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.