now. I spent junior high and high school listening to 90% hip-hop an 10% anything else.
Are you talking about "Happy Days" or the more popular "Freak Me" (I heard that out a few weekends ago..I almost had a fit, I had completely forgotten about that song!)
Freak Me.
I'd forgotten about Happy Days until just now.
Yeah dont forget "If You", and the immortal "There's a Meeting In My Bedroom"
Shai's Baby I'm Yours video makes me want to get in a time machine and attend Howard University. I'm kind of familiar with the campus anyway, even though I didn't go there, but the undeniably fly women in the video (hi Ananda!) probably made mad guys check off Howard on the Common App back in '91 or '92.
Common App? Didn't apply to college til 96-97.
That's exactly when I applied to college. I was under the impression that the Common App had been around for a few years before then, but I guess not.
If you think R&B lyrics fell off in the nineties what must you think of today's? We're living with the fruits of that half-steppin now. "Can I buy you a drank?" I mean come on!
Oh it's the pits now.
Let's be real though. There's nothing 'deep' about 'Knockin Da Boots' or 'Lick You Up'.
Yes, but how many songs actually made up that type of thing then? Very few if my memory is correct. I would suggest that those songs were big more for there blatant raunch than anything else. Now that type of thing is de rigueur and not just big on the R&B charts but goes on to define pop as a whole.
Right but read where the post starts. The point is that, lyrically, that sucked too.
Actually, "Buy You A Drank" is AWESOME!
I'll take your word for it. Sounds to much like a saturday night live sketch to me though.
Eh, I don't like to get into these types of statements. Yes mainstream R&B is not what it used to be. Case in point: "Birthday Sex". What in the world is that all about? However, as always there are good people out there making good music that doesn't make it on to the pop stations but is still amazing R&B like it was intended. I think it's important to make the distinction between mainstream/pop R&B and all the rest.
And I second Sweet Jones also, back in the day had its share of hot mess R&B as well. Just because it was back in the day, doesn't make it good. Hence, the entire purpose of this post. I think people get too nostalgic and get into a "everything that's older is better" line about music especially. Yes older music has withstood the test of time for a reason, but that doesn't mean there isn't music out there to be appreciated today.
Do not even get me started on "Birthday Sex." I'm in my 20s and am appalled. Did you see them perform that song on the BET awards? I wanted to break my tv at that point.
I cannot believe that no one has brought up one of my all-time favorite R&B groups--GUY.
I didn't watch the BET awards period so I sadly (happily) missed that whole debacle. I had every intention to actually break my no-BET vow and watch it until I heard even my most laid-back of friends assailing it. I did have to watch the hot mess travesty that was that Drake/Lil Wayne performance I heard so much about, just so I could justify my preemptive rage when I heard about how they had preteen girls up there singing along to that song "Every Girl.." Ok I'll stop my side rant about that whole thing.
I didn't even know Birthday Sex existed until a couple of weeks ago and I was more than happy not knowing. Oh and yes GUY is completely underrated.
Jamilah,
We have to keep it honest though. Aaron Hall and that dude from Intro skeetin on wax at the ends of songs 'Tease Me Tonite' and 'Come Inside' ain't exactly 'redemptive' either. (though both songs are unquestionoable classics).
Is 'Birthday Sex' any 'dumber' than 'You Remind me of Something'? Seriously, Kels' whole '12 Play' album (another unquestionable classic) is full of stuff like this:
1 We'll go to my room of fun
2 Then I'll say give me your tounge
3 Cause tonight I'm gonna fulfill your fantasy yes
4 Lie down on the floor
5 Cannot wait to cum inside
6 Anything that's broken, I'll fix
7 Spread your legs apart
8 Feel me, I'm so hard
9 See I want you from behind, Skip the bump and grind yeah
10 Baby climb on top of me
11 Up and down we'll go you'll see
12 And that's when I'll go down on my knees giving you some of my
And I haven't even touched the 'remixes' yet.
"I won't stop until I hear the "ooo, R" sound."
Jamillah don't front, you KNOW about the Rodeo show. (-:
@sweetjones
LOL! Why you wanna call me out like that! ;)
Oh Kels.
I have to confess - I *love* "Buy You A Drank". Epic Summer Jam. A little off-kilter, too; there are some truly weird note combos in there. I like that it sounds just a little unorthodox underneath all the autotune.
But I can't bring myself to mount a full-spirited defense of current R&B.
That said, I think we have to go further back than the 90s to really dig some great lyricism. I mean, we are talking about the eras of H-Town and Adina Howard. Still, there was a bit more elegance overall.
Riffing off the "Echoes Of The Crack Age" theme, it strikes me that as the neighborhoods were most gully, smooth-type dudes were trying to elevate their game a lil bit. These days, it's simply "let's go f*ck in my car." Shawty, what you think bout that? Find me in the gray Cadillac.
I think your right on that. I always thought in the wake of crack and "gangsta" rap R&B dudes felt the need to keep up and looked to mc's for inspiration as opposed to singers of the past, can't really blame them. I point to the rise of R. Kelly though as ground zero for the explosion of bad/flat over-singing and horrendous lyrics. He would always slip in a few sentimental up lift joints, in just enough not to be called on his nonsense. Sorry if I offend any of his fans on here but that's just the way I see it.
I'm a fan, but one who rarely gets too offended at the criticism.
I completely and utterly ride for his "Steppers" record, which was issued promotionally without the cloying apologetic gospel material that accompanied it on the commercial issue. Some of the best modern R&B there is, IMHO.
I don't expect everyone to agree, though; I can live with that.
Sometimes I convince myself that T-Pain is a brilliant performance artist (in the true "artist" sense). The "Big Ass Chain" chain kinda did it for me. It's a fine line between the sublime and the ridiculous.
Maya,
I'm too young to die so soon. There is NO convincing yourself that T-pain is a brilliant performance artist.
Zapp would be offended if they were alive to see what T-pain has done to the art they perfected so well. Ugh.
Dancing Queen is still a cool song. And Roxanne turns out to be about a hooker, something I completely missed the first time around. (Sorry, I have no helpful opinions on what was popular in the 90s. My children had not yet discovered that the radio played music, so I just listened to NPR and occasionally got a disc from someone Terri had on.)
Google isn't helping me. Does "shorty" mean girl? And is it the same as "shawty" in Fire Burning, or is this a different? I'd never heard it before FB started burning up the charts.
This happens with books, too--the book or writer that you came back to again and again in your 20s sometimes still has it when you're 40, and sometimes you worry about what it says that you loved it so much.
I just read the Odyssey and, hunting through the library for some commentaries to answer my "why the heck did they do X" questions, I found a travel book based on the Odyssey. What was immediately interesting (I'm at Chapter 2) was the background--the author thought he'd read The Odyssey in school, but a few chapters in discovered that he was really bored by it in school and did not actually read it. Even though he'd cited it in his 20s as an inspirational book. He thought he knew the story--"between Scylla and Charybdis" for example--but turned out the details of what those episodes meant was completely different. Just a fascinating and resonant approach, what we think we know about classics that isn't so. (Same goes for a book I've been promoting, The Good Book by David Plotz about a non-observant Jew reading the Old Testament after stumbling across Dina's story at a Bat Mitzvah and thinking "Whoa, I definitely missed this sex and violence story in Hebrew School.")
Yeah shortie=girl.
can mean girl, or just child, kind of an affectionate diminutive like baby.
Wasn't a big fan of ABBA's material, but had great appreciation for their vocals. I am still a big fan of "I Know Something's Going On" by Frida.
TNC,
The title of this post is almost redundant. Of course, what we love may have sucked. They probably did and we probably knew they did. I mean, it is like my girlfriends back in the day, they sucked and were annoying as hell but I loved them just the same. (Sorry, but my eyes were opened once I left Baltimore for college and dated someone who wasn't from Baltimore; WOW, I thought, you could find a girl (I was 18) who actually listened and wasn't ignorant. But there is something charming about girls from Charm City (i.e. Baltimore); maybe it's that combo urban ghetto/Southern-country modus vivendi that was always sexy-
Not really. There's music that you loved then, that doesn't suck now. Same for the girls. Except better. I have fond memories of almost all of them. Leaving Baltimore didn't change that.
Man, fools were walking down the aisle to that song. Made no sense to me.
Over on my side of the color line, fools were walking down the aisle to U2's "One." Doesn't get more nonsensical than that.
(Though, I rush to say, "One" is actually one of the best songs in the history of ever. Just not exactly wedding-friendly, being about an excruciating break up and the AIDS crisis and all).
Yeah, and for that matter I feel like I've heard people screw up using "With or Without You," which is just plain hard to do.
I plan on using "The Final Countdown" if/when I ever tie the knot, just to prove that I really am the whitest boy in my family.
that is fucking ridiculous. lol.
It works both ways: I never understood why anyone would want to hear New Edition's "Cool It Now" when I was in high school. 25 years later? The bomb.
(To avoid going further off-topic, I will reserve explication of my "actually, Whitney was the crazy one" theory for some other occasion.)
The "Whitney was the crazy one" sentiment has been gaining ground for at least the last 5 years, or so.
As far as 90's music goes:
- It PAINS me to say this because dude helped me close the deal so many times at FAMU, but Babyface's songs (and production for that matter) hasn't aged well AT ALL. Seriously, have you listened to 'Tender Lover' lately? Straight 'sucka-4-love' isht.
Although Johnny Gill's 'Johnny Gill' album holds up surprisingly well.
- TLC's stuff is hella lame now(Full disclosure - I thought it was lame then too.)
- 'I Wanna Sex You Up' was on fire for like 3 weeks, then everyone realized without watching Tracy Camilla Johns skripping to it, the song was shaky.
How much R&B from the 90's really has the "timeless" stamp, though? I think the timless label gets overrated (I'm thinking of yoru Babyface point here.) Some of the best popular music of all time sounds very much of it's time (deep soul from the 60's, super synthy 80's R&B, Rhythm and Blues from the 50's, Phil Specter's Wall-Of-Sound stuff, etc.)
I say all that to say - Babyface still rules.
Ok, I'll grant you "Tender Lover". But I draw the line in the sand at "Whip Appeal". That is a classic, and anytime you(or I) hear the song now, how can you not sing it. Also, lets not forget the great Deele, if not for Babyface there would be no "Two Occasions".
While were at it, if not for Babyface there would be no After & and no "Can't Stop", "Reday or Not", and "Nights like This".
I felt the same way when I went back and listened to OMC's 'How Bizarre.'
awww now, I still love that song, in all its banal glory.
>.>
Me too. Couldn't tell you why though.
OMS's a local (i.e. Auckland, New Zealand) act. Pauly Fuemana grew up not far from where my sister now lives with her hubby and kid. It always blew me away that that song ended up getting so much airplay when it felt like such a part of the local soundscape.
The video was such a great piece of period Kiwiana, right down to putting the band in a car (the ultimate NZ music video cliche.)
OMC was originally much less radio friendly, by the way. They used to have big Samoan dudes dancing around on stage with machetes.
IMO, it's not just the lyrics of R&B/soul that fell off in the early 90s but the style of vocal delivery as well... it's just WAY too embellished now, for the most part, and lacks the dynamic grace of earlier eras. Today's folks should go and listen to the first two Roberta Flack albums (especially the criminally under-recognized “Reverend Lee” from Chapter Two) for lesson in how a bit of restraint can add a LOT of soul.
Agree! I was at a wedding this past weekend. Folks of all colors from age 2 to 90. And what got the best turnout on the dance floor - Earth, Wind & Fire and Luther Vandross.
That's funny mention that. I always claim that Earth, Wind, and Fire is the best band to get people to dance to. EVERYBODY likes Earth, Wind and Fire. It's nearly impossible not to.
I had this thought recently when a friend asked me what happened to Black Sheep. I *loved* Black Sheep; I vividly remember playing "Strobelight Honey" at a party in about '95 and arguing loudly with a friend that "Wolf in Sheep's Clothing" was better than PE's Nation of Millions. That was over the top at the time, and it seems absurd now; unlike Tribe and others in the Native Tongue family, the Sheep haven't held up at all . . . although "U Mean I'm Not" remains a classic.
Ditto the early heavy-funk work of Red Hot Chili Peppers: "Uplift Mofo Party Plan," which I thought was genius in 1989, is unlistenable now--sophomoric noise. (Altho' unlike the Sheep, who basically cratered after one album, RHCP went on to do some great stuff.)
I think part of the problem with evaluating music, or art, or anything that one loved at a certain point in one's life is it's kind of like going back to first grade.
Sometimes we return to things to find that they have apparently "shrunk." The desks are smaller, the tree isn't as big, we can't go down the slide anymore. In reality they didn't shrink we just got bigger.
Other things by contrast were too big for us at the time we first encountered them. Like when your mom or dad would buy you pants that were too big expecting that you would grow into them in 6 months. Sometimes we lack the knowledge to fully apreciate what we encounter when we first encounter it.
I agree with the title of the post (I loved Jewel's "Pieces of You" at the time, but now I recognize it for the garbage that it is), but "End of the Road" does not even remotely fall into the "suck" category. AT ALL. It's a solid "baby, I miss you" joint with a strong chorus and tight harmonies (remember those?). I know this isn't the point of this post but the thing that makes me sad is that the era of groups of black men singing earnest, romantic, poetic, EMOTIONAL love ballads where women are not expected to rub their genitals on stripper poles is OVER.
Let's compare and contrast "End of the Road" with this one which is probably about 20 years older but for all intents and purposes the same song:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFUWmthWoDU
And it comes complete with a monologue over music ... "baby, you can't color a thought ... you sure can't touch and emotion ..."
But alas, it shall never pass this way again. :(
Loved? Why the past tense? You apparently have no idea how much I love Lady GaGa's "Just Dance." And that's some pretty serious suck, right there!
Honestly, I have the best luck with the stuff I liked when I was about 6 years old. Gary Numan's "Cars." Queen's "Another One Bites the Dust." Devo's "Whip It." Fleetwood Mac's "Tusk." etc. I loved 'em then, and I love 'em now. Also, pretty much anything involving an analog synthesizer.
If you're into analog synth, check out the "Classic Albums" doc on The Who's "Who's Next". You get to see Pete mess around with this archaic huge synth, and reproduce all the cool sounds he was getting back then. It's pretty mesmerizing.
we all go through this, part of growing up, if you were about 10 years older and white like me you could be embarrassed about how great you thought Journey, Styx, REO Speedwagon, Triumph, etc were.
A lot of stuff I like then holds up great, what I also find is that I really like a lot of stuff that I didn't like as much in highschool, I don't mean discovering whole new Genres like Jazz and Blues, that happened too, but rather a lot of rock stuff that was eh take it or leave it back then is now the stuff I really like while the top 40 rock crap I listened to all the time is good for nostalgia but that is about it. Older Jackson Brown albums for example, in high school we all like Running on Empty but probably didn't even really get it, let alone the rest of his stuff. Even for someone I really liked back then, say Springsteen, now I find that the stuff of his I like most has changed, when your 16 Born to Run is the ultimate, at 40+ Darkness on the Edge of Town is a lot deeper:-)
Generationally-offset Springsteen fan here. Born in `78, I'll always have fond memories of Born in the USA on cassette in my dad's truck in the 80s. I basically forgot about him for a decade, then came back to it in college. I don't like all of his recent stuff, but I do like most of it. Really hope I get to see him before the band breaks up/dies for good. Curse him for adding another eastern leg to the tour, but not a western one!
My guiltiness comes in at Metal...sure, I can tell people with a straight face that I liked Def Leppard, Motley Crue & Guns 'n' Roses (and Slaughter..downhill from there), but I'm not proud of it. I had Cooleyhighharmony too - one of the few R&B/hiphop albums I had as a kid - and I think it holds up better than a lot of the metal.
Guns and Roses has some pretty good stuff, no shame in that, yeah some of it is over the top, but Sweet Child of Mine and Welcome to the Jungle are kick ass. And the early Def Leppard isn't bad either, but once you get to the Pour some Sugar on me era, yeah there just as bad as Motley Crue and the other hair bands, really just soundtracks for Strippers at best:-)
R&B is dead. Sad. But the mousic of back in the day still reigns. Boys II Men has not aged well, nut there is plenty that has (imo). Troop was mentioned above, you already posted on New Edition, Tony Terry is still the shit. Anything that Gerald Levert sang on is great, even that one song by The Rude Boys. How good would the Carter takeover in New Jack City have been if not for Levert and Troop not singing on the street. Al B's "Nite and Day" is great.
Which brings me to my personal favorite, which to me sums up soul and R&B of that time is Secret Garden. Al B, James "Slept On" Ingram, El Debarge, and of course the immortal Barry White.
This is just a badd ass song, in any era - enjoy:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ri8X6D-4k-E&feature=related
Really though, what era stands up to the 70s for black music? People actually played instruments. Slow jams were legendary (I Want You/Marvin Gaye?, Easy/Commodores?, any Willie Hutch?). Funk was everywhere (Brothers Johnson?, Lakeside?, The Commodores?, Parliament?, EWF?). Isaac Hayes???
Though I'm too young (36) to remember all of that era first run, I'm making up for lost time now. Listening to Bobby Womack as we speak. And trust, after 30 years, it definitely holds up.
-c
womack into teh pandora.
Yeah this 40 something really regrets missing out on that stuff when I was young. The old if I could be 17 again knowing what I know now, think how much you could have impressed 16 year old girls with Curtis Mayfield or Marvin Gaye while everyone else thought Peter Cetera era Chicago and Air Supply was the most romantic thing ever!
Yeah thats not even fair to bring up the 70's. Especially since you didn't even mention guys like The Isley Brothers, Bobby Taylor, Curtis Mayfield, Stevie Wonder, Bootsy Collins, The Coasters, The Dramatics(What Ya See, is What Ya Get-one of the all time great bass grooves), etc...
The Coasters? You mean the doo wop group from the Fifties?
Yeah I screwed that one up, for some reason I always thought of "Down In Mexico" as being early 70's. To be fair they re-recorded it in the 70's, but I'll be damned if it wasn't their first hit in 1956! That song sounds to me like it was dripping with 70's soul, I was wrong.
Damn I also screwed up the great Johnnie Taylor - Bobby Taylor, should have my card pulled for that one. I guess I had old Philly DB's on the brain...geez.
Good list, keith. Also: Gill Scott-Heron, Donny Hathaway, Roy Ayers....
You're right of course, but that's kinda the point! We'd need the whole blog to list all the quality from that decade. And how they still hold up. And how new guys don't write ish because they just steal 70s stuff.
Don't get me started....
What is mind blowing is how many Genre's all had their definitive album and/or songs come out sometime between say '67 and '75, a few at random:
R&B & Soul: Talking Book, Songs in the Key of Life, Superfly Soundtrack, What's Going On just to pick a few candidates.
Funk: not sure which album you'd pick, but I'm sure George Clinton released it sometime in the early 70s:-)
Hard Rock: Physical Graffiti, Led Zeppelin IV
Heavy Metal: Black Sabbath forget the album but it had Paranoid, Iron Man and War Pigs, isn't every heavy Metal song since ultimately just a reworking of one of these?
Beach Music: Good Vibrations
Southern White Boys doing blues based rock: Eat a Peach
Blue Collar story telling rock anthems: Born to Run
Pretentious album length Progressive Rock: Jethro Tull, Yes and of course Pink Floyd all released their definitive stuff.
Pretentious Sci-Fi/Ayn Rand inspired libertarian fantasies: 2112
British Invasion: Sgt Pepper, enough said
British blues: Who's Next, Exile on Main St
Rock Operas: Quadropehenia
Folk Rock: Heart of Gold plus all the CSNY stuff, even the cheap imitations like America are better than most of what comes out today.
Female Singer songwriters: Blue and Ladies of the Canyon
Male Singer Songwriters: Paul Simon's best stuff
Soft Rock: Chicago, Roxy Music
Glam Rock: Ziggy Stardust, T-Rex
Outlaw country: Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash and Waylon Jennings basically invented it in this era.
Alt Country: All the current hip alt country bands are really just doing what Townes Van Zandt and Gram Parsons most notably were doing.
Punk: all the punk bands are really doing is The Kinks with less ability to play instruments.
Grunge: Pearl Jam et al will be the first to admit they were just doing something Neil Young had already done better on Tonights the Night.
Overhyped SuperGroups that had some great songs but no future: Blind Faith
Jazz Rock fusion: Traffic
Reggae: Exodus I suppose, I forgot the year though did that just miss the cut?
Disco: The first Bee Gees disco stuff (which came before Saturday Night Fever by the way, they co-opted the music for the movie)
And I could go on and on making up narrower and narrower definitions. Really other than Rap and Hip Hop it is hard to find any music past say '78 that isn't just a rehash of something from that era. I'm not saying there isn't good stuff still being released, the great thing about music is that nearly infinite numbers of great songs in the same style can still be written, but I am saying if someone came and offered you say a million dollars to never again listen to something recorded after 1978 you could take the deal in a heart beat and be just fine for music for the rest of your life:-)
While were on the music topic, thanks to Bill Simmons I learned that Almost Famous has a directors cut that is 30 minutes longer and even better. How did I miss out on that, anyone who loves music must love Almost Famous!
Holy shit man, excuse the profanity, but that's my favorite movie and I don't know how I missed that. I have scene the deleted scene where the play "Stairway to Heaven" and try to explain to Frances McDormand it's literary relevance. I assume it was cut because they couldnt get permission to use stairway, but I don't know how they got "misty mountain hop" and "that's the way"--though this was the first time Zeppelin songs appeared in a movie. Anyway white geeky music rant to be continued haha
Yeah Page and Plant gave them the others but not sure what happened with Stairway if there was someone else who had rights as well or if they simply thought it was too much.
A funny story I heard Cameron Crowe tell is when he showed them the movie to get the rights and the scene comes on where Cudrup says I never said I was a Gold God, Plant laughed and said no that was me.
If you read the actual articles Crowe wrote in that era (all included on the bonus disc in this version by the way!) it is pretty clear that most of the material came from his tours with CSNY, Zeppelin and the Allman Brothers.
Eric -
For some reason, the comment you made that I'm replying to doesn't have a "reply" button available.
As far as your comments about punk, replace "the Kinks" with "Iggy and the Stooges" and it will be absolutely spot-on. But the Stooges were active in the early '70s so your broader point still holds up.
Fair point for the Sex Pistols and others of that ilk, but listen to The Ramones and then listen to the Kinks and you'll see what I mean:-)
Synth?? Bernie Worrell of Funkadelic Playing on Aquaboogie is simply one of the greatest keyboard performances on a pop -non Jazz or Classical- song EVER. The whole track is Drums, Guitar and the rest is him. Synth bass, Synth lead, and some monstrous Acoustic Piano. Just superb. Worrell was always one of the greatest and in concert he would add in a dash of Beethoven, circus music, jazz.
90s singing?
Sorry but if R Kelly had written I believe I can fly and perhaps 2 other songs he would've been ok, made a little money. But as it is R-Kelly sucks even if he wasn't a statutory rapist.
It's shameful to even THINK about the Spinners and Boyz2men in the same thought bubble.
Not much great R&B music comes out of the major labels and the main reason is that, as the Rap A&R guys and executives gained more power, their influence branched over to the R&B offices. The Corporate heads- in typical fashion- made no differentiation. They thought of it all as urban(Black) music and since the rap guys were making more money for the majors than any other genre, their power grew as well. As powerful label guys, P-Diddy and Andre Harrell did more to screw up R& B than anyone. Sure Jodeci, and Silk, were cool but the lack of decent R&B producers and songwriters who actually knew about pitch, projection, enunciation and arrangement were a dying breed. Jojo's singing was always pitchy out of control. He was like Michael Jordan, but without the college basketball training and coaching.
While creating a most urgent and powerful genre of their own, they basically killed the parent. Even now, it's almost a guarantee that Rap executives and producers will still ruin R&B singers worse than Crack and Pneumonia.
Compare the carreers of Alicia Keys and Ashanti.
The difference is that ONE of them was on a rap label. the other was with Clive davis.
There's still great R&B but there's only what? Four or five different radio stations in the Country. Hotwhatever, Zwhatever, Powerwhatever, Kisswhatever, and Clearwhatever. Most of the Djs have no power to play anything off list and no knowledge of good music if they could . Hell VH1 soul has better stuff in a day than most black radio will play in a year.
...adding to your list Eric k
As far as jazz rock fusion you can't leave out Return to Forever, weather report, and Mahavisnu orchestra.
Blues? Blues? BB King, Bobby Blue Bland, Albert King, Bobby Womack, ZZ Hill, Tyrone Davis.
Reggae? Some guy from Jamaica Named Marley.
Funk- Parliament-Funkadelic, Cameo, The Gap band, Confunktion, BT Express, Brass Construction, Mandrill, War,
I could go on and on like this.
Uh for Reggae I listed Exodus, you know the best album by that Marley guy you mentioned:-)