USCHO Music: From Queen to The Beatles to Lady Gaga

[MissThundercat]

When I was 10: "Depeche Mode sounds cool, I guess."

Now that I'm 44: "I understand Depeche Mode."

 

[state of hockey]

I’ve been thinking myself a failure the last few weeks because my son stated that he didn’t like Weird Al.

A bit of the sting was removed today when I heard him humming “Sundown” in his room as he played with his legos.

No, I did not explain the content of the song. He’s 7.

 

[Kepler]

I also love that scene with Leighton Beezer, even though he's clearly making fun of the whole thing.

Yes.

 

[Slap Shot]

I have never been able to get into Weird Al either. I just. Can't. Do. It.

Although I'll take him over Alice Cooper and Steely Dan.

 

[Kepler]

I have never been able to get into Weird Al either. I just. Can't. Do. It.

Although I'll take him over Alice Cooper and Steely Dan.

All 3 of those acts are stellar.

I can agree that Al's earlier song parodies can be irritating and repetitive, but his year end polka medleys always make me smile, and if you don't love Mandatory Fun you have no soul.

Steely Dan I thought was yacht rock until I got into jazz. Now I think other than Zappa it is the most technically complex and beautiful rock ever devised.

Alice is not my bag (I am an Iggy guy), but even I get that he's brilliant.

 

[walrus]

I have never been able to get into Weird Al either. I just. Can't. Do. It.

Although I'll take him over Alice Cooper and Steely Dan.

Blasphemy , Alice Cooper's album Killer is awesome. Steely dan is on another level. If I had to pick a few bands to listen to for the rest of my life Steely Dan would be on the list

 

[Slap Shot]

Blasphemy , Alice Cooper's album Killer is awesome. Steely dan is on another level. If I had to pick a few bands to listen to for the rest of my life Steely Dan would be on the list

I'm actually ok with Alice, Steely Dan is lounge muzak that appeals to the guy in the corner of the room that thinks he's smarter than everyone else and has no problem judging everyone else while convincing himself he's the good guy. It's overly technical, clinical, polished and dare I say boring. Everyone had their greatest hits and Aja in college and then left them behind after.

No I don't actually think that about all their fans but I do think it about their output.

 

[walrus]

I'm actually ok with Alice, Steely Dan is lounge muzak that appeals to the guy in the corner of the room that thinks he's smarter than everyone else and has no problem judging everyone else while convincing himself he's the good guy. It's overly technical, clinical, polished and dare I say boring. Everyone had their greatest hits and Aja in college and then left them behind after.

No I don't actually think that about all their fans but I do think it about their output.

Gaucho might be a better album than Aja and who cares who left them behind.

 

[Slap Shot]

Gaucho might be a better album than Aja and who cares who left them behind.

Those of us that left them behind.

My commentary has been mostly tongue-in-cheek. It's true I'm not a fan on the whole but I don't begrudge people's personal tastes. Like what you like and fuck the haters.

 

[Kepler]

Like what you like and fuck the haters.

Amen.

I'll never understand raining fire against haters. Yes, I recognized as soon as I developed an ear beyond simpering adolescence the Beatles were an overhyped media creation, but why would anybody who finds joy there care? I'm right of course, but what of it? Dr. Mrs. thinks The Three Stooges are "stupid, charmless, and about as entertaining as watching high school boys destroy a mailbox." ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Her loss.

 

[Kepler]

Gaucho might be a better album than Aja and who cares who left them behind.

Gaucho as a song is a great example of the second way Steely Dan songs were made. Kid Charlemagne was all planning: what, 8 months and such an amount of studio time it would have bankrupted other bands. Every microsecond was designed, worked over, struggled over, fought (physically) over, laid down a million times identically. Gaucho was a Frankenstein that built momentum over time from a session warm up to a totally different vibe and then morphed over one single legendary night until it popped out the other side and nobody ever pieced together after what happened and how it really happened.

There are so many levels to SD that I don't think I've even come close to penetrating below superficiality and I have only been listening to them seriously for the last 5 years or so. They are one of two Ur examples of a band that smuggled brilliant sophisticated music into every middle aged housefrau's kitchen on AM freaking radio programming. A lot of people never get beyond skipping a stone across the surface of that ocean because of where it played. But where it played was a miracle. Who the hell else in the last hundred years, since even Brahms, made the highest level of experimental and deeply serious music "catchy"? Steely Dan, The Beach Boys, and.... Cole Porter I guess.

 

[Slap Shot]

Amen.

I'll never understand raining fire against haters. Yes, I recognized as soon as I developed an ear beyond simpering adolescence the Beatles were an overhyped media creation, but why would anybody who finds joy there care? I'm right of course, but what of it? Dr. Mrs. thinks The Three Stooges are "stupid, charmless, and about as entertaining as watching high school boys destroy a mailbox." ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Her loss.

Yes, Donald Fagen and his Steely Dan partner Walter Becker acknowledged The Beatles as a major influence, particularly in their shift to becoming a studio-only band.

• Influence: Becker mentioned Meet the Beatles when asked about albums that directly influenced their musical expression.
• Modeling Career: Following the release of their third album, Pretzel Logic, Steely Dan took a cue from The Beatles and stopped touring to focus entirely on studio work.
• Comparison: Aimee Mann referred to Steely Dan as "the American Beatles" for their ability to blend jazz and rock with high-level songwriting.
• Respect for Songwriting: While Steely Dan developed a unique, cynical style, Fagen noted in a Reddit-shared anecdote that they never sought to compete with the "fine songwriters of the era," explicitly mentioning Lennon and McCartney.

Yes I'm aware of "Only a Fool Would Say That". But I dare you to listen to the Abbey Road medley with an open ear and heart with headphones and defy its legend.

Most influential modern band in history and second place isn't even close. I know that won't be your last dig at the band so carry on my wayward son.

 

[Katharina]

Steely Dan taking cues from the Beatles and then going full studio mode is a solid point. Both bands leveled up songwriting in their own way. Abbey Road still hits different though.

 

[Kepler]

I'll never hear the Beatles above the din of the most effective viral marketing campaign in the history of commerce. My loss.

I will console myself with Ellington and Verdi and Zappa.