I’ve got an easy one for you, this week, folks. Most people have a specific type of music they listen to more than others, I’m sure.
Personally, I take a certain amount of pride in listening to a combination of everything from IDM to bebop, reggae, country, classical, ambient, swing, “world”, ska, hip-hop, Japanese pop, blues, “folk” and pretty much everything else under the sun – but I still have my favorites!
I’m wondering what yours is/are. Maybe you just can’t decide, between ’80s rap and the Romantic era. Never know.
Reply to this post with your answer, and if it’s a really good one, I just might read in on the air tomorrow night! 🙂
What Planet Is This?! (archive) 
Just to get that ball rolling, I’m going to say, ‘jazz’.
Not necessarily all jazz (and I’m not going to get into the specifics of all the sub-genres), but roughly: the stuff that came out of the the late ’50s to late ’60s. There’s a lot of ground covered there, but guys like Monk, Mingus, Coltrane, Davis… You know the types. The list could go on forever, but I mean those guys who were really influenced by bebop and earlier styles and took those elements to the next level. That was really one of the best times for musical innovation! You could still hear bits of the old stuff, but people were really trying crazy and amazing things!
There is a lot of music that I really like (some of it be VERY different from this period in jazz), but THAT’s the stuff that really gets me going! Mmm mmm mmm!
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Not so easy actually. I like most types of music. If you go by what I own or what is on my Ipod then it is Jazz. Coltrane, Armstrong and Davis for sure just for the magnificence. But what really gets my foot tapping lately is Western Swing; Asleep at the Wheel, Commander Cody and his Lost Planet Airmen, Big Sandy and His Fly-rite Boys, Wayne Hancock. Oh yeah. I think I need to listen to them right now…
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Nice! I have to admit I don’t have a recording of Asleep at the Wheel, Commander Cody and his Lost Planet Airmen, Big Sandy and His Fly-rite Boys, or Wayne Hancock. Looks like I’ve got something to look into before the end of the day.
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It’s midway between Baroque opera and arena rock. My iPod is currently loaded with enough Haendel operas to choke a horse along with a ton of ELO, Journey, Styx, and Foreigner.
So for the most part, anything with extreme instrumental virtuosity, definitely melodic (I’m not a fan of atonal or bebop where it just wanders aimlessly — I like traditional major and minor scales just fine), and if you really want me to love it, a huge and extremely GOOD voice had better be attached. I’m not crazy at all about forms of music where the drums, guitar, and piano are all played by brilliant top-flight musicians but the vocal duties are either democratically shared around like a chore or else handed off to the guy who sucks least. A lot of bands tolerate mediocrity in a voice that they would never put up with on axes and skins …
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Baroque opera and arena rock? What a great answer!
It’s too bad you don’t like atonal music or bebop, but I won’t hold it against you… and I agree with what you say about mediocre vocals. Actually, I find that it’s very common for a popular musician or band to not only have a less-than-amazing voice, but sometimes a downright awful one. This includes some of my favorites like Bob Dylan, Neil Young and Tom Waits!
Interestingly, have you ever heard of a band called Malice Mizer? Think Baroque instrumental meets ’80s rock from Japan! I’ll dig around and see if I can play some on the show next week. 🙂
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I’ve always felt the same way about Van Halen (brilliant band, horrific vocalist). EVH is a brilliant player who I can listen to for days, but Roth ruined every song the minute he opened his mouth. Sure, he was a showman, but I’m a firm believer in the rule that if you can’t sing or play, get off the stage. 😦
There’s probably some atonal or bebop out there that I’d like, and I’ve heard really top-quality performers say that they love both bebop and Baroque, so in the minds of some of the best musicians, they have a lot in common. The principal flute from the LA Chamber Orchestra is NUTS about bebop, and he’s a Baroque god. Interesting guy.
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I hear you on the the Van Halen thing!
I’ve always liked people (especially musicians) who listen to an array of music. When I went to the U of R for music, I was a little shocked to find so many musically closed minds. So many of them were of the frame of mind that if it’s not classical, it’s not worth listening to. Yeesh! Really? That’s like saying there’s only one flavour of ice cream – and sure, vanilla’s really good, but if you’re not even willing to try chocolate, or (god forbid) black cherry swirl, how can you say that you like ice cream at all?
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Yup. They’re basically saying that they dislike ice cream so much that only one type is acceptable to them. The default is “hates ice cream except for this one flavor.” I knew plenty of people when I was growing up who hated classical because it was “old people music” or not cool or something. People all too often listen to music to show off some sort of tribal affiliation instead of just because of the sound.
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They’re basically saying that they dislike ice cream so much that only one type is acceptable to them. The default is “hates ice cream except for this one flavor.”
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Haha! That’s a good point too.
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People all too often listen to music to show off some sort of tribal affiliation instead of just because of the sound.
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I hope you’re not right about that, but I honestly can’t think of a good argument against it. Certainly, I would agree that that could be the case with younger people (peer pressure, acceptance and all of that). However I also think a lot of people get into the mind frame of “I like this, why change it?” This seems to hold true in all aspects of life. Not just music. I’m no different, of course. I have my favorites, but I do like to think I give everything an honest try before fully accepting or dismissing it. Just like Gwen Stefani – I gave it an honest try and dismissed it. I don’t understand how No Doubt started out so good and Gwen can be so bad… 😦
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“I don’t understand how No Doubt started out so good and Gwen can be so bad…”
There’s musicians that need one another to do well together. Perry by himself is a good songwriter but has very unsurprising modulations — I to IV to V and over again. He can pick a melody out of anything at all, but he’s at his best when he has someone else with more adventurous modulations giving him the “anything at all” in question. Similarly, Schon is a magnificent modulator and technical/theory-driven player, but he can’t write well from that.
The two of them need to work together or else Perry writes good but conventional music, and Schon plays nothing more than extended cadenzas to songs to never get written. But at the moment, neither of them would piss on the other if he were on fire. So their solo work has never come near what they achieved together. 😦 Stefani may need the back-and-forth of her old band just as much.
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Yeah, I suppose. I can even think of instances when I was playing with people and it either jived well or didn’t. I mean… I’m no Gwen Stefani, but I know what you mean.
Maybe I should use this as a theme in the future – something to do with bands that really work well off of each other.
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And how they aren’t always the people who get along well. Sometimes the same personality differences that create friction can also create vibrant music.
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