Elvis

The first movement I think of is the arrival of Elvis Presley.  In 2009 it is easy to think of the fat bloated Elvis wearing rhinestone jumpsuits or some of his horrible movies.  I like to think of the young Elvis that changed music forever.  The Elvis that could not be filmed from the waist down on TV because his moves were to sexual for America.  The Elvis that mixed country music, gospel and blues into something so exciting and dangerous it still inspires young musicians today.  The Elvis that made teenagers realize how silly it was to watch Pat Boone rip off artist like Little Richard.  That is the Elvis I think of and I wish I could have witnessed it happen.

The British Invasion

In the mid to late 1950′s when America was producing artists like Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins, Little Richard, Bill Haley and the Comets, Chuck Berry, Buddy Holly and Bo Diddley there message was being heard across the Atlantic and would inspire an invasion nobody could have ever predicted.  Bands surfaced in the early to mid 1960′s that would forever change the world of music.  The Beatles started it all.  Is there one adult over the age of 55 that does not know where they were the Beatles were on The Ed Sullivan Show.  The Beatles were just the beginning.  The sixties saw bands like The Rolling Stones, The Who, The Animals, The Kinks, The Dave Clark Five, The Spencer Davis Group, The Yardbirds, The Hollies, The Troggs, Cream and many more.  These bands took what American musicians were doing in the 1950′s to a level that may never be matched again.  I cannot imagine hearing Satisfaction, My Generation, Wild Thing or Love Me Do as they were being released for the 1st time.  If there is one period in music that I regret not being around for this is it.

Motown/Stax-Volt/Atlantic Records

This movement really is incredible.  During a time where most artists making this music could not even eat in the same restaurant,use the same bathroom or go to the same school as a white person they made music that would cross all racial borders and made the whitest of white kids get up and dance.  The soul movement of the late fifties and sixties came from Memphis, Detroit, Philadelphia and even the deep south in places like Muscle-Shoals.  The list of artists is jaw dropping to say the least.  Stevie Wonder, Ray Charles, The Temptations, Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, Aretha Franklin, Sam Cooke, Otis Redding, Jackie Wilson, The Four Tops, Martha and the Vandellas, The Supremes, Marvin, Gladys Knight and the Pips, Jr. Walker and the All Stars, Booker T and the MG’s and many many more.  If you need proof about the amount of hits you can buy 202 Motown Songs: The Complete #1s.  That is right 202 #1 songs, and that is just from Motown.

Dylan

Bob Dylan is the man.  There is no 2 ways about it.  He is a bad Mother Fucker.   Dylan started out as guy who wanted to be the next Woody Guthrie.  He was a guy that played acoustic folk music.  He was the savior of the 1960′s folk movement.  He started out on the east coast coffee house circuit.  He graduated to playing folk festivals with the likes of Pete Seeger and Joan Baez.  He was loved in that scene, he was hailed for being an acoustic alternative to the loud rock music of the time and then on July 25th 1965 he changed the world.  At the Newport folk Festival he went ELECTRIC.  The hard core folk audience hated it but once Dylan went electric he changed all the rules and went from being a folk legend to an American treasure.  He released Highway 61 Revisited later that year which included the classic Like a Rolling Stone and he never looked back.  Dylan going electric was truly a moment in time that will never be matched.

Grunge

I would like to start out by saying God bless Nirvana.   They are not my favorite band from that era but they were the 1st and I give them credit for putting all of the shitty hair bands of the 1980′s out of business.  If you think back to the music of 1991 there are not a lot of good memories, until Nirvana released Nevermind.  Once Smells Like Teen Spirit hit the airwaves everything changed.  All of the sudden bands like Poison, Motley Crue, Warrant, White Lion and Winger seemed cartoonish.  Smells like Teen spirit took over MTV and rock radio.  The album Nevermind climbed the charts eventually knocking, of all people, Michael Jackson out of the #1 slot.  All of the sudden the center of the musical universe was Seattle and they were not only delivering us Nirvana but also Soundgarden, Alice in Chains, Mother Love Bone who would eventually become Pearl Jam and Screaming Trees.  The music not only changed the way people thought about music but it changed the way kids dressed.  Kids identified with this music it seemed to be talking directly to them. It seemed more important than singing about Cherry Pie, Girls Girls Girls or Talk Dirty To Me.  It truly was a pivotal moment in music.  Looking back at that time I am dissapointed that I did not immerse myself in that music.  I love that music and own all of the albums but I gravitated toward it much later in life.  I was 20 years old in 1991 and let that movement slip through my fingers, truly dissapointing.

Those are just a few of the moments in music that I think changed things forever.  I am now closer to 40 than 30 and wonder if I am too old to even see the next movement when it comes.  Maybe it has come and gone and I missed it.  I know that I love music and I want something to happen that changes all of the rules, something that none of us are expecting, something that we will be talking about in 20 years.  I fear with the state of music these days it may be impossible but I will keep hoping and listening.

Later,

Nick

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I will admit I thought KISS was cool for about 5 minutes, that was also the same summer I thought the Harlem Globetrotters were the greatest basketball team on earth. Luckily as I got older I realized that there was more to being a great band than makeup and spitting blood. I started realizing that actually being able to play your instruments was a good start to being a good band. I guess KISS thought it was more important to design Christmas ornaments and lunch boxes. Gene Simmons loves to talk about how KISS is the greatest band in the world. If they are so F’N great then why did they need to go into the studio to overdub parts for their album “Alive”? Call me crazy but I thought live albums were supposed to be recorded live, not live except for the shitty parts that the band screwed up on stage. I can hear Gene Simmons now during rehearsals for their concerts.

Gene: Hey guys I think we would all agree I cannot play the bass guitar worth a shit

Band: Yes Gene, we do agree. You really do suck at playing the bass.

Gene: Well here is my plan, I will just spit blood, breath fire and stick out my tongue(that i had surgically implanted from a cow) all night long. That way nobody will notice I cannot play the bass.

Peter Chris: That is a great idea Gene, but what am I supposed to do to make people forget I cannot play the drums?

Gene: Great question Peter. We will have you sing a sappy bullshit ballad called Beth. The girls will be so busy crying and holding up there lighters they will never notice and their boyfriends won’t give a shit because they will be getting laid in the back of their Monte Carlo after the show.

Paul: Those are all great ideas but we also need to sell lunch boxes.

I am sure that conversation really happened. I think you can find it on Wikipedia. I could go on and on about my hatred of this band but I am sure you get the point. I would like to close with a one of the many great lyrics KISS has produced over the years:

“Baby, let’s put the X in sex
Love’s like a muscle and you make me wanna flex
Baby, let’s put the X in sex
Keep it undercover, baby let me be your private eye”

I am sure Bob Dylan is jealous he did not think of that first.

Later,
Nick

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