Rock Town Hall • Rock Music Discussion

Thinking About Rock in 2016

Posted by funoka

Jan 122016

I sometimes get people mad at me when I tell them that the majority of people these days don’t like rock. I guess I’m not the only one that thinks this. In a recent No Depression Q&A with a movie director named Gorman Bechard, he agrees with a comment made by Lydia Loveless in a new documentary he is making about her and her band.

Q. In the [movie] trailer, [Loveless] says, “I don’t think people really like rock and roll although they claim they do.” Where do you think that comes from?
Gorman Bechard: Oh I think she’s one hundred percent right. I think people are scared by rock and roll. I think people want to think they like rock and roll but wake up people, Vampire Weekend is not rock and roll.

What do you think? Have we passed the point of no return…or like me do you think/hope this is a cyclical down cycle for r-o-c-k?

Rock Town Hall’s Saturday Night Shut-In, episode 146: Bowie’s Lyrics

Posted by Mr. Moderator

Jan 112016

Mom!

On this week’s very special episode of Saturday Night Shut-In Mr. Moderator reflects on his experiences with David Bowie’s lyrics.

RTH Saturday Night Shut-In, episode 146

Rock Town Hall’s Saturday Night Shut-In, episode 146: Bowie’s Lyrics by Mr Moderator on Mixcloud

[Note: You can add Saturday Night Shut-In episodes to your digital library by subscribing to the Rock Town Hall feed.]

David Bowie

Posted by Mr. Moderator

Jan 112016

Just read that David Bowie died. Just this Saturday I was watching the Ziggy Stardust concert film and marveling at how fiercely his fans connected with him. I have spent years poking at the fact that, although I acknowledge his music is great and I love much of it, that I still couldn’t embrace Bowie. On New Year’s Eve this came up with old friends. I was reminded of the fan club insert that came with my copy of ChangesOne, one of the 3 greatest greatest hits albums in rock His fashion/mime thing never appealed to me and explained every gross misstep I would spot in a mostly excellent catalog. I used to wish he could just play music and stop making proto-Zoolander faces. What I’ve learned in just the last few years is that his entire Bowie thing wasn’t for my benefit – and that was OK. I finally realized how beautiful his thing was for the people he served. Beyond his excellent catalog, I’m glad to have him as a guide for people near and dear to me, and even as a guide for my own alien self.

Last Man Standing: Romeo & Juliet

Posted by cliff sovinsanity

Jan 062016

A recent comment by Townsman Al got me thinking about song titles and more specifically lyrics about Romeo & Juliet. So for this LMS, I ask you to submit song titles or lyrics that reference Shakespeare’s play Romeo & Juliet. One submission per post, of course.

Rules:

The song title or lyric can mention Romeo, Juliet or any other character in the play.
The song lyric can mention the names Romeo or Juliet but only in the context of tragic or romantic characters. A song about Juliette Lewis will not be accepted, however the Walk The Moon song in Al’s comment(“my discotheque Juliet teenage dream“) is acceptable because this Juliet is used in the context of romance or desire.
Any lines from the play are acceptable. Example: “star crossed lovers”, “parting is such sweet sorrow”

I’ll get the ball rolling. Deniece Williams – “Let’s Hear It For The Boy” has the lyrics “..maybe he’s no Romeo, but he’s my lovin’ one man show”.

Songs of the Year: The State of Pop Music in 2015

Posted by cliff sovinsanity

Jan 022016

Once again, there isn’t much debate about who reigned the year in pop music. The clear choice is Adele. Other than “Hello”, few songs had such broad appeal and praise this year. Much like Taylor Swift in 2014, Adele swooped in during the last quarter of the year to deliver a song and an album that were considered a must listen. If you couple that with sales unprecedented by today’s standards, all that was missing from the chanteuse was a mic drop. But she’s too classy for that. Leave it to Taylor Swift to mop up all the adulation. She embarked on a victory tour selling out stadiums and surrounding herself with special guests (including rock royalty) in a vain attempt to bolster her brand and her cred. She wasn’t the only one jumping up and down saying “look at me”. One of the biggest songs of the year had a nation whipping and nae-naeing all over social media.
Silento and his hit song “Watch Me (Whip/Nae-nae)” is the modern update of “Land of a 1000 Dances”,albeit a terrible one. At first, I assumed the whole purpose of this song was an excuse to get your grandmother up at a wedding reception to see if she could do the “Duff” or the “Stanky Leg”. Plainly, the songs true message is in the repeated phrase, “WatchMe!” The song seems like a metaphor for these self absorbed times. Yes, watch me Instagram, now watch me You Tube, watch me Vine, now watch me Periscope, etc. You get the idea.

continued

A Very Rock Town Hall New Year’s Eve

Posted by northvancoveman

Dec 302015

Dick Clark in Times Square, New Year’s Eve 1988.

New Year’s Eve has always, for me, been the worst of holidays. I don’t know which scenario is worse, spending way too much money to slowly realize that this is just an average night out, or staying home and imagining all the fun that revelers are having while you wait for Dick Clark to arrive in Times Square.

The best New Year’s Eve celebrations I have had are with friends. A gathering of twenty or thirty people, some beer and wine, and the odd pair of funny glasses. Oh, and music.

New Year’s Eve doesn’t have the same grand musical tradition that Christmas does, but there are New Year’s Eve songs. Let’s imagine, for a moment, that RTH is throwing a party tomorrow night. What’s on the playlist?

If you know about the RTH Christmas, you know the drill: nominate a song. Once it is seconded by another RTHer it is in. We continue until we have fifteen songs.

To kick it off, I nominate Dick Haymes and Les Paul’s version of What Are You Doing New Years Eve?

Once and For All…What’s the Best Rock ‘n Roll Christmas Song?

Posted by Mr. Moderator

Dec 202015

And so this is Christmas…or, should I say, the Christmas season. For the last 2 years, Townsman Al has requested that we run a 16-song tournament via the old Rock Town Hall poll. For the last 2 years I’ve been tormented that the poll has been fucked up and stuck on some stupid question regarding Steve Miller Band and The Doobie Brothers. The poll is just one of a handful of features that I hope we (and by “we” I mean The Back Office) get to tune up before technology moves us any further into the future and people start telepathically communicating 18-character affirmations to a network of loosely connected music fans who somehow all seem to enjoy having Joe Jackson tunes streamed through their smartphones.

But enough of my yapping… Al wants to know if Rock Town Hall has ever…once and for all,,,picked the Best Rock ‘n Roll Christmas Song Ever. I don’t think we have.

Each year we retell the Best Rock ‘n Roll Christmas Story Ever. We revisit the Best Rock ‘n Roll Christmas Hairdo. We’ve determined the Best Solo Beatles Rock ‘n Roll Christmas Song Ever (sorry, George). And we’ve collected not one, not two, but almost three volumes of A Rock Town Hall Christmas, thanks in large part to the efforts of the legendary northvancoveman (who will be SUMMONED). We’ve even collected some of the Crappiest Christmas Music We’ll Ever Hear.

Rather than me continue to gripe about the broken-down RTH poll feature and continue suspicions that I have joined the War Against Christmas, how about we keep it simple and make a case for any one of the songs compiled from our past rock ‘n roll Christmas song compilations or another song that did not come up in the past, perhaps because you were not yet a member of Rock Town Hall. Al has compiled some contenders…after the jump. If we’re ever going to settle…once and for all…The Best Rock ‘n Roll Christmas Song we need your vote/rationale. Don’t be a smartypants and simply list out a half dozen obscure numbers you are not willing to get behind. Choose one of the following or suggest a winner of your own devise. Thanks.

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