DrJohnnyFever Wrote:Pink Floyd
Led Zeppelin
Aerosmith
Deep Purple
Creedence Clearwater Revival
Queen
Stevie Ray Vaughn
Joe Walsh (and anyone he was with)
Guns 'n' Roses
Boston

I must say, that's quite a list. Most of those groups (Pink Floyd, SRV, in particular) are amongst those that helped spark my love of music well there are others (Boston and CCR) who I enjoy very much and have a tremendous amount of respect for but for whatever reason have never got around to picking up an album, and others (Guns 'N' Roses, Queen) who I went through an intense period of listening to but have kind of waned for me.

Quote: I think rap doesn't even deserve to be rated. Most hip-hop for the same reasons. Lack of talent, original ideas, choice of topic/language used.

You are a quite bright fellow, so forgive me when I make a comment that may be percieved as rude but, and I think this may be what you meant when you said "true, I'm old school", I think on the topic of rap you may be a bit beyond your element (no disrespect meant). You must recall rap has it's own lineage and environment. True, the language, violence, and (more often than not) misogyny may seem trite, but in the inner city, largely made up of blacks at the time (and still for the most part now, although you see more whites there, as well as other minorites) of rap's conception in the late 60s (a hybrid of funk, beat poetry, and traditional tribal rythyms) that was the environment. For people of the "old school" who came from a white, middle-class background (I'm not referring to you, Johnny, please don't think I'm being presumptious and trying to peg you into a definition or act like I know you), it was horrifying and grotesque, but to the lower-middle class black youths, this was real. This was there life. In it's earliest days (the Sugarhill Gang, Fat Boys etc.), rap was swooped up by white buisnessman and assimiliated, but you also had Grandmaster Flash and 2 Live Crew who, well this may seem silly to anyone not a rap fan, approach urban life in a sort of modernized poetry, using a love of words and an acute understanding of how the English language evokes emotion to drive home socio-political points (well, Grandmaster Flash, at least) at a time when the people in these areas were still not being taken seriously. Public Enemy themselves completely revolutionized (no pun intended) the genre with Flavor Flav's goofy humor and Chuck D's intense, righteous, Clash-influenced analysis of the inner city black working class. Even, N.W.A., on their debut Straight Outta Compton, were representing a real message. They weren't glorifying gangsta life (at least not when Ice Cube was in the group) and telling kids, "Go out! Shoot at people! It's fun!", they were informing suburbia that this was a hard life, this was really happening and outside of the inner city, no one cares or even knows about it. And to add insult to injury, for trying to bring light to this phenomena ("phenomena"; more like "way of life") they were castigated by the PMRC and politicians who would rather wipe these problems under the rug.

I'm sure this is no deep seated hatred on your part, just a simple dislike of the music style, which is fine, no sense in talking when we're all saying the same thing, I just think personally that even those who dislike rap should offer it a certain respect, the same way people who don't particularly like Led Zeppelin, Bob Dylan, and The Beatles (at least in my circle of friends) off them a certain respect.

Quote:without music, there would be silence.

In case you are interested, a few newer bands you may enjoy:

The Darkness--an anthemic, glammy power-rock group who's dedication to bringing back the riffs of Queen and AC/DC is unbelievable.

Tool--An artsy prog/metal hybrid heavily influenced by King Crimson, Yes, Led Zeppelin, Jethro Tull, Gentle Giant, Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin, often with heavy philosophical lyrics and slow, churning song structures reminiscent of mid-70s PF, but just as able to turn out a romping Judas Priest-esque stomper like "Hooker With A Penis"

Coheed & Cambria--Well their earlier material is more on the emo/punk side of the spectrum, their vocalist is a dead ringer (well, with less emotion and power in his sway) to Geddy Lee and their last two albums (Good Apollo, My Eyes Are Burning! and No World For Tomorrow, respectively) saw them developing a full on, theatrical, operatic progressive rock style, and their five albums make up one of the most ambitious and original rock operas ever.

Between The Buried And Me--Starting out as an intense hardcore punk/thrash metal group, they expanded their horizons with each successive album, making it hard to label them in any way (although their singer/guitarist proclaims ("We're a metal band and that's never going to change") and their most recent album. Colours, is probably the closest any artists so far this decade has come to truly emulating Dark Side Of The Moon (either that or Tool's Lateralus) and their release before that, The Anatomy Of, saw them reinterpreting songs by their influences ranging from Queen's Bicycle Race to Pantera's Cemetary Gates.



In short, Dr. Johnny Thunder, in the short time that you've joined you've become one of my favorite posters!


Back on topic, I'm thinking of checking some ELO albums out from the library. Which should I get?

A nice post Fever. And a good time to remind some of us about the reputation marks. One way your can let someone on the forum know of your appreciation or displeasure with their posts.

I am going to take a stab at the original premise of the topic and express how E.L.O. and Chicago rank in my list of favorite artists of the 1970's.
First a little splitting hairs and excluding of The Beatles. Since only Let It Be and The Beatles Again were released in the '70's, I will argue that they were a 60's band.
Also, artists like Rush, Queen and Dire Straits had very good albums in the 70's, I do prefer their 80's products.
Ok. I'll stop the crap and get to the list.

70's artists
01. Paul McCartney/Wings
02. Led Zeppelin
03. John Lennon/his many band names
04. Pink Floyd
05. Cheap Trick
06. Steely Dan
07. E.L.O.
08. C.C.R.
09. Bad Company
10. Geroge Harrison

There I said it. Electric Light Orchestra at number 7. Chicago? Man they might be in the 20's somewhere. Right along with The Carpenters. That is not a shot at The Carpenters, either.
Are Yes, Moody Blues, Eric Clapton or Black Sabbath "70's bands"? Probably some of the same arguments would lead people to claim Cheap Trick as an 80's band and removed from my list.

And if you go back to read some of the remarks about E.L.O. you may decide that a general fondess for the two albums Out Of The Blue and A New World Record would be good places to start.

George Harrison's solo material is very underrated, I feel.

My lists always fluxuate based on mood but my top ten 70s bands/artists, at this particular mood and moment:

1. Pink Floyd
2. Bob Dylan
3. King Crimson
4. Jethro Tull
5. Yes
6. Genesis (Peter Gabriel-era)
7. Judas Priest
8. Santana
9. Television
10. Elton John

Some Other Jackass Wrote:if you go back to read some of the remarks about E.L.O. you may decide that a general fondess for the two albums Out Of The Blue and A New World Record would be good places to start.

Thank you so much! I hope the library (and by library I mean all surrounding libraries as you can order items and have them dropped off) carries them!

Short, sweet and to the pont: If I could only keep 2 of my ELO collection .... One would be the very first one I purchased, "Ole-Elo" ... the second would have to be a compilation of some of their other hits, probably "The Best of Electric Light Orchestra" but man, if I had to destroy or give away the rest, I'd need a straight jacket and a rubber room ... (or maybe just some good smoke, some Floyd coming out of a quad set-up, and a large, well lit fishtank with lots of exotic fish to watch in a dark room on a very soft couch.) Boy, does that bring back memories ....... oh, don't forget to bring some munchies ....