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katallison ([personal profile] katallison) wrote2005-03-26 07:54 am
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Kat's Big Ginormous Amazingly Long Music Poll!

In which you, dear readers, get to advise me extensively and lift me from the crevasse of cultural ignoramushood. The Poll So Big, It Comes In Parts! And On Cutaway!



So, this part of the poll is: Imagine that you have been charged with enlightening someone who has lived in a cave since the mid-70s about the music of the past 30 years.

[Background: The living-in-a-cave part is not much of an exaggeration. I more or less stopped listening to popular music about the time vinyl went out, due to a combination of changing tastes and amazing lack of income. Most of my music collection of the late 70s through the late 90s grew out of a very primitive form of piracy, consisting of:
(1) Go to the library and check out LPs (almost exclusively classical or older jazz);
(2) Dupe them onto cassette tapes;
(3 Return LPs to library, listen to cassette tapes on crappy tape player.

When CDs came to the fore, I looked at them, thought, "Huh. Boy, *those* are pricey," contemplated my amazing lack of income, and passed them by. I also didn't have a car, so the input mode of driving around listening to random shit on the radio wasn't happening. And so, with one thing and another, I basically had no connection with any music that hit the airwaves between, say, 1975 and the present day.]

But now that I have the amazing resources of Our Glorious Intrawebs (in the form of a Rhapsody subscription--Rhapsody rocks!--as well as iTunes et al.), and even some actual income, I am taking on the project of actually trying to listen to current music (for a broad definition of "current") and figure out what I like. So your question is:

What five albums/artists (random number, feel free to contract or expand it) are essential for me to check out, representing music without which Jeezus Keerist, Kat, your life has been a barren wasteland spent in a cave!? (Note: this is just a reply-in-comments kind of poll, devoid of ticky-boxes, because the limitations of LJ's Poll Creator for text boxes frustrates me.)

Part II: So, When/Where/How Do You Listen to Music, Anyway?

[Background: OK, this will sound funny and pathetic to most of you, but one of the things that hinders my plunge back into the realm of music appreciation is that I've simply gotten out of the habit of having music on. Driving around in the car is about it, but I don't drive much, and the rest of my life is basically background-music-free. So really, I'm just curious about how everyone else manages to work this into their lives.]

[Poll #462147]

ETA: Thanks so much for all the great ideas so far!
And although, as noted in the comments, part of my intent was to not restrict your suggestions within the framework of my pre-existing preferences, still I realize a few directional markers might be helpful. So, just a short list of some of the (very few) CDs I have actually purchased and dug:
David Bowie, Ziggy Stardust
Dylan, Blood on the Tracks, Blonde on Blonde
Liz Phair, Exile in Guyville
Cowboy Junkies, Trinity Sessions
Talking Heads, Stop Making Sense
REM, Automatic for the People
Rolling Stones, Exile on Main Street
The Donnas, Spend the Night
Bonnie Raitt, Luck of the Draw
...to the extent that this provides any help whatsoever. *g*

[identity profile] farwing.livejournal.com 2005-03-27 12:56 am (UTC)(link)
Richard Thompson- Action Packed (It's sort of a mini 'best of' album. He's one of my favorite musicians of all time. So amazingly talented, plus he's a guitar god.)

Thea Gilmore- Rules for Jokers (She's a really talented British singer-song writer. I end up loving everything she does.)

The Chills - Submarine Bells (Nevermind that I don't, for some strange reason, actually own this album myself. It's really amazingly good.)

The Magnetic Fields - 69 Love Songs (Which is actually a three-disk set and not to be missed. Really brilliant.)

Garmarna - Vedergällningen (It's like Celtic music, only Swedish. Darker and quite lovely.)

[identity profile] moosesal.livejournal.com 2005-03-27 02:13 am (UTC)(link)
I'm a big fan of greatest hits/essentials type collections for building a library, especially when they're two cd sets. You get a bit more for less money and you get all the best tunes. I had my car stolen just over a year ago and I lost tons of music. Since then I've been rebuilding my collection and in some cases getting compilations instead of replacing everything.

Here's my list of cds I would die without:
The Who - Tommy; Then & Now (1964 - 2004)
The Clash - The Essential Clash
Bob Dylan - The Essential Bob Dylan
Queen - Live at Wembley Stadium
Alison Krauss & Union Station - anything and everything
A.F.I. - Sing the Sorrow

Others that I just love:
Kim Richey - Rise
David Bowie - Best of Bowie (2-disc set)
Badly Drawn Boy - The Hour of the Bewilderbeast
Rancid - And Out Come the Wolves
Indigo Girls - 1200 Curfews

[identity profile] thepouncer.livejournal.com 2005-03-27 03:52 am (UTC)(link)
My marooned on a desert island must have CDs:

1) The Pixies, Doolittle
2) Fiona Apple, When the Pawn
3) The Libertines, The Libertines
4) The White Stripes, Elephant
5) Sarah McLachlan, Mirrorball

[identity profile] cherryice.livejournal.com 2005-03-27 04:07 am (UTC)(link)
The first and second times I tried to post this, it had all sorts of neat side notes and explanatory tangents. LJ, apparently, didn't like that fact. This version is a bit more stripped down.

This stuff tends to be a bit more recent, because I'm 19 and most anything before 97 or so is viewed through the filters of elementary school. I'm jumping genres quite a bit here, to try to give a variety of options. Most of these guys also have other strong albums, though these days I mainly listen to mix CDs I've made for myself.

Collaborations/Greatest Hits:
- Red Hot Chili Peppers: Greatest Hits
- Smashing Pumpkins: Greatest Hits (I personally prefer the Machina... album, but this is more comprehensive.)
- Sarah McLachlan: Mirrorball
- Buffy the Vampire Slayer -- The Album
- Big Shiny 90s

Old Standards, More Mainstream
- Our Lady Peace: Clumsy and/or Happiness is Not a Fish That You Can Catch
- Tragically Hip: Trouble at the Henhouse
- Liz Phair: White Chocolate Space Egg
- Tori Amos: Under the Pink
- Queens of the Stone Age: Songs for the Deaf
- Foo Fighters: One by One and/or There Is Nothing Left To Lose (You're probably getting all sorts of recommendations for Nirvana, but to be honest, I've always preferred the Foo Fighters. Dave Grohl, Nirvana's drummer, is the lead singer and guitarist for FF.)

A Little More Off-Beat
- The Whitlams: Eternal Nightcap and/or Torch the Moon
- Yeah Yeah Yeahs: Fever to Tell
- Interpol: Antics
- Brand New: Deja Entendu
- John Butler Trio: Three

Icebergradio.com is a great place to find new music. They have steaming channels for pretty much any taste. I'm particularly fond of the Canadian Indie Rock and Cool Britannia stations, but they have pretty much anything you could want, even time capsules.

[identity profile] sprat.livejournal.com 2005-03-27 05:19 am (UTC)(link)
CD's I think are sort of representative of big changes that went on in music since I started paying attention (I think some of these have been mentioned already...if so, I second them!)

U2--Joshua Tree
The Pixies--Doolittle
Beck--Odelay (Mutations is better, though, imo)
Sleater-Kinney--Dig Me Out
Radiohead--Kid A

Bonus recs (because c'mon--five? That's inhuman.):

The Weakerthans
The Tragically Hip
Wilco
PJ Harvey
Elliot Smith
Rufus Wainwright
Ron Sexsmith
Sarah Harmer
Ted Leo and the Pharmacists
Any project featuring Will Oldham (Palace Brothers, Palace Music...he changed band names a lot)
Broken Social Scene
And Gentleman Reg! Because there are two of his songs on Wilby Wonderful! Eee! :)

[identity profile] molly-o.livejournal.com 2005-03-27 07:17 am (UTC)(link)
Hey there,

You don't really know me, but this is the kind of thing I can't resist. There are so many great recs here already, these are just a few I haven't seen listed yet:

The Beta Band, Hot Shots II
Macy Gray, [either of her albums, I can't remember the titles]
The Smiths, The Singles
Introducing ... the Outkast
Madonna's Immaculate Collection

I'd also recommend soundtrack albums as a way to sample a variety of artists: Grosse Point Blank I and II are wonderful for Brit-influenced '80s music; High Fidelity also has a great soundtrack. I like the Trainspotting soundtracks as well.

I have music on constant shuffle at work, but that's stuff that's been loaded from CDs, so it's music I've already found. For a while there, I had kinda stagnated -- picking up recommendations here and there from friends, but mostly listening to stuff I already knew -- and then I started watching VH-1's top 20 videos (airing Saturday and Sunday mornings), and it's been a wonderful way to get a sense of What The Kids Are Listening To. There's plenty of stuff that's not to my taste, but I've also found some things I really enjoy.


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[identity profile] giglet.livejournal.com 2005-03-28 01:34 am (UTC)(link)
I'm a hopeless folkie, so, grain of salt

June Tabor and the Oysterband, "Freedom and Rain" (or just June Tabor, or just the Oysterband)
The Waterboys, "This is the Sea"
The Clash, "London Calling" (okay, so it's not folk)
Violent Femmes, "Violent Femmes" (okay, so this isn't folk either)
Eliza Carthy -hmm. Can't think of which album to rec.
Great Big Sea -- ditto.
Emmylou Harris -- ditto.
They Might Be Giants, "Flood"
Soundtrack for "Brother Where Art Thou?"
REM -- but you knew that.
Warren Zevon, his last album

[identity profile] planetalyx.livejournal.com 2005-03-28 05:02 pm (UTC)(link)
Five fave bands:

XTC
Cake
Violent Femmes
Garbage
Squirrel Nut Zippers (fun and jazzy)

I also like goofy song bands like The Arrogant Worms.

[identity profile] alexfandra.livejournal.com 2005-03-28 06:25 pm (UTC)(link)
Coldplay: A Rush of Blood to the Head
Neil Finn: anything
Oysterband: Holy Bandits; Shouting End of Life
Kenny Wayne Shepherd: Trouble Is
Warren Zevon: The Wind

I don't listen to music a lot, and when I do, it's usually classical (or more precisely, baroque), as I tend to get song lyrics stuck in my head when I listen to rock/pop, which I find intensely irritating. However, the above are a few of my favorites for purposes of a) drowing out chatty coworkers, b) long drives, and/or c) the sudden inxeplicable urge to flail madly about the living room. Enjoy.

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