What Kind of Music Do You Like?

[David In Indy]

Music individualizes us. Music speaks to us and tells others who we are and how we think and feel about ourselves and the world around us. Music is important. It speaks for us when we are at a loss of words. What kinds of music speaks for you?

I love Classical and Baroque music (I play the piano, cello and violin). I also love country music, classic rock and Big Band Jazz.

Actually I love to listen to everything!

What do you like to listen to? 

I also love Disco... yeah, i remember those days!

[Katie77]

I guess because I was a teenager all thru the 60's...that is my favourite sound, I was in the middle of Beatlemania.

Love the bee bop sounds of the fifties, simple songs, great harmonies.And Elvis lives on no matter how old we are.

Also a fan of motown and country....the country ballads...not too keen on the okey from miskousky type songs, but the ballads tell some great stories.

Im a romantic, so I love any love songs from any era, as long as i can understnd the words and sing along....and there is nothing like a song to make you remember a person, place, time, event or lover.

[OldeSoul]

Hi David- great question 

I'm pretty eclectic when it comes to musical tastes- I like most of the ones you have listed. But I selected
Classical (I also play the violin!),
Appalachian (anything with the hammered dulcimer is amazing),
Native American(Walela, Joanne Shenandoah, Sharon Burch),
Culture (Other),
and Other.

For Culture (Other) I would include Celtic music- of which I am  HUGE fan- traditional Celtic and modern. (Loreena McKennitt, The Brobdingnagian Bards, The Corries)
For "Other" I would say Folk music (e.g. Bob Dylan, Emmylou Harris, Rufus Wainwright, etc.)

[ednbarby]

I picked hard rock, classic rock, hip hop, soft rock, and club/disco.  Do you see a pattern emerging, here? 

My oldest brother taught himself to play the guitar, then to read and write music.  When he was in his teens, he had a hard rock band he called "Goliath."  This was in the mid to late 70s, so they played lots of Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Three Dog Night, and a little bit of concept rock like Yes, Jethro Tull, and ELP.  I grew up on that stuff, so naturally, that's the sound I gravitate towards.

If you had included punk, I'd have picked that over soft rock.  I do like some classical and some world and some jazz and even some country, but give me a driving back beat, and it doesn't matter much what the front sounds like - I'm in.

[David In Indy]

I picked hard rock, classic rock, hip hop, soft rock, and club/disco.  Do you see a pattern emerging, here? 

If you had included punk, I'd have picked that over soft rock.  I do like some classical and some world and some jazz and even some country, but give me a driving back beat, and it doesn't matter much what the front sounds like - I'm in.

 

Punk is in  the list now! It is under the "Other" catagory, so it looks kind of weird, but if  I did it any other way,  it would have messed up the votes. If I set this up correctly, you should be able to go back and change your vote if you want to!

[David In Indy]

Hi David- great question 

I'm pretty eclectic when it comes to musical tastes- I like most of the ones you have listed. But I selected
Classical (I also play the violin!),
Appalachian (anything with the hammered dulcimer is amazing),
Native American(Walela, Joanne Shenandoah, Sharon Burch),
Culture (Other),
and Other.

For Culture (Other) I would include Celtic music- of which I am  HUGE fan- traditional Celtic and modern. (Loreena McKennitt, The Brobdingnagian Bards, The Corries)
For "Other" I would say Folk music (e.g. Bob Dylan, Emmylou Harris, Rufus Wainwright, etc.)

Stephanie, you and I have very similar interests in music. It must be the violin, you think?

I guess because I was a teenager all thru the 60's...that is my favourite sound, I was in the middle of Beatlemania.

Love the bee bop sounds of the fifties, simple songs, great harmonies.And Elvis lives on no matter how old we are.

Also a fan of motown and country....the country ballads...not too keen on the okey from miskousky type songs, but the ballads tell some great stories.

Im a romantic, so I love any love songs from any era, as long as i can understnd the words and sing along....and there is nothing like a song to make you remember a person, place, time, event or lover.

katie - I love the Beatles too. I was very young when they were current. I gues current is a good word. I was  going to say popular, but they are still popular. But I do remember when many of their songs were new and ALWAYS playing on the radio. Elvis too!

[nakymaton]

I fell in love with Scott Joplin while I was a young piano student. It's still some of my favorite music.

Others: jazz (I would have just lumped all the different ages and genres together; I played jazz piano for a long time, and I love all of it for different reasons), Appalachian/bluegrass, Baroque (probably my favorite era of European music). And then add folk, blues, Celtic, African... And I listed "Classic Rock," because that's what I'm most likely to sing along to in the car.

Five choices weren't enough for me!

[David In Indy]

I fell in love with Scott Joplin while I was a young piano student. It's still some of my favorite music.

Others: jazz (I would have just lumped all the different ages and genres together; I played jazz piano for a long time, and I love all of it for different reasons), Appalachian/bluegrass, Baroque (probably my favorite era of European music). And then add folk, blues, Celtic, African... And I listed "Classic Rock," because that's what I'm most likely to sing along to in the car.

Five choices weren't enough for me!

I too fell in love with Ragtime and Scott Joplin. I remember playing the Entertainer, The Pineapple Rag, The Palm Leaf Rag, and many others. They wer a lot of fun. To this day, I will still pull my Ragtime music out and play it every once in a while.

To be honest with you, 5 choices wasn't enough for me either. I would have included so many other kinds of music (I enjoy nearly everything). But I had to set the limit somewhere I guess.

[slayers_creek_oth]

I'm a sucker for the classics....but also like the some of the newer stuff like Good Charlotte and Simple Plan...

[saucycobblers]

Oh boy, do I LOVE to D.I.S.C.O - proper 70s stuff, and for similar reasons I also love Latino music - it's the rhythm, baby!

For my mellower moments I love Beethoven - he's my favourite classical composer.

I love a bit of classic rock, also (Yes, Hendrix, Led Zep etc) 'cos that was what my older sis was listening to so it was always on in the house.

Finally, I'd have loved to put hip-hop (only the late 70s & early 80s really rhythmic stuff that came out of the disco era, when mainstream hip-hop actually had something to say apart from 'yo, sit on my face bitch' - ugh!), but...

...I put 'other' because an honourable mention has to go to the New Romantics (Duran Duran, Spandau Ballet et all) who were around when I was in my early teens and just starting to go out to parties and pubs. One of those records comes on and it always makes me smile 

At the moment I'm listening to Elbow a lot...

[David In Indy]

I'm a sucker for the classics....but also like the some of the newer stuff like Good Charlotte and Simple Plan...

I love the classics too. Boston, REO, Kansas, Styx, Queen etc...

I suppose my age is beginning to catch up with me though. I am not all that familiar with these new groups. I can't keep track of them all.

[David In Indy]

Oh boy, do I LOVE to D.I.S.C.O - proper 70s stuff, and for similar reasons I also love Latino music - it's the rhythm, baby!

For my mellower moments I love Beethoven - he's my favourite classical composer.

I love a bit of classic rock, also (Yes, Hendrix, Led Zep etc) 'cos that was what my older sis was listening to so it was always on in the house.

Finally, I'd have loved to put hip-hop (only the late 70s & early 80s really rhythmic stuff that came out of the disco era, when mainstream hip-hop actually had something to say apart from 'yo, sit on my face bitch' - ugh!), but...

...I put 'other' because an honourable mention has to go to the New Romantics (Duran Duran, Spandau Ballet et all) who were around when I was in my early teens and just starting to go out to parties and pubs. One of those records comes on and it always makes me smile 

At the moment I'm listening to Elbow a lot...

I'm not sure I remember hip-hop in the seventies and eighties, but I certainly agree with you, this current/modern hip-hop (the kids call it rap here in Indiana) is AWFUL! But, many people a little younger than me seem to enjoy it.

Is Elbow a pretty good group? Maybe I will have to check it out!

[saucycobblers]

Hi David!

Is Elbow a pretty good group? Maybe I will have to check it out!

They're a British rock group I got into about a year ago - I love 'em. The album i'm listening to a lot at the moment is 'Leaders of the Free World' - great lyrics and a really chilled out kinda album. Click on the link below, scroll down to 'listen to samples' and see what you think!

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000AP2YZE/002-4791709-0975201?v=glance&n=5174

I'm not sure I remember hip-hop in the seventies and eighties

Click on th link below, scroll down to 'listen to samples' and click on number 10 'White Lines' for a classic example of early 80s hip-hop, courtesy of Grandmaster flash!

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00000338D/qid=1151974595/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/002-4791709-0975201?s=music&v=glance&n=5174

Hope you enjoy them...

Nicky x

[David In Indy]

Nicky -

Thanks for posting those links. I will definately check them out, and hopefully others will too!

[Midnight24]

scroll down to 'listen to samples' and click on number 10 'White Lines' for a classic example of early 80s hip-hop, courtesy of Grandmaster flash!

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00000338D/qid=1151974595/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/002-4791709-0975201?s=music&v=glance&n=5174

Hope you enjoy them...

Nicky x

Thanks for that. I used to love listening to that song, it was kind of twisted and out of it, but very eighties.

[Andrew]

CLASSICAL!

Classical is not going to win any popularity polls here or anywhere else, but popularity is not everything.  Odd how in the whole industrialized world now 'classical' is constrasted to 'pop', as if classical were intrinsically unpopular.  What a lot of people don't think about is how many different styles of music from the last thousand years all share that strange roll-up of a name.

For me growing up there was always a lot of similarity between being in the lonely gay minority and the lonely classical-music-loving minority.  And the more minorities you're in, the more depressing it could get.  Does anyone know the Mary Renault novel The Charioteer, set during the second World War in an English army hospital?  The wounded soldier, Laurie, deeply depressed about his leg injury, gets a shock of anticipation when he hears the young Quaker orderly Andrew humming from Mozart's oboe concerto as he mops the floor- a forgotten flavor of Laurie's prewar life before he awoke in that depressing, prison-like institutional environment.  Although Andrew would have been incapable of even imagining the question whether he were gay, he gradually begins unconsiously to sense and respond to Laurie's sudden, intense but vehemently hidden love for him.

Strangely, my partner and I started noticing each other when we got into a similar conversation about classical music at the preschool daycare center where we were both working years ago.  Since we joined up we have tried to work an hour of listening to music together into the day - really listening, usually on headphones since we live in town, with as much quiet and concentration as if we were at a concert.   And we have many real concerts in our permanent memory treasury, from Portland, San Francisco, Boston, New York, London, Lucern...

As David said, music really can make you who you are.

[David In Indy]

CLASSICAL!

Classical is not going to win any popularity polls here or anywhere else, but popularity is not everything.  Odd how in the whole industrialized world now 'classical' is constrasted to 'pop', as if classical were intrinsically unpopular.  What a lot of people don't think about is how many different styles of music from the last thousand years all share that strange roll-up of a name.

Andrew - I feel the same way you do. I LOVE classical and baroque music (of course this is probably very obvious due to my love of the violin, cello and piano). Every time I listen to The Messiah, The Brandenburg Concertos, Vivaldi's Gloria or a symphony by Mozart, Haydn or Beethoven, I always wish EVERYONE could experience the joy such music brings to me. It is not for everyone and this is a fact. But we may be in for a surpirse here Andrew. I just checked the poll and only 12 people have "voted" so far. Out of those twelve, five have chosen classical as one of their five choices. I think this is pretty good!

I think baroque and classical music will be around for a very long time. It has survived the centuries and according to the poll I posted, it is still very much alive today!

By the way Andrew, I play violin and cello in an amateur chamber orchestra here in Indianapolis. Of the few times we have actually performed in public, we ALWAYS draw a large crowd, including a large number of young people and teens. This is a very good sign to me, especially when you consider I am performing in the heart of Indiana!

The kids always seem to enjoy it too! Another good sign!

[vkm91941]

Well my age is definitely showing..I love good Old Fashion Classic Rock and Roll....
The 50's Little Anthony, Early Elvis, Buddy Hollie, The Big Bopper
The 60's: The Beatles, The Stones The Animals, Anyone from the  British Invasion
The 70's: The Moody Blues, Yes, Crosby Still Nash and Young, AC/DC, Elton John, ZZTop
The 80's: Foreigner, The Eagles, INXS, Blue Oyster Cult, The Police, Genesis, U2, Fleetwood Mac
The 90's: Sting, Green Day, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Cherry Poppin Daddies, Dido

But I am and always will be a Classical music lover including opera, ballet and church music

Mozart, Beethoven, Belioz, Handle, Vivaldi, Puccini, Mussorgsky, Thomas Tallis, Benjamin Britten, Bartok, Chopin, Dvorak,  Hildegard Von Bingen, Ravel, Mahler, Prokofiev, Verdi, Tchaikovsky, Johnanne Strauss, Bach, Copeland...I also love Elizabethian music and the music of the Renaissance.

I am moved to tears by the big sweeping pieces like Mussorgsky's  Pictures at an Exhibition or Dovrak's New World Symphony...as well as by the little pieces like Beethovens Fur Elise or Britten's Ceremony of Carols.

[David In Indy]

Well my age is definitely showing..I love good Old Fashion Classic Rock and Roll....
The 50's Little Anthony, Early Elvis, Buddy Hollie, The Big Bopper
The 60's: The Beatles, The Stones The Animals, Anyone from the  British Invasion
The 70's: The Moody Blues, Yes, Crosby Still Nash and Young, AC/DC, Elton John, ZZTop
The 80's: Foreigner, The Eagles, INXS, Blue Oyster Cult, The Police, Genesis, U2, Fleetwood Mac
The 90's: Sting, Green Day, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Cherry Poppin Daddies, Dido

But I am and always will be a Classical music lover including opera, ballet and church music

Mozart, Beethoven, Belioz, Handle, Vivaldi, Puccini, Mussorgsky, Thomas Tallis, Benjamin Britten, Bartok, Chopin, Dvorak,  Hildegard Von Bingen, Ravel, Mahler, Prokofiev, Verdi, Tchaikovsky, Johnanne Strauss, Bach, Copeland...I also love Elizabethian music and the music of the Renaissance.

I am moved to tears by the big sweeping pieces like Mussorgsky's  Pictures at an Exhibition or ...as well as by the little pieces like Ceremony of Carols.

Vicky -

I ALWAYS knew you had good taste!

Thanks for your post.

I  can't believe I forgot to mention AC/DC and Elton John (not only is his music good, but he is a family member who can make every gay person feel proud). Dovrak's "New World Symphony" will live until the end of time, and Beethovens "Fur Elise" has melted the heart of many who have found  themselves in love (you know the story behind this don't you?) and brought joy to many others who have had the privledge to play it on the piano.

Update: (ANOTHER Update!) I love Fleetwood Mac too! They bring back such memories every time I hear one of their songs!

Thanks Vicky!  

[saucycobblers]

The kids always seem to enjoy it too! Another good sign!

You'd be surprised! I like to start my lessons by playing a song or piece of music to my students to set the tone of the lesson - maybe something from the soundtrack if we're watching a film. I once did a lesson on war films, so as the kids were coming in the door they had 'Mars' from the Planets Suite blaring over the sound system! Some were oblivious, but many were looking at each other as if to say 'What the hell IS this??' - great!! Some stuff has gotten a really enthusiastic response - like Qunicy Jones 'Soul Bossa Nova' (Bossa nova being a Brazillian dance), at the beginning of a lesson on Brazilian cinema. Whatever the response, I insist they listen to it BECAUSE IT'S GOOD FOR THEM  They often seem to come to classical music through sampling on pop records - when I point out where the samples come from they're usually surprised that they liked it so much!

The rather long-winded connection to this thread is that the first thing I notice about a film is the soundtrack, and similarly my favourite classical music is always that which sets off a story and set of images in my mind. My 4 favourite pieces are all connected by the theme of loss / longing (in my head anyways...) and I have stories for all of them:

Beethoven: Adagio un poco mosso - attacca - the most beautiful piece of music ever written IMHO. 

Chopin: Etude No.3.

Debussy: Clair de Lune (the opera singer Dawn Upshaw also does a gorgeous version of this).

Elgar: Nimrod.

One of my greatest regrets is not learning to play the piano (my favourite instrument) when I was a kid (we didn't have one so I had nothing to practice on  ). I was going to learn the flute but had a brace put on my teeth a month before my lessons were due to start, so that put paid to that! I've had to make up for it by just singing a lot 

Beethovens "Fur Elise" has melted the heart of many who have found  themselves in love (you know the story behind this don't you?)

I don't David! Please tell...

[Front-Ranger]

My favorite instrument is guitar, so I love to listen to all forms of it, electrified and unplugged. Aside from Gustavo, I really like Eric Clapton, B.B.King, Emmylou Harris, and my current favorite Mark Knopfler. Also love classical Spanish guitar as well. Thanks for the links, everybody!

[David]

I probably have the most diverse music taste than anyone I know!   LOL.

Here is a sampling of some of the music that has been in my cars CD player lately.

Brokeback Mountain  soundtrack of course!

Beethoven:  Symphony No.9 

ABBA Gold: Greatest Hits.

Enya:  The Memory of Trees.

Benny Goodman:  Sing Sing Sing

Eurythmics:  Sweet Dreams.

Dave Brubeck:  Take Five.

Deee-Lite : Groove is in the Heart

Matt Dusk:  Two Shots.

Ocean's Eleven Soundtrack
(Clair de Lune from "Suite Bergamasque")

Not to mention tons of great 70's Disco music!

Bee Gees, Donna Summer, Barry White,  etc..   

[David]

Debussy: Clair de Lune (the opera singer Dawn Upshaw also does a gorgeous version of this).

Clair de Lune!     We both just wrote that in our posts at the same time!   LOL !!!!   

[saucycobblers]

Spooky! 

Especially since we both have a weakness for disco too!

PLUS... and this will freak you out... 'Groove is in the Heart' is one of my all time faves! 

[David]

Spooky! 

Especially since we both have a weakness for disco too!

PLUS... and this will freak you out... 'Groove is in the Heart' is one of my all time faves! 

ROFLOL!!!    Too funny!   That is such an obscure group and song from 1991.     I still remember seeing the video they made for it.     I recently bought their CD "the very best of Deee-Lite".

I love to listen to Clair de Lune to relax me.

[David]

Saucy, 

 Then perhaps you like 99 luftballoons by Nena?   or "Take on me" by A-ha?

[saucycobblers]

That is such an obscure group and song from 1991.     I still remember seeing the video they made for it.

I love the vid for that song. 'Groove' was a huge hit over here in the UK and was always on the radio, but they slipped right off the radar after that. Shame...

[saucycobblers]

Saucy, 

 Then perhaps you like 99 luftballoons by Nena?   or "Take on me" by A-ha?

Not so much Nena, but love A-Ha! Great vid for 'Take on Me'. Everyone fancied the lead singer at my school 

[David]

I love the vid for that song. 'Groove' was a huge hit over here in the UK and was always on the radio, but they slipped right off the radar after that. Shame...

Indeed.  That was their only hit over here as well.   And they dropped of the chart after a few weeks.

I clearly remember being 25 yrs old, listening to them on the radio in my Lime Green 1974 Cadillac Eldorado  !   ha ha ha!

[saucycobblers]

my Lime Green 1974 Cadillac Eldorado

Wow... now THAT'S a car!

[Andrew]

I am moved to tears by the big sweeping pieces like Mussorgsky's  Pictures at an Exhibition or Dovrak's New World Symphony...as well as by the little pieces like Beethovens Fur Elise or Britten's Ceremony of Carols.

Victoria,
If you have this reaction to music...have you heard the Elgar Cello Concerto with Jacqueline du Pre?  She recorded it more than once, but the one you just have to own is the one conducted by Sir John Barbirolli, which has Elgar's Sea Pictures sung by Janet Baker as the other work on the disc, also a great, great performance.  After you have heard the Cello Concerto two or three times to learn it, you just start to think, This is really what it means to be alive, a human in this world.

[David]

If you like Sinatra in his Rat Pack days of Las Vegas,  you'll love Matt Dusk.      He has that Vegas lounge act voice that lulls you back to the 60s

If you get a chance, take a listen to his big hit "Two Shots" the next time your at the music store.



http://www.mattdusk.com/

[ZouBEini]

Spooky! 

Especially since we both have a weakness for disco too!

PLUS... and this will freak you out... 'Groove is in the Heart' is one of my all time faves! 

Nice to see other Disco lovers who liked Groove is in the Heart.   I like seeing some of the obscure ones mentioned here.  Come on Eileen by Dexy's Midnight Runners is a favorite also.  

What a great thread!  It's like a banquet for my ears.  LOL-I didn't vote, simply because I’m all over the place musically and love most any kind of music.  

Here’re my unofficial votes:
 Any Rock, including Southern Rock
 Baroque
 Big Band
 Classical
 Cultural various
 Disco, club & love the remixes
 Hair Metal
 Hispanic and Latino
 Jazz
 Pop
 Punk
 Ragtime
 R&B

A few favourite (soundtracks): Beautiful Thing (though Sixteen Going on Seventeen is missing from my version – *grumbles*), BBM, Dark Shadows, James Bond music, The Music Man, Oklahoma, Pulp Fiction, Rent, The Sound of Music, South Pacific, Velvet Goldmine, the Wizard of Oz (well duh).  

Most anything by (in the order they came to mind): Grace Jones (Pull Up To the Bumper – LMAO), Tina Turner, Rolling Stones, TLC, Billy Idol, Donna Summer, REO, BTO, ARS (Atlanta Rhythm Section), Lynyrd Skynyrd, George Thorogood and the Destroyers, Simply Red, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Los Lonely Boys, Clay Aiken, Michael Jackson, Janet Jackson, Styx, Guns N Roses, James Blunt, Bon Jovi, Cher (great song/stories especially among her older stuff), Matchbox 20, Rob Thomas, Josh Groban, Maroon5, Marvin Gaye, Barry White, Rod Stewart, Anita Baker, Extreme (Mmmm-NUNO!  Pornograffitti playing now btw), Annie Lennox/Eurythmics, Queen to name a few.

~Larz

[saucycobblers]

Come on Eileen by Dexy's Midnight Runners is a favorite also.

Oh boy, that one takes me back to my mis-spent youth!  Great track 

[ZouBEini]

Oh boy, that one takes me back to my mis-spent youth!  Great track 

   Me too!  There are so many of those fun old songs.

I find it interesting how interwoven music becomes with our memories.  When certain songs begin to play, I'm immediately transported back to the point in my life when I first heard them.  I assume I'm not alone.   

Take care!
~Larz

[slayers_creek_oth]

I'm also a big sucker for Garth Brooks...

[vkm91941]

Victoria,
If you have this reaction to music...have you heard the Elgar Cello Concerto with Jacqueline du Pre?  She recorded it more than once, but the one you just have to own is the one conducted by Sir John Barbirolli, which has Elgar's Sea Pictures sung by Janet Baker as the other work on the disc, also a great, great performance.  After you have heard the Cello Concerto two or three times to learn it, you just start to think, This is really what it means to be alive, a human in this world.

No I haven't heard that Andrew.  Thanks for the recommendation I'll order it.  Art and Music both have that affect of making me glad that I am alive and experiencing life as a human.

[saucycobblers]

I find it interesting how interwoven music becomes with our memories.  When certain songs begin to play, I'm immediately transported back to the point in my life when I first heard them.  I assume I'm not alone.   

You're definitely not alone in that Larz! I have a theory that people get most nostalgic over the music they heard when they were in their early-mid teens. It's the time when most of us start doing more adult things (with or without parental knowledge / approval!) and really move out of childhood. Important times - so for me I always feel most nostalgic for early 80s stuff.

[ednbarby]

You're definitely not alone in that Larz! I have a theory that people get most nostalgic over the music they heard when they were in their early-mid teens. It's the time when most of us start doing more adult things (with or without parental knowledge / approval!) and really move out of childhood. Important times - so for me I always feel most nostalgic for early 80s stuff.

For me, it's stuff that was out right around when I was 11 and 12 (1976 and 77).  But I was an early bloomer. 

So several Elton John songs, especially "Someone Saved My Life Tonight," "Good-bye Yellow Brick Road," and strangely enough "Benny and the Jets" really take me back there.  And Gerry Rafferty's "Baker Street" - I get chills, even, just thinking of that sax riff. 

[David]

It's funny to think that we all get nostalgic over music from our youth.   I know a few older guys in my car clubs that only listen to 50s music on the oldies channel.   Then I remember that this was the music of their generation.

Just as I find myself fondly listening to early eighties music.

But what really scares me is the thought that in 50 years, todays kids will be listening to rap music in the retirement homes!    I'll be 90 by then and waving my cane at them: "Turn that Eminem crap off!"   Don't make me put Blondies "Rapture" back on!   Now that was Rap!"    LOL

[saucycobblers]

Don't make me put Blondies "Rapture" back on!

OMG - David, stop it! That's my all time fave Blondie track! Very sexy song IMO...

[ZouBEini]

You're definitely not alone in that Larz! I have a theory that people get most nostalgic over the music they heard when they were in their early-mid teens. It's the time when most of us start doing more adult things (with or without parental knowledge / approval!) and really move out of childhood. Important times - so for me I always feel most nostalgic for early 80s stuff.

Yup. The 70's and 80's music is my favorite, simply because I was finally beginning to escape my parents' control. My wife and I lived in our second apartment when MTV premiered.  At first I wondered what the heck the show was supposed to be, then I saw the very first video and was soooo excited!   

My parents loved (among others) the Andrews Sisters, Nat "King" Cole, Perry Como, Bing Crosby (my father's to-die-for favorite), Doris Day, Frankie Laine (my mother had a crush on Frankie), Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass, Judy Garland, Mitch Miller and Andy Williams, as well as most all classical music. 

My love of musicals came from my father, though being gay, I would have found my way to it eventually I suppose.     Actually my favorite musicals were the ones I first saw during childhood.  The Music Man is #1, followed closely by Oklahoma.  Call me Ado Annie.  I'm just a girl who cain't say no -- especially to all those dancing musicians and cowboys and their tight pants. LOL     I was 10 years away from puberty, but thought Timmy Everett was hot as Tommy Djilas http://i9.ebayimg.com/04/i/05/25/16/e2_2.JPG "Ya wild kid-ya!"  David, you reminded me with the 50's comment: Grease is another favorite musical (soundtrack). 

Oops, babbling, sorry!   

~Larz

[moremojo]

Okay, I confess...I'm a rock and pop kind of guy. Classic rock, hard rock, soft rock, bubblegum pop, and even (shriek) disco...it's all good, which is why I had to vote for all five. This was the kind of music I grew up with, grew to love (for better or worse), and which have all now become part of my life and identity.

 I shudder, though, to leave the impression that other kinds of music do not inspire me. I really do love some folk music (does Nanci Griffith count?), country and Western (though tending to lean towards country-pop, like Shania Twain and Restless Heart), bluegrass (Allison Krauss), R & B (Marvin Gaye was divine), and positively cherish some Classical compositions (Bach, Beethoven's Sixth Symphony, Debussy's opera Pelleas et Melisande). I just don't tend to seek such music out on a regular, active basis...I tend to let it find me.

But to all creators of beautiful music, which always transcends categories of genre, I say (quoting that immortal quartet Abba): "Thank you for the music...for giving it to me."

Still rocking in a hopefully free world,
Scott

[David In Indy]

I don't David! Please tell...

Well,  in the story Beethoven wrote Fur Elise especially for his "Immortal Beloved" as a love song to her. When one considers how lonely and sad Beethoven's life was, this makes the song even more beautiful and poignant.

Now the facts... or at least these are the facts I have heard about the song:

Beethoven did write this song for a woman. Her name was Therese von Brunsvik and she was a pupil of Beethoven's but it was later learned Therese was not the infamous Immortal Beloved Mr. Beethoven had described in his letters.

Also, it has been said Beethoven may have even penned this composition before he ever met Therese. I have heard some historians say the composition was originally called "Clavierstuck in A mull" and was later named Fur Elise because of an autograph Beethoven had penned on the music. Some say the name change for the composition occurred in 1867 when the music was first published.

Anyway, that is the story... and the facts I have heard over the years. The facts do take away from some of the romance of the story, but I always try to picture Beethoven writing this beautiful composition for his Immortal  Beloved when I play it. It is so full of emotion.

[David]

David, you reminded me with the 50's comment: Grease is another favorite musical (soundtrack). 
~Larz

LOL!   Don't get me wrong.   I like alot of the 50s stuff too.    Some of my favorites...Run around Sue, the Wanderer...etc.

Herb Alpert! OMG!   I used to listen to my folks old records of him!   Peaches and Cream, Tijuana Taxi!  LOL.

My Mom was into Country Western.  So I was exposed to alot of Johnny Cash and reruns of the TV show HEE HAW!     LOL.

[saucycobblers]

The facts do take away from some of the romance of the story, but I always try to picture Beethoven writing this beautiful composition for his Immortal  Beloved when I play it. It is so full of emotion.

Exactly David. I find it hard to believe that he wasn't thinking of a special someone when he was writing it. Have you seen the film 'Immortal Beloved'? OMG, it breaks my heart 

Tijuana Taxi!

  One of the funniest song's ever. Not sure why but it makes me laugh every time i hear it.

[David In Indy]

Indeed.  That was their only hit over here as well.   And they dropped of the chart after a few weeks.

I clearly remember being 25 yrs old, listening to them on the radio in my Lime Green 1974 Cadillac Eldorado  !   ha ha ha!

David -

I remember those lime green cars. My mother owned a pea green Oldsmobile Cutlass in the early 1970's. It really funny when I think about it now. Back then a lot of people drove green cars, and now most people wouldn't be caught dead in one. At least not in this country.

I wonder what colors people will be driving 30 years from today?

[Andrew]

Getting back for a moment to Claire de lune, which two of you mentioned...even if Debussy had not written Pelleas and Melisande, La mer or Prelude to the afternoon of a faun this one short piano piece would guarantee that he was remembered as a great composer.  My brother used to play this when he has 20 and I was 8.  I would creep into the living room every time I heard him begin it, thrilled.  What distant places it took me to in such a tiny span of time!  I would await with equal fear and anticipation the 'four broken chords' which told me the journey needed to come back to the place it began.  My brother seemed just as marvellous as this music -  clever, learned, full of different talents, strong and tall - at six feet five inches he would still be a few inches taller than I am now were he alive, but he died just a few years later at 23.  Of course Claire de lune has an added human layer for me because of this, but it is also the pure musical wonder it was when I first heard it.

[David In Indy]

My brother seemed just as marvellous as this music -  clever, learned, full of different talents, strong and tall - at six feet five inches he would still be a few inches taller than I am now were he alive, but he died just a few years later at 23. 

I sure am sorry to hear about this Andrew.

He sounds like he was a wonderful musician!

[ZouBEini]

LOL!   Don't get me wrong.   I like alot of the 50s stuff too.    Some of my favorites...Run around Sue, the Wanderer...etc.

Herb Alpert! OMG!   I used to listen to my folks old records of him!   Peaches and Cream, Tijuana Taxi!  LOL.

My Mom was into Country Western.  So I was exposed to alot of Johnny Cash and reruns of the TV show HEE HAW!     LOL.

LOL!  No David, I assumed you meant it was sort of a generational thing, enjoying the music of one's youth.  And I didn't think anyone would remember Herb Alpert!  I'm glad I'm not the only one.  I remember thinking of him when I replaced my old brass trumpet with a silver one.  During those days I abandoned my '76 silver Starfire for my mother's silver 1973 Cutlass Supreme, so I could scoop up my choir and band friends.  I loved that big Lass!  We never had a lime green car, but I'll bet you were noticed!    

My parents weren't into C&W but we also watched Hee Haw faithfully.  I wondered why Minnie Pearl never removed that price tag from her hat!  Well, duh - that was one of her trademarks!  "Howww-DEEE!"  A lot of guys were watching the busty girls in daisy dukes. I was watching the Hagar twins.   

~Larz

[Andrew]

David,
The morning we found out about his death, my other brother and I wandered across the street to the park and threw a football back and forth, just trying to get out from under the immeasurably huge dark Fact.  That was one of the saddest, most pathetic games of pass ever played - we gave it up after what must have been a very short time.  It was in Indianapolis, David - Christian Park, between English Avenue and Wentworth Avenue where we lived.   It was a mostly natural grassy park with scattered oaks, but there was a large sunken rectangle in the middle which was used as a football field, with rows like bleachers cut in the earth of the hills on each side.  I haven't been back to Indianapolis since college, when my family relocated - I wonder if that park where I spent so much of my childhood is even still there.

[ZouBEini]

Yes, Andrew - Christian Park is still there.     Last time I passed by, it looked very nicely maintained.

~Larz

edit: Sorry to hear about your brother.

[David In Indy]

David,
The morning we found out about his death, my other brother and I wandered across the street to the park and threw a football back and forth, just trying to get out from under the immeasurably huge dark Fact.  That was one of the saddest, most pathetic games of pass ever played - we gave it up after what must have been a very short time.  It was in Indianapolis, David - Christian Park, between English Avenue and Wentworth Avenue where we lived.   It was a mostly natural grassy park with scattered oaks, but there was a large sunken rectangle in the middle which was used as a football field, with rows like bleachers cut in the earth of the hills on each side.  I haven't been back to Indianapolis since college, when my family relocated - I wonder if that park where I spent so much of my childhood is even still there.

I know where English Avenue is. Did you live on the southside of town? Anyway, I haven't heard of Christian Park before, but it is probably still there. Indianapolis is trying very hard to keep its' parks; even the small ones. This isn't always easy to do because the city is growing so fast. But it is probably still there.

[David In Indy]

Thanks for answering Andrew's question. I wasn't sure. I was raised on the Northeast side of town (Castleton area). Fall creek and Shadeland Ave to be exact, right across from WFBQ/WNDE radio station.

Apparently we posted our threads to Andrew at the same time. When I clicked on the post button, I received a bright red error message telling me to check my message! Great minds, huh Larz?

See Andrew, you have a couple of Hoosiers thinking about you tonight!

[David In Indy]

My parents weren't into C&W but we also watched Hee Haw faithfully.  I wondered why Minnie Pearl never removed that price tag from her hat!  Well, duh - that was one of her trademarks!  "Howww-DEEE!"  A lot of guys were watching the busty girls in daisy dukes. I was watching the Hagar twins.  

~Larz

Does anyone know what price was printed on Minnie Pearl's price tag? I have always wondered about it.

I know. It's stupid. But I always tried to see what the price was.

[Andrew]

Indianapolis sure did a lot to encourage children to get interested in classical music back then.  In grade school music class there was an interesting program which actually tested you on your recognition of classical pieces.  We were played recordings of various short short pieces like the overture from Humperdinck's Hansel and Gretel, then given blind tests to see if we could recognize which was which if just a short extract from the middle was played.  The younger pupils had just a few to learn, the older more.  I think the second graders had just four pieces to learn, the eighth graders sixteen.  After taking the tests once or twice in class, pupils from all over the city trooped down to a huge hall one Saturday and the Indianapolis Symphony performed the short extracts and we had to mark our test papers.  There was something amazingly solemn and important about it.

Then students were all learning orchestra instruments in another music class.  I learned a little about a lot of instruments then.  In high school, there was a big choice in music classes - I remember we sang Renaissance madrigals in an optional class before first period, then first period was choir, then second period was orchestra (I had settled on clarinet), and seventh period was concert band, where we actually played a lot more of the classical repertory than in orchestra since the orchestra conductor liked Broadway and movie music.

Then there were instrumental competitions - I had to memorize the Mozart clarinet concerto in a clarinet-piano version and perform it solo (with my piano teacher) the same day as hundreds of other students before a panel of judges.

You would think all this strictness and testing would have made me hate classical music but just the opposite happened...

[ZouBEini]

Oops, sorry David.    I later realized the comment was directed to you.  LOL-yes we were pushing the button at the same time it seems. 

In fact, http://www.cees.iupui.edu/Service_Learning/All_Projects/christian_park.htm

I grew up west of Indy but now live on the south east side, a few blocks from Garfield Park.

http://www.garfield-conservatory.org/

I would have included links to the .gov sites but they're sort of boring IMO.

~Larz

[ZouBEini]

Does anyone know what price was printed on Minnie Pearl's price tag? I have always wondered about it.

I know. It's stupid. But I always tried to see what the price was.

$1.98 from what I've always heard.  

[Andrew]

Larz - I was only addressing David because I didn't know you were from the same city!  Kind of remarkable since for a time the three of us were the three people on the thread.  Thanks for the update.  My mom taught at School 82 at the end of the park and I went there through fourth grade.  Later I would take the longer walks to School 58 and to Howe High School.  I sure didn't know much of Indianapolis outside of my neighborhood, the main library downtown, and Butler University where I went for the clarinet lessons and the Symphony.

[Andrew]

OK, I'm shaping up on my own, this is the music thread not the where are you from or the childhood memories thread.

Let me mention some more favorite performances of classics.

Scott mentioned Debussy's Pelleas and Melisande.  I love what I think was the first recording of this, Roger Desormiere from 1940's France, with the wonderful Irene Joachim and Jacques Jansen.

Someone else mentioned the Verdi Requiem.  There are a number of great recordings of this but my favorite is conducted by Sir John Barbirolli, with, notably, Montserrat Caballe and Jon Vickers. Incredibly, I'm not sure you can buy that now, I don't see it on Arkiv Music which has one of the best organized and easiest to use lists.  But you can get the one conducted by Carlo Maria Giulini in EMI's Great Recordings of the Century series.  It features Elisabeth Schwarzkopf and Christa Ludwig, along with Nicolai Gedda and Nicolai Ghiaurov.

[David In Indy]

Oops, sorry David.    I later realized the comment was directed to you.  LOL-yes we were pushing the button at the same time it seems. 

~Larz

Like I said, it's cool! I was happy you could answer Andrew's question for him.

Anyway, we Indy guys need to stick together!

[David In Indy]

Andrew -

When you were learning about the instruments, did ISO come to your school with the instrument petting zoo?

I remember when I drew the bow across the A string on the violin for the first time, and the man helping me said "Hey, your good at  that!", I was hooked on the instrument.

Mom and Dad didn't want me to start the violin because I was already taking piano lessons. But I wouldn't back off. I nagged them...  and nagged them. Finally they gave in.

.....then came the cello!

[moremojo]

Scott mentioned Debussy's Pelleas and Melisande.  I love what I think was the first recording of this, Roger Desormieres from 1940's France, with the wonderful Irene Joachim and Jacques Jansen.

Andrew, I've heard of this famous recording, but alas, have not actually heard the recording itself. I know it's highly regarded, and some have even cited it as the premier recording of this Debussy masterpiece.

I know the opera best through a videotaping of the 1999 staging at Glyndebourne, conducted by Andrew Davies, and featuring Christiane Oelze, Gwynne Howell, Jean Rigby, and Jake Arditti in the cast. Oelze (as Melisande) and Howell (as Arkel) were particularly outstanding, with Howell demonstrating his adroitness and depth as a singing actor. I'd recommend this production heartily, if one can allow for some liberties taken in the staging (the action is updated to the turn-of-the-century ambience of the opera's composition, but this is done quite intelligently and elegantly).

Cheers,
Scott

[ZouBEini]

Larz - I was only addressing David because I didn't know you were from the same city!  Kind of remarkable since for a time the three of us were the three people on the thread.  Thanks for the update.  My mom taught at School 82 at the end of the park and I went there through fourth grade.  Later I would take the longer walks to School 58 and to Howe High School.  I sure didn't know much of Indianapolis outside of my neighborhood, the main library downtown, and Butler University where I went for the clarinet lessons and the Symphony.

I know!  Small world isn't it, Andrew?    I was born at Methodist Hospital but lived in the country until I married at the age of 20.  I spent a lot of time near Central Library from the time I was 18 until I was 21.  I first attended college in the old church just across Meridian Street from the library and spent a bit of "ho time" in/around the library.  Ahhh, the memories!   

Nice to meet you.  

~Larz

[David In Indy]

I know!  Small world isn't it, Andrew?    I was born at Methodist Hospital but lived in the country until I married at the age of 20.  I spent a lot of time near Central Library from the time I was 18 until I was 21.  I first attended college in the old church just across Meridian Street from the library and spent a bit of "ho time" in/around the library.  Ahhh, the memories!  

Nice to meet you.  

~Larz

LOL!! Did you hang out at the Library too? I use to go there at night before I could get into Talbott Street, the 21 Club, The Hunt and Chase (a lesbian bar but it was fun) and a few others!

The library was a riot! Those were good times.

[ZouBEini]

LOL!! Did you hang out at the Library too? I use to go there at night before I could get into Talbott Street, the 21 Club, The Hunt and Chase (a lesbian bar but it was fun) and a few others!

The library was a riot! Those were good times.

Yeah, I was trying to get frisked by the library policeman but he didn't cooperate!  LOL!  Uhm yeah - don't tell me you were the guy whispering in Dutch.     <--actually this guy kind of gives me the creeps.  Looks like a biter.

I was never in the Hunt and Chase, but used to go to another lesbian bar nearby.  I don't remember the name of it, but it was near H&C.  I was usually under the influence and only remember we entered from the west side of the building and parked beside the car wash just north of 12th (or 11th) Street.  What was that one called?  Was it H&C and I was too out of it to notice? 

LOL - one time I was lurking near the Scottish Rite Cathedral late at night and some guy tried to pick me up with his wife passed out drunk in the car!  Said he would put her to bed and we would continue the party.  That kinda freaked me out and I had some difficulty getting him out of my car.   *shudders*  It was a long time before I went "shopping" again.

~Larz

[David In Indy]

Yeah, I was trying to get frisked by the library policeman but he didn't cooperate!  LOL!  Uhm yeah - don't tell me you were the guy whispering in Dutch.  
~Larz

Was I the guy whispering in Dutch? I might have been. Actually I did speak Dutch sometimes, but I only did it to frustrate everyone.  It was pretty funny though.

I was never in the Hunt and Chase, but used to go to another lesbian bar nearby.  I don't remember the name of it, but it was near H&C.  I was usually under the influence and only remember we entered from the west side of the building and parked beside the car wash just north of 12th (or 11th) Street.  What was that one called?  Was it H&C and I was too out of it to notice? 
~Larz

The Hunt and Chase was off of Pennsylvania St. It sat off to the side a little bit. I only went there a few times. I think I remember the bar on Washington Street, but I don't remember the name of it. Don't worry I will remember eventually. Was this like a gay bikers bar? A lot of  people dressed in leather? I only went in there a couple of times. Talbott Street was my main bar, and sometimes the 21 Club.. they were just a few doors down from each other, so we would often walk back and forth from one bar to the other all night.

LOL - one time I was lurking near the Scottish Rite Cathedral late at night and some guy tried to pick me up with his wife passed out drunk in the car!  Said he would put her to bed and we would continue the party.  That kinda freaked me out and I had some difficulty getting him out of my car.   *shudders*  It was a long time before I went "shopping" again.

~Larz

YUCK! I know, downtown Indianapolis use to be a TRIP! It still is actually, although I rarely go downtown much anymore. My club days are over, I'm afraid!

But the days of dancing to Michael Jackson's "Thriller" is still a very vivid memory for me. "It's Raining Men"  is another one!

[Luvlylittlewing]

I love jazz fusion by such artists as Boney James, Marc Antoine, Fourplay.  I absolutely love Disco, 70's "bedroom" jazz as I call it, performed by such greats as Marvin Gaye, Curtis Mayfield.  I own a lot of R&B and even some blues by such artists as Etta James, John Lee Hooker.  I don't know if anyone mentioned Gospel, but I love gospel music, having been brought up listening to Shirley Caesar, Edwin Hawkins, Rance Allen, The Mississippi Mass Choir.  I even sang in a gospel choir as a teen.

[David In Indy]

I love jazz fusion by such artists as Boney James, Marc Antoine, Fourplay.  I absolutely love Disco, 70's "bedroom" jazz as I call it, performed by such greats as Marvin Gaye, Curtis Mayfield.  I own a lot of R&B and even some blues by such artists as Etta James, John Lee Hooker.  I don't know if anyone mentioned Gospel, but I love gospel music, having been brought up listening to Shirley Caesar, Edwin Hawkins, Rance Allen, The Mississippi Mass Choir.  I even sang in a gospel choir as a teen.

Littlewing..

Oh, I love Gospel music too! Especially when the music is sung by large choirs. I love that sound... a lot of voices all singing together and practically raising the roof! 

[ZouBEini]

Was I the guy whispering in Dutch? I might have been.

Hehe - I was being facetious.  

I think I remember the bar on Washington Street, but I don't remember the name of it.

Uhm I wasn't thinking of a bar on Wash. It was between Penn and I think 12th on the South-west corner.  I'll have to ask Jacki.  I cut off my mullett (yeah-laugh it up!) after being there and noticing that only the girls wore their hair that way.  Also found that my wallet was smaller than a lot of theirs.  

YUCK! I know, downtown Indianapolis use to be a TRIP! It still is actually, although I rarely go downtown much anymore. My club days are over, I'm afraid!

Tell me about it!  Yeah, same here - though it was fun when I was in my 20's and 30's!

But the days of dancing to Michael Jackson's "Thriller" is still a very vivid memory for me. "It's Raining Men"  is another one!  

And the ever popular "Last Dance".  Ahhh good times!  

~Larz

[ZouBEini]

I love jazz fusion by such artists as Boney James, Marc Antoine, Fourplay.  I absolutely love Disco, 70's "bedroom" jazz as I call it, performed by such greats as Marvin Gaye, Curtis Mayfield.  I own a lot of R&B and even some blues by such artists as Etta James, John Lee Hooker.  I don't know if anyone mentioned Gospel, but I love gospel music, having been brought up listening to Shirley Caesar, Edwin Hawkins, Rance Allen, The Mississippi Mass Choir.  I even sang in a gospel choir as a teen.

HI Littlewing!!  Nice to see you. 

Oh, Marvin Gaye and Curtis Mayfield are GREAT!  And I have a huge thing for Etta James.  Well that didn't sound right, but you know what I mean.  David and I fell in love with her when we heard her sing Bad to the Bone!  *swoons*  My manager borrowed one of my Etta CD's and I had to ask several times for it's return.  I think he wanted to keep it!  LOL  I must have all her CD's at work or I'd have included her above.  I'm not as aquainted with gospel but I like it too. 

~Larz

[David In Indy]

Hehe - I was being facetious.  
~Larz

Larz - You might have been, but I wasn't! It was funny because people always wondered what I was saying. They were afraid I was talking about them!   Was it mean? Maybe! But it sure was fun!

Uhm I wasn't thinking of a bar on Wash. It was between Penn and I think 12th on the South-west corner.  I'll have to ask Jacki.  I cut off my mullett (yeah-laugh it up!) after being there and noticing that only the girls wore their hair that way.  Also found that my wallet was smaller than a lot of theirs.  
~Larz

If it was around 12th and Pennsylvania, it probably was the Hunt and Chase. I'm still trying to remember the name of that bar on Washington Street. Dammit! Don't worry! I'll think of it. It might take a day or two, but I'll remember sooner or later!

[ZouBEini]

Larz - You might have been, but I wasn't! It was funny because people always wondered what I was saying. They were afraid I was talking about them!   Was it mean? Maybe! But it sure was fun!

No, not mean.  Perhaps a bit discourteous at worst. MUAHAHAHA    Actually that's one of the reasons I'm going to learn Spanish.  Sneaky.

If it was around 12th and Pennsylvania, it probably was the Hunt and Chase. I'm still trying to remember the name of that bar on Washington Street. Dammit! Don't worry! I'll think of it. It might take a day or two, but I'll remember sooner or later!

So you decided to let the mullet and wallet comments pass?  Very diplomatic.

~Larz

[David In Indy]

Was that bar on Washington Street called The Ruins?

Regarding the mullet and wallet, hey, I am a diplomatic kind of guy!!

No wait, The Ruins was another lesbian bar.

I'll think of it!

[ZouBEini]

Seems like I'd heard of The Ruins.  [giveup]

Ok, just lost my glass slipper while running for the carriage.  Yikes - I have to get up in 4.5 hours.  See ya

~Larz

[David In Indy]

This thread went a little OT for awhile. I'm sorry about that.  I'm going to make a feable attempt to get things back ON TOPIC again.

According to  the poll, it looks as if the Bettermost Community enjoys a little bit of everything!

I also added Gospel to the list. If anyone wants to go back and change their vote, I THINK it will let you (assuming I set this poll up correctly).

I can't believe I left out Gospel!

Thanks Littlewing for bring up Gospel. It is one of my favorite forms of music.

[ZouBEini]

This thread went a little OT for awhile. I'm sorry about that.  I'm going to make a feable attempt to get things back ON TOPIC again.

Sorry David and everyone. That was my fault.    

Nice addition, David!   

~Larz

[tomtrueman]

Actually, I like the BEST of so many different kinds of music that it's easier to say what kinds I DON'T like.  My least favourite, probably because I don't even classify it as "music", is rap.  To me, if you can't whistle it, it doesn't qualify as music because music without a melody is just noise.  Rap is just ranting, with an irrelevant loop playing in the background.

Heavy metal, with people screaming at the top of their lungs, is hard on the ears.  I like "smooth jazz", the relaxing, easy-listening kind.  I probably listen to it most on the radio -- but I HATE free-form jazz where everyone plays any old note apparently at random, except the ones in the tune.  I love some of the country "hurtin' songs" that sound like folk poetry, straight from the heart.

And I've been to Istanbul three times in three years, and love MOST Turkish pop music I've heard, because it's so interesting to listen to, with melodies that do neat and unexpected things.  It makes so much pop music that's in English sound really bland.  I've got nearly 50 CDs of it, now.

[David In Indy]

Actually, I like the BEST of so many different kinds of music that it's easier to say what kinds I DON'T like.  My least favourite, probably because I don't even classify it as "music", is rap.  To me, if you can't whistle it, it doesn't qualify as music because music without a melody is just noise.  Rap is just ranting, with an irrelevant loop playing in the background.

Heavy metal, with people screaming at the top of their lungs, is hard on the ears.  I like "smooth jazz", the relaxing, easy-listening kind.  I probably listen to it most on the radio -- but I HATE free-form jazz where everyone plays any old note apparently at random, except the ones in the tune.  I love some of the country "hurtin' songs" that sound like folk poetry, straight from the heart.

And I've been to Istanbul three times in three years, and love MOST Turkish pop music I've heard, because it's so interesting to listen to, with melodies that do neat and unexpected things.  It makes so much pop music that's in English sound really bland.  I've got nearly 50 CDs of it, now.

Tom - If I read your post correctly, it sounds like you pretty much like anything that doesn't make you want to rip your ears off when you listen to it.

I'm the same way.

[slayers_creek_oth]

Oh yeah and I love the Eagles too...

[Andrew]

Andrew, I've heard of this famous recording, but alas, have not actually heard the recording itself. I know it's highly regarded, and some have even cited it as the premier recording of this Debussy masterpiece.

I know the opera best through a videotaping of the 1999 staging at Glyndebourne, conducted by Andrew Davies, and featuring Christiane Oelze, Gwynne Howell, Jean Rigby, and Jake Arditti in the cast. Oelze (as Melisande) and Howell (as Arkel) were particularly outstanding, with Howell demonstrating his adroitness and depth as a singing actor. I'd recommend this production heartily, if one can allow for some liberties taken in the staging (the action is updated to the turn-of-the-century ambience of the opera's composition, but this is done quite intelligently and elegantly).

Cheers,
Scott

Scott,
I see Netflix carries the DVD of another performance of the same production of Pelleas you mentioned with many of the same artists.   You might be interested in it
too if you have not seen it. The one they have from Glyndebourne has Andrew Davis conducting, and Howell and Oelze, but with Richard Croft as Pelleas and John Tomlinson as Golaud.  Netflix is bad about getting performances of operas mixed up - their writeup for this DVD mentions artists from another performance they also carry, but you can see from the cover picture that they really carry this one.

I actually heard Davis conduct another opera at Glyndebourne, Die Schweigsame Frau of Richard Strauss.  He is a regular there.  My sister and brother-in-law knew his wife since she was a soprano from their town in South Carolina, and her mother and my brother-in-law were both on the music faculty of the same college there.

I can rent this DVD since I'm a Netflix member but sadly YOU can not rent a CD of the Desormiere performance of Pelleas, or any other music, from any rental company, because the music companies were successful in getting CD rental defined as a federal crime!  
http://www.copyright.gov/title17/92chap1.html#109

So...I hope you have a chance to hear it sometime - legitimately, and with a sacrifice of hard-earned dollars...enough dollars to purchase it, in fact, not just enough to rent it...if you were allowed to rent.

It was just reissued on EMI Great Recordings of the Century, although this remastering of the 1941 recording has been criticized, at about $35.  Or if it happens to be your birthday or any equally auspicious day you can get a deluxe 4-CD edition which was issued in 2002 for the centenniel of the premiere in 1902.  It is from Andante and comes with a 300-page commemorative booklet (!) and extracts from a number of other early performances, for about $60.  In spite of the 1941 recorded sound, this performance does deserve such a lavish presentation.

It is an opera with many other great performances but to me Jansen and Joaquim just  ->are<-  Pelleas and Melisande - the way Jake and Heath ->are<- those two shepherds.  The scene when Melisande lets down her hair from the tower is really indescribable.  With his soft but suffused voice, Pelleas sings as if he is about to pass out from the sudden rush of ecstasy.  He is about to suffocate because the arhythmia of his heart has made him forget how to breathe.

It is odd to think of this opera's story and then think of Our Film.  Pelleas and Melisande are both lonely children who are overcome by their feelings for each other when they are thrown together, before they have a chance to raise their guard.  Melisande is married to Golaud as if without personal volition, only because she has no other family, the way Ennis is married to Alma. And Golaud knows no more of who she is than Alma knows of Ennis.   Pelleas like Jack is shown to have a loving mother (only briefly seen) and perhaps partly as a result feels secure enough to follow his impulses at great personal risk (I am thinking of the tower scene and Pelleas' last scene).  He is warned, but chooses to ignore the warning.  Melisande like Ennis lives by a hidden fear, branded by unspeakable experiences and a kind of exile she does not like to talk of.  She clings to Golaud and to social expectation without regard to what she might want herself, as Ennis does to Alma.  The desperate passionate kiss in both stories is extended as if in defiance of being seen, which it is by the spouse in both.  What is really remarkable is the offstage procession of the sheep, seen by a child, in Maeterlinck's play. It is hinted that they will be taken to the slaughterhouse, and this becomes a foreshadowing of the death of the hero...

...all of which only means that the Collective Unconscious, in its ceaseless infinite thrashings, can happen on some of the very same patterns that it hit on a century earlier halfway around the world, and that our brains are sometimes dimly made aware of such similarities across all the other obvious differences...

[Luvlylittlewing]

Littlewing..

Oh, I love Gospel music too! Especially when the music is sung by large choirs. I love that sound... a lot of voices all singing together and practically raising the roof! 

Oh yes, the bigger the choir the better.  I sang in a rather large youth mass choir and we really rocked the house!  Have you ever heard of Edwin Hawkins?  He is considered the father of modern gospel music and wrote, arranged and recorded Oh Happy Day in the late 60's.  He and my mom grew up in the same church in Berkeley. The gospel music scene in the Bay Area is very big!  I'll catch a gospel concert every now and then, especially McDonald's Gospel Fest!

[moremojo]

...all of which only means that the Collective Unconscious, in its ceaseless infinite thrashings, can happen on some of the very same patterns that it hit on a century earlier halfway around the world, and that our brains are sometimes dimly made aware of such similarities across all the other obvious differences...

Andrew,

Thank you for a most interesting, informative post. The Netflix version you describe sounds like the same production, as I know John Tomlinson was the Golaud there. And how cool is that to be just a few degrees in separation from Maestro Davis, not to mention having had the privilege of hearing him conduct live?

The late Susan Sontag suggested that Maeterlinck's strange, poetic drama is an allegory of child abuse, and I find this useful in approaching the work's odd, fractured-fairy tale symbolism. Melisande is certainly childlike in many ways, though Golaud insists on treating her as an adult woman, and arguably destroys her thereby. And the Glyndebourne production highlights the abusive undertone of Golaud's scene with Yniold.

Yniold here is played by a child singer, Jake Arditti, consistent with Debussy's original conception of how this role should be performed. I was pleased that the director retained the scene of Yniold seeing the sheep, as I understand that this moment is often excised in live productions due to staging difficulties. The scene here is conveyed cleverly and effectively. And isn't there indeed a surprising parallel here with Ennis coming across the eviscerated sheep on Brokeback?

Thanks again for all the information and musings.

Cheers,
Scott

[David In Indy]

Oh yes, the bigger the choir the better.  I sang in a rather large youth mass choir and we really rocked the house!  Have you ever heard of Edwin Hawkins?  He is considered the father of modern gospel music and wrote, arranged and recorded Oh Happy Day in the late 60's. 

Littlewing -

I am not familiar with this name, but I am certainly familiar with the song "Oh Happy Day". It's one of my favorites.

That's really neat your mother knew the man who wrote this song!

[JT]

It all depends on my mood.  I like soft rock, pop, musical plays, and oldies.  Some country is okay as long as they are neutral.  Don't like it when they get too religious or preachy.

[David In Indy]

It all depends on my mood.  I like soft rock, pop, musical plays, and oldies.  Some country is okay as long as they are neutral.  Don't like it when they get too religious or preachy.

A little Lonestar, Alan Jackson, Toby Keith, Brad Paisley, Sara Evans, Trace Adkins or Dixie Chicks is always good!   

[ZouBEini]

Anyone heard of Dragonforce - a British group?  A Canadian IMDb friend highly recommends them. 

No procrastinating - I'll post a review as soon as I've heard them.  Just begun is half done.

David, Mary Poppins would be so proud of your siggy!

~Larz

[David In Indy]

Anyone heard of Dragonforce - a British group?  A Canadian IMDb friend highly recommends them. 
~Larz

I have never heard of them before. I will scan the Internet and check them out if they have any of their music posted.

David, Mary Poppins would be so proud of your siggy!

~Larz

Oh, thank ye,  thank ye! Mary Poppins is my hero! She can fly!

It's every gay man's dream.   

[ZouBEini]

I have never heard of them before. I will scan the Internet and check them out if they have any of their music posted.

I googled and they look like a hair band.  I like hair bands - but never tried one at the suggestion of an 18 year old before.  LOL

Oh, thank ye,  thank ye! Mary Poppins is my hero! She can fly!

It's every gay man's dream.  

Of course - with the help of her trusty tortoise-head bumbershoot. It was a bit cheeky for my taste, but what can one expect of a tortoise-head bumbershoot. 

I always wanted to be a chimneysweep and dance and sing on rooftops with other hunky, smiling, soot-covered men. 

~Larz

[ekeby]

I checked "Other" because there was no option for "All of the Above"  or "Good".

[JT]

A little Lonestar, Alan Jackson, Toby Keith, Brad Paisley, Sara Evans, Trace Adkins or Dixie Chicks is always good!   

Add to that Garth Brooks and Tim McGraw.  I really like many of their songs.  The Dixie Chicks are great.  My favorite Dixie Chicks song is "Cowboy Take Me Away".  If you change some of the pronouns, it kind of reminds my of our boys in BBM.

[Ellemeno]

I voted for Classic Rock, Classical, and Baroque.  But what I probably listen to the most these days seems to be called "Ballads."  Gershwin, Cole Porter, Paul Simon, Bob Dylan.  I sing a lot.

[David In Indy]

I voted for Classic Rock, Classical, and Baroque.  But what I probably listen to the most these days seems to be called "Ballads."  Gershwin, Cole Porter, Paul Simon, Bob Dylan.  I sing a lot.

I STILL have my old Boston, Journey, ELO (Electric Light Orchestra) KISS, Black Sabbath and Eagles albums from the 1970's. I don't have anything to play them on.... but I still have them.

[Giancarlo]

I love rock (classic, modern), blues, pop (Kylie!!!), R&B, trance/techno/club, and some raggaeton

I love to dance and shake my hips to music playing in clubs...

[moremojo]

I STILL have my old Boston, Journey, ELO (Electric Light Orchestra) KISS, Black Sabbath and Eagles albums from the 1970's. I don't have anything to play them on.... but I still have them.

David, I have a ton of vinyl treasures in my home that are just gathering dust, as my old turntable broke down many moons ago, and I don't even know where to turn to try to get it fixed. I have some Eagles, Kate Bush, Fleetwood Mac, Nina Hagen, Thin Lizzy, Heart, Neil Young, and some snazzy soundtrack LPs, such as that to "The Rocky Horror Picture Show"--to name a few. Relics of a bygone age, no less beautiful or potent for being temporarily silent.

Scott

[2robots4u]

I find it easier to answer with music I don't like:  rap, hip-hop, hard-rock, dixieland jazz.  In all other musical fields, i.e. country-western, there are some artists I can't stand (Glen Campbell, Alan Jackson and honky-tonk singers) and some I do like (Reba, Patsy Cline, Martina McBride).  But my favorite music is classical, including opera and Broadway shows. I have a collection of about 3000 albums, vinyl and CDs,  and spend much time listening to them. Have not worked since 9/11 so when I am in the house the music system is working overtime.  The great thing about multi-changer units is putting in the max number of CDs and let it go, upwards of 7 hours without having to change anything, and a mix of all types of music.  What to do with them when I depart this earth???

[horo35]

Well I for one do like country music.  It's been my favourite for many years...but I do like all kinds...country gets boring once in awhile.  Gotta have some Def Lepard or ColdPlay to stir things up!  But the best song of all time has to be when Jake sings that hymn to Ennis at the campsite!  What a hit!  Why didnt they put that on the soundtrack??

[David In Indy]

David, I have a ton of vinyl treasures in my home that are just gathering dust, as my old turntable broke down many moons ago, and I don't even know where to turn to try to get it fixed. I have some Eagles, Kate Bush, Fleetwood Mac, Nina Hagen, Thin Lizzy, Heart, Neil Young, and some snazzy soundtrack LPs, such as that to "The Rocky Horror Picture Show"--to name a few. Relics of a bygone age, no less beautiful or potent for being temporarily silent.

Scott

God. I remember the Rocky Horror Picture Show. I managed a movie theater (Castleton I,II and III... General Cinema) around 1980-1983 and we ran The Rocky Horror Picture show every Friday and Saturday at midnight and again around 2:00 in the morning. The entire theatre would be trashed... popcorn, cups, candy and many things too disgusting to mention here. People would come dressed up in drag... including straight guys! It was a lot of fun. I don't think they play Rocky Horror Picture Show anymore here in Indianapolis, but those are some really great memories! 
 

[David In Indy]

Well I for one do like country music.  It's been my favourite for many years...but I do like all kinds...country gets boring once in awhile.  Gotta have some Def Lepard or ColdPlay to stir things up!  But the best song of all time has to be when Jake sings that hymn to Ennis at the campsite!  What a hit!  Why didnt they put that on the soundtrack??

Country music gets boring once in awhile?? Wow! Try listening to some Lonestar, Alan Jackson, Brad Paisley, Sara Evans, Toby Keith or Dixie Chicks! They never get old! 

[moremojo]

The entire theatre would be trashed... popcorn, cups, candy and many things too disgusting to mention here. People would come dressed up in drag... including straight guys! It was a lot of fun. I don't think they play Rocky Horror Picture Show anymore here in Indianapolis, but those are some really great memories! 

It seems that many theaters who show (or have shown) the movie as a midnight attraction have mixed feelings, at best, about it, since cleaning up afterwards can be so daunting. The movie still plays at midnight in Austin, Texas, though not in the same venue in which it was first made available as such. Austin was the second city in the world to show RHPS as a midnight movie (New York was the first).

[ekeby]

I The movie still plays at midnight here in Austin, Texas

That's amazing . . . I didn't think that was still going on anywhere . . . I went to one in Madison, WI about twenty years ago . . . it was like a rite of passage . . . the same thing used to be done (in New York, anyway) with Mommie Dearest--people would dress up (like Joan or Christina or...) and bring wire hangers, cleanser, etc. . .  Never went to one of those . . .

[jpwagoneer1964]

For other I picked folk rock, Peter , Paul and Mary, etc. With a few exceptions I'm not much into country especially Wille Nelson. In fact I did not know there was another ballad at the ending credits until I saw it on a post. That one I do like. Gustavo Santaolalla's music was brillaint throughtout the film.

[moremojo]

That's amazing . . . I didn't think that was still going on anywhere . . . I went to one in Madison, WI about twenty years ago . . . it was like a rite of passage . . . the same thing used to be done (in New York, anyway) with Mommie Dearest--people would dress up (like Joan or Christina or...) and bring wire hangers, cleanser, etc. . .  Never went to one of those . . .

Yes, Austin has the longest continually running Rocky Horror troupe in the world. It's been going strong since 1976. The first venue, the old Riverside Twin theatre, is now a church! The movie now plays at midnight, Fridays and Saturdays, at the Alamo Drafthouse North.

Austin is a great movie town in many ways, and especially for those into the cult-y, "psychotronic" end of the movie-going spectrum. The Alamo Drafthouse downtown has special audience-participation-friendly screenings on a regular basis, of all kinds of films.

[David In Indy]

Yes, Austin has the longest continually running Rocky Horror troupe in the world. It's been going strong since 1976. The first venue, the old Riverside Twin theatre, is now a church! The movie now plays at midnight, Fridays and Saturdays, at the Alamo Drafthouse North.

Austin is a great movie town in many ways, and especially for those into the cult-y, "psychotronic" end of the movie-going spectrum. The Alamo Drafthouse downtown has special audience-participation-friendly screenings on a regular basis, of all kinds of films.

Isn't "South by Southwest" also held in Austin? I believe this is where many musicians and groups have been discovered.

[David In Indy]

Yes, quite right, David. Austin touts itself as the live-music capital of the world, and "South by Southwest" is a BIG deal here. Ironically, though I love music, I'm not much of a fan of the live music experience, and so am ignorant of much of the local scene.

Sheesh. Indianapolis touts itself as being the "Amateur Sports Capital of the World". 

With the exception of basketball, I'll take music over sports anytiime!   

Hopefully one of these days I'll make it back to your fair city of Austin. I'd love to see "South By Southwest" in person.

[David In Indy]

Maybe we could even try to organize an Austin Brokie get-together, along the lines of the smash success that just transpired in Boston.

That would be fun. Austin isn't really all that far from Indianapolis... about 900 miles (18 hour drive) I think... or a quick two hour flight.

It's all good!

[RebelWithASmile]

Alternative Rock (soft rock)


Evanescence is my nirvana. Their music is very cathartic, ecspecially Solitude, which is also devastating. It tells my story, and its my favorite song of all time.

I also like
Coldplay
U2
Snow Patrol


all can be defined as soft rock sometimes. Coldplay/Snow Patrol are about popish, though

[Front-Ranger]

Recently I've been listening to The Shins, Sajan Dan Stevens, and Death Cab for Cutie, due to the influence of my daughter, Front-Ranger Jr.

[David In Indy]

Alternative Rock (soft rock)


Evanescence is my nirvana. Their music is very cathartic, ecspecially Solitude, which is also devastating. It tells my story, and its my favorite song of all time.

 

[coffeecat33]

MUSIC
Female vocalists: Sarah McLaughlin, Cat Power, Fiona Apple, and Dido
Male vocalists: Ben Harper, Ben Kweller, Elliott Smith
Groups: Death Cab for Cutie, The Weepies, Cowboy Junkies, The Shins,
Oldies: “Happy Jack” by The Who; “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” by Tears for Fears, “Don’t Dream it’s Over” by Crowded House, “Without You” and “Me and my Arrow” by Nilsson
And: Pat Metheny – Café Del Mar – Sueno Con Mexico, the original soundtrack from “Donnie Darko”, “Music for a Found Harmonium”
………… to name a few. I like VARIETY! cc33 

[RebelWithASmile]

what?

Nirvana = paradise/utopia
Cathartic= liberating/freeing

is this what you meant?

Evanescence is a band

I love Sarah McLachlan and Dido too!

 

[CellarDweller]

I've got very widespread tastes when it comes to music.

I love Nickleback!  Evanesence is great too.

However, my fave music genre is freestyle.


Not familiar with the term?  Think mid 80s to mid 90's dance music.

Some of the popular acts that recorded freestyle are.....


The Cover Girls
Lisa Lisa & Cult Jam
Sweet Sensation
Noel
George LaMond
Stevie B.
Exposé.


If you want to hear some samples, click the link to go to Amazon, and hear the "Forever Freestyle" cd.


http://www.amazon.com/Forever-Freestyle-Various-Artists/dp/B000LPR5DO/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2/105-6763700-3953202?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1181234254&sr=1-2

[loneleeb3]

Good Lord, and y'all thought my TV show list was long! 
Well, I won't go into it all here.
Let's just suffice it to say the only Music I don't like is Rap and Metal (if you can even call that stuff music).
I usually settle on Country though.

[ifyoucantfixit]

           i love most music, but you dont have my favorite listed...I like blues best of all.  Not enough choices. but i have to stand it.                 

[RebelWithASmile]

Now...Sarah McLachlan is my everything. She is so divine. Her voice is extremely good, but it's her lyrics that are just...awesome. She has great songs


my favorites of hers.... (to put them in order would be impossible)


Angel
I Love You
Ice
Silence
Adia
Elsewhere
Sweet Surrender
Fallen
Gloomy Sunday
When She Loved Me (great lyrics for a 'Disney' song)
River (remix of famous Christmas song)
I Will Not Forget You
I Don't Know How To Let You Go


she is so amazing. I reccommend listening to all these songs. I plan on making a Brokeback Music video with 'I Love You' but my movie maker is being stubborn 

[Kerry]

I chose:

* Classical

* Baroque

* New Age

* Other

Under "Other", I like:

* Folk (Peter Paul & Mary, Simon & Garfunkel, The Seekers, Mamas & the Papas - or is that Classic Rock?)

* Show Tunes (compulsory for a gay man - no?!)

[moremojo]

* Folk (Peter Paul & Mary, Simon & Garfunkel, The Seekers, Mamas & the Papas - or is that Classic Rock?)

Yeah, I'd put The Mamas & the Papas into the classic rock/pop camp.

* Show Tunes (compulsory for a gay man - no?!)

Not according to our male friend Lee!