Rock Town Hall • Rock Music Discussion

Once and For All: What Is Rock’s Greatest Stage Name?

Feb 062013

Once and For All February continues with the goal of determining—once and for all—Rock’s Greatest Stage Name! This topic was suggested by Townsman cdm. As with all Once and For All February threads over the coming weeks, polls will be kept open through the rest of the month. Then, we will have determined—once and for all—all kinds of stuff that causes rock fanatics to yell at each other in a crowded bar.

No further arguments will be accepted, so plead your case in this thread!

The nominees and the RTH People’s Poll for Rock’s Greatest Stage name follow…after the jump!

I SUMMON HVB: Can We Agree on a Contemporary Pop Song?

Posted by Mr. Moderator

Feb 062013

Don’t bail on me, HVB. I’m used to you not answering direct questions in our occasional offlist conversations, but this question cannot be ignored.

I stumbled across this Justin Timberlake song while flipping stations in the car last night. It quickly caught my ear with its vaguely “Be Thankful For What You Got” vibe and odd (fake?) Earth Wind & Fire-style horns. I stuck with it. I even made it through the—SPOILER ALERT—rap break. And is that sampled swirling strings from the intro to Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes‘ “Wake Up Everybody” I hear at this song’s conclusion? Talk about a way to your Moderator’s heart!

Check this song out (don’t worry about actually watching the video). Can we agree on a contemporary pop song?

Once and For All: What’s The Beatles’ Coolest Collective Look?

Posted by Mr. Moderator

Feb 052013

Let’s kick off Once and For All February with a subject that hits on a large segment of the Hall’s demographic, involving a favorite band, Rock Superpowers, and the all-important issues of Look. Let’s determine—once and for all—The Beatles’ Coolest Collective Look.

The nominees and the RTH People’s Poll follow…after the jump!

Troggs Singer Reg Presley to Take “Wild Thing” to His Grave

Posted by Mr. Moderator

Feb 052013

Reg Presley, singer for The Troggs, has died at 71. The band had a handful of excellent garage-rock classics, but they will forever be known for their version of “Wild Thing,” a song so simple and direct that just about any band has covered it at one time or another. However, no one has come close to matching The Troggs’ hit version, not even Jimi Hendrix, who felt compelled to light his guitar on fire to try in effort to keep pace with Presley and his mates’ incendiary performance. If a singer ever owned a song it was Reg Presley owning “Wild Thing.” Not even Brian Jones-era Mick Jagger could have out-snarled and out-leered his way through that song.

There would be no Stooges’ “No Fun” without Presley and his mates’ take on “Wild Thing.” What kind of world would we be living in without “No Fun”? I shudder the thought. There’s only one thing left to say…after the jump!

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Two of a Perfect Pair

Posted by Slim Jade

Feb 052013

As an offshoot to the whole MBV thing, and the relationship between (bear with me) masterpiece and follow-up, I got to thinking of analogous album pairs.

On the color wheel, we have groups of color arranged next to each other, with a dominant color (such as red, at let’s say 12:00), and then adjacent colors (orange-red at 1:00, orange at 2:00, red-violet at 11:00, and so forth).

I’m curious to know of such pairings with essential albums, and their follow-up or predecessor (as in the case of Sticky Fingers:Exile on Main Street). Are there pairs of albums, released in consecutive order, where one is the “acknowledged masterpiece” and the other is just as good, if not better, and you always listen to that one more often anyway.

Does this make sense? Give me a red, and an orange-red. I’ll give another example. OK Computer (yes, watershed, that is known and accepted,and I love it) to Kid A (not as critically lauded, but damn, that’s the one for me!).

All-Star Jam

Posted by Mr. Moderator

Feb 052013

The All-Star Jam is the place to do your thing, tell your story. Don’t let anything hold you back.

Worn Down by Greatness

Posted by Mr. Moderator

Feb 042013

Still hate the face, but now find myself rooting for Kobe, especially when he’s up against youngblood pretenders, like LeBron.

During the Super Bowl power outage Townsman Chickenfrank and I touched on the fantastic comeback season enjoyed by Peyton Manning. Over the years we both came around on that guy. For years we rooted against the Manning Dynasty hype, Peyton’s old-school Look, and his animated audibles at the line of scrimmage. Finally, we were worn down by his greatness. Chicken cited Kobe Bryant as another example of an athlete whose greatness over time outweighed our initial, highly negative perceptions in the face of all statistical evidence to the contrary.

Is there a rock artist whose greatness wore you down?

Only Led Zeppelin’s musical greatness could eventually wear down my resistance to all a shot like this suggests.

Led Zeppelin was a Peyton Manning or Kobe Bryant for me. There came a point when the power of their records moved me past the hype, past the idiots who’d glorified them since my high school days, past the dumb lyrics… I was worn down by greatness.

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