It Ain’t Nothin’ New

Killer songs, rock solid performance, great production, and – for my money – the best slide guitar going.

But what really sets Bonnie Raitt’s music apart is that it’s sexy.  Have a listen to Love Sneakin’ Up On You.  Bonnie’s music is overflowing with slow-grinding, hip-swaying, trance-inducing grooves.

Your whole world is shakin’.

Absolutely Nothing

What is war good for?  Absolutely nothing.  So sang Edwin Starr, as we are reminded in Gibson’s 10 Vietnam Era Rock Classics.

There was a lot of major stuff going down in the 60’s: the cold war, the space race, and civil rights to name a few.  Not to mention the unrelenting march of rock music to its pre-eminent position in modern culture.  All against the horrendous, inescapable backdrop of the Vietnam War.  So the Vietnam War and the music of the late 60’s and early 70’s are inextricably mixed.

As the list makes clear, there weren’t many attempts to romanticize or justify that conflict.  The cruelty, the futility and the stupidity are front and centre as some of the best songwriters of the time moved pop music from its innocent, puppy-love and hand-holding storytelling towards much-needed social commentary.

The songs listed are full of outrage and indignation, but also of hope.  They offer an alternative, a future full of love, compassion, respect.  They understood what was going on, they could see that the times were changing, and they imagined a better world.

Too bad we stopped listening.

Building On Fire

What do you get when you cross Motown with James Brown with The Beatles and The Rolling Stones?  The Talking Heads.

Not sure quite how James Brown holds his own against an entire genre plus the two biggest bands of all time, but there you have it.

We Got The Beat

The Rolling Stone Top 10 Dance Songs of All Time list should get your juices flowing and your feet bouncing.  Here’s the list:

 1. Daft Punk – One More Time

 2. New Order – Blue Monday

 3. The Beatles – Twist and Shout

 4. Justice – D.A.N.C.E.

 5. Madonna - Vogue

 6. The Isley Brothers - Shout

 7.  Michael Jackson - Thriller

 8.  Deee-Lite – Groove Is In The Heart

 9.  Chic – Le Freak

10. Bee Gees – Stayin’ Alive

Not a lot of surprises here, though I would have preferred more 60’s rock ‘n’ roll and R&B, but no matter.  We’d all be shocked if Madonna and MJ didn’t have at least one song each, right?

And good for the Isley Brothers for getting one of their songs and a cover of one of their covers on the list.  Actually, the endurance of Shout is more than curious; it wasn’t even that big a hit when it was first released.  I mean, it’s fun to dance to and DJ’s seem to love it, but …

Speaking of having the beat, spandex and mullets aside, the 80’s produced a lot of great dance numbers.  Surprised there wasn’t more New Wave and Europop on the list.  Life was good during wartime.

Silent Thunder

I was listening to National Steel by Colin James the other night and a remarkable think happened: I got totally caught up in the driving beat. Foot tapping, knee bouncing, head bobbing ...

Not so unusual for a good song with a driving beat? Here's the thing: it happened without drums! It's an acoustic number. The drums enter late and build slowly - way after I'd been swept into the song. The guitar is mostly off the beat, in a Hooker boogie sort of way.

So what's going on? My brain, my something, decided the beat was there even though it wasn't. I supplied it in my head. And it was powerful.

How does that work? Cultural conditioning? Memory? Association? Emotion?

Did Colin James intend me to react that way or did I do it myself?

I don't have the scientific knowledge to understand what part(s) of my brain or what triggers in my electro-chemical system were in play. All I know is that I was hearing - no, feeling - something that wasn't there.

But it was, and that's magic.

Dividing Up The Pie

I was playing around with my music map, figuring out where to locate my favourite artists. Came up with this:

 

Things get a little crowded in the centre, which makes sense. Given my assertion that psychedelic has a dose of Classical, I'd like Cream to be more to the left. And, given Gilmour's guitar playing, I'd like Pink Floyd to be more to the right, touching the Blues.

The Rock circle is definitely the busiest. Those that touch the circle but are partially outside make sense to me (e.g. Eagles being part Rock, part Country - as compared to Buddy Holly who is Rock but you can hear the Country influence.

It was easy to put Petty and Young at the confluence of Folk Rock and Country Rock. On the other hand, I confess that the placement of Springsteen was purely arbitrary.

The model breaks down for some artists. Dylan has a heavy Blues influence, and Zeppelin was pretty good at Folk, but I don't have Blues and Folk overlapping. CCR and The Beatles both need to touch the R&B circle but I couldn't do that without giving up something else.

Of course the best bands defy categorization, and cover more territory than I was able to allocate.

One nice bit of foresight (if foresight can be accidental) was the little blank space just north of Rock centre where you could say the influences where everything and nothing. Good place to put the most versatile - and unique - bands, isn't it? And those would be The Beatles and The Stones.

The Circle Dance

I played around a bit with my Music Map, adding some of the sub genres.

It looks like this:

 

Some of the placements are pretty straightforward: Folk Rock, Rockabilly, Blues Rock.

Others are what I hear: Southern Rock has a Blues influence, Metal has an R&B groove (twisted perhaps), Pop is where Classical melodies meet R&B and are given a backbeat. My favourite psychedelic bands embraced the R&B groove, but straddled the Blues and Classical music. You may hear differently.

You may place Prog Rock over towards Jazz and Fusion, but the stuff I like has a more Classical flavour with just a touch of Folk. You may not distinguish between Pop and Easy Listening. For me, take away too much rhythm and your Pop is mushy Classical, which is why I put some of it inside the circle. But there's nothing wrong with mellow as long as it has a backbeat.

I couldn't figure out where to put Reggae. Somewhere near Folk Rock was one idea.

Anyway, interesting exercise.

The Venn and Zen of Music

I sometimes get to wondering why I like certain types of music but not others, especially when those others have something in common with the certain types that I like.

So I sat down and tried to map my personal view of musical genres and how they relate.

Yours will be different, but mine looks like this:

 



















In the centre is Rock. No surprise.

Around the outside are the major genres in our Western culture. There are many overlaps, reflecting the huge variety available to us. In my view, some circles - like Blues, R&B and Classical - get closer to the core of Rock. That is, I dig more of that music, and I tend to favour artists or songs where those influences stand out.

Others, like Folk and Country, don't intersect as much, meaning that - while there is much that I really like in those genres - there is probably more that I don't like.

Jazz? Well, it's on the outside looking in.

I frequently venture out to explore the outer circles of the outer circles (well, Jazz: not so much), but give it a backbeat and you got my attention.

Your map will look different, reflecting your taste and your interests. Different overlaps, different placements, maybe even different circles.

And that's what makes the world go 'round.

The Endless Groove

People tend to associate the groove with American R&B, but endless groove are everywhere.

You've got your Irish groove (U2, Bad), your American groove (John Lee Hooker, Boogie Chillun),  your Jamaican groove (Bob Marley, Get Up Stand Up), your English groove (The Cult, She Sells Sanctuary), your Guyanese groove (Eddy Grant, Electric Avenue), and your good old Canadian groove (April Wine, Say Hello).

You've got your classic soul groove (Aretha Franklin, Chain of Fools), your 80's New Wave R&B groove (The Fixx, One Thing Leads To Another), your low-down moanin' blues groove (John Lee Hooker, Tupelo), and your psychedelic boogie groove (Canned Heat, On The Road Again).

You've got your electrofunk groove (Marrs, Pump Up The Volume), your reggae groove (Bob Marley, Stir It Up), your folk groove (Donovan, Riki Tiki Tavi), your dance groove (k-os, Crabbukit), and your I-am-all-genres-at-once groove (Lenny Kravitz, Fly Away).

You wouldn't call Bob Dylan or Jimi Hendrix R&B guys, but they did it (All Along The Watchtower). Ditto Steve Miller (Wintertime), Bruce Cockburn (If A Tree Falls), and Collective Soul (December).

Maybe black people "own" the groove, 'cause they do dominate the list.  But white boys can definitely hold their own (Eric Burden, Spill The Wine; Van Morrison, Gloria; George Thorogood, Bad To The Bone; Warren Zevon, Werewolves Of London).

The groove is elemental.  It knows no boundaries.  It unites us all.

Groove on, people.

A Lovely Kind Of Groove

Q: what do Blur and Bo Diddley have in common?

No, it's not names that start with B or guitars.  It's the groove.

Song2 is built on a groove, just like Bo Diddley's Bo Diddley.  An incessantly repeated pattern.  Not just the foundation for the song like your garden variety hook, it is the song.

You've got your two chord groove (Joe Cocker, Feeling Alright), and your three chord groove (Steve Miller, Take The Money And Run).  Sometimes you even get a four chord groove (U2, With Or Without You) - even a five chord groove (Hendrix, Hey Joe).

Sometimes there's only one chord and the bass gives you the groove (War, Low Rider).  Or the drums (Beatles, Tomorrow Never Knows).  Or a guitar acting like drums (Bo Diddley, Who Do You Love?)  Maybe it's a guitar riff (Howlin' Wolf, Smokestack Lightnin').  Or two guitar riffs (Howlin' Wolf, Back Door Man).  Or a keyboard riff (Bill Withers, Lean On Me).  Maybe it's riff over chords (Springsteen, Born In The U.S.A.).  Or just the lyrics (Armand Van Heldon, Funk Phenomenon).  Sometimes it's "what's that chord anyway?" (Talking Heads, Once In A Lifetime).  Sometimes it's a bunch of instruments each jamming to its own groove (Bob Marley, Exodus).

Lots of different approaches, but they all feature endless repetition.  And the magic is that you don't get bored.  In fact, the reverse happens; you get drawn into the groove, hypnotized, transported.  You surrender to it.

Hmmmm.  This might go on a while.  Best make this a two parter...