I’ve been making quite a few lists lately. Most recently, I wrote about my 50 favorite movies and 50 favorite albums. It was difficult to think of 50 movies I liked enough to consider a favorite. Once I had them, though, giving each a 1-50 ranking was a relatively easy task.
Albums were another matter. I had no difficulty compiling well over 50 albums that I liked. It’s easier to listen to multiple albums in a day than it is to watch multiple films, so it wasn’t surprising that I was able to think of more. The trick was organizing them; after the first three to five albums, figuring out where to place an album became difficult. The reason for this is the nature of albums: they're compositions; a collections of songs strung together to produce and seamless flow from one emotion to the next. Ranking an album is essentially ranking how much an album conveys those emotions, how seamlessly it does so, and how well it resonates with you. Trying to do that just based on memory while accounting for recency bias seemed an impossible task. Nonetheless, I did it. And the project inspired my next list. I’ve set out to rank my 25 favorite artists (there's too much of a gap between the top 25 and the next 25 for 26-50 to even qualify as "favorites."). As this task seemed a little more straightforward than the last one, I’ve chosen to raise the stakes. Next to each artist I’ve included an explanation on why I like them, why they mean so much to me. At least I hope this will clarify why a like what may seem to be archaic or unaccomplished artists, and at most I’d be delighted if it inspired you to check out one or two of them. So, without further introduction (which was more than likely skipped over anyways), here it is, my 25 favorite artists. 25. Humeysha. Western Pop and Indian music fused together. 24. Frank Zappa. The problem with many rock artists is that they deliberately play into the stereotype. Zappa didn't. He'd sing about anything and everything. 23. Rush. I kind of don't want to like this band, just because of how nerdy or pretentious they come off. 22. Electric Light Orchestra. Their album, El Dorado, is reminiscent of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band for it’s complexity and harmony. 21. Grand Funk Railroad. Were they an objectively good band? Meh. But they could rock! 20. The B-52s. It’s like they were solely inspired by The Monster Mash. 19. Violent Femmes. This band is so bad. Honestly. The Ramones’ music was rough, but it was nothing compared to these guys. 18. Joni Mitchell. The best female singer/songwriter of the 60s and 70s. And maybe the best singer/songwriter overall. 17. Eric B. & Rakim. Sampling the best parts of other songs is a key element to hip-hop. Eric B. & Rakim did this to perfection. 16. Traffic. Just need some folk rock? These are your guys. 15. The Rolling Stones. The roughest cut, swampiest band of the 60s and 70s. Yet they did it to such perfection that in the hierarchy of Rock N Roll, they are second only to The Beatles. 14. Fleetwood Mac. No Rock N Roll bands achieves a more mellow yet moving tone than Fleetwood Mac. 13. Run DMC. These guys are the kings of 80s hip-hop 12. Duke Ellington. Pick and album, any album. Ellington has the classiest, catchiest dancing I’ve ever heard. 11. The Budos Band. Jazz, Soul, Indigenous Ethiopian Music and Psychedelic Rock. It’s catchy. 10. Led Zeppelin. Some bands are better at rocking. Some at rolling. Zeppelin were better at both. 9. David Bowie. Few artists have managed to remain constant, creative and relevant, yet continually changing, the way David Bowie did. 8. Emerson, Lake and Palmer. One decent singer, one highly skilled percussionist and one nuclear keyboardist. Put them together and what do you get? 7. Radiohead. Radiohead makes music. Music is art. Art is an expression of the human condition. Radiohead expresses the human condition 6. Gentle Giant. Too creative and progressive for their own good. 5. Pink Floyd. One of my favorite lines of a song is from Pink Floyd’s Dogs: “It’s too late to lose the weight you used to need to throw around.” Say it out loud. It’s perfect. No band ever came closer to flawlessly fulfilling the vision they had for themselves than Pink Floyd did. 4. The White Stripes. Rock N Roll is a dying art form. The White Stripes are one of the few 21st century bands who stay true to their roots without getting choked by them. 3. Nirvana. My buddy just wrote about Nirvana, and he hit the nail on the head, describing it thusly: “when you’re in certain place where your mind’s fogged up and life seems a tiring and endless slog, there really is nothing like Nirvana to speak to you.” 2. Neil Young. Show me an artist who represents Rock N Roll better than Neil Young and I’ll show you a dead man. 1. The Beatles. I never cared much for The Beatles. I only knew their early work, and as a young boy it just didn’t seem tough enough. Then around the age of 18 I discovered The White Album, along with all the rest of The Beatles later albums. They sang about everything. They were free, beholden to no one. They were creative and eclectic. There’s something of the Beatles in everything that’s come since. (Artists that just missed the list: Yes, Patrick Sweany, Lou Reed, The Cars, The Doors, Cream, James Taylor, Supertramp, A Tribe Called Quest)
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A few weeks back, I made a list of my 50 favorite movies. The idea was that it’d be a difficult task. People watch movies all the time; once a week if not more of than that. Even so, it’s difficult to think of that many movies, let alone that many enjoyable ones.
It took me a while, but I completed my list of 50 (with a few additional movies, in fact), and had so much fun with the list that I’ve been referring back to it and modifying it ever since. I saw Gone With The Wind for the first time last week and enjoyed it so much I realized I had to include it. Don’t ask what movie I had to take out. Well, movies aren’t the only sort of entertainment that lend themselves to list-making. Music is perhaps even more suited to the pastime. Who hasn’t got at least a mental list of their favorite songs? Who doesn’t have playlists for specific occasions? Watching many movies in a row only occurs on special occasions, but listening to song after song, one after the other in a perpetual list, is the way many of us go through life. So naturally, for my next list, I’ve set my sights on music. But for whatever reason, “favorite songs” either seemed too easy to do, or disingenuous to how my favorite music was produced. So I’ve decided to take the road less traveled and focus on my favorite albums. During this process I've discovered just how Rock N Roll partial I am. Over the last five years I've developed a taste for grunge, blues, jazz, and (80s & 90s) Hip Hop. It'll be difficult to find them on this list, though. Rock N Roll, particularly from 1967 to 1976 is my first and indelible music love, a fact well represented in this list. So ladies and gentlemen, without further ado, I present to you my 50 favorite albums. 50. Traffic, Traffic 49. The Howlin Wolf Album, Howlin Wolf 48. Tarkus, Emerson Lake and Palmer 47. Band On The Run, Paul McCartney/Wings 46. Revolver, The Beatles 45. The Cars, The Cars 44. Atom Heart Mother, Pink Floyd 43. Grand Funk Railroad, Grandfunk Railroad 42. The Budos Band, The Budos Band 41. Three Friends, Gentle Giant 40. Humeysha, Humeysha 39. Ladies of the Canyon, Joni Mitchell 38. Blue, Joni Mitchell 37. 2112, Rush 36. Rubber Soul, The Beatles 35. Hot Rats, Frank Zappa 34. Duke Ellington at the Bal Masque, Duke Ellington 33. The Wall, Pink Floyd 32. Coney Island Baby, Lou Reed 31. Brain Salad Surgery, Emerson Lake and Palmer 30. Apostrophe('), Frank Zappa 29. OK Computer, Radiohead 28. Welcome Back My Friends to the Show That Never Ends Ladies and Gentlemen, Emerson Lake and Palmer 27. Meddle, Pink Floyd 26. Sticky Fingers, The Rolling Stones 25. Animals, Pink Floyd 24. The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, David Bowie 23. The Yes Album, Yes 22. Crime of the Century, Supertramp 21. Rumors, Fleetwood Mac 20. Harvest, Neil Young 19. Everybody Knows This is Nowhere, Neil Young 18. Nevermind, Nirvana 17. Led Zeppelin II, Led Zeppelin 16. Sugar Mountain Live at Canterbury House, Neil Young 15. No Answer, Electric Light Orchestra 14. Violent Femmes, Violent Femmes 13. The Low Spark of High Heeled Boys, Traffic 12. El Dorado, Electric Light Orchestra 11. Trilogy, Emerson Lake & Palmer 10. The Houses of the Holy, Led Zeppelin 9. The Bends, Radiohead 8. Abbey Road, The Beatles 7. Wish You Were Here, Pink Floyd 6. The White Stripes, The White Stripes 5. Dark Side of the Moon, Pink Floyd 4. MTV Unplugged Live in New York, Nirvana 3. Greendale Live at Vicar St., Neil Young 2. Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, The Beatles 1. The White Album, The Beatles The President has generally been one of the most high profile, if not the most high profile, person in the country. We pay attention to everything he does. A brief search on the internet yields countless articles of brainy and inspirational quotes from our commanders in chief.
But what’s a lot more interesting to me are the quotes that, thought not as inspiring perhaps, have stood the test of time. I’m interested in the things presidents say that stick in America’s collective mind. I present to you a list of the most remembered quotes uttered by the President of the United States of America. “People have got to know whether or not their president is a crook. Well, I'm not a crook.” Ah yes: Richard Nixon during the Watergate scandal. Another interesting thing about Watergate is how so many scandals since have taken names which come from it (Deflategate, Spygate…) when people can't even remember what Watergate was. “Four score and seven years ago…” Who hasn’t impersonated Honest Abe’s remarks after the battle of Gettysburg? And everyone apparently knows how he sounded, which is odd considering the phonograph wasn’t invented until 1877, after Abraham Lincoln’s death. “I did not have sexual relations with that woman.” Bill Clinton’s testimony is used in undergraduate psychology and communications classes everywhere as an example of how people speak differently when they’re lying. “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall.” These are possibly the most famous words spoken in relation to the Cold War, and among the most famous ever spoken against tyranny and oppression. “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.” Kennedy is probably the most impersonated president (with perhaps the current exceptions of one or two recent presidents). Not many people realize that JFK spoke these words during his Inauguration speech in 1961. “Ich bin ein berliner” is another iconic Kennedy quote. “Yesterday, December 7, 1941 a date which will live in infamy.” Nobody could ever forget FDR’s opening words as he address the nation during the aftermath of the attack on Pearl Harbor. The tension and shock in the president’s voice is palpable. It’s easy to understand why these words remain unforgettable nearly 80 years later. Do you think I missed any? Let me know!! Image: Salva Kumaran Annamalai, Flickr |
Nick MartinMy name is Nick Martin. I write sometimes. These are my thoughts. Archives
July 2021
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