Life-Changing Bands (or Songs)

nauga said:
I've always had a thing for surf music, probably semi-related to my love for ska. I converted my wife by dragging her to see Dick Dale in a tiny club in Oakland not long before he died. It's been a pretty dry spell around here for my kind of live music so I've been wearing black and hanging around jazz clubs but when surf music calls, I need to answer. Two from Santa Cruz who are worth a trip:

The Mermen (who aren't all men, but never mind that)

The Expendables

Nauga,
outside, bruddah!
Click to expand...
For a while I was into a surf rock band called the Space Cossacks. They're pretty cool.
 
The Grateful Dead, hands down. Musically extremely accomplished and diverse. Wrote music for Robert Hunter's spacy poems that made them make sense, could play anything from hallucinogenic rock to country to blue grass. In fact, about the only genre of music they didn't perform (although I'm sure they could have) is classical. Concerts way better than their records, which themselves weren't bad.

My appreciation of the Grateful Dead crystallized when I attended a two-day concert set opened by The Who. The second day The Who performed the exact same songs in the exact same order with the exact same antics and jokes. The Dead repeated one song, and their sets were twice as long as The Who's.
 
In observance of Memorial Day:


Roger Waters' father, Lt. Eric Fletcher Waters, was killed in action at Anzio, 18 February, 1944. Although (Roger) Waters was only 5 months old, his father's death had a profound influence on him that can be heard on every Pink Floyd album. After listening to the album The Final Cut, every previous 'Floyd album was new to me.

As for The Gunner, his song was life changing for all of us.

In the corner of some foreign field​
The gunner sleeps tonight​
What's done is done​
We cannot just write off his final scene​
Take heed of the dream​
 
A few of his songs kinda resonate with me, this one popped into my head today. Kind of a balance to the happy LA surf songs, and I just found out today that go figure, one of the beach boys was actually one of the background singers on this recording. I may not be a fan of cheery tunes.

 
It's late at night at villa Nauga. The phone rings. It's the late '70's, I want their music back.
All three of these songs trigger particular college memories for me...and yet I still like them :cool:

Ultravox, before they went...whatever. If you start to question my taste skip ahead to about 2:30.

Gang of Four, who still have rhythm

Dave Edmunds and what might not be a life-affirming statement

Nauga,
and the sound of sweat
 
Villa Nauga, dark, strung with party lights, serving up cold mai tais, and cranking those tunes seems like a great place to hang.
 
nauga said:
It's late at night at villa Nauga. The phone rings. It's the late '70's, I want their music back.
All three of these songs trigger particular college memories for me...and yet I still like them :cool:


Dave Edmunds and what might not be a life-affirming statement

Nauga,
and the sound of sweat
Click to expand...

The Dave Edmunds selection has to have an interesting story behind it.
 
I wouldn't describe The Dollyrots as being life changing, but they are a lot of fun to listen to.


On the other hand, Mary Fahl's performance of and Mark Doyle's arrangement of this George Harrison song absolutely blows me away.

 
FormerHangie said:
I wouldn't describe The Dollyrots as being life changing, but they are a lot of fun to listen to.
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"Because I'm Awesome" was a moderate influence on someone close to me.

"Feed Me Pet Me" is probably my favorite.


Nauga,
at 160 bpm
 
I finally got to see these guys live a few nights ago after years of missed opportunities.
It was a hometown show and they kicked ass. If you look closely you might see references/nods to the town in all three videos/songs.



And not to be confused with the "famous" song by The Adolescents:

Nauga,
who supports local music - wherever that may be.
 
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nauga said:
"Because I'm Awesome" was a moderate influence on someone close to me.

"Feed Me Pet Me" is probably my favorite.


Nauga,
at 160 bpm
Click to expand...
That opening riff is taken from "Hey Bulldog" by the Beatles. About the only Beatles song I like.

Not the Beatles, but I do enjoy this version

 
I was hunting for something by Reverend Horton Heat and stumbled on this. I love psychobilly but I've got newfound respect for them.

A Motörhead cover?!:

For the uninitiated this a more typical example of their work: :cool:

Nauga,
and Jimbo
 
Who'd win in a wrestling match, Lemmy or god?

Live is just better.

 
Love is a Rebellious Bird. That seems to describe my relationship with airplanes sometimes.
(The tempo pretty much matches my pace as I pre-flight as well)
"The bird you hoped to catch
Beat its wings and flew away"

Yeah, I had a rental plane do that to me once due to a scheduling mix-up.
 
Tom Cochrane wrote this after a string of anti-semitic clashes in the late 70s. Pay attention to the lyrics, and you'll get it. "It's the final solution..." Being part Jewish, and living through that period in SoCal, I personally can relate somewhat. Sad that we are seeing another resurgence of this spit.
 
Penned by Neil Young, not long after the president expanded the war into Cambodia with carpet bombing of the Ho Chi Minh trail, there were eruptions of anger and unrest. It affected many college and HS campuses. My first arrest, although technically all we got was a ride in the paddy wagon to the district popo office where we sat on benches until our parents showed up. My brother was in country at the time, and his helicopter was shot down over Hue, and he got back with only a few bumps and stitches. During the protests, the students of Kent state were roundly criticized. Later, the nation would turn against the war. This event and the song was the second step after the mess of Tet, that led to the end of the war. Strange enough, I was inducted in Dec 73.
 
This won't mean much until one is a parent of an adult son. Then - it'll hit hard.
 
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. We were tearing apart. Much worse than anything recent. We were going to put a man on the moon, and we had riots in every major city in the US. Britain wasn't much better off. A group of English musicians, recording in Los Angeles at the time captured the angst and sense of doom with this song. Keith Richards' haunting black verses leave a moody impression for those who lived it. Adding a unique, and spine tingling vocal, Merry Clayton(yes, that's spelled right) was woken up late at night for session work, and screams into the mic; 'rape', 'murder', 'it's just a shot away'. So brutal was her contribution that night that she miscarried the following day. Don't listen if you are in a good mood.
 
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