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Favorite 31 Songs by US Artists According to a Bunch of Middle-Aged Dummies (4 Viewers)

Really eclectic today. Favorites:

New to me

@scorchy F*** and Run – Liz Phair
@New Binky the Doormat - Nice, Nice, Very Nice – Ambrosia

Old Favorites:

@shuke Family Affair - Sly and the Family Stone
@Yankee23Fan - I Will Always Love You - Whitney Houston (this was pretty close to making mine)
@AAABatteries - The Christmas Song (Merry Christmas to You) - Nat King Cole

I never really considered any Christmas music but there are definitely some favorites there.
 
rockaction said:
Dr. Octopus said:
another that I didn't know the song or artist that I liked a lot.
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It's the lead singer from The Killers. I would imagine it sounds dramatic and a lot like Springsteen, as the Killers are wont to do sometimes.

You probably knew him -- you just didn't know you knew.
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Yes, I know the Killers (albeit not nearly as deep as some) - didn’t know the name though. Thanks.
 
My favorite of the past two days, including my own, has to be Hey Ya! By OutKast. This song hit like a storm when it came out, and it crossed over in ways unheard of for the time period.

Shake it shake it
Shake it like a Polaroid picture
Now all Beyonces and Lucy Lius
Get on the floor
You know what to do

Lend me some sugar
I am your neighbor!
 
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Other notes:

I missed the Aquarius/Let The Sun Shine In selection. It's probably the best segue between one distinct song and another I might have ever heard in my life. That galloping bass and then

Let the sun shine/let the sun shine

"Reflections" by Diana Ross is another pleasant surprise. I love this one.

"My Sharona" is power pop excellence. If anyone nodded and winked with one eye at their audience, it was surely The Knack.

"King Of Carrot Flowers, Pt. 1" is another wonderful one off of a cryptically great album.
 
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I have a TL;DR/too emo story about why I love "Aquarius," but maybe for another day sometime. It has to do with Phish and the song Halley's Comet. Great tune, great crib, and just fun in general.

"Tuesday's Gone" is something I picked up last year when I started my "Free Bird" thread about living where I live at night and late night coffee trips. Love it, too. It's on right now.

These songs are all really pretty darn good. We rock!
 
rockaction said:
If anyone nodded and winked with one eye at their audience, it was surely The Knack
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Not much traffic in the thread and I'm Hippling it. I'll just quote myself and say that I want copyright in this one even considering the doctrines of merger and inability to copyright an idea for this one. I won't get it, but surely...
 
rockaction said:
My favorite of the past two days, including my own, has to be Hey Ya! By OutKast. This song hit like a storm when it came out, and it crossed over in ways unheard of for the time period.

Shake it shake it
Shake it like a Polaroid picture
Now all Beyonces and Lucy Lius
Get on the floor
You know what to do

Lend me some sugar
I am your neighbor!
Click to expand...

Reminds me of a particular time and place (partying in law school in the mid-aughts). In retrospect, maybe I should have it higher than where I put it, but here where it is.
 
Don Quixote said:
Reminds me of a particular time and place (partying in law school in the mid-aughts). In retrospect, maybe I should have it higher than where I put it, but here where it is.
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Nice. I would attend law school a few years later than you, then. Just a couple or three years, actually. The song takes me, pre-school and post-first job, back to a particular night of celebration that I won't go into too much because it was unspectacular but simply memorable to me.

As for where it is, I wouldn't second-guess too much. It won't crack a lot of people's lists, and yours may be one of the few, actually. Seems about right.
 
krista4 said:
Where did we come out on weekend posts? I'm going to post one tomorrow, but what about Sunday? I saw one yea vote and one nay.
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I'm an insomniac, I posted something at 1:40 this morning, you posted right afterwards. . . please, take a day off if you want and get some sleep!
 
scorchy said:
Bronze: Keep Me In Your Heart (Val). Beautiful but really, really hard to listen to.
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Hey, I picked this, and it's hard for me to listen to. However, I had to pick it - this song is basically Warren saying goodbye as he's dying, and it came out just when a LOT of family and close friends I know passed away. For a while it was like I was going to a funeral every 4-6 months for somebody I really cared about. So, for me, it's my memorial song for the people who have left - I listen to it and think about those I miss and can't call and say hi to.

Honestly, I'm writing this and trying not to start tearing up.
 
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Sullie said:
krista4 said:
Where did we come out on weekend posts? I'm going to post one tomorrow, but what about Sunday? I saw one yea vote and one nay.
Click to expand...

I'm an insomniac, I posted something at 1:40 this morning, you posted right afterwards. . . please, take a day off if you want and get some sleep!
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I'm an insomniac, too. You'll find me posting at any time, day or night.

I was just coming in to see if anyone has noticed yet a theme in one person's selections? scorchy was doing "newer stuff," but other than his and this one, I don't know of any themes (other than, you know, "my favorite 31 songs from US artists").
 
Favorite 5 from this round:
Dr. Octopus: Come Pick Me Up – Ryan Adams
Don Quixote: Hey Ya! - OutKast
Hawks64: Elderly Woman Behind The Counter In A Small Town – Pearl Jam
The Dreaded Marco: A Good Idea - Sugar
Ilov80s: I Only Have Eyes for You - The Flamingos

Songs I don't think I've ever heard of from artists I'm familiar with:
New Binky the Doormat: Nice, Nice, Very Nice – Ambrosia
Sullie: Bad Seamstress Blues/Fallin' Apart at the Seams – Cinderella
jwb: Welcome to my Nightmare – Alice Cooper

I'm not necessarily saying I love them, but they intrigue me. They all have some heavy prog elements that surprised me. Especially Ambrosia. They may have even been a prog band, but I mostly know them for stuff like Biggest Part of Me.

I'd love to hear that Cinderella song with a good lead singer.
 
krista4 said:
shuke:

Family Affair - Sly and the Family Stone
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Man I have been trying to type out some real poignant story about when I first heard this but it sounds really stupid. Out at the bars one night in college, I had gotten separated from my friends and was wandering around, stopped by a little music venue type place that I don't think I had ever been to sent in and caught the end of a first set of some band. During set break, one of the songs was Family Affair. One person started dancing, then another, then pretty much everyone. And it was a very eccentric and diverse crowd, something I didn't see at most of the other bars right around campus. I felt like it was home.
 
krista4 said:
Ruby baby
Ruby baby
She smiled at me
Now I can see
No one but Ruby baby

Many times over several years did i go back to build a song around it and find again & again that any addition besmirched, if not insulted, its purity.
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You might want to try that in haiku. It might just work.
 
Pip’s Invitation:

Makes No Sense At All - Husker Du
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Bob Mould is up there for me -- a contender for my favorite songwriter that debuted after the '70s. And this is my #1 from any of his ventures. It merged punk and power pop in ways that hadn't been thought of much at that point. It succeeds wildly as a pop song AND a punk song AND a balls-out rocker. Mould has written many memorable songs over the years, but this is the one that he most often closes his live shows with, for good reason.

Today's other two Bob selections are outstanding as well. As is the selection from the other Bob. My friend whom I've known since 9th grade in 1985 and I refer to both as "Bob," and we don't have to ask which one when the name is brought up. After that many years of conversation, you just know.
 
Favorites in order from today's picks, a very strong group:

Tangled Up in Blue -- Bob Dylan (Krista4)
God Only Knows -- The Beach Boys (Hov34)
Me and Bobby McGee -- Janis Joplin (DrIanMalcolm)
Fall On Me -- R.E.M. (Neal Cassady)
Everybody Dance -- Chic (Uruk-Hai)
Nice, Nice, Very Nice -- Ambrosia (Binky)
Hey Ya! -- Outkast (Don Quixote)

I ranked Tangled in the top 10 of the songs that were picked by Doc Oc's group of idiots, so you know it's way up there for me. God Only Knows and Me and Bobby McGee perfectly encapsulate their respective artists. Fall on Me is my 1A or 1B REM depending on what day it is. I agree with everything Uruk said about Chic and I would like to thank WXPN's Funky Friday for introducing me to this song. Ambrosia was an amazingly talented band (the four original members played 52 instruments between them, and the drummer plays bassoon on Nice, Nice) that greatly transcends the yacht rock label that their three big hits garnered them, not that I have a problem with well-done yacht rock. Nice, Nice, with lyrics adapted from Kurt Vonnegut, is as good an example as any of the restless ambition they displayed on their first two albums. Hey Ya! is arguably the most fun song of the last 20 years. It never fails to induce revelry when it comes on.

I wasn't sure that we'd see a sadder song than Cat's in the Cradle picked, but Val pulled it off with Keep Me in Your Heart. :cry:
 
Charity Contest Info and Standings

Upon further reflection, there's really no reason for me to not list what everyone has selected for their choices in the contest - and that way I can make some commentary about how it's gone so far.

Everyone's selections:

Val Rannous - Song: Like a Rolling Stone, Bob Dylan. Artist: Bruce Springsteen.
Mrs. Rannous - Song: Rock and Roll High School, The Ramones. Artist: Bob Dylan.
Uruk-Hai - Song: Purple Rain, Prince. Artist: Stevie Wonder.
Pip's Invitation - Song: Smells Like Teen Spirit, Nirvana. Artist: Stevie Wonder.
Neal Cassady - Song: Let's Stay Together, Al Green. Artist: Stevie Wonder.
Hov34 - Song: Superstition, Stevie Wonder. Artist: Stevie Wonder. (Tiebreak: Smells Like Teen Spirit, Nirvana)
Chaz McNulty - Song: Fast Car, Tracy Chapman. Artist: Bruce Springsteen.
Dr. Octopus - Song: Hallelujah, Jeff Buckley. Artist: Stevie Wonder.
Falguy - Song: Born to Run, Bruce Springsteen. Artist: Tom Petty.
DrianMalcom - Song: Superstition, Stevie Wonder. Artist: Stevie Wonder. (Tiebreak: American Girl, Tom Petty)
Ilove80s - Song: Good Vibrations, The Beach Boys. Artist: Tom Petty.
jwb - Song: Hotel California, The Eagles. Artist: The Allman Brothers Band.
The Dreaded Marco - Song: What a Wonderful World, Louis Armstrong. Artist: Prince.
New Binky the Doormat - Song: Smells Like Teen Spirit, Nirvana. Artist: Tom Petty.
Just Win Baby - Song: What's Going On, Marvin Gaye. Artist: Tom Petty.
Don Quixote - Song: Superstition, Stevie Wonder. Artist: Stevie Wonder. (Tiebreak: God Only Knows, The Beach Boys)
AAABatteries - Song: Respect - Aretha Franklin. Artist: Stevie Wonder.

Note - since 3 people picked the EXACT same combo (serious Stevie fans, obviously), a tiebreak is listed for those participants, who will get .6, .3, or .0 added to their final score based on how the tiebreak song performs.

Disclaimer - Mrs. Rannous and I sent our picks to Krista4 before we announced the contest, and if either of us win, we're donating to a charity of Krista's choice.

Commentary - Weird that not a single one of us has received a point for a song selection yet - I'm pretty sure every song selected will get points, but I guess just not this far down the list. Also weird that almost all of us took solo artists - only jwb took a band, you iconoclast, you. Finally, I thought there would be more differentiation in artist choices, not a Stevie Wonder/Tom Petty love fest...

After 5 rounds, here's the standings (all based on artist selections so far, but lots of points yet to come, I'm sure!!):

Mrs. Rannous 5
Falguy 4
Ilov80s 4
Just Win Baby 4
jwb 4
New Binky the Doormat 4
The Dreaded Marco 4
Chaz McNulty 2
Val Rannous 2
AAABatteries 0
Don Quixote 0
Dr. Octopus 0
DrianMalcom 0
Hov34 0
Neal Cassady 0
Pip's Invitation 0
Uruk-Hai 0
 
It took all day but I listened to 'em all.

Elderly Woman etc. - Pearl Jam - PJ has never been my faves but I liked this one.

champagne problems - Tswift - First appearance here? folklore and evermore will probably remind me more of 2020 than any other albums.

Bad Seamstress Blues - Cinderella - Legitimately surprised by this in the best way possible

What About Us - Pink - This one sounds like a @ditkaburgers pick. The girl loves some choruses.

I Will Always Love You - Whitney - It was so overplayed at the time but the years have given perspective to what a great record this is. The voice of course but David Foster's production is perfect. The downbeat before the last chorus is :chefskiss:

Exiled - Floater - I guessed 1998 but the record came out in 2000.

Come Pick Me Up - Ryan Adams - There was a time when this or another Adams song would have made my list.

Forgot About Dre - Dre knows enough about what makes a great recording to pass the mic to Em promptly.

Everybody Dance - Chic - The organization was on my long list. Such a great bassline.

If I Had a Boat - Lovett - Song was on my longlist

**** and Run - Liz - Love the album but it would have meant more to me if it came out a few years earlier when we were raising babies. The little four bar bridge at the end elevates the song.

Welcome to My Nightmare - Alice Cooper - Teenage Eephus didn't hear the vocal similarities to Jim Morrison. The instrumental interlude with the trumpet part would fit on a 70s cop show soundtrack.

Me and Bobby McGee - Janis - Never cared much for her Blues beltin' but this is a wonderful record.

Avenues & Alleyways - Rancid - Banger :fistpump:

Fall on Me - R.E.M. - Life's Rich Pageant is the pinnacle IMO in a career of peaks.

Tangled Up in Blue - Dylan - Likewise for Blood on the Tracks

Extraordinary - Liz again - I saw her perform on this tour at a post-race party for a half marathon. She seemed as disinterested as most of the audience did. It's a rockin' number nonetheless.

Hey Ya - Outkast - One of those songs that always makes me happy when I hear it.

I Apologize - Huskers - New Day Rising has the least ****ty sound quality of their ****ty sounding SST albums.

A Good Idea - Sugar - Song was on my longlist

Killing Me Softly - Roberta Flack - Gorgeous song with a sparse arrangement that allows the vocal to breathe.

Nice etc. - Ambrosia - I always thought they were English. The affected singing on the verse must have had something to do with it. The arrangement is very interesting and full of surprises.

God Only Knows - Beach Boys - I have a feeling we'll hear this one again

Bouncin' Back - Mystikal - My choice. I see nobody else liked it but it was a mainstay of my playlists when I used to run a lot. My pace perked up whenever it came up on the shuffle. It's a shame Mystikal can't keep his *** out of jail but he recorded some bangers.

Boston - More Than A Feeling - Better music through science. I thought I was too cool to listen to it in 1976 but I have to acknowledge it's a fantastic sounding record.

Keep Me in your Heart - Zevon - One of Rock 'n Roll's greatest swan songs.

Tighten Up - Black Keys - The weird funky beat sounds like it's falling apart but it stays locked in the groove.

I Only Have Eyes for You - Flamingos - It's so beautiful that it makes you overlook how strange the production and harmony vocals are.

Christmas Song - Nat Cole - Two weeks too early

Come Together - MC5 - Wayne Kramer has a nice singing voice for a guy who screams so much.

Family Affair - Sly - Such a loose rubbery groove. I love There's a Riot Goin' On even though it's not the easiest listen at times.

If You Don't Want Me To - Ronnie Milsap - Overall it's a very Yacht Rock sounding song with just enough twang in Milsap's vocal. Very nice key change towards the end.
 
Pip's Invitation said:
Bob Mould is up there for me -- a contender for my favorite songwriter that debuted after the '70s. And this is my #1 from any of his ventures. It merged punk and power pop in ways that hadn't been thought of much at that point. It succeeds wildly as a pop song AND a punk song AND a balls-out rocker. Mould has written many memorable songs over the years, but this is the one that he most often closes his live shows with, for good reason.

Today's other two Bob selections are outstanding as well. As is the selection from the other Bob. My friend whom I've known since 9th grade in 1985 and I refer to both as "Bob," and we don't have to ask which one when the name is brought up. After that many years of conversation, you just know.
Click to expand...

I was Team Bob at the time but I've found myself drawn towards Grant's songs as the years pass by.
 
krista4 said:
simey:

Age of Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In - The Fifth Dimension
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2) Love this song as a kid. Parents played it on that bad ***, hi tech, wall length, stereophonic system. @simey
krista4 said:
Uruk-Hai:

Ain't No Woman Like The One I Got - The Four Tops
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1) Bummed this missed my final cut. Glad you listed it. The Motown harmonizers and the like were a heavy influence on my first heavy music listening years when I was 11-15. @Uruk-Hai
krista4 said:
Sullie:

Frankenstein - The Edgar Winter Group
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3) Remember listing to KEZY-AM out of Anaheim in Jr High. They played Edgar and Alice Cooper all the time. @Sullie
krista4 said:
Hov34:

Use Me - Bill Withers
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4) Always loved Bill. @Hov34

Here are my top picks from the 28's on Thursday.
 
Mrs. Rannous said:
krista4 said:
I'm putting together tomorrow's list and feel like it's a big letdown from today's choices. :shrug:
Click to expand...
Perhaps more unknowns make for a fun experience, though. I kind of expect we will know a lot of the top picks.
Click to expand...

Yeah, could be. I just know people loved today’s lineup and don’t see the same excitement for this one. Then again, what I like is VERY different from a lot of what is getting the love, anyway.
 
@scorchy

Loving the Liz Phair track from Exile…

Never listened to the album because the annoying females in college really seemed to like it, and if they liked it, I was definitely not on board back then.

But that track is killer, even if its shocking little aside about her age really isn’t shocking or likely even true. Or it is. Some girls are precocious
 
rockaction said:
I missed the Aquarius/Let The Sun Shine In selection. It's probably the best segue between one distinct song and another I might have ever heard in my life. That galloping bass and then

Let the sun shine/let the sun shine
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Rock, have you seen the Summer Of Soul documentary that came out recently?

5th Dimension played it and there's a really good section on them in the film. They brought in Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis, Jr to comment on their performance. It was interesting to hear them talk about how hard it was for them to gain acceptance with black listeners because their records perceived as not being "black" enough (5D did a LOT of MOR pop), and how much that hurt them. Anyway, they performed that song in the doc.
 
Uruk-Hai said:
Rock, have you seen the Summer Of Soul documentary that came out recently?
Click to expand...

No, and I heard it was excellent and that the music was top notch. I just haven't clicked on it yet. I'm not sure I'm the guy for psychedelic soul. That's really what's been holding me up. I tend to eschew almost all psychedelia or psychedelia-inspired stuff. Like I should be a natural for certain bands, but I just have never dug the trip (probably because I never took acid in my life).

And the 5th Dimension ironically, for a white kid, comes to me from Soul Train because of when Marilyn McCoo guest hosted or something on some night or other. They did a reproduction of that song, and it was wild. I loved it as a kid. I can see how that would happen to them. Maybe it's a music thing, too. Who really knows. They were an uber cool ensemble to me, anyway.
 
Man, I love that song so much because memories just come rushing back. Watching the video where she starts this frenetic hand clap in tune with the beat but divided in to quarter or eighth notes is just the **** how much they themselves are feeling what the track is laying down.

At 3:07, check the woman at the left.

- YouTube

Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.
www.youtube.com www.youtube.com
 
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rockaction said:
I just haven't clicked on it yet. I'm not sure I'm the guy for psychedelic soul
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There's some of that - Sly & The Family Stone played it, for instance - but there's also BB King, Nina Simone (who was incendiary), Stevie Wonder. Mahalia Jackson sang with Mavis Staples. Gladys & the Pips, I recall. David Ruffin in a fur coat in the middle of summer :lol:

As fun as the performances are, it's a really cool snapshot of a time and place with lots of interviews. Someone filmed it back then, but couldn't get it made into a picture. Somehow Questlove got hold of it a few years ago and got it produced (I think he also directed it).
 
Eephus said:
I Only Have Eyes for You - Flamingos - It's so beautiful that it makes you overlook how strange the production and harmony vocals are.
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I would watch a "making of" documentary about this record. The way it turned out had to be an accident, like the tape got wrinkled or a microphone was sparking or something. It sounds like it was recorded in an underwater bathroom. The lyrics don't pace with the rhythm, and the rhythm doesn't even pace with itself. And that damned wordless falsetto in the background sounds like someone told a Martian to take his best stab at singing opera. The composers had to have had heart attacks when they heard this version.

Everything about it is just so odd and random and perfect.
 
Ilov80s said:
My 3 happy to see get some recognition

F--- and Run by Liz Phair
What About Us by Pink
LA Freeway by Guy Clark
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What About Us makes an appearance on my list. Thanks to having more girls in the house than boys, P!nk is part our main house soundtrack and i find myself more and more amazed at her voice and her power.
 
Eephus said:
If You Don't Want Me To - Ronnie Milsap - Overall it's a very Yacht Rock sounding song with just enough twang in Milsap's vocal. Very nice key change towards the end.
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This was a ubiquitous wedding reception song around here in the 80s. There was an easy line dance associated with it called The Freeze — in fact, a lot of people think the song is titled “The Freeze”. Anyone can get up and do The Freeze even if you don’t already know it — little kids and old folks could get on the floor with the Denim & Diamonds folks and do fine just following along.

Some good friends got married in the late 90s. The bride, groom, myself, and the bride’s brother were all part of the same social crew working at a local restaurant together—probably the most fun and carefree times of my adult life.

Anyway. The married couple paid for their own reception out of their 20-something wait-staff pockets. It was a literal pot luck dinner in an undecorated KoC hall. After the traditional opening dances, people got to noshing and not paying much attention to the music anymore (bride’s brother was the budget DJ with his bedroom stereo). For a while, it was one of those “nobody’s dancing” receptions.

After a bit, bride’s brother started “If You Don’t Want Me To” and then got up from behind his set to prompt everyone onto the floor. It took some guts to start The Freeze by himself, but it got a few of the Urban Cowboy era ladies out there. They dragged their husbands. A couple of grandmas. A few little kids. A new mom dancing with her baby in arms. Half our restaurant crew joined in, including the happy couple.

I don’t know. I liked the song already, but having a little memory like that helps lock it in as an all-time favorite.
 
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rockaction said:
My favorite of the past two days, including my own, has to be Hey Ya! By OutKast. This song hit like a storm when it came out, and it crossed over in ways unheard of for the time period.

Shake it shake it
Shake it like a Polaroid picture
Now all Beyonces and Lucy Lius
Get on the floor
You know what to do

Lend me some sugar
I am your neighbor!
Click to expand...
It crossed over to the point where it's part of the music 🎶 rotation at my local chain box store.
 
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