No Particular Order Vol. 1
Whut up! This is the first edition of No Particular Order. Every Thursday, I’m going to list my top tens of any musical subject. So, for this first edition i’m going to list my top 10 favourite artists/acts of all time (a task that proved to be a lot harder than i thought). But here it is (IMO, in no particular order):
1. The Rolling Stones
I know what you’re thinking. Fuck these guys: old business men, ripping of all there session musicians, beating the horse to a pulp. But it can’t be denied. And when you meet a girl who says she prefers the Stones over the Beatles, she’s a girl after your heart.
2. The Clash
These cats are amazing. I don’t even really consider them punk all that much. They’re more like working class hero music (like country or blues). All their albums are dope ,except Sandinista! (1980) & Cut The Crap (1985)...which is crap. They made one of the most essential dance tracks of all time: “Rock the Casbah”, which will probably make my next top 10 (next week): Most essential dance tracks of all time.
3. Japan
Man, these dudes are SO under rated. You either get it or you don’t. During the seventies they were glam rock, then they became more disco (working with Giorgio Moroder) and then in the 80s (when everything was going Duran Duran), they were making these deep abstract albums with Japanese influences. Get all of their albums, they’re all killer. David Sylvian is a pimp, here’s proof:
4. Eric B. & Rakim
Gotta have Hip Hop and who better to choose. They were that bridge between Rap and Hip Hop, No more party disco raps, straight lyrics of fury. What happened to peace?
5. Parliament/Funkadelic
There’s cats are so very necessary. You would have no p-funk, no electro, no hip/hop and even rock would have suffered without them. They have such a huge output that its hard to list essential albums (with so many off shoots like Bootsy’s and George Clinton’s solo efforts.) But you need them in your life. So put a glide in your slide, a dip in your hip, and come onboard to the Mothership. If i could get in a time machine this would be my first stop (man our generation is getting ripped off):
6. Bad Brains
I loved Bad Brains when i was a young buck growing up in the burbs (still do). Rastas playing punk but man these dudes kill all hardcore/punk bands. WERD.
7. Prince
I used to ride around on my tricycle when i was 5 and pretend i was Prince (ala Purple Rain). There i said. I digress, music would not be the same without him. Unfortunately, Prince is crazy about keeping his work under lock and key. So, no videos...i wanted to post the I would Die 4 U live video with Shelia E (where she is going buck wild on percussion and Prince is humping the ground and shit).... oh well:(
8. Kraftwerk
Kraftwerk are those dudes. “Pioneers of electronic music” is not a cliche when you talk about these dudes. Their music was the mission: they did there best to conceal themselves as real living people (they tried to sue Wolfgang Flür, their ex-drummer for releasing personal information about the band in his auto-biography). David Bowie wanted to have them as his back up band in the 70s (they respectively declined). When they came to Toronto, i missed it, but i heard there were 50 year old men crying at the show because they were so overwhelmed. The mantra in this video: “Fun, fun, fun on the Autobahn” was actually influenced by the Beach Boys “Barbara-Ann” (serial).
9. David Bowie
Speaking of Bowie, what would music be without the Thin White Duke. A huge catalogue with different fazes. He’s like the Picasso of modern music. Albeit alot of his session musicians and producers were a key role to this but it can’t be denied: there will never be another.
10. The Cars
The Cars might be my favourite group of all time. What are they? They’re not New Wave, they’re not Rock, they’re not Punk, they’re not Synth Pop & they’re not Glam. There the MF Cars, all their albums are good. ALL OF THEM.
Honorable mentions: Alan Braxe, Aphex Twin, Art Ensemble of Chicago, Brian Eno, Buzzcocks, Can, Carl Craig, Change, Chic, Cybotron, Daft Punk, DJ Funk, Drexciya, Egyptian Lover, E-40, Fleetwood Mac, Front 242, Gino Soccio, Giorgio Moroder, Godflesh, Green Velvet, Guns N’ Roses, Hamilton Bohannon, Herbie Hancock, Iggy Pop, Jammin Gerald, Judas Priest, Kano (italy), Larry Heard, Like A Tim, Medicine, Micronauts, Miles Davis, MMM, Motorhead, My Bloody Valentine, N.W.A., Nitzer Ebb, Ornette Coleman, Patrick Cowley, Paul Johnson, Prince Charles & The Big City Beat, Roxy Music, RUN DMC, Schooly D, Seefeel, Skinny Puppy, Sly & The Family Stone, Soundhack, Suicide, Sun Ra, Thin Lizzy, Too Short, T. Rex & Zapp.
Until next week...top 10 essential dance tracks.
See Ya!!
