smoe.org mailing lists
ivan@stellysee.de
| From | rob@splitsville.com |
| Subject | =?US-ASCII?B?UkU6IFdlJ3JlIGEgKGdyZWF0KSBBbWVyaWNhbiBiYW5k?= |
| Date | Thu, 23 Aug 2007 15:42:36 -0400 |
[Part 1 text/plain US-ASCII (5.8 kilobytes)]
(View Text in a separate window)
Great post and a great topic.
For me, I have to go with Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band.
The music, the lyrics, the themes all are overtly American, or at least relate the American experience. Springsteen's songbook is the working man's soundtrack, and 'the working man' in every region of the country certainly has many things in common that BS sings about (love, cars, lives stuck in ruts, feelings of being in a dead end, hopes and dreams of escaping, etc).
'The River' truly encapsulates this...in spades.
For me, the E Street Band IS America. And they definitely do rock, probably as good as if not better than anyone else in their prime.
Is a dream a lie if it don't come true
Or is it something worse,
Rob
>----- ------- Original Message ------- -----
>From: :audities@smoe.org
>To: audities@smoe.org
>Sent: Thu, 23 Aug 2007 -0700 (PDT) 12:21:14
>
> >>Date: Wed, 22 Aug 2007 20:05:58 -0500
>From: "Mike Bennett"
>To: audities@smoe.org
>Subject: Re: The New Eagles Single...
>Message-ID:
>
>3. This could lead to a good ranking the American
>bands list. And
>"American" in the way Bob intends it (while my
>favorite band, Sparks, is
>American, they aren't what I'd call a great
>American band -- they're more
>continental).<<
>
> Perhaps the Mael brothers should enlist
>Christopher Walken to appear in their next video.
>
>>>The three bands who immediately spring to mind
>for me are The Beach Boys,
>Creedence Clearwater Revival and The Minutemen.
>Each of them are great,
>great bands, and all of them, to me, represent a
>real slice of America.<<
>
> The word "slice" is key here. I'm with Lee
>Elliott on the idea that regional identity (either
>overt or implied) counts against a band being "the
>great American band" in the sense of being fully
>representative. The Beach Boys and the Minutemen
>(both of whom I love) and the Eagles (whom I think
>are seriously overrated) are all, as Lee said, too
>closely identifiable with southern California. Same
>goes with the Ramones and New York City. However, I
>think it's unfair to categorize CCR as being too
>identified with the South, especially since they
>were a Bay Area band. Sure, there's "Proud Mary"
>and "Born On the Bayou", but shouldn't "Lodi"
>cancel those out?
>
> I think that you have to give CCR serious
>consideration as being "the great American band."
>Ditto for the Byrds, since folk rock isn't
>specifically viewed as an Angeleno phenomenon.
>Plus, McGuinn & Co.'s early dabbling in country
>long before any other major act twangified itself
>gives them beaucoup Americana cred.
>
> Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers deserves
>consideration as well. I don't think that most
>Americans identify them as a Southern band. For one
>thing, they've been based in L.A. for most of their
>career, and most Americans don't think of Florida
>as being a culturally Southern state, anyway (much
>to the chagrin of Floridians who live north of
>Gainesville). For another, nothing about the TP&tH
>sound is readily identifiable as being Southern, in
>the sense that their fellow Sunshine State natives
>Lynyrd Skynyrd can't be viewed as anything *but*
>Southern. Petty's more overt statements of his
>Dixie affinities (the *Southern Accents* album and
>its song "Rebels") are more than balanced out by
>all of his L.A. lyrical references and the
>fingerprints of such un-Bubba characters as Bob
>Dylan, Jeff Lynne, Roger McGuinn, and Dave Stewart
>on his band's sound. If anything, the Heartbreakers
>have always sounded more like a tight and extremely
>accomplished bar band from the heartland than
> anything else.
>
> Given my druthers, I'd vote for the Replacements
>as being the great American band. However, as a
>Cubs fan I'm constantly reminded by others that
>most Americans consider the term "loveable losers"
>to be an oxymoron. Americans love winners, which
>means that the whole persona and career arc of the
>'mats disqualifies them. Likewise, I can't tout
>NRBQ out of anything besides sentimental conceit.
>
> Aerosmith deserves a mention for their
>popularity, persistence, devotion to excess, and
>their (in the seventies, at least) all-American
>work ethic. However, their sound, which has always
>been a heavier take on the Stones, Faces, and
>Yardbirds, is a little too overtly
>British-influenced to have them qualify.
>
> Sly & the Family Stone? Think about that one for
>a minute.
>
> Perhaps Grand Funk is the great American band.
>Not only did they record the theme song for the
>concept, they also encapsulized the stoopid, loud,
>and guilty-pleasure fun that's always been at the
>heart of a lot of popular culture here in the
>states. Plus, they rocked. You can't be the great
>American band if you didn't rock, people.
>
> Let me repeat that for those of you who are now
>going to speak up for the Beach Boys. I love the
>Beach Boys. Love 'em to death, in fact. But they
>didn't rock. You can't be the great American band
>if you didn't rock.
>
> Heck, why not Kiss as the great American band?
>Completely over-the-top, all shiny surfaces and
>limited substance, bigger than life, louder than a
>jet engine if you were standing on the runway,
>recklessly hedonistic, building live popularity
>upon multimedia extravagance, self-obsessed,
>completely calculated, gimmicky, insanely
>successful, and a triumph of marketing genius --
>what band has ever better represented the U.S. of
>A. in all of its inescapable and obnoxiously badass
>glory? You loved 'em or you hated 'em, but in the
>1970s you couldn't avoid 'em -- and that made Kiss
>as quintessential an American institution as
>General Motors, the New York Yankees, McDonald's,
>and John Wayne.
>
>
> Greg Sager
>
>
>---------------------------------
>Looking for a deal? Find great prices on flights
>and hotels with Yahoo! FareChase.
For assistance, please contact
the smoe.org administrators.