#19 -- Bob Dylan

Time Keeping

According to a 2007 study by law professor Alex Long at the University of Tennessee, judges handing down verdicts in courts of law quote Bob Dylan more often than any other musician.  "The Times They Are A' Changing", for example, is a favorite.  Which seems appropriate, for Dylan helped overturn the decisive lock that the saccharine and the formulaic had on popular music.

He did this using the words to his songs, the music itself, the social movements he championed, his persona's factual ambiguity, and his abandonment of his assigned role of hero.

* Words: By the time we hear that "The pump don't work 'cuz the vandals stole the handles." in Subterranean Homesick Blues, there's a near uncontrollable urge to return to that first note and parse those words once again.

* Music: It's been a while since I last heard Dylan D.J.ing his radio show, but what fun pulling chestnuts out of the oven and wise-cracking them open.

* The Social Movements: Righteousness can be captivating in moderate doses and Dylan's involvement with the 60's big changes makes that case.

* Trickster Persona: The lesson here for those in the public eye is that there is majesty in mystery.

* Abandonment: Here is the core; to make a dramatic entrance, one has to have left the stage.  This is especially true for someone who suddenly finds himself with tremendous power; we Americans love our Washington.

....................................

Each band or performer is graded on four things:
  1.  Innovation
  2.  Influence in my life--as a typical American
  3.  Integrity: the band's approach to music (just making a buck or honing a craft?)  
  4.  Immortality--am I, a typical American--still eager to hear their music

10/6/7/8 = 31 out of a perfect 40

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Tip: You know you're good when your albums debut at #1 nearly 40 years after your first claim to fame.

#20 - Eagles

Makin' It Popular

I was reading a textbook in my dorm room at college towards the end of the final semester in my last year there, 1977, and in walks my buddy, Chuck, with a 6-pack and a new record: Hotel California.

Not having a stereo at college, I relied on another friend down the hall for music.  But just this once, Chuck brought along a portable stereo, set up the speakers, and the one tune ever played in my dorm room, Hotel California, blasted out the window, greeting the nearby redwoods.

Yes, we were both at least 21, but thinking back on it, three beers apiece was probably more than we needed to drink to enjoy the new music.  In any case, I can remember liking the music on first listen.

Which is characteristic of Eagles music; as powerfully popular as it gets.

....................................

Each band or performer is graded on four things:
  1.  Innovation
  2.  Influence in my life--as a typical American
  3.  Integrity: the band's approach to music (just making a buck or honing a craft?)  
  4.  Immortality--am I, a typical American--still eager to hear their music

7/9/7/8 = 31 out of a perfect 40

....................................  

It's true: the name is just Eagles.

#21 - Linda Ronstadt

Ms. Successful

If there were a diamond-ring award for Rock 'N Roll's most multi-faceted, comprehensively brilliant and magnetically successful musician, it would surely go to Linda Ronstadt.

She met with success over four decades making music, her albums have sold a hundred million copies, she was the first woman performer to regularly sell out arena-sized venues, she easily set the record for successfully recording in the most genres (from her original Folk and Mexican heritage to her ground-breaking Country Rock roots, Pop, Classical, Great American Songbook, even Jazz and Opera) and may well have earned as much money as any other female musician.

Perhaps her greatest legacy is the idea that a star can reach out and highlight talented fellow musicians who've been half-forgotten or haven't yet had that first big break.  She did this, of course, by covering partially hidden gems, skillfully shining them and bringing talent to the fore.

But her crowning glory is her voice, probably a once-in-a-generation affair that will always be with us.

And, if I may, my own favorite: her 1969 "Hand Sown...Home Grown" title.

....................................

Each band or performer is graded on four things:
  1.  Innovation
  2.  Influence in my life--as a typical American
  3.  Integrity: the band's approach to music (just making a buck or honing a craft?)  
  4.  Immortality--am I, a typical American--still eager to hear their music

7/6/9/9 = 31 out of a perfect 40

....................................  

We've come a long way fact: After her first initial success as a solo country western artist in the early '70s she found it hard to recruit back-up musicians.  Why?  Because males in that era felt somewhat belittled if they were merely sidemen to a woman!  That has quickly changed, and she was a major force driving that revolution.

#22 - Sly and the Family Stone

My One Honorary '11' 

Sly and the Family Stone is the one act on my Mighty 55 to be given an honorary '11' on a scale of 1-to-10.  That's because they redirected popular music like no other.

Not just the first band with both white and black members to make it big, but the first to do that with both male and female musicians, too.  

But we're only getting started.  They're sound was transcendent, mixing together the 'Stone' family's gospel upbringing (thundering organ, emotive singing) with the San Francisco scene's psychedelia, and the turn away from Motown's scripted presentation to what would become funk and later, hip-hop.

Can you remember when you first heard the impromptu vocals calling out that funny line "All the squares go home!" in Dance To The Music?  You can perhaps imagine half-a-dozen acts ripping off their suit-and-tie costumes at that point and saying to themselves, that's where it's at.

And the above skim represents just highlights.

....................................

Each band or performer is graded on four things:
  1.  Innovation
  2.  Influence in my life--as a typical American
  3.  Integrity: the band's approach to music (just making a buck or honing a craft?)  
  4.  Immortality--am I, a typical American--still eager to hear their music

11/9/5/6 = 31 out of a perfect 40

....................................  

On "Hot Fun In The Summertime", the band not only wove together words and music to great effect, but also included timing.  The single was released in August of 1969, just as they were being hailed as one of the most powerful acts at Woodstock.  Yes, they were hot alright.

Notable match-up: Of the five 'Stone' siblings in the band, the youngest, along with her friends, filled the role that women band members of that time usually occupied: back-up singers.  One of those singers married our own #24, Leon Russell.

#23 -- Crosby, Stills & Nash

One plus One plus One = More

First, yes, we will be getting to Neil Young, eventually, but for now let's limit ourselves to Crosby, Stills & Nash.

Second, now that I think of it, no other early '70s act inspired me as much as CSN--those being my high school years.  

Third, here are three songs, one for each band member, that I especially liked at the time and have always been with me:

Almost Cut My Hair.  The narrative and music unfold as one, with phrases like "...and I wonder why I feel like letting my freak flag fly..."; as classic as they get.

Carry On.  That jump-out-of-bed, innovative sound really was thrilling at the time.  And those fade out words with their twisting harmonies: "Love is coming to us all"; still fresh.

Marakesh Express.  Returning to the states from Asia, at the time, the idea of traveling by train through a foreign land, like the up-beat tempo, was both eerily familiar and welcome.

....................................

Each band or performer is graded on four things:
  1.  Innovation
  2.  Influence in my life--as a typical American
  3.  Integrity: the band's approach to music (just making a buck or honing a craft?)  
  4.  Immortality--am I, a typical American--still eager to hear their music

10/9/6/6 = 31 out of a perfect 40

....................................

The Troy McClure Weird Fact Award Goes To: the CSN logo was created by the late comedian Phil Hartmann.

#24 - The Others

Good, But....

Here we have artists who I enjoy, but who fall outside my circle of self-identification (often due to their love of the flamboyant), and, for one reason or another don't quite make it onto the list

Blondie -- Catchy, fun

Leon Russell -- "Queen of the Roller Derby" and "Roll Away The Stone" were two Russell classics I just loved in my teens.

Sam Cooke -- A big talent

David Bowie -- I'm afraid I'm not much for the glitter and glam in music

James Brown -- Unquestionably, was a musical master

Creedence Clearwater Revival -- Certainly influential: a radical mix of folk and hard rock on AM radio was awesome at the time

Red Hot Chili Peppers  -- Only fail to place because by the time they arrive, there're just so many excellent artists, that stand-outs are simply fewer and further between

The Who -- In junior high a friend showed me the album cover for "The Who Sell Out" and I remember laughing long and hard.  

#25 -- Fleetwood Mac

Co-ed's Real Deal

You sometimes hear it said that this or that TV show helped to make Americans comfortable with a focus on women, blacks, gays.  And the same could be said of sports.  But what about music?

Up until the '60s, women were back-up singers, were occasionally sidemen, sang others' songs, or had solo careers, but until Fleetwood Mac's Christine McVie and Stevie Nicks came along, there were very few acts that counted more than one woman as key members (the Mamas and the Papas, and Sly and the Family Stone are perhaps the most notable).

And to underline the revolutionary nature of a band with roughly equal input from both sexes, there seems to have been a slight shuffling of the deck as regards relationships--or at least that's the impression I had at the time.

I'd say that the most common music heard during my college days were the songs from Rumors and the eponymous Fleetwood Mac albums.  And for the most part, the students who played those records were women.  Imagine hearing "You Make Loving Fun" when returning from a chat with a certain someone.

My own sense is that a popular song will especially ring true when its time is ripe.  During a decade when the women's movement was gathering steam and a place was being made for female leadership, Fleetwood Mac felt its moment approach...and delivered.

....................................

Each band or performer is graded on four things:
  1.  Innovation
  2.  Influence in my life--as a typical American
  3.  Integrity: the band's approach to music (just making a buck or honing a craft?)  
  4.  Immortality--am I, a typical American--still eager to hear their music

6/10/7/8 = 31 out of a perfect 40

....................................

Beatles connection:  Mick Fleetwood and George Harrison were brothers-in-law.

#26 - R.E.M.

Sonic Convergence

If it were possible to create a super-sound, a mix of '60s melodic iconoclasm, '70s introspective roots and add a dash of fun-loving punk, you'd arrive at something like R.E.M.

Avant-garde, but incredibly popular, the group accelerated from college-friends-playing-local to raking in the largest recording contract of their day, all within a ten year period (early '80s to early '90s).

What is so awe-inspiring is that they turned down more lucrative offers, in the mid-'80s, to sign with a recording label that gave them complete control over their music.  And this was a hugely successful move.  Three cheers for integrity.
............................

....................................

Each band or performer is graded on four things:
  1.  Innovation
  2.  Influence in my life--as a typical American
  3.  Integrity: the band's approach to music (just making a buck or honing a craft?)  
  4.  Immortality--am I, a typical American--still eager to hear their music

9/4/10/6 = 29 out of a perfect 40

....................................

Opinion: The reverb intro. on the 1995 song "Bang and Blame" is an example of sheer genius in the perennial challenge to effectively set a mood.

#27 -- The Identifiers

Huh?

No, you didn't miss out on the biggest-band-you-never-heard-of.  The Identifiers are not one band, but three acts that I identified with at some point in my life, each of which could have been included at #27, but missed a self-imposed deadline.

During the last week in February I resolved to write about Peter Gabriel.  His recordings in the 80s and 90s sounded, in real time, familiar, as if I'd heard them in a prior life.  I liked his big hits like 'Sledgehammer', and felt his 'Big' and 'Biko', for example, were fantastic, the latter a masterpiece in solemn expression.

But, there was Bonnie Raitt.  What a voice.  She was so 'me', too.

And Jackson Browne.  During my college years he set the pace and was decidedly 'me'.

Well, my end-of-February deadline came and went.  It's now March and the window has closed.

By the way, #24 will also be left blank, but this time because the acts are, to put it simply, The Other Ones, acts that I liked but that were outside my own sense of what was especially good music.  They could all qualify for #24, but will instead all be mentioned and the number left blank.

Counting down continues, next time, with #26, after I get some zees.