Quotes of the Month: December 2012

Quote of the Month: "Jack, you are my best friend. We had fun together. I will miss you. I will talk to you in my prayers. I love you Jack. Love, John."

-One of Jack Pinto’s classmates

Stupid Quote of the Month: "Is he a brother or a cornball brother?  We all know he has a white fiancée. There was all this talk about he's a Republican, which, there's no information at all. I'm just trying to dig deeper as to why he has an issue. Because we did find out with Tiger Woods, Tiger Woods was like, I've got black skin, but don't call me black. So people got to wondering about Tiger Woods early on."

-Rob Parker on RGIII

And the rest:

"Our people in an overwhelming way supported the re-election of this president and there ought to be a quid pro quo and you ought to exercise leadership on that. Of course, not just that, but why not? After the election of Jimmy Carter, the honorable Coleman Alexander Young, he went to Washington, D.C. He came home with some bacon. That's what you do."

-JoAnn Watson embarrassing Detroit once more

"There will be blood."

-Democratic State Senator Douglas Geiss

“But I’ve got to say, if it rains in London, you’ve got to come and help us, OK?”

-Mick Jagger at the 121212 concert for Sandy Relief

“Get a ****in’ beer!”

-Pete Townshend at the 121212 concert for Sandy Relief

“He had no desire., If he could have found someone else to take his place ... he would have been ecstatic to step aside. He is a very private person who loves his family deeply and wants to be with them, but he has deep faith in God and he loves his country, but he doesn’t love the attention."

-Tagg Romney

 “Put the harps back in the closet.”

-George H.W. Bush following reports of his impending death

Top 200 Albums of All Time: The Rolling Stones

Aftermath: The Rolling Stones (1966)

The Rolling Stones’ sixth album represented a major breakthrough for the band. It marked the first time the Stones did not cover any songs. Every track was a Jagger/Richards composition. It is also notable for the inclusion of a variety of non-rock instruments such as the sitar, dulcimer, and xylophone.

Key Tracks:
Paint It Black
Under My Thumb
Lady Jane

Beggar’s Banquet: The Rolling Stones (1968)

The Stones abandoned the psychedelic and returned to their primal roots with Beggar’s Banquet. Fans and critics enjoyed the return to form for the band. In December, the Stones filmed The Rolling Stones Rock n Roll Circus to promote the album. The film included John Lennon, The Who, Jethro Tull, and Eric Clapton, but was not released until 1996.

Key Tracks:
Sympathy for the Devil
Street Fighting Man
Salt of the Earth

Let if Bleed: The Rolling Stones (1969)

Mick Jagger lists Let It Bleed as his favorite Stones album. The record is the last with Brian Jones and first with Mick Taylor. This album captured the period’s zeitgeist. It is infused with a feeling of impending doom. In fact, the day after it was released, the Stones held the Altamont Free Concert.

Key Tracks:
Gimme Shelter
Midnight Rambler
Monkey Man
You Can’t Always Get What You Want

Sticky Fingers: The Rolling Stones (1971)

The Stones eleventh album, Sticky Fingers, is a soundtrack to the early 1970s as well as many a gangster film. It is dark and autobiographical. Sticky Fingers marks Mick Taylor’s official full album debut after replacing the late Brian Jones. The album’s cover created some controversy as it featured a male crotch. Overall, Sticky Fingers represents what rock n roll.

Key Tracks:
Brown Sugar
Can’t You Hear Me Knocking
Bitch
Sister Morphine
Dead Flowers

Exile on Main St.: The Rolling Stones (1972)

There is a consensus that Exile is the Stones finest effort. Keith Richards claimed that the double album hit many different areas and the band felt like exiles at the time. It also marked the point at which the Stones decided they were big enough to do whatever they wanted. For his part, Jagger does not count Exile as one of his favorites. He believes its success lies in the whole, “I'm not too sure how great the songs are, but put together it's a nice piece.”

Key Tracks:
Tumbling Dice
Rip this Joint
Sweet Virginia
Happy
Ventilator Blues

Tattoo You: The Rolling Stones (1981)

Although they continued to produce hit records, Tattoo You remains the Rolling Stones last #1 studio album. Many of the songs were outtakes and leftovers from the previous decade. According to Richards, the Stones felt the urge to tour and did not have the time to write new material. The result was an extremely popular record among fans and critics alike.

Key Tracks:
Start Me Up
Hang Fire
Waiting on a Friend

History Shorts: Paul's Conversion (36 A.D.)

Paul of Tarsus persecuted Christians for blasphemy. One day, on the road to Damascus, a vision of Christ blinded him. He converted on the spot and changed the course of history. There are a variety of theories as to what happened to Paul, but what matters is he believed he talked to Christ.

Paul enjoyed Roman citizenship and wealth. As a result, he could travel the empire unencumbered and used his connections to spread the word. Additionally, he reworked Christianity making it more palatable for pagans. For example, he eliminated the need to circumcise new converts. He also argued that salvation came from faith and not works. Paul was executed by the Emperor Nero who needed a scapegoat for the Great Fire of Rome. In 2009, the Vatican announced an excavation of Paul’s tomb, which included carbon dating confirming the remains date to the 1^st century A.D.

The first link is "Saint of Me" by the Rolling Stones. The song mentions St. Paul and tells his story. The second is a cartoon dramatization of Paul's conversion.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ej0D0NHfMI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4ZJxb4uW-E

Top 200 Albums of All Time: "J" Artists

Off the Wall: Michael Jackson (1979)


Off the Wall has become a trendy pick amongst critics for MJ’s greatest work. The album signaled Michael Jackson’s move away from Motown and included funk, disco, pop, soul, jazz, and soft rock influences. Off the Wall had been forgotten as music fans wanted to forget the seventies and in the wake of Thriller’s success.

Key Tracks:

Don’t Stop ‘til You Get Enough
Rock With You
She’s Out of My Life

Thriller: Michael Jackson (1982)

For a time, Thriller was omnipresent. Michael Jackson continued his exploration of the same musical influences present in Off the Wall. With Thriller, he really puts his stamp on pop culture and music. Additionally, Jackson broke down racial barriers through MTV with hit after hit. “Beat It” and “Billie Jean” still receive radio airplay nearly 30 years later and the title track has become a Halloween anthem.

Key Tracks:

Beat It
Billy Jean
Thriller
Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’

Billy Joel: The Stranger (1977)

Billy Joel broke through with The Stranger. His previous four albums achieved little-to-moderate success. The album is filled with classic tracks and four singles charted.

Key Tracks:

Movin’ Out (Anthony’s Song)
The Stranger
Just the Way You Are
She’s Always a Woman
Scenes from an Italian Restaurant

Goodbye Yellow Brick Road: Elton John (1973)

Elton John did not plan to record a double album. However, he and Bernie Taupin wrote enough material for two albums. The record uses nostalgia for maximum effect. The most memorable works all harken back to simpler time whether its childhood or young adulthood.

Key Tracks:

Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleed
Candle in the Wind
Bennie and the Jets
Goodbye Yellow Brick Road

Robert Johnson: King of the Delta Blues Singers (1961)

Robert Johnson died in 1938. In 1961, Columbia released sixteen tracks that had been on 78. Throughout the sixties, blues grew more popular particular with the British Invasion acts. As the decade progressed, his works were covered by the Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton, and Led Zeppelin.

Key Tracks:

Cross Road Blues
Terraplane Blues
Traveling Riverside Blues
Hellhound on My Trail

British Steel: Judas Priest (1980)

1980 was a very good year for metal. Judas Priest was in the middle of the action with the release of British Steel. Scott Ian claimed the album defined heavy metal because it eliminated the blues influence that permeated and influenced the genre from the late sixties. On top of this, the album included the iconic and genre defining songs “Breaking the Law”, “Living After Midnight”, and “Metal Gods.”

Key Tracks:

Breaking the Law
Living After Midnight
United
Metal Gods

Quotes of the Month- October 2010

President Obama got it from all sides this last month as Democrats run from his record and Republicans push for a restoration.

Quote of the Month: “The rent is too damn high.”


-Jimmy McMillan

And the rest…in no particular order

“They gathered the last 10,000 Obama supporters for a last hurrah!”

-Ann Coulter on the 10-2 march

“He uses these idiot boards to read speeches on television.”

-Walter Mondale on Barack Obama

“Wonder if Matt Millen thinks the 1-8-7 in Detroit 1-8-7 stands for the area code. Oh, wait, it was his winning percentage as team president.”

-Pat Caputo

“Mr. Obama, our imam-child, they have already taken their trillion dollar ball home, and they’re sitting on it, you jackass.”

-Rush Limbaugh

“Ted Kennedy. Robert Byrd.”

-Harry Reid when asked who the greatest living American was (both men are dead)

“Even the truth doesn't restrain him when it comes to assaulting his enemies list.”

-Karl Rove

With the exception of core Obama Administration loyalists, most politically engaged elites have reached the same conclusions: the White House is in over its head, isolated, insular, arrogant and clueless about how to get along with or persuade members of Congress, the media, the business community or working-class voters. This view is held by Fox News pundits, executives and anchors at the major old-media outlets, reporters who cover the White House, Democratic and Republican congressional leaders and governors, many Democratic business people and lawyers who raised big money for Obama in 2008, and even some members of the Administration just beyond the inner circle.

-Mark Halperin Time Magazine

“He has now expanded his listening to include Lil Wayne, that tattooed gargoyle now serving time for drug and gun possession at Rikers Island.”

-Stanley Crouch on Obama's musical tastes

“It should be easy to market the Virgin Galactic commercial space flight. It's the name of the company AND the target audience.”

-Dennis Miller

“Because Muslims killed us on 9/11."

-Bill O’Reilly on why the Ground Zero Mosque is inappropriate

“Dems really have their finger on the pulse of America. If there's one thing people worry about ALL THE TIME, it's the Chamber of Commerce.”

-Caleb Howe

“Man up Harry Reid”

-Sharon Angle

"I don't want to see my old friend Lucifer just yet."

-Keith Richards

"Look, Bill, I'm not a bigot. You know the kind of books I've written about the civil rights movement in this country. But when I get on the plane, I got to tell you, if I see people who are in Muslim garb and I think, you know, they are identifying themselves first and foremost as Muslims, I get worried. I get nervous."

-Juan Williams

“These are naive idiots who’ve come out of academia and have never done anything real in their lives, and they are actually in power,” he said. “These are the people we never let in the room when we had serious business to do. Now they’re running the country.”

-Democrat and former Carter staffer Pat Caddell on the Obama Administration
"He can take his endorsement and really shove it."

-RI Democratic Gubernatorial Candidate Frank Caprio regarding an Obama Endorsement

My Favorite Albums from the 1960s

Not in any order...

Sgt Peppers- Beatles (1967)

Revolver- Beatles (1966)

Tommy- The Who (1969)

White Album- Beatles (1968)

The Doors- The Doors (1967)

Let it Bleed- The Rolling Stones (1969)

Magical Mystery Tour- Beatles (1967)

Aftermath- Rolling Stones (1966)

At Folsom Prison- Johnny Cash (1968)

Revolver/Rubber Soul- Beatles (1965 and 1966)

Greatest Guitar Riffs of the 60s

I did not put these in any order. This period was the heyday for guitar rock. These are the best riffs in my opinion...

Whole Lotta Love- Led Zeppelin

Satisfaction- Rolling Stones

Purple Haze- Jimy Hendrix

Sunshine of Your Love- Cream

Day Tripper- The Beatles

Jumpin’ Jack Flash- Rolling Stones

You Really Got Me- The Kinks

Voodoo Child- Jimy Hendrix

Black Dog- Led Zeppelin

Roadhouse Blues- The Doors



Pinball Wizard- The Who

Wipe Out- The Sufaris

All Along the Watchtower- Jimy Hendrix

Revolution- The Beatles

Miserlou- Dick Dale

I Can’t Explain- The Who

Fortunate Son- CCR

My Generation- The Who

All Day and All of the Night- The Kinks

Paint it Black- The Rolling Stones

Greatest Albums of the 1960s

At first, I thought I'd do a little write-up on these. However, rock albums have been so overanalyzed over the years, I thought it'd be redundant. Readers should check them out rather than taking a critic's or a fan's opinion! So, here are my picks for the Top 10 Albums of the Sixties:

1. Sgt Peppers- The Beatles (1967)

2. Pet Sounds- The Beach Boys (1966)

3. Revolver- The Beatles (1966)

4. Tommy- The Who (1969)

5. Highway 61 Revisited- Bob Dylan (1965)

6. Blonde on Blonde- Bob Dylan (1966)

7. Abbey Road- The Beatles (1969)

8. White Album- The Beatles (1968)

9. The Doors- The Doors (1967)

10. Let it Bleed- The Rolling Stones (1969)

Favorite 70s Albums

Not in any order...

Dark Side of the Moon (1973)

Born to Run- Bruce Springsteen (1975)

Who’s Next- The Who (1971)

The Wall- Pink Floyd (1979)

Quadrophenia- The Who (1973)

Sticky Fingers- Rolling Stones (1971)

Some Girls- The Rolling Stones (1978)

Plastic Ono Band- John Lennon (1970)

Wish You Were Here - Pink Floyd (1975)

Let it Be- The Beatles (1970)

Greatest Albums of the 1970s

Not in any order...

Dark Side of the Moon: Pink Floyd (1973)

What’s Going On?: Marvin Gaye (1971)

Born to Run: Bruce Springsteen (1975)

Exile on Mainstreet: The Rolling Stones (1972)

Innervisions: Stevie Wonder (1973)

Led Zeppelin IV: Led Zeppelin (1971)

Who’s Next: The Who (1971)

Rumours: Fleetwood Mac (1977)

The Wall: Pink Floyd (1979)

Quadrophenia: The Who (1973)

Best riffs of the 1970s

Smoke on the Water- Deep Purple

Layla- Derek and the Dominoes

Iron Man- Black Sabbath

Heartbreaker- Led Zeppelin

Walk This Way- Aerosmith

Paranoid- Black Sabbath

Aqualung- Jethro Tull

Brown Sugar- The Rolling Stones

Running with the Devil- Van Halen

La Grange- ZZ Top

Cat Scratch Fever- Ted Nugent

Hey Hey My My- Neil Young

Money- Pink Floyd

Cocaine- Eric Clapton

Ain’t Talkin’ ‘bout Love- Van Halen

Frankenstein- Edgar Winter

Stranglehold- Ted Nugent

Sweet Home Alabama- LS

In the Evening- Led Zeppelin

Echoes- Pink Floyd

Best Riffs of the 80s

Here are the best riffs of the 1980s...not in any order...

Paradise City- GnR

Rock You Like a Hurricane- The Scorpions

Back in Black- AC/DC

Breakin’ the Law- Judas Priest

Master of Puppets- Metallica

Seek and Destroy- Metallica

Photograph- Def Leppard

Sharp Dressed Man- ZZ Top

Money for Nothing- Dire Straits

Start Me Up- The Rolling Stones

Rockin’ in the Free World- Neil Young

Spirit of Radio- Rush

Eminence Front- The Who

Run Like Hell- Pink Floyd

Couldn’t Stand the Weather- Stevie Ray Vaughn

Crazy Train- Ozzy

Eye of the Tiger- Survivor

You Shook Me All Night Long- AC/DC

I Love Rock n Roll- Joan Jett

Sunday, Bloody Sunday-U2

#4 The Rolling Stones

The Stones formed in 1962 and are on the verge of celebrating their 50th anniversary. The original band consisted of Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Charlie Watts, Bill Wyman, Brian Jones, and Ian Stewart. Keyboardist Stewart was quickly dumped because he did not fit the “teen idol” image. He did stay on as road manager and session keyboardist until his death in 1985.

The band’s main influences came from the blues world. Eventually, they came to write their own stuff which was heavily influenced by that genre. When they broke, they used that background to become the anti-Beatles. While the Beatles came off as nice clean cut gents, the Stones were dark and dangerous. Mick Jagger cultivated this image. While the Beatles sang of love, the Stones expressed “Sympathy for the Devil.” This image was reinforced at their Woodstock West concert at Altamont in 1969. The Hell’s Angels provided security and stabbed a fan to death.

Mick and Keith became the band’s main creative force. As they became more popular, they edged the band’s founder, Brian Jones out. Jones eventually died under mysterious circumstances. An investigation into his death has recently been reopened. Jones was replaced by Mick Taylor. For no apparent reason, Taylor quit in 1974 and was replaced by Ron Wood. Wood has been with the band ever since.

The Stones halcyon years ran from the Aftermath album of 1966 through their Exile on Mainstreet in 1972. However, they remained consistent hit makers into the early-to-mid eighties. Then, tensions between Mick and Keith blew the band apart. At Live Aid, Mick took the stage with Tina Turner while Keith (and Ron Wood) played with Bob Dylan.

In 1989, Mick and Keith made up and the band remerged with Steel Wheels. Once again, they scored a series of hit songs and records into the new millennium. During this renaissance period, bassist and band historian Bill Wyman retired. He was replaced by Darryl Jones. The Stones last album was released in 2005 and stirred some controversy with the song “Sweet Neo Con.” The album also produced a stripped down style which critics loved. In many respects, A Bigger Bang gave the public a glimpse at the sixties-era Stones. They are still together and their music and their image is something artists since from the sixties to today have tried to emulate.

Rock n Roll Moment: Keith Richards (yes that is all I am going to say)

Essential Stones:
The Rolling Stones Now! (1965)
Aftermath (1966)
Between the Buttons (1967)
Beggar’s Banquet (1968)
Let it Bleed (1969)
Sticky Fingers (1971)
Exile on Main Street (1972)
Some Girls (1978)
Tatoo You (1981)
Voodoo Lounge (1994)
A Bigger Bang (2005)

The Rolling Stone’s Top 10:
Satisfaction
Paint It Black
Let’s Spend the Night Together
Gimme Shelter
Jumpin’ Jack Flash
Honky Tonk Women
Brown Sugar
Tumblin’ Dice
Miss You
Start Me Up