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Post by snarky on Sept 30, 2013 18:12:23 GMT
1985...on my wedding day- this little concert was going on & a great live version from simple minds' 1 hit wonder...
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Post by ShivaTD on Sept 30, 2013 18:55:23 GMT
"Obsession" was an outstanding One Hit Wonder and I almost included it on my listing.
"Mexican Radio" reminds me of the Wolfman Jack days in SoCal where ,by broadcasting from South of the Border, he could avoid the FCC censorship. He broadcast a wide selection of music that simply wasn't being played on American radio at the time. Miss the Wolfman.
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Post by snarky on Sept 30, 2013 19:56:30 GMT
 . indeed. he was an icon. so much of my youth is gone.... 
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Post by maniacalhamster on Sept 30, 2013 21:24:05 GMT
i was gaga over this chick back in the day
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Post by ShivaTD on Oct 1, 2013 10:03:52 GMT
Fun with One Hit Wonders but my mind always goes off on tangents so while that theme can continue I'm going to introduce another one based upon the following inspiration.... penned by Jimi Hendrix as the second verse to "Third Stone From the Sun" off of the "Are You Experienced" album.
I learned guitar in the early 1960's in Southern California and I was a surfer at the time. Surf music was a major musical genre for many and along with many guitar players we had one song that we focused on to learn the lead to. Since the 1970's that has probably been replaced by learning "Smoke on the Water" by Deep Purple but back then it was the lead guitar riff to this song that was "mandatory" to learn. It was also somewhat responsible for the "Stratocaster" sound that made it's way into major rock compositions later in the 1960's.
Starting with this song my theme for this morning is "Surf Music" which also included "Hot Rod" music in the early to mid-1960's.
Pipeline by the Chantays (the video is awesome)
Surf City by Jan and Dean
Wipe Out by the Surfaris
There was one group that was unquestionably the premier "surf group" of the 1960's and they had so many songs that I can't include them all. I will close with two of their songs starting with the one of their "hot rod" surf music songs....
Little Deuce Coupe by the Beach Boys
Perhaps the last "surf music" to chart was "Good Vibrations" by the Beach Boys in 1966. There is dispute as to whether they used a Theremin in the background on this song.
Ahhhhh for the good ol' days when I had my 9'2" red Hobie surfboard and a 1962 red Fender Stratocaster guitar.... surfing all day and playing guitar all night. Life was so simple and pure.
PS .... and Jimi was wrong because surf music is still being listened to today....
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Post by ShivaTD on Oct 1, 2013 11:11:18 GMT
While there aren't really any dedicated "surf music" groups today but surf music still being sporatically recorded. It's changed with the times and the 1960's sound fundamentally doesn't exist except on the old recordings.
From the 1990's there was the group the Mermen that recorded some "surfer" music. Typically the new form of surf music was (and is) is used by surf movies that are still produced for the surfing community. Many of these movies simply use existing music from groups that fit the mood of the scenes.
From the Mermen the track "Be My Noir"...
In 2001 the group Weezer released the single "Island in the Sun" that also represented the transitional sound of surf music from the 1960's.
This transition in sound of surf music unquestionably began with Bruce Brown's movie the Endless Summer where the Sandals, an earlier 1960's surf music group, did the theme song.
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Post by snarky on Oct 1, 2013 11:37:22 GMT
Perhaps the last "surf music" to chart was "Good Vibrations" by the Beach Boys in 1966. There is dispute as to whether they used a Theremin in the background on this song.
they certainly did in this live performance, so there should be no questions really whether they used it in the studio version upon its first release. |
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Post by ShivaTD on Oct 1, 2013 12:11:09 GMT
Perhaps the last "surf music" to chart was "Good Vibrations" by the Beach Boys in 1966. There is dispute as to whether they used a Theremin in the background on this song.they certainly did in this live performance, so there should be no questions really whether they used it in the studio version upon its first release.
This is an electro-Theremin
This is a true Theremin
 Jimmy Page actually used a Theremin on Whole Lotta Love.
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Post by ShivaTD on Oct 1, 2013 12:37:19 GMT
I'm actually a Theremin fan, I own two, and play the Theremin. Most people have never seen one played and are only slightly aware of the fact that they are used for that weird ghostly music in sci-fi movies. Here's a great example of a Theremin being used to play "Over the Rainbow" with piano accompaniment.
There is a "rule" that the musician isn't supposed to actually touch the Theremin and is the only musical instrument that can be played without actually touching it.
I have a tee shirt that says:
THEREMIN
Don't Touch Me
But the "rule" is BS to me because the musician can touch the actual Theremin for certain sounds.
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Post by ShivaTD on Oct 2, 2013 12:10:46 GMT
Early Wednesday morning, my "politicking" done, and time to enjoy a little music. Today I decided to explore one of my favorite musicians that was very unique and went through a few musical changes in his career before his untimely death in 1977. The late, great Marc Bolan.
First I want to address his earliest recordings with his group Tyrannosaurs Rex as a duet with Steve Took. This was a basically a two piece folk music type group that reminds me of the times, when I was in a band, of our after-hours late night teaming together in a bedroom at about 3:00 AM with acoustic guitars and a pair of bongo drums. It was the time when we "created" the music that we later "electrified" for the band during our normal practice sessions. If a person listens to the following song in this context they can understand why I became a Marc Bolan fan from this early recording.
I believe this recording is acoustic because Bolan's equipment had been stolen from a recording studio.
Tyrannosaurus Rex - Frowning Atahuallpa (My Inca love)
The next song is fundamentally the last song of the "Tyrannosaurs Rex" group and is from 1970. It is quite bazaar but then I've always appreciated bazaar music because of it's unique creativity. The song features a long electrical guitar solo that was inspired by Jimi Hendrix as, by this time, Marc Bolan had managed to purchase a vintage Gibson Les Paul electric guitar (that I wish I owned today!!!).
Tyrannosaurus Rex - Elemental Child (1970)
As noted Elemental Child is quite bazaar and predates Bolan's later commercial success with the new shortened band name of T. Rex after a fallout with Steve Took, the other member of the duet that comprised Tyrannosaurus Rex. Tyrannosaurus Rex had has some limited commercial success in the UK but was all but unknown in the US. With the creation of T. Rex drummer Took was replaced by Mickey Finn and the group transitioned into Glam Rock and achieved considerable success with the following songs.
The earliest indication of future success came with Ride the White Swan.
Skipping forward Marc Bolan reached his pinnacle of success with his T. Rex Electric Warrior album in 1971 that contained the following songs.
Cosmic Dancer
Jeepster
Bang a Gong
Marc Bolan (pron. BOE-lən; born Mark Feld; 30 September 1947 – 16 September 1977)
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Post by maniacalhamster on Oct 2, 2013 23:44:28 GMT
cosmic dancer is one of me favs along with this...
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Post by ShivaTD on Oct 3, 2013 10:56:28 GMT
To understand their music is to understand the person.
To me this is self-evident and it is my theme for today where I'm going to go where we've not gone before. Virtually all of us are from traditional "European" culture and because of our age group we have much in common when it comes to our beliefs and music. In addressing the theme though I wanted to take us out of our culture and into the cultures of others. I want to present some native music from around the world that is not a part of our musical heritage but is a part of the heritage of these cultures. This is about learning as opposed to entertainment so I encourage others to listen to the following and think about the people that this music represents. From this can learn much about others that we would otherwise miss.
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Post by ShivaTD on Oct 3, 2013 10:56:54 GMT
To understand their music is to understand the person.
To me this is self-evident and it is my theme for today where I'm going to go where we've not gone before. Virtually all of us are from traditional "European" culture and because of our age group we have much in common when it comes to our beliefs and music. In addressing the theme though I wanted to take us out of our culture and into the cultures of others. I want to present some native music from around the world that is not a part of our musical heritage but is a part of the heritage of these cultures. This is about learning as opposed to entertainment so I encourage others to listen to the following and think about the people that this music represents. From this can learn much about others that we would otherwise miss.
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Post by ShivaTD on Oct 4, 2013 9:59:51 GMT
Music is entertainment but it is also much, much more than just entertainment. Those that have followed my posts on this thread know that I appreciate the origins of music and how it molds us, inspires us, and represents us as people. This thread not just allows me to present music for others to learn and be inspired by but it also motivates me to investigate and learn more about music as well. Yesterday I addressed a few forms of traditional music from around the world. I was deeply inspired by the selections I choose to present. For example anyone that took the time to the Japanese selection would have appreciated the "string" lead that was very similar to a "guitar" lead in a psychedelic rock song. Even without understanding the language the song was truly inspiring for me and all of the selections were very much worth taking the time to listen to.
Earlier in this thread we lightly touched on folk music with some such as Cenydd mentioning traditional Welsh folk music that goes back many centuries as does folk music from all of Europe. European folk music is something best left to those from the nations of origin. Folk music often represents significant events for the people that may not even be covered by historical writings because it is the music of the people. I simply don't have the background in history to address that music.
As an American I do have much more historical knowledge that is behind American folk music and, fortunately for me, American folk music only goes back a couple of hundred years. The most significant origin of American folk music comes from the African slaves often reflected in spirituals where, although they were living in complete despair, they expressed hopes and dreams that literally gave them a reason just to stay alive. None of us on this forum can even begin to understand what it's like to be "property" as opposed to a person.
From the slave songs of the 19th Century, to songs of the chain gangs, to the labor songs at the turn of the 20th Century, to the songs of the Great Depression, to the anti-war songs and civil rights songs of the 1960's and 1970's, and then into more recent American folk songs I'll try to touch on each with a little history and a representative song. We must remember though that the earliest of these songs are really lost as many were by illiterate individuals and none were documented or recorded per se. Often we're left to more recent songs that might be the same or merely later renditions that reflect the earlier songs.
With all of that said let me get to the actual music in the following posts. This is not something I've previously researched very much so it will be a learning experience for me as well. I hope others will enjoy it as I know that I will be personally enriched by the experience.
So in the next few posts I'm going to explore a little bit of the folk music history
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Post by ShivaTD on Oct 4, 2013 10:45:56 GMT
While there are no recordings of actual slaves singing in the fields or after a grueling day of work that went from sun up to sun down we do have later songs that reflect the times and the feelings shared between the slaves that sang the original songs. These were songs, often spiritual, that were songs of hope for those that had no real hope. First sung in the fields and homes, if we can call them that as opposed to private prisons, by slaves the same feeling and content is contained in the later black chain gang songs. These songs reflect the feeling of those treated as chattel because of their race as opposed to being treated as a person. Songs of a dream of hope from those living a life in complete despair.
The first song I've selected is "Wade in the Water" that is about the escape of slaves using the "underground railroad" in fleeing from their captivity in the South to the Northern "free" states.
While I did find some songs claiming to be "field songs" of the slaves I believe that the black chain gang songs are more representative. They reflect the despair of blacks sent to prison, often based upon nothing but the "word" of the "white" man for a crime they didn't commit, but they were also often the fortunate ones in a time were merely the allegation against a black man that he'd associated with a white woman could result in their execution (lynching) by the KKK in the South. While our "white" history doesn't record it well we do know that many of these men were wrongfully convicted and that many died or were literally murdered by racist prison guards never to walk in freedom again. What should be most shocking is that these black chain gangs continued to exist at least until the 1970's as I recall.
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. indeed. he was an icon. so much of my youth is gone.... 
