Greek Theatre, LA, 9/22/92
After a few warmup chords on the banjo just before Old King...

"This a song about my dog. His name is Elvis. Elvis is riding on Jimi Hendrix's bus now. He traveled with me for many years. Well, I changed his name to 'King' in the song to avoid any confusion.
"Elvis had quite a nose. That was his whole thing, was his nose. But, you know, he was very sensitive about it. I'll tell you a little story about him.

"He used to go on the road with me all the time, and, you know he kind of smelled like a hound, 'cause... he was a hound. But it smelled good to him, and uh, you know we would take him to a veteranarian place or something and they'd clean him up a little bit so when he got on the bus he wasn't too comfy, you know?

"After a while we all kind of got used to each other on the bus, so it was okay, but right at first he was a little strong, so. . . so anyway, once, uh, someone took him that usually doesn't take him and took him to some fifi dog place. He came back smelling, uh, kinda like some bad toilet paper or something? Non-environmental and all. It had this odor to it that was like, (groaning) 'oh no, wow.' He kind of smelled like one of those things that hangs on people's mirrors, you know, that smell? Anyway, it was bad for me, but to him it was hell, 'cause he was, you know, sensitive.

"And uh, so I was sleeping on the side of the road, I was on my way out to Eureka, California to play this gigantic gig... And ah, uh, you know, he woke me up, it was about six o'clock in the morning, I get this nose, you know, 'snnnfff, snnnffff, snnff, snnff,' He woke me up... I'm going, 'What's happening?'

"It's this, this big nose, it's lookin' at me, kinda, you know, desperate. You know, I said, 'God, you smell terrible. You stink.' And he knew he stunk. He wanted off the bus. He said, 'I want to go roll in some cowsh.. on the side of the road.'

"So, you know, he was a smart dog, and he was purebread, actually, he was a beautiful hound, and uh, he had all his senses that he needed, he knew how to get back. You know, hounds will circle, uh, an area, and keep going in wider and wider circles, and they count how many times, somehow they know how many times they've been around it, so when they come back in they just count it like the, like the lifelines on a tree or somethin', you know, you just come right back in and, right to the core and that's where you started from, you know. Anyway, he knew that. He taught me that.

"And uh, so, I said, 'Okay Elvis, take a shot.'"

(addressing someone in the crowd) "I'll get to the point when I'm ready to get to the point!" (collective laugh from the crowd) "Get to the point, he says. What a dick....! I'm tellin' a dog story. 'Get to the point.' Am I in LA, or what?"

(addressing the audience member again) "You're tough, right? You can take it? You know, we know, so. . . that's right. So anyway. . .

"Jeez, I might have to start over again, I think I forgot. So anyway... thanks. Now you've got me goin'. . .

"Naw, really. . . he took off, I let him go. And uh, there's only one thing that can go wrong if you do that. That's if it rains, then, and then he can't find his way back, 'cause he can't smell over the little rains, you know. He just loses it.

"So, he lost it, he got lost. It's like three o'clock in the afternoon, we're still waiting for him to come back, and we gotta go to the gig pretty soon or we're gonna be late, you know, and I'm going, 'Sh.., I lost my dog. What am I gonna tell everybody?' You know, I can't leave him behind, I can't, you know, what can I do? So I went out hunting for him.

"There was a railroad track there, and I walked up and down the railroad track. I was going all by myself up there, from the railroad track, (in a loud, anguished shriek) 'Elvis!!!!' And uh, I couldn't hear a thing, not a hound around, and uh, so I gave up after a while, 'cause this Rolling Stone guy was following me around, taking random notes.

"You know, I saw him write it down, you know, I was out on this railroad track in the middle of nowhere yelling out Elvis, and uh, so I got, I knew that wouldn't be good for my image.

"So I went back to the bus, and uh, I got out my lucky shirt, which I don't have with me tonight, you may have noticed. I know, but it's too hot for my lucky shirt. So anyway, I, he, I took it out there and I put it down by the bowl, put his bowl out there, and left the shirt, he'd come back eventually, you know, find his way back to the shirt. And I'd figured after the gig I could come back.

"So, I get back on the bus to take off. So I'm leaving, and this guy in a pick up truck pulls up and says, 'Hey Neil, what're you doing?' Well, so, I told him, I'm not gonna tell it again here, I told him, and then, uh, then uh, he said 'Well that's okay, Neil, I'll, me and, I'll go get my wife, and we'll wait, we'll wait right here until he comes back, and then we'll bring him to you in Eureka.'

"I said, 'Wow, what a great guy, you're, you're great.' Yeah, so he did. You know, so I took off, and uh, just before, uh, I was about half an hour late - nothin' like Guns n' Roses or nothin', but uh. . . but I lost my dog... What did they lose, you know what I mean?

"So, uh, so I, so I got there. Ah, hey, that's rock n' roll, you gotta do what you do. And ah, you know, just as I was going on he called me and said they found him."


Old King

King went a-runnin' after deer
Wasn't scared of jumpin' off the truck in high gear
King went a-sniffin' and he would go
Was the best old hound dog I ever did know

I had a dog and his name was King
I told the dog about everything
There in my truck the dog and I
Then one day the King up and died

Then I thought about the times we had
Once when I kicked him when he was bad
Old King sure meant a lot to me
But that hound dog is history

King went a-runnin' after deer
Wasn't scared of jumpin' off the truck in high gear
King went a-sniffin' and he would go
Was the best old hound dog I ever did know

That old King was a friend of mine
Never knew a dog that was half as fine
I may find one, you never do know
'Cause I still got a long way to go

I had a dog and his name was King
I told the dog about everything
Old King sure meant a lot to me
But that hound dog is history

King went a-howlin' after deer
Wasn't scared of jumpin' off the truck in high gear
King went a-sniffin' and he would go
Was the best old hound dog I ever did know

Pink Floyd - Brain Damage

The lunatic is on the grass
The lunatic is on the grass
Remembering games and daisy chains and laughs
Got to keep the loonies on the path

The lunatic is in the hall
The lunatics are in my hall
The paper holds their folded faces to the floor
And every day the paper boy brings more

And if the dam breaks open many years too soon
And if there is no room upon the hill
And if your head explodes with dark forbodings too
I'll see you on the dark side of the moon

The lunatic is in my head
The lunatic is in my head
You raise the blade, you make the change
you re-arrange me 'till I'm sane

You lock the door
And throw away the key
There's someone in my head but it's not me

And if the cloud bursts, thunder in your ear
You should and no one seems to hear
And if the band you're in starts playing different tunes
I'll see you on the dark side of the moon.

(CBS/AP) Rock music played lead in giving Hungarian baby boomers the resolve to bring down their communist state, says one of those reformers who today is a government official.

Andras Simonyi, Hungary's ambassador to the United States, spent an hour Saturday night discussing the impact of Western songs on Eastern European politics before an invitation-only audience of 250 at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

"Let me ask you, how many of you have ever played an air guitar?" he asked as he began his talk.

Quite a few hands went up in the invitation-only crowd of 250 Saturday night, indicating shared experiences with an imaginary instrument.

Simonyi, 51, was a devoted fan of the Beatles, Cream, Traffic and Jimi Hendrix when their releases weren't officially permitted in Hungary. Records and tapes sometimes were smuggled in or recorded from foreign radio broadcasts.

Hungary became a democracy in 1990 — after more than 40 years of communism. The nation of 10 million joined NATO in 1999 and will formally join the European Union on May 1, 2004.

"By keeping in touch with the music scene in the West, it kind of kept me sane and with the feeling I was part of the free world," said Simonyi, an economist by training.

The ambassador was introduced by defense and anti-terrorism consultant Jeff Baxter, who once played guitar with The Doobie Brothers and Steely Dan.

Baxter and Simonyi said they would like to establish an institute to study rock music's global influences.

"There is a commonality to the music and freedom," Baxter said. "To Andras, Western music was an open window of fresh air in a very repressive society."

"It was like a window to the free world," agreed Simonyi, in an interview with the Cleveland Plain Dealer.

"Most Hungarians didn't understand what these guys were singing about," Simonyi said. "The real power was in the music.

Simonyi impressed an audience member from Hungary.

"He represents quite well his generation," said Judit Gerencser, a 27-year-old student at Cleveland State University. "I have heard about this from my parents, but I never really heard about just how much this music was influential."

Simonyi formerly played guitar for Hungarian rock bands Locomotive GT and the Heavy Levy Marklin Blues Band. He said the bands would sometimes have their lyrics changed by authorities if it was determined that the songs were too negative about Hungarian life.

(CBS/AP) Righteous Brother Bobby Hatfield, who with partner Bill Medley pioneered "blue-eyed soul" with hits including "Unchained Melody" and "You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling," has died of undetermined causes at a hotel in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Hatfield was 63.

David Cohen, manager of the duo, says Hatfield's body was discovered in his bed at 7 p.m., a half hour before the rock and roll legends were to perform at Miller Auditorium on the Western Michigan University campus.

"It's a shock, a real shock," says Cohen, adding that Medley, who teamed up with Hatfield over 40 years ago, is "broken up. He's not even coherent."

The Kalamazoo Gazette reports Hatfield's body was taken from the Radisson Plaza Hotel directly to Lansing, where an autopsy will be done.

Miller Auditorium executive director Bill Biddle told the audience at 7:05 p.m. that the 7:30 p.m. show had been canceled because of "a personal emergency of an unspecified nature."

A hotel executive says Hatfield had been sleeping most of the day in his room. When he didn't answer a wakeup call at about 6 p.m., hotel staff and authorities entered the room and found Hatfield's body.

Robert Lee Hatfield was born Aug. 10, 1940 in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin. His family moved to Anaheim, California, when he was 4.

Hatfield organized singing and instrumental groups in high school while helping his parents with their dry cleaning business.

An avid athlete, Hatfield considered a career in professional baseball, but found his true calling in music - a love he pursued while attending Long Beach State University, where he formed a band and performed at bars and proms.

In 1962, he met Bill Medley, with whom he later formed the group The Righteous Brothers, whose lasting popularity and strong impact on music was recognized last spring with the duo's induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Their signature 1964 single, "You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling" - produced by Phil Spector - has been cited by numerous sources as the most-programmed song in radio history: played at least 8 million times - so far. Later 1960s hits included "Soul and Inspiration" and "Unchained Melody," which found a new audience in 1990 and earned a Grammy nomination as part of the soundtrack of the hit movie "Ghost."

After splitting up in 1968, they reunited in 1974 and returned to the top of the charts with "Rock and Roll Heaven."

Medley and Hatfield's songs resonated among other entertainers, as well as the public, and both "Unchained Melody" and "You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling" were Elvis Presley favorites during his last concerts in the 1970s.

Like Elvis, Medley and Hatfield owed a musical debt to black music.

The name of the Righteous Brothers dates back to Medley and Hatfield's very earliest performances, when they were part of a group called the Paramours. As the story goes, the guys were doing a gig in a bar when a black Marine in the audience shouted out his approval, saying: "That was righteous, brothers!"

In the past 20 years, the Brothers picked up new fans who heard their songs for the first time on the soundtracks of "Top Gun," "Naked Gun," and "Dirty Dancing."

"Movies," Hatfield once said, "introduced our music to a whole new generation of fans, for whom we are truly grateful."

Deja Vu
Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young

If I had ever been here before I would probably know just what to do
Don't you?
If I had ever been here before on another time around the wheel
I would probably know just how to deal
With all of you.
And I feel
Like I've been here before
Feel
Like I've been here before
And you know
It makes me wonder
What's going on under the ground

Do you know?
Don't you wonder?
What's going on down under you.

We have all been here before
We have all been here before
We have all been here before
We have all been here before

My posting on “Worst Career Moves” was meant just to be humorous, showing some of the stupid choices that musicians have made. More trivial than socially significant.

I was not offended by your post and your objections were worded kindly which I appreciate. It shows that you do have consideration for people with other opinions which is all too rare.

As far as being discordance noise makers I must disagree, although everyone is entitled to their view. If you want to call musicians rapists I strongly suggest that honor should go to our sports heroes who are much more deserving of that title.

As far as drug abuse goes I do agree with you that it is rampant in the music industry as much of the arts, as well as society all the way to the White House as was pointed out. I think it is a topic worth discussing as to why this is, but it’s not my intention at the moment, although anyone is welcome to bring it up.

I think your main objection is that the people I have been discussing are not familiar to you, you don’t like them and you are not interested in them anyways. Feel free to post on musicians that you are familiar with and that you do like. I’m sure we have some common ground and your input would be welcome, whether I or anyone else is familiar with them or not.

I feel that the musicians I have been talking about do make positive contributions, and they shouldn’t be written off with a broad brush saying they have negative attitudes. Righteous anger has its place, as well as rebellion and even sometimes giving the finger to “proper society”.

1. MICHAEL JACKSON INVITES HIS PLAYMATES TO SPEND THE NIGHT. Apparently, it never occurred to Jackson and many renowned advisers that it's one thing for a thirty-four-year-old man to dote on preteen and adolescent boys, quite another to sleep in the same bed with them.
2. MARVIN GAYE TELLS HIS FATHER WHAT HE REALLY THINKS. On April 1, 1984, Marvin informed his dad that he'd had enough of his s... and that he planned to f... him up. His father, Marvin Sr., replied by shooting him to death.
3. BUDDY HOLLY CONVINCES RITCHIE VALENS AND HE BIG BOPPER TO FLY AHEAD TO FARGO, TO GET THEIR LAUNDRY DONE. Actually, Buddy, Ritchie, and the Bopper had better reasons for trying to skip ahead of the rest of promoter Irving Feld's Winter Dance Party. For one thing, the heater on the tour bus didn't work; for another, they all needed some sleep. They found a lot more of it than they'd bargained for when their chartered prop plane smacked down in a cornfield just outside Clear Lake, Iowa, where they'd just played the Surf Ballroom. Others who've made similar errors include Lynyrd Skynyrd, whose plane crashed because it ran out of gas; Otis Redding, where bad weather may also have been the culprit; Stevie Ray Vaughan, who flew in a helicopter on a foggy night; Harry Chapin, who overestimated his own driving skills, despite a significant clue (his driver's license had been revoked); and Marc Bolan, who let his girlfriend drive.
4, JOHN LENNON MAKES ALLEN KLEIN THE REPLACEMENT FOR BRIAN EPSTEIN; GEORGE HARRISON AND RINGO STARR AGREE. Lennon once said that his pal Mick logger, who'd been involved with Klein for several years, told him "it's awfully hard to get your money." John took that to mean nothing more than that Klein kept his charges on a tight allowance. Eventually, even after Klein went to jail for selling copies of George Harrison's Bangladesh benefit album off the books, the Beatles regained control of their masters only after extensive, and expensive, litigation with Klein. The determination of Paul McCartney to avoid represented by Klein (he favored his brother-in-law John Eastman) broke up the band, killing the goose and the golden eggs that came with it in one fell swoop.
5. BILLY JOEL DIVORCES HIS WIFE-MANAGER, THEN DECIDES THE IDEAL REPLACEMENT WOULD BE HER BROTHER. It's one thing when Pat Benatar demolishes her career by insisting on having her husband Neil Geraldo produce her records It's another when Joel, having come out of a traumatizing divorce, decides the best possible choice to guide his career would be his ex-brother-in-law, Frank Webber, whose principal previous experience had been selling real estate. When the dust finally cleared, Joel alleged he was out millions and Webber went bankrupt, making them noncollectable.
6. MICK TAYLOR QUITS THE ROLLING STONES. Taylor, the guitarist who replaced Brian Jones, apparently concluded he'd acquired enough profile for a solo career after a doing a couple of tours and playing on Sticky Fingers and Exile on Main Street. He should have thought again, because while he never disappeared, Taylor never again came close to claiming anybody's full attention, either,
7. THE CLASH FIRE MICK JONES. For some bizarre reason, almost as soon as the world's premier punk band made its U.S. commercial breakthrough with "Rock the Casbah," singer Joe Strummer and bassist Paul Simonon decided they'd be better off without guitarist Mick Jones. Jones went on to nothing more than the reggafied mediocrity of Big Audio Dynamite. Strummer and Simonon, on the other hand, have yet to accomplish that much, either on their own or as the Clash. Unless there's a late nineties reunion tour in the offing, this qualifies as one of the biggest wastes in rock history. The parallel case (it even took place around the same time) saw the J. Geils Band fire frontman Peter Wolf, just as their career arced to the top. It descended far more rapidly than it had arisen when keyboardist Seth Justman, the new lead singer, proved he couldn't sing, a process that took all of an album.
8. PROFESSOR GRIFF GIVES AN INTERVIEW TO THE WASHINGTON TIMES. The Times, a right-wing Washington, D.C., newspaper, sent David Mills, a young black reporter, to query Griff, then Public Enemy's Minister of Information, about P.E.'s politics. Mills had heard Griff make anti-Semitic remarks at earlier speaking appearances, and without much prompting, Griff repeated them. The ugly, indefensible comments kicked off a farcical set of PR maneuvers that found Griff first fired then rehired, then fired again by P.E. leader Chuck D, Chuck D was blamed for what his sidekick said and for not getting rid of Griff quickly or decisively enough, Griff was never invited to defend himself by the major media outlets that attacked him, and P.E.'s career was virtually destroyed by the whole mess. At least it was a good career move for somebody, Mills wound up at The Washington Post, the respectable D.C. daily.
9. SLICK RICK DEALS WITH HIS COUSIN'S PERFIDY ALL BY HIMSELF. According to the story he told in court, Slick Rick found himself being exploited by his cousin, Mark Plummer So Rick shot Plummer, then tried to elude the cops in a high-speed chase that wound up with him crashing his Jeep, badly injuring himself, then being found guilty of attempted murder and be given a long jail sentence. Though Def Jam's Russell Simrm shrewdly got him out on bail long enough to stockpile a few albums worth of material, Slick Rick's career as one of the original street tough rappers closed out in consequence.
1O. OZZY OSBOURNE BITES A BAT. Actually, Ozzy didn't know he was biting off the head of a bat. He thought he'd been thrown a fake and bit its head off as a gag in the heat of a gig. The joke went down badly: He had to go through an extremely painful series of rabies shots. Ozzy did, however, deliberately bite the head off a dove at an Epic Records staff meeting, in an effort to make some sort of point now lost to history. These legends pursue him to this day, rendering ridiculous the career of one of heavy metal's most interesting record-makers.

More to come, From "The New Book Of Rock Lists" 1994

"I once went down to Neil Young's ranch and he rowed me out into the middle of a lake - putting my life in his hands once again. He waved at someone invisible and music started to play, in the countryside. I realized Neil had his house wired as the left speaker, and his barn wired as the right speaker. And Elliot Mazer, his engineer, said 'How is it?' And Neil shouted back 'More barn!'

- Graham Nash


"Crime In The City (Sixty To Zero Part 1)"
Neil Young


Well, the cop made the showdown
He was sure he was right
He had all of the lowdown
From the bank heist last night
His best friend was the robber
And his wife was a thief
All the children were killers
They couldn't get no relief
The bungalow was surrounded
When a voice loud and clear
Said, Come on out
with your hands up
Or we'll blow you out of here.
There was a face in the window
The TV cameras rolled
Then they cut to the announcer
And the story was told.

The artist looked at the producer
The producer sat back
He said, What we have got here
Is a perfect track
But we don't have a vocal
And we don't have a song
If we could get
these things accomplished
Nothin' else could go wrong.
So he balanced the ashtray
As he picked up the phone
And said, Send me a songwriter
Who's drifted far from home
And make sure that he's hungry
Make sure he's alone
Send me a cheeseburger
And a new Rolling Stone.
Yeah.

There's still crime in the city,
Said the cop on the beat,
I don't know if I can stop it
I feel like meat on the street
They paint my car like a target
I take my orders from fools
Meanwhile some kid
blows my head off
Well, I play by their rules
That's why I'm doin' it my way
I took the law in my hands

So here I am in the alleyway
A wad of cash in my pants
I get paid by a ten year old
He says he looks up to me
There's still crime in the city
But it's good to be free.
Yeah.

Now I come from a family
That has a broken home
Sometimes I talk to Daddy
On the telephone
When he says that he loves me
I know that he does
But I wish I could see him
I wish I knew where he was
But that's the way
all my friends are
Except maybe one or two
Wish I could
see him this weekend
Wish I could walk in his shoes
But now I'm doin' my own thing
Sometimes I'm good, then I'm bad
Although my home has been broken
It's the best home I ever had
Yeah.

Well, I keep gettin' younger
My life's been funny that way
Before I ever learned to talk
I forgot what to say
I sassed back to my mom
I sassed back to my teacher
I got thrown out of Bible school
For sassin' back at the preacher
Then I grew up to be a fireman
Put out every fire in town
Put out anything smokin'
But when I put the hose down
The judge sent me to prison
He gave me life without parole
Wish I never put the hose down
Wish I never got old.

Magenta, when I first read your letter I perceived it as a personal attack, then I reread it and saw that perhaps it wasn't, You seem to be railing against the human race (myself included?) because of the fact that I stated Lennon was only truly appreciated when he was dead. To a large extent this is true. You weren't born yet when he died so you weren't around to see it but the world went into shock for precisely this reason. He had been ignored and now he was gone.

I was a fan of his before but as I stated I became a bigger fan after. There isn't so much as you say a sickness in people it was the fact that Lennon hadn't been putting out music as good as he had done previously for years. Plus his relationship with Yoko soured a lot of people, blaming it for the breakup of the Beatles etc. After he died though there was more perspective-such as how he lived his whole life instead of what he had been doing the past few years. I don't see this as being unnatural or sick, I think it could be seen as very logical.


To put in some perspective this is from "The New Rolling Stone Record Guide" 1979. The period from Imagine up until before Double Fantasy.

* * * Imagine / Apple (1971) If JL/POB was sparked by the cry "The dream is over," the message of Imagine, a much more accessible pop album, was "Long live the dream": as a popular artist, the angry man simply could not endure without a dose of utopianism in his music, his sense of romance and his politics. Imagine, despite its notorious attack on Paul McCartney ("How Do You Sleep?"), felt like a breath of fresh air in 1971; "Gimme Some Truth," a nasty rocker, "Oh Yoko," an almost girl-groupish ditty and the lovely "Jealous Guy" still do. At this point, John seemed to know where he was going, and to be going in a good direction.
* Some Time in New York City / Apple (1972) * * Mind Games / Apple (1973)* * Walls and Bridges / Apple (1974)
It didn't seem that way after Some Time, a disastrous collaboration between John, Yoko and the leftish rock band Elephant's Memory. This was a two-LP set divided between horrendous Phil Spector-produced protest epics and live recordings (some with Frank Zappa): the politics were witless and the live jams mindless. After John's ideological flip-flops of the previous years (from the Maharishi to "peace" to primal therapy, each em­braced as an absolute Answer), it was hard to take his new political commitments seri­ously; here the question of taking his music seriously never came up.
Both Mind Games and Walls and Bridges were drastic retreats from the anti-pop stance of Some Time, and both produced hits: "Mind Games," the trendy "Whatever Gets You thru the Night" and "#9 Dream." The sound was lush and conven­tional, the singing assured, but there was no real point of view at work—no point at all, in fact, save for continuing a career for its own sake; only "Going Down on Love" (Walls) recalled the gutty realism of JL/ POB, which seemed very far away. Like so many veterans of the Sixties trapped in the Seventies, Lennon (by then the subject of a brutal but accurate parody on the National Lampoon's Radio Dinner LP) had no idea of how to relate to his audience: with what ap­peared to be panic, he substituted production techniques for soul, building a bridge to his listeners with his sound but erecting a wall around himself with empty music.
* * Rock & Roll / Apple (1975) Lennon knew it; he just didn't know what to do about it, and so, again like many others, he tried to escape a dead end by going back to his roots with an oldies album. Rock & Roll (1975, a year that also saw John pop­ping up on a couple of Elton John 45s) began as a collaboration with Phil Spector, who needed a shot of rhythm & blues as much as John did, but the partnership soon came to grief—as did most of the album. Remakes of "Stand by Me" and "Just Be­cause" were deeply touching, but with the rest of the tunes—mostly classic hard rock­ers—John never found a groove. And so, no doubt tired of his helpless drift back and forth between adventure (JL/POB, Some Time) and retreat (Imagine, Mind Games, Walls, R'n'R), Lennon shut up, his battle with Paul McCartney apparently conceded.


Now of course anyone can disagree with these reviews but I am just trying to show that he was not held in nearly the reverence he is today and why.

While he was alive he had 2 number one albums "Imagine" and "Walls and Bridges". Each one stayed at the number one spot for one week. After he died "Double Fantasy" stayed at the number one spot for eight weeks. His best album "Plastic Ono Band" only reached number 6.

PS. I noticed in the "10 reasons" list every song was from 1971 or earlier-none from the time period I have been talking about.

Thanks Magenta, easy question-hard answer. Up until John's death I would of said Paul. Paul was doing much better in his solo career, still considered a rocker and had put out some really good albums while John seemed to be out of focus. I saw McCartney's first tour (Wings Over America), it was great. But in the years since, Paul has become much more pop oriented while John's legacy has gotten stronger and stronger. I think John's murder made everyone much more aware of his human qualities and the strength of his music-When someone who is singing about peace and love gets killed it makes everything he said resonate much more and become more important. I probably would have preferred John's music more now anyways as I got older and my tastes changed, but his death definitely had an impact on his popularity and the way we look at him. I remember how Yoko was reviled by most of the people before, now their relationship has become a legend.
Also, much more is known about the Beatles music now, more than could ever be expected as far as writing and recording goes. Before as I'm sure you're aware of, Lennon/McCartney was thought of as a writing team when this in fact was a rarity. It's now known who did what in almost every facet of their recordings, so things like Lennon's humor and sarcasm are more easily recognizable.

I can't do this lol. It's not as I expected too many but not enough-Don't get me wrong there's probably at least 100 bands I like a lot but to get into my favorites they have to be indespensible and it seems for the most part individuals have taken up that spot. Has anyone else noticed this going through their collections that individual artists fill up much more space than groups? I'm skipping individuals with back up bands here too. Maybe, I can do it with qualifiers. In somewhat random order:

1. The Beatles-everything including bootlegs
2. The Rolling Stones-Through "Exile on Main Street"
3. Creedence Clearwater Revival-Everything
4. The Velvet Underground-Everything (Except the fake Velvet album "Squeeze" with only Doug Yule-no one considers this to be the Velvets anyways)
5. Pink Floyd-I've only got around half their pre-Dark Side stuff but I would say all that and up to and including "The Wall"
6. Genesis-Through "The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway"
7. Simon and Garfunkel-You can skip their first album.

Now here's where it get's easier-Groups I really like but wouldn't think fit in my top 10-Bauhaus ,The Stooges, King Crimson (all 3 incarnations of them but I liked the first best), The Violent Femmes, Dinosaur Jr., The Supremes, The Beach Boys (up through the "Surf's Up" time period), Traffic, Pearl Jam, AC/DC, The Band, early Chicago, Counting Crows, Love, The Lovin' Spoonful, Hole, Roxy Music, Public Image Ltd. (through "Flowers of Romance"), The Birthday Party (Need to have some alcohol though-pretty rough on sober ears), The Residents, Wall of Voodoo, Weather Report, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Magnetic Fields (69 Love Songs is the best set I've bought in years), Nirvana, Blue Oyster Cult (though Spectres), The Raincoats, The Clash, Talking Heads and of course The Who and Zeppelin... (I'll probably edit this and add to it over the next couple of days)

Singer/songwriter Warren Zevon dies
From staff reports-USA Today

Warren Zevon, who struggled with terminal cancer while finishing his latest album, The Wind, died Sunday in his sleep at his home in West Hollywood, Calif., a spokesman said. Zevon was 56. He was the author of such wry tunes as Werewolves of London and I'll Sleep When I'm Dead.

His illness, diagnosed a year ago, resonated in the lyrics of his new album. He beseeched in the fragile Please Stay, "Will you stay with me to the end?"

Zevon succumbed to mesothelioma, a rare lung cancer usually linked to asbestos.

Housebound because of his illness, Zevon finished The Wind by recording his last session at his home. He lived long enough to see his daughter Ariel give birth to twin boys in June.



The Indifference of Heaven
written by Warren Zevon 1993 Zevon Music BMI

Time marches on
Time stands still
Time on my hands
Time to kill
Blood on my hands
And my hands in the till
Down at the 7-11
Gentle rain
Falls on me
All life folds back
Into the sea
We contemplate eternity
Beneath the vast indifference of heaven

The past seems realer than the present to me now
I've got memories to last me
When the sky is gray
The way it is today
I remember the times when I was happy

Same old sun
Same old moon
It's the same old story
Same old tune
They all say
Someday soon
My sins will all be forgiven
Gentle rain
Falls on me
All life folds back
Into the sea
We contemplate eternity
Beneath the vast indifference of heaven

They say "Everything's all right"
They say "Better days are near"
They tell us "These are the good times"
But they don't live around here
Billy and Christie don't--
Bruce and Patti don't--
They don't live around here

I had a girl
Now she's gone
She left town
Town burned down
Nothing left
But the sound
Of the front door closing forever

Gentle rain
Falls on me
All life folds back
Into the sea
We contemplate eternity
Beneath the vast indifference of heaven

Thanks, Donna. Of course I was joking umh... are Terrence and Phillip considered a band?

This weeks topic-This will be part one of a two parter-we'll look at groups (and next week we'll look at individuals). Some suggestions off the top of my head- favorite groups or maybe split it up say favorite rock, punk, metal, disco, country, western, rap. jazz, soul, 80's, 60's, todays....English, American, Czech, Canadian..uh are there any Canadian groups? j/k, pick a country...I think it might be interesting if people would pick something their not familiar with also along with their favorites, for example I don't know anything about country but I'll try to come up with some. Please don't be limited by my suggestions either, worst bands might be fun-give a reason-and don't flame, we can disagree but we don't have to be insulting, anyways you get the idea...Top 10 lists might be a good way to put them down. How about unknown or unpopular but great bands etc.

After I get some sleep I'll work on giving some of the basic stuff such as top selling, hits etc.
Remember your posts aren't limited to the topic-anything you want to discuss about music is up for grabs.

Actually Chief they're all on the internet-I usually find them by just typing in the title and writing lyrics.

Cabaret soundtrack lyrics soundtrack
Cabaret soundtrack lyrics

Joyce Chittick---If You Could See Her Through My Eyes

EMCEE:
I know what you're thinking
You wonder why I chose her
Out of all the ladies in the world
That's just a first impression
What good's a first impression?
If you knew her like I do
It would change your point of view
If you could see her through my eyes
You wouldn't wonder at all
If you could see her through my eyes
I guarantee you would fall (like I did)
When we're in public together
I hear society moan
But if they could see her through my eyes
Maybe they'd leave us alone
(There you are, my Liebling. Your favorite!)
How can I speak of her virtues?
I don't know where to begin
She's clever, she's smart, she reads music
She doesn't smoke or drink gin (like I do)
Yet, when we're walking together
They sneer if I'm holding her hand
But if they could see her through my eyes
Maybe they'd all understand

Why can't they leave us alone?

Meine Damen und Herren, Mesdames et Messieurs
Ladies and Gentlemen
Is it a crime to fall in love?
Can we ever tell where the heart truly leads us?
All we are asking is eine bisschen Verständnis -
A little understanding -
Why can't the world 'leben und leben lassen'?
'Live and let live...'
I understand your objection
I grant you the problem's not small
But if you could see her through my eyes
She wouldn't look Jewish at all




this song was one of the most controversial. It is the reaction to Fraulein Schneider and Herr Schultz's relationship (to a different couple in the movie). At the end, when the Emcee says, "She wouldn't look Jewish at all," some took that as an anti-Semitism remark. I never did! I understood what was trying to be conveyed. The gorilla is a symbol of the Jew-- the audience laughs at first, but then they realize the propaganda they're supporting. The Emcee is saying that he loves her no matter what, and he does not see her as just being Jewish-- he sees her for every other quality. The song really is a kick in the ass. In the 60's, they briefly changed the ending to "meeskite," because of the outrage. Yet, not many know what the hell that is, and Joel Grey just kept slipping the original line in anyway. Now that a lot of the shame of the Holocaust has lifted and it's being more acknowledged, the lyrics remain true to the original. Plus, the song holds true to all prejudices, which obviously still run rampant.
(From the website on the play)

Thanks Darren :o)

If you've ever read the IYT Music board, you've wasted you're time. Much of it is idiotic name calling, flame wars and very little about music. I have read it for probably a couple of years and don't think I've learned a single thing, although like I said I wasted a lot of time. So when I started this board I tried to come up something to prevent that. My idea was to discuss one topic at a time and cover that in depth. It's become apparent to me that isn't the way to go about it. I still like the idea of covering topics in depth but by choosing and limiting them, it stifled the discussion instead of focusing it. So without further discussions about what we discuss it's time to open up the boards.

A little side note-As I said I didn't want this to end up like IYT, well this isn't IYT and the players here are nicer, more considerate and I don't think I should have worried about it.



MEA CULPA

written by Brian Eno & David Byrne

VOICE: Inflamed caller and smooth politician replying,
both unidentified. Radio call-in show, New York, July 1979.

What're you saying? He said "I'm sorry, I committed a sin, I made a mistake. I asked (?????) to forgive me... please forgive me." He said "Mea Culpa," can you put it better? "I'm saying I'm sorry, I made a mistake, I made... I committed a sin, I made a mistake. And I'm never gonna do it again, I never did it before and I'm never gonna do it again."

JUST WAITIN'

Recorded by Hank Williams, Sr.
Words and music by Hank Williams, Sr. and Bob Gazzaway

The old maid's waitin' for leap year to come
The crooner's Just Waitin' to sing
The old cow's standin' by the Bull Durham sign
Just a-Waitin' for the grass to turn green.

The bar-fly's waitin' for an easy mark
'N' the hitch-hiker's waitin' for a ride
The life-termer's waitin' for a prison break
The beachcomber's waitin' for the ride. (tide)

Farmer's daughter's waitin' for the salesman
To take her into town
The city slicker's waitin' for the country boy
To lay all his money down.

You know ev'rything comes to a standstill
Nothin' seems to make a turn
Worm must be waitin' for the early bird
I guess the early bird's waitin' for the worm.

Nobody wants to do nothin'
Just Waitin' to get a finger in the pie
Waitin' for a call from a big quiz show
Or hopin' and a-waitin'for some rich uncle to die.

Katy, she's waitin' at the garden gate
The moonshiner's waitin' at the still
'N' the gambler's still waitin' for that Ace in the hole
I guess Jack's still waitin' for Jill.

Ev'rybody's waitin' for som'thin'
Nothing seems to turn out right
'Cause the night shift's waitin' for mornin'
And the burglar Just Waitin' for night.

The congregation's waitin' for the preacher
Preacher Just Waitin' for the groom
The groom's Just Waitin' for the June bride
And the bride's Just Waitin' for June.

Sunflow'rs waitin' for the sunshine
Violets Just Waitin' for dew
Bees Just Waitin' for honey
And, honey, -- I'm -- Just -- Waitin' -- for -- you.

ARTIST: Creedence Clearwater Revival (John Fogarty)
TITLE: Lodi


Just about a year ago
I set out on the road
Seekin' my fame and fortune
Lookin' for a pot of gold
Thing got bad, and things got worse
I guess you know the tune
Oh, Lord, stuck in Lodi again

Rode in on the Greyhound
But I'll be walkin' out if I go
I was just passin' through
Must be seven months or more
Ran out of time and money
Looks like they took my friends
Oh, Lord, stuck in Lodi again

The man from the magazine
Said I was on my way
Somewhere I lost connection
Ran out of songs to play
I came into town, a one night stand
Looks like my plans fell through
Oh, Lord, stuck in Lodi again

If I only had a dollar
For ev'ry song I've sung
And ev'ry time I had to play
While people sat there drunk
You know, I'd catch the next train
Back to where I live
Oh, Lord, stuck in Lodi again
Oh, Lord, stuck in Lodi again

Punk rock's poet laureate, Patti Smith ranks among the most influential female rock & rollers of all time. Ambitious, unconventional, and challenging, Smith's music was hailed as the most exciting fusion of rock and poetry since Bob Dylan's heyday. If that hybrid remained distinctly uncommercial for much of her career, it wasn't a statement against accessibility so much as the simple fact that Smith followed her own muse wherever it took her — from structured rock songs to free-form experimentalism, or even completely out of music at times. Her most avant-garde outings drew a sense of improvisation and interplay from free jazz, though they remained firmly rooted in noisy, primitive three-chord rock & roll. She was a powerful concert presence, singing and chanting her lyrics in an untrained but expressive voice, whirling around the stage like an ecstatic shaman delivering incantations. A regular at CBGB's during the early days of New York punk, she was the first artist of the bunch to land a record deal and release an album, even beating the Ramones to the punch. The artiness and the amateurish musicianship of her work both had a major impact on the punk movement, whether in New York or England, whether among her contemporaries (Television, Richard Hell) or followers. (Source-All Music Guide-abbreviated because of length and a little content)


Farewell Reel

[this little song is for Fred: it's G, C, D, and D minor]

It's been a hard time
and when it rains
it rains on me
the sky just opens
and when it rains
it pours

I walk alone
assaulted it seems
by tears from heaven
and darling I can't help
thinking those tears are yours

Our wild love came from above
and wilder still
is the wind that howls
like a voice that knows it's gone
cause darling you died
and well I cried
but I'll get by
salute our love
and send you a smile
and move on

So darling farewell
all will be well
and then all will be fine
the children will rise
strong and happy be sure
cause your love flows
and the corn still grows
and God only knows
we're only given
as much as the heart can endure

But I don't know why
but when it rains
it rains on me
the sky just opens
and when it rains
it pours

But I look up
and a rainbow appears
like a smile from heaven
and darling I can't
help thinking that smile
is yours

One of the funniest things I ever saw was on the news a couple years ago when Hilliary Clinton was running for Senator in New York. She was at some kind of fundraiser or something-some kind of black tie affair. Anyways, they meant to play "New York State of Mind" instead they cued it to another song-"Captain Jack"-It was hilarious-the room was very quiet as it played, one of those uncomfortable silences. If you're at all familiar with it, it was about the worst song they could have picked. The news played it for a long time as it was priceless.


Billy Joel Captain Jack Lyrics

Saturday night and you're still hangin' around
Tired of livin' in your one-horse town
Like to find a little hole in the ground
For a while

So you go to the village in your tie-dye jeans
And you stare at the junkies and the closet queens
It's just like some pornographic magazine
And you smile

Captain Jack will get you high tonight
And take you to your special island
Captain Jack will get you by tonight
Just a little push and you'll be smilin'

Your sister's gone out. She's on a date
You just sit at home and masturbate
The phone is gonna ring soon but you just can't wait
For that call

So you stand on the corner in you New English clothes
And you look so polished from your hair down to your toes
But still your finger's gonna pick your nose
After all

But Captain Jack will get you high tonight
And take you to your special island
Captain Jack will get you by tonight
Just a little push 'n' you'll be smilin'
La da da, Oh yeah, yeah

So you decide to take a holiday
You got your tape deck and your brand new Chevrolet
Ah but there's no place to go anyway
And what for...
You've got everything, but nothing's cool
They've just found your father in the swimming pool
And you guess you won't be going back to school
Anymore...

But Captain Jack will get you high tonight
And take you to your special island
Captain Jack will get you by tonight
Just a little push 'n' you'll be smilin'
La da da, Oh yeah, yeah

So you play your albums and you smoke your pot
And you meet your girlfriend in the parking lot
Oh, but still you're aching for the things you have not got
What went wrong...
And if you can't understand why your world is so dead
And why you've got to keep in style and feed your head
Well, you're twenty-one and still your mother makes your bed
And that's too long...

But Captain Jack will get you high tonight
And take you to your special island
Captain Jack will get you by tonight
Just a little push 'n' you'll be smilin'
Yeah, Captain Jack will get you by tonight
Yeah, Captain Jack will get you by tonight

This is another one about Vietnam that was made into a video and got play on MTV. It was a great video.

Rooster
Alice In Chains

Ain't found a way to kill me yet
Eyes burn with stinging sweat
Seems every path leads me to nowhere
Wife and kids household pet
Army green was no safe bet
The bullets scream to me from somewhere
Here they come to snuff the rooster }
Yeah here come the rooster, yeah } (2x)
You know he ain't gonna die }
No, no, no, ya know he ain't gonna die }
Walkin' tall machine gun man
They spit on me in my home land
Gloria sent me pictures of my boy
Got my pills 'gainst mosquito death
My buddy's breathin' his dyin' breath
Oh god please won't you help me make it through
Here they come to snuff the rooster
Yeah here come the rooster, yeah
You know he ain't gonna die
No, no, no ya know he ain't gonna die

I remember when that one came, I really liked it. Never saw the video though.

Goodnight Saigon
Billy Joel

We met as soul mates on Parris Island.
We left as inmates from an asylum.
And we were sharp, as sharp as knives.
And we were so gung ho to lay down our lives.
We came in spastic like tameless horses.
We left in plastic as numbered corpses.
And we learned fast to travel light.
Our arms were heavy but our bellies were tight.
We had no home front, we had no soft soap.
They sent us Playboy, they gave us Bob Hope.
We dug in deep and shot on sight and
prayed to Jesus Christ with all our might.

We had no cameras to shoot the landscape.
We passed the hash pipe and played our Doors tapes.
And it was dark, so dark at night.
And we held on to each other like brother to brother,
we promised our mothers we'd write.
And we would all go down together,
we said we'd all go down together.
Yes, we would all go down together.

Remember Charlie? Remember Baker?
They left their childhood on every acre.
And who was wrong? And who was right?
It didn't matter in the thick of the fight

We held the day in the palm of our hand.
They ruled the night
and the night seemed to last as long
as six weeks on Parris Island.
We held the coastline, they held the highlands.
And they were sharp, as sharp as knives.
They heard the hum of our motors,
they counted the rotors and waited for us to arrive.
And we would all go down together,
we said we'd all go down together.
Yes, we would all go down together.

I always thought this was about Vietnam:

Kansas - Carry On Wayward Son

Carry on Wayward Son:
---------------------

Carry on my wayward son
There'll be peace when you are done
Lay your weary head to rest
Don't you cry no more
Once I rose above the noise and confusion
Just to get a glimpse beyond this illusion
I was soaring ever higher
But I flew too high
Though my eyes could see I still was a blind man
Though my mind could think I still was a mad man
I can hear the voices when I'm dreaming
I can hear them say
Carry on my wayward son
There'll be peace when you are done
Lay your weary head to rest
Don't you cry no more
Masquerading as a man with a reason
My charade is the event of the season
And if I claim to be a wise man
It surely means that I don't know
On a stormy sea of moving emotion
Tossed about I'm like a ship on the ocean
I set a course for winds of fortune
But I hear the voices say
Carry on my wayward son
There'll be peace when you are done
Lay your weary head to rest
Don't you cry no more
No!
Carry on
You will always remember
Carry on
Nothing equals the splendor
Now your life's no longer empty
Surely heaven waits for you
Carry on my wayward son
There'll be peace when you are done
Lay your weary head to rest
Don't you cry no more

Singer/songwriter Phil Ochs was a self-coined "singing journalist" when he began performing in New York in the early '60s. Like Bob Dylan, the rival who always outpaced him, Ochs made his reputation singing topical protest songs. He stayed with them much longer than Dylan (and indeed would never really abandon them), but eventually he too would follow Dylan into electric music and more personal, abstract, and romantic compositions. Ochs came off as a perennial second-best to critics during his heyday. It was only after his tragic tailspin and eventual death that he was properly appreciated as one of the most sincere and humane songwriters of his day, whether detailing political atrocities or more poetic concerns.

Ochs moved from Ohio to New York in the early '60s, and was soon a prolific writer of the topical, left-leaning protest songs then in vogue. His initial recording efforts, heard on compilations for Broadside, Folkways, and Vanguard, were rather dry and instantly dated. By the time made his Elektra debut in 1964 with All the News That's Fit to Sing, Ochs was finding his own voice — more melodic than Dylan (if not as lyrically innovative), its strident accusations tempered by a warm delivery and underlying compassion. With second guitar by Danny Kalb (later of the Blues Project), his first album was highlighted by "Power and the Glory" and "Bound for Glory," as well as an adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe's "The Bells." The similar follow-up I Ain't Marching Any More (1965) gave the anti-war movement two rallying calls with the title track and "Draft Dodger Rag," along with a moving civil-rights piece, "Here's to the State of Mississippi."

Ochs addressed all manner of anti-war, civil rights, labor, and social justice issues on his first albums, the best of which was In Concert (1966). Ochs' social criticism was deepening in acuity, as heard on "Canons of Christianity," "Cops of the World," and the satirical "Love Me, I'm a Liberal." But he also began to move into non-political subjects with equal or greater effect, as on "There But for Fortune" and "Changes," his most famous love song.

In Concert was Ochs' final acoustic album. He'd already moved into electric rock with a fine (though flop) single-only version of "I Ain't Marching Anymore." In 1967, he broke from his acoustic folk troubadour image with a vengeance, leaving Elektra for A&M and moving to Los Angeles. There he plunged into Baroque folk-rock, with mixed results. Some of the tracks on his late-'60s A&M records are among the best he ever did, especially the devastating social apathy parody "Outside a Small Circle of Friends." On others, he seemed to be overreaching or straining for highbrow poetry. The L.A. session production sometimes enhanced his musical settings, but the more elaborate and pretentious arrangements worked against the material just as often.

Ochs hadn't forsaken his political commitments, appearing at the violence-riddled 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago. By 1969's Rehearsals of Retirement, some weariness and disenchantment with idealism was beginning to seep into both his compositions and his singing. The problems became more acute with 1970's facetiously titled Greatest Hits, when the standard of his material began to drop noticeably.

Although it wasn't foreseen at the time, Greatest Hits was his last studio album. Ochs did remain active, recording a live LP (initially released only in Canada) that excited controversy with its strange mix of original songs and unexpected covers of old rock & roll tunes by Elvis Presley and Buddy Holly, performed in a gold lamé suit. The '50s revival act was received poorly by an audience accustomed to a folkie troubadour, but that was among the least of Ochs' obstacles. His well of original compositions had run dry, and he was developing severe alcohol and psychological problems. In a mysterious mugging incident in Africa, his voice was permanently damaged. Ochs did record a couple of flop singles in the early '70s, but by the middle of the decade he was largely inactive, and afflicted with serious depression. In early 1976, he hanged himself at his sister's suburban home. (All Music Guide)



Cops of the World
(Phil Ochs)-first released in 1966

Come, get out of the way, boys
Quick, get out of the way
You'd better watch what you say, boys
Better watch what you say
We've rammed in your harbor and tied to your port
And our pistols are hungry and our tempers are short
So bring your daughters around to the port
Cause we're the Cops of the World, boys
We're the Cops of the World

We pick and choose as please, boys
Pick and choose as please
You'd best get down on your knees, boys
Best get down on your knees
We're hairy and horny and ready to shack
We don't care if you're yellow or black
Just take off your clothes and lie down on your back
'Cause we're the Cops of the World, boys
We're the Cops of the World

Our boots are needing a shine, boys
Boots are needing a shine
But our Coca-cola is fine, boys
Coca-cola is fine
We've got to protect all our citizens fair
So we'll send a battalion for everyone there
And maybe we'll leave in a couple of years
'Cause we're the Cops of the World, boys
We're the Cops of the World

Dump the reds in a pile, boys
Dump the reds in a pile
You'd better wipe of that smile, boys
Better wipe off that smile
We'll spit through the streets of the cities we wreck
We'll find you a leader that you can't elect
Those treaties we sighned were a pain in the neck
'Cause we're the Cops of the World, boys
We're the Cops of the World

Clean the johns with a rag, boys
Clean the johns with a rag
If you like you can use your flag, boys
If you like you can use your flag
We've got too much money we're looking for toys
And guns will be guns and boys will be boys
But we'll gladly pay for all we destroy
'Cause we're the Cops of the World, boys
We're the Cops of the World

Please stay off of the grass, boys
Please stay off of the grass
Here's a kick in the ass, boys
Here's a kick in the ass
We'll smash down your doors, we don't bother to knock
We've done it before, so why all the shock?
We're the biggest and toughest kids on the block
'Cause we're the Cops of the World, boys
We're the Cops of the World

When we butchered your son, boys
When we butchered your son
Have a stick of our gum, boys
Have a stick of our buble-gum
We own half the world, oh say can you see
The name for our profits is democracy
So, like it or not, you will have to be free
'Cause we're the Cops of the World, boys
We're the Cops of the World

<THE EIGHTIES AND NINETIES
1. PRINCE—"When Doves Cry," "1999," "Little Red Cor­vette," "Delirious," "Kiss," "Let's Go Crazy," "When You Were Mine," "U Got the Look," "Manic Monday," "Sign O' the Times," "Raspberry Beret," "Controversy," "Sugar Walls," "I Wanna Be Your Lover," "If I Was Your Girlfriend."
2. CHUCK D (PUBLIC ENEMY)—"Bring the Noise," "Don't Believe the Hype," "Welcome to the Terrordome," "She Watch Channel Zero?!," "By the Time I Get to Arizona," "How to Kill a Radio Consultant," "Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos," "Rebel Without a Pause," "Sophisticated Bitch," "Cold Lampin' with Flavor," "Yo! Bum Rush the Show," "Can't Truss It."
3. STING (THE POLICE)—"Every Breath You Take," "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic," "Wrapped Around Your Finger," "Don't Stand So Close to Me," "King of Pain," "Fortress Around Your Heart," "If You Love Somebody Set Them Free," "All This Time," "Do Do Do Do, De Da Da Da," "Money for Nothing," "Russians."
4. DON HENLEY—Ex-Eagle; always with collaborator "The Boys of Summer," "The Heart of the Matter," "The End Of the Innocence," "The Last Worthless Evening," "Dirty Laundry " "All She Wants to Do Is Dance," "Desperado," "Hotel California,'" "Heartache Tonight," "Life in the Fast Lane," "New Kid in Town," "I Will Not Go Quietly."
5. RUN-DMC (RUN, D.M.C., JAM MASTER JAY)— "It's Like That," "Sucker M.C.'s (Krush Groove 1)," "You Be Illin'," "King of Rock," "Rock Box," "Jam-Master Jammin'," "It's Tricky," "Jam-Master Jay," "My Adidas," "Can You Rock It Like This," "Roots, Rap, Reggae," "Run's House," "Christmas in Hol-lis."
6. PETER GABRIEL—"Sledgehammer," "Biko," "Shock the Monkey," "Big Time," "Don't Give Up," "Red Rain," "Sols-bury Hill," "Games Without Frontiers," "In Your Eyes." His solo albums have musical, not necessarily thematic, links. Earlier works with Genesis were more conceptual.
7. L.A. AND BABYFACE (ANTONIO "L.A." REID AND KENNETH "BABYFACE" EDMONDS)—Revivers of R&B on hip-hop's terms. "Girlfriend," "It's No Crime," "Tender Lover," "My Kinda Girl," "Whip Appeal," "Superwoman," "Rock Wit-cha," "Don't Be Cruel," "Humpin' Around," "Body Talk," "I'm Your Baby Tonight," "Miracle," "Every Little Step," "Dial My Heart."
8. DAVID BYRNE—"Life During Wartime," "Burning Down the House," "Once in a Lifetime," "Road to Nowhere," "And She Was," "Wild Wild Life," "Psychokiller," "Love > Building On Fire," "Don't Worry About the Government," "The Big Country, "Stay Up Late."
9. CHRISSIE HYNDE (PRETENDERS) Brass in Pocket, "Back on the Chain Gang," "Middle of the Road," "Talk of the Town," "Message of Love," "Kid," "Precious," "2000 Miles, "My City Was Gone," "Don't Get Me Wrong," "Hymn to Her, "Up the Neck."
10. GUNS N' ROSES (IZZY STRADLIN, AXL ROSE, DUFF McKAGAN, SLASH)—"Welcome to the Jungle," "Sweet Child O' Mine," "Don't Cry," "Mr. Brownstone," "Paradise City," "Civil War," "November Rain," "Get in the Ring'" "Nighttrain'" "Coma"
11. ICE CUBE—"F—— Tha Police," "Dead Homiez", "The Drive-By," "It Was a Good Day," "Jackin' for Beats, "Wrong Nigga to F--- Wit'," "Steady Mobbin'," "Gangsta's Fairytail" "AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted," "Gangsta Gangsta," "Endangered Species (Tales from the Darkside)," "Dopeman."
12. PAUL WESTERBERG (THE REPLACEMENTS) — "Left of the Dial," "Bastards of Young," "Can't Hardly Wait," "Here Comes a Regular," "Achin' to Be," "I'll Be You," "All Shook Down," "Swingin' Party," "Alex Chilton," "Waitress in the Sky."
13. RICHARD THOMPSON — "Shoot Out the Lights," "Wall of Death," "Back Street Slide," "Tear Stained Letter," "Calvary Cross," "Twisted," "Waltzing' s for Dreamers," "Walking on a Wire," "Small Town Romance," "Jet Plane in a Rocking Chair," "Hokey Pokey (The Ice Cream Song)," "Hand of Kindness."
14. TRACY CHAPMAN — "Fast Car, " "Talkin' 'Bout a Revo­lution," "Bang Bang Bang," "Baby Can I Hold You," "For My Lover," "I Used to Be a Sailor," "Matters of the Heart," "Cross­roads," "All that You Have Is Your Soul," "Dreaming on a World," "This Time," "If Not Now ..."
15. SIR-MIX-A-LOT— "Baby Got Back," "My Hooptie," "National Anthem," "Beepers," "One Time's Got No Case," "Swap Meet Louie," "Posse on Broadway," "Cortex," "Mack Daddy," "Seminar," "Something About My Benzo," "Hip Hop Soldier."
16. JOHN HIATT — "Thing Called Love," "Sure As I'm Sittin' Here," "She Loves the Jerk," "The Way We Make a Broken Heart," "It Hasn't Happened Yet," "Alone in the Dark," "Feels Like Rain," "Tip of My Tongue," "Have a Little Faith in Me," "Memphis in the Meantime," "Tennessee Plates."
17. MARSHALL CRENSHAW — "Someday, Someway," "Cynical Girl," "Rockin' Around in N.Y.C.," "The Usual Thing," "Brand New Lover," "She Can't Dance," "There She Goes Again," "Something's Gonna Happen," "Our Town," "Someplace Where Love Can't Find Me," "Whenever You're On My Mind."
18. U2 (BONO AND THE EDGE) — "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For," "One," "With or Without You," "Silver and Gold," "I Will Follow," "All I Want Is You," "New Year's PaY," "Sunday Bloody Sunday," "Pride (In the Name of Love)," "Eleven O'Clock Tick Tock," "When Love Comes to Town," "Gloria."
19. TERENCE TRENT D'ARBY— Introducing the Hardline Ac­cording to Terence Trent D'Arty, Terence Trent D' Arty's Neither Fish nor and Terence Trent Dy Arty's Symphony or Damn.
20. DAVID BAERWALD — Most politically (and perhaps rhythmically) sophisticated of nineties singer-songwriters. With David and David (Ricketts): Welcome to the Boomtown. On his own, Bedtime Stories and Triage.
21. MICHAEL STIPE (R.E.M.) — "Radio Free Europe," Fall on Me," "It's the End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)," "Losing My Religion," "So. Central Rain (I'm Sorry)," "Man on the Moon," "The One I Love," "Maps and Legends," "Ages of You," "Burning Down," "Shiny Happy People."
22. STEVIE NICKS (FLEETWOOD MAC) Edge of Sev­enteen," "Rhiannon," "Stand Back," "Sara," "Rooms on Fire," "Dreams," "If Anyone Falls," "Whole Lotta Trouble," "Beauty and the Beast," "I Can't Wait."
23. CULTURE CLUB (BOY GEORGE AND JON MOSS))— "Do You Really Want to Hurt Me," "Church of the Poison Mind," "Kharma Chameleon," "Miss Me Blind," "Time (Clock of the Heart)," "War Song," "Mistake No. 3," "I'll Tumble 4 Ya."
24. MADONNA—Almost always with collaborators. "Live to Tell," "Like a Prayer," "True Blue," "Express Yourself," "Open Your Heart," "Cherish," "Lucky Star," "Into the Groove," "Vogue."
25. ROSANNE CASH—"Seven Year Ache," "Hold On," "Blue Moon with Heartache," "I Don't Know Why You Don't Want Me," "If There's a God on My Side," "Seventh Avenue," "The Real Me."


(Source-The New Book of Rock Lists)

Political Science
Randy Newman


No one likes us-I don't know why
We may not be perfect, but heaven knows we try
But all around, even our old friends put us down
Let's drop the big one and see what happens

We give them money-but are they grateful?
No, they're spiteful and they're hateful
They don't respect us-so let's surprise them
We'll drop the big one and pulverize them

Asia's crowded and Europe's too old
Africa is far too hot
And Canada's too cold
And South America stole our name
Let's drop the big one
There'll be no one left to blame us

We'll save Australia
Don't wanna hurt no kangaroo
We'll build an All American amusement park there
They got surfin', too

Boom goes London and boom Paree
More room for you and more room for me
And every city the whole world round
Will just be another American town
Oh, how peaceful it will be
We'll set everybody free
You'll wear a Japanese kimono
And there'll be Italian shoes for me

They all hate us anyhow
So let's drop the big one now
Let's drop the big one now

THE SEVENTIES
1. STEVIE WONDER—The most important R&B artist to emerge in the decade and the best love songwriter, period. "Super­stition," "Signed, Sealed, Delivered I'm Yours," "Higher Ground," "I Was Made to Love Her," "Uptight," "I Wish," "Living for the City," "Sir Duke," "Isn't She Lovely," "You Haven't Done Nothin'," "Don't You Worry 'bout a Thing," "You are the Sunshine of My Life."
2. BOB MARLEY—"I Shot the Sheriff," "Get Up Stand Up," "No Woman, No Cry," "Lively Up Yourself," "Stir It Up," "Trenchtown Rock," "Redemption Song," "One Love," "Bend Down Low," "Could You Be Loved," "Duppy Conqueror," "Small Axe," "Guava Jelly," "Jammin'," "Waiting in Vain."
3. BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN —The bridge between DY"lanesque singer-songwriters and Stones/Byrds-influenced heartland rockers. "Born to Run," "Born in the U.S.A.," "Badlands," "Dark­ness on the Edge of Town," "The River," "Hungry Heart," "Be­cause the Night," "Prove It All Night," "Dancing in the Dark," "Brilliant Disguise," "Glory Days," "Fire," "Cover Me," "Spirit in the Night," "Thunder Road."
4. JONI MITCHELL—Prince's favorite songwriter. "You Turn Me On, I'm a Radio," "Blue," "Woodstock," "Both Sides Now (Clouds)," "Carey," "A Free Man in Paris," "Circle Game," "Big Yellow Taxi," "For the Roses," "Help Me," "Song to a Sea­gull," "Chelsea Morning," "Blonde in the Bleachers."
5. VAN MORRISON—"Gloria," "Domino," "Jackie Wilson Said (I'm in Heaven When You Smile)," "Brown Eyed Girl," "Wild Night," "Moondance," "Caravan," "Cypress Avenue," "Crazy Love," "Someone Like You," "Into the Mystic," and the most soulful, bluesy, occasionally even rocking series of New Age albums ever made, from Astral Weeks to whatever he's up to this year.
6. KENNETH GAMBLE AND LEON HUFF—Architects of The Sound of Philadelphia, Motown's first heir and disco's direct precursor. "Love Train," "Cowboys to Girls," "Don't Leave Me This Way," "Drowning in the Sea of Love," "Hey, Western Union Man," "Expressway to Your Heart," "For the Love of Money," "If You Don't Know Me by Now," "Me and Mrs. Jones," "Only the Strong Survive," "Use Ta Be My Girl," "When Will I See You Again."
7. GEORGE CLINTON—Composer of all the Parliament/ Funkadelic albums. "One Nation Under a Groove," "Give Up the Funk (Tear the Roof Off the Sucker)," "Flash Light," "I Wanna Testify," "The Big Bang Theory," "Funkentelechy," "Mothership Connection," "Cosmic Slop," "Standing on the Verge of Getting It On," "Let's Take It to the Stage," "Up for the Down Stroke."
B. RONNIE VAN ZANT(LYNRD SKYNARD)—"Free Bird," "Sweet Home Alabama," "Gimme Three Steps," "Saturday Night Special," "Was I Right or Wrong," "Workin' for MCA," "Don't Ask Me No Questions," "The Ballad of Curtis Lowe," "The Needle and the Spoon," "What's Your Name," "That Smell," "You Got That Right."
9. LEONARD COHEN—The only song-poet worth the name."Bird on the Wire," "Suzanne," "Sisters of Mercy," "Hey, That'sNo Way to Say Goodbye," "The Traitor," "Our Lady of Solitude," "Democracy," "First We Take Manhattan," "I'm Your Man," Lady Midnight," "Famous Blue Raincoat," "Who By Fire."
10. NEIL YOUNG—Auteur of a series of artsy-electro-folk-rockabilly albums. "Helpless," "Hey Hey, My My (Out of the Blue And into the Black)," "Like a Hurricane," "Ohio," "Heart of ," "Only Love Can Break Your Heart," "Rockin' in the FreeWorld," "Cortez the Killer," "Powderfinger," "Tonight's the Night," "Cowgirl in the Sand," "Everybody Knows This is No­where," "Mr. Soul."
11. WALTER BECKER AND DONALD FAGEN (STEELYE DAN)Auteurs of a series of fussy-artsy, electro-jazzbo albums. "Bodhisattva," "Do It Again," "Hey Nineteen," "Bad Sneakers," "Josie," "Peg," "Reeling in the Years," "Rikki Don't Lose That Number," "Deacon Blues," "Chain Lightning," "Black Cow," "Black Friday."
12. THOM BELL AND LINDA CREED—"Betcha By Golly Wow," "Break Up to Make Up," "Rockin' Roll Baby," "Didn't I (Blow Your Mind This Time)," "Rubberband Man," "I'm Stone in Love with You," "You Are Everything," "You Make Me Feel Brand New," "La La (Means I Love You)."
13. RANDY NEWMAN—"I Love L.A.," "Sail Away," "Let's Burn Down the Cornfield," "Dayton, Ohio, 1903," "Burn On, Big River," "Baltimore," "Davey the Fat Boy," "Simon Smith and the Amazing Dancing Bear," "Mama Told Me Not to Come," "I Think It's Going to Rain Today," "Short People."
14. JOE STRUMMER AND MICK JONES (THE CLASH) —"Rock the Casbah," "Train in Vain," "Lost in the Supermarket," "White Riot," "1977," "Career Opportunities," "Garageland," "Complete Control," "I'm So Bored with the U.S.A.," "White Man in Hammersmith Palais," "London Calling," "Should I Stay or Should I Go."
15. MAURICE WHITE (EARTH, WIND, AND FIRE)Ser­pentine Fire," "Shining Star," "Let's Groove," "Saturday Night," "Evil," "September," "That's the Way of the World," "Best of My Love," "Kalimba Story," "In the Stone," "Fall in Love with Me," "Reasons."
16. JACKSON BROWNE—Prince of Singer-Songwriters, Pa­cific Division. "Running on Empty," "The Pretender," "Lawyers in Love," "These Days," "Doctor My Eyes," "For a Dancer," "Take It Easy," "Before the Deluge," "The Load Out," "Some­body's Baby," "Redneck Friend," "Ready or Not."
17. JOHN PRINE—Prince of Singer-Songwriters, Appala­chian Division. "Hello in There," "Sam Stone," "Jesus The Miss­ing Years," "Unwed Fathers," "If You Don't Want My Love," "That's the Way That the World Goes 'Round," "Angel from Mont­gomery," "Illegal Smile," "Six O'Clock News," "Souvenirs," "Sabu Visits the Twin Cities Alone."
18. JAMES TAYLOR—Prince of Singer-Songwriters, Atlantic Division. "Fire and Rain," "Sweet Baby James," "Country Road," "Steamroller," "Don't Let Me Be Lonely Tonight," "Carolina in My Mind," "Something in the Way She Moves," "Frozen Man, "Copperline," "Hey Mister, That's Me Up on the Juke Box."
19. MARVIN GAYE—"What's Going On," "Inner City Blues," "Let's Get It On," "Dancing in the Street," "Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)," "Sexual Healing," "Come Get to This," "Dis­tant Lover," "Pride and Joy," "Trouble Man," "Baby, I'm for Real," "Beechwood4-5789," "Bells."
20. PATTI SMITH—More than any great songwriter except Leonard Cohen, Smith's albums contain almost inseparable compo­sitions. Best known for "Because the Night," "Horses," "Land" (a rewrite of "Land of a Thousand Dances"), "Free Money," "Piss Factory," "Frederick," "Hymn," "People Have the Power," "Piss­ing in a River," "Radio Ethiopia."
21. ELVIS COSTELLO—"Less Than Zero," "Alison," "The Angels Wanna Wear My Red Shoes," "Everyday I Write the Book," "Watching the Detectives," "Pump It Up," "Accidents Will Happen," "Oliver's Army," "downtime is Over," "Peace in Our Time," "Shipbuilding," "Pills and Soap."
22. BOB SEGER—"Night Moves," "Ramblin' Gamblin' Man," "Get Out of Denver," "Katmandu," "Roll Me Away," "Still the Same," "We've Got Tonight," "Beautiful Loser," "Back in 72," "Turn the Page," "Rock and Roll Never Forgets," "Heart­ache Tonight," "Sock It To Me Santa," "Lookin' Back."
23. CHRISTINE McVIE (FLEETWOOD MAC)- Gems bur­ied amidst semisoft-rock claptrap. "You Make Loving Fun," "Don't Stop," "Little Lies," "Over My Head," "Hold Me," "Say You Love Me," "Got a Hold On Me."
24. LOU REED (VELVET UNDERGROUND) Master of psycho-song cycles; laconic poet of decadence. "Sweet Jane," "Rock and Roll," "Heroin," "I'm Waiting for the Man," "Walk on the Wild Side," "Pale Blue Eyes," "Coney Island Baby," "Street Hassle," "I Love You Suzanne," "Venus in Furs," "Sister Ray."
25. THE SEX PISTOLS (WITH GLEN MATLOCK)—"Anar­chy in the U.K.," "God Save the Queen," "Holidays in the Sun," "Pretty Vacant," "Bodies." Slim pickings but revolutionary ones.

(Source-The New Book of Rock Lists)

LOL, That's great! Were you in a band?

I was growing up in the late 60's and early 70's and I tend to agree with you, but I don't think it's because todays music is so bad. I think it's because it's become such more of a product than an art form that much of what is popular today is so bad. In my mind I can see the executives asking not is it any good but how is the best way to market it. And if something doesn't fit in with a preconceived audience there is a good chance it won't get played.

THE SIXTIES
1. BOB DYLAN—"Like a Rolling Stone," "Don't Think Twice, It's ll Right," "Mr. Tambourine Man," "A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall," "Quinn the Eskimo," "Girl from the North Country," "The Times They Are A-Changin'," "All Along the Watch-tower," "My Back Pages," "The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll," plus such albums as The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan, The Times They Are A-Changin', Another Side of Bob Dylan, Bringing It All Back Home, Highway 61 Revisited, Blonde on Blonde, John Wesley Harding The best credentials here before you start talking about influ­ence.
2. BRIAN HOLLAND, LAMONT DOZIER, AND EDDIE HOLLAND—"Where Did Our Love Go," "Reach Out I'll Be There," "Stop! In the Name of Love," "Heat Wave," "Berna-dette," "Standing in the Shadows of Love," "You Keep Me Hangin' On." "I Can't Help Myself," "Back in My Arms Again," "Nowhere to Run," "How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved by You)," "Please Mr. Postman," "You Can't Hurry Love," "Wonderful One." A deeper catalogue than Lennon and McCartney's and with an effect nearly as revolutionary as Dylan's,
3. JOHN LENNON AND PAUL McCARTNEY—"She Loves You," "I Want to Hold Your Hand," "Please Please Me," "Love Me Do," "A Hard Day's Night," "Help!," "Yesterday," and a couple dozen others—all before they created Rubber Soul, Revolver, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, and Abbey Road. Their tandem supremacy works to the detriment of their solo work but John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band, Imagine, and Band on the Run are rife with songs for which other songwriters would sell their careers.
4. MICK JAGGER AND KEITH RICHARDS—"Satisfac­tion," "Get Off of My Cloud," "Jumping Jack Flash," "Street fighting Man," "As Tears Go By," "Honky Tonk Woman," "Gimme Shelter," "You Can't Always Get What You Want," "Sym­pathy for the Devil," "Tumbling Dice," plus albums like Aftermath, Between the Buttons, Beggars Banquet, Let It Bleed, and Exile on Main Street.
5. SMOKEY ROBINSON—"My Girl," "My Guy," "The [racks of My Tears," "Don't Look Back," "I Second That Emo­tion," "My Girl Has Gone," "I'll Be Doggone," "Ain't That Pecu-liar'" "Get Ready," "Tears of a Clown," "Ooo Baby Baby," "The Way You Do the Things You Do," "Cruisin." Also the 1965 LP The Temptations Sing Smokey, That's why Bob Dylan called him "America's greatest living poet."
6. CURTIS MAYFIELD—"For Your Precious Love," "He Will Break Your Heart," "Gypsy Woman," "It's All Right," "l'm So Proud," "Keep on Pushing," "People Get Ready," "Choice of Colors," "This Is My Country," "We the People Who Are Darker than Blue," "Monkey Time." Also composed the soundtracks to Superfly and Aretha Franklin's Sparkle, including "Something He Can Feel."
7. JEFF BARRY AND ELLIE GREENWICH—"Da Doo Ron Ron," "Then He Kissed Me," "Be My Baby," "Baby I Love You," "I Can Hear Music," "River Deep Mountain High," "Do Wah Diddy Diddy," "What A Guy," "Chapel of Love," "The Leader of the Pack," "Hanky Panky," "Why Do Lovers Break Each Other's Hearts."
B. ISAAC HAYES AND DAVID PORTER—All of Sam and Dave's hits, including "Hold On, I'm Comin'," "Soul Man," "When Something Is Wrong with My Baby," "I Thank You," "Wrap It Up." Also Carla Thomas's "B-A-B-Y" and Mabel John's "Your Good Thing (Is About to End)." On his own, Hayes created "Theme from Shaft," followed by excellent scores for Truck Turner and Tough Guys.
9. GERRY GOFFIN AND CAROLE KING—"Will You Love Me Tomorrow," "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman," "Who Put the Bomp," "Take Good Care of My Baby," "The Loco-Motion," "Up on the Roof," "Chains," "One Fine Day," "I'm Into Something Good." King wrote some of the best singer-songwriter hits, notably on the massive Tapestry, which in­cluded "You've Got a Friend" and "It's Too Late." Goffin, the lyricist, cowrote Gladys Knight's "I've Got to Use My Imagination," Whitney Houston's "Saving All My Love for You," and more.
10. PETE TOWNSHEND—Adolescent anthems—"My Gen­eration," "Substitute," "Pictures of Lily," "I'm a Boy," and other early Who singles—gave way to concept albums like The Who Sell Out, then "rock operas" Tommy and Quadrophema. Also composed fine songs for his numerous solo albums.
1 l . BRIAN WILSON—"Shut Down," "Surfer Girl," "In My Room," "Don't Worry Baby," "I Get Around," "Wendy," "Help Me Rhonda," "California Girls," "Wouldn't It Be Nice," "God Only Knows," "Caroline No," "Good Vibrations," Pet Sounds, "Wild Honey," "Do It Again."
12. NICKOLAS ASHFORD AND VALARIE SIMPSON— "Ain't No Mountain High Enough," "Let's Go Get Stoned,' "Solid," "I Don't Need No Doctor," "Ain't Nothing Like the Real Thing," "You're All I Need to Get By," "Reach Out and Touch (Somebody's Hand)," "Good Lovin' Ain't Easy to Come By," "Your Precious Love," "I'm Every Woman," "Who's Gonna Take the Blame," "Some Things You Never Get Used To."
1 3. BURT BACHARACH AND HAL DAVID—"Don't Make Me Over," "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance," "Baby It's You," "One Less Bell to Answer," "What the World Needs Now is Love," "Wishin'and Hopin'," "I Just Don't Know What to Do with jvJvself." "Anyone Who Had a Heart," "Only Love Can Break a Heart," "Walk On By," "Do You Know the Way to San Jose," "I Say a Little Prayer." Bacharach also wrote Chuck Jackson's "Any Day Now" and Gene McDaniels's "Tower of Strength' With Bob Hilliard.
14. SLY STONE (SYLVESTER STEWERT) "Dance to the Music," "Everyday People," "Hot Fun in the Summertime," "C'mon and Swim," "Family Affair," "I Want to Take You Higher," "Thank You (Falettin Me Be Mice Elf Again)," "Don't Call Me Nigger, Whitey," "You Can Make It If You Try," "Stand," "Everybody Is a Star." Sly wrote all the music on the Sly and the Family Stone albums, except for "Que Sera Sera."
l5. JOHN FOGARTY—All Credence Clearwater Revival's hits, most of their albums. "Proud Mary," "Bad Moon Rising," "Fortunate Son," "Lodi," "Green River," "Who'll Stop the Rain," "Centerfield," "Run Through the Jungle," "The Old Man Down the Road," "Sweet Hitchhiker," "Travelin' Band," "Down on the Corner," "Rockin' All Over the World."
16. PAUL SIMON—"Bridge Over Troubled Water," "Graceland," "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover," "America," "Sounds of Silence," "My Little Town," "The Boxer," "Kodachrome," "American Tune," "Loves Me Like a Rock," "Mother and Child Reunion," "Mrs. Robinson."
17. ALLEN TOUSSAINT (NAOMI NEVILLE) "Mother-Jn-Law," "Holy Cow," "I Like It Like That," "Java," "Southern Nights," "Working in the Coal Mine," "Yes We Can Can," "Ruler of My Heart" (melody became Otis Redding's "Pain in My Heart"), "Ride Your Pony," "Get Out of My Life, Woman," "It's Raining."
18. OTIS REDDING—Often with collaborators, notably Steve Cropper and Jerry Butler. "Dock of the Bay," "I've Been Loving You Too Long," "Respect," "Mr. Pitiful," "Sweet Soul Music," "These Arms of Mine," "I Can't Turn You Loose," "My Lover's Prayer," "Hard to Handle," "I've Got Dreams to Remem­ber," "Direct Me," "Chained and Bound," "Love Man," "Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa (Sad Song)."
19. BERT BERNS (BERT RUSSELL) Usually with collab­orators, notably Jerry Ragavoy and Phil Medley. "Twist and Shouc," "Piece of My Heart," "Hang On Sloopy," "Cry Baby," "Time Is On My Side," "Everybody Needs Somebody to Love," "Here Comes the Night," "I Want Candy," "Down in the Valley," "Cry to Me," "Goodbye Baby (Baby Goodbye)," "I'll Take Good Care ofYou"
2O. ROBBIE ROBERTSON, RICK DANKO, RICHARD MANUEL (THE BAND)—Composed virtually all of the material, separately or in various collaborations (including some with BobDylan) on the first Band album. After that, Robertson wrote almost everything. "Tears of Rage," "The Weight," "Chest Fever," "Up on Cripple Creek," "Rag Mama Rag," "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down," "The Shape I'm In," "Stage Fright," "This Wheel's on Fire," "It Makes No Difference," "Life is a Carnival," "Get Up Jake."
21. NORMAN WHITFIELD AND BARRETT STRONG "I Heard It Through the Grapevine," "Papa Was a Rolling Stone," "Just My Imagination," "War," "(I Know) I'm Losing You," "Ain't Too Proud to Beg," "I Can't Get Next to You," "Ball of Confu­sion," "Friendship Train," "Beauty's Only Skin Deep," "Psyche­delic Shack," "I Wish It Would Rain."
22. RAY DAVIES—All the Kinks' various albums and sin­gles. "You Really Got Me," "Waterloo Sunset," "All Day and All of the Night," "A Well Respected Man," "Rock and Roll Fantasy," "Dedicated Follower of Fashion," "Lola," "Come Dancing."
23. DON COVAY—"Chain of Fools," "See-saw," "Pony Time," "Lights Out," "Mercy Mercy," "Sookie Sookie," "Letter Full of Tears," "I'm Hanging Up My Heart for You," "I Don't Know What You've Got (But It's Got Me)," "I Was Checkin' Out, She Was Checkin' In."
24. JERRY RAGAVOY—Mainly with collaborators. "Time Is on My Side," "Cry Baby," "Stay with Me," "Mecca," "I'll Take Good Care of You," "Piece of My Heart," "What's It Gonna Be," "This Silver Ring," "A Wonderful Dream," "Tra La La."
25. JAMES BROWN—Remodeled the idea of a "song" al­most as much as Dylan by virtually abolishing most components of the category. "Cold Sweat," "It's a Man's, Man's, Man's World," "Get on the Good Foot," "Licking Stick Licking Stick," "I Can't Stand Myself," "I Got You (I Feel Good)," "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag," "Sex Machine," "Say It Loud—I'm Black and I'm Proud."

(Source-New Book of Rock Lists)

THE FIFTIES
1. CHUCK BERRY—"Maybellene," "Roll Over Beethoven " "School Day," "Sweet Little Sixteen," "Johnny B. Goode," "Let It Rock," "Little Queenie," "Almost Grown," "Back in the U.S.A.," "You Never Can Tell." A basic rock library of brilliant lyrical narratives, blues-haunted melodies and driving guitar-based rhythms, all originally recorded by Berry, then reconceived by the Rolling Stones, the Beatles, the Beach Boys ("Surfin' U.S.A " "Fun Fun Fun"), and dozens of others.
2. JERRY LEIBER AND MIKE STOLLER—"Jailhouse Rock," "Kansas City," "Hound Dog," "Riot In Cell Block #9 " "Charlie Brown," "Yakety Yak," "On Broadway," "Love Potion Number Nine," "Searchin'," "Ruby Baby," "Poison Ivy," "Spanish Harlem," "Young Blood," "I (Who Have Nothing)," "I'm a Woman," numerous other hits for the Coasters, Elvis Presley, and others. Established rock's dramatic song form.
3. BUDDY HOLLY—"Peggy Sue," "Rave On," "That'll Be the Day," "Oh Boy," "Maybe Baby," "Not Fade Away," "True Love Ways," "Love's Made a Fool of You," "Well All Right," "Think It Over," "Fool's Paradise," "Every Day," "It's So Easy," "Words of Love," often with various collaborators. Holly's tunes have been indispensable to the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, and Linda Ronstadt, as well as post-Dylan (Springsteen, Seger, Petty, Mellencamp) "heartland rock."
4. DOC POMUS AND MORT SHUMAN—"Save the Last Dance for Me," "This Magic Moment," "I Count the Tears," "A Teenager in Love," "Seven Day Weekend," "Spanish Lace," "Hushabye," "Viva Las Vegas," "Little Sister," "Suspicion." Pomus also wrote "Jelly Jelly Jelly," "Lonely Avenue," "Boogie-Woogie Country Girl," "Young Blood," "His Latest Flame," and "There Must Be A Better World Somewhere." Shuman became Jacques Brel's translator, as well as penning hits like "Little Children," "Get It While You Can," "Look at Granny Run, Run."
5. JESSIE STONE (ALSO KNOWN AS CHARLES CALHOUN)—"Money Honey," "Shake Rattle and Roll," "Flip Flop and Fly," "Smack Dab in the Middle," "Don't Let Go," "Down in the Alley," "Cole Slaw," "Your Cash Ain't Nothin' But Trash," 'It Should Have Been Me," "Bip Bam," "Losing Hand." A principa1 architect of 1950s R&B.
6. FELICE AND BOUDLEAUX BRYANT—Supplied the Everly Brothers with their biggest hits, from "Bye Bye Love" through "Wake Up Little Susie," "All I Have to Do Is Dream," and "Bird Dog." Gave Buddy Holly "Raining in My Heart," Roy Orbison "Love Hurts" Also wrote country hits like "Hey Joe!" and "Rocky Top"
7. BERRY GORDY-For Jackie Wilson, Gordy and Tyrone
Carlo (Billy Davis) wrote "Lonely Teardrops," "Reet Petite," "To Be Beloved," and "I'll Be Satisfied," his biggest and best hits. At Motown, Gordy wrote, or cowrote, "Do You Love Me" and "Shake Sherry for tne Contours, Barret Strong's "Money," the Miracles' "Wav Over There" and "Shop Around," Marvin Gaye's "Try It Baby," and Brenda Holloway's "You've Made Me So Very Happy."
8. DAVE BARTHOLOMEW—"Ain't That a Shame," "Blue Monday," "The Fat Man," "I Hear You Knockin'," "I'm Gonna Be a Wheel Someday," "I'm in Love Again," "I'm Walkln'," "Let the Four Winds Blow," "One Night," "Walking to New Orleans," "Whole Lot of Loving," "Witchcraft." Usually with his artists.
9. OTIS BLACKWELL (JOHN DAVENPORT)—"Don't Be Cruel," "All Shook Up," "Fever," "Great Balls of Fire," "Return to Sender," "Daddy Rolling Stone," "One Broken Heart for Sale," "Hey Little Girl," "Breathless," "Handy Man."
1 ROY ORBISON—"Only the Lonely," "Crying," "Oh, Pretty Woman," "In Dreams," "Blue Bayou," "Blue Angel," "Ooby Dooby," "Running Scared," "Claudette," "Leah," "Dream Baby." All except "Claudette" were hits for Orbison; that one hit for the Everly Brothers. Later, they hit for Van Halen, Linda Ronstadt, k. d. lang, and others.
11. SAM COOKE—"Bring It On Home to Me," "Another Saturday Night," "Cupid," "Having a Party," "Only Sixteen," "Shake," "Twistin' the Night Away," "Soothe Me."
12. WILLIE DIXON—"Hoochie Coochie Man," "I Just Want to Make Love to You," "Little Red Rooster," "You Can't Judge a Book by Its Cover," "Wang Dang Doodle," "Seventh Son," "I'm Ready," "Mellow Down Easy," "Evil," "I Ain't Superstitious," "Pretty Thing," "I Can't Quit You Baby."
13. PERCY MAYFIELD—"Please Send Me Someone to love," "Hit the Road Jack," "The River's Invitation," "Hide Nor Hair," "At the Club," "But on the Other Hand," "I Don't Want to Be President" " "Life Is Suicide," "Strange Things Happening," "My Heart," "I Ain't Gonna Cry No More," "Diggin' the Moon-glow."
14. LITTLE RICHARD (PENNIMAN)—"Tutti Frutti,"Long Tall Sally" "Lucille'" "Slippin' and Slidin'," "Jenny Take a Ride," "Jenny Jenny," each a perfection of rhythmic and vocal control amidst an anarchic atmosphere. But these are solid songs, as Elvis, the Beatles, and and Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels could testify.
15. HARVEY FUQUA—Fuqua worked with the Moonglows(a group he led)' Bo Diddley, Marvin Gaye and Smokey Robinson, though his best collaborator was Johnny Bristol at motown. "If I Could Build My Whole World Around You," "Sincerely Whole World Ended," "Someday We'll Be Together," "25 Miles," "What Does It Take to Win Your Love," "Most of All " "Diddley Daddy."
l6. JOHN MARASCALCO AND BUMPS BLACKWELL "Good Golly Miss Molly," "Ready Teddy," "Rip It Up," "Send Me Some Lovin' "—the other half of the Little Richard story
17. LOWMAN PAULING—All the Five Royales hits includ ing "Dedicated to the One I Love," "Think," and "Tell the Truth," which were later hits for the Shlrelles, the Mamas and Papas, James Brown, Ray Charles, and Eric Clapton.
18. RICHARD BARRETT—Credits are slim because Barrett worked with George Goldner, a brilliant entrepreneur who unfortunately also mastered the art of the "cut-in" (placing a label owner or producer's name on songs that he has not written). But he definitely wrote "The ABCs of Love" and "I Want You to Be My Girt" for Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers, and "Maybe," "He's Gone," and "Look in My Eyes" for the Chantels, among the finest doo-wop records ever made.
19. FATS DOMINO—Usually with Dave Bartholomew. "Ain't That a Shame," "I Want to Walk You Home,' "I'm Gonna Be a Wheel Someday," "I'm in Love Again," "I'm Ready," "I'm Walkin'," "Poor Me," "Whole Lot of Loving," "Walking to New Orleans."
2O. BO DIDDLEY (ELIAS MCDANIEL)—"I'm a Man," "Bo Diddley," "Who Do You Love," "Mona," "Before You Accuse Me," "Say Man," "Love Is Strange" (as Ethel Smith), "Diddy Wah Diddy," "Crackin' Up," "Road Runner."
21. JESSE BELVIN—Belvin was notorious for selling songs outright to whatever Los Angeles record companies would have them. We know he wrote "Earth Angel" (he won a lawsuit over that one), "Goodnight My Love," "Hang Your Tears Out to Dry," "Beware," "Funny" and "Guess Who."
22. LLOYD PRICE—"Just Because," "Lawdy Miss Clawdy," "Personality," "I'm Gonna Get Married," and his version of "Stagger Lee," a classic blues changed so much that its new "author" earned acknowledgment.
23. HANK BALLARD—"The Twist," "Work with Me Annie" and its numerous sequels, "Finger Poppin' Time," "Lett'sGo Let's Go Let's Go." „
24. RUDY TOOMBS—"One Mint Julep," "5-10-15 Hours, "Teardrops from My Eyes," "One Scotch, One Bourbon, One Beer," "In the Morning," "Nip Sip." Another whose credits maybe in some disarray. ,
25. RAY CHARLES—"I Got a Woman," "Greenbacks'" "Come Back Baby," Hallelujah I Love Her So'" "Talkin' 'bout You'" "What'd I Say," "I believe to My Soul'" "If You Were Mine," "Booty Butt."

(Source-New Book of Rock Lists)

Strange Fruit
Billie Holiday

Southern trees bear strange fruit
Blood on the leaves
Blood at the root
Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze
Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees
Pastoral scene of the gallant south
The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth
The scent of magnolia sweet and fresh
Then the sudden smell of burning flesh
Here is a fruit for the crows to pluck
for the rain to gather
for the wind to suck
for the sun to rot
for the tree to drop
Here is a strange and bitter crop

Lyrics by: Lewis Allan and / or Abel Meeropol
Originally sung by: Billie Holiday

Talking Heads
Life During Wartime


Heard of a van that is loaded with weapons,
packed up and ready to go
Heard of some gravesites, out by the highway,
a place where nobody knows
The sound of gunfire, off in the distance,
I'm getting used to it now
Lived in a brownstore, lived in the ghetto,
I've lived all over this town

This ain't no party, this ain't no disco,
this ain't no fooling around
No time for dancing, or lovey dovey,
I ain't got time for that now

Transmit the message, to the receiver,
hope for an answer some day
I got three passports, a couple of visas,
you don't even know my real name
High on a hillside, the trucks are loading,
everything's ready to roll
I sleep in the daytime, I work in the nightime,
I might not ever get home

This ain't no party, this ain't no disco,
this ain't no fooling around
This ain't no mudd club, or C. B. G. B.,
I ain't got time for that now

Heard about Houston? Heard about Detroit?
Heard about Pittsburgh, P. A.?
You oughta know not to stand by the window
somebody might see you up there
I got some groceries, some peant butter,
to last a couple of days
But I ain't got no speakers, ain't got no
heaphones, ain't got no records to play

Why stay in college? Why go to night school?
Gonna be different this time
Can't write a letter, can't send a postcard,
I can't write nothing at all
This ain't no party, this ain't no disco,
this ain't no fooling around
I'd like to kiss you, I'd love you hold you
I ain't got no time for that now

Trouble in transit, got through the roadblock,
we blended with the crowd
We got computer, we're tapping phone lines,
I know that ain't allowed
We dress like students, we dress like housewives,
or in a suit and a tie
I changed my hairstyle, so many times now,
I don't know what I look like!
You make me shiver, I feel so tender,
we make a pretty good team
Don't get exhausted, I'll do some driving,
you ought to get some sleep
Get you instructions, follow directions,
then you should change your address
Maybe tomorrow, maybe the next day,
whatever you think is best
Burned all my notebooks, what good are
notebooks? They won't help me survive
My chest is aching, burns like a furnace,
the burning keeps me alive
Try to stay healthy, physical fitness,
don't want to catch no disease
Try to be careful, don't take no chances,
you better watch what you say

BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN


Independence Day

Well Papa go to bed now it's getting late
Nothing we can say is gonna change anything now
I'll be leaving in the morning from St. Mary's Gate
We wouldn't change this thing even if we could somehow
Cause the darkness of this house has got the best of us
There's a darkness in this town that's got us too
But they can't touch me now
And you can't touch me now
They ain't gonna do to me
What I watched them do to you

So say goodbye it's Independence Day
It's Independence Day
All down the line
Just say goodbye it's Independence Day
It's Independence Day this time

Now I don't know what it always was with us
We chose the words, and yeah, we drew the lines
There was just no way this house could hold the two of us
I guess that we were just too much of the same kind

Well say goodbye it's Independence Day
It's Independence Day all boys must run away
So say goodbye it's Independence Day
All men must make their way come Independence Day

Now the rooms are all empty down at Frankie's joint
And the highway she's deserted down to Breaker's Point
There's a lot of people leaving town now
Leaving their friends, their homes
At night they walk that dark and dusty highway all alone

Well Papa go to bed now it's getting late
Nothing we can say can change anything now
Because there's just different people coming down here now
and they see things in different ways
And soon everything we've known will just be swept away

So say goodbye it's Independence Day
Papa now I know the things you wanted that you could not say
But won't you just say goodbye it's Independence Day
I swear I never meant to take those things away

Life On Mars
David Bowie

It's a god-awful small affair
To the girl with the mousy hair
But her mummy is yelling "No"
And her daddy has told her to go
But her friend is nowhere to be seen
Now she walks through her sunken dream
To the seat with the clearest view
And she's hooked to the silver screen
But the film is a saddening bore
For she's lived it ten times or more
She could spit in the eyes of fools
As they ask her to focus on

Sailors fighting in the dance hall
Oh man! Look at those cavemen go
It's the freakiest show
Take a look at the Lawman
Beating up the wrong guy
Oh man! Wonder if he'll ever know
He's in the best selling show
Is there life on Mars?

It's on Amerikas tortured brow
That Mickey Mouse has grown up a cow
Now the workers have struck for fame
'Cause Lennon's on sale again
See the mice in their million hordes
From Ibeza to the Norfolk Broads
Rule Britannia is out of bounds
To my mother, my dog, and clowns
But the film is a saddening bore
'Cause I wrote it ten times or more
It's about to be writ again
As I ask you to focus on

Sailors fighting in the dance hall
Oh man! Look at those cavemen go
It's the freakiest show
Take a look at the Lawman
Beating up the wrong guy
Oh man! Wonder if he'll ever know
He's in the best selling show
Is there life on Mars?

Thanks peacepickle. My idea for this is to have discussions on various specific topics. These could include such things as styles-rock, pop, soul, reggae, blues, country, western, rap, jazz, punk, classical.....Time periods-50's, 60's....Unknown artists, bootlegs, soundtracks, shows, movies, icons, instruments...the list is endless. I would like to spend a week on each topic before moving on to the next and am open to suggestions (please message me with ideas instead of posting them). With the overwhelming success of the new poetry board I thought that lyrics would be a good first topic.