Music, music from the blue... all this means is.. notes to you!

[vakkotaur]

I looked at the band meme stuff a bit and noticed that while I had heard of the bands that people listed, for the most part I could not name a single tune any of them had done. The big exception was the Beatles. It's not as if I hadn't been surrounded by the music of these groups. Much of the music has become unavoidable, though I generally don't go out of my way to avoid it.

As a young kid in the 1970s there was the music of the car radio. Most of this was just so much background noise to me. It was just there, and was nothing special. Some tunes I can still feel something about - good or bad. Queen's "We Are The Champions" is one tune I don't care for. Someone explained that I had misheard the lyrics, but the effect was well there by then. I still don't like it. While "Movin' Out" (Antony's Song) I don't mind. It's not a great thing, but I'd choose it over most of the stuff around which is, again, stuff that is just there.

Then there was a small record player and some old 45 rpm records. This was neat as I could decide what to listen to, instead of having someone at a radio station decide for me. Changing stations changed the decision maker and genre, but still left the exact decision out of my control. Also, as a kid it was neat to have a multi-speed record player and find what things sounded like sped up or slowed down. 16 rpm, 33-1/3 rpm, 45 rpm, 78 rpm. Perhaps it was not good for the records, but that didn't seem to concern anyone very much. The records I remember best are the ones everyone else forgot. Novelty songs like "45 Men in a Telephone Booth" and the flipside to "Rock Around the Clock", "Thirteen Women" about a strange dream set after an H-bomb attack.

There was an 8-track deck. I have no idea where it came from. There was a small stack of 8-track tapes. Most were ho-hum. Two were not. One was of Fats Domino, and the other was, surprisingly, Black Sabbath. Both things I hadn't heard on the radio, which seemed rather bland.

Later, I was allowed the use of an old reel to reel tape recorder. I listened to the tapes that had been recorded. Most seemed terribly dull. I no longer recall what was on most of them. But then I listened to one... and it was different. It had music on it. Not just music, but music. I hadn't really heard that before. Or if I had, somehow I hadn't noticed. Someone had taped the songs from the movie The Glenn Miller Story on that tape. I discovered big band swing. And it had energy. It had range. It had everything the ho-hum pop rock on the radio did not. The stuff on the radio seemed monotone and listless. Uninspiring, like someone showed up to put in time, while this big band stuff... felt like someone meant it.

Later still I found Dr. Demento on the radio. This was different. It was... well, it wasn't bland. Much of it was crap. But some of it was great. I think this is where I first encountered Weird Al Yankovic. And my grandmother, for whatever reason, gave me an LP of Spike Jones. While I had heard "In Der Fuehrer's Face", it was amazing how that was perhaps the least good tune on the record. Why hadn't I heard of all this other stuff?

By now it was into the 1980s, and the music video was around, even on network TV. Remember Friday Night Videos? By its very limited nature it couldn't play every video around like MTV supposedly did. That meant choices had to be made and only the (hopefully) better ones shown. I can't say I really liked any one band, but there was some variety. And some songs worked by themselves, while others needed the video to work at all. Twisted Sister's "We're Not Gonna Take It" is an example. It's not bad on the radio, but the video really makes it. If you haven't seen it, imagine M*A*S*H's Frank Burns having a son who one day finally has enough of his BS and stands up to him and you won't be too far off.

Also I started to notice more in the world. The political world, that is. The Mark Russell comedy specials had some good tunes in them, even if I didn't always agree with them. But being funny was the point, not being agreeable - or even right. Somewhere I managed to hear something by The Capitol Steps. More political humor, and often very good music.

I suppose my musical interests are eclectic if not really inclusive. In my CD collection are some classical CDs, which were bought to provide lyric-free background sound without a heavy beat - ideal for studying, Glenn Miller and other big band swing, They Might Be Giants - I suppose all novelty songs in some way, Capitol Steps - political humor, and a few other things like the Squirrel Nut Zippers which I find to be very good... and Cherry Poppin' Daddies which seem to get close but miss the mark. Weird Al's "Grapefruit Diet" is a better tune than the "Zoot Suit Riot" on which it is based. Often I have heard a Weird Al tune long before hearing the tune he's parodying. It seemed like Weird Al had a slump in the last few years... but it seems that he just hasn't had much of anything good to work with.

I've found that I don't care much for modern (post 1960? 1970?) rock - I can deal with it, but generally I wouldn't buy it. I do like the faster 1950s rock & roll. It seems to have an energy. It feels good. I've often wondered why rock seems so ho-hum after that. It's like someone had something, and then.. made a wrong turn and everyone followed and nobody pointed out the problem. Or was that what Bye Bye Miss American Pie was about, in a way?