Kat's Big Ginormous Amazingly Long Music Poll!

[katallison]

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*

Comments

[minim_calibre]

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!?

Of course, I've realized recently that my exposure to music produced after 1992 is pretty minimal, but I'll give it a shot...

Pulp: Different Class
Camper Van Beethoven: Key Lime Pie
Soul Coughing: Irresistable Bliss
Depeche Mode: Violator
Tori Amos: Boys For Pele

(This list of five brought to you by iTunes, the shuffle feature, and the fast forward button.)

[norah.livejournal.com]

As for the artists, it depends on what you liked before, honestly. Country? Rock? Male vocalists? Heavy guitar? Female vocalists? Things that made you want to dance? I have five favorite pop artists, five favorite angry girl artists, five favorite hip-hop artists, five favorite country/folk artists, five favorite odd alterna artists, etc.

If you want to explore music, I can put together some download zips for you. All my music is listed here (http://www.nicebutnubbly.com/misc/songlist.htm). If you see anything you're particularly interested in, let me know (a list of artists, and I'll take it from there) or if you'd just like to give me general guidelines...

[tzikeh.livejournal.com]

Have any vids made you think "who is that *singing*"? Or "I have to have that song". It would help if we knew what you liked going in, so we could work from your tastes and branch off...

[basingstoke.livejournal.com]

After 1975? :)

Nirvana: Nevermind
Nine Inch Nails: The Downward Spiral
The Pogues: If I Should Fall From Grace With God
The Clash: Combat Rock
Dead Can Dance: Into the Labyrinth

(although I am SO tempted to throw some Einsturzende Neubauten at you, omg. But I doubt very much Rhapsody would have anything of theirs.)

[popfantastic.livejournal.com]

Pulp was *exactly* where I was going to start my recommendations. (Which I will do later, really, because I was supposed to have left the house twenty minutes ago.)

I have the same problem you have

[laurashapiro.livejournal.com]

...although my cave began in 1990, when I graduated college. Since then, I have hardly ever been exposed to new music (contemporary a cappella being the one exception -- it's my other fandom *g*). And I am not in the habit of listening to it during my daily life, mainly because I'm not a multi-tasker *at all*. I can't have it on while I'm doing any activity that requires my forebrain -- not at work, not while reading or writing (I start typing the lyrics!), not while hanging out online. It's frustrating, and I'm always looking for a new way to get music back into my life.

Anyway, my recommendations are not all that contemporary, but they post-date the mid-70s, so I figure they qualify. (: Not knowing your taste, I don't know whether any of these will suit you, but I think they are musically important as well as great fun in their own right:

Pink Floyd, "Wish You Were Here"

Peter Gabriel, "Security"

Talking Heads, "Stop Making Sense" (if you have the chance to rent the concert film, I strongly encourage you to do so)

Indigo Girls, "Rites of Passage"

Dar Williams, "Mortal City"

I have more if these turn out to be to your taste. Lately, I'm moving away from classic rock/new wave and further into contemporary folk. Let me know what floats your boat.

[katallison.livejournal.com]

See, this is part of the problem; I'm not even sure what the various categories mean to various people, and when I've tried to formulate some generalities--e.g., "not crazy about loud dumb hard rock"--then I think "But I like the Ramones! or what little I've heard of them, anyway!" So as much as anything I'm looking to have my preconceptions about what I *think* I like shook up a bit.

That list of yours is *amazing* and a bit overwhelming, but as I formulate ideas, I'll get back to you, with many thanks!

[popfantastic.livejournal.com]

I have a feeling I will come back with more after you have answered a couple of the inquiries again. For now:

seconding the suggestion of Pulp - Different Class or the newest retrospective (Hits)
PJ Harvey - Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea (not necessarily her best, but her most immediately accessible, and pretty much required for anyone with a Patti Smith icon)
Belle and Sebastian - either If You're Feeling Sinister or Fold Your Hands Child, You Walk Like A Peasant
Elliott Smith - XO

[katallison.livejournal.com]

Heh. As noted in reply to makesmewannadie above, it's really hard for me to define what I like, and as much as anything I'm looking to bust out of the confines of my own extremely limited experience, by checking out stuff that is liked by people whose tastes I trust.

I will say that almost all the knowledge I do have of current music comes from vids, but so often it's hard for me to separate liking the song from liking the vid. (E.g., I really don't like rap, but I love Lum's Southwest Voodoo vid and have come to sort of enjoy the song via the vid.)

[brynwulf]

As someone roughly the same age as you and who also didn't listen to music from about 1980 to 1995, I've discovered there isn't much out there currently that I'm all excited about. My peek outside the cave only happened about five years ago, so are the sounds that I've discovered since then that I sorta like (this are only groups, not particular songs):

Nickelback
Barenaked Ladies
New Santana albums
Red Hot Chili Peppers
Dido
Rufus Wainwright
Nina Simone (heh, don't *even* laugh at me...I didn't discover her till I saw "Point of No Return."
Dar Williams

Let me know if you discover you like any of these. :)

[norah.livejournal.com]

I can also re-post some zip files I had up a few weeks ago based on someone else's request - not until Monday, as they're on the office computer, but that may be an interesting start for poking around too. I tend to like things I can sing along to first and foremost, so my collection's lyrics-heavy.

Re: I have the same problem you have

[nestra.livejournal.com]

Oh, I like her list. "Mortal City" is one of my favorite albums ever, and I'm a big fan of all of Peter Gabriel's stuff. I'd also suggest, say...Mary Chapin Carpenter's "A Place in the World" (countryish), Cassandra Wilson's "New Moon Daughter" (jazzish), and maybe some David Gray (folky techish). If you find something you like, and I have it, you're welcome to anything from my iTunes collection.

[norah.livejournal.com]

That said, if I were trapped on a desert island? You can bet I'd have my Lyle Lovett collection with me. And my Beth Orton. Probably also...*goes to look at CD rack* Well, Paul Simon's not after 1970, not really, though I love his newer stuff too. Neither is Dylan. I'd take probably my Throwing Muses, some girlypop (though it would be a tossup between Heavenly/Marine Research and Voice of the Beehive) and ... ooh, so hard to decide. I'm really liking Garbage this week. And Tricky is a perennial favorite.

[tzikeh.livejournal.com]

Fair enough!

Artists/albums worth listening to (mostly the artists are completely worth listening to - I'm just listing one album to start with). I'll try to avoid things other people have already suggested here...

Alanis Morissette: Jagged Little Pill
Bob Schneider: I'm Good Now
Cake: Prolonging the Magic
Coldplay: A Rush of Blood to the Head
Death Cab for Cutie: Transatlanticism
Doves: Lost Souls
Eddie from Ohio: Portable EFO Show (live double album)
Eva Cassidy: Songbird
Fiona Apple: Tidal
Franz Ferdinand: Franz Ferdinand
Gipsy Kings: Mosaique
Great Big Sea: Turn
Keane: Hopes and Fears
Mazzy Star: So Tonight That I Might See
Midnight Oil: Diesel and Dust
Modest Mouse: Good News for People who Love Bad News
Rufus Wainwright: Want One
The Shins: Oh, Inverted World
Squirrel Nut Zippers: Hot
Susan Werner: Time Between Trains
Wilco: Yankee Hotel Foxtrot

There. That should keep you busy. ;)

[luminosity]

My musical tastes are large and varied--some would even say indiscriminate *g*--but there are specific albums and groups/solo acts that fill my own 'desert island' scenario:

Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here
Nirvana - Nevermind
Stevie Ray Vaughan - In Step AND Couldn't Stand the Weather -- pick one
Rusted Root - When I Woke
Tom Waits - Bone Machine

*cough* These are all available for, umm, err, uhh,... yeah. Just let me know.

[renenet.livejournal.com]

R.E.M., man. Start early, with Murmur and Reckoning.

Aimee Mann. Just about anything, but maybe try her solo debut, Whatever, first.

Okay, now my brain is spinning too hard trying to think about 30 years of music and what to prioritize, so more suggestions if and when true inspiration strikes.

[renenet.livejournal.com]

Oh, yeah, I meant to mention The Weakerthans. Left & Leaving and Reconstruction Site.

[lunaris1013.livejournal.com]

To finish the ticky-box poll: I also listen in the shower. I keep a cd player in my bathroom, as a matter of fact.

I am pathetically backwards in my musical tates, listening to very little that was released after the mid-90s. Half the stuff recc'd above I've never even heard of - but I tend to like roots rock and hard guitar stuff and have almost completely eshewed Chicks-With-Pianos and anything remotely "alternative."

*If you'd like some Ramones, Ramones Mania is a fine compilation.

*Since I love Springsteen as much as I do, I absoutely think you should check out his stuff. The Rising is the best of his more recent work; The River is a fine example of his earlier work. Please avoid the Greatest Hits disc - it's all surface and no depth.

*U2 - The Joshua Tree

*Barenaked Ladies - Gordon

And that's all I've got that hasn't already been mentioned, 'cause I'm leaving out the harder stuff.

[sidewinder.livejournal.com]

1. Reggatta De Blanc - The Police (You just KNEW The Police would have to top my list and I still think this is their quintessential album)
2. Life'll Kill Ya - Warren Zevon. His best later work...IMO his best work, period.
3. Animals - Pink Floyd (I know Wish You Were Here wins the popular vote; I prefer Animals).
4. Paul's Boutique - The Beastie Boys (The Sgt. Pepper of rap. And I'm not even that found of rap, save the Beasties...)
5. Haunted - Poe (Even if it's been vidded to death in this day and age...she's still one of the only 90s-and-beyond artists I really have grown to love and one of the few female artists in my permanent collection.)

Re: I have the same problem you have

[norah.livejournal.com]

Wholehearted second to the Cassandra Wilson.

[kadymae.livejournal.com]

My 5

Queens of the Stone Age -- any album (My icon is the driving force behind the band, Josh Homme)

The Smiths -- Meat is Murder

Violent Femmes -- Violent Femmes

Primus -- Sailing the Seas of Cheese

Morphine -- Cure for Pain

---

And I 2nd the votes for:

Depeche Mode: Violator

Fiona Apple: Tidal

Franz Ferdinand: Franz Ferdinand

Nine Inch Nails: The Downward Spiral

The Pogues: If I Should Fall From Grace With God

Stevie Ray Vaughan - In Step AND Couldn't Stand the Weather

R.E.M. Murmur and Reckoning

Beastie Boys -- Paul's Botique

[heresluck]

I LOVE that Rusted Root CD. And -- I'm only thinking this because *you* mentioned me -- half the stuff on there is really, really viddable.

Hmmm...

[copracat]

Style Council - Introducing The Style Council 1983
Paul Weller is an utter, utter god of pop. He's made of music. Follow this record with early Jam albums then leap into his recent covers album, Studio 150, a lesson on flawless musicianship. Weller's output covers the seventies (The Jam - In The City 1977) to the now and he's been right where music is every moment of those almost thirty years.

Belle and Sebastian - Dear Catastrophe Waitress 2003
The albums recced above are very fine, though I would place Tigermilk before them. This, their latest, is magical. It sparkles and laughs and is tastily melancholy. It is the bright sun shining on a pretty girl's swinging perfect hair, it is the clipped click click of her heels as she walks down the street. It's sweet and funny and sad and the music slips through your fingers like days. Belle and Sebastian are the love children of Gram Parsons and Dusty Springfield.

The Lemonheads - The Best of the Lemonheads The Atlantic Years 1998
And really, this rec is not just because there's a brilliant Sentinel vid to "The Outdoor Type" or because I love "Big Gay Heart". It's a lovely album and is a nineties antidote to all the grunge and the wrist-slitters you are being recced. (Which is not to say that isn't good music, it just that music partook of a particularly melancholy slice of the nineties generation.)

New Order - Power, Corruption and Lies 1983
Changed the direction of music at the beginning of eighties.

Beastie Boys - Licensed to Ill 1986
This is clever, vocally and lyrically sweet, rock and punk and rap.

N'Sync - Celebrity 2001
No, really. You want to know where music has been in the last thirty years? This album is like the confluence of the Mekong and the Tonle Sap and the Bassac rivers - three mighty influences, three major directions, occassionally it flows backwards! But you don't sell millions of albums without having something that makes people want to listen to your music. And that's pop, baby.

Kasey Chambers - Barricades and Brick Walls
This is where country music is coming from.

I know you said five, but frankly, that's impossible.
Annie Lennox - Medusa (though Bare is also brilliant)
Living Colour - Vivid
De La Soul - 3 Feet High and Rising
Kate Bush - Sensual World
George Michael - Faith
Public Enemy - Fear of a Black Planet
AC/DC - Back in Black
The Pixies - Doolittle
Suzanne Vega - Suzanne Vega
Lauryn Hill - The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill

Oh My God! You just have to listen to everything!!!

I've privileged pop, rap/hip-hop and country music because it seemed you were getting a lot of grunge and rock recs from everyone else.

If you do try Einsterzende Neubaten, I can recommend their doco soundtrack, Berlin Babylon. I'll get back to you when I'm reunited with my cable connection.

And now to bed. I'll wake up tomorrow with a completely different list, I just know it.

[elke-tanzer.livejournal.com]

Email me your snail-mail address and I'll send you a mix CD of some "more recent than Ziggy Stardust" Bowie music. :-)

[kadymae.livejournal.com]

OMG, you have got some incredibly electic tastes.

:D