Before we start, i am not really mad. I am grateful in so many ways for so many things, I could never be truly mad. Maybe I come off that way sometimes but I like to think I have a little bit of an edge to my writing.
It’s Friday and it is about music but what I am going to do is just riff on a few songs or ideas and let the reader add what he or she wants.
There is no question that we are living in very precarious times. This is different than the pandemic and this is different than other periods of our history i feel. It just feels different. War in Ukraine. War in Israel. Savagery and death all over the news. Yet, there is one thing that is completely missing and it’s been missing for years.
Music expressing fears, hopes, dangers, whatever. Where are these oppressed artists that live in multi million dollar homes that can rip a President in a rap or rip a race in some rhyme?
I imagine it’s all about the Benjamin’s and the clicks. Why protest something when there is no money in it.
Another good reason why music sucks today. It says nothing and does nothing.
Any benefit concert or event to help anyone in need may have some Rap artist as a headliner or part of the show but it is usually some past his prime rocker who is raising money or awareness for people in need. John Mellencamp and Joe Walsh both come to mind.
That point sort of segues into the first song I am going to recommend.
Crosby, Stills and Nash were probably one of the most influential groups in the modern era. They wrote dozens of powerful song and by far and away the most powerful is “Find the Cost to Freedom”. Considering that Stephen Stills wrote this song in response to the Kent State shootings on May 4th, 1970 it still resonates today. The harmonies are so perfect I can’t imagine this song being done by anyone else, ever. I heard this song yesterday and the “Presenter” on Sirius Xm said it perfectly. Put this song on at anytime in the last 50 years and it will be as meaningful as it was when it was first written. It’s just sad that that is true.
Another song that I think still resonates today is by the Temptations, “Masterpiece”. It truly is a masterpiece. Do not bother with the single here. The album version is over 13 minutes long and worth every second. The lyrics still ring true today and again, that is just sad. The production on this song is amazing and there isn’t an artist today that could write something so beautiful yet so powerful. If anyone say Kanye or Puffy Stuffy, I will find you and slap the Hell out of you.
My next ramble is about Creedence Clearwater Revival. I have to be honest with you CCR is up there with The Who for me but what I still find amazing is that they produced an incredible amount of great music in just four short years. 10 consecutive top ten singles Five albums all on the Billboard charts top 100 at the same time. They release three major albums in 1969. I mean, how is that even possible? Each of those albums had at least three great songs and all of them charted. The weakest of those three was Bayou Country and that album had “Proud Mary”, “Born on the Bayou” and my favorite,”Keep on Chooglin”. The following July they released Cosmo’s Factory, which I still think is one of the greatest albums ever recorded. Their last album Mardi Gras was their weakest and it still contained “Sweet Hitch-Hiker” and “Someday Never Comes”. They probably broke up at the right time simply because the amount of material they produced was so prolific, I can’t imagine keeping that pace up for longer than they did. Granted John Fogerty was an evil genius but that genius produced some of the most amazing music in rock history.
Before any knuckleheads come up with the “Taylor Swift has released 400 songs this week thing”, let me remind everyone, Taylor Swift has limited talent and very limited songwriting ability. Like Adele, people only want to hear so many breakup songs before they move on to the next sorry ass man or woman complaining about their love life. I do give Taylor Swift all the credit in the World for taking over her career and making a fortune doing it. It is empowering for every young woman and for that we should all be grateful. I mean it, what she has accomplished is amazing and probably won’t be duplicated for a long time but like all gold mines, that will run out. Her romance with Travis Kelsey is another thing that is going to run it’s course very quickly. You can hear it on sports radio already and the overwhelming response is that Kelsey and Mahomes (from the Kansas City Chiefs) are over exposing themselves and every listener has said pretty much the same thing “enough is enough”. A very likable duo is quickly becoming unlikable.
Lastly, it would not be a successful ramble without me taking issue with the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Put aside the stupidity of having LL Cool J in the RRHOF. Forget for a moment that Kate Bush, a one hit wonder, will be inducted this year. Forget all that and after much consternation, I have accepted that the Hollies are in there. They actually were a powerful musical force in England for several years and they had Graham Nash on lead vocals. My complaint is no longer with who is in but who is not.
This is a list of mine, I am sure you have a few groups that should be in there. No, The Bungles are not worthy no matter what you say.
First let’s go with Emerson, Lake and Palmer. Jeez, how could they not have welcomed this band when everyone was alive. It’s a mini-travesty for sure. ELO is in and they were pop with some intelliegence and a couple of big songs. ELP was that amore by a factor of 10. Maybe intelligence this will be rectified.
Next. WAR. Maybe the most talented band you barely remember. Listen to some of their stuff and remember how there wasn’t a summer that something cool from them wasn’t on the radio. Great vocals, great instrumentation and great lyrically. How did they miss them?
The J. Geils Band. I don’t need to go on about this band. Rock and Roll to the heart. Full House still ranks as one the best live albums of all time and they are on my list of major misses concert wise.
The next two are iffy by any standards but Brian Eno and Warren Zevon should get a shot. Eno released a few albums that never really caught on but his claim to fame was in producing some of the very biggest names of his era. Talking Heads, U2 and Coldplay. I’m guessing the academy thinks that being inducted with Roxy Music covers it, it doesn’t. Zevon is a different matter. He was a borderline genius who played with a number of influential bands early on until he decided to go out on his own. Granted, Excitable Boy, was his biggest chart success, some of his other stuff is well worth listening to. My gut tells me it never happens but I really like Zevon and I think it was a terrible shame that his life was cut short by cancer.
Thanks for another weekend of musical wonder! I'm always looking forward to your Friday letter;)