the best songs ever: the lost years

[Ragnarök_62]

Eric Wrote:I think gabrielle touched on the difference between someone like me and you guys. For me, a "best song" has to have some level artistry that's similar in some ways to a classical music piece. A high level of artistry such that it could compare to the work of classical composers. And remember, those composers also wrote actual songs, not just symphonies. ...

I actually agree with this. I like songs that confirm my sense of reality as it actually is. To wit, the state of relations between say Corporate America and folks like me.






Balls To The Wall is a perfect example of this. No matter how you cut it, exploitation ain't pretty. Balls To The Wall hits on that reality hard and heavy, and confirms my attitude wrt Corporate America.

Lyrics Wrote:Too many slaves in this world
Die by torture and pain
Too many people do not see
They're killing themselves, going insane
Too many people do not know
Bondage is over the human race
They believe slaves always lose
And this fear keeps them down
Watch the damned
(God bless ya)
They're gonna break their chains
(Hey)
No, you can't stop them
(God bless ya)
They're coming to get you
And then you'll get your balls to the wall, man
Balls to the wall
You'll get your balls to the wall, man
Balls to the wall, balls to the wall
You may screw their brains
You may sacrifice them, too
You may mortify their flesh
You may rape them all
One day the tortured stand up
And revolt against the evil
They make you drink your blood
And tear yourself to pieces
You better watch the damned
(God bless ya)
They're gonna break their chains
(Hey)
No, you can't stop them
(God bless ya)
They're coming to get you
And then you'll get your balls to the wall, man
Balls to the wall
You'll get your balls to the wall, man
Balls to the wall, balls to the wall
Balls to the wall
Balls to the wall
Balls to the wall
Balls to the wall
Balls to the wall
Balls to the wall
Balls to the wall
Balls to the wall
Come on man, let's stand up all over the world
(Balls to the wall)
Let's plug a bomb in everyone's arse
(Balls to the wall)
If they don't keep us alive
(Balls to the wall)
We're gonna fight for the right
(Balls to the wall)
Build a wall with the bodies of the dead
(Balls to the wall)
And you're saved
(Balls to the wall)
(Balls to the wall)
Make the world scared
(Balls to the wall)
Come on, show me the sign of victory
(Balls to the wall)
(Balls to the wall)
Come on, show me the sign of victory
(Balls to the wall)
You better watch the damned
(God bless ya)
They're gonna break their chains
(Hey)
No, you can't stop them
(God bless ya)
They're coming to get you
And then you'll get your balls to the wall, man
Balls to the wall
You'll get your balls to the wall, man
Balls to the wall
You'll get your balls to the wall, man
Balls to the wall
You'll get your balls to the wall, man
Balls to the wall
Balls to the wall
Balls to the wall
Balls to the wall
(Balls)
Balls to wall

 

Quote:Something by boy bands or sexy girls to groove to that has a beat you can dance to, or some interesting lyrics, is different from that.

Oh, but either the lyrics or the actual sound of rage are interesting.

Quote:Not to mention deliberate decadence, like Rags is posting in this thread, which simply means poor quality music. To each his own; it's not a moral issue. It may be fun or funky for you guys, OK; but that's a difference.

1. You rang?  
2. Well, again, it's the experience there. I was decadent in the 1980's years. I went full fledged Yuppie in regards to seeking $ (influenced by elders no doubt) and lot's of poker junkets.

Quote:A great song by The Who may have some different instrumentation and singing that's not the same as a majestic and rocking Beethoven symphony finale. But otherwise they are the same; the best Who songs have magnificent form and structure, power and feeling that's like what I hear in Beethoven or Bach. Many great rock songs from the 2T can compare or surpass many classical works in those qualities. Critics of the time agreed. The Beatles and other musicians sometimes brought western and eastern classical influences into their music, and thereby raised it to a higher level of artistry. In my preferences, I hold music to the same standard of artistry, regardless of genre.

1. Newsflash, man. Not everyone uses music like Eric does.
2. Some 2T music certainly works because it's tied to some sort of nice memory.

Quote:Not one preference for rock, another for classical, another for folk, etc. Those from the 3T, do not aspire to that kind of standard. It was perhaps just a question of what the musicians were interested in doing in those 2 different turnings.

I'm sure the audiences were different.

Quote:Also, the original purpose of music should be remembered. Music and the other arts are here to help facilitate mystical experience. Art is the handmaiden of spirituality.

That's for prophet generations, man.

[gabrielle]

(06-18-2016, 03:54 PM)Eric the Green Wrote: I think gabrielle touched on the difference between someone like me and you guys. For me, a "best song" has to have some level artistry that's similar in some ways to a classical music piece. A high level of artistry such that it could compare to the work of classical composers. And remember, those composers also wrote actual songs, not just symphonies. Something by boy bands or sexy girls to groove to that has a beat you can dance to, or some interesting lyrics, is different from that. Not to mention deliberate decadence, like Rags is posting in this thread, which simply means poor quality music. To each his own; it's not a moral issue. It may be fun or funky for you guys, OK; but that's a difference.

A great song by The Who may have some different instrumentation and singing that's not the same as a majestic and rocking Beethoven symphony finale. But otherwise they are the same; the best Who songs have magnificent form and structure, power and feeling that's like what I hear in Beethoven or Bach. Many great rock songs from the 2T can compare or surpass many classical works in those qualities. Critics of the time agreed. The Beatles and other musicians sometimes brought western and eastern classical influences into their music, and thereby raised it to a higher level of artistry. In my preferences, I hold music to the same standard of artistry, regardless of genre. Not one preference for rock, another for classical, another for folk, etc. Those from the 3T, do not aspire to that kind of standard. It was perhaps just a question of what the musicians were interested in doing in those 2 different turnings.

Also, the original purpose of music should be remembered. Music and the other arts are here to help facilitate mystical experience. Art is the handmaiden of spirituality.

I thought that was the kind of music you liked.  (Well, maybe not the sexy girls)  Bieber, 1 Direction etc

[Eric the Green]

Comment on the video: A Who 80's anthem that never was. How did everybody miss this?

1982, from It's Hard





"I've Known No War"

I've known no war
And if I ever do I won't know for sure
Who'll be fighting whom
For the soldiers lonely tomb
Now opens as soon as the referee's gun starts to roar
I'll know no war

Galbraith took his pen
To break down the men
Of the German army defeated
On the nineteenth day
Of a spring day in May
Albert Speer was deleted
And as soon as the battle was over
I was born in victorious clover
And I've never been shot at or gassed
Never tortured or stabbed
And I'm sure - I'll never know war

I know I'll never know war
And if I ever do
The glimpse will be short
Fireball in the sky
No front line battle cries
Can be heard and the button is pushed
By a soul that's been bought
I'll know no war

In and out of reach loft
The medals are lost
They belong to a lone broken sailor
His provinces now
Are the bars of the town
His songs and his poems of failure
For his grandchildren can't see the glory
And his own kids are bored with the story
But for him they'd have burned behind netting
>From the brink they were grabbed
And I'm sure
I'll never know war

I've known no war
And if I ever do I won't know for sure
Who'll be fighting whom
For the soldiers lonely tomb
Now opens as soon as the referee's gun starts to roar
I'll know no war

War - I've known no war
I'll never know war
And if I ever know it
The glimpse will be short
Fireball in the sky
No front line battle cries
Can be heard as the button is pushed by a soul that's been bought
And the armies remaining will judge without people or courts
And there's no point pretending that knowing will help us abort
I'll know no war

[Eric the Green]

(06-18-2016, 09:04 PM)gabrielle Wrote: I thought that was the kind of music you liked.  (Well, maybe not the sexy girls)  Bieber, 1 Direction etc

Ha ha. No, Bieber is not a boy band. He was a boy turned man who's a great artist. It's true though, as I have said; due to prejudice and mis-labelling, lots of mostly-older folks just can't hear his music. Although I see lots of comments on his videos to the effect of "I hated Bieber, but I'm surprised how much I like this song" or words to that effect. People here? No. But lots of people HAVE opened their ears to him over the years since he rose to fame as a teenage teen idol.

1D, yes, but they have put out some masterful songs; (including "the best song ever"; their best ever), obviously they had a LOT of help in the song-writing department, but now have taken to co-writing some of them. Born under the Uranus-Neptune conjunction heavily, Bieber and the 1D boys continue to show they have great potential, unlike most of the 80s and 90s boybands.

THE kind of music I liked? Come on, you know better than to say that.

[Eric the Green]

(06-18-2016, 05:38 PM)Ragnarök_62 Wrote: I actually agree with this. I like songs that confirm my sense of reality as it actually is. To wit, the state of relations between say Corporate America and folks like me.....

Oh, but either the lyrics or the actual sound of rage are interesting.

In the 3T, generally the actual sound of rage is annoying. For lyrics, you can read them. I am not knocking the lyrics, necessarily. Younger folks today are skilled with words, and enjoy them. I am more interested in going beyond the words to the music.

Quote:1. You rang?  
2. Well, again, it's the experience there. I was decadent in the 1980's years. I went full fledged Yuppie in regards to seeking $ (influenced by elders no doubt) and lot's of poker junkets.

I don't question or judge your experience. I only talk about music according to how I hear it. You can't reduce that hearing experience of music to you or me. Only in part is it a question of our personal experience. It's also the music itself. I would tend to say it's mostly the music itself, but I have no doubt that my personal needs and experiences color my listening too, and so it is with you and others.

Quote:1. Newsflash, man. Not everyone uses music like Eric does.
2. Some 2T music certainly works because it's tied to some sort of nice memory.

1. So what? Doesn't have anything to do with what I said. It's not what I use music for; it's what music is originally for. That's historic fact.
2. All music works in part because it's tied to some sort of memory for someone. In part, only.

Quote:I'm sure the audiences were different.

So audiences determine music? I thought composers did.

Quote:That's for prophet generations, man.

Nope. That's for all time. Joseph Campbell said it; he was a civic.

[Ragnarök_62]

[gabrielle]

Glancing over TaraMarie's picks for this era, I think perhaps her tastes are even more different from mine than Eric's--quite a bit more, actually!  It seems to me she skipped over almost all of the good stuff in favor of late 90s/2000s pop.  At least we are somewhat in agreement on early/mid 80s New Wave.   But it's interesting to observe both the personal and generational differences in all of our music appreciation histories.  

Now, where was I...?  1984?  (been a little busy lately)

[gabrielle]

Here's another from 1983 (that's when the album was released):

[gabrielle]

A classic from 1980 I missed:

[gabrielle]

1984:

[gabrielle]

Xmal Deutschland: "Mondlicht" 1984

I don't think this band was popular beyond the UK goth scene, but my first boyfriend got me into them (by that time, I think they were no longer a band).  This song has a pretty rockin' beat.

[gabrielle]

Going back to somewhat more mainstream stuff for that year:

[gabrielle]

[gabrielle]

Prince's Purple Rain album (and movie) came out this year, too.  I would have picked Prince's "When Doves Cry" as my first choice from that album, but I believe Tara already mentioned that one.  The title track was also very popular.

Instead, I'll just mention a couple of Prince-penned songs from this year that have the distinction of being included on the Parents Music Resource Center's "Filthy Fifteen," a list of songs singled out for having a corrupting influence on youngsters.  This moral furor over the supposedly wicked state of pop music eventually led to many of my favorite albums in the early 90s having parental warning stickers smacked on their covers. 

[gabrielle]

This song was not on the Filthy 15, but it was banned by the BBC (even though it was a number 1 hit in the UK).  

I wouldn't really consider this one of the best songs of all time, but it was fun and I liked it back then (don't think my parents paid attention/cared).  It was released in the UK in 1983 and the US in 1984.

[gabrielle]

Not amused.

[gabrielle]

(06-22-2016, 02:56 PM)taramarie Wrote:

(06-22-2016, 12:55 PM)gabrielle Wrote: Glancing over TaraMarie's picks for this era, I think perhaps her tastes are even more different from mine than Eric's--quite a bit more, actually!  It seems to me she skipped over almost all of the good stuff in favor of late 90s/2000s pop.  At least we are somewhat in agreement on early/mid 80s New Wave.   But it's interesting to observe both the personal and generational differences in all of our music appreciation histories.  

Now, where was I...?  1984?  (been a little busy lately)

Unlike Eric who deliberately skips over stuff he deems icky keep in mind he was an adult during that time and would have been aware of it. I was not as i was a child in the 90s and an infant in the 80s. I have to pick up what songs i like from the 80s much later and some of that 80s music i was influenced by my mother who listened to it. She would play it when i was a child and i grew to love it. She is generally into the upbeat stuff and so when the mid 90s came along and i had my own upbeat music to enjoy i fell for it instantly as i could make that connection. Those songs have great memories for me so i apologize if i skipped over what you enjoy. This was just my list for what i was exposed to and took a liking to. I was heavily influenced by a late boomer and for the pop explosion milies are stereotypically connected with. Yes, like Eric i like the happier music overall. But he calls my music crap and empty/bland on par with 1T music. The mood changed with it approaching 4T and my taste evolved with it. Of course i do still love upbeat but i enjoy other music too which i showed in my later music. The later music seems more "real" to me as it tends to reveal what is wrong with the world and as i am waking up to what is wrong and why life is not so great as it was when i was a child i naturally changed my tune. Evanescence, skillet and disturbed are wonderful xer groups for that. Do not care that Eric loathes the angry tone. It helps the mood. So anyway yeah I favour mid/late 90s to 2000s as that is what i have a memory connection to. That is when i started to make choices on new music at the time on what i enjoyed. Not just what my mother enjoyed. What was enjoyed at the time for many millies here was what i revealed in my choices. Other millies influenced me and i them. We all went crazy for the upbeat pop music Eric calls crap.

I don't expect everyone to like the same stuff I like.  Not trying to throw shade or anything.  A lot of the stuff I like is pretty mainstream, I think, but I do like a few things that might be weird to others.  Music appreciation is a very personal thing.  And I haven't actually listened to everything you've posted, it might take me a while to get through it all.

[gabrielle]

"People are people, so why should it be
You and I should get along so awfully?"

[gabrielle]

[gabrielle]

1985:
Tears For Fears had a few lovely melodic hits in the mid 80s.  This one opens with chiming piano notes, as if to ring in the new Turning!