Can We Appreciate Music?

I had a long argument last night with Adam about the following statement:

"Soundgarden is better than Nirvana."

How you feel about that doesn't really matter.  Well, it matters a little bit, but the point is that Adam insisted that no one could appreciate Nirvana unless you were alive and a music fan during the height of their popularity.  Side note: he stole this argument from a book, but that doesn't make it any less valid.

So take a second to think about that. We can't truly appreciate the music unless we were there to take in all the outside factors.  For me, that's a depressing thought.  I really truly think that music can be great on its own.  That yes, outside forces can help you to understand music.  But at its core, at it's most basic, there is good music.  That you can tell, that you feel something.  Adam took the negative to that argument, and we spoke about this the majority of the night.

I hope he's not right, because this what I've been doing the past two years on this blog, appreciating the music that I wasn't alive to fully appreciate.  I hope he's not right because it means that the only music I CAN appreciate is the music being made right now, and I'm not sure I want to appreciate this music.

Thoughts?

2010 Grammys

Hey all,
No CD review.  As I said in my last post, I'm gonna try and do those correctly, and that means doing them when I have time to reflect and soak up an album.  So tonight I'm gonna blog about the Grammys!
Oh also, sorry about not writing this month, the cold really just zaps all the energy out of me  But at least I got one in for January.

OK, so my original idea was to liveblog the Grammys, but two things got in the way: 1- i hate commercials. 2- I went out to dinner
So here's thoughts as they come, let's call it DVRBlogging...

• Wow Lady Gaga....As usual the outfit was awesome, and I loved the duet with Sir Elton.  I'm a bit biased becuase I think she's good, but a great way to start.
• How old is Colbert's daughter?  
• Great, the Beyonce love fest has begun.  Well at least she's backstage and can't accept the award
• Nice to see Taylor Swift win, you kinda figured she was a shoe-in though.  Both acceptance speeches have been pretty damn boring
• It's Miley!  And she's pimping cbs.com!
• This song is terrible, Imma Be the worst song they could have done on the stage.  The only two redeeming things are those red chicks from Star Wars, and the dude playing a lighting bolt guitar.
• Pink definitely just blew the doors off the place with that.  Great song, and she did it while spinning 60 rpm. 
  
• While they're talking about the county music trustee's award, I feel like I should mention:  We've had 4 performances so far, and only 1 duet.  And even the duet, was kind of a thrown-in at the end of Gaga's song.
• The Zach Brown Band looks like dudes I could hang with.
• Not sure I'm loving this "vote for which crappy song Bon Jovi will play"  There's no way it's anything except Livin' on a Prayer
• Seeing the Brothers' Jonas, reminds me that I saw Nick's solo band.  not terrible.  Also not terrible, this country band.  But then again, they're the first group to actually treat this like a musical performance, and not the MTV Music Video Awards...
• Love Ringo: "And thank you Nora, for being shorter than me".  I hope Kings of Leon win...but I'm sure it'll be Beyonce...
• Oh Hell yeah, maybe tonight won't be a Beyonce love fest. There is hope in this world..."I'm not gona lie, we're a little drunk, but we're happy drunk"  Now THAT is how you accept an award.
• I was gonna rip on Jamie Foxx, but if George Clinton thinks you're good, then you must be doing something right.   And any performance that ends with Slash is pretty good.
• Is Dave Matthew's Rock?  Green Day was the obvious choice though, although it makes you realize how little there was in Rock this year if THOSE were the nominees.  I know what you're thinking, why weren't Kings of Leon nominated?  They were.  Last year.  So yeah, they won record of the year in a year when they didn't make any new music.  Stupid Grammy's
• Zach Brown band looks great.  Actually all the county acts have looks pretty damn good tonight.
• Only Seacrest could introduce Taylor Swift and make it sound like Patsy Cline.  
• Glad to see Stevie Nicks learned the tenor part for You Belong With Me.  How did they possibly convince her to sing this dopey song?  
• I had no idea I was supposed to get 3D glasses, good to know Michael loved trees.  This is actually a pretty interesting idea, they pulled it off well.  Nice collaboration, a good song too.
• The drummer for Bon Jovi has two bass drums, really?  Also, this performance is terible.  Worst of the night.  
• Big suprise, Livin' a Prayer was picked...wish I had the odds on that one, oh great, they didn't even play the whole song.  
• Please be On A Boat....meh, ok Run This Town isn't terible, where's Kayne???  I love that Jay Z stayed on the stage to chat up Placido Domingo and Mos Def, he's such a bad ass
• Andrea Bochelli is great, he could sing the phone book and win Grammys
• Boring speech about not downloading music, here ya go 
• DMB, solid.
• Is Beyonce's dress made from pop tabs?
• Finishing up hour 3 and I think the 3rd lifetime achievement award?  Hmmm
• No Mic for Jeff Beck!  Well, it looked like he was playing well...
• Nice shirt Quentin...oh yah, another lifetime acheivement award...
• I like the Lil Wayne/Eminem/Drake number, probably becuase there was a live band behind them.
• Finally, album of the night.  Here we go, I hope Gaga wins purely to see her give a speech in that outfit.
• Congrats to Taylor, guess this means I should buy her album.  You know the worst part about this?  It means that Becky was right.  Well, if you read this you're either bored or a good friend.  Thank you, good night!

The Wild, the Innoncent and the E Street Shuffle

Rolling Stone Rank: 132

People who love Bruce, love this album.  I am not one of those people.  I think this is mainly due to the fact that I was born in 1985, I dunno.  I kinda feel the same way about U2, for whatever reason. In pure Bruce fashion, all the tracks on the album are long and winding stories, probably the best known one is Rosalita, which by the way is my favorite.  According to RS, this album is where Bruce honed his voice and writing style, so I suppose these are good examples of his style.

If you like The Boss, then you'll love this album.  But chances are if you love him, you already have this album.  Ugh, i just re-read that first paragraph and it looks like a Chuck Klosterman starting paragraph, so I'll just stop now while I'm ahead.  Night!

Stats

Album: The Wild, the Innocent and E Street Shuffle
Artist: Bruce Springsteen
Year: 1973
My Favorite Song: Rosalita
Next Up: Notorious

Saturday Night Fever

Rolling Stone Rank: 131


Well, in all honesty I really wanted to write this on a Saturday night, but oh well Tuesday will do.  This album was really fun.  Not a whole ton of substance behind it, and it was a compilation, so obviously I don't think it should be on this list (This album won the grammy for album of the year, ahhh to live in the 70s).  Anyway, listening to the soundtrack got me thinking about all these "greatest" lists.  Well actually listening to the album and having a long drawn out argument with Adam over the state of  music today.  So, i decided i should make a list of my own.  I'm actually more intrigued about looking over music from the past decade than I'm interested in proving him wrong.  But, whatever the motive, expect that from me in the next few days.


I should explain why I haven't written in a month.  A few reasons actually, and the first one is something I talked about in an earlier post.  I listen to podcasts now when I run.  I used to listen to music, but the problem is that music is not distracting enough for me.  It's too easy to notice the end of a track, and well I need all the help I can get excercising without stopping.  So, because of that, I don't have the daily time to listen to albums that I had before.  Which brings me to my second reason, I want to devote an appropriate amount of time to think about each album.  I'd rather not just bang through these, which I'm prone to do on occasion.  


So this blog of mine has come to a crossroads.  Do I want to update and give up on doing an album with each post, or take the time to really dissect albums?  For now I think I'm going to try and do both, that's why they makes this posts with labels on them, right?  Anway, it's now 4AM, and my disc of One Tree Hill is finished.  Go winter break!

Stats

Album: Saturday Night Fever
Artist: Various, but mostly the Bee Gees
Year: 1977
My Favorite Song: Night on Disco Mountain
Next Up: The Boss

Paranoid

Rolling Stone Rank: 130

THE Recording to begin hard rock. Listen to it. please. Listen to it and think about how great Osborne was, before this genereation turned him into a punchline.

Stats

Album: Paranoid
Artist: Black Sabbath
Year: 1971
My Favorite Song: War Pigs
Next Up: The Fever

40 Greatest Hits

Rolling Stone Rank: 129

Booo, greatest hits. Boo, compilation.

Ok, that's out of the way. It's an amazing way to get to know Mr. Williams. And it shows a side of him that I bet you didn't know existed. In college, my friend Matt had a Hank Williams tape. Yes, that's right I said tape. Well, it was an old car, and he didn't have a cd hook up yet. And yes, this were the days before Walgreens sold fm transmitters for $20. Anyways, i rode back home with him once and listened to this tape. When we started our trip, he was raving about this tape, i couldn't believe we were gonna spend the whole trip with this "country" singer. But by the end I had grown a new respect for the man. So that's how I think you'll feel about this recording. That's how I think you'll feel about it. The man had a dark side too, I liked Move It On Over

Stats

Album: 40 Greatest Hits
Artist: Hank Williams
Year: 1978
My Favorite Song: Move It On Over
Next Up: Black Sabbath

Marquee Moon

Rolling Stone Rank: 128

Glad that The Talking Heads came before them. The Talking Heads were the evolution three years later of what Television introduced in 1977. Well, television and the rest of the NYC punk movement, which was of course the outreach of the English punk movement. Not sure what I mean by that, I'm not really saying that their music wasn't validated, or that they didn't mean what they were saying. But, what were they saying? The British movement rose out of the complete and utter poverty that the peasant were living in. Were the New York punks just angry because they were young? And again, not there's anything wrong with that. not that they didn't feel the full passion they were singing and playing, but will it last the test of time? Interesting thoughts, right? Well, to me they are. It brings about that great question, is music more meaningful if you know the background behind it? I would say...maybe. You could argue it either way. Since music, like most art, is meant to play upon the emotions an individual feels, it doesn't really matter why the artist created it.

I guess it shows what kind of person I am. I want to get the interpretation right, whatever that means. I want to know what the artist intended for it, and maybe it makes me respect their work just a little bit more than artists who just don't give a damn. hmmmm, and that just brings me back to punk again. Man, I don't sound like the 16 year old who listened to nothing buy Fat WreckChords through junior year...

Oh hey, take a listen to this record, let me know how you feel about the angst...

Stats

Album: Marquee Moon
Artist: Television
Year: 1977
My Favorite Song: Friction
Next Up: Hank Williams, oh boy