But for me, August this year brings a milestone achievement: It's the fifth anniversary of myself beginning this music blog. What is probably even more remarkable is that I have kept it up, for the most part (with a few hiccups here and there), for all of these five years, and not managing to turn people off in the process. Sure there have been some interesting topics, and some not-so-interesting ones too. There's also the music of today (which, granted, very few people of my age listen to, with perhaps the exception of some of the country artists or maybe a pop gem here or there) versus the music of the past, in which many of my friends who grew up listening to.
I've tried to straddle all of the eras here, and it is fun to go back and look at what we were listening to (and why) back then. But at the same time I've also tried to introduce listeners to what's going on now. Yes, there is the admittedly rather bland popular music that is the current top 40, and if you are a kid listening to that, well that is the music of your life, it's what you know. But to myself, in my late 50's who knows that the music has drastically changed from, say 1966, when I first listened to the radio religiously, to the present day, and realizing it wasn't the same. Or so they say.
I was so much into the popular (and that means rock, R&B and later, alternative) music through the 1970's, and that included the album rock of those days, while still keeping an eye on the top 40. By the early 1980's, it was all getting staid, with the top 40 consisting of mellow, adult-oriented songs (Air Supply, anyone?), as if when people hit a certain age, they have to put away the stuff they listened to growing up.
But thanks to the New Wave movement, and the birth of MTV in 1981, music went through a rejuvenation in the 1980's. Mainstream superstars like Prince, Michael Jackson and Madonna, and a second British invasion and some other gems, kept the 1980's alive. It was during the middle of that decade I became increasingly addicted to alternative rock in its various forms. The top 40 continued to be a good cross-section of what was happening all the way up until the end of 1991 when the radio powers that be decided to go bland again like they did eleven years earlier. It was also the breakthrough of grunge, with "Smells Like Teen Spirit" coming out and leading a new genre of rock through the nineties, and some of the rock-leaning top 40 outlets actually played along until the end of 1996, when it decided that anyone with guitars or over the age of thirty was deemed unfit for pop radio, and everything became teen-oriented again; no adults need listen.
It was then when I finally got detached from pop music, with very few exceptions. Alternative rock, actually was getting stale in itself as it was being hijacked by "nu metal bands", a genre which I tired of ten years earlier, and the genre didn't know what to do with itself for awhile there. By the 2000's, I'd still try and follow alt rock as it was going back to basics but soon after that I gave up the radio, and almost music.
Perhaps it was logical that I give up listening to new music. They say the average age that a person stops listening to new music is age 25 or 30, and by 2001 I was well into my forties. But one problem. I was still making some memories. While you might question what that has to do with music, my answer is "everything". Music is, for sure, about the artistry and listening experience, but it's also about what you were doing, what you were up to. What were you listening to during your first kiss? On the radio going to the prom? Maybe the song you were listening to at a beach party? You get the idea.
In January 1971, after faithfully listening to the radio for five years, I decided to use a cassette tape recorder and record songs off the radio; in fact my first song I taped was "My Sweet Lord" by George Harrison. Little did I know at the time, that it would be a practice I'd keep up for almost forty years. I would make monthly tapes, of then-current songs off the radio, and some from my 45 or album collection. And I realized that many of these tapes were synonymous with the events I took part in, in that decade. A ski trip to Lake Placid my senior year in High School, and a Spring Break trek to Daytona Beach during my sophomore year in college, as well as a post college graduation road trip with two friends all have its own music soundtrack to it. Songs that would never grow old!
By the 1980's, it was like clockwork, one tape a month all throughout the decade, watching the trends go from adult pop to new wave, and onward to hair metal, dance music, old-school rap and synth-pop, all during the time relating it to where I was when I heard those songs. I joined ski and beach houses and the winter and summer, respectively and although I was in my early thirties, past that "age boundary" that people stop listening to something new, I continued to listen to new music, trying to make 1988 as memorable as 1968 was. And it worked, for the most part.
In the 1990's, we had grunge and hip-hop and the music did change. Radio stations played less and less new music, and perhaps you had to wait through three classic songs before finding something new. For me, the 90's were arguably the busiest social time in my life, so I hardly stayed home to listen and tape. So by that time, I bought a lot of CD's (I was in two CD clubs) and my monthly tapes were composed of alternative rock and pop songs taped off of them. I would spend one night a month putting together songs that related the experience of that particular month but other than listening to a station's "buzz cut" or "top five most requested" where you knew the music would be fresh, I wouldn't listen at all.
When the new millennium rolled around, I continued to become more distant from music. I had subscribed to Billboard, a trade magazine (and before that, Record World) from 1971 but in 2003 I finally let it lapse. We were now in the mp3 age and still, I continued making monthly tapes, except now I was burning CD's. I never listened to the radio; all of the songs on my disks were based on what was on the (mostly) alternative charts or online radio playlists on the web; rarely did I listen to them first. But still, even though they may not have coincided with what was on the radio, I'd play them in my car when I went anywhere. But by the latter part of the 2000's, I was just getting tired of it. I'd make current CD's but reverted back to the music of my youth. I figured I was finally through with the new.
Which brings me to the blog. From 1976 until 2003, I had compiled my year-end top 100 favorites of the year, before I put that out to pasture. But a funny thing happened: Facebook. Social media. In 2009, I was still burning monthly CD's and decided to make a new year-end top 100 list and post it as a Facebook note. It got many "likes" and comments from friends. It was the "audience" I never had before. You can actually post videos to your timeline, and some of my friends did just that. For example, my friend Brian Sniatkowski, another who was always up on new music, posted his song of the week. Much of the music that was played on alt-rock stations was quite good. I continued making monthly CD's through the summer of 2010 when it hit me! Co-workers at the office I was working in were listening to music with headphones at their desks. Why couldn't I? I had gotten an iPod in 2007 but used it sparingly. But instead of burning CD's every month, why not make a current playlist similar to what a radio station does? So I loaded my iPod with songs from the summer of 2010, some pop, some alternative, all favorites and listened. And I started loving it.
Then I thought, since I have social media, perhaps if I share my experiences with new music as a Facebook note, and include my top 20 playlist complete with current and "last week" positions, I will make my own memories of that time in my life. Sure enough, I spent a weekend with friends near the Headliner club in Neptune NJ at the Shore and heard much of the same music that was out there. And thus, my blog was born.
The Black Keys, a band which I had heard going back to the mid 2000's, had just released a great song called "Tighten Up"; it was to become their breakthrough. It would be my first #1 record on the list. One of my favorite bands from back in my college days was Bachman-Turner Overdrive. Randy Bachman and Fred Turner had just reunited (as "Bachman & Turner") and put out an album, so I added that one at #3. Lady Gaga, a current pop diva was in her hitmaking prime and I had heard her then-current hit "Alejandro" on the boardwalk at Asbury Park; that was in my top ten. And you didn't have to be a big star to be included. A few weeks earlier, I had gone to a local pub to catch an upcoming country/rock singer songwriter named Rachel Allyn; so I put "Stand Still" in my top 5. I published my first blog as a Facebook note on August 28th, encompassing the week of August 23.All those artists side-by-side in a new music listing. Where else can you see that?
It worked wonders. I didn't get much comments from them, but I hit the goldmine that was new music. Just a couple weeks after my first one, Brian posted, as his song-of-the-week, a band called Avi Buffalo, with a great song and video called "What's In It For?". Its retroness just blew me away. Rock was for the most part being ignored so it was up to me to seek things out, and I found so many new gems, and many of them sounded like they were from the era I grew up in. Perfect: new music in the style of the old.
After forty years, I stopped with the CD burning and just added songs to my "currents' playlist, of which I had a second playlist for my current top 20 favorites of the week. Each week, I'd add some, drop some, just like radio stations did. Radio Rob, if you will. And then by the end of 2010, I discovered the band Fitz & the Tantrums, who have become my favorite band of the 2010's, and the new Adele album "21" came out as well with the awesome song "Rolling in the Deep".
The rest, they say is history. I expanded my blog to include my top 100 each week and by April 2011, it moved from a Facebook note to Blogger. I relayed old stories, new stories, and reviewed songs that I believe stood out. I encountered many styles, some throwbacks, some new. Some of the more accessible pop hits, and some obscure gems. I've tried to give exposure to some of the local artists who are trying to make it on their own, or who just play for the love of their craft. Perhaps I can boast someday when Ms. Allyn, the Hegazy twins, Taylor Centers, or Matt Weiss should hit the big time that I was there first, but if not, then heck, I'll enjoy them all to myself.
And yes, I have gotten discouraged a few times, as this takes a lot of work to put together. Twice list year I had put it on hold, only to bring it back. Twenty-two thousand hits later, as long as people still read it, I'll write it. So a big thank you to those who do read this; there have been many musical adventures along the way, and hope there will be many more. In three weeks, I will publish my Top 100 songs from the "blog era", and hope some will bring back memories for you, too.
TO THE CHART: Courtney Barnett's "Dead Fox" hit the top spot on the SNS 100 this week, as it appears that Ed Sheeran's "Thinking Out Loud" which was at the top for six non-consecutive weeks falls to #4. Next week it should be a three-way race for the top with Barnett joined by Elle King and Beck who are currently in the top 3. The catchy "I'm In Love With My Life" from PHASES is the big mover into the top 20.
FOAL ME ONCE...." The top debut this week is the new one by Foals, "Mountain At My Gates". The band hails from Oxford, England but are no strangers to my blog. They have reached my top 20 twice, with "Total Life Forever", the title track from their second album doing the trick in early 2011, and "My Number" which reached it in late summer 2013, which was from their third set, "Holy Fire".
The new single enters at #67 and it immediately conveys a pretty catchy beat to it, and perhaps a bit more accessible then their prior material which is no small feat. Beginning with a bass drum beat a la "Rolling in the Deep", it managed to encompass a jangly guitar rhythm which all the while maintains its rhythm and soul. It will get you up on your feet and although you may not be able to dance to it, you could just get caught up in it all. A lot is going on here, but it's all good. The song is from their upcoming fourth effort What Went Down which drops August 28.
Scenes ‘n’ Soundwaves 100
August 2,
2015
| This Week | Last Week | ARTIST-Title | Weeks on List |
| 1 | 2 | NUMBER ONE:
"Dead
Fox"
Album: Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit
|
6 |
| 2 | 3 | Elle King - Ex's and Oh's | 12 |
| 3 | 6 | Beck - Dreams | 7 |
| 4 | 1 | Ed Sheeran - Thinking Out Loud | 22 |
| 5 | 5 | Tame Impala - Let It Happen | 17 |
| 6 | 4 | The Decemberists - Calvary Captain | 17 |
| 7 | 9 | Coin - Run | 10 |
| 8 | 7 | Florence + the Machine - Ship to Wreck | 13 |
| 9 | 8 | Grace Potter - Alive Tonight | 11 |
| 10 | 13 | Fitz and the Tantrums - Last Raindrop | 5 |
| 11 | 12 | The Arcs - Outta My Mind | 6 |
| 12 | 10 | St. Paul and the Broken Bones - Like a Mighty River | 14 |
| 13 | 24 | TOP 20 IMPACT OF THE WEEK:
"I'm In Love With
My Life"
(Single Only)
|
4 |
| 14 | 15 | Django Django - Reflections | 6 |
| 15 | 14 | Allison Iraheta & Halo Circus - Gone | 8 |
| 16 | 20 | Circa Waves - T-Shirt Weather | 8 |
| 17 | 11 | Calvin Harris f. Ellie Goulding - Outside | 14 |
| 18 | 19 | Ting Tings - Wrong Club | 12 |
| 19 | 22 | Borns - Electirc Love | 6 |
| 20 | 18 | Saint Motel - My Type | 14 |
|
|
Songs
with the greatest increase in favorite points over the prior week.
● Songs
with 25 or more plays on my iPod.
▲ Songs with 50 or more plays on my iPod.
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