Musical Interlude: Cool Tunes

July 11, 2012

Well, this is my blog about wine. But I also love music, so here a series of tunes I have been listening to lately. But first let’s start with a funny illustration that has been making the rounds on Facebook.

Wine poetry 🙂

Living in the age of Lady Gaga and media-oriented, image-conscious silliness, one cannot deny that the golden era of rock/pop/folk ran from around the time of the British Invasion in the early 1960s to sometime in the early 1980s, with some mighty fine music from The Talking Heads, The Police, The Clash, The Jam and a few others. There were some flashes of brilliance in the 1990s, including Blur, Nirvana, and some others. But by the time we got into the new century, it has been mostly downhill with Britney Spears videos and a bunch of commercial crap. Do I sound like an old geezer? At 45, perhaps. But most people far younger then I also harken back to that classic period. And most cool music being made today is most likely to be utterly derivative of the greats of yesteryear, topped by – of course – The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Who and several other epochal bands. Here a random selection that just popped into my head from this golden era… in no particular order.

Three Dog Night Momma Told Me Not To Come (1970)

A quirky barroom tune. Nothing serious or deep, but just fun.

The Doors People Are Strange (1968)

An ultra cool 60s groove, not without philosophical depth: When are people strange? Why, when you’re a stranger.

John Lennon Mind Games (1973)

Could this be John Lennon’s best post Beatles song? Everyone says Imagine. Yes, that one is a fabulous song. But this one is more abstract, making you wonder about what one wants, where one is going, what makes things meaningful, etc. Set to a cool melody, en plus!

Jefferson Airplane 3/5 of a Mile in 10 seconds (1967)

This band’s claim to fame is as a druggy, 60s hippy dippy group par excellence. Here a stellar example, best appreciated with wine (or something else?)