Rolling Stone magazine, in my estimation, is a joke. It does, however, sometimes get its (meaningless) top _____ lists right. 2003’s list of greatest guitarist had arguably the best hard rock guitarist of my generation, Eddie Van Halen, way down at 70. Now he’s in their top 10. Why the change? Critics say that RS simply wants to be in good with EVH as a new Van Halen album approaches. Apparently, critics think Clapton’s rated too highly. I’m not a big EC fan, but his influence justifies his placement on the most recent list.
Rolling Stone finally gets it right; Music Critics Still Assume It’s Wrong
24 11 2011Comments : Leave a Comment »
Tags: Eddie Van Halen, Eric Clapton, Frank Zappa, guitar, rock guitar, Rolling Stone, Rolling Stone magazine, Rolling Stone top 10 guitarists, Rolling Stone top 100 guitarists, Top 10, top ____ list
Categories : Eddie Van Halen, guitar, Van Halen
Drummers named White
29 05 2009Answer: He was a member of the Plastic Ono Band (John Lennon, Yoko Ono, Eric Clapton and Klaus Voorman) and the band Yes and has played with a number of famous rockers including George Harrison, Joe Cocker, Ginger Baker and The Ventures.
Question: Who is Alan White?
Second from left.
Answer: He was the drummer of Oasis who replaced Tony McCarroll and was with the band from 1995 to 2004.
Question: Who is Alan White?
Answer: He was a seasonsed session drummer who, to the chagrin of the Ringo Starr and his fellow Beatles, was tapped by George Martin to record “Love Me Do” for single release.
Question: Who is Andy White?
Answer: He is the older brother of Alan White (Oasis) and has been the longtime drummer for Paul Weller, going back to his Style Council days. He has also played with The Who.
Question: Who is Steve White?
Answer: She is the drummer of the White Stripes and was married to Jack White from 1996 to 2000.
Question: Who is Detroit’s own Meg White?
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Tags: Alan White, Andy White, Beatles, drummers, drums, Eric Clapton, George Harrison, George Martin, Ginger Baker, Jack White, Joe Cocker, John Lennon, Klaus Voorman, Liam Gallagher, Love Me Do, Meg White, Noel Gallagher, Oasis, Paul McCartney, Paul Weller, Plastic Ono Band, Ringo Starr, session drummers, Steve White, Style Council, The White Stripes, The Who, Yes
Categories : Beatles, George Harrison, George Martin, instruments, John Lennon, music, Noel Gallagher, Oasis, The Who
Video Flashback: “In the Mood,” Robert Plant
25 05 2009I was a little too young to know much about Led Zeppelin. Sure, I had heard of them as a kid, but my parents weren’t fans and we didn’t have rock n’ roll radio on too much. My mom played a lot of Linda Ronstadt, some Eric Clapton and Olivia Newton-John, together with a mish-mash of oldies and country.
Because of that, I didn’t have much of an idea of who Robert Plant was when this song came around. I heard the song a bunch on top 40 radio and loved it. In fact, it was one of the songs I recorded from the radio and listened to over and over. It wasn’t until I went to my mom’s best friend’s house and we turned on MTV that I learned of the then former career of Mr. Plant. My mom’s friend’s younger brother, about 6 years older than me, made my “cousin” and I sit still while he watched this video. He told us who Robert was and that “Zeppelin rules!”
This is another song that I haven’t heard in years. It has simply dropped out of the radio station. I’m not sure why it doesn’t get played much anymore. It beats the crap out of most of Steve Winwood’s solo work and that still finds its way onto radio.
Comments : 4 Comments »
Tags: church, Eric Clapton, In the Mood, Led Zeppelin, Linda Ronstadt, MTV, oldies, Olivia Newton-John, Robert Plant, solo, song, Steve Winwood, video
Categories : MTV, songs, video
The concert I’d like to see
28 04 2009As much as I love music, there are very few concerts these days that come to town that I really would like to see. If I could put together this show, I would.
One of my favorites is Paul McCartney. In the last ten years or so, he’s kind of falling out of favor with me. I’ve not wanted to go see any of his shows and I don’t think I’ve actually paid for one of his albums in that stretch (although Chaos and Creation in the Backyard and Memory Almost Full are quite good.) I didn’t care to see him play the Super Bowl a few years back and I didn’t have much interest in his recent gig with Ringo in NYC.
After watching some clips of his performances at Coachella, the Concert for George a few years back, and the “Change Begins Within” show, I’ve had something of a change of heart. I’d love see Paul perform live. Here’s what I would change, though.
The shows have all been heavily dependent on backing bands and heavy production. The concert for George, for instance, had sets with multiple guitarists, bassists and drummers. Get rid of all that stuff. It’s too much clutter, too much noise, too slick.
Hand Paul a bass and plug him into a stack. Get Ringo behind the drums. Maybe get somebody like Eric Clapton or David Gilmour to play guitar. Perhaps that’s too ambitious. Find great lead and rhythm guitar players, some young gunslingers if necessary. Put them in a 1,000 to 2,000 seat place, charge a grand per ticket and let ’em rip. They could play old rock tunes, maybe stuff like the Fabs used to play in Hamburg. Of course it should be recorded in hi-def audio and video and packaged for sale.
No overdubs. No synthesizers or keyboards to recreate strings and horns and such. Bare bones production. Just rock out!
I know this will never happen. But “it’s all part of my rock and roll fantasy.”
Comments : 2 Comments »
Tags: Beatles, Change Begins Within, classic rock, concert, Concert for George, David Gilmour, Eric Clapton, George Harrison, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, rock and roll
Categories : Beatles, concert, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr