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Three Defining Bands


stewblack

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Slade - where it all began for me.

Bowie - Starman on TotP started it, and he's been a constant ever since.

Prince - from 1999 through to Lovesexy he was the "Bowie of his time".

As an aside, one of the most influential/ albums I've ever heard (and that was a bit of a game-changer for me and my mates at the time) was Screamadelica. I'll give it a spin tonight and have a think about Mr A Weatherall who departed us today...

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I would say a seminal year for me that shaped my musical interests for the rest of my life was 1972.  I was 14 going on 15.  Up until then I had listened to a lot of music - I had an older sister who was heavily into Motown and Stax.  I liked a lot of what she played me.  I liked a lot of the pop music I had heard on the radio - I liked the start of the whole glamrock thing and bought Slade and  Gary Glitter albums (yeah, I know - not supposed to admit that any more)  But I took up with a new mate who was into 'heavy rock' music - his brother had all the albums and we used to go back to his house after school and listen to Black Sabbath, Deep Purple and Led Zeppelin.  And that, for me, was it. In 1972 I went to my first gig and it opened the floodgates - I dived in head first and still haven't come up for air 48 years later. 

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AC/DC - One of my friends was listening to 'If you want blood you've got it' and that was it. My eldest daughter's middle name is Rosie and if we'd have had a boy I'd have fought tooth and nail to call him Angus.

Deep Purple - Child in Time on the 'In Rock' album. OMG.

Black Sabbath - Heaven and Hell. Was never much of an Ozzy fan, but with Ronnie James Dio................

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Crass - hugely influential and formative band for me. Organised and enshrined my fundamental political stance, made me realise that music could be entirely about conveying practical messages and expressing alienation and also that I was capable of creating music myself. Hearing Crass was the first (and probably only) time I felt like I’d found a home.

Killing Joke - while Crass dealt with the politics Killing Joke set out to define the exquisite beauty of the atomic age in terms of style, sound and form, and, frankly, that’s right up my rue. Killing Joke, along with Adam and the Ants, The Glitter Band gave me my love of tom-tom driven rhythms but the defining album for me is what’s THIS for? by Killing Joke, they sound like they’ve tapped into something primal but aren’t quite controlling (perhaps manipulating) it yet. KJ led me off on several directions, geomancy, the occult, folk horror, divination, vandalism, many of which (not vandalism unfortunately) endure to this day. I’m still in touch with them but very much miss my old friend Paul Raven but I do not miss moving his rig abou!

Sleaford Mods - an erudite yob set to beats. As the ideals of punk and the utter irredeemable hopelessness of existence sinks in as a fact, my peculiar mix of existential ennui and detachment feels brilliantly summed up by messrs Williamson and Fearn, the dichotomy between wanting a better world yet feeling like you want to piśš all over it too. A mess of contradictions is what we are, just like the world we live in. Sleaford Mods reflect that perfectly.

I realise this should be a list of three and yes I can count but I have to give special mention to Public Image Ltd simply because they made Metal Box / Second Edition, which is the best album ever made by a country mile, if the choice was between that album and the entire musical output of all the rest it would be Metal Box, Wobble innit.

Edited by Frank Blank
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Count Basie Orchestra .  I was a reading 12 yr old drummer fascinated by the phrasing with the brass and the dynamics .


Professor Longhair . 17 , had taught myself Hammond in order to actually hear the harmony part of music A level that I understood on paper but not aurally , but here was one man creating those polyrhythms that I loved with the dynamics you can't get on organ .


John Martyn and Danny Thompson . One upright bass fulfilling the role of a rhythm section .Fascinating .

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The Clash, Joe's lyrics, the anger, the political stance, everything about them was exciting on the first album

Stiff Little Fingers, Jake's lyrics introduced me to world I knew little or nothing about and through countless albums SLF continue to deliver, Ali's bass playing and the brilliant live performances all add up to SLF being a seminal band for me!

The Chameleons, introduced me to beautiful arrangements, stunning pieces of music and the fact that you don't have to have commercial success to qualify as a massively influential artist 

Although Frank makes a very compelling argument that Crass should have been one of my three!

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7 minutes ago, Roger2611 said:

The Clash, Joe's lyrics, the anger, the political stance, everything about them was exciting on the first album

Stiff Little Fingers, Jake's lyrics introduced me to world I knew little or nothing about and through countless albums SLF continue to deliver, Ali's bass playing and the brilliant live performances all add up to SLF being a seminal band for me!

The Chameleons, introduced me to beautiful arrangements, stunning pieces of music and the fact that you don't have to have commercial success to qualify as a massively influential artist 

Although Frank makes a very compelling argument that Crass should have been one of my three!

Crass - The Clash, never the twain shall meet. You are a disgrace to your avatar 😁

Edited by Frank Blank
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1 hour ago, BigRedX said:

I much prefer the fretless playing on the second album which isn't by Pino (it certainly wasn't him when I saw them live).

Possibly a guy called Chris Winter who seemed to drop into the gap Pino left when he moved on from Cardiff. 

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The Sex Pistols - simply the most exciting band I’d ever heard when they emerged to the masses in 1977, and still are today.

Stiff Little Fingers - first punk band I actually saw,  back in 1980 probably. I listened to these more throughout the 90s than any other band and loved the new material they were releasing.

Hanoi Rocks - found out about them just as they split up. A real influence on both music and image for me, and their live album All Those Wasted Years was never far from my car stereo in 1986, def the sound of the best summer of my life.

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The three I saw live late 70's/1980

Rush

Thin Lizzy

Queen (Liverpool Empire, the best gig I ever saw, at their real pomp with an audience who sang Walk Alone at the band with barely any prompting)

and the ones I didn't see Bob Marley and the Wailers(turned down a ticket to Deeside, biggest regret of my musical life), Pink Floyd(brother sold his spare Wall tickets for big money, took a long time to forgive him for that), Weather Report (missed them at Glastonbury as stuck on Guernsey)

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6 minutes ago, Aidan63 said:

The three I saw live late 70's/1980

Rush

Thin Lizzy

Queen (Liverpool Empire, the best gig I ever saw, at their real pomp with an audience who sang Walk Alone at the band with barely any prompting)

and the ones I didn't see Bob Marley and the Wailers(turned down a ticket to Deeside, biggest regret of my musical life), Pink Floyd(brother sold his spare Wall tickets for big money, took a long time to forgive him for that), Weather Report (missed them at Glastonbury as stuck on Guernsey)

3 defining LIVE bands i've seen changes things a bit

Thin Lizzy (76)

Rush (78)

Genesis (80)

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Right, so for clarity, it's not the three bands that I most like, or have the greatest influence on how I play or what I listen to or write, but rather the three that got me to where I am today?

  1. Status Quo - specifically the 1982 live from the NEC concert that was on TV. Haven't listened to any of their stuff for decades, don't now own any of their albums and I'm not interested in anything they recorded after I went to their "farewell" tour in 1984, but back in the day they were the gateway drug to heavy metal, and threw open the doors to bands that have stayed with me ever since, like AC/DC, Black Sabbath, Led Zep and Motorhead
  2. Metallica - specifically the first three albums and the $5.98 EP.  Back when they were new and exciting, they led the pack in creating a completely new style of music. Everything became heavier and faster  Haven't really enjoyed their recorded music since the disappointment of the Black Album...but we live in hope, and they've always been great live
  3. New Model Army - proving that not everything has to be heavy metal.  Toss up between them and Killing Joke, and KJ may well have had a bigger longer term influence because they led to Nine Inch Nails and industrial music, but NMA probably got me to KJ (along with the $5.98 EP) and I was definitely listening to them first.  Still love them, and they still release fantastic new albums
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I gotta choose 5..

Black Sabbath - They wrote the book on metal. Everyone since owes them a paycheck or two.

Elvis Costello - Pop sensibility with caustic lyrics. If he had stopped at Armed Forces, Trust, My Aim Is True and This Years Model it would have been enough but he had to show off.

Todd Rundgren - Something, Anything... nuf said.

Earth Wind and Fire - Positivity personified wrapped inside killer grooves. Verdine was why i picked up bass.. 

Bowie - best front man ever and that voice.. damn

Edited by bearhart74
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