So anyway, favorite bands. When I was a kid, AC/DC was my favorite band - no hesitation. I might have been listening to various classic rock (Zep, Floyd), early rap (The Newcleus, Kool Moe Dee), and whatever pop was on MTV (mostly individual songs stick out, like "One Night in Bangkok" or "nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-NINE-teen," but of course the staples like VH and Duran Duran as well). My two older sisters were heavily into AC/DC and Culture Club and Ozzy and Duran Duran and Zeppelin and Weird Al Yankovic (these two sisters did not share a room), so I got plenty of all that. And my older brother was into punk and Genesis and most of the same stuff that the one sister was into. And I loved Creedence and Dr. Hook (dad's bands). And who could dispute the Everlys (one of mom's faves, along with the much-discussed Neil Sedaka...)?
By the time I was in early high school I was a big fan of solo Peter Gabriel, and of Def Leppard (who were then in the process of eating the world whole), and as high school drew on, the Smiths, New Order, and plenty of random dance music. Not like I left the earlier faves behind! If they kept producing, I kept up with them. Kool Moe Dee was a staunch favorite throughout.
But if asked who my favorite band was, during all that time AC/DC was my unhesitating answer. It was only right after high school that I had any sort of a shift.
Partly it was frustration with the pace of their output, which had really slacked off to almost Peter-Gabriel levels. But it was also that I had unexpectedly started really getting into Crowded House. What happened was, a younger sister of mine had been selling music and magazine subscriptions for some charity drive type thing, for school. I looked at what was available, and I picked CH's Temple of Low Men as a lark, because I remembered liking the song "Better Be Home Soon." I thought I'd give it a chance - give the album a chance. And then when it arrived, the album was darkly brilliant. I played it a lot. I grew deeper into it almost without noticing.
Now as it happened, I was driving a lot in those days, and my car has great acoustics. I noticed that while I cannot sing a lick of Brian Johnson, I can sing ALL of Neil Finn - which surprised the crap out of me! Especially as prior to that revelation, I always thought he was a pretty good singer.
By the time all this was happening, the album Temple of Low Men was already a few years old. But then suddenly they were back with Woodface, and in short order, I fell into seeing them live under very emotionally-charged circumstances, and it was just the most extraordinary show for any number of reasons.
And then a little later on, when a girlfriend gave me just the most beautiful Fender Acoustic for my birthday, I taught myself to play using Crowded House song books. It was easy. So in some sense Neil Finn had taught me not only to sing, but to play guitar as well - and to write a song on the guitar (not to write a song flat out plain and unmodified, though! I'd already written plenty of songs).
(OK, they were rap songs)
(STILL COUNTS.)
So it slowly crept over me until the point where I woke up one day and had to admit, "AC/DC is not my favorite band! It's THESE wimpy guys." PATHETIC! But it was the truth, so I had to honor it.
Anyway, when Crowded House broke up in 1996, they only semi-receded into the distance. Finn's various side projects kept a light burning. But they did recede, because ultimately, they weren't around. Until they came roaring back in 2007! And after the two shows they put on at the Mountain Winery - DAMN. And then the two shows they put on the following year at the Fillmore - double extra damn.
But AC/DC also came roaring back - a couple times since CH broke up, and right now they are in full mid earth-clobbering-monster roar. They are on an ass-kicking tour, and as far as I'm concerned, everybody not lining up to be an ass is an ass. This could be our second- or third- to last chance to see these esteemed gentlemen in the peak of their powers!
But with AC/DC at peak pitch, and Neil Finn and Crowded House showing no signs of letting up, it's a toss-up for #1 favorite band for me. And really at this point, I have to say neither band has the edge.
Tied for first.
And then...
#3: New Order.
#4: Public Enemy.
#5: ...this one's a little contentious.
3 comments:
I never could get behind AC/DC except in the drunken college party way. I was not a Gabriel fan until I saw him in concert at the Meadowlands in 1986 and was therefore forced to buy all his albums. Likewise, I was never a talking Heads fan until I saw Stop Making Sense movie and was forced to buy all their albums. I was a huge Pink Floyd fan, which remains true, though my favorite songs within that category have changed radically in 25 years. And I was a huge Rush fan for many years until I realized they were a bunch of pretentious fucks.
Crowded House, meanwhile, rocks.
I love it when an artist forces you to buy all their albums!
But really it's too precious a chance not to grab when you find some band that knocks you out and resonates that damn deep to where you say, "I need to be into ALL A DAT!!"
Or a related but less intensive phenomenon: when an album knocks you out and maybe you haven't been forced to get all their albums, but the sort of karmic debt you owe them from that great album sort of puts you in the habit of picking up an album here, album there from them, sight-unseen, sound-unheard.
As long as they don't set a foot too wrong, it's basically the slow-motion version playing out over years. But if they dud you up a time or twice, they run the risk of squaring the debt and exiting the list.
I keep the list. There's a few bands I owe, to buy their next disc.
yes, I know the debt thing. I think the largest of these was The Cars - great first album, wan washed out synth crap thereafter - but there are others. Like Sting. For his first few solo albums, I felt like I owed him for the Police. Now I just feel like I owe him a punch in the nose.
Or how about Styx. Decent stuff for a while, so why not spend $2 in the cut-out bin for Kilroy Was Here?
Major mistake.
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