2009.08.06 Thursday
popular to unpopular
I've never been a fan of Michael Jackson really. The fact that he died recently hasn't changed that. It seems famous people's deaths don't quite affect me the same way as they did when I was younger. Kurt Cobain's death was devastating to me even though I wasn't much of a fan of Nirvana. These days, it may sound weird, but I feel sort of relieved when people die especially if they've lead a full life and die amongst loved ones. The death of Japanese rock star Kiyoshiro Imawano felt like that. He had what seemed to me like a very full life and it seemed somehow comforting to be reminded that life does end. Michael Jackson's death may not have been as comforting, but I wasn't saddened by it either. People die whether they are famous or not and you don't necessarily feel sorrow for someone just because he is famous. I've had a lot more opportunities to listen to his music lately though. I'm still not a fan of "Billie Jean" or "Bad", but his earlier song like "Rock with you" ain't too bad. What I've really noticed though is that I keep hearing James Brown in Michael Jackson. A lot of people have told me that Michael Jackson was such a sensation to them when his videos started airing on MTV. I experienced it in real time, but I wasn't too into it. However the first time I heard James Brown's "Papa's got a brand new bag", that was really shocking to me.
It's such a strange song.
It's sort of made up of repetitive phrases with JB's unique howling over it. It's kind of like a precursor to hip-hop in a sense.
"Sex Machine" is even more repetitious.
and it really reminds me of my favorite Talking Heads song "Cross eyed & Painless".
This isn't the best video, but the one I liked better couldn't be embedded. Click this link to see it. It's part of an awesome show they played in Rome in 1980. I'm actually not a big fan of the Talking Heads either. Their 80's stuff is more well defined and more clear, but I like this earlier stuff much better. This song starts out slow, but then picks up dramatically a minute and a half into it (the song is over 6 minutes long!) Aside from the vocals, it's made up of a whole bunch of different instruments playing repetitive notes, but together with the vocal, it created a very strange mix. It reminded me of this song below.
"Horizontal Hold" by This Heat
This is a song by a very obscure English band called This Heat. It is definitely not a pop song and it may sound loud and annoying at first, but it's a very experimental and for me a very exciting song. I only know it because I was a college radio DJ in college and obscure stuff like this was available for us to listen. I don't know much about the band, but its member Charles Hayward seems to have had quite a career. This song reminded me of another song.
"Wide Forehead" by Thinking Fellers Union Local 282
This might be slightly more well known than This Heat, but still probably quite obscure to most people. Thinking Fellers Union Local 282 (TFUL282) was a an Francisco band that existed from the late 80's to mid 90's and had quite cult following. I was lucky enough to see them live many (about 5) times as I lived in Northern California in the early 90's. They were noisy, but quirky and had a charm which is hard to describe in words. This is my favorite song by them although I don't think they consider it to be one of their "hits". This song is weird in a way as the bass is central to it whereas the bass is usually only in the background. It's mostly made up of 2 parts of repetitive parts and it's not complicated in structure, but somehow the noisiness and the weird melody combines into a thrilling song for me. TFUL282 had two albums with the Matador label, but they never quite gained wide popularity.
It's weird that first thinking about MJ's music has lead me to these other musicians. For me, I always had trouble liking music that was popular, but the music that made impressions on me I found mostly by chance. I'm not sure what I'm getting at, but I think popularity or fame ha nothing to do with the quality of music. While these songs may not have a wide appeal, there's people like me who appreciate them anyway. The same can be said for art. There's plenty of talented artists that remain quite obscure, but that doesn't mean their work has no value.
It's such a strange song.
It's sort of made up of repetitive phrases with JB's unique howling over it. It's kind of like a precursor to hip-hop in a sense.
"Sex Machine" is even more repetitious.
and it really reminds me of my favorite Talking Heads song "Cross eyed & Painless".
This isn't the best video, but the one I liked better couldn't be embedded. Click this link to see it. It's part of an awesome show they played in Rome in 1980. I'm actually not a big fan of the Talking Heads either. Their 80's stuff is more well defined and more clear, but I like this earlier stuff much better. This song starts out slow, but then picks up dramatically a minute and a half into it (the song is over 6 minutes long!) Aside from the vocals, it's made up of a whole bunch of different instruments playing repetitive notes, but together with the vocal, it created a very strange mix. It reminded me of this song below.
"Horizontal Hold" by This Heat
This is a song by a very obscure English band called This Heat. It is definitely not a pop song and it may sound loud and annoying at first, but it's a very experimental and for me a very exciting song. I only know it because I was a college radio DJ in college and obscure stuff like this was available for us to listen. I don't know much about the band, but its member Charles Hayward seems to have had quite a career. This song reminded me of another song.
"Wide Forehead" by Thinking Fellers Union Local 282
This might be slightly more well known than This Heat, but still probably quite obscure to most people. Thinking Fellers Union Local 282 (TFUL282) was a an Francisco band that existed from the late 80's to mid 90's and had quite cult following. I was lucky enough to see them live many (about 5) times as I lived in Northern California in the early 90's. They were noisy, but quirky and had a charm which is hard to describe in words. This is my favorite song by them although I don't think they consider it to be one of their "hits". This song is weird in a way as the bass is central to it whereas the bass is usually only in the background. It's mostly made up of 2 parts of repetitive parts and it's not complicated in structure, but somehow the noisiness and the weird melody combines into a thrilling song for me. TFUL282 had two albums with the Matador label, but they never quite gained wide popularity.
It's weird that first thinking about MJ's music has lead me to these other musicians. For me, I always had trouble liking music that was popular, but the music that made impressions on me I found mostly by chance. I'm not sure what I'm getting at, but I think popularity or fame ha nothing to do with the quality of music. While these songs may not have a wide appeal, there's people like me who appreciate them anyway. The same can be said for art. There's plenty of talented artists that remain quite obscure, but that doesn't mean their work has no value.