Songs in the Key of Life (wrinkly rockers an all)

Having always been brought up in a house full of music from Nat King Cole Ella Fitzgerald to Hendrix Capt Beefheart,classical to big band and even modern jazz i can remember to a degree the music in the decade i fished.
Having seen the Crickets live at the Sheffield City hall in the late fifties i have always had a liking for the rock musicians and here are my pick of what i think are the best of each decade.
Fifties
Carl Perkins Buddy Holly Gene Vincent
Eddie Cochran Jodimars (no i dont like Presley)
Sixties
Doors Capt Beefheart Beachboys Cream Led Zep Allman Bros MC5 Stooges Fleetwood Mac(Pete Green)Beatles Birds Dylan
Seventies
Free Little Feat Wishbone Ash Lynyrd Skynyrd Beefheart The Band Television
Lou Reed Steely Dan
Eighties (best left alone)
Nineties
Radiohead Pearl Jam Black Crowes and not much after
Best Live Acts
Crickets Capt Beefheart Cream Lynyrd Skynyrd Wishbone Ash UFO Free Stevie Ray Vaughn
Most influential
Dylan Lennon Don Van Vliet Brian Wilson Lou Reed
Favourite Artist
Capt Beefheart and the Magic Band(simply magic) Lynyrd Skynyrd (saw em three times)brlliant live
Favourite Albums
Safe as Milk Clear Spot Spotlight Kid all Capt Beefheart
Cant buy a thrill Steely Dan Marqee Moon Television
Favourite Track for fishing
Long Neck Bottles Capt Beefheart caught a few 2lb roach on upper Witham with this track ringing in my ears
Well thats my lot ,can you better it and please no Status Quo Phil Collins Abba Girls Aloud Westlife and certainly no Chas and Dave

John,

Did you get to see the original Lynyrd Skynyrd - before October 1977?

As my wife comes from Mobile, AL, I have probably had to listen to Sweet Home Alabama and Freebird about a million times.

The controversy surrounding the plane crash; and the subsequent events legal and otherwise, makes the Beatles and Stones look like beginers.

Sweet home Alabama............

Well I heard mister Young sing about her
Well I heard ole Neil put her down
Well I hope Neil Young will remember A southern man don't need him around anyhow.


This verse has allways puzzeled me.What did Neil Young do/say to be imortalized in a classic track?

Brian,

To understand this you first need to go out and buy a Confederate Flag and about 4 dozen Bud's and then forget everything your parents and school teachers ever taught you about good manners.

Okay?

Right, well; Sweet Home Alabama was written in 1974 as a response to 2 of Young's anti-Southern records, After the Gold Rush and Alabama.
Sweet Home Alabama soon got the reputation as a "response record" and refers directly to the previous hit in a catty, mischievous way".
The lines in "Sweet Home Alabama" are a direct response to Young's anti-racist, anti-cross burning "Southern Man" and "Alabama" songs.
Lynyrd Skynyrd's comeback was intended to mean, essentially, "Thank you for your opinion Neil, now leave us alone."
(or words to that effect

It is this perceived "attitude" which has led to Lynyrd Skynyrd earning a reputation as a "racist" band. Notwithstanding the fact that the band often performed with a Confederate flag as a backdrop, the label and perception has been hard to shake.

This fuelled the myth of a feud between Young and Lynyrd Skynyrd that was further highlighted in the Drive By Truckers Album "Southern Rock Opera" in 2002 (I think?)

How much of this "fued" was real and how much was myth is a matter of conjecture, but suffice to say that Neil Young wasd a pallbearer at Van Zant's funeral. This prompted the Driveby Truckers to write in their song "Ronnie and Neil" the follwoing:

"And Neil helped carry Ronnie in his casket to the ground
And to my way of thinking, us southern men need both of them around"

See the sort of things one can learn by marrying a lady from Alabama?

Now, take care y'all and have a good day, y'hear?

Peter you dont half know some stuff!

Well said that man.

Thanks Nigel

As you know I've spent the greater part of the last 20 or so years working away from home. This leaves me with 2 to 3 hours a night where I can read and more lately surf around researching things that appeal at the time.

There is a lot more to the Young/Skynyrd story - most of which was designed to sell records rather than reflect the truth.

But I do have a Lynyrd Skynyrd T shirt that my wife bought me at a reunion concert in Mobile about 5 years ago.
So its a case of; been there done that and got the T shirt

ok peter heres two for ya

Q1 at the end of the epic freebird the song doesnt end it just fades away .my god how long did that song go on for did they just jam all night and happend to press record at some point and freebird was released??

Q2america =horse with no name

on the first part of the journey
i was looking at all the life there were plants and birds and rocks and "things"
there was sand and hills and rain .

WHAT WERE THE THINGS ??

Peter
My wife and i saw Lynyrd Skynyrd three times,twice in Sheffield once in Manchester and they where the best group i ever saw live apart from the Allman Bros in their prime. I have all their albums and i am also a big lover of Neil Young, anyone who has heard Cortez the Killer will know why
I have always prefered American music to British, in fact if memory serves me well lonnie Donegan was the first Brit to break into Bilboard.
One of the worst groups i ever saw live where the Stones in the early sixties, could not sing could not play could not hear. Little Richard followed them on stage and he blew them away. Also saw T Rex when they first started,just Marc Bolam and i think Micky Tooks although i could be wrong might have been Peregrine
Last time i saw a live group it was the Eagles at Sheffield Arena. I only went because Joe Walsh was with them,remember him from James Gang Pete. To be honest the Eagles where brilliant and Joe Walsh was well joe Walsh.what a guitar player

Peter Tell your wife she is my type of woman,obvoiusly a beauty with brains

Joe Walsh--"Rocky Mountain High", John your music tastes are very much the same as mine,brilliant to say the least!!
To your lists I would add
50's Big Boppa, Richie Valens
60's The Who,Santana, Richie Havens,Van Morrison,Pink Floyd
70's CSN,Quicksilver,Manassas,Poco,ACDC
80's Nothing.
Best Live:Who, Floyd,Ash
Favorite Albums: Electric LadyLand, Who's Next

The very best rock singer of all time was the late, great:

Jerry Lee Lewis.

To see this character in full flow was not only exciting but bloody hilarious.

I remember when he came to England with his 14 year old wife. I was at high school at the time.

What an entertainer.

i remember watching the music quiz "never mind the buzzcocks" one friday night and one of the questions john,was how did capt.beefheart get his name???
apparently it comes from a party trick of his where he used to pull out his rather large penis from his pants/trousers and squeeze it really tight until his helmet became enlarged and purple.then he would walk around shouting that he had got him self a big old beef heart!!!

thats one for all you trivia/pub quiz fanatics....

Smokedodger
Yes Electric Ladyland Band of Gypsies brilliant
Poco excellent as is Santana(how did i forget him)
Also forgot to mention the Pixes who should never have split
How about the late great Jeff Buckley
Do not buy the albums like i used to but the new Robert Plant CD out May 2nd is one i will buy
Remember jerry Lee Lewis very well but my favourite of that time was Carl Perkins and his Sun recordings where brilliant as was Presley when he recorded his first tracks on Sun . Remember Lawdy Miss Clawdy Thats Alright Moma ....... where did it all go wrong Colonel Tom Parker perhaps

Forgot to say Buddy Holly and Crickets sent a shiver down my spine when i saw them they where that good. Introduced by a young and upcoming comedian called Des O Connor

Nick
Cant say i ever heard that one regarding the Capt. Do know anyone who had Ry Cooder in the band has my respect.
Purple helmet aye must be a good name for a group

forgot to mention,i used to take a walkman/radio with me while night fishing years ago but stopped taking it.
i remember a certain incident when i sat back in my chair,put the headfones on and waited for my quivertip to wang round.unknown to me,my fishing buddy was creeping up behind me,i couldnt hear him because of the music.he grabbed hold of me by the neck,i let out a big scream,broke the world high jump record (from the sitting position)and promptly came very near to a close encounter of the brown kind,in the old y-fronts!!!
now i prefer to hear whats going on around me and trying to put names to animal/bird noises etc.......

i`ve heard of quite a few of the band names etc being mentioned but never sat down and listened to them.i`m only 38 years of age and i grew up listening to bands like slade,the sex pistols,anything from the mod/ska/soul revival period in the early eighties.now i`m more into rock/metal etc but i must admit that if you trawled through my music collection you would find everything from kate bush,right through to slipknot.
the who will always be a firm fav of mine,with roger daltrey having one of the most powerfull singing voices i`ve ever heard and the song "wont get fooled again" being one of my alltime favs...

Ron,Jerry Lee Lewis,late great?
Is he dead?
A 20 song CD out this summer!
The Pilgrim.

Great fan of Hendrix and Floyd,first Lp's I ever bought after listening to John Peel,floating about in the North Sea.
All the Who stuff on vinyl up in the attic,must bring it down again.

rock on.....fred !!!