Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion The Water Cooler What are your top ten acts of all time?

I agree with Murph about there being a split in the quality of music these days. I do have to admit, though, that I hate to agree with him given his reference to liking Nickleback. (As I mentioned in my earlier post, Pearl Jam is my favorite group. And, to like Pearl Jam, one simply must dislike Nickleback. I lurk on the Pearl Jam website, and the shots people take at Nickleback are pretty constant and quite funny. I think it's because the lead singer once said something negative about Pearl Jam. They are a tough crowd on the Pearl Jam site. Assuming it works, this link gives you a taste. http://forums.pearljam.com/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=120467. Frankly, until I learned on that site that I am “supposed” to hate them, I was completely indifferent to Nickleback. I’m just easily persuaded.)

In any event, I think if one looks there is some good, new music to be found. I just think for the most part it is not played on the radio. I love going to festival-type concerts and watching highlights of festivals on a cable station that shows concerts most of the day (I think its now called Palladium). I found some really good music that way that is a bit off the beaten path. Gogol Bordello, mentioned in my post above, is fantastic (though most friends I've introduced it to have given it a thumb down), especially live. Wolfmother has two good albums out. The Strokes and Interpol are fantastic. The Kooks, the Fratellis, Paolo Nutini, and Rodrigo y Gabriella are others I’ve found that aren’t real big names but make good music. It’s not necessarily groundbreaking stuff, but I think it’s good.

Also, Muse is getting quite popular, but their music is very good. Same with Kings of Leon. If you haven't checked it out yet, Them Crooked Vultures is fantastic. Granted, it is a "super group" of "older" dudes, but it is new music. “Real” Weezer fans would disagree, but I think they still are making very good music. I also think Green Day’s two most recent albums are classics, particularly American Idiot. Nine Inch Nails is pretty much done, but they are relatively recent and made some real good music. Also, relatively recent and a bit groundbreaking—Radiohead. Red Hot Chili Peppers put out two good albums as their last two albums, though I think that will stop since their lead guitarist is leaving again.

I’m actually not sure what to make of the fact that as I’ve gotten older my musical tastes have moved more toward the teen-angst kind of stuff. In my high school years (early 80s), I was nothing but a classic rock kind of guy. I think my change in musical taste toward the more juvenile is a form of a midlife crisis. At least it’s a relatively harmless one.

Sounds like we have very similar music tastes in the Rock Genre. I'll be checking out the couple of names I don't recognize like Gogol Bordello and The Fratellis because I love all the other ones that I did recognize. I also vote American Idiot as the best rock album ever made...... in the 2000 century anyways.

Hey, I'm going to ditto most of what you two guys said. MarkSJohnson would also agree with us on the awesomeness of American Idiot.

I saw 500 Days of Summer last night and used Shazam to tag a song I liked. Turned out to be Vagabond, by Wolfmother. Good music in that movie.

What's funny is I was going to say I think American Idiot is one of the two or three best albums ever made, but normally people look at me cross-eyed when I say that, so I bit my tongue.

And Murph, as I said, most people don't go for Gogol Bordello. They are very interesting though in terms of their makeup and their music. I first saw them live, and loved them, so that probably affected my view of them when I started buying their albums.

A fried of mine described the Fratellis as college frat type of music. It's not too deep, but I think they are pretty talented guys.

Every decade has had its own really terrible, mass produced record company exec music. See bubblegum pop, disco (yes, disco, live with it people, it was awful), a whole lot of 80s pop and hair bands (see above), 90s pop, and Aught pop, which expanded into the alternative genre (hey, record company execs are stupid, but they can find money...)

I saw that Regina was on the soundtrack album twice. I've heard good things about the movie. I'll have to watch it sometime. I like Zooey Deschanel, but I kind of hate Joseph Gordon-Levitt after having to see him too many times with bad hair on that show I didn't like. And there's something about his face that I just want to punch. But I'm sure he's really a nice guy.

I wish I could find money and lots of it

There is a reason for that. Something very special happened starting sometime in the 60s. There was a period where some artists had a fair amount of latitude in the direction they took their creative content. There was a LOT of creativity in the industry for a period of 10 years or so before the recording companies started to impose their control again. I think that it was also driven by the profits generated in that period. When you are making buckets of money as a studio, its a lot easier to say yes to things you personally do not like, but that might make you money. It is easy to take risk.

It seems to be a natural human tendency to try to take more and more control as things get worse.

The creative talent is still out there, it just does not have the freedom or financing it did in the 60s and early 70s.

Or maybe we're all just getting old. Charles seems to find plenty of creative modern stuff.

Speak for yourself.


Hey you kids get off my lawn!!!