First, the meme, which would be this:
Monday, May 24, 2010
Music We Love to Hate
I got to thinkin'... we've posted a LOT of music over the last four and a half years that floats our boat, makes our heart sing, brings back memories of Former Happy Days, or otherwise tickles our fancy. And in so doin' we have studiously avoided the dregs of our musical experience, which is to say... Music We Love to Hate. We'll change that with this post... and you KNOW there may be more. Lots more.
First up... the supremely over-rated and sickeningly sweet Henry John Deutschendorf, Jr. This dude is Number-Frickin'-ONE on my list of artists that make me dive for the remote or the radio button or whatever that will JUST MAKE IT STOP. All of his songs... any of his songs... but this one in particular:
Aiiieee. Saved at age 27 by camping out in the frickin' mountains? Spare me. PLEASE. You can get diabetes thru repeated exposure to this shit. That goes for all the rest of his dreck, as well.
And then there's the "If I NEVER hear this again it will be too damned soon" category. The all-time winner:
The one exception: Tina Turner's version, all others please leave NOW. CCR, in particular. And every damned one of those Filipino cover bands that played this song ad nauseam in every single Angeles City bar I ever set foot in. This is the tune I'd choose in the "if I had a nickel for every time I've heard this" category. Coz I'd be blogging from an upscale condo in Miami Beach or in the south of France if that had ever came to pass. Unfortunately...
We'll not flog this dead horse too much in this first-ever installment of Music We Love To Hate. Let's close with this:
Aiiieee. Yet AGAIN. Get on back to your Sit-TAY and frickin' STAY there. Don't abuse my earholes with this shit, ever again.
OK we're done. For now. You cannot BELIEVE how painful it was selecting these tunes, Gentle Reader. Please accept my apologies if the songs are truncated or otherwise incomplete. I'll freely admit I only listened to the first three bars... if that... of each tune. It IS Music I Love To Hate, after all.
You know there will be more. I'm gonna have fun with this.
Well, we never followed up on that meme, until today. I have to add one more song and that would be Lennon's tune about his own personal dystopia, which never ceases to rankle. We're talking, of course, about this:
Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace...
[...]
Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world...
Oh, John... just STFU, will ya? I loves me some Lennon and his collaborative work with Sir Paul is timeless, indeed. But his solo stuff? Too much Yoko and not enough Paul. I have NO ideer why Pandora thinks I'd like "Imagine," but the fact remains I've given this tune a "thumbs down" on at LEAST six separate occasions. We heard the first few bars of the song again today, and that makes me wanna scream at times.
So... what were we listenin' to today? A buncha Beatles tunes, not the least of which was this:
It IS a good day... replete with sunshine, good beer, and a good cigar. It don't get no better than this, even with the odd "tune we love to hate" raising its ugly head. We'll take the good with the bad, coz that's what life is all about, innit?
I concur with most of your list. Imagine has always been vomit-inducing. Nice pick from Revolver. I do believe that is one of their very best!
ReplyDeleteWere it a nicer... read as: cooler... day we'd have the windows and orr open and be listenin' to the whole Revolver album. But it's hot, ergo we're all about Pandora. I don't wanna air condition all of THPoNM.
Delete...the windows and orr open...
DeleteOur Door, too.
Lollin', lollin', lollin' on the liver ...
ReplyDeleteBeen there, heard that too many times.
J. R. Burns
Heh. That's IT! ;-)
DeleteFunny that you would like such a sappy song as "Good Day Sunshine." Me, I like them all. Songs that bother me are songs with too much twang and too much repetition, but I do sappy okay as long as I can sing along.
ReplyDeleteI suppose "sappy" is a matter of opinion, eh? And I don't do "twang," at all.
DeleteJoyful, not sappy. Try a mini-playlist of School Days, Lookin' Out My Back Door, Apple Suckling Tree (Dylan & The Band), Down On The Corner, and Maybelline. 15 minutes or so of pure joy and exuberance.
DeleteThe power of music is emotional. Being human we seek not only joy, but also "the horror". Music provides that also. At times, I want to listen to John Lennon/Plastic One Band, probably the most honest, frightening, and self-revealing of Lennon's works. Mother, Working Class Hero, and God literally send chills through my spine. This is music for adults. Likewise, Lou' Reeds Berlin is the most depressing of all song collections, but is redeemed by Reed's artistry.
J. R. Burns
@J.R.: I like a lot o' Lennon's solo work, as noted, and I own most of his solo albums... including that egregious rip-off "Wedding Album." Of all his solo works I think I like "Walls and Bridges" best. The covers on "Rock 'n' Roll" are pretty good, too.
DeleteSay Buck, thanks for planting those ear worms into my brain for a few hours. Of course, the more that you dislike a song and try to banish it from your brain, the deeper it digs.
ReplyDeleteA man could get rich if he could manufacture and sell Brain Drano!
In re: deeper. Yeah, I hear that (no pun...). I had to replace a couple of the vids in the old post coz the originals were gone, so I HAD to listen to some of those tunes. A few hours later...
Deletehttp://soundcloud.com/jim-nelson-5/light-my-fire-j-j-cover
ReplyDeleteA song my friend and I did in memory of Ray Manzerek of the Doors. Just to get those ear worms out of your brain. ;)
Nice cover, Jim.
DeleteOh, yeah, this is something I could dig my claws into some day. I'll have to write it down in the Suldog Book Of Ideas For Blog Posts Stolen From Somebody Else.
ReplyDeleteOoooh! I'm lookin' forward to THAT!
DeleteThe ONLY song by John Denver I DOlike is his version of "City of New Orleans." (and I really like it) Totally agree with you about Lennon''s "Yoko Period." Only song out of that period I truly like is "Watching the Wheels." And I was NEVER a CCR fan, TRUST me..
ReplyDeleteI actually bought Deutschendorf's "Poems, Prayers, (yadda, yadda)" when it came out and I lived to regret THAT. I agree with you about "Watching the Wheels," that's pretty much a classic in my book.
Delete