I'm stepping up my mission to Rock Recovery. It's true that I am a lover of all kinds of music and I do mean all kinds, but if you asked me yesterday to name 4 songs by Led Zeppelin I would have deserved a smack. So the recovery mission is all about giving names and recognition to those things I actually know, or at least recognize.
It's wonderful to discover and eyeball straightly cultural things that have always been in the peripheral vision. Well, it's wonderful when those things found are worth finding. 'Black Dog', for example is worth finding. Sure I've always known the song, but now I know that I know it. Sometimes these discoveries are embarassing. For example, I've always thought that they guy who sung 'Smooth' on the Supernatural album, Rob Thomas, ought to have a promising future. I didn't know until yesterday that he was the lead for Matchbox 20.
Sometimes the work of an artist is so large that it takes a long time to recognize what the big deal is. Googling their most notable works doesn't help. I've always known that 'Shattered' is a great rock song, but I have yet to discover what is so great about the Rolling Stones other than 'Satisfaction' and 'Start Me Up'. I still don't know what the big deal about Eric Clapton is.
The group that is surprising me the most, I must say is The Who. The first time I heard Baba O'Reilly was during a montage in Spike Lee's 'Summer of Sam'. It not only blew my mind but it made the movie for me. Now with Behind Blue Eyes, I'm feeling them.
I do rather like Matchbox 20, and I cannot stand Collective Soul. I've always known Supertramp. I'm certain there's something to The Clash I've yet to discover. I think U2 is probably too pretentious to like. I've always liked New Years Day and I suppose that's all they ever have to do - aside from Beautiful Day. I actually tried to like REM when they first came out. They do nothing for me. Same thing with X.
I really enjoy the new alternative punks. Green Day, Offspring, Rage Against the Machine, Modest Mouse, Linkin Park, Limp Bizkit. But the Stone Temple Pilots are far and away my favorites. There is Fishbone of course and Foreigner and.. we'll there's a lot of music out there. I'll be doing this for a while.
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