Non-Urban Music Your Three Musical Muses

[Ristol]

I only said muses to be cute and alliterative.

I want to know your three musical heroes. Tell me the three people who are simply indispensable to you in your musical life.

And, for many of you, I mean besides Tupac.

Mine:

1) Ian Curtis
2) Morrissey
3) Dylan

That's right. Dylan's in third place to a couple of Brits.

Your turns.

 

[Little Skittle]

1) Elliott Smith
2) Kevin Devine
3) Sufjan Stevens

 

[Casey]

Ah, you're an Ian Curtis fan! My band actually covered "Transmission" a number of years back and our cover was mentioned on the main Joy Division website at the time.

I'm going to flip your script and pick 6, because I have a strange need for duality and my 6 favorite artists can all be paired up as opposite sides of the same coin.

1. Prince / Michael Jackson
2. Roger Troutman / Jesse Johnson
3. Kurt Cobain / Trent Reznor

 

[Preach]

Good picks. If I were to name musicians I have a great deal of respect for, Casey's list resonates with me. I am not very familiar with Prince's music however I like what I've heard, and I don't think I ever heard Jesse Johnson.

I don't know what to respond. All my "favorite artists" are rappers, all the musicians I have respect for beyond rappers, well, they are too many to list, and I don't know how to rate them

 

[Duke]

I have no straight up heroes. It shifts over time.

So yeah, I can't pick

 

[Ristol]

Ah, you're an Ian Curtis fan! My band actually covered "Transmission" a number of years back and our cover was mentioned on the main Joy Division website at the time.

I'm going to flip your script and pick 6, because I have a strange need for duality and my 6 favorite artists can all be paired up as opposite sides of the same coin.

1. Prince / Michael Jackson
2. Roger Troutman / Jesse Johnson
3. Kurt Cobain / Trent Reznor

Wow. You like Joy Division? That's fantastic. I underestimated you. And Transmission is a great song.

 

[Chronic]

Ristol986, just out of curiosity, do you prefer Unknown Pleasures or Closer?

 

[Ristol]

Maybe not the popular answer, but for me it's far and away Unknown Pleasures.

 

[Chronic]

Muchos agreed. It actually took me a long time to get into Closer. It's a great album but I was surprised it was their most celebrated album.

 

[Ristol]

Closer definitely has its moments. "Isolation", "Passover", and "Decades" come to mind, but the whole album is one magnificent downer. For me it's impossible to separate Closer's art from Ian's life. I find myself listening to it and thinking, how could his friends and family have heard this album, this exaltation of the ultimate surrender, and not gone out of their way to protect him from himself? I guess hindsight is 20/20. Incidentally, Chronic, have you read his widow's biography of him, Touching from a Distance? Seen the movie?

 

[S O F I]

I just like music. I try not to get stuck on personas.

 

[Casey]

Wow. You like Joy Division? That's fantastic. I underestimated you. And Transmission is a great song.

Yup. I'm very much into the post-punk and industrial scenes.

I love Joy Division, and New Order. I would say I like, but not love, Morrissey and The Smiths. I love The Cure. I love The Fall (Mark E Smith is a genius). I love Public Image Limited, Killing Joke.

There's a lot of bands that sort of loosely fall into that post-punk category even with very different sounds, and I love a great deal of them. Depeche Mode. Human League. Throbbing Gristle. Devo. Adam & The Ants. And then you start going into North American industrial territory with bands like Skinny Puppy, NIN, Ministry, Pigface, et al.

d I don't think I ever heard Jesse Johnson.

He's not that well-known any more, but the man was a god of funk and a luminary of the 80's funk/R&B scene. Was an associate of Prince for some time and one of the main members of a band Prince put together, wrote and produced for, called The Time. (sidenotes - legendary producers Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis were also in The Time, and Tupac was a big fan.....he sampled their "777-9311" for 'Whatz Ya Phone #" and "Get It Up" for "Is It Cool 2 Fuck".....TLC also covered "Get It Up" for the Poetic Justice soundtrack and Snoop Dogg covered "Cool" on his Ego Trippin' album).

 

[Chronic]

Chronic, have you read his widow's biography of him, Touching from a Distance? Seen the movie?

Yeah, I saw the movie Control. Thought it was good, especially since it didn't set out to make him a martyr/victim.

I'm very much into the industrial scene.

Can you suggest me some industrial rock/metal albums (I prefer to check out entire albums rather than songs)? I'm familiar with Nine Inch Nails, Godflesh and Ministry.

 

[Casey]

/\ Start with Skinny Puppy's "Mind: The Perpetual Intercourse", and perhaps "Gub" by Pigface.

Throbbing Gristle and Coil have some good stuff but I'm not sure which of their albums is best. I just know a handful of songs from both acts.

 

[comebackkid]

1. The Beatles
2. Morrissey / The Smiths
3. Dylan

 

[Ristol]

Little Skittle, I loved your three except number 3. He is completely awful.

Comebackkid, welcome to the board. You have the best three besides me.

 

[Ristol]

Chronic, that's right. The movie tried to be objective. It was the story of the band, not just Ian Curtis. But he's a hero no matter how it's covered. Ian Curtis to me is kind of like Prince to Casey Rain.

 

[Duke]

Johannes Brahms

 

[Da_Funk]

1.) David Gilmour/Roger Waters
2.) Zack De La Rocha/Tom Morello
3.) Bob Marley

No paritcular order.

 

[Casey]

/\ Ah I didn't know you were a Floyd fan.

My wife's cousin is a hardcore fan. She has "Shine On You Crazy Diamond" tattooed on her back. I guess she's a Syd Barrett fan mostly. What are your thoughts on "Piper At The Gates of Dawn" compared to the rest of Floyd's catalog? Being as it's the only album that was mostly written by Syd.