....sorry I'm late...
October 30, 2010 9:17 AM
This is just one of those idle and whimsical bits of musical fun. Who have you got into years after the artist's heyday? Conversely, who were you really into for a while but now find a bum-shuffling embarrassment or are simply baffled by your previous obsession?
My "late to the party" ones include Led Zeppelin, James Taylor and, my current groove, Sly and the Family Stone (can't get enough of them right now - how on earth did I miss them??). My embarrassments include Duran Duran, King and a weird obsession with the Siren Records label that featured no-one of any note (viz. I can't remember a single artist on that label as I sit and type this).
I'm off to see the Doobie Bros at Bristol Colston Hall this evening and, in a strange quirk of serendipity given my current obsession, will be bearing in mind Sly Stone's comment that their funk has a 3 in it (Flapjax shared that gem with us - made me lol).
posted by MajorDundee (41 comments total)
1 user marked this as a favorite
My "late to the party" ones include Led Zeppelin, James Taylor and, my current groove, Sly and the Family Stone (can't get enough of them right now - how on earth did I miss them??). My embarrassments include Duran Duran, King and a weird obsession with the Siren Records label that featured no-one of any note (viz. I can't remember a single artist on that label as I sit and type this).
I'm off to see the Doobie Bros at Bristol Colston Hall this evening and, in a strange quirk of serendipity given my current obsession, will be bearing in mind Sly Stone's comment that their funk has a 3 in it (Flapjax shared that gem with us - made me lol).
As to the second part of the question, the only bands I'm totally embarrassed by now are U2 -- not that they're a terrible band, just that they're NOWHERE NEAR as good as I thought they were in 1981 -- and The Alan Parson Project. I did have a thing for Hazel O'Connor and Toyah at one point but still sort of like them in an odd way.
posted by unSane at 9:39 AM on October 30, 2010
posted by unSane at 9:39 AM on October 30, 2010
I came late to Stephen Merritt/Magnetic Fields, got into him when the first 6ths album came out.
I really liked that first Ben Folds Five album when it came out in the early or mid-90's.
I actively, aggressively dislike him now. He's right in there with that whole heap of funny musicians, Barenaked Ladies and Moxy Fruvous being the kings of that vile genre.
*shudder*
posted by chococat at 12:17 PM on October 30, 2010
I really liked that first Ben Folds Five album when it came out in the early or mid-90's.
I actively, aggressively dislike him now. He's right in there with that whole heap of funny musicians, Barenaked Ladies and Moxy Fruvous being the kings of that vile genre.
*shudder*
posted by chococat at 12:17 PM on October 30, 2010
That's the case for almost everyone I listen to. Part of that is because I was born in 1984 (yes, I'm trying to make a lot of you feel old), and that, up until about high eighth grade into early high school, the only music I listened to was either jazz (and I'm talking lame, Kenny G-style "smooth" jazz), classical (I'm talking John Williams scores and garbage like that), "oldies" (at the time, that included almost entirely '50s Rockabilly and '60s Motown), and (this one's hard for me to admit) Christian "Rock."
So yeah, late to the party for almost anything worth listening to. Hell, I'd never actually heard AC/DC until...2000, I think? when I saw them on Saturday Night Live, and thought "who the hell are these guys, and what's wrong with that dude's voice?"
I didn't start paying attention to anything that was new/culturally relevant until I started college in '02. Hell, high school's "new music exposure" for me consisted primarily of "Weird Al" Yankovic (not that there's anything wrong with that--I still hear the 'original' version of songs for the first time and think to myself "You know, this really sounded better in the original polka format."), because I was still hearing Styx, Queen, and Meat Loaf for the first time. In recent years, my biggest obsession has been first wave New Wave (Devo, Talking Heads, the Cars, Oingo Boingo) and '70s art rock (King Crimson, Gentle Giant, Henry Cow, Roxy Music, John Cale, Brian Eno). Now, I did kind of get on the swing/ska bandwagon near the beginning of the end for that whole thing in the late '90s, early '00s, but just barely.
Fortunately, through the magic of concert DVDs, I'm able to see these amazing bands live, long after they've split up, moved on, and/or been forgotten by almost everyone else.
So, in the end, here's the really difficult confession: most of the new bands in recent years where I've been slightly ahead of the curve? I learned about them through rhythm games like Guitar Hero and Rock Band.
posted by askmeaboutLOOM at 2:19 PM on October 30, 2010
So yeah, late to the party for almost anything worth listening to. Hell, I'd never actually heard AC/DC until...2000, I think? when I saw them on Saturday Night Live, and thought "who the hell are these guys, and what's wrong with that dude's voice?"
I didn't start paying attention to anything that was new/culturally relevant until I started college in '02. Hell, high school's "new music exposure" for me consisted primarily of "Weird Al" Yankovic (not that there's anything wrong with that--I still hear the 'original' version of songs for the first time and think to myself "You know, this really sounded better in the original polka format."), because I was still hearing Styx, Queen, and Meat Loaf for the first time. In recent years, my biggest obsession has been first wave New Wave (Devo, Talking Heads, the Cars, Oingo Boingo) and '70s art rock (King Crimson, Gentle Giant, Henry Cow, Roxy Music, John Cale, Brian Eno). Now, I did kind of get on the swing/ska bandwagon near the beginning of the end for that whole thing in the late '90s, early '00s, but just barely.
Fortunately, through the magic of concert DVDs, I'm able to see these amazing bands live, long after they've split up, moved on, and/or been forgotten by almost everyone else.
So, in the end, here's the really difficult confession: most of the new bands in recent years where I've been slightly ahead of the curve? I learned about them through rhythm games like Guitar Hero and Rock Band.
posted by askmeaboutLOOM at 2:19 PM on October 30, 2010
A little late to the overall game maybe, LOOM, but it looks like you've got your bases covered.
If the Confessional is still open, here's one that is both late AND embarrassing: The Bee Gees and pretty much the whole of '70s disco and dance music.
Night Feev-uh Night Feev-uh-huh! Aside from the fact that I occasionally lock myself in the garage and boogie my skinny little white ass off...that's all I really have to say about it.
posted by snsranch at 3:37 PM on October 30, 2010
If the Confessional is still open, here's one that is both late AND embarrassing: The Bee Gees and pretty much the whole of '70s disco and dance music.
Night Feev-uh Night Feev-uh-huh! Aside from the fact that I occasionally lock myself in the garage and boogie my skinny little white ass off...that's all I really have to say about it.
posted by snsranch at 3:37 PM on October 30, 2010
Oh yeah, I've made up for lost time like crazy. I can't go into a Borders, Hastings, or Barnes & Noble anymore, unless I know I have at least $150 I can afford to spend. My method for "when to stop" is "when I can't hold any more in my hand." I make certain to never grab a basket because i don't feel like making my checking account weep.
My landlord (he's the guitar professor at a local university) keeps trying to figure out my taste in music, and just when he thinks he has me pegged, something comes up that throws him completely off his game. My method in shopping for music seems to be in two equal parts: a) Music to which most people would say "What the hell is this?" and b) Music to which the people who wouldn't say that to the first group, would to the second, but the first group would love. Occasionally, there's a third group in the middle, where no one's completely sold on it but me.
Example: My most recent music purchases from Amazon: Meat Loaf - Live Around the World, John Cale - Paris 1919, and John Cale & Terry Riley - Church of Anthrax.
Before that (this isn't all at once, just within this year, and only includes things ordered from Amazon): The first 6 Roxy Music albums; the 5 "Weird Al" Yankovic albums I didn't have; Blind Guardian - At the Edge of Time (they're like if Queen and Iron Maiden had a German baby, if you don't know them); a bunch of Punch Brothers, Nickel Creek, and various solo/duet albums with Chris Thile on Mandolin; 4 Gentle Giant Albums, Several Brian Eno albums, two 801 albums, and Genesis - The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway.
posted by askmeaboutLOOM at 3:56 PM on October 30, 2010
My landlord (he's the guitar professor at a local university) keeps trying to figure out my taste in music, and just when he thinks he has me pegged, something comes up that throws him completely off his game. My method in shopping for music seems to be in two equal parts: a) Music to which most people would say "What the hell is this?" and b) Music to which the people who wouldn't say that to the first group, would to the second, but the first group would love. Occasionally, there's a third group in the middle, where no one's completely sold on it but me.
Example: My most recent music purchases from Amazon: Meat Loaf - Live Around the World, John Cale - Paris 1919, and John Cale & Terry Riley - Church of Anthrax.
Before that (this isn't all at once, just within this year, and only includes things ordered from Amazon): The first 6 Roxy Music albums; the 5 "Weird Al" Yankovic albums I didn't have; Blind Guardian - At the Edge of Time (they're like if Queen and Iron Maiden had a German baby, if you don't know them); a bunch of Punch Brothers, Nickel Creek, and various solo/duet albums with Chris Thile on Mandolin; 4 Gentle Giant Albums, Several Brian Eno albums, two 801 albums, and Genesis - The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway.
posted by askmeaboutLOOM at 3:56 PM on October 30, 2010
My landlord (he's the guitar professor at a local university) keeps trying to figure out my taste in music, and just when he thinks he has me pegged, something comes up that throws him completely off his game.
I thoroughly approve of your approach LOOM - imperative to keep the bugger guessing. Especially if he "professes" to be a guitar expert. Whatever that means. And your ref. of Gentle Giant raised a smile. Have you got "The Missing Piece"? If not - grab it. I great album by a criminally underrated and very original-sounding outfit. I have a big soft spot for GG as I have for another bunch of Brit oddballs: Family. The unique, fabulous and deeply English Robert Wyatt is missing from your list. I think you'd love him.
Anyway - I'm pleased to report that the Doobies were wicked and rocked Bristol's little Colston Hall to its oohh-arrrr foundations. Amazing performance from Messrs Simmons and Johnson who should by rights be drawing their pensions. Have to admit to a lump in my throat when they did "Clear As The Driven Snow" from an album that more or less taught me to play guitar - "The Captain And Me". Thanks Pat, thanks Tom. Your funk may well have a 3 in it, but at least you're still playing........which is more than Sly Stone is doing, I believe....
posted by MajorDundee at 4:31 PM on October 30, 2010
I thoroughly approve of your approach LOOM - imperative to keep the bugger guessing. Especially if he "professes" to be a guitar expert. Whatever that means. And your ref. of Gentle Giant raised a smile. Have you got "The Missing Piece"? If not - grab it. I great album by a criminally underrated and very original-sounding outfit. I have a big soft spot for GG as I have for another bunch of Brit oddballs: Family. The unique, fabulous and deeply English Robert Wyatt is missing from your list. I think you'd love him.
Anyway - I'm pleased to report that the Doobies were wicked and rocked Bristol's little Colston Hall to its oohh-arrrr foundations. Amazing performance from Messrs Simmons and Johnson who should by rights be drawing their pensions. Have to admit to a lump in my throat when they did "Clear As The Driven Snow" from an album that more or less taught me to play guitar - "The Captain And Me". Thanks Pat, thanks Tom. Your funk may well have a 3 in it, but at least you're still playing........which is more than Sly Stone is doing, I believe....
posted by MajorDundee at 4:31 PM on October 30, 2010
Yeah, I'm a big disco fan too. I used to try desperately to play like Nile Rodgers, very unsuccessfully, but all the first bands I were in that early 80s indie funk groove -- emulating Josef K, 23 Skidoo, ACR and all the rest. (At the time it was desperately unhip to be 'rockist' but you could get away with wigging out to the 13th Floor Elevators, Quicksilver Messenger Service and Jefferson Airplane).
posted by unSane at 4:52 PM on October 30, 2010
posted by unSane at 4:52 PM on October 30, 2010
...will be bearing in mind Sly Stone's comment that their funk has a 3 in it (Flapjax shared that gem with us - made me lol).
Dundee, that was actually George Clinton who said that. Yer memory's gettin' faulty, old man!
posted by flapjax at midnite at 9:11 PM on October 30, 2010
Dundee, that was actually George Clinton who said that. Yer memory's gettin' faulty, old man!
posted by flapjax at midnite at 9:11 PM on October 30, 2010
shit...
posted by MajorDundee at 2:40 AM on October 31, 2010
posted by MajorDundee at 2:40 AM on October 31, 2010
I've been racking my brains ever since Dundee first posted that and I CANNOT figure out what it means. Does it means they emphasise the 3 as well as the 1 (unlike James Brown, say) or is it some other meaning I'm too dumb to clue into?
posted by unSane at 3:56 AM on October 31, 2010
posted by unSane at 3:56 AM on October 31, 2010
He's right in there with that whole heap of funny musicians, Barenaked Ladies and Moxy Fruvous being the kings of that vile genre.
This is a line that I sometimes feel like I'm teetering on and it terrifies me. Chococat, please come to the West Coast and shoot me if I ever become a "funny musician."
Moxy Fruvous *shudder*
But speaking of Barenaked Ladies, I liked Gordon when it first came out and I even interviewed Page for my zine. There are still a few songs on it that I like but the others irritate me more each time I hear them.
I can't think of too much that I'm embarrassed by. I liked a lot of Canadian flashes-in-the-pan back in the day (Frozen Ghost, Eight Seconds -- my first big concert was Gowan!) but I still think those songs -- the hits, at least -- are all really good, so my shame is probably more in thinking that Cats Can Fly were going to be big. (Ask me how many albums I own by The Box!)
Being on the other side of the border, these bands were just slightly "exotic" -- you had to go up to Vancouver to get their cassettes! So I was pretty obsessed with hearing that stuff and watched Good Rockin' Tonite religiously.
As far as "late to the party," I've recently been listening to a lot of British Invasion stuff -- "minor" acts like Freddy and the Dreamers and the Honeycombs all the way up to the Hollies and the Animals. Previously, most of my exposure to that was one 8-track that I used to play in my Buick Skylark.
Oh, and the Beach Boys.
posted by Karlos the Jackal at 4:00 AM on October 31, 2010
This is a line that I sometimes feel like I'm teetering on and it terrifies me. Chococat, please come to the West Coast and shoot me if I ever become a "funny musician."
Moxy Fruvous *shudder*
But speaking of Barenaked Ladies, I liked Gordon when it first came out and I even interviewed Page for my zine. There are still a few songs on it that I like but the others irritate me more each time I hear them.
I can't think of too much that I'm embarrassed by. I liked a lot of Canadian flashes-in-the-pan back in the day (Frozen Ghost, Eight Seconds -- my first big concert was Gowan!) but I still think those songs -- the hits, at least -- are all really good, so my shame is probably more in thinking that Cats Can Fly were going to be big. (Ask me how many albums I own by The Box!)
Being on the other side of the border, these bands were just slightly "exotic" -- you had to go up to Vancouver to get their cassettes! So I was pretty obsessed with hearing that stuff and watched Good Rockin' Tonite religiously.
As far as "late to the party," I've recently been listening to a lot of British Invasion stuff -- "minor" acts like Freddy and the Dreamers and the Honeycombs all the way up to the Hollies and the Animals. Previously, most of my exposure to that was one 8-track that I used to play in my Buick Skylark.
Oh, and the Beach Boys.
posted by Karlos the Jackal at 4:00 AM on October 31, 2010
Does it means they emphasise the 3 as well as the 1 (unlike James Brown, say)
That's what it means.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 4:42 AM on October 31, 2010
That's what it means.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 4:42 AM on October 31, 2010
Oh, the Beach Boys. I didn't come late to them because I guess I first heard them when I was in the womb. They're in my (pale, British) DNA. Everything I've ever played has had the Beach Boys in it somewhere.
One thing I did come sort of late to was Surf music. I've told the story before but having played in indie bands in the UK in for the first half of the 90s and getting totally bummed and burned out trying to make it in that hopelessly overcrowded scene, a bunch of us decided to form an instrumental surf band, just for S&G. The idea was that there would be no pressure to succeed -- we could just play whatever we wanted and if anyone else enjoyed it that would be gravy.
Of course in retrospect it was obvious. We became far more successful than any of the loser indie bands we'd ever been in. Apparently matching shirts, synchronized movements, dance competitions, theremins etc are what the people want(ed). We were also positively thunderous, a massive wall of sound, which I think was what people remembered most, apart from the shirts.
Anyway, in the process I became, of course, a connoiseur of surf. I didn't really know anything apart from the Beach Boys, Miserlou and Wipeout and a couple of Shadowy Men songs when I joined. And the Beach Boys were irrelevant because we weren't *that* kind of surf band. But I did discover a massive trove of instrumental surf as a result. Some of it is captured on the fantastic Cowabunga box set but most of it was traded on cassette tapes between bands and sold at gigs.
The stuff that turned me on, apart from pretty much anything Dick Dale ever laid his hands on, was all the third wave stuff -- Slacktone (shit crowd, great band), Man or Astroman (holy crap, watch that!), Croatia's incredible Bambi Molesters, Bomboras, Pollo del Mar, the Mermen, Finland's Laika and the Cosmonauts, the Trashwomen and so on.
Most of these bands were on the Cowabunga mailing list, which is how we all found each other.
Of course, it all sounds the same in the same way that single malt scotch all tastes the same.
I can't really stand surf music which rings the I-IV-V changes... which most of it does. I always hear the pasa doble in the surf backbeat (bum-ta-ta bum-ta) which means it always wants to have a sort of spanish/eastern european feel rather than a blues vibe.
I've never been able to connect up the powerpop side of things and the surf side of things, except for odd twangy solo and vibrato on guitars, though.
posted by unSane at 4:54 AM on October 31, 2010
One thing I did come sort of late to was Surf music. I've told the story before but having played in indie bands in the UK in for the first half of the 90s and getting totally bummed and burned out trying to make it in that hopelessly overcrowded scene, a bunch of us decided to form an instrumental surf band, just for S&G. The idea was that there would be no pressure to succeed -- we could just play whatever we wanted and if anyone else enjoyed it that would be gravy.
Of course in retrospect it was obvious. We became far more successful than any of the loser indie bands we'd ever been in. Apparently matching shirts, synchronized movements, dance competitions, theremins etc are what the people want(ed). We were also positively thunderous, a massive wall of sound, which I think was what people remembered most, apart from the shirts.
Anyway, in the process I became, of course, a connoiseur of surf. I didn't really know anything apart from the Beach Boys, Miserlou and Wipeout and a couple of Shadowy Men songs when I joined. And the Beach Boys were irrelevant because we weren't *that* kind of surf band. But I did discover a massive trove of instrumental surf as a result. Some of it is captured on the fantastic Cowabunga box set but most of it was traded on cassette tapes between bands and sold at gigs.
The stuff that turned me on, apart from pretty much anything Dick Dale ever laid his hands on, was all the third wave stuff -- Slacktone (shit crowd, great band), Man or Astroman (holy crap, watch that!), Croatia's incredible Bambi Molesters, Bomboras, Pollo del Mar, the Mermen, Finland's Laika and the Cosmonauts, the Trashwomen and so on.
Most of these bands were on the Cowabunga mailing list, which is how we all found each other.
Of course, it all sounds the same in the same way that single malt scotch all tastes the same.
I can't really stand surf music which rings the I-IV-V changes... which most of it does. I always hear the pasa doble in the surf backbeat (bum-ta-ta bum-ta) which means it always wants to have a sort of spanish/eastern european feel rather than a blues vibe.
I've never been able to connect up the powerpop side of things and the surf side of things, except for odd twangy solo and vibrato on guitars, though.
posted by unSane at 4:54 AM on October 31, 2010
I should add that it was de rigeur for any surf band of the period to claim that they weren't a surf band.
posted by unSane at 4:56 AM on October 31, 2010
posted by unSane at 4:56 AM on October 31, 2010
Does it means they emphasise the 3 as well as the 1 (unlike James Brown, say)
That's what it means.
That's very interesting. The reason I think this is really funny is because I interpreted it as meaning that their funk was really awkward, stiff and clunky - not smooth and loose-limbed. So saying it had a 3 in it didn't, to me, refer at all to beats in a bar but was more allusive and was simply a really funny way of saying it wasn't symmetrical and balanced - that the timing was all over the place and the accents were all wrong etc. Three is soehow inherently an awkward number. So, for instance, I'd use that phrase - "it's a got a 3 in it" - to describe someone reading a piece of poetry really badly and getting the metre all wrong. Hell....I know what I mean....
posted by MajorDundee at 5:42 AM on October 31, 2010
That's what it means.
That's very interesting. The reason I think this is really funny is because I interpreted it as meaning that their funk was really awkward, stiff and clunky - not smooth and loose-limbed. So saying it had a 3 in it didn't, to me, refer at all to beats in a bar but was more allusive and was simply a really funny way of saying it wasn't symmetrical and balanced - that the timing was all over the place and the accents were all wrong etc. Three is soehow inherently an awkward number. So, for instance, I'd use that phrase - "it's a got a 3 in it" - to describe someone reading a piece of poetry really badly and getting the metre all wrong. Hell....I know what I mean....
posted by MajorDundee at 5:42 AM on October 31, 2010
Also interesting reading the posts upthread - there are just so.......many......bands. Christ, there are thousands of them I've never heard of. Do these people sell more than half a dozen records? Are there too many bands now?? I mean, too many bands releasing material?? Too many to allow the good ones a chance of being heard (becuase they drown in the Tsunami of cdrs??? I was struck by this thought too when leafing through "Tape Op" magazine (a useful little freebie that I get posted to me every two or three months - free to UK and US residents (don't know about Canada etc)). They have interesting interviews with producers and engineers I've never heard of who talk at great length about strings of bands who I've also never heard of. It's like this subterranean world of bands, studios, technicians etc. Where is all this stuff finding a market?? Is there one???
Discuss. Use both sides of the paper. You may confer with colleagues.
posted by MajorDundee at 5:57 AM on October 31, 2010 [1 favorite]
Discuss. Use both sides of the paper. You may confer with colleagues.
posted by MajorDundee at 5:57 AM on October 31, 2010 [1 favorite]
I think there have always been too many bands. It's just that you only used to hear of the ones that had deals with major labels, or indie labels once that took off. The distribution channel was so much narrower that the only smaller bands you heard of were local. Now every band has potentially global reach so it seems like we're inundated but I bet
(# of bands) / (# of people)
has been pretty much a constant throughout recorded history
posted by unSane at 8:38 AM on October 31, 2010
(# of bands) / (# of people)
has been pretty much a constant throughout recorded history
posted by unSane at 8:38 AM on October 31, 2010
i got into bach pretty late. he'd certainly stopped touring by then.
posted by peterkins at 2:49 PM on October 31, 2010
posted by peterkins at 2:49 PM on October 31, 2010
get Bach to where you once belonged
posted by flapjax at midnite at 4:36 PM on October 31, 2010
posted by flapjax at midnite at 4:36 PM on October 31, 2010
Bach to Bach
belly to belly
and I don't give a damn
cause I done that already
posted by flapjax at midnite at 7:50 PM on October 31, 2010
belly to belly
and I don't give a damn
cause I done that already
posted by flapjax at midnite at 7:50 PM on October 31, 2010
Baby Got Bach
OK, I don't think I can top that.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 8:07 PM on October 31, 2010
OK, I don't think I can top that.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 8:07 PM on October 31, 2010
Hey, Major, Colston Hall was where I saw my first EVER gigs, courtesy of my sister. The first was Hot Chocolate and the second was Sky. I was about eleven years old, and I got drunk for the first time after one of them too.
posted by unSane at 8:38 PM on October 31, 2010
posted by unSane at 8:38 PM on October 31, 2010
i didn't get into the greatful dead until 73, but i was 16 at the time, so i don't think that was really "late" - i'm not going to count stuff that was before my time although i actually listened to my dad's collection of 78s before i got into rock and roll - i was listening to benny goodman and glen miller before i got into 60s rock and pop in 1967
however, even though i was familiar with the songs she'd written that other artists had covered and had hits with, even though i really liked some of the people she'd influenced, like joni mitchell and todd rundgren, even though i was often playing her kind of chords on piano, it took me until the 90s to listen to laura nyro
i did catch the tragically hip when their first album came out, but then i didn't hear any more of them and thought they'd disappeared or something - in 2005, i discovered they'd done a whole career's worth of music, so i had to catch up to them
can is one group i didn't listen to until the 00s - and i don't understand that, because i was listening to stuff like amon duul 2 and gong in the 70s and i know i would have liked them back then
embarrassments - my biggest one is that i actually was a fan of emerson lake and palmer when they were big - some of their stuff is still ok, but really ...
i should be embarrassed by thinking that christian agulara's "beautiful" is one of the best songs of the decade, but i'm not
the first lp i ever bought was the monkees' first album - i am NOT embarrassed by that or my affection for stuff like the cowsills, a lot of bubblegum pop and yes, richard harris' mcarthur park - his two albums of jimmy webb songs are a peak of 60s pop
now there's a question for you - what's the first record/cd you ever bought?
posted by pyramid termite at 8:40 PM on October 31, 2010
however, even though i was familiar with the songs she'd written that other artists had covered and had hits with, even though i really liked some of the people she'd influenced, like joni mitchell and todd rundgren, even though i was often playing her kind of chords on piano, it took me until the 90s to listen to laura nyro
i did catch the tragically hip when their first album came out, but then i didn't hear any more of them and thought they'd disappeared or something - in 2005, i discovered they'd done a whole career's worth of music, so i had to catch up to them
can is one group i didn't listen to until the 00s - and i don't understand that, because i was listening to stuff like amon duul 2 and gong in the 70s and i know i would have liked them back then
embarrassments - my biggest one is that i actually was a fan of emerson lake and palmer when they were big - some of their stuff is still ok, but really ...
i should be embarrassed by thinking that christian agulara's "beautiful" is one of the best songs of the decade, but i'm not
the first lp i ever bought was the monkees' first album - i am NOT embarrassed by that or my affection for stuff like the cowsills, a lot of bubblegum pop and yes, richard harris' mcarthur park - his two albums of jimmy webb songs are a peak of 60s pop
now there's a question for you - what's the first record/cd you ever bought?
posted by pyramid termite at 8:40 PM on October 31, 2010
what's the first record/cd you ever bought?
First record of my own was Rubber Soul, by some obscure little outfit out of Liverpool. But my older sister bought me that, as a present, for my 8th birthday, or thereabouts. First record I ever bought with my own money, was, IIRC, this one, by a band that I now pretty viscerally dislike...
posted by flapjax at midnite at 8:51 PM on October 31, 2010
First record of my own was Rubber Soul, by some obscure little outfit out of Liverpool. But my older sister bought me that, as a present, for my 8th birthday, or thereabouts. First record I ever bought with my own money, was, IIRC, this one, by a band that I now pretty viscerally dislike...
posted by flapjax at midnite at 8:51 PM on October 31, 2010
oh fuck
Ironically the second record I ever bought was ELP's FANFARE FOR THE COMMON MAN.
First full length was John Michelle Jarre's OXYGENE. I'm pretty sure the second was The Alan Parson's Project I ROBOT. I think after that it was Toyah, Hazel O'Connor and (thankfully) The Motor's first album and I can't remember which one by Graham Parker & the Rumour. After that we were off to the races.
posted by unSane at 8:59 PM on October 31, 2010
Ironically the second record I ever bought was ELP's FANFARE FOR THE COMMON MAN.
First full length was John Michelle Jarre's OXYGENE. I'm pretty sure the second was The Alan Parson's Project I ROBOT. I think after that it was Toyah, Hazel O'Connor and (thankfully) The Motor's first album and I can't remember which one by Graham Parker & the Rumour. After that we were off to the races.
posted by unSane at 8:59 PM on October 31, 2010
I'm truly embarassed to say what the first album I ever bought for myself was...so I won't. It was still on my CD shelf, never ripped to my computer, until I finally decided to just throw the damned thing out.
Just knowing I actually spent what little money I had on something as truly terrible as it should be enough to satiate everyone here, right?
posted by askmeaboutLOOM at 9:19 PM on October 31, 2010
Just knowing I actually spent what little money I had on something as truly terrible as it should be enough to satiate everyone here, right?
posted by askmeaboutLOOM at 9:19 PM on October 31, 2010
We need to know. Sorry. Just link to it if you can't bear to type it.
posted by unSane at 9:21 PM on October 31, 2010
posted by unSane at 9:21 PM on October 31, 2010
FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFUUU-
posted by askmeaboutLOOM at 9:23 PM on October 31, 2010
posted by askmeaboutLOOM at 9:23 PM on October 31, 2010
Now that I've completely lost any credibility with anyone ever, I'ma go commit Seppuku. Anyone wanna be my second?
posted by askmeaboutLOOM at 9:27 PM on October 31, 2010
posted by askmeaboutLOOM at 9:27 PM on October 31, 2010
LOOM, that is... truly sad. You, poor, poor man.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 9:29 PM on October 31, 2010
posted by flapjax at midnite at 9:29 PM on October 31, 2010
I was 13! I didn't know any better! I still liked John Williams' film scores!
posted by askmeaboutLOOM at 9:32 PM on October 31, 2010
posted by askmeaboutLOOM at 9:32 PM on October 31, 2010
First album I bought myself was "Weird Al" Yankovic's self-titled debut on cassette. After that it was a batch of tapes from Columbia House -- Duran Duran's Rio, Chicago 17, and I don't remember what else.
posted by Karlos the Jackal at 10:22 PM on October 31, 2010
posted by Karlos the Jackal at 10:22 PM on October 31, 2010
what's the first record/cd you ever bought?
Sylvia/House Of The King by Focus. Makes me go all misty-eyed - seminal stuff so far as inspiring me to want to play guitar, particularly the solo in House Of The King. Sadly, that excellent and promising start wasn't to last. I then bought Gilbert O'Sullivan's Claire (check out that cardigan) and things gradually deteriorated until I wound up as a hopeless Metaholic. Can you lend me a buck for a cup of coffee, pal?
actually, I would probably kill to write a song as melodically lovely as Claire and several other G O'S singles - the guy may have been terminally uncool, but Christ he could write a good tune
Apropos of nothing much, the first album I bought was Bowie's The Man Who Sold The World.
posted by MajorDundee at 11:55 AM on November 1, 2010
Sylvia/House Of The King by Focus. Makes me go all misty-eyed - seminal stuff so far as inspiring me to want to play guitar, particularly the solo in House Of The King. Sadly, that excellent and promising start wasn't to last. I then bought Gilbert O'Sullivan's Claire (check out that cardigan) and things gradually deteriorated until I wound up as a hopeless Metaholic. Can you lend me a buck for a cup of coffee, pal?
actually, I would probably kill to write a song as melodically lovely as Claire and several other G O'S singles - the guy may have been terminally uncool, but Christ he could write a good tune
Apropos of nothing much, the first album I bought was Bowie's The Man Who Sold The World.
posted by MajorDundee at 11:55 AM on November 1, 2010
My sad story is slightly redeemed by the first record bought for me by my mum when I was about 5. You can still lend me that buck though....two perhaps...
posted by MajorDundee at 12:06 PM on November 1, 2010
posted by MajorDundee at 12:06 PM on November 1, 2010
Man, there was so much good music made before I was born, let alone before I was actually aware of and listening to music independently, that basically everything is missed-the-boat stuff. I was really big into Pink Floyd in high school, that was probably my first obsession coming to something long after everyone else had gotten there.
Less circumstantially, I got into the Pixies right around the turn of the millenium. In my defense, I was eight when Come On Pilgrim dropped, and my parents weren't really into contemporary rock, and my nose was in a geometry book anyway probably. I didn't get into Sleater-Kinney until they were already getting close to being done.
Embarrassment: my first album was Mariah Carey's Music Box. My first big now-embarrassing obsession was Jewel, when I was being very highschool singer-songwriter and she'd only put out her first rough folky album and I hadn't really dug into other people's stuff, contemporary or historical, in the same genre. I still think that album is interesting and a weird artifact of the pop industry, but I sure don't feel the way I did when I was seventeen.
posted by cortex at 12:44 PM on November 3, 2010
Less circumstantially, I got into the Pixies right around the turn of the millenium. In my defense, I was eight when Come On Pilgrim dropped, and my parents weren't really into contemporary rock, and my nose was in a geometry book anyway probably. I didn't get into Sleater-Kinney until they were already getting close to being done.
Embarrassment: my first album was Mariah Carey's Music Box. My first big now-embarrassing obsession was Jewel, when I was being very highschool singer-songwriter and she'd only put out her first rough folky album and I hadn't really dug into other people's stuff, contemporary or historical, in the same genre. I still think that album is interesting and a weird artifact of the pop industry, but I sure don't feel the way I did when I was seventeen.
posted by cortex at 12:44 PM on November 3, 2010
Among the many things I've come late to in life, I decided to get an MP3 player a few months ago. Ripping all the tracks that I like from my own collection only got it about half full, so I've been grabbing a lot of stuff from friends lately that I either never heard before, or dismissed when I was younger.
I really can't get over how good the Paul Westerburg solo stuff is. Never cared for the Replacements much, and they still don't do much for me, put every time one of those solo songs pops up on the random it is just fantastic.
I've also been digging the Julian Cope album Peggy Suicide, it's just full of great songs. I've got the band working on a punked up cover of Beautiful Love...
posted by InfidelZombie at 1:16 PM on November 3, 2010
I really can't get over how good the Paul Westerburg solo stuff is. Never cared for the Replacements much, and they still don't do much for me, put every time one of those solo songs pops up on the random it is just fantastic.
I've also been digging the Julian Cope album Peggy Suicide, it's just full of great songs. I've got the band working on a punked up cover of Beautiful Love...
posted by InfidelZombie at 1:16 PM on November 3, 2010
late to the late-to-the-party thing but what the hell?
My first record purchased is a bit difficult because myself and a few friends always bought each other albums (it was the early 1970s) for birthdays and such, and then traded them back and forth. So, early gifts included CCR Cosmos Factory, Alice Cooper Billion Dollar Babies, Jethro Tull Thick As A Brick, various Beatles and Stones albums. But the album I finally had to buy for myself because no one else would (three records and a certain what!?!? factor) was Yessongs when I was 14, because the local record store had the full cover spread out and mounted on the wall.
I had to own the music of which these images spoke.
This got me into prog-rock big time which inevitably lead to my biggest embarrassments (Styx and Kansas among others) and my biggest late-to-the-party sin, which is I didn't get around to acknowledging the sheer relevance, impact and FUN of punk until at least 1980.
posted by philip-random at 11:18 PM on November 10, 2010
My first record purchased is a bit difficult because myself and a few friends always bought each other albums (it was the early 1970s) for birthdays and such, and then traded them back and forth. So, early gifts included CCR Cosmos Factory, Alice Cooper Billion Dollar Babies, Jethro Tull Thick As A Brick, various Beatles and Stones albums. But the album I finally had to buy for myself because no one else would (three records and a certain what!?!? factor) was Yessongs when I was 14, because the local record store had the full cover spread out and mounted on the wall.
I had to own the music of which these images spoke.
This got me into prog-rock big time which inevitably lead to my biggest embarrassments (Styx and Kansas among others) and my biggest late-to-the-party sin, which is I didn't get around to acknowledging the sheer relevance, impact and FUN of punk until at least 1980.
posted by philip-random at 11:18 PM on November 10, 2010
You are not logged in, either login or create an account to post comments
Love, Gram Parsons, Flying Burito Bros, Neil Young, Patsy Cline, Johnny Cash, Little Anthony and the Imperials, Quicksilver Messenger Service, Jefferson Airplane, Chuck Jackson (and Northern Soul in general), the Posies, Glen Campbell, David Axelrod, Todd Rundgren, Television, man I could go on and on. I was even late to the party on Wilco, Sufjan Stevens and Band of Horses.
posted by unSane at 9:37 AM on October 30, 2010