The British are coming! The British are coming!

Here are my favourite types of music:  Rock and Roll, Folk and Blues.  Some people refer to this stuff as roots music.  Some call it Americana (or Canadiana, if you're on this side of the border and typically Canadian (i.e. self-conscious)).

Whatever you call it, it's great music.  And like all American music, it's the offspring of black-meets-European culture.  The best of it is simple, honest, and speaks to everyday people about everyday life.

I've loved this music all my life, but I was a good way into it before I could really appreciate the real McCoy.

The reason is the British Invasion.  The Beatles kindled my passion for music.  They gave me Rockabilly and Motown.  They gave me Folk Rock.  Led Zeppelin and Cream gave me the Blues. The Stones did it all, with a dose of Country.  All very roots, very Americana - all with a side order of fish and chips.

I didn't understand it at the time, didn't get that these bands were taking American music and throwing it back in the face of Americans.  I liked and listened to lots of American artists too, but to me there was something about the English sound that was more alive, more fresh, more interesting.

Hey!  I'm white and have British roots.  So how could I not love my black music served up by Honkies and Limeys?

I still love it, but over the years I've also gradually come to appreciate the unadulterated, original, untouched-by-hallucenogens (most of this was the Sixties, right?) sound(s) too.

A roundabout journey.  Instead of going down the road, I had to travel across the ocean and back again to discover all this great music that was surrounding me all along.

I guess I finally heard someone singing "baby come back."

Rolling Stone Top 500

This is one of those lists that invite debate, so let me wade in ...

First of all, it's a ridiculously tough job.  The 500 Greatest Songs Of All Time?  My "desert island" playlist has about 900 songs on it - and my list is far less inclusive than Rolling Stone's.

And how do you please everyone, with so many sub-genres and musical tastes?  You can't.

That said, I think they did a pretty credible job.  Most of the songs are deserving, whether you like the genre or not, whether you want to quibble about the relative placement or not.  And, looking at the people who created the list, you'd have to agree they know what they're talking about.

Some random reactions:

As Expected:
The Beatles topped the list with the most entries and the Stones came second.

The 60's dominate the list and the 70's came second.

Not Expected But Not Surprised:
Dylan came third in terms of number of entries and Elvis came fourth.

Not Expected But Pleased:
Hendrix had seven songs on the list.  His influence is huge, but he gets so little airplay, and I always worry that the ongoing posthumous exploitation takes away from his legacy.  It's nice to see the experts know better.

Disappointed:
I suppose ABBA had to get a song on the list, but it's still sad.

The Beach Boys are over-represented with seven songs.  And Good Vibrations does not beat any of The Beatles Songs on the list.  I have never undestood why so many people think this song is so good.

And call me greedy, but The Beatles should have had more songs on the list.  Where is:  We Can Work It Out?  I Feel Fine?  Nowhere Man?  for example.

Only six Led Zeppelin?  And Sly Stone gets six?  Please!

Does Free Bird really have to be on the list?  I never got that one either.

Only one Bonnie Raitt song?

No Jethro Tull.  At all?

Favourite Albums - Part 2

Here's the rest of the list:

Jimi Hendrix - Are You Experienced?  Easy and tough at the same time.

John Lee Hooker - The Best of Friends.  See B.B. King.

The Kinks - Misfits.  Another tough call.

Led Zeppelin - Physical Graffiti.  I can explain: it has one of everything.  OK then, Led Zeppelin I.

Linda Ronstadt - Simple Dreams.  No, it's not the cover.  Really.

Metallica - Metallica.  Nothing else matters.

Neil Young - Rust Never Sleeps.  Sorry Goldrush fans.  Anyway, you didn't expect Trans, did you?

Oasis - (What's the Story) Morning Glory.  Or any other one.

The Police - yes.

Queen - Flash Gordon.  Just kidding.

Rod Stewart - Every Picture tells A Story.  I wish he'd stopped there.

The Rolling Stones - who knows?  Not Satanic Majesty, anyway.

Steve Miller - Fly Like An Eagle.  Not as easy as I thought.

The Tea Party - Splendor Solis.  Another tough one.

Tom Petty - impossible.

Tragically Hip - Road Apples.  'Little Bones' carries that one.

ZZ Top - Tres Hombres.  Natch.

Anyone else?  Guess it's Greatest Hits.

About The Blues

John Lennon famously said "before Elvis there was nothing."  But as far as I was concerned before John Lennon there was nothing.  For a long time anyway.

When Muddy Waters sang "the blues had a baby and they named it rock and roll," to me, that was just some old guy trying to stay relevant.  For years, I just didn't get it.  I got that Cream and Led Zeppelin and Jethro Tull were doing all these great blues covers, but all I was hearing was Cream and Led Zeppelin and Jethro Tull.  To me they were just covers.  Even when my idols brought their idols Muddy Waters and Howling Wolf over to London to record, I didn't get it. I thought they were just being nice to these old guys.

Years later, I finally went back and started to listen.  And I got it.

What's not to get?  A hypnotizing groove, raw sexual energy, guitar virtuousity, betrayal, heartbreak, injustice, standing alone against the world.  How had I missed all that?  Wow!

Muddy Waters, Howling Wolf, John Lee Hooker, BB King  ...  they may not have shaped my world as directly as Lennon, McCartney, Clapton or Page, but in the end their influence was even bigger.  First they influenced me indirectly through my idols.  Then they touched me directly.

And it turns out there was plenty before Lennon, plenty before Elvis.  It just keeps going back:  Big Bill Broonzy, Robert Johnson, Son House, Leadbelly, Blind Lemon Jefferson ...  there is no beginning.

Hopefully there will be no end.