As per the norm, I have a fresh post up at I Are Writer!, in which I elaborate on why it's important to quadruple check your writing before hitting that send button. And here's an odd tidbit for ya: while this blog is slowly losing followers (41 at last count), my Tumblr blog has gained followers (currently at 10 overall).
But, you really don't want me to bloviate yet again about the muddled state of my blogging, so let's get on with the post, which was written 24 hours ago @ the time posted thereof.
Last week, I mentioned that I had finally finished cataloging my vast c.d. collection (a small correction to the total should be stated. I have 504, not 501, as I found three c.d.'s that I had missed when I'd emptied my racks a couple of months ago) and that I would share some of the more unusual selections that I had bought in the past three years or so.
As I've mentioned previously, I started expanding my musical horizons some 20+ years ago when I landed my first job with State of Connecticut. This expansion accelerated when my public library started selling gently used c.d.'s as fundraising fodder for the library group. So basically I started picking up anything and everything that caught my fancy. Some made sense and some made others scratch their collective head.
In no particular order of importance, here is a top ten list of artists that I've bought c.d.'s from that five years ago had me saying, "Ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww."
1} C2C: Tetra. This group of three play/performs what is commonly called dance music, but in my day was called techno & electronica. I first got attracted to this group because of the song Down The Road used to be played a lot on a local college station, mostly as a bridge between programs. Drove me nuts since they did not identify the songs they used as bridges. Overall, a very cool c.d.
2} Cherry Poppin' Daddies: Zoot Suit Riot. They play what is called Swing/Jazz. I previously purchased a c.d. from The Mighty, Mighty Bosstones. Wound up not liking it, but I thought I would give the genre another shot. Didn't like this one either, but at least I blew just $1 as opposed to $10 on the Bosstones.
3} La Esperanza: Esperanza II. I'm always intrigued about classical guitar/flamenco music, which was the main reason why I picked this one up. Very intriguing c.d. According to Amazon, you can only buy this as an on-demand c.d.
4} LFO: LFO. Boy band. 'nuff said.
5} Spice Girls. Spice World: Girl band. Okay, so I was intrigued enough about the group some 25 years after the fact to see what all the brew-ha-ha was all about. Seriously. And you bet I'll torture your ears. If I can tolerate it, you can too.
6} Jennette McCurdy: Jennette McCurdy: Former NickTeen star on the show ICarly and the one and done show Sam & Cat (with Arianna Grande). Sings in a country vein. Haven't listened to yet.
7} Tatu: 200km/h In The Wrong Lane: I heard about them somewhere. After reading their Wikipedia entry, they were a very successful Russian dance/electronica music duo. I got about one track in and turned it off.
8} Richard Kastle: Streetwise. Contemporary classical music musician. more than 'nuff said.
9} Hollywood Undead: Hollywood Undead. White boy gangsta rap. Check out my unvarnished 2 star review.
Uggh...can you believe that all I came up with is 9. 9 out of 504 c.d.'s that got me to scratch my head as well as yours. Which means that the remaining 495 c.d.'s have some kind of redeeming quality to them. Except maybe....
10} Phish. Farmhouses. I hate Phish. Hate them with a passion. Would rather listen to an album side of live Grateful Dead on the radio (yes, there is a program on college radio that has a segment called Flashback, in which he highlights an album/c.d. for the first 75 minutes or so) than listen to Phish. Having said all that, you're probably asking why did I pick this up then? Simple: click on the link and you'll see that nowhere on the image is the bands name. On the spine, the name is small black print on gray background.
Thus my friends, a top ten list of questionable music choices. Next week I'll take a shot at my favorite 10 c.d.'s of all time.
(c) 2016 BOOKS BY G.B. MILLER. All Rights Reserved.
I've heard of Phish and the Spice Girls but have no interest in listening to their music. Also heard of Tatu, largely because they were passing themselves off as fake lesbians in their music videos in order to gain attention for their otherwise unremarkable music. And finally, I have heard of the Cherry Poppin' Daddies because I LOVE SWING MUSIC! It's so great! I'm sorry the Swing Revival of the late 90s didn't last longer.
ReplyDeleteTatu's music won awards in Europe, which is very surprising to me. The main reason why I picked up a c.d. of Cherry Poppin' Daddies is that I heard some modern swing some time ago, so I figured, why not?
DeleteI did find some other swing revival music and I thought it was pretty good.
White boy gangsta rap - the zombie title fits them.
ReplyDeletePretty much. I actually found the uncensored version of their one (heavily edited) commercial radio hit. Believe me, you aren't missing much.
DeleteWhen you list your favorites will you include any Bob Dylan in honor of his 2016 Nobel Peace Prize.
ReplyDeleteI have some Bob Dylan, but only on vinyl. I have serious questions about him being awarded the Nobel Literature prize (not Peace) though.
DeleteAll new to me.
ReplyDeleteBelieve me, you're not missing much.
DeleteI absolutely love Tatu's album, and I have their are other 2 as well. Ha, you are missing out on some great music by not listening to it all.
ReplyDeleteI probably am. I never got into that type of music back in the day, so for me to actually admit to liking the music from C2C is quite an accomplishment. Since I did force myself to listen to the other stuff on the list, I might give this group another shot.
DeleteTatu, there's a name from Euroe's recent musical past. Faux-lesbian poses aimed at teasing (pre)adolescents.
ReplyDeleteSpice Girls. Girl power for blokes, produced by blokes and directed by blokes. Where's Andrea Dworkin when you need her? :-)
Greetings from London.
Faux-lesbian poses, eh? Kind of like the "oh-my-God" moment when Madonna kissed Britney Spears on stage all those years ago.
DeleteWould have to agree with you there about Spice Girls. Apparently they didn't really get respect (so to speak) until they split up and went solo.