YK's Classic Rock Music Project

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YellowKing
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YK's Classic Rock Music Project

Post by YellowKing »

I was listening to "A Day at the Races" by Queen the other day, an album I'd never heard in its entirety. And it really got me thinking - I know all these classic rock bands....but do I really *know* them? The majority of my experience has been filtered through greatest hits collections and whatever the radio deemed worthy of playing. In reality, there are tons of fantastic songs out there that I'd never hear unless I actually went back and listened to the albums.

So I decided to borrow the idea of the 10x10 board game challenges people do, and instead to a 10x10 classic rock challenge. Pick 10 bands that I'm not intimately familiar with their discography, pick 10 albums, then let a random number generator decide what I listen to every day. When I'm done, I've heard 100 albums - some good, some bad, but inevitably I'll discover stuff I really enjoy I would have never discovered otherwise. And I'll be familiar with the catalog of bands I really had only cursory experience with.

Now - disclaimer - shortly after I started this challenge and posted about it in the "What are you listening to now" thread, I kept running into more bands I wanted to add. Before I knew it, I had 20 bands, and with some having fewer than 10 albums, I decided screw it - every band's getting their entire studio album discography added. This ballooned the challenge up to nearly 250 albums, but who's counting. Obviously if you want to do a similar project, you could narrow or expand the parameters as you wish.

The 20 bands I selected (in no particular order) are:

Def Leppard
Van Halen
Metallica
The Rolling Stones
Genesis
AC/DC
Aerosmith
Fleetwood Mac
Pink Floyd
Queen
Megadeth
Motley Crue
Iron Maiden
Queensryche
Rush
The Who
KISS
Foreigner
Bad Company
Cheap Trick

I know this is nowhere near an exhaustive list - one day when I finish this challenge I'll pick 20 more. And there's no real rhyme or reason to my selections other than some are bands I know well, but only part of their discography (Rolling Stones), others I know absolutely zero (Megadeth). I'll post here with thoughts on albums as I listen to them, and feel free to join the discussion or start your own challenge and mix it with this thread.

Of course, you could also do this with any genre - I've been seriously considering a jazz one after this, as it's a genre I love but have only very recently started diving into.
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Re: YK's Classic Rock Music Project

Post by disarm »

I've been doing something similar intermittently over the last few years...pick a popular artist/group that I never really appreciated beyond the radio hits and listen to their complete studio album discography in chronological order. The process has really opened my eyes to a lot of great bands that I either claimed to not really like/understand in the past, or just didn't fully grasp how much great music they've produced. It's been a mostly-enjoyable way to broaden my horizons and become more familiar with some great musicians and groups.

The interesting thing about your list is that I've long been a fan of a lot of those groups and have known them well for a long time. Good luck with your project...lot of great music ahead and going to be a lot of fun!

I'll list a few of my most interesting explorations if you need any more inspiration...

The Beatles
Queen
Stevie Wonder
Elton John
Eric Clapton (classic groups and solo)
Led Zeppelin
Black Sabbath
ZZ Top




Last edited by disarm on Fri Jan 06, 2023 10:42 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: YK's Classic Rock Music Project

Post by YellowKing »

That's great disarm! Feel free to post any particular albums you discovered or thoughts in this thread, I don't mind sharing it for general discussion. Here were my first five. I'm trying to knock out 4-5 a day. I may just post every 5 albums.

1. AC/DC - Powerage (1978) - My wife is a big AC/DC fan. I'm a casual fan. But as I've told more than one person, AC/DC is musical pizza to me. I like some better than others, but there's no such thing as bad pizza or bad AC/DC. They do what they do. Now I'm not one who gets finicky about Bon Scott vs Brian Johnson AC/DC - I'm not really passionate over either one, so the songs matter to me more than who's singing them.

This is Bon Scott's next to the last album before he passed, and it's definitely a very raw and bluesy sound. The biggest track on here is probably "Sin City." I enjoyed it a great deal just because it has a rougher edge to it than later albums.

Top track: "Sin City" Favorite track: "Rock 'N' Roll Damnation"

2. Motley Crue - New Tattoo (2000) - Motley Crue would probably have not even made my list except for the fact that I've "accidentally" seen them in concert twice. Both times they were headlining with the bands I really wanted to see, Aerosmith and KISS. I'm familiar with a lot of their older stuff, but I was very wary about wading into this 2000 era Crue, thinking it would be a complete shit show. And you know what? This album's not terrible. Now, if you're a purist you may say this is Motley Crue parodying Motley Crue, and I wouldn't argue with you. But if you just roll with it, it's a fun album.

Top track: "Hell on High Heels" Favorite track: "Treat Me Like the Dog I Am"

3. KISS - Lick It Up (1983) - I'm a *very* casual KISS fan, but I enjoy the spectacle which is why I've seen them twice. Also both times I went with rabid KISS fans so they made it fun. This album's pretty much what you would expect - a lot of not-at-all-subtle sexual innuendo, no real standout singles.

Top track: "Lick It Up" Favorite track: "Exciter"

4. Metallica - Death Magnetic (2008) - Like a lot of people I'm a big fan of "old" Metallica. Unlike some of *those* people, I still like the Black Album. I never listened to any of their stuff after that, so I wasn't super looking forward to this one. But, like New Tattoo, I came away somewhat pleasantly surprised. Again it's not terrible - it was Metallica's attempt to return to form after the disastrous St. Anger, and for the most part I feel they succeeded. There are some derivative riffs in here, and at times you can't help but feel they're just plagiarizing themselves, but if you can get past that it's fine. My biggest complaint is that the songs are just too damn long - not a single track under 5 minutes, and most are in the 7-8 minute range.

Top track: "The Day That Never Comes" Favorite track: "Cyanide"

5. Foreigner - Agent Provocateur (1984) - This is one of those bands I know jack shit about. To the point I think there are probably a ton of their songs I know but didn't know it was them. I guess my overall general impression is that they were kind of a cheesy 80s rock ballad band. Then I listened to this album and realized, yeah, I kind of nailed that. But DAMN "I Want to Know What Love Is" is a killer track. I'm not shitting on 80s rock ballads, I love them, and this only proved it. "That Was Yesterday" is probably the only other track that came anywhere close to touching that one on this album, but overall I enjoyed it. This is the kind of music I kind of hated as a kid, but hits so different as an adult. Just instant nostalgia, love it.

Top track: "I Want to Know What Love Is". Favorite track: "I Want to Know What Love Is"
Last edited by YellowKing on Fri Jan 06, 2023 2:49 pm, edited 3 times in total.
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Re: YK's Classic Rock Music Project

Post by Dramatist »

I have been thinking about something similar to this. My favorite genre is alternative music and I’ve thought about going back and listening to the influences of that.

I really didn’t listen to many whole albums of alternative artists until around 1985. Especially anything that didn’t have much radio play.

The only earlier influential artists I’ve really gotten familiar with are Roxy Music, Wire and David Bowie and there are still several Bowie albums I haven’t listened to in their entirety.

Some artists I have been thinking about…
Velvet Underground
The Stooges
Kraftwerk
Can
Brian Eno
Suicide
P.I.L.
Talking Heads
The Pop Group
Neu!

And then see where this leads me.


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Re: YK's Classic Rock Music Project

Post by LordMortis »

I feel like I should do your challenge with newer bands. The newest artist I listened to was Billie Eilish and that was 2018. Before that, I think it might have Lord Huron in 2010... I think. Before that, I was new music(ian) junkie. Then it just stopped.
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Re: YK's Classic Rock Music Project

Post by Skinypupy »

Cool project, will definitely be interested to hear your thoughts on some of the older Megadeth and Iron Maiden albums.

So, YK has the classic rock, Dramatist has alternative, and LM has new pop. Guess that means I'm taking the death metal by default. ;)
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Re: YK's Classic Rock Music Project

Post by YellowKing »

Dramatist, I just got into Kraftwerk and Brian Eno. Really good rabbit hole to jump down.
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Re: YK's Classic Rock Music Project

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I made an effort to get through AC/DC, but listening to their entire discography was just too much. I like their music, but it's close to 20 albums of pretty much exactly the same thing...same sound for 45 years except for a singer change very early. I wouldn't say any of it is bad, but it gets monotonous after a while.

I've been a big Motley Crue fan for a long time. If you want them at their best, listen to 'Too Fast for Love,' 'Girls Girls Girls,' and 'Dr Feel-good.' The newer albums (New Tattoo, Saints of Los Angeles) aren't bad, but the early stuff is much better.

I listened to a lot of KISS, but like AC/DC, I couldn't do it all. I definitely have a better appreciation now, but there's a lot of bad mixed in with the good, and not a lot of variety.

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Re: YK's Classic Rock Music Project

Post by LordMortis »

Skinypupy wrote: Fri Jan 06, 2023 11:29 am Cool project, will definitely be interested to hear your thoughts on some of the older Megadeth and Iron Maiden albums.

So, YK has the classic rock, Dramatist has alternative, and LM has new pop. Guess that means I'm taking the death metal by default. ;)
What I should do and what I will do are two different things. ;) Also I'd probably look for new... not pop...
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Re: YK's Classic Rock Music Project

Post by YellowKing »

Going to make one update to the review format - the Top Track is currently whatever track has the most plays on Spotify. I'm also going to add my personal favorite track, which may or may not be the same.
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Re: YK's Classic Rock Music Project

Post by Sudy »

Sounds like fun. There are definitely favourite songs and albums of mine whose artists I haven't fully explored. Some by chance, some by disinterest. E.g. I love Talking Heads' first two albums but with a couple of exceptions I haven't listened much deeper. Tom Waits is my favourite artist of all time, but I've barely listened to his pre-Swordfishtrombones stuff.

I definitely don't think I could listen to some of those artists' entire catalogues without a break though. Like just The Stones is 30 albums.

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Re: YK's Classic Rock Music Project

Post by paulbaxter »

I've been doing a similar thing myself, and I'm sure I've mentioned it in other threads, where I'll just listen straight through complete works. Started with Bach for me (took a little over 10 months there). I did all the Mahler symphonies. Complete recordings of Frank Zappa (excluding the posthumous releases), all of Shostakovich's string quartets, and then all of Radiohead's albums.

Right now I'm listening to all of Brahms. I like the whole process of just starting at the beginning and working to the end. Don't have the pressure of deciding what to listen to.
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Re: YK's Classic Rock Music Project

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Sudy wrote: Fri Jan 06, 2023 3:01 pm Sounds like fun. There are definitely favourite songs and albums of mine whose artists I haven't fully explored. Some by chance, some by disinterest. E.g. I love Talking Heads' first two albums but with a couple of exceptions I haven't listened much deeper. Tom Waits is my favourite artist of all time, but I've barely listened to his pre-Swordfishtrombones stuff.
That's interesting. I loved Tom Waits early stuff, even saw him in concert, but never heard the later stuff. Will have to check it out.
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Re: YK's Classic Rock Music Project

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Sudy wrote:I definitely don't think I could listen to some of those artists' entire catalogues without a break though. Like just The Stones is 30 albums.
That's exactly why I randomized. There's no way in hell I wouldn't get bored listening to the same artist for 30 albums, and that would end up negatively coloring my perception of the music. At least this way it's very unlikely I'll be listening to more than a couple of albums in a row by the same band. Well, at least for awhile.

The downside, of course, is I lose the context of each album as it compares to their entire body of work. I don't get to see the progression of bands that changed a lot over time.
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Re: YK's Classic Rock Music Project

Post by Daehawk »

I could name a lot of albums from that list. No Boston? Their entire first album is great.
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Re: YK's Classic Rock Music Project

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It just amazes me what yall call "classic". :scared-eek:
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Re: YK's Classic Rock Music Project

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I don’t call it anything

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Re: YK's Classic Rock Music Project

Post by YellowKing »

Daehawk wrote:No Boston? Their entire first album is great.
I considered Boston but they only have 6 studio albums. Maybe for next round. Other notable exclusions: Kansas, Styx, Toto, etc.
dbt1949 wrote:It just amazes me what yall call "classic".
Nirvana and Pearl Jam are considered classic rock these days, so I now understand what feeling old means.
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Re: YK's Classic Rock Music Project

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Dramatist wrote: Fri Jan 06, 2023 11:03 am Velvet Underground
The Stooges
Kraftwerk
Can
Brian Eno
Suicide
P.I.L.
Talking Heads
The Pop Group
Neu!
i actually _have_ listened to either all or very nearly all of these bands/artists albums. Eno and Kraftwerk are ALL-TIME BEST for me. (The Pop Group is lagging because i was into all of Mark Stewart's later stuff so much). i don't think i'd heard Can's or Neu!'s last albums in the mid 80s, but i will be fixing that.
Last edited by hitbyambulance on Fri Jan 06, 2023 5:48 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: YK's Classic Rock Music Project

Post by Holman »

At the risk of making the project too detail-oriented, you might want to at least jot down notes on the producers involved, especially if you notice ones who come up again and again.

I've heard it said (though I'm in no position to judge) that most of rock's greatest albums' greatness has as much to do with the producer as with the band members.
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Re: YK's Classic Rock Music Project

Post by hitbyambulance »

and just to combine 'The Velvet Underground' and 'Metallica', i'd like to ask either YellowKing or Dramatist if they're familiar with Lou Reed + Metallica's _Lulu_... (it's basically a Lou Reed solo album with Metallica as the backing band) it's not an easy listen, either lyrically or musically.
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Re: YK's Classic Rock Music Project

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Holman wrote: Fri Jan 06, 2023 5:48 pm At the risk of making the project too detail-oriented, you might want to at least jot down notes on the producers involved, especially if you notice ones who come up again and again.

I've heard it said (though I'm in no position to judge) that most of rock's greatest albums' greatness has as much to do with the producer as with the band members.
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Re: YK's Classic Rock Music Project

Post by disarm »


YellowKing wrote:
Sudy wrote:I definitely don't think I could listen to some of those artists' entire catalogues without a break though. Like just The Stones is 30 albums.
That's exactly why I randomized. There's no way in hell I wouldn't get bored listening to the same artist for 30 albums, and that would end up negatively coloring my perception of the music. At least this way it's very unlikely I'll be listening to more than a couple of albums in a row by the same band. Well, at least for awhile.

The downside, of course, is I lose the context of each album as it compares to their entire body of work. I don't get to see the progression of bands that changed a lot over time.
There are advantages to doing it both ways, but I've preferred listening in chronological order...although I do sometimes take breaks for other music if it's an extensive catalog. When I was listening to The Beatles, for example, it was really cool to hear the progression in their sound over time. Their development is especially impressive when you consider just how much music they released in a relatively short period of time (12 albums in seven years).

I think the ability to tolerate going through an artist's full catalog non-stop has a lot to do with variety in their sound. I could easily power through the Beatles or Queen, but AC/DC and Clapton got boring.
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Re: YK's Classic Rock Music Project

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YellowKing wrote: Fri Jan 06, 2023 5:40 pm Other notable exclusions: Kansas
The current singer for Kansas is Ronnie Platt, a guy I grew up with and played with in a cover band in Chicago in the late 90's.
He left our band in the mid 2000's after being offered the lead singer gig for Shooting Star, a band that had some decent success in the 80's.

He left that band and joined a popular local cover band.
That band backed up Kansas at a local fest.
A couple of years later Kansas announced original singer Steve Walsh was retiring.
They actually reached out to Ronnie to audition and soon after hired him. Totally a dream come true for him, as he idolized Steve Walsh.
That was around 2014. He's still with them. they have recorded 2 new albums with him, which are both pretty damn good.

Here he is singing a classic:

He/Him/His/Porcupine
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Re: YK's Classic Rock Music Project

Post by YellowKing »

Dang, that's super cool stimpy! Here's the latest batch:

6. Bad Company - Run With the Pack (1976) - This is another band I didn't know much at all about outside one or two hits. Really enjoyed this album, though. It's very straight-forward rock that kind of stays between the lines, never blowing me away, but never disappointing either. Really liked the southern rock-tinged "Simple Man" and easy-going pop of "Silver, Blue & Gold" - perhaps because they strayed from the formula a bit. I think the somewhat creepy "Young Blood" was the hit off this one, though.

Top track: "Silver, Blue & Gold" Favorite track: "Simple Man"

7. The Who - A Quick One (1967) - It's no secret that I'm not a fan of The Who. When I was doing the Rolling Stone Top 500 Album challenge, I didn't really care for any of the albums I listened to by them. And it's definitely an example of "it's not you, it's me." I understand their influence, but for some reason they just never clicked with me. That's the primary reason I put them on this challenge - either I'd be proven wrong and finally gain a new appreciation, or I'd confirm that they're just a band I'll never enjoy.

I had a suspicion I'd like early Who more than later, while they were still firmly planted in 60s rock, but this album did little to support that theory. This album definitely has that British 60s pop feel, albeit sprinkled with weird little oddities like "Boris the Spider," "Cobwebs and Strange," and a cover of the Martha & the Vandellas hit "Heat Wave." I couldn't shake the feeling this felt like a band trying to do what The Beatles and the Stones had already done by this point...and did better.

Top track: "Boris the Spider" Favorite track: "I Need You"

8. Rush - Grace Under Pressure (1984) - I've never been a prog rock guy, but lately I've started becoming much more appreciative of it thanks to friends in the vinyl community. There's no real reason I never got into Rush. I never had any dislike for them, I just didn't know any of their songs. Hell, I looked at their top 5 songs and only recognized 1 of them (on top of that, they only had 1 Top 40 hit). I think the only reason I knew "Tom Sawyer" was from one of those Time Life music collection commercials.

This album highlights the only weakness in this challenge - not listening chronologically means I don't get to hear the progression of the bands. In this case, this album marked Rush's drift towards heavy-synth, but to a person not familiar with their work I have no context for that. I also had no clue they had all these sci-fi geek lyrics, or else I'd have probably checked them out a long time ago. At any rate, enjoyed this one quite a bit even though it's not the type of music I'd generally choose to listen to.

Top track: "Distant Early Warning" Favorite track: "The Enemy Within"

9. Cheap Trick - Woke Up With a Monster (1994) - Throw these guys in with Bad Company and Foreigner of bands I don't know outside of a couple of hits. And probably not a great album as an introduction - this is certainly not one of their best albums and produced no memorable tracks. Hell, just a look at the paltry number of Spotify listens tells you all you need to know. Of all the albums I've covered so far, this one made the weakest impression. I didn't outright hate it, but it's just one bland generic track after another.

Top track: "Woke Up with a Monster" Favorite track: "Woke Up with a Monster"

10. Metallica - Reload (1997) - Oh boy, I wasn't looking forward to this one. I lied when I said I had not listened to any Metallica post-Black Album. I totally forgot that I used to own "Load," which I didn't really like at the time, and I knew this was a less well-received record. But knocking mediocre Metallica out of the way early just means I get to enjoy all the old stuff together, right?

I swear there are times on this record when James Hetfield sounds like he's doing a bad James Hetfield impression rather than just singing. It's always a precarious position when a band is in danger of parodying itself (see #2 Motley Crue above), but Metallica is like "Self-parody? Let's double down on that!" on this record. Nowhere is this more evident than "The Unforgiven II" which is the sequel nobody asked for and sounds like when TV shows want to give the feel of a popular song but change the notes just enough not to get sued.

I know Metallica perhaps got unfairly criticized around this time for the short haircuts, the eyeliner, the Napster feud, etc. It overshadowed this era of their music, but I'd like to think I'm correct in saying that this album objectively sucks compared to the rest of their discography (Note: I still have St. Anger ahead at some point). Every song seems to have one moment that makes you snicker and think "Really?" All that said, it's not going to make you gouge out your eardrums or anything. It's just less good than almost everything else they've done. There are plenty of hall of fame bands (including a few on this list) with worse duds in their repertoire.

Top track: "Fuel" Favorite track: "The Memory Remains"
Last edited by YellowKing on Sat Jan 07, 2023 10:25 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: YK's Classic Rock Music Project

Post by Sudy »

YellowKing wrote: Fri Jan 06, 2023 11:34 pm "The Unforgiven II" which is the sequel nobody asked for
Wait till you get to Death Magnetic. :wink:

Reload was some of the first Metallica I ever heard. Memory Remains and Unforgiven II were in heavy rotation when I discovered popular music/radio as a young teen. Listening to these songs brings to mind associated memories of N64 games and the smell of sports cards.

I don't think Reload is any worse than The Black Album (which I'm not a big fan of, excepting The Unforgiven). I've heard it said that if Load and Reload had been received as hard rock albums (rather than metal letdowns) they would have been much better liked. Yeah, most of the lyrics are embarrassing trash, but I mean it's Hetfield lol.

I still love Memory Remains and have a soft spot for Carpe Diem Baby, Low Man's Lyric, and Fixxer. I probably thought I liked Better Than You at the time but regard it as pretty trashy these days. Fuel's always been overrated. It foreshadowed the steaming pile that was St. Anger.

But hey, it's a better album than Megadeth's Risk.... (Reload I mean. St. Anger might be the worst album in history. :lol:) And probably on par with Cryptic Writings. It was a weird time.
Last edited by Sudy on Sat Jan 07, 2023 2:27 am, edited 8 times in total.

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Re: YK's Classic Rock Music Project

Post by Sudy »

Also, someone needs to do one of these for Monster Magnet. I would, but I constantly have their entire discography on repeat.

I saw a commercial on late night TV. It said, "Forget everything you know about slipcovers." So I did. And it was a load off my mind. Then the commercial tried to sell me slipcovers, and I didn't know what the hell they were. -- Mitch Hedberg
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Re: YK's Classic Rock Music Project

Post by Jeff V »

LordMortis wrote: Fri Jan 06, 2023 11:13 am I feel like I should do your challenge with newer bands. The newest artist I listened to was Billie Eilish and that was 2018. Before that, I think it might have Lord Huron in 2010... I think. Before that, I was new music(ian) junkie. Then it just stopped.
Since I'm in a car all day and I'm sure my riders aren't interested in snippets of audiobooks (besides, the Uber driver app doesn't give audible notifications when connected to the car's bluetooth). I listen to WXRT, because their playlist is widespread and therefore theoretically should have the widest appeal. They seem to trickle new artists, and I generally have to resort to YouTube to hear more of them as they play the shit out of one or two songs. Some of my favorite new(ish) bands:

Wet Leg -- British female duo. Song that I hear several times a day, Angelica, was my pick for song of the year. The lyrics are smart and funny, sung as almost as bubble-gum pop while grungy guitars roar in the background. I like the conflicting layers a lot. Digging deeper, I find they did a version of Talking Heads Psycho Killer -- I'm shocked this radio station doesn't play that because they play Talking Heads at least 4x a day.

Sam Fender -- OK, this guy clearly has daddy issues, but I don't think I've ever been so moved by the emotion put into a song as I have with this young man. Check out Seventeen Going Under and Spit of You.

DEHD -- A Chicago band that's been around for a few years. I knew it was a trio with both male and female singers, I didn't not know the person singing on their single, Bad Love, was the girl! :shock:

CAAMP -- they've been around a while I guess, but I just became aware of them. Their current hit, The Otter, prompted this from my 6 year old daughter: "Daddy, I didn't know boys could sing!" Their stuff is more along the lines of a folk singer with a guitar (and there's no shortage of those on this station),

Nathanial Rateliff and the Nightsweats -- I don't know a whole lot about them, but they have a southern rock vibe although from Denver. I heard that early in the band's history, Rateliff setup a charity (helps kids I think) that is supported by their success. Check out their version of S.O.B., Love Don't, and Survivor.

Yeah Yeah Yeahs -- I guess they were last a thing 9 years ago, but just released a new album. Their song "Burning" needs to be a James Bond theme (and the morning DJ on XRT agrees with me). It's a fantastic song, love the violin work.
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Re: YK's Classic Rock Music Project

Post by Jeff V »

BTW, I recently joined a prog-rock group on FB, and I may be inspired to do something similar to the theme of this thread. I'm being amused by that group -- recently a thread included a post from a guy who stated he has no interest in bands newer than the likes of King Crimson, ELP or Yes To which the best answer was, "the concept of "Progressive rock" is to always go forward to new frontiers. Sounds like you are only interested in "conservative rock", music that never changes."

That is spot-on, and I might check out some of the recommendations in that thread.
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Re: YK's Classic Rock Music Project

Post by gbasden »

YellowKing wrote: Fri Jan 06, 2023 11:34 pm

8. Rush - Grace Under Pressure (1984) - I've never been a prog rock guy, but lately I've started becoming much more appreciative of it thanks to friends in the vinyl community. There's no real reason I never got into Rush. I never had any dislike for them, I just didn't know any of their songs. Hell, I looked at their top 5 songs and only recognized 1 of them (on top of that, they only had 1 Top 40 hit). I think the only reason I knew "Tom Sawyer" was from one of those Time Life music collection commercials.

This album highlights the only weakness in this challenge - not listening chronologically means I don't get to hear the progression of the bands. In this case, this album marked Rush's drift towards heavy-synth, but to a person not familiar with their work I have no context for that. I also had no clue they had all these sci-fi geek lyrics, or else I'd have probably checked them out a long time ago. At any rate, enjoyed this one quite a bit even though it's not the type of music I'd generally choose to listen to.

Top track: "Distant Early Warning" Favorite track: "The Enemy Within"
If you don't like heavy synth, no worries. Rush always changes. The synth forward stuff was really mostly in the 80s. What doesn't change is nerdy dense lyrics. I've always found Red Sector A super powerful, especially since both of Geddy's parents were liberated from concentration camps in WW2.
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Re: YK's Classic Rock Music Project

Post by Exodor »

YellowKing wrote: Fri Jan 06, 2023 11:34 pm 8. Rush - I also had no clue they had all these sci-fi geek lyrics, or else I'd have probably checked them out a long time ago.


As a huge Rush fan I'm looking forward to reading your impressions of some of their other albums. :mrgreen:

I really need to get back to my "1001 Albums You Must Listen To" project. I kind of stalled out in the mid-60s which is right when it picked up moving into the Beatles and the Beach Boys and mostly leaving the awful crooning country and Frank Sinatra behind.
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Re: YK's Classic Rock Music Project

Post by Dramatist »

I’m not as ambitious as Yellowking so I have one album.

The Velvet Underground- The Velvet Underground and Nico from 1967.

I had to listen to this one twice which will probably be a recurring theme for me. This time was because I had heard many of these songs before as covers by other bands. These include OMD, Duran Duran, Echo & The Bunnymen and Japan. I can see why this album was so influential. The songs are varied and cover lots of different stylistic aspects. I really this enjoyed this album.
Favorite track - All Tomorrow’s Parties.


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Re: YK's Classic Rock Music Project

Post by mori »

I couldn't do this project as I could not keep my attention onto for very long. AC/DC would be a hard pass as the joke goes, once you heard one of their albums, you have heard them all. The bands that constantly evolved would be interesting. YK mentioned Cheap Trick but an off the wall recommendation would be the Bee Jees. They sounded like the Beatles and Motown at the beginning and latter evolved into pop and disco. I would like to do Judas Priest personally.
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Re: YK's Classic Rock Music Project

Post by Sudy »

Judas Priest is tight. I haven't given the pre-80s albums enough of a chance and can't find the non-Halford stuff to listen to, but there are so many gems from then on. Halford's solo stuff too.

I saw a commercial on late night TV. It said, "Forget everything you know about slipcovers." So I did. And it was a load off my mind. Then the commercial tried to sell me slipcovers, and I didn't know what the hell they were. -- Mitch Hedberg
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Re: YK's Classic Rock Music Project

Post by stimpy »

mori wrote: Sat Jan 07, 2023 3:12 pm AC/DC would be a hard pass as the joke goes, once you heard one of their albums, you have heard them all.
I heard an interview with guitarist Angus Young where he was asked what his response was to people who say they have done 14 albums that all sound the same. His response was he would say that it is bullshit. They've done 15 albums that all sound the same......
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Re: YK's Classic Rock Music Project

Post by stimpy »

Sudy wrote: Sat Jan 07, 2023 3:15 pm Judas Priest is tight. I haven't given the pre-80s albums enough of a chance and can't find the non-Halford stuff to listen to, but there are so many gems from then on. Halford's solo stuff too.
I'm the exact opposite. I grew up listening to them in the pre-80s and find most of the stuff after that pales in comparision.
They did somewhat return to form after Halford came back in the early 2000's, but the pre-80's Priest will always be by far the best they've done to me.
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Re: YK's Classic Rock Music Project

Post by mori »

The problem is that I cannot stand Halford's vocals. What I find intriguing about Judas Priest is that you can literally trace every modern hard rock guitar riff the last 25+ years back to a Judas Priest song. The last 5+ years I have been into Japanese hard rock and Judas Priest is saturated into that music. So you know what everyone has been listening to.
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Re: YK's Classic Rock Music Project

Post by stimpy »

mori wrote: Sat Jan 07, 2023 8:16 pm The problem is that I cannot stand Halford's vocals. What I find intriguing about Judas Priest is that you can literally trace every modern hard rock guitar riff the last 25+ years back to a Judas Priest song. The last 5+ years I have been into Japanese hard rock and Judas Priest is saturated into that music. So you know what everyone has been listening to.
That's why I love the earlier stuff.
His vocals were much more nuanced.

I mean.....does it really get any better than this?

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Re: YK's Classic Rock Music Project

Post by Sudy »

I'm the inverse... I love male rock falsetto and metal shrieks.

I saw a commercial on late night TV. It said, "Forget everything you know about slipcovers." So I did. And it was a load off my mind. Then the commercial tried to sell me slipcovers, and I didn't know what the hell they were. -- Mitch Hedberg
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Re: YK's Classic Rock Music Project

Post by Torfish »

I love this project YK. Going to be fun to follow your results.

I love music ever since I was a little kid. Hard rock, metal, speed metal, thrash was the only thing I listened to from teens to my forties. With the pandemic keeping me at home, I've broadened my pallet to more rock genres. Really glad I did. I discovered bands that I now really enjoy. Judas Priest, Thin Lizzy, Dream Theater, Blackfoot to name a few. Last year I bought the entire Judas Priest and Dream Theater catalogs and love just about every one of those old albums. Can't believe I missed them when growing up. Music tastes do change as you get older.
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