Head Banging, Fist Pumping... and some reading

Top 10 Favorite Slow Rock Songs

2008-10-04T00:53:00.000-07:00

In no particular order, here are some Slow Rock songs which have been labeled as my personal favorites.

1.) Rainbow - Temple Of The King

2.) Gary Moore - Still Got The Blues

3.) Deep Purple - Soldier Of Fortune

4.) Scorpions - Still Loving You

5.) Bon Jovi - I'll Be There For You

6.) Foreigner - Waiting For A Girl Like You

7.) Led Zeppelin - Stairway To Heaven

8.) Metallica - Nothing Else Matters

9.) Scorpions - When The Smoke Is Going Down

10.) Bad Company - Ready For Love

Slow Rock

Psychedelic Rock

2008-09-25T01:21:00.000-07:00

Greetings once again my fellow Rockers!
The next sub-category of Rock which will be studied in today's class, as the title of the post suggests, is Psychedelic Rock or Psych Rock for short. Having emerged in the 1960s, influenced by Blues (just like most Rock), this genre got its name after the term 'Psychedelic', which denotes a drug that causes hallucination. The form of Rock mixes traditional rock sounds with exotic instruments such as the 'sitar' and the 'tabla' (Indian instruments). It is likely that the music created through creative usage of studio recordings is meant to simulate and maybe even STIMULATE the effects of psychedelic drugs.
No longer was the usual 'verse-chorus-verse' patterns of Rock used, instead a more free form of music was used by Psych Rock, often replicating the mind-altering experiences of hallucinogenic drugs. (such as LSD, mescaline etc...)

Now here comes the fun part... The bands which are responsible for some of the biggest Psych Rock hits out there! And of course, my personal favorite songs of this genre.
The famous bands of Psych Rock include: The Beatles, The Doors, Jefferson Airplane, the legend, Jimi Hendrix and some songs by The Beach Boys.
Yes, as much as The Beach Boys may seem as the unlikeliest member of this genre, once their writer cum producer, Brian Wilson was under the influence of drugs, their music grew more towards Psychedelic Rock.
As for those of you who are questioning the Beatles, as I have mentioned before, Rock is one really complicated genre. SOME of their music, like Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds and I am the Walrus fall under Psych Rock. Similarly, the Beach Boys's most famous song under this genre would be Good Vibrations.

A note to readers: Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds and Good Vibrations are songs you MUST listen to, if you haven't already.

Here are some other bands and songs by them: Jefferson Airplane with White Rabbit, Grateful Dead - Touch of Grey and Dark Star is nice as well. Then there is The Byrds with Eight Miles High which is worth a listen... It has odd vocal harmonies in it. Next up is Donovan - Season of the Witch and of course Jimi Hendrix with 1983 (A Merman I Should Turn To Be). And here are some of my absolutely favorite songs, so PAY ATTENTION!

King Crimson (mentioned in my Prog Rock post, but this song falls under Psych Rock) - I Talk To The Wind
Steppenwolf (Born To Be Wild wasn't their only hit you know?) - Magic Carpet Ride
Jefferson Airplane - Somebody To Love

Psych Rock is such an amazing sub-genre of Rock, and I hope you guys enjoy the songs below as much as I do! Feel free once again to recommend more songs, provide feedback or simply declare your love for Rock.

Psych Rock

Seeing Sounds

2008-09-11T23:19:00.000-07:00

The trio consisting of Pharrell Williams, Chad Hugo (The Neptunes) and their rapping pal Shay Haley renowned for the tunes they brilliantly come up with have returned with their latest collection in “Seeing Sounds”. It has been a long awaited four years now since their last album and this third studio album of theirs has brought a huge grin on many eagerly waiting “nerddicts”. Yes, the boys of N.E.R.D are back, and as expected, their reputation as the pioneers of experimental music stands sky high. Taking elements of Jazz, Blues, Hip Hop, Rock, Electronica and Soul, their latest release proudly presents fusion at its best. Just how do they do it?

Not only is their music interesting, their album name is as well, and there is a story as to how they came up with the title.

After watching a program on “synesthesia” (a neurological disorder that causes people to experience sounds as colors or objects in their minds) on the Discovery Channel, N.E.R.D were inspired to produce album three. If you haven’t already decided to purchase the album, listening to songs like ‘Spaz’, ‘Anti-Matter’ and ‘Everyone Nose’ is bound to get you running straight to your nearest music store. ‘Spaz’ and ‘Anti-Matter’ may have lyrics which would make one go “Huh!?” but pay more attention to the drum, bass, rock riffs and weird grooves. While lines like “All the girls standing in the line for the bathroom” may not reflect Pharrell as a lyrical master but more of a disaster, take time to appreciate the beats. This is just how N.E.R.D is. It may take a few times of listening to the album to actually get you liking it.

‘Spaz’ and ‘Anti-Matter’ are probably two of the most interesting songs in the album, and probably of 2008. Completely contradictory, are songs like ‘Yeah You’ with its groovy R&B sounds and light use of a saxophone, ‘Sooner or Later’ take a softer approach which harmonizes piano, drums and guitar elements but it is nearly 7 minutes long and does tend to get rather annoying. ‘Kill Joy’ is another song to look out for with its fast paced tempo, surely to get your body moving to the beats while ‘Love Bomb’ has some orchestral-like sounds and light guitar tunes, making it a pleasant listen. While listening to the album, you are bound to find a personal favorite, simply because all the songs have such different jingles to them, catering to such a huge fan base. As Pharrell explained, they do not care about genres nor the money, it is all for the fans.

We’re not sure if seeing sounds is what we will be doing upon listening to this album but one thing’s for sure, we will definitely be seeing N.E.R.D around and their fan population growing if they continue producing such brilliant sounds. This is such a fun album to listen to and let’s call it a music adventure not to be missed! This is an essential addition to the collection of N.E.R.D fans.

Here's a preview of their album. Sorry it's only three songs, but no point in uploading them all now is there? Go get the album yourself!

N.E.R.D

They're Back!

2008-09-10T06:53:00.000-07:00

Great news guys! I'm sure you've all heard, and have been eagerly awaiting...
Metallica's latest album is to be released this Friday, September 12th 2008!!!
I will definitely post up an album review after grabbing "Death Magnetic"

Yup, they're using their old logo again! And this is the first album featuring bassist, Robert Trujillo. (You may remember him from Suicidal Tendencies, Ozzy Osbourne and a few other bands)

And there's more... even AC/DC is releasing their latest album called "Black Ice". Expect it to be released on the 20th of next month. (October 20th, 2008) Argh! Can't wait! Till then, why don't you readers go listen to their "Highway to Hell" album to get pumped up!

What a year this has proven to be! If you had no idea, 2008 has already seen new album releases by bands such as Disturbed, Motley Crue and even Def Leppard!!!!

Sadly though, I haven't checked out these albums yet. Have any of you got the album or at least heard some songs from it? Do get back to me and give me the verdict! All I listened to was Lenny Kravitz's "It is Time for a Love Revolution"... It was quite interesting. Something different from dear old Lenny. For a taste of his new album, listen to Bring It On and the funky, Will You Marry Me.

Of course, my all time fav is still Fly Away! Another album I got my hands on was N.E.R.D's "Seeing Sounds". Just as peculiar as the album sounds, the songs reflect it as well. A blend of weird sounds, (jazz, hip hop, rock) that they want listeners to be able to "see" the sounds by just closing your eyes. No, seriously! There is this neuroligical disorder called synesthesia which causes people to experience sounds as colours or images intheir minds. The guys of N.E.R.D saw this on good ol' Discovery Channel and were inspired. Songs I reccomend are Spaz, Everyone Nose and Anti Matter.
Go check it out and tell me what you think.

Progressive Rock

2008-09-02T00:24:00.000-07:00

Instead of going straight to the definition of Progressive Rock, let me first introduce you to some of the bands which fall under this sub-category of Rock.

There's Pink Floyd and Genesis.. Bands we are all familiar with.
Upon more research into this genre, I was familiarized with bands such as King Crimson, Emerson, Lake and Palmer, Yes, Jethro Tull and a few others.

Now, honestly after listening to their songs, I must admit, I'm still not a real fan of Prog Rock as it is called.

Why? Well, here's the first thing you should know about Progressive Rock. The songs go on for more than the usual 4 minutes. It can drag on for about 13 minutes! I'm referring to Pink Floyd's Shine on You Crazy Diamond. You don't get any singing till after 7 minutes! If you're like me, that's a LONG time to wait. I've been told that some Prog Rock songs even go on for 30 minutes...

Also, Prog Rock has attached with it "jazzy" and almost classical elements, with a splash of electrical musical instruments as well. This makes the songs rather slow and mellow. I'm not saying the songs are not worth a listen. Lucky Man by ELP is quite soothing to the ears, but not a song I'd burn into a CD or upload onto my iPod.

Progressive Rock kicked off in the late 1960's and hit it big in the 70's in Europe mostly. The usual themes covered history, religion, war, love and politics. One of the most disturbing songs I've heard so far, is Mama by Genesis. Try listening to the song, and I'd love to hear your take on the lyrics.

A few others songs I listened to was Epitaph by King Crimson, Aqualung by Jethro Tull, and Starship Trooper by Yes! Of all of those, only Starship Trooper was something I rather liked. It was fast, and the lyrics spoke of the beauty and ugliness of life.

Just as any other form of Rock music, Prog Rock cannot be clearly defined and has gone through alot of changes and transformations. The evolution of Prog Rock led to sub-genres such as Neo Progressive, Prog Folk, Symphonic Prog and Metal Prog.

Other bands worth giving a few minutes listening to (Hah! A few mins? Hardly possible when it comes to Prog Rock) are Dream Theater and Frank Zappa.

For this time around, I'll not post up any songs from this genre, unless requests are made.

In short, not a sub-category of Rock I really enjoy, but hey, we all have different taste in music.
Feedback is more than welcome.

Here's a video of my best liked song by Genesis. This is DEFINITELY worth listening to.

Soft Rock

2008-08-23T00:46:00.000-07:00

Let's start off with something mild... Soft Rock.
Soft Rock was one of the first genres of Rock I was introduced to back in the 1990's, although it was already around since the 1970's. Unlike normal Rock lyrics which usually revolve around drugs, sex, politics and other confrontational lyrics, Soft Rock took a lighter approach, and focused more on friendship, everyday life and romance, all sung with higher-pitched vocals,
and all in all, produces a more "ear-pleasing" listening for those who consider Rock as sound pollution. (Which you really shouldn't!)

Take The Archies for example. Everyone's familiar with their hit song, "Sugar, Sugar", which is a classic example of Soft Rock. Although categorized under Rock, The Archies did anything but head bang and jump around with an electric guitar... Which is the common perception of any genre of Rock. Now you know...

Some other examples of Classic Rock I will provide are my personal favorites.
There's "We've Only Just Begun" by The Carpenters, The Eagles with "Hotel California", "Tequila Sunrise" and "New Kid in Town" (all big hits!)... even Van Morrison's "Have I Told You Lately" falls under this lighter style of Rock.
Now let me name a few bands of our "era" which have been keeping Soft Rock Alive.
Goo Goo Dolls came up with "Iris", Train sang "Drops of Jupiter" and let's not forget Three Doors Down with "When I'm Gone".

If you're familiar with what can be considered as the greatest Dance movie of all time... Yes, Grease! John Travolta in tights you say?... Not my point. Remember the actress, Olivia Newton-John? Some of her songs fall under the Soft Rock category as well. Listen to "I Honestly Love You" to get a taste of her sweet melodious voice.

Now, these bands cannot be "fixed" under the Soft Rock category, as they have produced other types of Rock music as well. The songs mentioned above are merely examples, should one wonder about just what songs fall under this genre. Soft Rock is also sometimes referred to as Soft Adult Contemporary music, just so you know.

Well, that's that on Soft Rock. I would love to hear from you on your opinion on this genre, if this post was helpful, and if you have any songs you'd like to recommend to the readers.
Till next time, this is Amresh rocking off.

Here's a taste of some of the songs I mentioned. Enjoy!

Soft Rock

A Brief Intro

2008-08-21T02:44:00.000-07:00

Amongst all the genres of music, none has made a bigger impact on me than Rock. As a child, I was introduced to the world of Rock through my father, with bands such as the Scorpions, the Eagles, Dire Straits and Eric Clapton to name a few. Imagine a head banging 10 year old... yeah, that was me.

I did have my phases where I ventured into other genres of music; RnB, Hip Hop, Alternative, Trance, Dance, Retro and even Bhangra, but like the seasons, they came and left. What passion has remained throughout my childhood till now lies with Rock.

Names like Led Zeppelin, Nirvana, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Rage Against The Machine, Iron Maiden, Pink Floyd, Aerosmith, Deep Purple, Metallica and Guns N' Roses are legends. Usually labeled as 'Classic Rock'. While bands formed much later like Muse, Black Light Burns, The White Stripes, The Killers, Franz Ferdinand, Avenged Sevenfold, Audioslave and The Darkness (to name a few) have been playing their cards right at keeping the Rock spirit flaming, but are classified under a different category of rock. Even the term 'Classic Rock' is broad, and acts more of an umbrella which covers many different kinds of rock.

This blog is dedicated to Rock, and in it, you'll find the different forms of Classic Rock, the best rock bands in each category and some of the most influential songs ever produced. Join me on this journey, in this school of Rock, and keep your heads banging and fists pumping in the air.

ROCK ON!!!
Amresh