Top 10 Musical Artists

[Jay 46,244]

The arctic monkeys first album was good and then............. what the hell happened?

[Koray Savas 2,260]

They got even better? I honestly didn't like their first album until very recently (sometime last week or two). At the moment I've been buying all their singles, since I never knew they weren't truly "singles" and had other songs and B-sides on them.

[Jay 46,244]

Not in my opinion, but I should check out those later albums again sometime. I think I only listened to them once each.

Though I do like Flourescant Adolesent"

[Koray Savas 2,260]

Humbug is a masterpiece. Turner is the best lyricist I've heard in a long time, and to think he's only a couple years older than me.

[Jay 46,244]

Admittedly I haven't listened too closely to the lyrics of any of their albums. Will definitely give them another shot

After i check out the old Black Keys albums I'm still enjoying the hell out of their new one!

[Koray Savas 2,260]

I'll explain it more when I make the "post," but for me, the Arctic Monkeys boast eloquent lyrics that flow extremely fast and well backed with their hard rock. Their songs are infectious, almost like how pop can get stuck in your head, except in a good way.

[Koray Savas 2,260]

4. ARCTIC MONKEYS

The Arctic Monkeys are unique not only in their sound, but in that they never stop producing music. The band satisfies their boredom with continually writing songs that they release as singles in between their studio albums, a lot of which hit #1 on the charts in the UK. Discovered through a fan-made Myspace page, the Monkeys boast a wide range of style in their writing. From hard rock/punk that reminds me of the Ramones, to slow and dreary tunes, to more contemporary style pop-rock. No matter which, lead singer Alex Turner continually delivers some of the best lyrics I've heard in a long time. Their debut studio album (Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not) never stops once it starts up, and has a couple of those excellent dreary songs I aforementioned (hear "Riot Van" and "A Certain Romance"). I discovered them though a friend who played me "Brianstorm" off their second album, Favourite Worst Nightmare. This album has a distinct split to my hears. From "Brianstorm" to "Fluorescent Adolescent" is alternative at its best, loud and infectious. Once "Only Ones Who Know" hits, the albums suddenly hits the brakes and cruises its way slowly back up to more a subdued and darker sound that ultimately slows back down and stops with "505." What follows from the band is one of my favorite albums, Humbug. This album is dark and heavy, something that would have been expected closer to the end of a discography. There isn't much I can express about it other than that its perfection from start to finish. Suck It And See, their follow-up, contains a lot of that pop-rock sound. A sharp turn from Humbug, its light and easy to breeze through. A good album for Summer, and while their "worst" album to date, one that has some great highlights ("Library Pictures," "All My Own Stunts"). All in all, they're the best band to come out of the 00s.

[Koray Savas 2,260]

3. PINK FLOYD

At one time, Pink Floyd was my favorite band. I think it was my high school years, where I was introduced by a couple friends in a math class. I recall Alex saying awhile back how The Wall was his favorite album when he was around the same age. I think The Wall was probably my favorite album then, but now I find it overlong and less effective. Enter Animals, a perfect album. Bookended by two acoustic songs, the body of the album is a tour-de-force of 70s prog rock; it's the peak of their career. Actually The Dark Side Of The Moon through The Wall is a string of 4 insanely great albums that it's hard for another other band to trump them. Wish You Were Here is my second favorite, also bookended by two songs, albeit this time in a much different fashion. "Have A Cigar" and the title song never cease to get me high on music. What follows is mostly forgettable, despite a few great songs off A Momentary Lapse Of Reason. What comes before is also really great, but albums like Atom Heart Mother and Meddle lack the oomph of their peak period. It's because of these that the following band slipped ahead.

2. LED ZEPPELIN

Robert Plant, Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones, and John Bonham combine to create my favorite band. Their discography is wonderfully consistent, albeit much shorter than other bands. I discovered them through my own random searchings, I remember it clearly. I was on iTunes searching the names of bands I had heard of but never listened to, wanting to broaden my music tastes. I searched to come up with no exact hits, but found a cover version of "Immigrant Song," which I recognized from the radio. I opened up LimeWire, downloaded that along with "Stairway To Heaven" and another song I can't remember. These three spawned my love of their music. Currently Houses Of The Holy reigns as my favorite album of theirs. Plant's wailing vocals, Page's infectious guitar riffs, Jones' pounding bass, and Bonzo's crazy drums give me more pleasure than anyone else, sans #1. "No Quarter" sits at the top, Bonzo's smashing cymbals and drums make it for me. In fact, he pretty much makes every song for me. The man was crazy awesome, my favorite drummer ever. And who doesn't love it whenever Plant goes "Baaaaaby, baby, baby, baaaabyy" or when he orgasms to Page's riffs? If you've never listened to Zeppelin, do yourself a favor and buy their eponymous album.

[hornist 1,261]

I think all the orchestras whose rhythm comes from drum set are totally wrong.

[Salacius 7]

.

[pixie_twinkle 60]

Tough one. I will be ecclectic, but here goes.

1) JS Bach

2) Ralph Vaughan Williams

3) David Bowie

4) Einojuhani Rautavaara

5) The Beatles

6) Kraftwerk

7) Dmitri Shostakovich

8) John Williams

9) Miles Davis

10) Klaus Schulze

Tomorrow this list may look very different, but the top three will stay the same.

[Brónach 1,330]

There's no way I'm putting people like The Beatles above John Williams, Miklós Rósza or Alan Hovhaness.

[Jay 46,244]

YES, very glad to see you continuing this Koray! I was thinking about bumping it recently to ask if you would be

I very much enjoy reading it, and look forward to reading what you say about your #1

[hornist 1,261]

Tough one. I will be ecclectic, but here goes.

1) JS Bach

2) Ralph Vaughan Williams

3) David Bowie

4) Einojuhani Rautavaara

5) The Beatles

6) Kraftwerk

7) Dmitri Shostakovich

8) John Williams

9) Miles Davis

10) Klaus Schulze

Tomorrow this list may look very different, but the top three will stay the same.

Hey I'm glad to see my finnish "friend" Einojuhani so high in your list, Pixie. Johnny should be next to other John though, Bach that is ...

[Koray Savas 2,260]

YES, very glad to see you continuing this Koray! I was thinking about bumping it recently to ask if you would be

I very much enjoy reading it, and look forward to reading what you say about your #1

Glad to hear it, I did this mostly for myself, even seemed that way towards the end when you were the only one responding to them lol. If you remember some of my older threads and avatars #1 shouldn't be too hard to figure out. I'll probably concoct a meaty paragraph or so.

[Jay 46,244]

Yes I know who your #1 is and I have to say I have never been a fan. Maybe your meaty paragraph will change my mind

[pixie_twinkle 60]

Tough one. I will be ecclectic, but here goes.

1) JS Bach

2) Ralph Vaughan Williams

3) David Bowie

4) Einojuhani Rautavaara

5) The Beatles

6) Kraftwerk

7) Dmitri Shostakovich

8) John Williams

9) Miles Davis

10) Klaus Schulze

Tomorrow this list may look very different, but the top three will stay the same.

Hey I'm glad to see my finnish "friend" Einojuhani so high in your list, Pixie. Johnny should be next to other John though, Bach that is ...

Aha! But I'm English. There's no way anyone comes close to moving me in quite the same way that Vaughan Williams does. With the obvious exception of the most phenomenal composer who ever lived, JSB!

[wanner251 18]

1. John Williams

2. Carl Stalling

3. Richard Wagner

4. Jerry Goldsmith

5. Max Steiner

6. Bernard Herrmann

7. Arvo Pärt

8. Richard & Robert Sherman

9. Randy Newman

10. Alan Menken

That was hard.

[Koray Savas 2,260]

I wrote this sooner than I was expecting, but here it is:

1. BOB DYLAN

Bob Dylan, one of the most interesting men in the world, is my favorite musical artist. He writes unparalleled lyrics, writes unparalleled music, and sings and plays it all with an unparalleled voice.

In my experience, people either love him or hate him. I have yet to meet someone who went “Yeah he’s alright.” The hate always seems to come from either his voice or his instrumental. No one mentions the lyrics, but for me, that is the most essential ingredient. Whenever I listen to something I haven’t heard before, or someone introduces me to someone, I listen to the lyrics. I mean, why else would they be there, right? A lot of my friends, old and new, listen to the typical pop/hip-hop. Lady Gaga, Pitbull, Kanye West, and... honestly that’s where my familiarity with names ends. I try and discuss the arts within my close group and with others as often as possible. When it comes down to music, it’s kinda like “Oh I don’t really listen to the lyrics, I just like the beat.” I can appreciate that, most of them just want something to dance to. But then why isn’t instrumental music more popular? I love film scores and plenty of bands that put focus on instrumental writing, but when it comes to the current trend of popular music, it’s mostly a pounding synth beat with a couple verses repeated over and over for 4 minutes. I realize I’m starting to drift into a much bigger conversation, so I’ll refocus.

Dylan’s pairing of voice, lyric, and melody is of the utmost craft and precision that no other artist compares. His music has serious emotion, more feeling than anyone else I’ve heard. He also has an enormous career, spanning decades and tens of albums. Few artists can compare to his scope and range. What I love about Dylan is that he never stays in one place very long. There’s his 60s folk, 70s revolutionist rock, early 80s religious-inspired period, and transfiguration of ‘89 which has more or less lasted up until today. Each album sets a different mood, which is reflected by his genius writing and performance.

Recently I picked up a friend to go out for lunch, I had Dylan’s alternate take of “Desolation Row” playing. He groaned at it and mocked the vocals, I simply asked how can you not love Dylan? He said he doesn’t enjoy it but at least appreciates the lyrics. I told him if they were sung by anyone else, they wouldn’t be as effective. When Dylan sings, I hear a man reminiscing, a man telling a story, a man expressing love, expressing hate, and every emotion in between. It’s all in his performance, the songs move him, and when I listen to him it all gets projected on me. There’s Dylan that makes me depressed, makes me cry, makes me laugh, makes me smile, makes me air guitar and have fun. He’s an all encompassing artist. When I listen to covers of Dylan’s songs, all that feeling and emotion is lost in the interpretation. They aren’t their lyrics, most of the time it feels as if they mean nothing to the singer, and now it’s just a song. That’s why Dylan’s vocal is so crucial. When people criticize it or go off on how he can’t hit certain notes or do this or that, I just think: That’s the point! It’s a man pouring his soul out for us to hear, process it through a contemporary studio and now everything that it meant is lost. I don’t want this to seem like I’m trashing covers, although admittedly I’m not a fan of most. A lot of Dylan’s early work are traditional covers, even one of my favorite songs of his is a cover, but it all comes down to his performance on vocal and guitar. He infuses so much into them. The way he’ll spit out or grumble a lyric makes those songs. The way he strums or incorporates bass in his later work, it’s all part of a unique whole. This is why he’s my #1 musical artist. Unfortunately with Dylan, if you’ve attempted his music, revisiting probably won’t do much good. My best advice would be to sample from his many different eras to see if you find anything that latches on to you.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZ08knwwC1s

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFaZy-F0H1Q

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JIkVQB7rn84

[ShowUStheHOOK 8]

John Williams

Danny Elfman

Alan Menken

Michael Kamen

Chopin

Beethoven

Patrick Gowers ( i'm guessing no one has heard of him )

George Fenton

for the pop world

Phil Collins

Paul Williams

[Jay 46,244]

Yea that's the thing with Dylan, I'm sure his lyrics are fine - maybe I'd enjoy a book of his poetry - but I can never tell what the hell he is saying through his garbled voice, and his instrument playing is nothing special either. I admire his writing, but not his performance. As such, I've never been compelled to download any of his actual works, but have enjoyed many covers of his originals, especially Hendrix's All Along The Watchtower, GNR's Knockin' On Heaven's Door, and most especially Adele's Make You Feel My Love. What a powerful song that is.

[Wojo 2,458]

The longer you listen to Dylan, the more you can pick up on what he's saying.

Or you sit down with the lyrics online and follow along.

[Jay 46,244]

Who has time for that?

Maybe when I'm older

[Wojo 2,458]

I've found it usually takes no longer to do than the time it takes to listen to the actual music.

I do it for any of my favorite artists if I want to learn the song lyrics so I can sing along. There are too many songs that I've learned the wrong lyrics to and they've just stuck.

[Koray Savas 2,260]

Yea that's the thing with Dylan, I'm sure his lyrics are fine - maybe I'd enjoy a book of his poetry - but I can never tell what the hell he is saying through his garbled voice, and his instrument playing is nothing special either. I admire his writing, but not his performance. As such, I've never been compelled to download any of his actual works, but have enjoyed many covers of his originals, especially Hendrix's All Along The Watchtower, GNR's Knockin' On Heaven's Door, and most especially Adele's Make You Feel My Love. What a powerful song that is.

The thing is, his songs are poetry. His voice is only really like a growl in his later albums. If you listen to anything from the 60s and 70s, you really shouldn't any problem understanding him. People just call him nasally. For his instrumental writing, it isn't particularly anything special on its own, but that's not the point of it. Music is the combination of all these elements, take one away and the song fails. No one else can keep a 6 minute song going with 3 chords.

Hendrix's "All Along The Watchtower" isn't bad, but it doesn't even touch Dylan's original. Please don't mention Guns N Roses to me, and Adele's cover is just meh. She falls into that category where it feels like the lyrics don't mean anything to her and she's just singing.

What's your opinion on Highway 61 Revisited, or rather "Like A Rolling Stone?" His best song, to me. Best performance of it?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRk0nCP-rgw

[Jay 46,244]

Yea, his nasally voice irritates me. Turns me off from wanting to know the words

[nightscape94 968]

I have to separate orchestral composers and bands. Both lists are in no particular order:

Bands

Yes

The Beatles

Dream Theater

Toad the Wet Sprocket

Radiohead

Sigur Ros

Dillinger Escape Plan

Porcupine Tree

Rush

Pink Floyd

Composers

John Williams

Gustav Mahler

Ludwig Van Beethoven

Sergei Prokofiev

Sergei Rachmaninoff

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

Antonin Dvorak

Edward Elgar

Samuel Barber

Edvard Grieg

[MrJosh 1,205]

Top Film Composers:

1. John Williams

2. David Arnold

3. Elliot Goldenthal

4. Jerry Goldsmith

5. Michael Giacchino

Top "Classical" Composers:

1. J.S. Bach

2. Jean Sibelius

3. Beethoven

4. John Adams

5. Dvorak

Top Other Musicians:

1. Justin Beiber (just kidding)

1. Ben Folds

2. Imogen Heap

3. Paramore

4. Regina Spektor

5. Coldplay

[Wojo 2,458]

I have to separate orchestral composers and bands.

I personally would want to separately list those composers who fully write out their own scores from those who take the easy path by using orchestrators, but I have neither the time nor inclination.

[Koray Savas 2,260]

Yea, his nasally voice irritates me. Turns me off from wanting to know the words

Then I would suggest his more recent growl. And if you're interested in his lyrics, his site has them all.

[Krang 1]

John Williams

Ludwig Van Beethoven

The Beatles

Stephen Sondheim

Pink Floyd

The Sherman Brothers

Queen

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

Elton John

Nobuo Uematsu

[Sandor 918]

I wrote this sooner than I was expecting, but here it is:

1. BOB DYLAN

Bob Dylan, one of the most interesting men in the world, is my favorite musical artist. He writes unparalleled lyrics, writes unparalleled music, and sings and plays it all with an unparalleled voice.

In my experience, people either love him or hate him. I have yet to meet someone who went “Yeah he’s alright.” The hate always seems to come from either his voice or his instrumental. No one mentions the lyrics, but for me, that is the most essential ingredient. Whenever I listen to something I haven’t heard before, or someone introduces me to someone, I listen to the lyrics. I mean, why else would they be there, right? A lot of my friends, old and new, listen to the typical pop/hip-hop. Lady Gaga, Pitbull, Kanye West, and... honestly that’s where my familiarity with names ends. I try and discuss the arts within my close group and with others as often as possible. When it comes down to music, it’s kinda like “Oh I don’t really listen to the lyrics, I just like the beat.” I can appreciate that, most of them just want something to dance to. But then why isn’t instrumental music more popular? I love film scores and plenty of bands that put focus on instrumental writing, but when it comes to the current trend of popular music, it’s mostly a pounding synth beat with a couple verses repeated over and over for 4 minutes. I realize I’m starting to drift into a much bigger conversation, so I’ll refocus.

Dylan’s pairing of voice, lyric, and melody is of the utmost craft and precision that no other artist compares. His music has serious emotion, more feeling than anyone else I’ve heard. He also has an enormous career, spanning decades and tens of albums. Few artists can compare to his scope and range. What I love about Dylan is that he never stays in one place very long. There’s his 60s folk, 70s revolutionist rock, early 80s religious-inspired period, and transfiguration of ‘89 which has more or less lasted up until today. Each album sets a different mood, which is reflected by his genius writing and performance.

Recently I picked up a friend to go out for lunch, I had Dylan’s alternate take of “Desolation Row” playing. He groaned at it and mocked the vocals, I simply asked how can you not love Dylan? He said he doesn’t enjoy it but at least appreciates the lyrics. I told him if they were sung by anyone else, they wouldn’t be as effective. When Dylan sings, I hear a man reminiscing, a man telling a story, a man expressing love, expressing hate, and every emotion in between. It’s all in his performance, the songs move him, and when I listen to him it all gets projected on me. There’s Dylan that makes me depressed, makes me cry, makes me laugh, makes me smile, makes me air guitar and have fun. He’s an all encompassing artist. When I listen to covers of Dylan’s songs, all that feeling and emotion is lost in the interpretation. They aren’t their lyrics, most of the time it feels as if they mean nothing to the singer, and now it’s just a song. That’s why Dylan’s vocal is so crucial. When people criticize it or go off on how he can’t hit certain notes or do this or that, I just think: That’s the point! It’s a man pouring his soul out for us to hear, process it through a contemporary studio and now everything that it meant is lost. I don’t want this to seem like I’m trashing covers, although admittedly I’m not a fan of most. A lot of Dylan’s early work are traditional covers, even one of my favorite songs of his is a cover, but it all comes down to his performance on vocal and guitar. He infuses so much into them. The way he’ll spit out or grumble a lyric makes those songs. The way he strums or incorporates bass in his later work, it’s all part of a unique whole. This is why he’s my #1 musical artist. Unfortunately with Dylan, if you’ve attempted his music, revisiting probably won’t do much good. My best advice would be to sample from his many different eras to see if you find anything that latches on to you.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZ08knwwC1s

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFaZy-F0H1Q

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JIkVQB7rn84

Great post Koray, and yes - Dylan was and will always be a giant.

[Koray Savas 2,260]

Great post Koray, and yes - Dylan was and will always be a giant.

Thank you. I'm hoping he comes out with a new album soon, or at the very least another volume of the Bootleg Series. I love all those demos and alternate takes. Not to mention the next volume of Chronicles.

I read a little while back that a massive complete box set was scheduled for release this Fall. It was supposed to be more secretive, but a report leaked and was quickly removed from a website, I can't remember which. I wouldn't mind owning one of those, there are still a handful of his albums that I don't own.

@Jay again, if you want to try out some Dylan covers that get Koray's Seal of Aprroval, I recommend the soundtrack for his film Masked & Anonymous. I'm Not There also has a ton of covers, but I only like a couple of those. Oh snap, I've got the perfect one for you. You've got to love this

[Jay 46,244]

Not bad!

[Quintus 6,497]

On 02/05/2012 at 10:16 AM, Koray Savas said:

I wrote this sooner than I was expecting, but here it is:

1. BOB DYLAN

Bob Dylan, one of the most interesting men in the world, is my favorite musical artist. He writes unparalleled lyrics, writes unparalleled music, and sings and plays it all with an unparalleled voice.

In my experience, people either love him or hate him. I have yet to meet someone who went “Yeah he’s alright.” The hate always seems to come from either his voice or his instrumental. No one mentions the lyrics, but for me, that is the most essential ingredient. Whenever I listen to something I haven’t heard before, or someone introduces me to someone, I listen to the lyrics. I mean, why else would they be there, right? A lot of my friends, old and new, listen to the typical pop/hip-hop. Lady Gaga, Pitbull, Kanye West, and... honestly that’s where my familiarity with names ends. I try and discuss the arts within my close group and with others as often as possible. When it comes down to music, it’s kinda like “Oh I don’t really listen to the lyrics, I just like the beat.” I can appreciate that, most of them just want something to dance to. But then why isn’t instrumental music more popular? I love film scores and plenty of bands that put focus on instrumental writing, but when it comes to the current trend of popular music, it’s mostly a pounding synth beat with a couple verses repeated over and over for 4 minutes. I realize I’m starting to drift into a much bigger conversation, so I’ll refocus.

Dylan’s pairing of voice, lyric, and melody is of the utmost craft and precision that no other artist compares. His music has serious emotion, more feeling than anyone else I’ve heard. He also has an enormous career, spanning decades and tens of albums. Few artists can compare to his scope and range. What I love about Dylan is that he never stays in one place very long. There’s his 60s folk, 70s revolutionist rock, early 80s religious-inspired period, and transfiguration of ‘89 which has more or less lasted up until today. Each album sets a different mood, which is reflected by his genius writing and performance.

Recently I picked up a friend to go out for lunch, I had Dylan’s alternate take of “Desolation Row” playing. He groaned at it and mocked the vocals, I simply asked how can you not love Dylan? He said he doesn’t enjoy it but at least appreciates the lyrics. I told him if they were sung by anyone else, they wouldn’t be as effective. When Dylan sings, I hear a man reminiscing, a man telling a story, a man expressing love, expressing hate, and every emotion in between. It’s all in his performance, the songs move him, and when I listen to him it all gets projected on me. There’s Dylan that makes me depressed, makes me cry, makes me laugh, makes me smile, makes me air guitar and have fun. He’s an all encompassing artist. When I listen to covers of Dylan’s songs, all that feeling and emotion is lost in the interpretation. They aren’t their lyrics, most of the time it feels as if they mean nothing to the singer, and now it’s just a song. That’s why Dylan’s vocal is so crucial. When people criticize it or go off on how he can’t hit certain notes or do this or that, I just think: That’s the point! It’s a man pouring his soul out for us to hear, process it through a contemporary studio and now everything that it meant is lost. I don’t want this to seem like I’m trashing covers, although admittedly I’m not a fan of most. A lot of Dylan’s early work are traditional covers, even one of my favorite songs of his is a cover, but it all comes down to his performance on vocal and guitar. He infuses so much into them. The way he’ll spit out or grumble a lyric makes those songs. The way he strums or incorporates bass in his later work, it’s all part of a unique whole. This is why he’s my #1 musical artist. Unfortunately with Dylan, if you’ve attempted his music, revisiting probably won’t do much good. My best advice would be to sample from his many different eras to see if you find anything that latches on to you.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZ08knwwC1s

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFaZy-F0H1Q

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JIkVQB7rn84

 

 

On 03/05/2012 at 4:32 AM, Sandor said:

Great post Koray, and yes - Dylan was and will always be a giant.

 

Like Ted Danson before him. 

[Bespin Copilot 10,818]

1. Charles Aznavour

2. Roy Orbison

3. John Williams

4. Joe Dassin

5. Georges Brassens

6. Félix Leclerc

7. Johann Sebastian Bach

8. Jean-Pierre Ferland

9. Barbara

10. Ludwig Van Beethoven

 

 

 

 

[Thor 9,362]

Since we already did this topic on top 10 artists/composers, we should do a "Top 10 album" thread too -- for each genre; or just jam them all into one. But I'm guessing that has been done too. I probably even participated in it.

[Jay 46,244]

I don't think so

 

Top 5 Albums of All Time

 

Top 5 Most Influential Albums

 

What are your Top 5 most treasured albums?

[Thor 9,362]

Thanks. The first one was most relevant, I guess.