Worst Rock Band Ever !!!!
@ghosthouse, Yeah, that's a good one. Also on Pet Sounds is the sublime "God Only Knows", one of my three all-time favorite songs. It has not only strings and brass, but also woodwinds. And unlike The Beatles who required George Martin to write the parts for the orchestra instruments, Brian wrote his himself (he reads and knows music notation). "God Only Knows" has three bass parts---one for electric (Carol Kaye playing an incredible part containing numerous examples of inversions, my absolute favorite thing in music. It was hearing that part that woke-up Paul McCartney to the possibilities of the instrument), one for string (upright) bass, and a third for the Fender-6, a really cool 6-string bass that Duane Eddy played guitar solos on. Just above the basses is a cello. Brian's aborted Smile album is what I think Progressive Rock can be, and mostly isn't. Informed by Classical (actually, using your knowledge of music theory in the writing of songs is a better way to put it), but not attempting (with poor results, imo) to combine it with Rock, or play it with a Rock band. That's just silly, and sounds that way. Pictures At An Exhibition by ELP is just dreadful. It was written for solo piano (I have a recording of it so performed), and orchestrated by Maurice Ravel. THAT is how it should be performed, not by a 3-piece Rock band. That can not possibly do justice to the music. |
FWIW (little in the larger scheme of things, I know) - but generally, I've got nothin' against strings or horns. Did kinda expect anti-strings would go along with anti-prog is all - but the reality ain't so simple, it appears. Talking about strings and horns and doing a 180 from the OP's original intent. These might be the most ravishingly beautiful 144 seconds of contemporary music ever written - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BbAA4_B8k0I |
@ghosthouse, yup, I'll be posting my thoughts. As a teaser, there are plenty of examples of them used in a way of which I approve ;-) ; Phil Spector, Brian Wilson, Roy Orbison, Randy Newman, The Lovin' Spoonful, and George Martin immediately come to mind. The use of brass (horns) is a related subject. Hint: my approved list won't include Chicago. I'll be back. |
There's hope for you yet! ;-) I sort of get where you are coming from though I don't share the position. It sort of reminds me of some of the aficionados over on the Jazz thread and their view of "real" jazz and jazz purity (my term for it). Anyway, I'm curious how you felt/feel about the use of strings in rock. I remember a conversation with a school chum long time ago...musta been in 7th or 8th grade. He was incensed about the use of strings (maybe a new Doors album had come out). Thought they had NO place in "rock". I remember being somewhat taken aback by his vehemence. Noteworthy that he had much older sisters - suspected influences on the development of his musical taste. |
I went through what I guess could be called a Progressive phase. I had the debut album by The Nice, Keith Emerson's pre-ELP band. I even saw them live in late '68. My favorite Rock 'n' Roll guitarist Dave Edmunds had his pre-solo band Love Sculpture, who did a Rock band version of "Sabre Dance" by Classical composer Aram Khachaturian, much as ELP later did with Mussorgsky's "Pictures At An Exhibition". Dave soon after saw the light, and devoted himself to celebrating American Rock 'n' Roll, recording his debut solo album which included an incredible version of Smiley Lewis' "I Hear You Knocking". Hail, Hail Rock 'n' Roll! |
The Ramones are a misunderstood band. They were an "inside joke", a wink between those who got it. They were waging a deliberate and calculated attack on Progressive Rock, which they and many other Rockers (myself included) despised. While on their first three albums they sound a little "weak" as a band (though the material isn’t), the replacement of Tommy (not a strong drummer) with Marky on the fourth (Road To Ruin, a great album. It was actually produced by Tommy.) cured that. Marky was a very "muscular" drummer, and had been in Richard Hell’s band The Voidoids (and in the Hard Rock band Dust, who put out one album in the early-70’s). The great Jazz drummer Tony Williams in an interview speaking of Marky: "Have you heard the guy in The Ramones? Now THAT is a great drummer." Here’s a fun fact about The Ramones: In polar opposition to Spinal Tap, the two remaining living original members of The Ramones are Tommy and Marky ;-) ! |
steve miller was a natural, which is both a blessing and a curse--on the one hand he could effortlessly knock off a great, simplistic AM tune like take the money and run or the joker, while on the other hand much of his stuff is remarkably underbaked and tossed-off. his late 60s records (e.g. sailor and the above-noted children of the future), when he still cared, are really well-recorded and advanced + he had some really outstanding musicians such as boz and ben sidran (also an uncredited paul mccartney). |
Steve’s debut album (Children Of The Future. It’s cover looked great under a black light ;-) was credited to The Steve Miller Band, and featured Boz Scaggs solely on rhythm guitar. Boz’s own debut album was a good one, with Duane Allman playing guitar.). I had seen the band the year before (’67), and they were going by the name The Steve Miller Blues Band, which they weren’t, really. I’ve long wondered if The Strawberry Alarm Clock name was a play on The Chocolate Watchband, the 1965-8 San Jose Garage Band. |
Music categories and labels are somewhat subjective. I consider ABBA to have been not a Rock Band---the OP’s category, but a Pop Group, and a great one. Benny & Bjorn wrote GREAT Pop songs (chord sequences, melodies, harmonies, arrangements, etc.), and the members had good voices, Frida Lyngstad in particular. She has made great music since leaving ABBA as well; watch her You Tube video of the great Jackie DeShannon song "When You Walk In The Room". Glorious! ABBA songs have been celebrated in Broadway shows for a good reason---they're real good ones! |
American Idiot (the album) actually has a lot of great hooks and rocks. It is very compressed sounding as I recall, haven’t listened to it in years. I’ve heard legendary bands/performers who were terrible in live shows, and others who were completely off my radar (and disregarded b/c I didn’t think much of them) who were surprisingly good live. If you are confining this to recorded performances only, it probably doesn’t reflect what the particular band/artist could do on a good night. Part of this is subjective too, isn’t it? If you don’t like punk or heavy metal, etc. you aren’t going to think much of someone playing in that genre. Use Bad Brains as an example- these guy were accomplished fusion/jazz players- could turn on a dime. They decided to do a sort of punk/rasta thing which isn’t to everyone’s taste (I dug them), but you can hear how skilled they are as instrumentalists. I can go from sappy radio pablum from the late ’60s or early ’70s to very heavy rock and enjoy it. Are there bands I don’t listen to? Many. But, probably more out of ignorance or a belief that they aren’t my cuppa than any judgment of musical quality. If you really want to take issue with musical capability, look at the long list of ’bands’ who relied on the Wrecking Crew to record their albums. A bunch of super-talented session people were really the force behind a huge number of hits from a lot of different bands back in the day. |
I would have to say that the worst rock band ever was probably the one hit non-wonder that recorded what IMO is the worst rock recording I have ever heard. Namely Vito & The Salutations, and their 1963 recording which utterly destroyed the beautiful song "Unchained Melody." And I say that as one who actually enjoys more than a few so-called "doo wop" recordings. For those having strong stomachs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dHwDeGDkEFk Regards, -- Al |
The worst concert I've ever attended, the 1969 Rolling Stones concert in Baltimore, MD. They came out on the stage at 10:25pm, took their time tuning up their instruments, seemed to be so drunk and/or stoned that they were out of tune, and the concert ended at 11:00pm. Fortunately, B.B. King was the warm up act and he was awesome! |
I would not have thought about Grand Funk Railroad or Blue Cheer as not being a good group, or even bad. But now that you mention it way back then I would buy an album for a particular song, listen to the whole album once, and just play that one song repeatedly. Just like mentioned above, Summertime Blues, or also Some Kind of Wonderful. There were of course exceptions where the whole album was great, notably the Beatles, some Stones, on and on. |
This one has potential but still a bit wet behind the ears. https://www.youtube.com/embed/MVogUqWScYc This one is much better! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6SPxgW0lSjA |
