Now Toby Keith really doesn't need my support. In fact, I suspect Toby Keith is doing just fine without it but I'm going to offer some anyhow. There has been a huge backlash around the blog-o-sphere about this little ditty. How it is a collection of some of the dumbest lyrics ever written. I have to agree with that, however, it is supposed to be a joke, I mean just watch the video. Silly and sophomoric? You bet. Pretty funny? Yep. Too many folks are taking things like this much more seriously than I do. Lighten up and laugh a little. I need a beer.
This one cracked me up back a few years ago. Even Willie thought it was funny.
Todd Snider does Beer Run and he's a satirist (and a pretty funny guy). The songs aren't all that different.
Here's one more ode to that wonderful barley beverage...
I can understand the excitement, I just don't know if it will be what folks expect. I didn't go in 2008 and some friends said it was really good...I remain skeptical. I'll always remember that Van Halen was white hot back in 1978 when they opened for Black Sabbath. The problem was that as time went on Dave became a joke. They made a great one in 1984 but the inevitable happened and they split. Personally I plan on skipping the MSG shows. Maybe I'll play a couple of albums at home and have a beer or two. The memories, for me at least, will always surpass the reality of this union. You can decide for yourself.
Well maybe not any released in the last twenty or so years but back in the day the double live album ruled. I know that they are often heavily doctored in the studio but these live albums had a vibrancy that the studio efforts often did not have. Usually, not always but usually, this was the case with bands that had not made what you would call a "classic" up to that point. None of what follows will be a shocker to anyone, but I grew up with each of them and they still hold a special place in my collection.
Bob Seger had been huge prior to this 1975 classic. The problem was he was huge in Detroit and maybe parts of the midwest. This one put him on the map nationally. I picked this up after Night Moves came out. I tend ot go back and get everything an artist did when I find something new and back around 76 or 77 this was new for me. It's hard to believe that as huge as Bob Seger got he was pretty much a non issue at West Babylon High School in the late '70's. I think a friend and I were the only ones from school there when he played the coliseum on the Stranger in Town tour. Oh well, I digress. This one is rock solid from start to finish and Bob Seger rocks more and with more soul than he ever did again (and I really liked the next 3 albums). From the opening of Nutbush City Limits to the hyper-speed Let It Rock this is a stone cold classic.
I've been buying records for as long as I can remember. When I was but a young vinyl addict I often bought them because of the cover. That's how I found Kiss at 13. I was shopping with my mom at the old TSS store and there it was on the front rack. I had to have it. When I got home I think I played this non stop for the next month or so on my crappy little stereo. Everything you could want at 13...
Now Destroyer was a fine record and I think I stayed on the Kiss train for another year or two, but the act wore thin as the music. Not so with Alive (and Destroyer). This was a Rock & Roll Monster that still holds up today. Art? No. A whole shit load of fun? Yup. Let Me Go Rock & Roll my friends.
My musical tastes expanded pretty fast and I grabbed a couple of Rush albums back around '76 or '77, All The World's a Stage and A Farewell To Kings (thank you Columbia House). This was different. A little spacey rock, a little Zep boogie and that voice. Geddy Lee was, and is, an acquired taste as a singer but I always liked this stuff. Rush didn't break big until Permanent Waves, but these got me on board early. We must have drove around in my buddy's '59 Ford pickup listening to an 8-track of 2112 for a solid year straight! I didn't much care for anything after Signals, but I still play those early records quite often. Like all the other dads my age I got to take my son to see them a couple of time recently. A pretty cool experience all around.
I got to see Rainbow at the Commack Arena right around the time this came out. I think I prefer Rainbow to Deep Purple. Ritchie Blackmore was a monster and Ronnie James Dio one of the finest singers of the era. Too bad they couldn't get along. Very much in the Deep Purple vein, Rainbow was all about mixing the blues with medieval images...Kill The King, Sixteenth Century Greensleeves, Man On The Silver Mountain. A short lived burst of all sorts of musical goodness. Then Dio left and Rainbow got wimpy. Now Blackmore literally plays medieval music in Blackmore's Night...what a waste.
There were so many more great live albums among them Frampton Comes Alive, UFO - Strangers In The Night, Foghat - Live. There were also some that were less than stellar...The Song Remains The Same and the Stones Love You Live come to mind, but I can live with that. It was a good time to be a music fan.
I'm am feeling a bit nostalgic of late, but these were great records. I think I'm gonna keep on playing 'em.
I have been thinking a lot lately about music. I know it has been my passion for most of my life, but what do I really like? It sounds like a stupid question but like many of you out there I can tend to be a bit of a snob. I tend to want to discover artists before anyone and start to sun them when they "break". Now I wouldn't call myself a hipster because I am firmly rooted here on Long Island listening mainly to rock, blues and country, but I do go through periods where I will stop listening to some things because I feel it is my "duty" to stick with the indie acts over those who have "made it"
An example...I really do like Hellbound Glory. Great country music. I also happen to love George Strait, Alan Jackson and yes, even Toby Keith. I have even more trouble with rock music lately. I have to say there isn't much that has truly fired me up over the past couple of years, but I still find something interesting every once in a while.
What do I listen to most of the time? In the car I have a classic rock Smartplaylist with about 6000 songs that lasts for months. And when I say classic rock that is exactly what I mean. The newest thing on there is some Gaslight Anthem and a little Foo Fighters...the rest is pretty old. And I don't care. I love this stuff and always have. In fact this morning I have played Rush, UFO and Thin Lizzy...and enjoyed every minute of it. Now some of the stuff I liked in high school is a tough listen now, Black Sabbath in particular, but I don't think I ever really loved it even back in the day. I like to rock but heavy metal has never been my thing. I need a little groove, a little melody.
So what this all comes down to for me is that 2012 is the year I am going to be comfortable in my "musical skin". No more feeling that I have to like something, no more working through music and hoping it grows on me. I stand by every one of the albums on my top 10 this past year, but so many others were just not that exciting. I have a feeling that as the years progress that year end Top 10 will be more and more difficult to make.
Shit, maybe this is another midlife crisis. Well if it is it's no big deal. Maybe turning 50 won't be so bad. And I can guarantee that I won't feel old if Rush tours this summer.
Oh yeah, and I can't wait for the new Springsteen album and tour. 2012 may be a good year yet.
