Thursday, March 19

Just a check...

Which artists do you like/respect/tolerate/dislike/hate/have insuffient knowledge or recognition of/would like to know more? Please give some sort of response, if you have time!

I know sometime I 'resort' to putting up videos or lyrics, but it's not an entirely lazy exercise - I'm usually trying to expose bands or artists (for their music, lyrics, or both) to some people who may not have had much or any such exposure. I try to be open minded when others suggest new band, and I think I could be given perhaps a C+ for my efforts, B- if I'm feeling kind to myself. That is, I sincerely try, but there are some things I just will never like, or will appreciate for what it is, but will see it as too simplistic for my convuluted brain or whatever. Plus apparently I like strange things.

So, just as a check, I'm wondering what your thoughts as a (small) audience on the following artists I've tended to promote here. This needn't be scientific, and you can answer with one word or an essay, it's up to you!

I'll number them to make it as easy as possible for you as possible. If you don't want to participate you don't have to of course - just some helpful feedback for me. I'll do this in alphabetical order, so I don't betray any personal bias.

And, thanks. It does help me immensely, in ways you'd never guess.

01. Air
02. Bauhaus / Love and Rockets / Peter Murphy
03. Black Uhuru / Michael Rose / Junior Reid / Don Carlos
04. Boards of Canada
05. Bob Marley / Peter Tosh / Bunny Wailer
06. Bruce Springsteen (selected works)
07. Buffalo Springfield / Neil Young
08. Cat Power (Chan Marshall)
09. Cream / Eric Clapton
10. Dan Fogelberg
11. David Bowie
12. Dead Can Dance / Lisa Gerrard / Brendan Perry
13. Depeche Mode / Martin Gore / Dave Gahan
14. Duran Duran
15. Einstuerdende Neubauten / Blixa Bargeld
16. Emiliani Torinni
17. Emmylou Harris
18. Enigma
19. Fleetwood Mac / Lindsay Buckingham / Stevie Nicks
20. Frou Frou / Imogen Heap
21. George Michael
22. God Speed You! Black Emperor
23. Goldfrapp
24. Gordon Lightfoot
25. Grace Jones
26. Gregory Isaacs
27. Hector Zazou
28. Jakob Dylan / The Wallflowers
29. Japan / David Sylvian
30. Jeff Buckley
31. Johnny Cash
32. Joy Division / New Order
33. k.d. lang
34. Kristeen Young
35. Leonard Cohen
36. Mark Knopfler / Dire Straits
37. Mazzy Star / Hope Sandoval 
38. Moloko / Roisin Murphy
39. Morphine
40. Neil Finn / Crowded House
41. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
42. Nick Drake
43. Nine Inch Nails
44. Nirvana
45. Norah Jones
46. Pearl Jam / Eddie Vedder
47. Peter Gabriel
48. Pink Floyd / Roger Waters / Dave Gilmour
49. Psychedelic Furs / Love Spit Love / Richard Butler
50. Radiohead / Thom Yorke
51. REM
52. Roxy Music / Brian Eno
53. Sade
54. Soundgarden / Audioslave / Chris Cornell
55. Stina Nordenstam
56. SWANS / Michael Gira / Angels of Light / Jarboe
57. Tears For Fears
58. The Beatles / John Lennon
59. The Blake Babies / Juliana Hatfield
60. The Chameleons / Mark Burgess and the Sons of God
61. The Clash / BAD / Joe Strummer
62. The Cranberries
63. The Cure
64. The Doors
65. The Police / Sting (selected works)
66. The Smiths / Morrissey
67. The Sugarcubes / Bjork
68. The Sundays
69. The Who / Pete Townsend / Roger Daltry
70. Tim Buckley
71. Tupac Shakur
72. U2
73. Velvet Underground / Lou Reed / Nico / John Cale

If you need help remembering which artist did which song(s) you may have heard, ask me, or just search Youtube or the web.

And please be completely honest, in the positive, the negative, or in ignorance; no one is judging you here.

Thanks again. =)
Posted by Metamatician on Thursday, March 19, 2009

2 comments:

Hans said...

3, 5 reggae is good
6 good for some songs, but overrated
7 great and my era
8 ok
9 great and my era (no surprise)
10 love his ideals, romance, and personal values - one of my favorites - died too young
11 good on some songs
12 i like better and better
14 fun stuff
17 good on most stuff, great choice for harmonies
19 need to ask? great
21 good on most
23 i like his name
24 good from 60's -early 80s - great balladier
25 good for a time
31 excellent dude
33 excellent singer
24 not my type
35 no peer
36 good stuff
42 good folk stuff
45 like very much
48 ok if you like excellent musicians and singers too
50. good
58 huh?
62 good
64 great stuff for their time
65 very good singer
66 unique and grows on me
67 horrid mostly
68 cute
That's about all I can do - interesting list and I was being pretty selective.

March 20, 2009
Unknown said...

Second time round for me here, I got up to #45 and then blogger lost my comment. One big grrrr.

Lists are good, though, and a music list even better so I don’t mind retyping all this for you. Just don’t expect the same if you ask for comments on, say, darning techniques, or the life and times of GWB.

1. Oh yes. Although I still much prefer their first album over any other, I haven’t listened to the last one much though, that could also a contender and I very much like their Virgin Suicides soundtrack, especially the main theme.

2. Good, though I need to listen to more before I can give a full opinion / don’t know / :) another big yes, though I’m still listening and taking it in. I think he’s going to be a favourite.

3. I like them but need to be in the right mood to listen, although I suppose you could say that about most music / I’m showing my musical ignorance now, but who? Who? And who?

4. Good I think, but I haven’t listened in ages. Can they be that good if I can’t remember that well?

5. How can you not like Bob? Though again, it depends on my mood. A sunny evening on the terrace with some wine, or a beer and him playing in the background is perfect. / More ignorance now, I have no idea who the other two are.

6. I know very little Springsteen, just what you hear on the radio. I feel I should appreciate him better but have never felt the need to listen more.

7. I’ve not listened to either.

8. A definite yes, but only having listened to a few songs. She’s on my ’To Be Listened To Properly’ list.

9. Something else I haven’t listened to and should have / And no. Yes, I know he’s considered a guitar genius by many but I the first of him I heard his 1990s offerings when growing up, wasn’t impressed and never listened to more apart from Layla.

10. I love what I’ve heard of his earlier work so far, which is only one album and a few other songs. I want to hear more. You can tell they’re heartfelt lyrics by the way he sings them.

11. Someone else on my TBLTP list. Of course I know all the ‘classics’ that they play on the radio and in clubs but I can’t help feeling there’s more to him that I’ve missed so far. A star turn in Labyrinth may have something to do with this ;)

12. I’m learning to love this band, but still have along way to go, the music is very dense / I’ve only heard the one album, I think I prefer her as part of DCD but I’m going to listen more / =) magical, magnificent, I love him.

13. Yes, but I haven’t listened that intensely/ no idea / I like the very little I’ve heard.

14. Mah. Just brings back memories of school discos.

15. Ag, I have no idea who either of these are.

16. I love her voice, it belies her lyrics. She’s very pretty too.

17. Someone else I’ve heard on the radio but haven’t paid much attention to I can’t remember exactly what’s she’s done, just a vague notion of her work.

18. A second listening years after this music first appeared and I’m hooked. I can’t figure out why I wasn’t that bothered by it all those years ago.

19. More that I’ve missed out on, apart from the most well known tunes, can I blame my parents for this one? / Who? / I’ve never heard her solo work.

20. Wasn’t Frou Frou a character in Blackadder the Third? / I know the name but not the music.

21. OK, more memories of school discos and dancing to Wham. I haven’t listened much to his solo efforts, mostly because of lack of interest, though I’d give him another go I suppose, despite images of him in tight white shorts in Wham videos.

22. Thank you! I was played this years ago, thought it was wonderful but could never remember the name.

23. Yes, but I’ve only listened properly to the first album, which is probably why it’s my favourite. Alison G is a little scary, though I’d guess you’d think she was a cutie.

24. I only know the one song (I’m blaming ma and pa again), and it’s spent months on my mp4 player.

25. Someone else I’ve never listened to. Should I?

26. The same as above.

27. One of my favourite recent ‘discoveries’, thank you!, he’s seems to be very versatile, I’m looking forward to hearing more.

28. I’ve been wanting to hear both of these for a while no, but still haven’t gotten around to getting hold of their music.

29. Another name that draws a blank / and another that I recognise but without knowing the music.

30. *sigh* one of my all time favourites. The voice gets me every time. And Last Goodbye never fails to move me no matter how often I listen.

31. I was never interested until I saw Walk The Line and now I’ve started to appreciate the man and his music. He had guts.

32. Yes, but I’ve never listened to any extent. They’re on The List / So-so, I know all their well-known songs, of course. Growing up in their romping ground didn’t have any influence. I can’t understand why people obsess over them so much. With Joy Division it’s easy to understand.

33. Like Buckley, another voice that I love. Though my knowledge of her music is mostly limited to Ingénue. I’d love to get my mits on her latest album and will do some time soon.

34. Someone I should listen to but haven’t yet.

35. I know very few people who speak positively about him. Most describe him as miserable and depressing. However I like what I’ve heard very much, the voice, the lyrics… though it’s not much. Also on my TBLTP list.

36. A big no. I haven’t heard Knopfler solo and don’t feel the need to. Dire Straits I always found very MOR. I can’t even be bothered to write anymore about them.

37. Some excellent music, some that’s only good. One of my all time favourites it theirs though. I’ve never heard Sandoval’s solo work.

38. I’m just starting to appreciate both of these. Again, I have to be in the right mood for this type of music. Sue is now happy that my collection includes something a bit perkier.

39. Once more, the name is familiar without my having heard their music.

40. :D Listening is like being with an old friend, instantly comfortable and you can’t beat it. I love the music, the lyrics, the imagery, the humour that sometimes surfaces in CH, and Neil’s usually-more-serious solo work.

41. I’d always wanted to listen but could never get into this. I’ve started again recently and I don’t know what’s different but I’m appreciating it now, I want more.

42. Sublime, superlative. Why was he so little appreciated in his time?!

43. Yes, yes, yes, in the right mood of course. I know very little, but it hits all the right buttons.

44. Formed a large part of the soundtrack to my later-teenage/university years. I don’t listen so much now, but when I do it’s similar to hearing CH, although I could never describe their music as comfortable.

45. Good background/ dinner party music but I always feel a bit let down and bored after listening for too long. I want more from my music. More depth.

46. Pearl Jam were brilliant for the first two albums which’re still amongst my favourites. If only they’d continued to produce music of the same intensity. Eddie Vedder I don’t know as a solo artist, I lost interest after PJ failed to deliver. Perhaps I should give him a listen.

47. Sorry, but I just think Genesis.

48. PF - I’m a born again listener but will wait for comment until I’ve listened to more, I’m optimistic though. The other two I can’t comment on in my ignorance.

49. On the TBLTP list / probably should be on the TBLTP list, but I haven’t heard enough to put them on there yet / I only know Breathe, and that was enough to get me drooling.

50. Yorke’s solo material needs more listening to. Radiohead, well, what do I say. Another, excellent, part of my undergraduate years soundtrack but they’ve moved on from there. Beautiful, challenging, provoking music.

51. Their earlier work, yes, I like it very much. After Monster I gave up on them.

52. *Hangs head in shame and admits to not knowing any of their music*

53. I only know the most famous of her songs. Another singer who reminds me of my adolescent years

54. I’m only now getting into these. I’m not sure which version of Mr C I prefer. They’re all good, one for every occasion!

55. Someone else who I need to listen to more. Delicate, but hard voice. A little like Torrini but I suspect if I heard more, she’d be better.

56. I’ve heard very little of the first two, though would listen to more, and none at all of the latter pair.

57. Now I’m really getting back to my teenage years, and I’m tempted to rediscover this band.

58. Hmm, where do I start. It’s impossible to ignore them, and while I’ve always enjoyed their music, I’ve never investigated further, even less so for Lennon on his own. Another shameful gaping hole in my musical knowledge.

59. I don’t know the first and only Hatfield for her Evan Dando connection, not her music.

60. I found it hard to get into the first, though their album is on the back boiler, ready for a second go, and I don’t know the latter.

61. I enjoy the first, though I have little more than superficial knowledge of them – good for an irreverent mood, but I need to listen more, and better - none of the second or the third.

62. The first two albums both spent hours and hours in my CD player, but I was disappointed by the third and eventually gave it away and stopped listening so much after that. Now I wonder if I should’ve tried for longer, or if I’d like it now my tastes have evolved.

63. Another band who I tired to like at the time and had problems with, but upon revisitation something has finally clicked.

64. Yes, yes, yes. Music to listen to in the dark.

65. I have a wonderful story about Neil Finn and Sting: Neil Finn’s in his dressing room after a concert, someone knocks on the door and lo and behold, upon opening it our hero finds Sting standing in the doorway. Great concert, he says and quotes some of Finn’s own masterful lyrics to show his appreciation, to which Neil replies ‘de do do do, de da da da.’ Hee, always makes me laugh anyway. I find The Police fun more than anything else, and Sting has penned some fine tunes though I’d take Finn over him any day. I used to fancy the two of them rotten as well, btw.

66. More English classics, more going back to my teenage/university years. The Smiths more so than Morrissey, but I have a finer appreciation of him now too. Great penmanship and a crooner’s voice. Plus he likes cats so you have to love him.

67. I know very little of the first, all the usual classics that I remember from my days as a nipper, er, sort of. Though I never paid much attention to the band, just enjoyed the music when I heard it. And Bjork gave me problems until recently, another rediscovery.

68. Another band I’ve only heard little of but have enjoyed what I’ve heard immensely. I love Summertime, always puts me in a good mood and makes me want to dance.

69. *holds wrist out to be slapped*

70. On my TBLTP list for too long. I need to do something about this.

71. Was never on the list, but has made it since I’ve been reading this blog. You’re making me expand my tastes and become more curious.

72. Ahhh, how do I explain this…. some very listenable songs, but they’ve never drawn me in like other bands. I get bored, feel like they’re faking it.

73. *and holds out the other wrist whilst mentally making a note to do something about diminishing this TBLTP list*

March 29, 2009

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