My apologies for the protracted absence. I'm teaching a history of rock course during second summer session. There are 80 students and it meets two hours a day, five days a week. It's kept me busy, to say the least, but it's also been quite a lot of fun. The course is a complement to a history of rock course already in the books. The other course begins at the beginning and covers up to about disco and punk--the mid-1970s. My course began with punk and disco, covered MTV, the origins of rap, alternative, country, etc.
In light of the iPod-related discussions over at Dial M (see this one, too), I've acquired quite a lot of embarrassing material on my iPod as a result of creating this class. I now have Mariah Carey, Kelly Clarkson, a variety of hair metal bands, Britney Spears, etc.
The end of the semester is now in sight, and my TA (who has been tremendous--she has experience with large classes and WebCT; I don't... well, didn't) are going to compile our own personal top-ten lists of our favorite songs from the period that we covered. My intention is to give them a glimpse of us as people, and to demonstrate how we articulate why we like a particular song.
After much deliberation, here's my top 10 list. I'm not arguing that these songs were influential or important or landmark to anyone or anything but me. These are songs that do it for me every time, some even still after 20 years.
10. Busdriver, "Imaginary places". Blows my mind. The virtuosity alone is amazing. The lyrics don't make terribly much sense to me, but I've never been much of a lyrics guy. I'm particularly intrigued by how closely the rhythm of the vocal part matches the rhythm of the Bach underneath.
9. Nas, "New York State of Mind. Possibly the greatest MC of all time. This song was one of my earliest encounters with rap and got me pretty well hooked. I was stuck between choosing this song and "Ether" from Stillmatic which I think lyrically is the best dis rap ever.
8. Guns 'n' Roses, "Rocket queen". I always thought this song was the perfect end to a great album. The long coda (at about 4:30 in the clip) at the end closed out the song and the album as well. The song grooves more so than the other tracks on the album. I heard Guns 'n' Roses for the first time in seventh grade and they turned me on to heavy metal.
7. Lupe Fiasco, "Just might be OK". Great music, amazing lyrical dexterity. I think Food and Liquor is possibly the best rap album of the last five years, at least.
6. Beastie Boys, "Paul Revere". I think this was the first rap song that I ever heard. I love their quirky lyrics and the "backwards" sound of the rhythm tracks.
5. Duran Duran, "Wild boys". The first song I cared about by the first band I cared about.
4. Cypress Hill, "Lick a shot". One of the great songs by the band who started my downward spiral into the world of rap music. This was the first rap album I bought (not counting the Beastie Boys in fifth grade). Still love 'em.
3. Bjork, "Hyperballad". I could have picked just about any Bjork song for this list. This one I think is particularly beautiful--it narrowly beat out "The dull flame of desire" from Volta for a spot in my top ten. I can't think of a more inventive "pop" musician.
2. Ice-T, "Midnight". Gangster rap at its finest performed by the O.G.
1. Metallica, "Creeping death". As with Bjork, you could basically substitute just about any early Metallica track for this one (as far as I'm concerned, ...And justice for all was their last great album). I can't quite put my finger on it, but I chose this song because there's something quintessentially "heavy metal" about it. I always admired (early) Metallica's uncompromising nature and the craft with which there songs were assembled. As a bass player, I think that Cliff Burton (who recorded the song: Jason Newstead is playing in this video) is one of the all-time great rock bassists.
So there you go. Not really embarrassing, but my desert island playlist. My wife was surprised at how rap-heavy the list was. I think it was rap that succeeded in bringing me out of my "classical snob" phase in college. For any number of reasons, I think rap music is the most interesting and important development in Western music in about the last 50 years, maybe more.
In light of the iPod-related discussions over at Dial M (see this one, too), I've acquired quite a lot of embarrassing material on my iPod as a result of creating this class. I now have Mariah Carey, Kelly Clarkson, a variety of hair metal bands, Britney Spears, etc.
The end of the semester is now in sight, and my TA (who has been tremendous--she has experience with large classes and WebCT; I don't... well, didn't) are going to compile our own personal top-ten lists of our favorite songs from the period that we covered. My intention is to give them a glimpse of us as people, and to demonstrate how we articulate why we like a particular song.
After much deliberation, here's my top 10 list. I'm not arguing that these songs were influential or important or landmark to anyone or anything but me. These are songs that do it for me every time, some even still after 20 years.
10. Busdriver, "Imaginary places". Blows my mind. The virtuosity alone is amazing. The lyrics don't make terribly much sense to me, but I've never been much of a lyrics guy. I'm particularly intrigued by how closely the rhythm of the vocal part matches the rhythm of the Bach underneath.
9. Nas, "New York State of Mind. Possibly the greatest MC of all time. This song was one of my earliest encounters with rap and got me pretty well hooked. I was stuck between choosing this song and "Ether" from Stillmatic which I think lyrically is the best dis rap ever.
8. Guns 'n' Roses, "Rocket queen". I always thought this song was the perfect end to a great album. The long coda (at about 4:30 in the clip) at the end closed out the song and the album as well. The song grooves more so than the other tracks on the album. I heard Guns 'n' Roses for the first time in seventh grade and they turned me on to heavy metal.
7. Lupe Fiasco, "Just might be OK". Great music, amazing lyrical dexterity. I think Food and Liquor is possibly the best rap album of the last five years, at least.
6. Beastie Boys, "Paul Revere". I think this was the first rap song that I ever heard. I love their quirky lyrics and the "backwards" sound of the rhythm tracks.
5. Duran Duran, "Wild boys". The first song I cared about by the first band I cared about.
4. Cypress Hill, "Lick a shot". One of the great songs by the band who started my downward spiral into the world of rap music. This was the first rap album I bought (not counting the Beastie Boys in fifth grade). Still love 'em.
3. Bjork, "Hyperballad". I could have picked just about any Bjork song for this list. This one I think is particularly beautiful--it narrowly beat out "The dull flame of desire" from Volta for a spot in my top ten. I can't think of a more inventive "pop" musician.
2. Ice-T, "Midnight". Gangster rap at its finest performed by the O.G.
1. Metallica, "Creeping death". As with Bjork, you could basically substitute just about any early Metallica track for this one (as far as I'm concerned, ...And justice for all was their last great album). I can't quite put my finger on it, but I chose this song because there's something quintessentially "heavy metal" about it. I always admired (early) Metallica's uncompromising nature and the craft with which there songs were assembled. As a bass player, I think that Cliff Burton (who recorded the song: Jason Newstead is playing in this video) is one of the all-time great rock bassists.
So there you go. Not really embarrassing, but my desert island playlist. My wife was surprised at how rap-heavy the list was. I think it was rap that succeeded in bringing me out of my "classical snob" phase in college. For any number of reasons, I think rap music is the most interesting and important development in Western music in about the last 50 years, maybe more.