Give me the best of these rock bands

[rokdog49]

[QUOTE=hairpuller;639682
Bon Jovi...Yuck
scott[/QUOTE]

Thats kinda’ my sentiment generally.

[Murphy Slaw]

Originally Posted by rokdog49

Thats kinda’ my sentiment generally.

I never liked U2. Sounded too pop and mediocre.

Bon Jovi was obviously pop.

I listened to some early Sabbath, so could take Ozzy or leave him.

I was more of an underground listener, so did like a lot of the quality Dead stuff, but not the sloppy stuff. Jerry Garcia had a real love for acoustic music and bluegrass that I didn't appreciate until later. Luckily a lot of tape ran.

[godfreydaniel]

Originally Posted by TeleBluesMan

GD songs - Uncle John's Band, Box Of Rain, Casey Jones
GD albums - Workingman's Dead, American Beauty, Europe 72

I’ll second those albums, so many great songs on them. “Tennessee Jed” on Europe 72 has one of my all-time favorite guitar solos.

[1neeto]

I got nothing on the dead or U2. Just not my thing.

Bon Jovi - hard to pick just 3 songs when there’s albums worth of great songs. But if I were to pick 3 I’d say Wanted Dead Or Alive, Bad Medicine, You Give Love A Bad Name.

Ozzy - Crazy Train, Bark At The Moon, No More Tears. Some Ozzy purists might roll their eyes at No More Tears because it’s post Randy Rhoads, and with Zach Wilde on the guitar. But that’s exactly why it’s a defining song. It was a new sound, a new era of his career. And the song simply rocks.

[hubcapsc]

I played music with some old hippy friends of mine every
Thursday night for about a year recently. They love the Grateful Dead...

Mississippi Half-Step and Help On The Way are fun songs to play
on the guitar.

-Mike

[Gitfiddlemann]

Originally Posted by spock

1. The Grateful Dead ( yeah I know - I'm the only one on the planet who is not a Deadhead, but I honestly couldn't name 3 songs that they were known for, although I think they may have had a song named Truckin"?)

Spock, you're not alone!
One song of theirs stands out to me though: "Ripple". That's one I always liked. I would have been able to name you that one.
Obviously, they are a huge cult band, and I've listened to many of their recordings, but what always bugged me about them were: They sounded out of tune a lot in their live recordings. And their singing was suspect. Not really great vocalists, any of them.

U2 I liked as a group. Joshua Tree and Achtung Baby were great albums imo.

[HodgdonExtreme]

Actung Baby is a fabulous record; there's not one song I don't like - but "One" and "Mysterious Ways" are prolly my favorites.

Overall not a super fan of U2. They're too poppy, pontificate their politics, and none of them are particularly excellent musicians; especially to somebody into guitar. Their guitarist, "The Edge" as he's called, is pretty mediocre - but definitely has a style all his own.

[robj144]

Originally Posted by HodgdonExtreme

Actung Baby is a fabulous record; there's not one song I don't like - but "One" and "Mysterious Ways" are prolly my favorites.

Overall not a super fan of U2. They're too poppy, pontificate their politics, and none of them are particularly excellent musicians; especially to somebody into guitar. Their guitarist, "The Edge" as he's called, is pretty mediocre - but definitely has a style all his own.

I agree about their musicianship, but after playing guitar a while, it took me a while to realize creating good music isn't always about technical or sophisticated playing. It's about the feel of the music in its entirety. Some can do this while playing mind blowing things and some can do it with a simple I IV V progression. In the end, it doesn't matter much.

[HodgdonExtreme]

Excellent point, Rob.

[KevWind]

I remember it as if it was yesterday (what some claim about the 60's is in my experience not really true )

Yes I was really there, Spring of 1967 and the Portland Oregon FM stations picked up and started playing Morning Dew covered by the Grateful Dead.

Not their biggest hit by any means and not what most "Dead Heads" will muse about . But even though a cover, I think it is the epitome of the "Dead Sound" and first pushed the Dead (and how they would define and their music) into the public awareness . I bought the first Dead Album because of that song , I never really became a Dead Head but I started playing that song in 67 and still do today

[Everton FC]

Originally Posted by spock

So I've been following music for many many moons, mostly beginning in the early 60's and continuing through the 80's when career and family left me less inclined to follow music as closely, and in the process I've seen everyone from Tiny Tim to Jimi Hendrix in concert. Still, as amazing as it may seem to some after making that statement, there are a few groups that I literally know very little about, and maybe even stranger when I admit that I really don't know why. Maybe they never came through my neck of the woods to play concerts or weren't what my college buddies or post college friends were into or whatever.

Anyway, I'd really like to fill in some musical gaps and was hoping those of you more versed in the groups I'm curious about could suggest the best of the best among their works. I don't need an exhaustive discography, just a short Greatest Hits list that will help me decide if I want to proceed further into an exploration of their work, or discover it's really not my cup of tea after all.

So here are the bands, in no particular order. Again, give me what you consider to be their 3 defining works.

1. The Grateful Dead ( yeah I know - I'm the only one on the planet who is not a Deadhead, but I honestly couldn't name 3 songs that they were known for, although I think they may have had a song named Truckin"?)

2. U2 (could not name a song they did)

3. Bon Jovi (same)

4. Ozzy Ozborne (same)

1. Dead - I've been listening to the Dead all day! How ironic!! "Workingman's Dead" is my favourite. "American Beauty" is a close second. "Dead Set" may not be in the Top 10, but it does have the best version of one of my all-time favourite Dead songs, "Franklin's Tower". And I agree w/one post - the Dead is best appreciated live - I got to see them at RFK in '89. The live recordings and bootlegs are worthy of your perusal. My favourite songs; "New Speedway Boogie", "Box of Rain", "Franklin's Tower"... I could go on, of course...

2. U2. I remember when they hit the radio on WNYU, back home in NY in 1980. The Edge's guitar sound was absolutely unique. In my opinion, "Boy" is their masterpiece, w/October a close second. I liked "War", then the band's sound changed as they became more "mainstream". I was an bog fan of the group for the first three albums. I lost interest, afterwards. "Boy" and "October" will always remind me of raw, cloudy autumn days walking around the Village, looking for records at 99 on Macdougall, Bleecker Bob's, Second Coming Records, and so on. I still play both albums every fall, all these years later. The bass riff on "Two Hearts" is still one of Adam Clayton's best.

3. Bon Jovi. A friend back home in NY once called Bon Jovi "innocent", meaning; regardless of what genre you might be into, Bon Jovi could be cranked an appreciated, w/o your losing credibility! I think he was right. My son and I listen to Bon Jovi. He's 17, a viola player. But he gets it. I still say "Slippery When Wet" is their best. Followed by "New Jersey". "Living on a Prayer" always reminds me of home. "Cowboy Song" is my other favourite - but I also like "It's My Life" off "Crush". Great song. Are they "pop"? I'd say they're a harmless rock band, more than a pop band. "To each, his own"...

4. Ozzy. Never been an Ozzy fan. I've ticked off a lot of Ozzy/Sabbath fans by defiantly stating Sabbath's "Heaven & Hell" w/Dio on the vocals is far better than any Black Sabbath w/Ozzy singing. And it is. That said, I always liked Randy Rhoads. "Diary of a Madman" is the clear winner for me, when it comes to anything "Ozzy", but I never owned the album, nor had any interest in owning it, when I was a kid. "Over The Mountain" off the "Blizzard" album is a great song, though. Ditto S.A.T.O. - great Rhoads riff. But, to my ear - and forever - Ozzy's voice is not my cup of tea...

[Sage97]

[Brucebubs]

Sorry guys but more hair styles than hits in this house.

[rokdog49]

By the time Bon Jovi came out, I was in my early thirties.
Their teen-aged angst-laden saccharine pop rock was just to much for me.
I suppose the nasally high-pitched vocals were the most off-putting part. They were not alone though, the formula was in full bloom at the time.

[Dru Edwards]

I bought that CD as soon as it came out in 1991. It's one of his best selling albums (#2 behind Blizzard of Ozz, which is outstanding).

Originally Posted by Sage97