Monday, January 24, 2011

10 Favourite Songs? The Music Blogfest Kills the Inkman

Like everyone else, I'm sure, I find this is hard. Bloody hard. Almost Screw you I'm not doing it hard.

But I shall succeed! Or, at least, do the best I can and know it is simply incomplete and impossible. But also fun! I'll focus on that part. 10 of my most favourite songs:






















Bonus Tracks:


29 comments:

Jeff Beesler said...

Interesting choices, Bryan. And only one or two of them are songs I know. The rest are definitely checking-it-out-worthy.

vic caswell said...

ooh! louis armstrong is awesome!! and my youngest son's middle name is judah, because we love hey jude so much!!! cool list! and yeah, narrowing down was KILLER! :)

Ted Cross said...

I love so many of those. I can't believe I managed to not think of the Doors in my own list!

Bryan Russell said...

Louis is my man, my all time number one. Can't go wrong with ol' Satchmo.

And I'm a big Doors fan. If I had room, People Are Strange would be on the list, too.

But how to cut down? It's crazy. I have no Creedence Clearwater, no Zeppelin, no Pink Floyd. How'd that happen? No Cat Stevens? It's crazy. I mean, no one makes me as happy as the Jazz clarinetist Pete Fountain, but somehow he's not on the list. Ahhh! No Tool? Only one song by a Seattle band? Heck, nothing by The Band? Or the Tea Party?

And then there's a bunch of less well known bands and musicians. Merlin, Nathan Wiley, Mollie's Revenge, the Rosewood Thieves...

So crazy.

Emily White said...

What great picks! O Fortuna is on my list too!

Matthew MacNish said...

It's impossible to narrow it down to ten all time. That's why I just went with the first ten that popped into my head.

And why am I not surprised you selected Edmund Fitz? Although I will point out that takes place on Lake Superior. As in Superior to both St. Clair and Erie. Just sayin.

Bryan Russell said...

@ Matt

Hopefully Superior is cleaner, at least.

Bryan Russell said...

@ Emily

Rockin'! I figured that song could stand in for the great classical pieces I love. So dramatic! Something about it grabs me every time. And I first heard it, I think, on Conan the Barbarian. How can that not be a good thing?

Jessica Bell said...

Grrr, I can't see any of the vids!!!! Weird ... I'll come back later. Maybe it's a blogger glitch.

Paul Joseph said...

Nice!! Major props for Simon and Garfunkel. I went with The Boxer, but it was a tough call between that and the song you selected. Really tough. AND PEARL JAM!! I'm a little disappointed I didn't include them. Is it too late to give them an honorable mention???

J.B. Chicoine said...

What an eclectic grouping! lots of new stuff for me...Thanks for introducing me to Boy with a Coin--what a great video!

Jessica Bell said...

Ah yes, I can totally see you as a Pearl Jam fan. I never really got overexcited, but still listened to them. Hmm, I did however, go nuts over Rage Against The Machine during the days Pearl Jam was popular. :o)

Bryan Russell said...

@ Paul
Always time for an honorable mention. And Simon and Garfunkel are great. Just something about the combination of those two voices...

@ jbchicoine
Yeah, I have eclectic tastes. Boy With a Coin is fabulous. Iron and Wine are fabulous, and the rest of the songs on that album (The Shepherd's Dog) are also brilliant.

@ Jessica
Pearl Jam started it all for me, really. I wasn't too into music before that (went to a mostly-white suburban school in a an upper middle class area... where all the boys listented to hardcore rap. Wasn't really my thing. But as I was starting highschool the whole grunge thing exploded and I got hooked, starting with Pearl Jam's first album.

J said...

While I am familiar with many of these, I've not heard of Iron and Wine. I loved the song and the video for Boy with a Coin. I'll be checking them out for sure!

Matthew MacNish said...

Speaking of Seattle Grunge, and connecting it surreally to things like Wagner, Mozart, Puccini, Britten (I can only assume an opera adapted from a Melville novel would interest you) you know the types ...

I actually used to be a stage carpenter for the Seattle Opera, and Stone Gossard's band after Pearl Jam, I forget the name, used to practice across the alley from our loading dock. Not that that makes me any cooler than I already am, but you should meet my sister.

She actually went on one platonic date with Lane Staley, in between bouts of him chasing the dragon down an endless alley.

I know it probably sounds like I'm dropping names or something lame like that, but I'm not. I'm actually not that into guitar based grunge, though I am partial to some Nirvana.

I probably would have been friends with all the white gangsters at your prep school, though, as you can see from my post, I far prefer hip-hop, dancehall, dub and reggae to rap.

Carolina M. Valdez Schneider said...

Wow! You did a great job with your selections! I'm loving them! I never would've even thought of most of these. Err, any of these. But well chosen. What a tough blogfest!

Bryan Russell said...

@ Carolina

I have odd tastes! Or, possibly, I have a bunch of normal tastes that go oddly together...

Bryan Russell said...

@ Matt

For a long time Pearl Jam and Alice in Chains were competing to be my favourite bands, so I'm down with Staley. Would put some of there stuff up if I made the list any longer.

And it wasn't a prep school or anything, just a public school, but lots of naive white kids with glasses, shaving lines in their hair and listening to Public Enemy. Kind of funny, really. Always wondered what the guys from Public Enemy would have thought of that...

I like some hip hop, rap and reggae, but it tends to be isolated songs here and there. Something particular will catch my ear. But my tastes are pretty much all over the place. The only thing I know is that I like what I like.

dolorah said...

I could listen to that Karl Orff for hours; and The Wreck . . wow, I haven't heard that in years.

Wow, I like your list, its awesome.

Ok, Edmund Fitz cut off when I clicked on the comments, and I have to hear that complete before turning in for the night.

.........dhole

Matthew MacNish said...

Well when it comes to Public Enemy Chuck D is the man, Flavor Flav? Not so much.

Susan Kaye Quinn said...

This is why I generally don't blogfest - just too demanding!! LOL

And Song of Silence - seriously loved, LOVED that song for SO long. :)

Showing my age there, I'm afraid.

I'm shocked you have no Lady Gaga on your list. :)

Jamie Gibbs said...

Awesome choices with Metallica and Peal Jam. I picked Unforgiven II for my list :)

Bryan Russell said...

@ Susan

Who's Lady Gaga?

:)

Bryan Russell said...

@ Jamie

Yeah, I saw! Almost sacrilegious choosing the remake!


:)

Actually, the remake's great and I have that album. But I had to go with the original. Just too darn good.

Susan Kaye Quinn said...

@Bryan !!! Next you'll be saying you've never heard of Glee. :)

Bryan Russell said...

Intentional ignorance is a wonderful thing.

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

Look at all those comments - that's awesome!
Damn, sorry I missed your post earlier this week. I was really trying to keep rack of all participants and thought I'd hit everyone by Tuesday. My apologies, Bryan!

D.G. Hudson said...

You've got some of my favorites in that list, too, Bryan. (the songs by Gordon Lightfoot, Louis Armstrong, etc.)

BTW - Good interview with Matt. I'll be dropping by your blog, every now & then, to see what's new. A reference by the illustrious Nathan is a good way to stimulate readership.

Have a great weekend.

Deniz Bevan said...

Great choices! It's so hard distilling them down to ten...