So, the band was discussing our buddy Shawn�s (mushroomhead) list on his diaryland site last night. He had a list of his favorite bands from 1965-1980. A peculiar time frame indeed, but I guess it makes sense. As anyone who knows me, I tend to have strong opinions when it comes to music, so of course I have to add my two cents. So without further ado, here are my �Ten Important Rock based acts from 1965-1980� . Of course this has to come with a few disclaimers though:

� The Stones and the Beatles are disqualified, as we all know they were important in various forms

� Jazz/soul/blues, etc is taken off this list. Where I would much take any music in any of those genres any day over traditional �rock music�, I don�t need to explain to you mother fuckers that Duke Ellington was probably more important in five minutes than the Beatles were in their entire career. Did I just contradict myself in two bullet points?

� Bands like Pink Floyd, the Doors, Led Zeppelin, etc. have been disqualified for being directly responsible for some of the most annoying, silly fans in rock music, and for being slightly pretentious in general.

In no order:

1. Bob Dylan � I don�t really need to comment on Dylan, aside from saying he�s one of the only people who can write quality lyrics in the history of music.

2. Neil Young � Neil holds quite possibly the richest musical career in rock, spanning all sorts of genres, aside from some questionable albums (Landing on Water, Trans, Mirror Ball, Re-ac-tor, etc.) Neil has continued to reinvent himself album after album, and speaks to me personally I think.

3. Captain Beefheart � Destroying any musical barriers you can think of Don Van Vliet assembled some fine players throughout his relatively short career to bring his vision of what music should sound like to the masses. Unfortunately, the masses usually don�t �get it�, so us lucky ones are given a fine selection of music to own all to ourselves, while you all consider bands like Radiohead �experimental�.

4. Tom Waits � I�ve talked about Tom in here before. I saw him live a few years ago, and vowed to pretty much keep away from any other rock show, as live music is not needed anymore for me after seeing this god.

5. Black Sabbath � the song �Wheels of Confusion�

6. The Who � I would never have picked up a guitar if I hadn�t seen The Kids are Alright as a kid.

7. MC5 � Detroit Rock City

8. The Stooges � Blink 182 has nothing to do with punk rock

9. Grateful Dead � perhaps my favorite band of all time, I was lucky enough to see them 30 times or so. Critics would most likely not agree with this but, who gives a shit about critics. As a guitar player myself, Jerry knew where and when to put notes.

10. Velvet Underground � I just like them, and I�m sick of writing about music now.

Bubbling under: Bowie, Modern Lovers, The Flaming Groovies, Fairport Convention, Can, The Band, The Clash, the Sex Pistols, The Specials, Joe Jackson, The Jam, and a million others.

Now let�s move to the 7 most overrated artists�.ever�I think I already did this once and got yelled at by my non-heterosexual friends.

1. Bjork � Sure she�s great, etc. But she�s really not worthy of the acclaim she gets. Plus she looks like a 10 year old Japanese boy. Give me PJ Harvey, or Elizabeth Fraser, or Lisa Gerrard, or Tanya Donnely, or Kristen Hersch any day.

2. Frank Zappa � I�ve given this a lot of thought lately, and I do own a few of his records, and yes I understand why he was important, blah, blah, blah, but when you get down to it, the music is pretty boring, and it�s not THAT funny.

3. Nirvana � I love Nirvana, but I also love the Beatles and Cheap Trick, who did this same exact thing years before Kurt even knew what a guitar was.

4. Tori Amos/Sarah McLachlan/Ani Difranco, etc. � zzzzzzzzzz where�s Bikini Kill when you need them?

5. Built to Spill � these guys sucked before they signed to a major label, now they suck again.

6. Lauryn Hill/Fugees, etc. � this type of music is what I like to call �the destruction of hip-hop and soul music in five minutes� Nobody should be allowed to cover a Bob Marley song, and live.

7. Sigur Ros � this band has one good song on their record, and then they start to put you to sleep. Just because they are from Iceland they get props. Fuck you.

Okay now that I�ve probably upset a few of you �too hip for words� folk out there, I�ll list my �Top 5 bands you can make fun of me for listening to from time to time:

Actually, fuck that, you don�t deserve to make fun of me, go sell your CD�s and buy the complete catalogs of all of the artists in the top ten list (except for Empire Burlesque, and Shot of Love by Dylan)

nighty

before & after