Get me in to...

[Jorge Gorgeous 0]

So, the idea here is simple. There are a lot of bands, musicians, groups, etcetera that are considered important. Bands you're supposed to like, for lack of a better term. Sometimes catalogues are daunting, and if you come at them the wrong way, you can get turned off to the artist. Maybe someone at this board can help. Post a band you'd like to get into, and hopefully someone here will have some suggestions for songs or albums that represent what the artist is all about.

 

I'll start it off.

 

Get me into Bruce Springstein. ( I know the radio songs, but I also know there has to be a lot more to the music than that_

 

Get me into Tom Waits.

[Ravenbomb 0]

For Tom Waits, check out Swordfishtrombones. It pretty much covers all the aspects of his music, so even if you just like one song, there's probably a whole other album you can get that's like that song.

[PLAGIARISM! 0]

I'd disagree, Rain Dogs is surely the place to start, as that one covers all the bases as well, but its also his best album. Alice has always been a favourite of mine too. Probably Swordfishtrombones next, then maybe you're ready for Bone Machine.

[Jorge Gorgeous 0]

I'm grabbing Rain Dogs and Swordfishtrombones right now.

[Guest Tzar Lysergic]

I heard Bone Machine first and probably still like it best.

[Guest College Party]

Bone Machine is great, but it's not at the same level as the Frank trilogy. Get those three, then backtrack to the lounge stuff: Closing Time has a great country dive-bar feel to it, The Heart of Saturday Night uses more of a big-band instrumentation, and Nighthawks at the Diner is more about the spoken interludes than the songs themselves. I'd go in order: Swordfishtrombones, Rain Dogs, Frank's Wild Years first.

 

Springsteen: don't get anything after Nebraska, it'll just sour you. Start with the verbally and instrumentally busy The Wild, the Innocent, and the E Street Shuffle. Bruce had not yet started dressing like a mechanic and doing really dull "heartland rock," so there's a lot more of the horn section and Dylanesque polysyllabic storytelling. The instrumentation and arrangements here are much more interesting than any of the other big albums, I feel.

 

Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J. is basically a dress rehearsal for Wild/Innocent, but I feel that the middle of the album kind of sags a little bit and isn't on the same level as "Blinded by the Light," "Growing Up," "Lost in the Flood," "Spirit in the Night," or "For You."

 

Born in the U.S.A. is awful. It's as if the collective IQs of the band and target audience both dropped 20 points.

[Ravenbomb 0]

Closing Time is my favorite album, but Soldier's Things is my favorite song, followed by Time.

[Copper Feel 0]

"Tom Traubert's Blues" for me.

 

Get me into U2. I have The Joshua Tree, and like approximately half of it.

[The Ghost of bps21 0]

For Bruce Springsteen just go see him live when he's around your town. He's one of the people that I think is so good live that it'll get you into his music easier.

[Guest Desensitized]

"Tom Traubert's Blues" for me.

 

Get me into U2. I have The Joshua Tree, and like approximately half of it.

I've already sent you War, and that's their best one. The Unforgettable Fire will be up your alley if you really like Brian Eno's transitional-ambient stuff like Another Green World; Achtung Baby if you like Bowie's Berlin trilogy. Maybe get the most recent DVD of the Vertigo Tour to understand how people get caught up in the sheer bigness of it all.

[Edwin MacPhisto 0]

"Tom Traubert's Blues" for me.

 

Get me into U2. I have The Joshua Tree, and like approximately half of it.

Which half?

[Copper Feel 0]

The first 6 tracks on the album, the rest hasn't clicked for me in quite the same way for whatever reason.

[Dr. Zoidberg 0]

The first 6 tracks on the album, the rest hasn't clicked for me in quite the same way for whatever reason.

 

That's how I am with Iggy Pop's Lust for Life. Everything after "Everything Will Be All Right," I don't really see the appeal of.

 

Maybe try their first album. I think it's called Boy. There's, apparently, a song on there about Ian Curtis' suicide, so...who knows. I, for one, don't like U2, but, I'm just trying to help is all. If you don't like that, my cousin recommended War and Rattle and Hum to me when I told her I didn't like them.

 

On another note about U2 (I got this from Wikipedia, so...bear with me):

 

"An oft-repeated anecdote by Tony Wilson is that when U2 visited Factory Records, U2 frontman Bono said when Curtis was alive he was the best frontman in rock and he himself was only number two; Bono pledged to take Curtis' place."

 

Well...

[AboveAverage484 0]

Czech once again overlooks the superb album tracks on BITUSA. "No Surrender," "Bobby Jean," and "Downbound Train" are all excellent songs that don't get much attention from that album. BTR and Darkness on the Edge of Town are flawless albums, check them out immediately. The second side of Wild, Innocent... is masterful as well. As said before, the real Springsteen experience is captured live, so here are some concerts that I'd recommend checking out:

 

Main Point: 2/5/75

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=UN5W1Y5C

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=9D1LGN2G

 

Passaic, NJ: 9/19/78

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=MF4H9V0M

 

Winterland, CA: 12/15/78

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=R98G47S0

 

Nassau, NYE: 12/31/80

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=HC3UZW75

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=W1UI95HU

 

Vietnam Veteran's concert, LA: 8/20/81

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=FOBVSHGC