Good songs that aren't part of popular culture

[Admin]

Popular music mostly sucks today. There are tons of very good songs out there that no one has ever heard of, or maybe even heard.

Some songs even seem timeless.

Take "Bonny Portmore" its hundreds of years old, and about a tree, but the music is very moving. I especially like Laura Creamer's version.

What about classical music? Like Holst's "The Planets" or "A Night on Bald Mountain", or even Opera? like "Carmina Burana" of which most people have atleast heard "O Fortuna" but they probably don't know what it is.

Even modern stuff from the 60's 70's and 80's. Total Eclipse of the Heart is a much better than any love song the pre-teen singers of today put out.

When I was in highschool I used to think that people who didn't like popular music only felt that way because they wanted to be different. And although I feel the popular music of my highschool years was much better than what exists today I now realize that back then I simply hadn't heard what the world had to offer.

[AbdoRinbo]

There's plenty of good popular music today. It's not all Justin Timberlake and Christina Aguilera. There are bands like Ben Folds Five (Ben Folds nowadays though), Godspeed! You Black Emperor, Sigur Ròs (my personal favorite), Rufus Wainwright, Aphex Twin (Richard D. James), The Flaming Lips, &c., all of which I have heard on Detroit radio (and it wasn't even a college station). The talent in some of these bands/musicians is frightening. In fact, I believe we are among the most literature and artistically cultured generation that has ever walked the Earth.

[Shea]

I would have to agree with Admin. The first three buttons on my car radio are set to the classical station, 60's & 70's, and then 80's. Scince there is no 30's and 40's station, I listen to that at home. I love Billy Holliday, and Louis Armstrong! Oh, Etta James was an amazing singer too!

[Munro]

For me, Radiohead has come into my life in a big way over the last year, and they're contemporary. Sigur Ros is good too, but I haven't heard a great deal of their music.

In Australia we have a national alternative listening station that keeps my hopes alive that the world hasn't turned into a plastic bubble-gum based planet, with alternating shades of pink and covered in shine, called Triple J, run by a national broadcaster, full of music experts and cool/funny presenters.
So I think there is plenty of good music being made today, but I still wish I could build a time machine and go back in time to 1967, so I could catch the summer of love, then Woodstock and the Isle of Wight in '69 to see Hendrix. Then I'd spend the 70's on Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath. In the late 70's I'd have one last dance with the Sex Pistols and then promptly kill myself before the 80's began.

If anyone is interested in the above, contact me. Preferably science geeks as well as altternative rock buffs.

[Chardata]

i'm an odd ball. I'm a teenager...and i blare soundtrack music out of my car windows. The looks you get are great. Right now the Pirates of the Carribean soundtrack is in my CD player. I love LOTR soundtracks and anime music. Oh...that's another thing...Japanese music...those are some looks that are great. ^_^

Some of the best musisians were from the 70s and 80s. The best drummers and guitarist. The music was good...the lirics are still something left to be desired. My opinion...don't kill me!

[AbdoRinbo]

Char, do you like YMO? If you've never heard of them, they're like the Japanese equivalent of The Beatles, only they're all electronic and video-gamish.

[ihrocks]

I feel like I'm stating the obvious, but the "ih" of ihrocks is Ian Hunter. It is his lyrics from a song called "23A Swanhill" that make up my tag line. Brilliant singer/songwriter and still going strong, though you'd never know it to listen to the radio. Also outside the mainstream is a tremendous folk singer named Kate Rusby. Hers is an absolutely ethereal voice, and she's tremendous live entertainer.

Other favorites that skirt the fringes of popularity are Billy Bragg, Ian Dury, and Rickie Lee Jones. Beyond that, I stick to jazz, lots of Coltrane, Parker, Monk, Hawkins, Young, and a list that goes on and on.

ihrocks

[AbdoRinbo]

I like your taste in jazz, ihrocks. That's all I've been listening to for the past few months (since all my CDs got stolen, along with my car).

[ihrocks]

I hate it when that happens!

Can't the car thieves leave your CDs in a tidy little stack where your car once stood? Cars I can live without....music? Never!

ihrocks

[AbdoRinbo]

I've generally had bad luck with cars. I once drove from Detroit to Grand Rapids for a friend's graduation party last year and came back with no car. The graduation party was for this girl whom my friend's brother was dating at the time. He thought a nice gift for her would be a life-size James Dean cardboard cut-out, which we took with us to her house. We decided to set it up in the corner of her back porch while we all sat outside and talked. Well, believe it or not, this girl's 70 year-old grandpa came wandering out onto the porch and started lookin' around. He gazed into the corner where James Dean was standing and walked up to him. Now, as far as I know, almost every shot of James Dean pictures him with that infamous red leather jacket on, holding a Camel Filter in his hand and lookin' like Joe-badass. But anyway, this girl's grandpa walked right up to him and said: What're you smokin' there, son?' And my buddy who was always high (and who I always referred to as the 'Party Dude') looked at him for a moment then said: 'Are you talkin' to me?' And the old man turned around and replied: 'No, I'm talking to this young feller over here.' With the grace of perception, the Party Dude stood up and said: 'Duuuuuddde, that's a cardboard cut-out!'

Anyway, on the way home my car broke down.

[Chardata]

that's great.

No i haven't heard of YMO. I listen to artists like Boa, Malice Miser and some other Jgothic artists. The ppl who sing it are wierd but they are good. I listen to alot of anime soundtracks.

[Rotty1021]

I listen to Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, and other 70's rock bands. I also love any of the hits from the 1940's-50's, and love all types of classical music. To me, the sounds of the classics just light a fire in me, making me sparkle like fresh seltzer.

[Munro]

I listen to Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, and other 70's rock bands.

Good taste there. I've been listening to Led Zeppelin II and IV lately, and I might get Physical Graffiti or something these holidays (which commence tomorrow). I watched Echoes by Pink Floyd, the short film with slowed down footage of 2001: A Space Odyssey, and man, it blew away my mind. I seriously found the meaning of life, or my mission, or something hidden in that song. I was quite spun...
I hadn't heard much of them before that night, but yeah, I've gotta get an album or two of theirs I think.

[ihrocks]

I don't suppose either of you classic rockers (aren't you a bit young for that sort of thing?) have heard of Mott the Hoople?

I thought you youngsters listened to Britney, Korn, and Insane Clown Posse. Perhaps there's hope for the world yet. 8)

ihrocks

[Rotty1021]

I don't suppose either of you classic rockers (aren't you a bit young for that sort of thing?) have heard of Mott the Hoople?

I thought you youngsters listened to Britney, Korn, and Insane Clown Posse. Perhaps there's hope for the world yet.

ihrocks

I'm in high school, and while the majority of kids listen to the garbage that controls the airways, I have quite a few friends who enjoy rock and roll from the 60's and 70's; but that's about it. I'm the only one I know of that listens to anyting before this era.

[ihrocks]

You are beacon to these tired old eyes! Bless you!

ihrocks

[AbdoRinbo]

She's sizzlin' like fresh seltzer.

[Rotty1021]

She's sizzlin' like fresh seltzer.

I take it you're referring to me? If yes, I'm a he, not a she. ;)

[AbdoRinbo]

That was directed at ihrocks, and she's definitely not a he.

[Rotty1021]

Okay, I only thought you were talking about me because I wrote about seltzer. :D

[Munro]

I don't suppose either of you classic rockers (aren't you a bit young for that sort of thing?) have heard of Mott the Hoople?

I thought you youngsters listened to Britney, Korn, and Insane Clown Posse. Perhaps there's hope for the world yet. 8)

I'm beginning my last year in high school and I loathe Britney and Justin, I get really pent up and angry when I hear them, and when I see dumb-*** teenyboppers talking about how cute they are, and when I hear them try to harmonise their amateur singing to 'Senorita', or when they try to look sexy and mature beyond there mental capacity by dancing seductively to 'Senorita' or 'Rock Your Body'.

Korn is just a pitiful try-hard metal band that sold out after their first album. I haven't heard much ICP, but they look pretty funny. I was charmed by how they were simaltaneously fat, ugly and rappers.

No, I was born in bad times for music, that is for sure. I'm sorry you had to see the world decline so badly over the past decades, ihrocks, but if you find happiness in young Zeppelin and Sabbath fans like myself, then you would be pleased to know that there is a group of maybe 10 of us in my year who are into all types of classic rock, and we jam to it every lunch time in the music room, swap albums and talk music.

[ihrocks]

It gives me hope to hear that the "younger generation" isn't buying what the record execs and Clear Channel are selling. Keep digging through the archives, read Lester Bangs, don't limit yourselves to rock, and you'll be fine. There's a universe of good music out there, enough to last a lifetime and more.

Maybe one day one of you youngsters will post here how "No Wheels to Ride" is your favorite song, then I will smile. 8)

ihrocks

[AbdoRinbo]

Geez, I don't see what's wrong with contemporary music. I mean, we've got Britany and Justin, but for Christ's sake you had the Osmonds and the Partridge Family . . . It's not any different.

[ihrocks]

Because I'm old and it's my turn to complain about the "noise" kids listen to! 8)

ihrocks

[Chardata]

irocks, i'm a junior in HS and i'm a band nerd ^_^ lol. Almost everybody who is in band listens to the 'old school' rock. We still play Deep Purple, Ozzy Osborne, The Who, etc. Also, last year we played music from On the Waterfront for our ballad in our marching show. During summer camp we listen to music while we stretch...and it is all your fun 'old school' music. Trust me...the classic rock still exists amoungst the teenage population!!! Especially around band nerds!!! ^_^ TTYL!!!

[ihrocks]

I hear there exists a recording of a marching band from Ohio playing "Cleveland Rocks," so the next opportunity I get, I think I will raise a glass to "band nerds" everywhere!

And I have a friend who is probably the biggest Deep Purple fanatic on the planet. He will be pleased to no end that Ritchie Blackmore & Co. have a new generation of fans.

ihrocks

[tarachan]

I'd recommend X Japan. Granted they are popular amongst Japanese people and us anime/video gamer fans, but if you haven't heard them, listen to them.

They are like a heavy-metal rockish kind of band, but their ballads are beautiful. Sure they are in Japanese, but some are in English as well and are really emotionally moving.

I also like listening to game music soundtracks, like the ones by Nobuou Uematsu and Yasunori Mitsuda. Yeah they are maybe overrated, but the music is still good.

And what else...

I'd recommend LP, but they definitely fall under the popular music section, so yeah.

I cannot think of anything else.

[AbdoRinbo]

Have you heard Takemura Nobakazu? I heard one of his albums, 'Sign', and felt little electrons bouncin' around the inside of my head. I couldn't say whether it was pleasing or painful, just that it was sincere. It had as much emotion as a calculus textbook, and that was the beauty of it!

[ihrocks]

Reminds me of a criticism I once read of The Cranberries --

"Is it chatty or just annoying? The answer is: both."

But "Dreams" is still a cool song.

ihrocks

[fayefaye]

i think there are lots of great things that popular culture just bypasses completely, including songs, just for random reasons. i love a lot of things that aren't at all part of popular culture, and prefer it that way because at least u like something for ur own sake; not because it's hyped up, or everyone else likes it. i like liking things that aren't well known because it gives me the sense i have my own opinion, no matter how true it might be.

[Mrs. Cat]

I like music or songs by:

Composer, Ralph Vaughan Williams
Composer, Miklos Rosza
Composer, JS Bach
Bagpiper, Douglas MacPherson
Jazz Singer, Julie London
Gospel Singer, Mahalia Jackson
Country Singer, Johnny Cash
Cowboy Singers, Sons of the Pioneers
R&B Singer, Aretha Franklin

I like Etta James, too, Shea.

Mrs. Cat

[Munro]

i think there are lots of great things that popular culture just bypasses completely, including songs, just for random reasons. i love a lot of things that aren't at all part of popular culture, and prefer it that way because at least u like something for ur own sake; not because it's hyped up, or everyone else likes it. i like liking things that aren't well known because it gives me the sense i have my own opinion, no matter how true it might be.

I always get really pissed off when I find out that something I like, a film or a band or an actor, is actually quite popular already. I get even more annoyed when I've liked something for ages and told everyone how cool it is for ages, and then suddenly they become popular, and every pathetic wanker tries to claim who discovered them, while I just sit there...smiling to hide the fury... It always happens to me. Every time, with everything.

[fayefaye]

hey! me too!

[shortysweetp]

wanted to bump this and see what everyone on here thinks now

[Bianca Fransen]

I like music or songs by:

Jazz Singer, Julie London
Gospel Singer, Mahalia Jackson
Country Singer, Johnny Cash
R&B Singer, Aretha Franklin

Yes, Julie London - absolutely wonderful voice. Mahalia Jackson and Aretha Franklin also.. And I enjoy anything by Johnny Cash. A boy named Sue one of the first funny lyrics in English I could understand.. but I liked his last album best. Very impressive.
Another performer that most people don't know (much) about: Jerry Lee Lewis. Rock 'n Roll-artist with a hit record Great balls of fire in the 50's.. but still going strong. I went to a concert of him only 4 weeks ago and he really gave a great performance! Rock 'n Roll, Country.. you name it.. It is not for nothing that he is in the Music Hall of Fame, I believe, as a pianist. :D

[AimusSage]

Interesting thread.

I Have a very broad range of music preference, but I absolutely hate the 'Pop' music. The RAP HIPHOP and related looser music.

Give me Metal, Classic Rock, Hard Rock, Rock 'n Roll, Classical music inc. Opera, 30's and 40's, some 80's, OST, Reggae and many more genres.

Obviously there is music in every genre that I do not like as much as other, but I think that goes for everyone. Esp. Metal and Classical music are very broad genres in which a lot of variation exists. I for one am not a big fan of the extreme death metal variety.

examples per genre to give an indication:

Metal - Iron Maiden, Iced Earth, Nightwish, Slayer
Classic Rock - Pink Floyd, Rolling Stones
Hard Rock - Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin
Rock 'n Roll - Chuck Berry, Elvis Presley
Classical Music - Mozart, Dvorak, Wagner, Verdi
30's 40's - Frank Sinatra
80's - Duran Duran, Cutting Crew
OST - Gladiator, LOTR, POTC
Reggae - UB40, Bob Marley

That's an example of the music I like. I have not by far covered everything I listen to, but if I did that, I would be here forever.

[shortysweetp]

i also like Loreena McKennitt, They Might Be Giants, Tal Bachman, Dido, and i LOVE Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin. Love classic music I actually got to see a orchestra perform and loved it.

[Monica]

I'd say early U2 :D, like the end of 70s. Stuff like Touch, Trevor, Boy-Girl. Great rock-and-roll.