Top 5 Lyrics That Move Your Heart
1. "My sense of humanity has gone down the drain/behind every beautiful thing there's been some kind of pain." Bob Dylan Not Dark Yet
2. "The Beast in Me is caged by frail and fragile bars/Restless by day, and by night/rants and rages at the stars..." Johnny Cash [Leonard Cohen] The Beast in Me
3. "Your kisses are as wicked as an M-16, and you fuck like a volcano and you're everything to me." Liz Phair Supernova
4. "Call the coroner/There's gonna be a lot of slow singin'/flower bringing'/if my burglar alarm start ringin'." Notorious B.I.G. Warning
5. "I crawl like a viper/through these suburban scenes/Make love to these women/languid and bitter sweet/I'll rise when the sun goes down/Cover every game in town/A world of my own/I'll make it my home sweet home" Steely Dan, Deacon Blues
Top 5 Instrumentals
1. Because It's There Michael Hedges
Have you ever seen a harp guitar? (photos halfway down linked page) This guy composed for it, and I saw him play Because It's There live three times, and I still don't understand it. He had a brain in each finger
2. Rude Mood Stevie Ray Vaughan
A kickass compendium of a dozen guitar styles, played faster than imaginable.
3. Fracture King Crimson
Absolutely insane guitar work. And drumming.
4. If II BS Charles Mingus
Ah, that sneaky, throaty bass...
5. Sur l'Autoroute Miles Davis
I picked this one out of any number of Davis tracks--why not?
Top 5 Live Musical Experiences
1. The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra at the Meyerhoff, Sept. 13, 2001, with Emmanual Ax on piano. They changed the program from Mozart to Beethoven because Ax is a New Yorker and said playing Beethoven was his form of prayer. They played "God Bless America" before the concert and the entire audience was singing and crying, and the crying lasted through Pno Concerto #3. The most cathartic musical experience of my life, and then they played Debussy's La Mer to top it off.
2. Slayer, Hammerjacks, 1991. This show was a special preview concert of their Seasons in the Abyss album and was not marketed until that afternoon, when 98 Rock announced the show. For $8 I saw them perform their entire catalog at the time. I spent the four-hour show standing just above and behind my hero, Dave Lombardo, whose percussion was pure blitzkrieg. I suffered a 30% hearing loss in my right ear, and it doesn't get better than that.
3. Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble at the Towson Center, 1985. My first concert, and I was floored. We were in the tenth row. I've never heard nor seen anything like it since. Vaughan plugged his patch cord directly into his soul and dripped ambrosia from his fingertips.
4. Neil Young/Social Distortion/Sonic Youth at the Capital Center, 1991. Fucking amazing, and fucking loud.
5. Willie Nelson at the Meyerhoff, 2002. I was full of whiskey. Willie played for almost three hours with that kick-ass band. The Meyerhoff Symphony Hall was full of pot smoke and bikers.
Top 5 Artists You Think More People Should Listen To
1. Olivier Messiaen
2. Alban Berg
3. Guillaume de Machaut
4. Gillian Welch/David Rawlings
5. A tie: Crack the Sky and Fantomas
Top 5 Albums You Must Hear from Start to Finish
1. Time out of Mind Bob Dylan
2. Paul's Boutique The Beastie Boys
3. My Mother's Hymn Book John R. Cash
4. Reign in Blood Slayer
5. Aja Steely Dan
Top 5 Musical Heroes
*Please Note: This is impossible. I'd need many sub-categories (five guitar heroes, five drummer heroes, five bass heroes, five vocal heroes, etc) to do the job*
1. J.S. Bach
2. Ludwig van
3. Olivier Messiaen
4. Neil Young
5. Frank Sinatra
I have to pass this on, I believe--let's welcome Silenus to Blogger, and give it to Emily and Flea, because they don't have any work to do.
