Here are the songs that made the cut for our music project for the 1950s and the 1960s CDs:
1950's
Rolling Stone, Muddy Waters
Rag Mop, The Ames Brothers
Kansas City, Wilber Harrison
La Bamba, Richie Valens
Heartbreak Hotel, Elvis Presley
Get a Job, Silhouettes
Yakety Yak, The Coasters
Whole Lot of SHakin' Going On, Jerry Lee Lewis
Rock Around the Clock, Bill Haley
Roll Over Beethoven, Chuck Berry
Tutti-Frutti, Little Richard
Why Do Fools Fall In Love, Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers
The Wanderer, Dion and the Belmonts
Splish Splash, Bobby Darin
Walkin' After Midnight, Patsy Cline
Lollipop, The Chordettes
Chantilly Lace, Big Bopper
Peggy Sue, Buddy Holly
1960's
The Twist by Chubby Checker (R&B 1960)
Cathy's Clown by the Everly Brothers (Pop 1960)
I Can't Get Next To You by the Temptations (R&B 1969)
Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In by the 5th Dimension (Pop 1969)
I Want to Hold Your Hand, the Beatles
Leader of the Pack, The Shangri-Las
I'm Into Something Good, Herman's Hermits
Big Girls Don't Cry, Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons
Surfin' USA, Beach Boys
19th Nervous Breakdown, Rolling Stones
My Generation, The Who
Respect, Aretha Franklin
Hello, I Love You by the Doors
The Star Spangled Banner by Jimi Hendrix
Piece of My Heart by Janis Joplin
White Rabbit by Jefferson Airplane
Come Together, the Beatles
Dance to the Music, Sly & The Family Stone
In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida by Iron Butterfly
The Dock of the Bay, Otis Redding
To Sir, With Love by Lulu
Mrs Robinson by Simon & Garfunkel
I do not claim to be comprehensive. I do not have an actual degree in Music History or Music Theory. However, I hope that I have hit the stylistic highlights/milestones of each decade. (Note: The second Beatles song really should have been Helter Skelter, but we couldn't get a copy of it!)
Monday, September 29, 2008
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Latest music project
My son is thinking of running a meeting of his youth group in the next few weeks. His theme is pretty broad: Music. Grendel appreciates my musical knowledge, so we're having fun working on this together. We've talked a lot about it, and we think we've narrowed it down to a history of popular music in the last 50 years or so. We've had to narrow our focus quite a bit to get something we think that he can fit into a two hour meeting.
Yesterday, we were talking about our need to narrow our focus even more and I said that I could easily put together a syllabus for a full semester college course on the History of Popular Music in the last 60 Years. He smiled and said, in all sincerity, "I know you could." It felt good to hear him say that. Really good.
In my early twenties, a friend commented on my diverse taste in music saying that such breadth meant that I really had NO taste. Bah! Fortunately, I let his commentary roll right off my back. I love music, lots of different kinds of music. I can easily listen to classical, swing, jazz, honky tonk, blue grass, folk, celtic, R&B, classic soul, reggae, rockabily, rock, surf, punk, soft rock, AAA, metal, hip hop, techno, country, and rap. Admittedly, I'm VERY selective in what I like in those genres, being particularly selective when it comes to modern (post 1980) country and rap. Even so, I like listening to music for it's influences, tempo, lyrics, and beat.
Maybe I missed my calling. Maybe I should have majored in Music Theory or Music History. Sadly, a PhD in either might have garnered me a poverty-inspiring teaching position. If income were not an issue, I REALLY think teaching others about the diversity, influences, impacts, and sheer joy of music would be a blast.
Back to our project. Here is our current plan. We hope to compile a CD for each decade from the 1950's through the beginning of the millenium. The first four songs would be the top rock and R&B songs from the beginning of the decade and the end of it. The rest of the CD would include some milestone songs exemplifying the styles of the decade.
We also want to do a CD of influences, covers, and parodies. This would include things like an original blues song from the 40s and the Elvis cover of it in the 50s. (Also, Alien Ant Farm's version of "Smooth Criminal", along with the original) As well as an original song and a Weird Al or Twisted Tunes cover of it (Think Avril Lavigne's "Complicated" verses "Constipated"). As the saying goes, "Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery." Or, our point is that a cover (or parody) shows the staying power of a song.
For example, the 1950's would include blue-eyed soul, surf, cruisin', romantic harmonies, greaser rock and sock-hop hits (including both swing and honkytonk inspired early rock). I used to be a big oldies nut, when 'oldies' meant 50's and early 60's. So, this one will be especially fun.
The most difficult aspect of this project is that we only have a week or so to pull it together, and we're limiting ourselves to one CD a decade, all of which can't possibly be played in the two hours alotted.
Yesterday, we were talking about our need to narrow our focus even more and I said that I could easily put together a syllabus for a full semester college course on the History of Popular Music in the last 60 Years. He smiled and said, in all sincerity, "I know you could." It felt good to hear him say that. Really good.
In my early twenties, a friend commented on my diverse taste in music saying that such breadth meant that I really had NO taste. Bah! Fortunately, I let his commentary roll right off my back. I love music, lots of different kinds of music. I can easily listen to classical, swing, jazz, honky tonk, blue grass, folk, celtic, R&B, classic soul, reggae, rockabily, rock, surf, punk, soft rock, AAA, metal, hip hop, techno, country, and rap. Admittedly, I'm VERY selective in what I like in those genres, being particularly selective when it comes to modern (post 1980) country and rap. Even so, I like listening to music for it's influences, tempo, lyrics, and beat.
Maybe I missed my calling. Maybe I should have majored in Music Theory or Music History. Sadly, a PhD in either might have garnered me a poverty-inspiring teaching position. If income were not an issue, I REALLY think teaching others about the diversity, influences, impacts, and sheer joy of music would be a blast.
Back to our project. Here is our current plan. We hope to compile a CD for each decade from the 1950's through the beginning of the millenium. The first four songs would be the top rock and R&B songs from the beginning of the decade and the end of it. The rest of the CD would include some milestone songs exemplifying the styles of the decade.
We also want to do a CD of influences, covers, and parodies. This would include things like an original blues song from the 40s and the Elvis cover of it in the 50s. (Also, Alien Ant Farm's version of "Smooth Criminal", along with the original) As well as an original song and a Weird Al or Twisted Tunes cover of it (Think Avril Lavigne's "Complicated" verses "Constipated"). As the saying goes, "Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery." Or, our point is that a cover (or parody) shows the staying power of a song.
For example, the 1950's would include blue-eyed soul, surf, cruisin', romantic harmonies, greaser rock and sock-hop hits (including both swing and honkytonk inspired early rock). I used to be a big oldies nut, when 'oldies' meant 50's and early 60's. So, this one will be especially fun.
The most difficult aspect of this project is that we only have a week or so to pull it together, and we're limiting ourselves to one CD a decade, all of which can't possibly be played in the two hours alotted.
Saturday, September 27, 2008
Paul Newman, You Were One of the Greatest
I rarely note the passing of celebrities, but this one hit me pretty hard: Paul Newman passed away.
Newman was not only a great actor, but a great human being, a fine example for us all. He will be missed.
Some of my favorite all time movies starred Paul Newman, including: "Exodus" and "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid".
Newman was not only a great actor, but a great human being, a fine example for us all. He will be missed.
Some of my favorite all time movies starred Paul Newman, including: "Exodus" and "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid".
Friday, September 26, 2008
Monday, September 22, 2008
Why Real Media and Rhapsody suck
Years ago, I used to use the Real Media products. When they 'enhanced' their service by offering RealOne, I was decided to subscribe and check out the features. While all the content and games seemed cool, the service was overpriced and the software was slow, buggy, and bloated.
For the last couple of years, I have subscribed to Yahoo Music Unlimited. Last winter, it was announced the Yahoo Music was sold to Rhapsody, Real Media's latest music product. I was a bit intrigued because Rhapsody integrates with TiVO, so that you can listen to your Rhapsody playlists on your TiVo. A few times since the first of the year, I was ready to give up Yahoo Music, but I decided to wait until all the accounts cut over to Rhapsody, just to see what the service was like.
When I cutover, the software was (as expected) a bit slow and bloated. Getting to my playlists through the TiVo was arduous, since you have to enter your account information and password, character-by-character, everytime you want to play something. After two months, I decided that it wasn't worth keeping. So, I went online to cancel.
Ha! Of course you cannot cancel online. That would make it too easy for frustrated Rhapsody users to bail out. In order to cancel you must call a toll free number. Calling the number involved waiting on hold for four minutes. When I got an Indian (offshore/outsourced) customer service representative, he could not hear me. After a few frustrating interchanges, I called back. I got another offshore representative. Once he took my information, both my email address and my credit card number, he asked why I wanted to cancel. I said that the main reason I signed up was for the TiVo access, and that it was too slow to log in through TiVo. He then tried to transfer my call to a technical support person so that they could solve my problem. I had to sternly convince him that I did NOT want to have my problem 'solved'; that I just wanted to cancel the account. The interchange remained painful, but I was finally able to get a cancellation confirmation number.
Note to self: Stay away from Real Media under all circumstances.
For the last couple of years, I have subscribed to Yahoo Music Unlimited. Last winter, it was announced the Yahoo Music was sold to Rhapsody, Real Media's latest music product. I was a bit intrigued because Rhapsody integrates with TiVO, so that you can listen to your Rhapsody playlists on your TiVo. A few times since the first of the year, I was ready to give up Yahoo Music, but I decided to wait until all the accounts cut over to Rhapsody, just to see what the service was like.
When I cutover, the software was (as expected) a bit slow and bloated. Getting to my playlists through the TiVo was arduous, since you have to enter your account information and password, character-by-character, everytime you want to play something. After two months, I decided that it wasn't worth keeping. So, I went online to cancel.
Ha! Of course you cannot cancel online. That would make it too easy for frustrated Rhapsody users to bail out. In order to cancel you must call a toll free number. Calling the number involved waiting on hold for four minutes. When I got an Indian (offshore/outsourced) customer service representative, he could not hear me. After a few frustrating interchanges, I called back. I got another offshore representative. Once he took my information, both my email address and my credit card number, he asked why I wanted to cancel. I said that the main reason I signed up was for the TiVo access, and that it was too slow to log in through TiVo. He then tried to transfer my call to a technical support person so that they could solve my problem. I had to sternly convince him that I did NOT want to have my problem 'solved'; that I just wanted to cancel the account. The interchange remained painful, but I was finally able to get a cancellation confirmation number.
Note to self: Stay away from Real Media under all circumstances.
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