Let's go back, to the golden age of music...

[Downhome 0]

Let's talk about pre-70's music, and feel free to go back as far as you want. What are your favorite oldie songs and bands?

 

To start this out, I just want to say that I fucking LOVE Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons. The guys known for bringing the world such classics like Sherry, Big Girls Don't Cry, Walk Like A Man, Don't Think Twice (It's Alright), and December '63 (Oh What a Night).

 

Did you guys know that Frankie Valli has sold over 100 million records throughout his career?

 

There are tons more, but I just wanted to get this started. So come on, let's talk about MY favorite era of music, because I know I can't be the the only one here who loves it.

 

Sincerely,

...Downhome...

[rising up out of the back seat-nuh 0]

Del Shannon: Runaway

Gene Pitney: Town Without Pity

?: Leader Of The Pack

 

I do know who did the last one, but it's late and my think-station is fucked.

[Downhome 0]

Del Shannon: Runaway

Gene Pitney: Town Without Pity

?: Leader Of The Pack

 

I do know who did the last one, but it's late and my think-station is fucked.

It's by The Shangri-Las of course.

[rising up out of the back seat-nuh 0]

Del Shannon: Runaway

Gene Pitney: Town Without Pity

?: Leader Of The Pack

 

I do know who did the last one, but it's late and my think-station is fucked.

It's by The Shangri-Las of course.

Good man! That was really starting to bug me. The song's a classic.

[Nighthawk 0]

I've always dug Buddy Holly. I mean yeah, he's acknowledged as a musical genius, but I don't think the guy gets enough credit. Every Day is probably my favorite song of his.

[Steviekick 0]

I'm kinda partial to Del Shannon. I got really interested after listening to the Misfits' cover of "Runaway" on their Project 1950 CD.

[Vern Gagne 0]

December '63 (Oh what a night) was from like 77 or 78 if I'm not mistaken.

 

You are correct Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons are very good.

 

Jerry Lee Lewis, and Little Richard are good from the 50's.

 

Booker T. and the MG's, the Dave Clark Five, Herb Alpert, the Kinks are good from the 60's.

[Downhome 0]

December '63 (Oh what a night) was from like 77 or 78 if I'm not mistaken.

That is correct, but the've been around since the 50's. I was just listing songs they've done overall, going a little off topics, lol. They are known as the longest running band from that era, having recorded songs in five decades.

[Guest El Satanico]

Bill Withers - Ain't No Sunshine, Lean On Me

Bobby Darin

Bobby Womack - Across 110th Street

Brothers Johnson - Get The Funk Outta Ma Face

The Byrds

Chi - Lites

The Coasters

Delfonics

Donovan

The Drifters

Dusty Springfield - Son Of A Preacher Man

Jan And Dean

The Monkees

Otis Redding

Percy Sledge

The Rascals

Ricky Nelson

Tommy James & The Shondells

[Vern Gagne 0]

Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers.

[Guest Agent of Oblivion]

Why hasn't WrestlingDeacon had an orgasm on this thread yet?

 

I'm not into fledgling rock and roll that much, so most of my mentions would probably be blues and jazz artists like Willie Dixon, Leadbelly, Dave Brubek, and Gene Krupa. I also find Louis Armstrong's voice to be very pleasant.

[WrestlingDeacon 0]

*orgasms on thread*

 

To go back pre-rock. I love the big band swing sound and have expressed my love for crooners here in the past. Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis, Bing Crosby, Mel Torme, Nat King Cole. I've also been watching reruns on the Tennessee Ernie Ford show on my local PBS station and have been digging him as a country crooner.

 

For early rock, I worship Motown. Drifters, Coasters, Miracles, Temptations; you name them. Oddly, I've never cared much for the girl groups, but those were more part of the Philadelphia sound.

 

Johnny Rivers has an awesome voice. I'm surprised Roy Orbison hasn't been mentioned, intriguing voice and a good songwriter. Dick Dale is a surf guitar god. I think the Riverias get overlooked today; California Sun was their big hit. Gene Vincent and Eddie Cochran I think could have been bigger than they were. They did influence a lot of artists to come after them though. Here's an obscure name to look up: Link Wray. He basically invented the "power cord" and paved the way for metal. He still plays today too.

[Guest MissMattitude]

I love Buddy Holly and The Everly Brothers.

 

I grew up listening to Gene Pitney, Roy Orbison, Billy Fury and the above two and I like all of them.

 

Also The Doors, The Kinks, The Who and Gerry And The Pacemakers.

[Guest Agent of Oblivion]

Anyone ever heard of John Cage? He was around for years, and wrote a bunch of really fucked up aleatory stuff. Invented a contraption called a "prepared piano" and worked with emotions like boredom and confusion in his music. Anyway, I only mention him because there's a piece of his being played in a church in Europe over a huge mechanical organ. I can't remember the title exactly, but it's going to last SIX CENTURIES. I'm pretty sure that 2 notes have been going for 3 years now, and another one is going to be added in September. The organ can sustain notes for an indefinite amount of time..so he hypothesized just hanging sandbags on levers and such, letting the people that tend the church play it for him posthumously.

 

It might be the single greatest musical concept I've EVER heard.

[WrestlingDeacon 0]

AoO: I've never heard of him, but I agree with you, that is the greatest concept I've ever heard. It's going to last six centuries. That's insane and it really pushes the boundary of what is music and what's just random noise. I'll have to look John Cage up.

[Guest Agent of Oblivion]

Some of his stuff is literally almost impossible to listen to. I've only heard him via some weird fuckers in the music dept. when I was at school, so I'm useless when it comes to titles of his. Here's what I know, though..

 

He did one piece that involved gradually dropping a giant inflated penis on cables above the stage, and recording the reaction of the crowd as they saw it descend. THAT was the music..not the playing of any instruments or anything..just the confusion and mixed emotions and reactions from the people watching.

 

A prepared piano is a standard piano that he puts a bunch of stuff into, thus dampening the strings in random places, making it sound all wacky.

 

It definitely blurs the line between music and noise. Really ballsy concept-oriented stuff that's more meant to be appreciated than enjoyed, I think.

[B. Brian Brunzell 0]

I'm a fan of all things Motown. I also love most of the Jazz from the 30s-60s, especially Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington. Dave Brubeck is another favorite. ANY Delta blues is good in my book.

 

I've heard John Cage. I took a music appreciation class last semester, and we touched on the minimalistic music stylings of Cage. I think that ALL minimaistic music is unlistenable. It doesn't take much to compose a minimalistic piece. Although I do like the idea of the prepared piano.

[Downhome 0]

I'm surprised Roy Orbison hasn't been mentioned, intriguing voice and a good songwriter.

I simply haven't mentioned him yet because it wasn't too long ago that I started a thread here because of him.

 

I called him, in my eyes, the greatest "pure" singer, of all time.

[ArkhamGlobe 0]

I love late 60s psychedelia, various kinds of free form jazz and various kinds of modernist music.

 

As for John Cage, we got to study his work briefly when I studied ethnomusicology at the university. Definitely an odd fellow, but rather interesting. What I remember most is some music he wrote that was dictated completely by chance (I don't remember quite how that worked, I'd have to look through my notes), various Varése-inspired (souned like it, atleast) sound collages, and another piece called 5 and something else I can't quite remember. What it basically consisted of was the musician would come out with his notes. Well, notes and notes, it was just instructions on when to turn the page, which would go on for five plus minutes, with the music being the sound of the papers being turned, and various sounds and noises from the audience.

And that organ playing for six centuries is fucking brilliant. Kind of like a MUCH more extreme version of Terry Riley's "In C".

[Guest Agent of Oblivion]

I think that ALL minimaistic music is unlistenable. It doesn't take much to compose a minimalistic piece.

Have you ever listened to any Philip Glass? The guy is brilliant. Check out "Floe" if you've never heard it. Yeah, it's minimalism, but there's a lot going on. His collaborations with Ravi Shankar on the sitar are pretty interesting, too.

[ArkhamGlobe 0]

I'll second the claims of Philip Glass' brilliance.

[Vern Gagne 0]

Rhapsody in Blue by George Gershwin is one of my favorite musical pieces. Gershwin's piano work is amazing.

[Zack Malibu 0]

Where's the Dion love? Runaround Sue is one of the all time great oldies songs.

[Dogbert 0]

Oh man, where do I begin? The Beatles, Bee Gees, Guess Who, BTO, CCR, Herman's Hermits, Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, Diana Ross and the Supremes, Smokey Robinson, the Temptations, Roy Orbison, Elvis, the Platters... the list goes on and on. Would that I had been born back then, just to live the music at its peak.

[Damaramu 0]

I'll have to go with the Beatles. That's all my mom listened to when I was a kid and I hated it(being a stupid little kid) but now I've stolen all of her old Beatles records and I listen to them a lot. I can't get enough of Abbey Road.