Favorite 31 Songs by US Artists According to a Bunch of Middle-Aged Dummies (8 Viewers)

[krista4]

Since we're at the point where I can't call out favorites (too many), I'd like to give today's shout-out to the Feelies song. I had a different song of theirs on my medium list and am happy to see them represented.

Several that I'm curious to listen to today, including the Garfunkel!

 

[scorchy]

Top 5 percent of Spotify users here. It must be from walking the dogs 2-3 hours a day, especially considering I use Tidal at home (Hi-res streaming and MQA just sound a ton better).

My Top 5 Artists were completely unsurprising:

1. The Hold Steady
2. Pavement
3. Drive-By Truckers
4. The Smiths
5. Nine Inch Nails

 

[Ilov80s]

3. The Smiths

You must have gone to college.

LOL actually just the queen died and I started listening to that one song and then got sucked into their whole catalog. I forgot how much I enjoyed them. Hadn’t given them much of a spin for a decade.

 

[simey]

I haven't heard "Young Hearts Run Free" in years.

 

[worrierking]

worrierking:

The Boy With the Perpetual Nervousness – The Feelies
(new artist)

This is some prime username/song title synergy right here.

Other songs that might appear on the worrierking list:

Basket Case-Green Day
Anxiety-Jason Isbell
Paranoid-Black Sabbath
The Fear-Shins
Stressed Out-A Tribe Called Quest
Panic Attack-Dream Theater
Nervous-Moody Blues
Afraid of Everyone-The National
Nervous Mary-The Breeders
Nervous and Shaky-Del Fuegos

 

[jwb]

I haven't heard "Young Hearts Run Free" in years.

I never heard it until an adult - it was one of my wife's favorites when she was a kid. Great song.

 

[Tecumseh]

No Fleetwood Mac. Stupid Christine McVee ruins everything…

Damn, now I feel bad.

 

[falguy]

Shame on me for forgetting what a great tune All These Things That I've Done is. What a, well, Killer tune.

 

[simey]

I haven't heard "Young Hearts Run Free" in years.

I never heard it until an adult - it was one of my wife's favorites when she was a kid. Great song.

It was popular in the 70s. You and I are the same age, so it was on the radio during your youth. Maybe it wasn't played on your local radio station.

 

[jwb]

I haven't heard "Young Hearts Run Free" in years.

I never heard it until an adult - it was one of my wife's favorites when she was a kid. Great song.

It was popular in the 70s. You and I are the same age, so it was on the radio during your youth. Maybe it wasn't played on your local radio station.

Heh, local radio was NY WABC / WNBC - prettymuch the pinnacle of top 40 radio. So in thinking about it, I must have heard it. I guess when I say "I never heard it" it's more it was simply not one that chiseled its way into my brain. I guess?

 

[DrIanMalcolm]

Best new to me – Lawyers, Guns, and Money. Every time new Zevon hits my ears I say to myself I need to get more of him in my shuffle then I quite simply don’t do it. Maybe this heart will get the algorithm to work though.

Thanks!
Yes, I love this one. Very few artists can truly write "funny," and Zevon could. This one's so damned irreverent, and he used to wail away at the piano when he played this, when he was a bit of a wild dude all the way back when. He's got many lyrically excellent songs - I could have chosen many - but this is the one that had to be there.

 

[Pip's Invitation]

Favorite new-to-me songs from today:

Dead Roots Stirring -- Elder (Manster). More mindbending material from Manster.
The Boy with the Perpetual Nervousness -- The Feelies (Worrierking). The Feelies are another blind spot of mine. The way this song used guitars and percussion is highly innovative and unusual for the time. I can see how it's like a VU situation where barely anyone heard this record at the time but many of those who did formed bands.
All These Things That I've Done -- The Killlers (Hov34). Yet another blind spot. They emerged after I stopped paying attention to new music, and they get compared to Springsteen, which is not the kind of thing that gets me to check a band out. But this is a wonderful anthem that isn't forced unlike some of those from ... that guy.

And then there was this:

Young Hearts Run Free -- Candi Staton (Doug B)
I didn't recognize it by title, but when it came on I was like, "Oh, I remember this! This is a jam!"

 

[KarmaPolice]

The wife and I went to see The Smile play last night in Milwaukee. Better than I expected, since I can give or take the album. I think like when Kid A came out, I liked the album more after seeing them play the songs live. The opener, however, was probably the worst **** I've hear in concert. I had tears from holding back laughing.

Anyway, we listened to some of playlist #17. The good of it was we jammed to some Smokey Robinson and Ella Fitzgerald. The good of it was I had to out myself as really disliking one of her favorite songs ever. I knew I was in trouble when Jeff Buckley came on the playlist, and I hear "Oh, what do think of Jeff Buckley?" We did turn it into discussion of our mutual hatred for the New Radicals tune, so we still have that.

Also, @shuke , you big attention whore, one of the tracks that stood out to me was the Jerry song. I really dug the music, and it had me in a good mood at work today. I could just imagine the b.o, weed, and patchouli.

Other stand outs for me were the Spoon and Paul Simon tunes.

 

[Pip's Invitation]

I had to out myself as really disliking one of her favorite songs ever. I knew I was in trouble when Jeff Buckley came on the playlist

I hope she made you sleep on the couch.

 

[scorchy]

Walking in the cold rain sucks but at least the music was good...

Known:

Gold: The Boy with the Perpetual Nervousness (worrierking)
Silver: September (ditkaburgers)
Bronze: Don't Go Back to Rockville (k4)

Unknown:

Gold: Melissa (simey)
Silver: All This and More (rock)
Bronze: Cold Shot (just win baby)

 

[KarmaPolice]

I had to out myself as really disliking one of her favorite songs ever. I knew I was in trouble when Jeff Buckley came on the playlist

I hope she made you sleep on the couch.

Well, I did sleep on the couch because she left the window open in our bedroom and it was about 40 damn degrees in there.

 

[DrIanMalcolm]

The wife and I went to see The Smile play last night in Milwaukee. Better than I expected, since I can give or take the album. I think like when Kid A came out, I liked the album more after seeing them play the songs live. The opener, however, was probably the worst **** I've hear in concert. I had tears from holding back laughing.

The worst opener I've ever seen was this jackass who opened for Beck a number of years ago - probably after Guero came out (I was with my wife, so has to be at least after 2001 when we started dating). He was one of these "one-man band" novelty acts, who has like those synthesized drums on his chest and can also do that while tapping his feet and playing a guitar and what not. And he did "Rapper's Delight" and a bunch of other songs made for this purpose, one supposes. Later he sort of emerged in the crowd, mostly so he could try to get *some* props for his ridiculous act, and then someone - and I think it was him - set off a stinkbomb at the concert in his vicinity so that, again, he could get some people to tell him that they liked his set.

The worst part of this as well is that Beck wasn't terribly good either, drifting distractedly from song to song without finishing one before bleeding into the next. Yeah, I guess that's a medley, but this isn't the Kennedy Center Honors, boss.

 

[KarmaPolice]

@shuke a couple questions:

1. were you including my 9 also-rans in your calculations?
2. do you have an updated spotify list with more than the first 1000 songs?

I scanned through the one I had liked, and there was 8-9 on my list not on yours. I take it you don't like metal and rap, so that takes out several, but there was one song in my top 10 that I was hoping was so good it would force you to put it on your list since I didn't see the artist anywhere.

 

[Pip's Invitation]

Walking in the cold rain sucks

Oooh, I know the perfect song for that.

 

[scorchy]

Walking in the cold rain sucks

Oooh, I know the perfect song for that.

Link no work. Hoping for Oran "Juice" Jones but doubtful.

 

[KarmaPolice]

The wife and I went to see The Smile play last night in Milwaukee. Better than I expected, since I can give or take the album. I think like when Kid A came out, I liked the album more after seeing them play the songs live. The opener, however, was probably the worst **** I've hear in concert. I had tears from holding back laughing.

The worst opener I've ever seen was this jackass who opened for Beck a number of years ago - probably after Guero came out (I was with my wife, so has to be at least after 2001 when we started dating). He was one of these "one-man band" novelty acts, who has like those synthesized drums on his chest and can also do that while tapping his feet and playing a guitar and what not. And he did "Rapper's Delight" and a bunch of other songs made for this purpose, one supposes. Later he sort of emerged in the crowd, mostly so he could try to get *some* props for his ridiculous act, and then someone - and I think it was him - set off a stinkbomb at the concert in his vicinity so that, again, he could get some people to tell him that they liked his set.

The worst part of this as well is that Beck wasn't terribly good either, drifting distractedly from song to song without finishing one before bleeding into the next. Yeah, I guess that's a medley, but this isn't the Kennedy Center Honors, boss.

Yep. The exact thing. One man show - keyboard playing random ambient sounds and animal noises while he squeaks out random notes on a sax. Evidently Thom is a fan, and he did come out for a couple songs with them.

 

[Pip's Invitation]

The wife and I went to see The Smile play last night in Milwaukee. Better than I expected, since I can give or take the album. I think like when Kid A came out, I liked the album more after seeing them play the songs live. The opener, however, was probably the worst **** I've hear in concert. I had tears from holding back laughing.

The worst opener I've ever seen was this jackass who opened for Beck a number of years ago - probably after Guero came out (I was with my wife, so has to be at least after 2001 when we started dating). He was one of these "one-man band" novelty acts, who has like those synthesized drums on his chest and can also do that while tapping his feet and playing a guitar and what not. And he did "Rapper's Delight" and a bunch of other songs made for this purpose, one supposes. Later he sort of emerged in the crowd, mostly so he could try to get *some* props for his ridiculous act, and then someone - and I think it was him - set off a stinkbomb at the concert in his vicinity so that, again, he could get some people to tell him that they liked his set.

The worst part of this as well is that Beck wasn't terribly good either, drifting distractedly from song to song without finishing one before bleeding into the next. Yeah, I guess that's a medley, but this isn't the Kennedy Center Honors, boss.

Most of my worst openers have been in the "punk or indie bands who don't understand the difference between music and noise" category. However, Gallon Drunk, whom I saw opening for PJ Harvey on the Rid of Me tour, stands out as particularly ridiculous. They were just relentlessly annoying.

 

[Pip's Invitation]

Walking in the cold rain sucks

Oooh, I know the perfect song for that.

Link no work. Hoping for Oran "Juice" Jones but doubtful.

It's not, but that's a good call too. Fixed in the original post.

 

[scorchy]

Walking in the cold rain sucks

Oooh, I know the perfect song for that.

Link no work. Hoping for Oran "Juice" Jones but doubtful.

It's not, but that's a good call too. Fixed in the original post.

upstream connect error or disconnect/reset before headers. reset reason: connection failure, transport failure reason: delayed connect error: 111

Maybe it's just on my end. Given the buildup, this better be worth it!

 

[KarmaPolice]

I lose track of who picks what, but I will echo other posts that the Elder song cooks. I am mildly familiar with them, but I think a different album. Lore, maybe?

The Killers was another I whiffed on and didn't even think about. Good to see them on here. Adore the Spoon song as well. Motown songs always get me, and I don't know why I don't listen to more. A lot of great tracks today.

 

[Pip's Invitation]

Walking in the cold rain sucks

Oooh, I know the perfect song for that.

Link no work. Hoping for Oran "Juice" Jones but doubtful.

It's not, but that's a good call too. Fixed in the original post.

upstream connect error or disconnect/reset before headers. reset reason: connection failure, transport failure reason: delayed connect error: 111

Maybe it's just on my end. Given the buildup, this better be worth it!

The first one didn’t work for me either but that one did. It’s Cold Rain by Screaming Trees.

 

[scorchy]

The first one didn’t work for me either but that one did. It’s Cold Rain by Screaming Trees.

Speaking of Cold Rain, driving up Saturday for the Eagles game on Sunday. I bought club seats just in case.

 

[Manster]

Walking in the cold rain sucks

Oooh, I know the perfect song for that.

Link no work. Hoping for Oran "Juice" Jones but doubtful.

It's not, but that's a good call too. Fixed in the original post.

upstream connect error or disconnect/reset before headers. reset reason: connection failure, transport failure reason: delayed connect error: 111

Maybe it's just on my end. Given the buildup, this better be worth it!

The first one didn’t work for me either but that one did. It’s Cold Rain by Screaming Trees.

That's some old school Trees!

 

[Eephus]

That's some old school Trees!

Old growth forest

 

[Pip's Invitation]

Walking in the cold rain sucks

Oooh, I know the perfect song for that.

Link no work. Hoping for Oran "Juice" Jones but doubtful.

It's not, but that's a good call too. Fixed in the original post.

upstream connect error or disconnect/reset before headers. reset reason: connection failure, transport failure reason: delayed connect error: 111

Maybe it's just on my end. Given the buildup, this better be worth it!

The first one didn’t work for me either but that one did. It’s Cold Rain by Screaming Trees.

That's some old school Trees!

From when they were Whispering Saplings.

 

[Leroy Hoard]

Never quite got into the Trees. Maybe the forest was in my way.

 

[DrIanMalcolm]

I'd be interested in hearing what everyone's favorite opening acts were.

 

[KarmaPolice]

I'd be interested in hearing what everyone's favorite opening acts were.

First one that came to mind was Lord Huron. Didn't know much about them, besides a couple songs and they were technically opening for Daniel Rateliff. DR put on the better show, but I remember liking Lord Huron's music much more and it started my obsession with the album Strange Trails.

A couple others that stick out were from back in the day. I didn't know much about either band, but The Melvins and Crowbar rocked my face when I saw them in concert opening for I believe Primus and Pantera.

 

[krista4]

Closed on the sale of my house today. It's nice to be a one-home-owner again. Will accept any appropriate celebratory songs.

Just now firing up today's playlist. Only on song #2, new-to-me Stevie Ray Vaughan, and loving it!

 

[krista4]

And OH is listening with me while he's making dinner, so I expect a lot of commentary from him, too.

 

[krista4]

And OH is listening with me while he's making dinner, so I expect a lot of commentary from him, too.

Me: "I liked that Stevie Ray Vaughan song!"
Him: :gruntofdisapproval:

So much for the commentary.

 

[Pip's Invitation]

I'd be interested in hearing what everyone's favorite opening acts were.

I discovered the aforementioned Failure when I saw them open for Tool in 1994.

The opener for my first Allman Brothers show in 1991 was Blues Traveler — a few years before you covered John Popper’s gun possession case at our old workplace. I knew who they were and had heard But Anyway but was otherwise unaware of their material. They jammed out for an hour (and threw in But Anyway in the middle).

I enjoyed Buffalo Tom when they opened for Violent Femmes, Eugenius opening for Mudhoney, Walt Mink when they opened for the Levellers, Strand of Oaks opening for My Morning Jacket, and The Avett Brothers opening for Wilco.

Bands I already knew well that I technically saw as openers include Flaming Lips opening for Beck and Ween (on separate occasions), Ween opening for Flaming Lips, Tsunami opening for PJ Harvey and Jawbox (on separate occasions), Wilco opening for Neil Young, My Morning Jacket opening for Pearl Jam and Tom Petty (on separate occasions), and My Morning Jacket and Wilco opening for Bob Dylan.

 

[krista4]

This version of Summertime is nuts.

 

[Ilov80s]

I'd be interested in hearing what everyone's favorite opening acts were.

The one that oddly sticks out most to me was Silversun Pick-ups. I had never heard of them and this was just before Lazy Eye was about to become a thing. My wife was into Snow Patrol so I got tickets for Christmas or her birthday. I wasn't paying much attention to the opening act but they got my attention and I must have told my wife 20x "hey this band rocks" I immediately sought out their music and found myself dropping their name to a bunch of friends. I was excited to see that Lazy Eye and their couple albums found some success.

 

[jwb]

Favorites today:

Cold Shot @Just Win Baby
All This and More @rockaction (new to me - this was superb!)
Lawyers Guns and Money @DrIanMalcolm
Use Me @Oliver Humanzee
Young Hearts Run Free @Doug B

Almost everything today was listenable - not much skipping.

 

[jwb]

I'd be interested in hearing what everyone's favorite opening acts were.

Kind of "we haven't been to a concert in awhile how about Blue Oyster Cult so I can say I saw them in four different decades" .... opening act: Vanilla Fudge.

Was not expecting much. Fudge takes the stage and starts a long droning intro with fuzzy feedback/etc... starts to sing but it's the first song which is always hard to pick up if you don't know it, then I hear the chorus.... "then I saw her face... now I'm a believer" - they're covering the Monkees!! Awesome! They surprised me - they were really good. This was in... I want to say 2015?

 

[krista4]

Me: Someone chose an Art Garfunkel song.
OH: Is it the one about rabbits?

He then reminded me that we won some very good wine at a winery trivia night because he knew the Art Garfunkel song from Watership Down. So there you go; now we know two of his songs.

 

[krista4]

OH was a big fan of the Candi Staton song. My favorite new-to-me song in addition to those I already mentioned was the Killers song. I've never heard a song of theirs I don't like, so I really should listen more. Oh, and I also enjoyed Melissa, which I might have been embarrassed to admit I didn't know were it not for the fact someone else already did.

 

[scorchy]

I'd be interested in hearing what everyone's favorite opening acts were.

I already mentioned (I think) The Killers opening for Stellastarr and owning it.
Travis opening for Oasis was amazing.
I guess Skid Row opening for GnR isn't really what you're asking here.

 

[MAC_32]

I'd be interested in hearing what everyone's favorite opening acts were.

Not true openers, but 3 early afternoon festival sets immediate come to mind - Fall Out Boy, Halestorm, and Greta Van Fleet. Each were right when or before their breakthroughs were released. Saw 2 others at small general admission venues before they hit - Incubus and White Stripes.

All that pales in comparison to my older brother who got Pearl Jam and Smashing Pumpkins as openers for the Chili Peppers. Oh, to have been a teenager in the early 90's...

 

[simey]

I'm not going to repeat the songs I have already listed as favorites in the past rounds, because they are starting to add up.

Top 5 favorites from round #16

(Don't Go Back To) Rockville
All Her Favourite Fruit
Search and Destroy
She's Gone
Simple Man
Young Hearts Run Free

One of the above is on my list.

Favorites new to me song(s):

All This and More
All These Things That I've Done

 

[rockaction]

I think there were many opening acts that have stuck out to me over the years, but the one that surprised me the most was an unknown garage act from San Diego called (at the time) The Muslims. They opened for The Walkmen down in the Bowery, and I happened to be there to catch it. Good stuff. I followed their career a bit (they changed their name to The Soft Pack) and they had a middling career as a club act. But I listened to them quite a bit in the aughts.

 

[rockaction]

I really should have figured out a better way to organize and call out certain songs that were striking me at the moment without feeling like I was omitting something. The Feelies, however, sound like the Violent Femmes, only more technically proficient and with almost a drum circle. That's pretty cool. What a great build-up and ending!

 

[simey]

I'd be interested in hearing what everyone's favorite opening acts were.

There have been so many, but there are a couple I feel fortunate to have seen before they passed.

I saw Minutemen open for REM in December of '85. They were fun. Almost 3 weeks later D. Boon from the Minutemen died in a car accident.
I saw Sharon Jones and The Dap-Kings open for the Tedeschi Trucks Band in 2015. Sharon Jones was awesome. She died of cancer a year later. I think she had cancer when she performed, but you'd never have known it. She had so much energy, and was a fabulous performer. Her band, The Dap-Kings, were great too.

 

[Mister CIA]

Top 5 percent of Spotify users here. It must be from walking the dogs 2-3 hours a day, especially considering I use Tidal at home (Hi-res streaming and MQA just sound a ton better).

My Top 5 Artists were completely unsurprising:

1. The Hold Steady
2. Pavement
3. Drive-By Truckers
4. The Smiths
5. Nine Inch Nails

Man, Pavement (really, Stephen Malkmus) and Drive-by Truckers easily crack my top-10, and I just can't get The Hold Steady. The band sounds phenomenol, but there's no getting past the singer (insert punchbowl metaphor).

In other news, I stumbled across the band Parquet Courts about ten years after I should've.

Borrowed Time
Freebird II ... Singer looks exactly like I'd imagine a young man who migrated from the DFW suburbs to Brooklyn would.
Tenderness