Vinyl Me Please Essentials

Rowan said:
Elvis had a rubbish haircut and couldn't dance for shit. No game changed there.
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I mean I’m not an elvis fan by any stretch, I don’t think the music has aged particularly well. But I think it’s kind of harsh to not recognise that in taking black music and selling it to white America as sex he was the start of a cultural shift that lead to what became so popular in the 60s.
 
Rowan said:
Elvis had a rubbish haircut and couldn't dance for shit. No game changed there.
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Watch it there. 100s of Elvises disagree with that statement.

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Joe Mac said:
I mean I’m not an elvis fan by any stretch, I don’t think the music has aged particularly well. But I think it’s kind of harsh to not recognise that in taking black music and selling it to white America as sex he was the start of a cultural shift that lead to what became so popular in the 60s.
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I would have looked at it more from the creating a commodity from a person rather than the expansion of black/ gospal music into white popular culture. I kinda do think that Burning Love is a balls out banger that would probably fit any setting or occasion too (weddings, cremations, birthing celebrations, karaoke piss ups). But my favourite thing about Elvis was he was a huge Monty Python fan, could quote them endlessly and once apparantly said (imparts Elvis accent) 'it's just a flesh wound' after allegedly nigh on ripping a whole finger off playing basketball.

I'm not sure Jim necessarily had delusions of grandeur though. By all accounts he was a lovely bloke while not completely inebriated. The rest of the time he just appeared to act as any completely fucked up celebrity in the 60s with more acid than song lyrics would. I'm not sure it diminishes his place in history and time. It just very much makes him typical of it.
 
Rowan said:
I would have looked at it more from the creating a commodity from a person rather than the expansion of black/ gospal music into white popular culture. I kinda do think that Burning Love is a balls out banger that would probably fit any setting or occasion too (weddings, cremations, birthing celebrations, karaoke piss ups). But my favourite thing about Elvis was he was a huge Monty Python fan, could quote them endlessly and once apparantly said (imparts Elvis accent) 'it's just a flesh wound' after allegedly nigh on ripping a whole finger off playing basketball.

I'm not sure Jim necessarily had delusions of grandeur though. By all accounts he was a lovely bloke while not completely inebriated. The rest of the time he just appeared to act as any completely fucked up celebrity in the 60s with more acid than song lyrics would. I'm not sure it diminishes his place in history and time. It just very much makes him typical of it.
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Maybe pretensions of grandeur foist upon him maybe a better descriptor then?

I just really don’t get it at all. It’s kinda ok but all this hype around him and them is kinda baffling from over here. That said I find that huge swathes of classic rock are just a bit meh anyway.
 
Joe Mac said:
Maybe pretensions of grandeur foist upon him maybe a better descriptor then?

I just really don’t get it at all. It’s kinda ok but all this hype around him and them is kinda baffling from over here. That said I find that huge swathes of classic rock are just a bit meh anyway.
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It is kinda interesting how classic rock was defined by British acts. Looking back at my list from a few pages ago, I’m not sure how many of those bands would still make the cut against The Beatles, Stones, Kinks, Zeppelin, Sabbath, Queen, Pink Floyd, and more polarizing acts like Deep Purple and Genesis. Oh, there’s Fleetwood Mac, too. If we’re looking at the 80s rock variety, I’d rank The Cure and The Smiths a notch above R.E.M. or Sonic Youth.

Even more interesting is how the tables started to turn (at least to my taste) in the 1990s. Grunge and Britpop both generated iconic acts, so let’s call the 90s even.

By the time the 2000s rolled around, my perception was that “indie rock” became the defining rock aesthetic and it was dominated by American (and Canadian!) artists.

Of course I’m speaking very broadly, from my personal perspective, and exceptions exist (like, Radiohead).
 
Joe Mac said:
Maybe pretensions of grandeur foist upon him maybe a better descriptor then?

I just really don’t get it at all. It’s kinda ok but all this hype around him and them is kinda baffling from over here. That said I find that huge swathes of classic rock are just a bit meh anyway.
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Danny Sugarman's book is great and gives a different perspective (Wonderland Avenue as opposed to No One Gets Out Of Here Alive). He paints him as a very kind, compassionate guy who was surrounded by absolute arseholes determined to see what this alcoholic rock star might do next. Wonderland Avenue is well worth picking up even if people don't give a shit about the doors though just because Sugarman himself had a pretty wild life.

Maybe Morrison enjoyed having some sort of messiah type personality attributed to him but, whole it didn't work out all that well for him, from what I've read he specifically left America to get away from it. I kinda think there's a distinction between that and the other side (I. E. Making music that people don't necessarily like).

But I say this as someone who liked the Doors. I once tried to read a book of Jim's poetry. I think 'once' and 'tried' are probably the key parts of that sentence
 
bettim84 said:
It is kinda interesting how classic rock was defined by British acts. Looking back at my list from a few pages ago, I’m not sure how many of those bands would still make the cut against The Beatles, Stones, Kinks, Zeppelin, Sabbath, Queen, Pink Floyd, and more polarizing acts like Deep Purple and Genesis. Oh, there’s Fleetwood Mac, too. we’re looking at the 80s rock variety, I’d rank The Cure and The Smiths a notch above R.E.M. or Sonic Youth.

Even more interesting is how the tables started to turn (at least to my taste) in the 1990s. Grunge and Britpop both generated iconic acts, so let’s call the 90s even.

By the time the 2000s rolled around, my perception was that “indie rock” became the defining rock aesthetic and it was dominated by American (and Canadian!) artists.

(Of course I’m speaking very broadly, exceptions exist (like, Radiohead), and from my personal perspective.)
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I think that when we’re talking indie British and American almost have more thats different about them than is the same. The similarity seems to be that they’re mashed together on the same Bill at festivals. Personally I always struggled with US indie that wasn’t R.E.M. or from the velvets/post punk, the U.K. scene was always more to my taste. Grunge is my second least favourite rock scene ever behind Hair Metal with the exception of the two big grunge acts that someone will inevitably tell me weren’t grunge.
 
Rowan said:
Danny Sugarman's book is great and gives a different perspective (Wonderland Avenue as opposed to No One Gets Out Of Here Alive). He paints him as a very kind, compassionate guy who was surrounded by absolute arseholes determined to see what this alcoholic rock star might do next. Wonderland Avenue is well worth picking up even if people don't give a shit about the doors though just because Sugarman himself had a pretty wild life.

Maybe Morrison enjoyed having some sort of messiah type personality attributed to him but, whole it didn't work out all that well for him, from what I've read he specifically left America to get away from it. I kinda think there's a distinction between that and the other side (I. E. Making music that people don't necessarily like).

But I say this as someone who liked the Doors. I once tried to read a book of Jim's poetry. I think 'once' and 'tried' are probably the key parts of that sentence
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I kinda cringe when anyone describes anyone’s lyrics as poetry. Beyond the odd couplet they rarely are. Even the more hyper literate and/or clever likes of Joni or Dylan or Shane McGowan aren’t comparable.

It really makes me think that they’ve not been exposed to much good poetry.
 
Joe Mac said:
I think that when we’re talking indie British and American almost have more thats different about them than is the same. The similarity seems to be that they’re mashed together on the same Bill at festivals. Personally I always struggled with US indie that wasn’t R.E.M. or from the velvets/post punk, the U.K. scene was always more to my taste. Grunge is my second least favourite rock scene ever behind Hair Metal with the exception of the two big grunge acts that someone will inevitably tell me weren’t grunge.
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Which (grunge/not grunge) acts were those?

Yes, I imagine that British and America tastes can be quite different. I too prefer UK post-punk/80s rock over the US variety. It is possible (indeed likely) that my taste for US indie rock was deeply influenced by the fact I moved to the US in the 2000s.

That may also be why I so strongly prefer UK classic rock bands over US acts (there are major US acts like Springsteen or Tom Petty who got basically no play on Brazilian radio).
 
bettim84 said:
Which (grunge/not grunge) acts were those?

Yes, I imagine that British and America tastes can be quite different. I too prefer UK post-punk/80s rock over the US variety. It is possible (indeed likely) that my taste for US indie rock was deeply influenced by the fact I moved to the US in the 2000s.

That may also be why I so strongly prefer UK classic rock bands over US acts (there are major US acts like Springsteen or Tom Petty who got basically no play on Brazilian radio).
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Nirvana and Pumpkins.
 
Joe Mac said:
Nirvana and Pumpkins.
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I mean, we all know that Grunge and Britpop are media/industry labels that covered bands that sounded nothing alike. You’re right that Nirvana and Pumpkins (at least past their debuts) do not share the sludgy “quality” that gave rise to the term grunge. I basically just use “grunge” as shorthand for early-90s US mainstream rock, which would encompass both of those acts.
 
bettim84 said:
I mean, we all know that Grunge and Britpop are media/industry labels that covered bands that sounded nothing alike. You’re right that Nirvana and Pumpkins (at least past their debuts) do not share the sludgy “quality” that gave rise to the term grunge. I basically just use “grunge” as shorthand for early-90s US mainstream rock, which would encompass both of those acts.
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Oh no I completely put them in that scene. I was more commenting on how tedious I find people on here correcting me on that is.
 
bettim84 said:
I have never heard a Beach Boys song on classic rock radio. Oldies is a different story.

Hot take (?): L.A. Woman is the only great Doors album.
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Def hot take. I think Strange Days is definitely a GREAT doors album and while their S/T feels very expositional it still is great for what it is.
 
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