REACT TO: Top 10 Bands to Listen to IYL Led Zeppelin

So this is not intended, but could almost by default be considered a RIYL/FFO Led Zeppelin entry. Except obviously the point of this is to REACT TO and point the many issues/flaws with another WatchMojo.com list.

So 1st off, I wanted to look at the Voting results, which the Voting Link I found after spending far too long on the watchmojo site, is here.

That Voting link shows only 4 VOTES?..4 bleeping votes. And assuming that was the Voting page for this list, that does speak to some of the people at Watchmojo just arbitrarily picking lists to make regardless of how many votes had been cast. Which goes back to the lack of a video for the Top 10 Jimi Hendrix songs (which was submitted over 4 years ago in 2013 by the way, lol), when they have made many other (less appealing) lists that were submitted well after.

That all being said, I hope this list is the 1st of many of this type of RIYL/FFO, regardless of how many votes or even the results.

But among the results, I don't mind seeing Wolfmother (even if they need to stop citing "Woman" as their token track. It's not, they have many other, better, more Zeppelin-influenced tracks just from their debut album).

I don't hate My Morning Jacket (Gavin from dredg, whose noted as being a fan of Zeppelin, is a big fan of My Morning Jacket), but they are still more rooted in the jam band scene/sound than the experimental blues rock of Zeppelin.

And White Denim I enjoy, although they were only an Honorable Mention. And I would contend they are also more rooted in the jam band aesthetic or even psych, than heavy blues rock of Zep.

The White Stripes, The Black Keys, and Queens of the Stone Age have far too much of a Garage element and singers (along with instrumental work) that really doesn't remind me let alone compare to Zeppelin.

The  Black Crowes?..no. They had more in common with The Rolling Stones. For 1, their singer doesn't remind me or even sound like he was influenced by Robert Plant.  I don't mind them, especially their album Shake Your Money Maker ("She Talks to Angels" in particular), and that came out right when I was obsessed with Zeppelin, but sorry, I would not say they remind me or I need/needed to hear them because I was a LZ fan.

But who did they miss? I guess I won't give a complete list that I might for a RIYL/FFO, but as my comment included.


-The Tea Party.  This one is so blatantly obvious. These guys channel a ton of Zeppelin's approach to using acoustic and middle eastern elements, while being heavy and dynamic. Their singer is more highly similar to Jim Morrison, but the vocals blend extremely well with the songwriting.

And they're even fucking CANADIAN which WMJ frequently likes to Champion people from their home country, lol.


(As opposed to names on the list Kingdom Come and Whitesnake were just watered down, 80's hair metal bands with a singer whose trying to be Plant in many respects, and this new band Greta van Fleet is a total overt ripoff.)





-Jeff Buckley. When I 1st got into his music, 1 of the comments was "he's like Robert Plant and Jimmy Page combined." Which sounded/sounds hard to believe, but it's true in many ways. He could sing like Plant and play guitar like Page, and that is really no exaggeration. Even just live, the way he took songs and interpreted them, was very similar to what Zeppelin did. "Kangaroo" for example, is a 3-and-a-half minute song from this Dream Pop/Dark Wave band This Mortal Coil, and Jeff and his band have versions that go over 14 minutes? lol.."Dazed and Confused" from Song Remains the Same much?





-The Mars Volta . They were described countless times as the modern Led Zeppelin, and you consider the adventurous approach they took to writing and jamming, it was very much in the Zeppelin school. To go along with the fact they included this group of incredible players much like the members of Led Zeppelin, it seems like such an obvious comparison in many ways. Sure, the Volta also can be compared to bands like Rush and Yes, but they did use a lot of the heavy, bombastic blues rock that at at times Zeppelin did. Whereas Rush and Yes (and many other prog bands) did a lot of things that were more intricate and almost calculated, Zeppelin did their crazy things more loosely. And The Mars Volta very much kept that approach despite the fact they had a lot of technicality.




10. The Black Crowes
9. Whitesnake
8. Royal Blood
7. My Morning Jacket
6. The Black Keys
5. Wolfmother
4. The White Stripes
3. Greta van Fleet
2, Kingdom Come
Honorable Mentions:
Band of Skulls
White Denim
Temples
1. Queens of the Stone Age

REACT TO: WatchMojo.com's Top 10 Male Falsettos

Voting Results

I'd love to have the time to break this down more in detail, and truth be, I just skimmed it without sound just to see the results.

But obviously the biggest issue I have with this list is having Thom Yorke anywhere on it. I've said it a million times; the guy can't sing. His voice is highly NASAL and nauseating to listen to, and he almost always sounds like he's high and baked. Y-U-C-K.

The including of Jeff Buckley I am happy to see, and rightfully so as he could wail with the best.

Matt Bellamy as an honorable mention is nice, but given he was in there, he should have replaced Yorke and/or a few others.

Having Prince and Michael Jackson on there is fine, but I'm a little surprised MJ isn't higher and higher than Prince.

MISSING?

For one Freddie Mercury, lol.

But of course the failure that always has and always will happen in lack of exposure to 2 huge names to me.

Jimmy Gnecco..more or less the greatest living and/or working singer today, especially with Falsettos. The man can wail better than most of that list.

Andre Matos..just listen to Holy Land and Ritual from Shaman, and there's no questioning both his soaring voice and vocal lines.

And I suppose to add to that, the more well known Metal names like Bruce Dickinson and especially Rob Halford.

 I'd even include Darroh from Fair to Midland in there. Both an amazing Falsetto and unique or original in plenty of ways.

edit: and I'm sure the Fiancee would include the likes of George Michael and especially Mr.Smooth and Blue-Eyed Soul himself, Michael McDonald (which I also would not have issue with).

So, of course Watchmojo and their lemming millennial voters fail again, but that's par for the course anyway.

REACT TO: Watchmojo.com Top 10 Rock Keyboardists

My comment there

it's a pretty good list, but the biggest issues  i have are

-Ray Manzarek, while I like him and The Doors, I don't agree with being #2. Wakeman, Banks and Lord easily are more known as keyboardists and have much larger bodies of work.

-Jazz-ROCK stalwarts CHICK COREA, JOSEPH ZAWINUL, JAN HAMMER and GEORGE DUKE namely, belong in the mix as they were all virtuosos and largely influential. And this is hardly the only list that fails to include them more or less per their being considered JAZZ. But Jazz-Rock or Jazz-Fusion is still close enough stylistically, I personally think it belongs in the same mix.

Fusion never gets any love, even in a Prog-heavy list. But then again, the people making this list (and voting I suppose) probably are totally unfamiliar with Jazz-Fusion beyond a few Miles Davis tunes.

Perhaps I'll edit-in or post my own personal Top 10 soon (which undoubtedly will include many of those fusion guys).

React To Watchmojo.com Underrated Movies + Vinyl Video coming

Here on the Non-Music Blog

I'd love to spend time just talking about many of the movies I mentioned, and for that matter, many I didn't even, as there are a lot of 4-star movies that I didn't include, that aren't incredibly popular, etc.

Time of course.

Also I have a good stack of new vinyls to make a video about in the next day or 2. I guess just as a preview it includes:

Transatlantic
Fates Warning
Jeff Buckley
Coheed and Cambria
The Tea Party
Protest the Hero
Kerry Livgren
Queen

and I have some others in progress like Galactic Cowboys, Savatage, Extreme and Hawkwind, Dream Theater, Fates Warning and Marillion potentially. Although, I am still trying to save/pay for a wedding in September, lol.

Top 10 Lists Watchmojo.com Wont Do: Kevin Gilbert Songs

Kevin Gilbert, my favorite musician of all time. The odds WatchMojo ever even mentioning his name on any list are about as good of a chance I end up playing some of his music on 89.3 The Current.

They may some day do a Jeff Buckley Top 10 songs, although that kind of seems silly since Jeff only had 1 official album in Grace, but he has a ton of other unreleased songs, live tracks, and of course the double LP of demos on Sketches (For My Sweetheart the Drunk).

But Kevin and his many projects, that spanned about 11 years while he was alive, and approaching 20 years since he died, that a ton of which has been released posthumously (I count 5 releases that are studio, including the 2015 Thud Deluxe/Anniversary), has a plethora of music that was just in those official releases; per a Top 10 and Honorable Mentions for him wouldn't be all that difficult to do. And that's not even including some of the covers, namely the Genesis ones from ProgFest 1994 which was officially released as well.

And there's of course a lot of stuff that still has not been released, although with the Nuts, Bolts and Deluxe Thud, a lot of that stuff now has come out, but given how prolific he was recording, every year, month, week, day, I still suspect there's more that could come.

But other than 1 selection on this list, I chose just to focus on the studio releases from his different work. And of course this is like splitting hairs in ranking, as I could easily stick more than half of the Honorable Mentions below in the Top 10 (or 11 as I took a liberty). In other words, take every track I chose, and even throw in another 10-20 others, and throw them in a hat and pick any of those 10 and I would have no problem with those being included and ranked in whatever order for the most part.

But I will say, #1 really is the song that made me become a huge fan. I knew his name, some of his story and even some of his music before 2004, but it was that Summer or early Fall where I fell head over heals and found his music to call to me. And it has ever since.

Blurbs? not now, or maybe not ever really. I dunno. I may at some point, or maybe do a YouTube video for them. I think the songs speak enough for themselves, so much, I doubt anything specific right now I could write, would add more to them initially.

But maybe down the road I can try and find the time to..I may do the previously mentioned Jeff Buckley though with a slightly different Entry title, lol.

10. Because of You from The Power of Suggestion, 1987


9b. Goodness Gracious from Thud, 1994



9b. Water Under the Bridge from The Shaming of the True, 2000




8. Air Dance from A View From Here, 1988



7. Finally Over You from Nuts, 2009



6. Things She Said from Toy Matinee, 1990



5. Best Laid Plans from The Shaming of the True, 2000



4. Imagemaker from The Shaming of the True, 2000



3. Tired Old Man (Puppet Suite) unreleased, 1984-85?



2. Home/Progress from The View From Here, 1988




Honorable Mentions:
The Ballad of Jenny Ledge (Toy Matinee, 1990)
Turn it On Salvador (Toy Matinee, 1990)
There Was a Little Boy (Toy Matinee, 1990)
Queen of Misery (Toy Matinee, 1990)
City of the Sun (The Shaming of the True, 2000)
Long Day's Life (The Shaming of the True, 2000)
Staring Into Nothing (The Shaming of the True, 2000)
Suit Fugue (Dance of the A and R Men) (The Shaming of the True, 2000)
Shrug (Because of Me and You) (Thud, 1994)
Joytown (Thud, 1994)
Shadow Self (Thud, 1994)
Waiting (Thud, 1994)
Welcome to Suburbia (No Reasons Given, 1985)
When Strangers Part (No Reasons Given, 1985)
From Here to There (The Shaming of the True, 2000)
The Sultan of Brunei (The Kaviar Sessions, 2002)
Indian Burn (The Kaviar Sessions, 2002)
This Warm Night (The Power of Suggestion, 1987)
The World Just Gets Smaller (The Power of Suggestion, 1987)
Kashmir (Led Zeppelin, Kashmir EP 1995)
Childhood's End (Nuts, 2009)
The Best of Everything (Bolts, 2009)
Big Heart (Thud Remaster/Anniversary Edition, 2015)
Until I Get Her Back (Demo) (Thud Remaster/Anniversary Edition, 2015)



1. Last Plane Out from Toy Matinee, 1990

Top 10 List Watchmojo.com Will Not Make: Top 10 Marillion Songs

What the hell, why not?

I'm not going to write any long or short blurbs for these right now (and unlikely later, but I suppose I wouldn't rule it out).

I've just been in a Marillion-mood this week with the NA tour announcement. And I was just scanning over some drafted entries I never did and just in the last 30 minutes, figured why not.

This hardly is an exact order or a definitive list of course. I mean I didn't even include anything from Brave nor some other albums I love. And I am taking a liberty or 2 with the Suites and in the case of Misplaced Childhood, I consider the whole record as 1 Suite or 1 Song.

That being the case, that Honorable Mention list, like many Watchmojo.com lists, is filled with songs that I easily could put in here.

I also think it's ironic how with Marillion, WMJ will likely never do this or any list, possibly even including them. Yet, WMJ are based in Montreal, QC, where the bi-annual? Marillion Fan Weekends are held, lol. Even as obscure/underground as I'm sure they are within the media in Montreal. It's still a little ironic, sort of how Opeth never ends up on their lists, yet Watchmojo.com interviewed Mikael Akerfeldt once I think.

As for #1, well I adore it, even if so many accuse it of borrowing/ripping off, etc a more well known track from an obviously more well known band (that Marillion were obviously influenced by).


10. Misplaced Childhood from Misplaced Childhood (1985)





9. Hotel Hobbies/Warm Wet Circles/That Time of the Night from Clutching at Straws (1987)



8. A Few Words for the Dead from Radiation (1998)



7. This Town/The Rakes Progress/100 Nights from Holidays In Eden (1991)



6. Berlin from Seasons End (1989)



5. Interior Lulu from Marillion.com (1999)


 4. Ocean Cloud from Marbles (Delux Campaign Edition, 2004)



3. Afraid of Sunlight from Afraid of Sunlight (1995)



2. The Invisible Man from Marbles (2004)



Honorable Mentions:
Slainte Mhath from Clutching at Straws
Seasons End from Seasons End
Easter from Seasons End
Fugazi from Fugazi
Script for a Jester's Tear from Script for a Jester's Tear
Garden Party from Script for a Jester's Tear
Hard as Love from Brave
Runaway from Brave
The Great Escape from Brave
The Party from Holidays in Eden
This Strange Engine from This Strange Engine
Quartz from Anoraknophobia
Half Empty Jam from Happiness is the Road
Gazpacho from Afraid of the Sunlight
King from Afraid of Sunlight
These Chains from Radiation



1. Grendel from B'Sides Themselves (1988)

React To: WATCHMOJO.COM'S "Top 10 Rock(Folk-Pop) Vocal Harmonies"

Voting Results (only 1 factor WMJ uses of course)


While this list isn't a bad list overall (I enjoy Queen, The Beach Boys and Crosby, Stills and Nash The Beatles and Simon and Garfunkel tunes namely, although they all have other, maybe better examples than the ones included), there's some stuff that is pretty head scratching about it. For one, it seems like 7 or 8 of the 10 songs (and most of the Honorable Mentions) are not really "Rock" but more of the "Folk-Pop" style. Other than Queen and Alice Chains really, not really many of these songs or even artists people refer to as "Rock" but more "Pop" (or Pop/Rock) and Folk.

Also stuff like the Fleetwood Mac and Eagles tunes are nothing special from a vocal harmonies standpoint.

So I have included below many of my favorites and what would be among my favorites or on my list. I'm sure I'll remember some I am not including on here (and maybe I'll edit them in, or do a 2nd list?).

Top 10 Lists Watchmojo.com Won't Do: Top 10 OURS songs

Here's a list

Now Here's My Personal List:

Sometimes
The Worst Things Beautiful
I'm a Monster
Meet Me in the Tower
Fall Into My Hands
Fallen Souls/Drowning
In a Minute
Murder
Miseryhead
If Flowers Turn

Honorable Mentions: , Lost, Mercy, Get Up, Chapter 2 Money, Ran Away to Tell the World
Medication, Here is the Light, Realize, Willing, Sing, Red Coloured Stars, Saint, Pretty Pain
Leaves, Boxer, Kill the Band.

New/Live/Unrecorded/Jimmy Gnecco solo: Mechanical Lovers, Into the Fire, Autumn, Living in a Video, Bells, The Heart, Days

I'm not going to writeup even brief blurbs at this point about all of these just in the interest of time. And I started a few other of these song lists WMJ.COM won't make, which tells you also why I'm just posting this little explanation.

But I will say, Ours, are as I've written many times, one of my favorite bands of course, ever since becoming a fan in 2005. Jmmy Gnecco is my favorite actively working and modern/younger singer. The list on the site linked above, for one, may have been posted yesterday given Jimmy Gnecco's 41st birthday was yesterday (happy birthday to Jimmy by the way).

The list itself, while is not bad, as my list differs, even among the long list of Honorable Mentions (and believe me, I did not include many songs I love even in there). I am surprised to not see Sometimes in there, afterall, it is Ours biggest song, or *hit* per say as even the video received a fair amount of airplay on MTV2 back in 2001-2002.

Maybe because it became so popular, this writer/fan making that list finds it overrated or overplayed? I guess I could find that the case personally, except some 9+ years later, I have failed to grow sick of it. It just has so much emotion and such an incredible climax, my ears and brain, I somehow doubt  will ever get sick of it.

Among my list, probably the biggest track sticking out is "In a Minute" from Precious. I happen to love it for a few reasons, but maybe mostly from the combination of the lyrics or message I get and with the crescendo. It sort of says fuck you to anyone who says or makes you feel like you can't do something, anything really. And that speaks to me on some level at least. Kind of the idea "I am not like the others, but I could be if I wanted to." or even to an extent of "You Laugh at Me because I'm different, but I laugh at you because you're all the same." And I could be like the others, or anything else, in a minute; that's how easy it would be for me, etc. But those people who act or say that I couldn't be like them (or as good as them, etc), are wrong, and don't know how wrong they are, as I could be as good or better and LIKE them, in a minute.

Anyway, the band and many fans aren't crazy about that tune, but I honestly have always found it very relate or connectable.

Maybe I'll add more to this at some point (and more likely not sadly, time, etc).

WatchMojo.com List: Top 10 The Police songs (MY LIST, their video)

I'm a somewhat nostalgic, from High School mainly, Police fan, mainly because my best friend in HS was an absolute Police and Sting addict, and he drove every where we'd go, thus he also controlled the music. So I spent dozens and dozens (literally) of trips and especially Friday and Saturday nights listening to The Police and Sting on those drives getting into mischief, or just to our local McDonalds and Mr.Movies/Blockbuster/Hollywood Video..and of course Best Buy and Tidal Wave at one point.

Why we rarely went to Cheapo? I honestly don't recall. I suppose mainly due to the fact my best friend was someone who time was of the essence, and he always wanted to go do things asap (eating dinner on the drive home for instance, lol). And so driving into St.Paul to Cheapo would have compromised more time that he'd rather watch movies or play basketball down at the park near my folks place.

At any case, the WatchMojo.com list isn't bad, but also pretty predictable. Voices Inside My Head gets an HM and not something like Spirits in the Material World? yeah, that one is kind of surprising given the shear amount of Airplay for both songs, but whatevah.

Below is an Guestimation of my own personal top 12 or so with a few Honorable Mentions. I probably am leaving a few off at least the HM, but this is pretty close to my favorite songs from these guys.

Synchronicity II
Wrapped Around Your Finger
The Bed's Too Big Without You
Spirits in the Material World
Man in a Suitcase
It's Alright For You
Message in a Bottle
Secret Journey
Synchronicity I
Canary in a Coalmine
Bring on the Night
Too Much Information

HM: Can't Stand Losing You, King of Pain, So Lonely, De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da, Tea in the Sahara

 

WatchMojo.com: Top 10 Dream Theater songs (with Honorable Mentions)

Again, another one of WatchMojo.com's top 10 lists from a band I am a fan of. And again, I'm posting this late at night and will post 10 of my favorites without blurbs, because of that whole extensive time factor when writing up blurbs (and that many of them).

The list that the users voted for on their site, while isn't bad, is still not exactly what many of the longtime fans likely would vote for ("The Dark Eternal Night" as an HM?..ewww-kay, lol).

Also a note, the woman that narrates these videos has interviewed John Petrucci twice over the last few years if you do a search on YouTube.

If I were voting/found a way to vote/remembered to go over to the site and try again to vote, etc. These likely would be among mine.

Scarred
A Change of Seasons
Learning to Live
Raise the Knife
Finally Free
Blind Faith
Lines in the Sand
Space Dye-Vest
The Count of Tuscany
Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence

I know, 6DOIT is 8 individual songs, etc, but at the same time it's a suite, that I enjoy altogether anyway.

I wonder what other Top 10's they may do for bands I like. The likes of Muse, Coheed or The Mars Volta (or more likely, bands like Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Queen, Genesis and Yes), but I suppose I could just start posting top 10's of my own just for the hell of it, without much if any blurbing. I think I mentioned doing something like that less than a year ago, so perhaps that could finally happen to some degree.

WatchMojo.com: Top 10 Rush Songs (voted by users there)

Not that the WatchMojo.com lists mean all that much to me beyond mild curiosity at best, but among the recent Music lists they've posted, this is finally one from a band I actually do like.

But I and I would hope others who do watch these should keep in mind, they are lists (including the Honorable Mentions) are just based on VOTES BY USERS ON WATCHMOJO.COM, and not exactly some in-depth analysis of experts, industry people, etc.

And even registering on the site and being able to SIGN-IN and VOTE, posed challenging to me, as I tried to and failed a few times.

Anyway, in seeing this, just for non-extensive/time-consuming, I suppose I'll include a list of 10 or more of my favorites aka 10 Rush songs I would consider if not definitely include in my own personal top 10.

Cygnus X-1 Book II - Hemispheres
Natural Science
Middletown Dreams
Afterimage
Red Tide
The Necromancer
Cygnus X-1
The Analog Kid
The Trees
The Camera Eye

I'd love to Blurb about these songs, but time is not available for me now. Perhaps soon down the road as I'm kind of in the middle of a discussion about my gf's mother's health issues and I should head to bed anyway.