Hello.

I must admit I'm a bit fed up with the sorry state of the music industry at the moment with the lack of "real music" being produced. Recent exceptions include JJ72 and Badly drawn boy.

I was therefore wondering which bands from the past are worth an investigation? My faves are Blur, Nirvana, SFA, Prodigy, some U2, RATM preferably guitar based stuff.

Thanks in advance,

Gareth

what about the Pixies? They strongly influenced Nirvana and in my opinion were the better band. Try 'Doolittle' first if you like that then you will love 'surfa rosa'. Early period REM? 'Fables of the Reconstruction' and 'Document'. Of the more recent stuff that's out have you listened to 'Grandaddy' and 'Lambchop'? Both of their latest albums are superb. For a real blast of nostalgia you have to get into the Beatles, start with 'Revolver' and be amazed at how far ahead of their time they were.

Gareth--

Try a couple of these--

Husker Du: New Day Rising, Flip Your Wig, Warehouse: Songs and Stories
REM: Murmur, Reckoning, Lifes Rich Pageant, Document
Joy Division: Unknown Pleasures, Closer
Dinosaur Jr.: You're Living All Over Me, Bug, Where You Been
Minutemen: Double Nickels On The Dime, What Makes A Man Start Fires ?
Stevie Ray Vaughn: Texas Flood, Couldn't Stand the Weather, In Step, The Sky is Crying
Velvet Underground: Velvet Underground and Nico, Loaded, White Light, White Heat; Velvet Underground

I'll stop there--plenty more where they came from.

Cheers,

Bob

Ride the Light !≠

Don't have time right now to produce a list, but you could try looking at the old Husker Du thread started by Bob. There is so much good music out there curretly I don't really know where to start listing it all.

Kevin.

I'd heartily agree with the suggestions of Dinosaur Jr, Lambchop, Grandaddy, Pixies, Joy Division and The Velvet Underground.

Also try, from the recent past:

Sonic Youth - archetypal New York alternative rock. I think I'd start off with their most commercial, 'Dirty' then progress to 'Daydream Nation', 'Goo' and 'A Thousand Leaves'. If you like lots and lots of electric guitars, some doing unimaginable things, SY are the band for you.

Pavement - also from the US, easier to get to grips with and quieter than SY. Weird but inventive lyrics.

Sparklehorse - more odd lyrics. Some beautiful melodies. Nice distorted vocals.

Godspeed You Black Emperor! - the best post-rock band around. No words, just grim, dark atmospheres.

Air's 'Moon Safari', Stereolab and Add N to (X) are worth considering if you like electronica.

British music is certainly in a rut at the moment. Hopefully things should pick up with the new Radiohead and Mogwai due soon. All the Stereophonics, Travises, Coldplays etc are just SO dull.

If you want to consider much older stuff, I'd try David Bowie's 'Station to Station', 'Low' and 'Heroes', Scott Walker's 'Scott 4', Love's 'Forever Changes' (just reissued) and The Sex Pistols' 'Never Mind the Bollocks'.

If you try anyone's suggestions, please let the Forum know what you thought of them!

Cheers for the replies.

Shall start with the Pixies, Husker Du and lambchop/grandaddy. Only problem these days is getting the time to sit down and listen to music properly!
Will definately report back with comments etc.

Already got some early REM, Air and Pavement which I do enjoy.

Thanks

A tedious, over rated racket to my ears.

How about Stone Roses, Jeff Healey, Creed or Santana for a bit of variety?

steve

Got Granddays latest and the Pixies Dolittle.
Enjoyed both and will be getting more Pixies, they weren't as heavy as I was expecting but the album is very varied.
Having trouble tracking down any Husker Du though.

Cheers

On April 16th the 3 80s King Crimson albums are rereleased as remasters in miniature gatefold sleeves. While generally dismissed as irrelevant old proggies, Crim's "Discipline" should be in any good record collection. Certainly plenty of guitar power in there, plus some good poppy overtones c/o Adrian Belew, and some fantastic noise. The rhythm section of Bruford and Levin is also one of the greatest on the planet, which doesn't hurt, and nor does the packaging: the previous KC remasters in this format have the best CD packaging I've yet come across, with miniatures of the original album sleeves in stiff card and scrapbooks in the gatefold.

Pete.

gareth

i'm not quite sure how heavy you like your music, but can i suggest "aenima" by Tool. one of my all time fave albums, and certainly streets ahead of the rather tedious nu-metal that around at the moment.

the front man maynard james keenan has a fantastic voice, that can also be heard on the more recently released (and less heavy) "a perfect circle", which is also something of a gem.

cheers

matt

Sorry if I'm stating the obvious but if you like "guitar-based stuff", you can't go wrong with the first six Black Sabbath albums. It doesn't get much heavier than "War Pigs" or "Symptom of The Universe" or "Under The Sun"

Ron The Mon,
Sabbath Fan