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dude

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Everything posted by dude

  1. Stevie Ray Vaughan Dave Gilmour
  2. Well, definitely not one of the 'best' bands, but certainly one of the most influential bands of the 70's was KISS. It's a dubious honor, though, because what they spawned was 80's big hair metal. There's no denying it, though. Hundreds of teenage boys picked up guitars because they wanted to be Ace Frehley or Paul Stanley. Those boys in the late 70's became the 80's Quiet Riots, Warrents, Poisons, Ratts, Motley Crues, Cinderellas, Skid Rows, etc, etc, etc. Aside from a few pretty good guitarists, this genre provided absoluely nothing to the evolution of rock and roll. Their songs were cheesy, let's drink a six pack and have a party, and destroy the Ozone with V0-5. Undoubtedly, though, Kiss' fingerprints are all over this shameful era in music.* It's kind of a full circle thing, though, because KISS' look was obviously influenced somewhat by the glam of T-Rex, the NY Dolls, Alice Cooper, and Bowie (to an extent). What the 80's hair metal genre did was somewhat of a replice of the glam 'look'. Only difference is, the glammers of the late 60's and early 70's were guys in drag. These 80's guys were actually trying to be prettier than the girls who swooned for them. *Kiss isn't entirely to blame, though. MTV had a hand in making it fashionable to look good, rather than contribute something musically. Another big influence of the 70's was Eddie Van Halen. He single handedly changed the guitar game in 92 seconds. Eruption set in motion a whole generation of guitartists.
  3. these are all great songs, especially the Captain and Tennille. If you listen to just the keyboards, and break down the two parts, it's really quite funky.
  4. Lenny Kravitz's influences are very apparent in his music, and he touches on several genres. The 60's and 70's were his molding years, and that's what he reminds me of when I hear him. Rock with a true funk underbelly. He's a very, very good musician. If I were to start a band, he'd be my bass player, for sure. Melodic, but with a funky sound and a punch in the gut power. As far as guilty pleasures, I'd say the Carpenters and Jim Croce. Karen had a beautiful voice, and Jim Croce was a brilliant songwriter. Operator is, to this day, one song that actually puts a lump in my throat.
  5. A great Robert Johnson song. Zep's 'The Lemon Song' also has some of Johnson's lyrics, word for word. As far as unlikely favorites, the Battle of Evermore has always been a favorite of mine, along with 'In my Time of Dying'
  6. This is perfectly true, of course. I was just pointing out the irony, I suppose.
  7. Namaste, friends. I'm going to start this thread, wherein each week, I will post a One Hit Wonder. It's always been my favorite part of the music scene. While the Fleetwood Macs and Elton Johns and Doobs and Eagles were maintaining their places at the top of the charts, along come those odds and ends, on the fringes of the music world, to unseat the perrenial chart toppers for a while. Sometimes they would hit the top ten, maybe even number one. Then, just as quickly, they were gone, if not from music, from the charts. It always fascinated me. And, there a lot of them. Really, really good songs. So, hopefully, I'll get it right. Hopefully, I won't make a fool of myself. Most of all, hopefully, people will click on the link* and listen to the song for the first time in decades, or maybe even for the first time ever, and think, yea, that's groovy. If I get facts wrong, straighten me out. If I leave something out, fill it in. And finally, some of you I know, some I don't. But that's neither here nor there. It's all about the music, right? *I will be using a link 'yousendit.com' to put the songs in the posts. You'll have to click on the link and download the song in order to hear it. the song only stays there for about a week, I think, then it expires. Also, if there's a video, I'll post a link for that as well. Ok, let's get started, shall we? The year was 1977. Gas cost .69 cents a gallon, to pour into your brand new Porshe, show room floor cost, 9,395 dollars. A new bikini would run you 9.00 dollars. You could send a letter anywhere on earth for .13 cents. Minimum wage was 2.30 an hour. Farrah Fawcett posters were all the rage, as was Mr. Microphone. At the movies, Star Wars blasted into space with cutting edge special effects, the Bee Gees provided a brilliant soundtrack for John Travolta to dance to in Saturday Night Fever, Burt Reynolds and his mustache charmed the pants off of my first crush, Sally Field, in Smoky and the Bandit, and Roger Moore tried again (and failed, IMO), to be the James Bond in The Spy who Loved Me. On the Boob Tube, Bill Murray replaced Chevy chase on SNL. American Bandstand turned 25, (Dick Clark might still be 25). Roots changed the way people looked at people. CHiPS started off silly and stayed that way. Fantasy Island told tales of Paradise Found & Lost. Jack Chrissy, and Janet took non-sex sexual situation comedy to new heights. The music world loses Elvis. On the charts, Rod Stewart's 'Tonight's the Night', and Andy Gibb's 'I just Want to Be Your Everything' battled it out for the top spot. Meanwhile, topping out at #18 on the charts, Ram Jam's Black Betty clubbed you over the head with crunchy guitars and a tribal beat. The band members were: BILL BARTLETT lead guitar and vocals HOWIE BLAUVELT bass and vocals PETER CHARLES drums MYKE SCAVONE vocals and percussion Ram Jam's Black Betty Bill Bartlett had an earlier one hit wonder, with the Lemon Pipers (Green Tambourine). The song Black Betty was boycotted by the NAACP, citing it was degrading to black women, even though the song was done in the 1930's by black men. This is where my history is a bit muddled. From what I've read, Huddie 'Leadbelly' Ledbetter wrote the song. However, upon more research, I've found that John and Alan Lomax recorded an a capella version in 1934 by either Leadbelly or 'Iron Head' James Baker, depending on where you get your information. It's a mystery to me, and, actually, I kind of like that the song's exact origins are unknown. Huddie 'Leadbelly' Ledbetter I could have sworn I had a recording of Leadbelly doing the song with his guitar, somewhere here in this computer, but I simply cannot find it. So, I scrounged up: Allegedly, Leadbelly's 1939 a cappela version the song, however, has been covered several times. 1960s: Odetta Harry Belafonte 1980s: Nick Cave 2002: Tom Jones 2004: Spiderbait Ram Jam released one more album, in 1978, never to be heard from again. but, they will always have the most kick-ass version, IMO.
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