Mr. Moderator

When not blogging Mr. Moderator enjoys baseball, cooking, and falconry.

Once and For All: Rock’s Most Distinctive Opening Guitar Chord

Feb 262013

Rock Town Hall’s Once and For All February hits the homestretch with the topic we’ve been eagerly awaiting to decide since Townsman Al first raised it way back in September 2012: What Is Rock’s Most Distinctive Opening Guitar Chord?

Offlist lobbying has been fierce since this topic was originally raised and a call for a field of 64 was put forth. The judges weeded through a wealth of suggestions, tossing aside songs that actually opened with an instrument or vocal sound other than a guitar chord, such as the cowbell that precedes the distinctive guitar chord of “Honky Tonk Women” and the count-ins to “Wooly Bully” and “Sweet Home Alabama,” as barely inaudible as it is. Arpeggiated chords are allowed, including, the arguably loosely arpeggiated harmonics that kick off Yes’ “Roundabout.”

Studio/best-known versions only are being considered. Please feel free to consider the special qualities of the way the opening guitar chord sounds. This factors into just how distinctive your choice is.

A chord is composed of 3 notes, so the single-note octave intro to Tom Petty’s “American Girl” and the 2-note intros, like U2’s “I Will Follow,” are not included in this competition. Likewise, there is a muted third note in the opening riff of The Isley Brothers’ “It’s Your Thing,” which the judges have determined disqualifies it from this competition.

Over the next 3 days we encourage Townspeople to vote early and vote often for their choice in the extensive RTH People’s Poll that follows…after the jump!

Once and For All February
Live Poll Tracker

Posted by Mr. Moderator

Feb 262013

This could get hairy as we roll out at least a dozen Once and For All debates/polls, each running through the end of February.

To help you keep track of the accumulation of ongoing discussions and votes, please refer to this handy-dandy Live Poll Tracker. You can view all polls and link to each thread through this thread, which we will keep near to top of The Main Stage over the coming weeks.

LIVE UPDATES OF ALL ONGOING POLLS THROUGH FEBRUARY…AFTER THE JUMP! Continue reading »

Once and For All: Put Yes in the Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Fame!

Posted by Mr. Moderator

Feb 262013

Rush before Yes? Are you kidding me? Take it from Trevor Horn. Take it from David Thomas. Let’s put Yes in the Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Fame…once and for all.

Does Yes belong in the Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame?

Yes. (76%, 22 Votes)
No. (24%, 7 Votes)

Total Voters: 29

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Rock’s Coordinates

Posted by Mr. Moderator

Feb 242013

I am severely challenged by matters of time and space—and even the thought of looking at a map makes me dizzy—but watching the video someone made of this excerpt from The Residents‘ Third Reich ‘n Roll got me thinking about rock’s coordinates, or maybe the term I’m seeking is polar forces. You know, all that stuff that has todo with latitude and longitude.

The Beatles and The Rolling Stones are not “opposed” to each other, in the negative connotation of that term, but they are clear points on rock ‘n roll’s map. The coordinates of our position relative to those points tells us something our about place in the rock universe, maybe even who we are.

I hope someone more geographically minded can make sense of what I’m getting at and smooth out what I know I’m getting at. When and if this makes sense, are their other pairs of artists that serve as rock’s coordinates?

All-Star Jam

Posted by Mr. Moderator

Feb 242013

Licks, faces, feel!

Once and For All: Rock’s Most Iconic Recurring Stage Move

Posted by Mr. Moderator

Feb 222013

Don’t forget Bowie blows Ronson.

We’re not talking about 1-time stage moves, like Jimi Hendrix setting his guitar on fire or Pete Townshend‘s slide across the stage in The Kids Are Alright‘s live performance of “Won’t Get Fooled Again.” We’re looking to determine—once and for all—Rock’s Most Iconic Recurring Stage Move. What are the go-to stage moves that rock fans can count on, and what is the most iconic of those go-to stage moves?

Is that clear?

Examples of these iconic recurring stage moves and the RTH People’s Poll follow the jump. Your job is to determine—once and for all—the clear-cut answer to settle all heated barroom debates on the subject!

How Did Kevin Ayers Fit Into Soft Machine?

Posted by Mr. Moderator

Feb 212013

I am by no means the Hall’s expert on Kevin Ayers, but since he died recently and he is of interest to a few of my favorite Townspeople, relatively new and old, and since these very same folks have been chipping in their memories of enjoying the man’s music, let me open up a formal discussion for the benefit of those of you who know almost nothing about the guy and, even more so, for my own education.

I first came across Ayers in college through 2 sources. First, there was that June 1, 1974 album, which I hungrily borrowed from a friend for the chance to hear Eno, John Cale, and Nico in a band with Mike Oldfield (whose music I only knew through sneaking into my first R-rated movie, The Exorcist) and this Ayers guy, about whom I knew nothing. The album was OK, as I spun it over the next few days, trying like mad to get high enough to feel like it was great, but I returned it to my friend and never felt tempted to buy it for myself.

Next, over the last few weeks of my freshman year, I became friends with this tall, geeky, super-underground weirdo-prog guy, John. We initially bonded over artists like Captain Beefheart, the Velvet Underground, psychedelic Beatles, and King Crimson, the last of whom I’d recently been introduced to by another friend. He took this as a sign that I may be ready for exploring the deeper hippie-prog territory he specialized in, stuff like Henry Cow, Van Der Graaf Generator, and Gong. I wasn’t thrilled about all of those underground prog bands, but it was cool to hear new stuff and try to get a handle on this proto-Thurston Moore look-alike I’d suddenly befriended.

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