Salutations, traveler of The Internets! Welcome to William's Bloody Hell, so named after our founder, Sir Bloody William.
He is seen in the likeness above in a rare, 19th century woodcut. This
image was rumoured to have been
commissioned after a bout of unpleasantness
in the White Chapel district of London. Do enjoy your stay and peruse our many, varied offerings, much of which cannot be found elsewhere!
:: Today's soundtrack: M "Pop Music" ::
You know what I can't stand? It's when you ask people, "what kind of music do you like" and they say, "oh I like ALL music!" Knock it off; you do not. My follow up question is usually, "so what can you recommend by way of polka?" to which they usually stare blankly, as though they had totally forgotten polka existed and oh yeah that IS a type of music, isn't it and therefore would fall under the header of ALL MUSIC, wouldn't it? I'm sure there are actually people who do like ALL music, but for every ONE person who truly does, there are, like what, fifty who claim to but in reality do not.
I consider myself, in fact, to be a general appreciator of music. I have my favourite genres and genres I don't particularly care for, but I can at least claim to have my pinky toe dipped slightly a little here and a little there. For those of you who doubt me, or who would genuinely like to broaden your horizons beyond what you would normally listen to every day ad nauseum, let me now present William's Cross-Genre Music Appreciation check list:
Pop: The band Franz Ferdinand is definitely the way to go. The get loads of air play, yes, but I find this to be not without good reason. They have a great unique sound with an "old school" tip o' the hat. INXS is also making a come back and I like their new single "Pretty Vegas."
Folk: Ani DiFranco is cool-ass girl power with a few stand outs, "Both Hands" and "Swan Dive" come to mind. Oh, and of course, the works of Bob Dylan.
Country: Johnny Cash is aces not only for his "Hurt" cover. You should also check out "Delia's Gone." In addition, for your consideration, "Don't Take the Girl" by Tim McGraw and "I Fall to Pieces" by Patsy Kline.
Synthpop: Can't go wrong with the Pet Shop Boys, who pretty much define the genre. Check out "West End Girls," "Always on My Mind," and "It's a Sin" specifically.
Punk: The essentials include: "Anarchy in the UK" by the Sex Pistols, "London Calling" by the Clash, and "(I Wanna Be) Sedated" by the Ramones. Great albums to own: The Sex Pistols Never Mind the Bollocks, The Misfits Collection II, and The Clash London Calling.
Britpop: Genre high point include the bands New Order, the Happy Mondays and Blur. A New Order single collection such as Substance or Best Of is practically full of gold. Choice singles by Happy Mondays include "Wrote for Luck" and "24 Hour Party People" and for Blur check out "Girls & Boys" and "Song 2."
Rap: For old school, Run DMC is the way to go. Fairly recent-ish, Coolio's "Gangsta's Paradise" is damn good.
Glam: One word: Bowie. David Bowie is pretty much the quintessential glam-rocker. Check out his Singles collection for the greatest including "Starman," "Changes," and of course "Space Oddity." Other notables: T. Rex "20th Century Boy" and Gary Glitter "Do You Wanna Touch Me? (oh Yeah!)"
Classical: Oh heck, everyone knows and likes SOME classical, whether they know it or not! I highly recommend the compositions of Beethoven, most notably the 5th Symphony, 9th Symphony, Moonlight Sonata and Fur Elise. Other famous pieces: Bach's Toccata and Fugue, Vivaldi's Four Seasons, Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture, Lizst's Hungarian Rhapsody #2, Grieg's In the Hall of the Mountain King, Chopin's Minute waltz. You won't be sorry.
New wave: Great specimens to sample would be: Gary Numan "Cars," Kajagoogoo "Too Shy," Human League "Don't You Want Me?", Dead or Alive "You Spin Me Round," Bananarama "Venus," Cyndi Lauper "She Bop."
Metal: Metallica's "Enter Sandman" will always be immortal, but also look into Rammstein "Feuer Frei," In Flames "Wayfarer," Static X "Permanence," and Linkin Park "Everything You say To Me." Nine Inch Nails is awesome in general.
Funk: "Got the Love" by Average White band is aces, and there are some Sly and the Family Stone bits that are keen such as "Everyday People," and who doesn't enjoy Rick James's "Super Freak"? I mean, really.
Techno: Moby would have to be at the top of my list for Techno artists and some great examples would be "Natural Blues," "Hymn," and "All that I Need is to Be Loved." Other cool techno tidbits include Junior Jack, Juno Reactor, Foggy, and Fatboy Slim.
Bubblegum pop: I'm quite partial to Kylie Minogue's "Can't Get You Out of My Head."
Rock: Some stuff A Perfect Circle has is good like "Judith", also Garbage like "Only Happy When it Rains." Evanescence is also great in general, their album Fallen being practically a start to finish great listen.
Jazz: Louis Armstrong ("What a Wonderful World," "Hello, Dolly") is king, baby, and Peggy Lee ("Fever," "Sweet Happy Life") and Ella Fitzgerald ("Heart and Soul") are the reigning queens.
Blues: George Thorogood and the Destroyers are great as well as Duke Ellington and John Lee Hooker.
Hip-Hop: Some Destiny's Child is good, notably (for me) "Bug-a-Boo."
Ska: Operation Ivy ("Take Warning"), Madness ("House of Fun") and The English Beat ("Save It For later") are my big ska picks.
Reggae: Bob Marley ("Get Up, Stand Up," and "I Shot the Sheriff"). Duh.
Goth: Old school stuff would be Bauhaus, Siouxsie and the Banshees, the Sisters of Mercy, Joy Division and The Cure (....who?). Newer stuff to check out: Voltaire, Rapsutina, Birthday Massacre, and the Cruxshadows.
Industrial: I like a little Skinny Puppy and KMDFM, I do.
Swing: Royal Crown Review ("Hey Sonny (Where'd You Go?)," and "Hey Pachuco!") and Cherry Poppin' Daddies ("Zoot Suit Riot") are loads of fun.
Did I miss anything? Probably. What I have here I consider to be the "basics." I mean, these days there are so many confusing sub-genres, that I just included the main heading. Honestly, I'm not going to divide down into "Fusion Jazz," "Future Jazz," or "Acid Jazz," just "Jazz." There are, naturally, some genres I forgot to include out of absent-mindedness, and not out of unappreciation, because whenever I set out to list something or come up with an example, my mind instantly goes blank for some reason (like if someone says, "hey! sing a song!" suddenly, I don't know any song lyrics despite having literally hundreds stored in my brain cells). Also, there are a few musicians that I can't seem to classify like Violent Femmes and Tori Amos, who could very well have a class all to themselves.
The purpose of this is to show that yeah, I do hold an appreciation for (no matter how small) nearly all genres of music I know about. I'm NOT claiming to own stacks of funk records, but I won't completely discount the genre as a whole; usually I can find SOMETHING somewhere in it I like. So, if someone were to say "I like funk, do you?" I could honestly say "there's a LITTLE funk I like, not a lot, but some." Hopefully this will give you some ideas if you were at all curious at giving a genre you normally wouldn't listen to a shot (hence the specific song examples... for your downloading consideration). Please, feel free to point out any omissions and I'll do my best to respond in the comment box.
William (PS--- Weird Al Yankovic)
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