Music

Random thoughts about music from the past few weeks' experience of ripping all my CDs to MP3s (for the third time... ughh): 2005/08/01, 7:22AM: Mozart - Without equal. Itzhak Perman playing a Mozart Violin Concerto is hard to beat. How many of today's bands have 200+ year staying power? 2005/08/01, 10:55AM: The Beastie Boys - How often do bands mangage to grow and change without turning to crap? The B-Boys are as solid now as they were in 1986. 2005/08/02: The Chemical Brothers, Fat Boy Slim, and The Crystal Method - Three different bands with the same Big Beat sound. Turn bass up, crank the volume, and let the music fill your body. 2005/08/02, 7:10PM: Public Enemy - The only rap band worth a damn. 2005/08/02, 9:15PM: Jimi Hendrix - Ever notice that guitar magazines still put him on their cover from time to time? 2005/08/02, 10:15PM Metallica - The classic "had it, lost it" band. Worst example of the Artist's Dilemma: Struggle leads to good art, which leads to success, which leads to the inability to produce good art (I've been through this a bit myself :-).) 2005/08/03, 8:20AM: James Brown - The Godfather of Soul. The father of funk. (...and a wife beater... and a druggie. But his music rocks!) 2005/08/03, 2:00PM: Pink Floyd - Timeless. 2005/08/03, 4:00PM: Led Zepplin - Their lyrics are stupid beyond compare, but I still dig their tunes. 2005/08/04, 7:00AM Nine Inch Nails - Pretty Hate Machine kicked ass, but then he hit the same problem as Metallica. Hard to sing about being pissed off when your life is actually in pretty damn good shape. 2005/08/04, 10:00AM Blind Melon - Great first album, terrible second album, dead lead singer. Thanks for the memories, fellas. 2005/08/04, 3:30PM Guns and Roses - Yet again we see "We're young! We're pissed off! We're making great music!" (Appetite for Destruction) turn to "We're RICH! We're dating supermodels! We feel like writing love songs! Look how much we suck now!" (GNR Lies.)