Rock Town Hall • Rock Music Discussion

All-Time Rock ‘n Roll Football Team

Sep 212009

Townsman chuckflack was pretty pissed about our recent Mount Rushmore of Rock thread, so he did the next best thing to publicly, personally, and shamefully insulting the thread’s author: he drafted his own thread for discussion on The Main Stage! Following is chuckflack’s All-Time Rock ‘n Roll Football Team. Although he would love for you to rubber stamp his roster, he knows better. Hike!

You ain’t nothin’ but a red dog

Screw Mount Rushmore! It might be rock, but it doesn’t roll too well. And it’s supposed to be four faces, and everybody’s crowded the thing with whole bands. Besides, it’s football season. Herewith, my all-time rock and roll football team. If my criteria isn’t clear, make up your own.
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Mystery Date

Posted by sammymaudlin

Sep 202009

I have a confession to make. The last Mystery Date (The Sunbirds) was a mistake. I posted the wrong track and by the time I figured it out, someone had already commented so I had to play it cool. It was a lame Mystery Date and I’m sorry.

Below is the track I meant to post and this is a killer Mystery Date because everyone here knows the artist behind this song AND knows a great cover of another song by same. So let the games begin. If you know it, zip it.

Mystery Date

The People Have Spoken

Posted by sammymaudlin

Sep 202009

So certain am I that this is unanimous, comments have been disabled.

Rock Town Hall Completes the Mount Rushmore of Rock

Posted by Mr. Moderator

Sep 182009

What artist completes the Mount Rushmore of Rock?

It goes without saying that The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, and Bob Dylan constitute three quarters of this soon-to-be historic monument, which the U.S. National Park Service is planning to sculpt in an undisclosed location. Who’s the fourth and final artist (solo or band) to be chiseled into stone?

Gateway Drug Songs (and a Special, Bonus Last Man Standing)

Posted by Mr. Moderator

Sep 172009

In honor of Peter, Paul, and Mary’s Mary Travers, who died last night, what’s the first “drug song” you were aware of as a child? By “aware,” man, I mean, like, cognizant of the fact that adults around you were mumbling about the song’s true meaning. As a young boy, I was aware that “Puff the Magic Dragon” has something to do with smoking…something. A couple of years later, I started hearing about the “true” meaning of “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds.”

Considering the demographic of our regular participants, it wouldn’t surprise me if these two songs end up being the first two gateway drug songs for the majority of us. However, rumor has it that some of you may not have been shaving until 1980 or later. What would younger folks’ first gateway drug songs have been in the second half of the ’70s, the ’80s, or – if our youngest Townspeople care to participate – the ’90s?

If you’d also like to take this into Last Man Standing territory… Continue reading »

“Can’t Fail” Melodies

Posted by Mr. Moderator

Sep 172009

I’ve written about my love for the Burt Bacharach/Hal David song “Trains and Boats and Planes” in the past. For me it’s a “can’t fail” melody, impervious to any cover treatment imaginable. Here’s yet one more example of the song’s strength. (Plus, you’ve gotta dig the piper’s Look at the setting of this performance.)

They Don’t Make ’em Like That Anymore…For Better or For Worse?

Posted by Mr. Moderator

Sep 162009

Check out this 1981 performance by Kevin Ayers and John Cale. They don’t make ’em like that anymore, do they?

What I’d like to discuss is whether, aside from your personal musical tastes, this is a good or a bad thing. In other words, have any useful rock building blocks been abandoned along with this particular style of music and performance? In other words, have we thrown the baby out with the bathwater?

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