Until the age of 13 I was musically ignorant. I suppose ignorant seems like a strong word, and it may very well be, but I’m sticking to it. I was familiar with everything that was The Beatles, The Beach Boys, and various other oldies. I knew Queen. Really, all I knew was what my parents had, which was all vinyl. I have no older siblings, so they were it. I knew Meatloaf, for crying out loud.
I remember hearing Nevermind for the first time. That was the turning point for me. I had been too young to really get into the 80’s music, and just grew up on oldies. This was new. This was fresh. I knew then that music was really changing, and I needed to catch up. I listened to new stuff, but harda hard time for a long time. Twice at one party after freshman year I had made my ignorance clearly apparent to everyone. Once when I requested to hear Violent Femmes, who was already on the stereo, and the other when I had asked whether “Only A Lad” was The Cure. I know, I know, I was lame. I take full responsiblity for that. I’ve made it all better now.
In my few years of paying special attention to learning as much as possible, I’ve learned a lot, and would like to impart some of this information on all of you in a segment I’d like to call Born Yesterday.
I knew someone once who said that he didn’t want to get into Led Zeppelin yet because he knew that this was an undertaking in and of itself. I agreed. Still do. If you want to know about the Led, you better take some time and get to really know the Led. Granted, even one album will rock your socks, but the entirety of their catalog is majestic, to say the least. They are the quintessential rock and roll band. Best Rock and Roll band ever. You can try to debate this point, but let’s be real here, alright?
The Pixies. Any of you kids out there that are totally sprung on your KROQ flavor of the week might want to go ahead and check out the Pixies so you know what likely inspired your favorite band’s mentor. That’s right, that’s the inspiration of one that inspired your favorite band. Oh, and they don’t suck like their 2nd generation knock offs.
Oingo Boingo. You know all those Tim Burton and Sam Raimi soundtracks that you love? Remember Nightmare Before Christmas? Well, that was all the work of Danny Elfman who was once the lead singer and songwriter for the band Oingo Boingo, later just Boingo. They had some hits you’ve likely heard (Weird Science, Dead Man’s Party, Only a Lad) but the lesser heard stuff is just mind blowing. The album I have linked at the bottom left is the best way to catch up on what you’ve missed. There’s some live versions on there that make me all giddy.
Joni Mitchell. Most, if not all, of those modern day female crooners source Joni as one of their sources of inspiration. Her or Joan Baez, but usually both. Joni wrote a butt load of songs that have been covered this way and that by tons of artists, including Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, and some country artist that crippled Big Yellow Taxi. She does things with her songs that I had never heard. The way that the melody, harmony, rythym, lyrics, and her voice seem to meld together and grab you so that you are smack dab in whatever emotion she’s singing about. Sometimes her songs make you cry. Sometimes they make you want to dance. Sometimes both at the same time.
If you add those to your repetoire I’d say that you’d have a solid starting block. I’m sure there are other bands that are worth listening to. I would have added several myself, but I don’t want to keep typing for days. Get these bans under your belt and you’ll be okay.