a commentary on music, our uncultured youth, sean lennon and music recommendations

I got the inspiration for this blog from Jake, whose blog was based primarily on the 1960's.

I'll start with where he left off:

I'm sure you've noticed the lack of "The Who" apparel through schools and streets, most people favoring Grateful Dead, Pink Floyd Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin and Beatles shirts, most of which are oversized tees with an awkward fit and worn by guys with cargo shorts (might i add that all of these shirts should have a good fit, and they should be VINTAGE, not bought at hot topic or target as jake correctly notes).

Jake also made the point that most of these people wearing these shirts have only a handfull of these bands greatest hits or something, nothing shirt worthy mind you. They hop on the bandwagon of whatever popular artist is at its peak at the time. speaking of hopping on the bandwagon, what is the deal with everyone being into grateful dead? i mean i say 2 out of 6 kids who wear the shirt or listen to the music, actually like the music. Please tell me it isn't a rarity to have unique music tastes.

anyway, back to the Who. I'll jump right into it. Live at Leeds, is the best live album, best live concert, of all time. Once again, no one recognizes this. It's always a Deadhead Show, or a Zeppeling show, or Woodstock, where, im sorry, even Jimi Hendrix admitted he sucked, (not to say the rest of woodstock wasnt great, but that was more because it was an experience).

jumping to modern times. One of my friends, who has good taste in music, is currently at Virginia Tech. Her background is "the Strokes". she told me that people in her dorm saw that background and said "who is that?" Needless to say i went into convulsions upon hearing that. It's the strokes. Sweet Jesus, they are one of the best bands of our generation if not the best. Kings of Leon are up there too, but no one knows their early stuff, until this most recent album, which is good, but not as good as say aha shake heartbreak.

Now, i have to go to an artist who is my personal favorite. the only two people who i appreciate as much are the works of his father, John and one of his friends who he did a collaboration with, Matthieu Chedid (who i will be touching on later in this topic). Sean Lennon was one of the first true indie musicians. 1998 Into the Sun was released. 1999 Half Horse, Half Musician was released, and finally in 2006 Friendly Fire was Released. If you want good indie, and TRUE indie mind you, listen to those albums. i'm sick of this mainstream indie shit that people listen to, like death cab for cutie. Bands like that have gotten so popular that they generalize the indie label, which is contrary to what indie really is.

Back to Sean. Really most of Sean's fans have heard Friendly Fire, if that much. It makes me sick that a good portion of the people who come to his live shows (which are unrivaled small scale shows) are only there because they are curious about what John and Yoko's son are doing. They expect only covers from the beatles and John's solo career, which in and of itself is an unreasonable and disrespectful expectation. Sean's solo work is very unlike John's music, more methodical and more melodic. Sean is also very performance oriented, when he packs a small venue, or not packing it, either way the performance is bound to be one of the best you will ever see.
i've been lucky enough to see him live two times, and im hoping i can see him live many many many more times.

There's not really much else i have to say. here are a few artist's and bands i think are worth looking at:

Matthieu Chedid, -M- (http://www.myspace.com/matthieuchedid)
Stephanie Dosen (http://www.myspace.com/stephaniedosen)
Death From Above 1979 (http://www.myspace.com/deathfromabove1979)
Scissor Sisters (http://www.myspace.com/scissorsisters)
Spymob (http://www.myspace.com/spymob)
Steely Dan (http://www.myspace.com/steelydan)
The Yardbirds (http://www.myspace.com/theyardbirdsx)
Adam Green (http://www.myspace.com/adamgreen1)
Albert Hammond Jr. (http://www.myspace.com/alberthammondjrband)