10 Songs From Bands I Couldn't Otherwise Care Less About

[Charger]

Elvis is a bit of a hit and miss for me too...Couple of his more rockier tunes are okay but those "him and his acoustic guitar" songs are mainly just dull.

One can't deny his influence on rock though...and especially getting the ladies into it at the time!

[Vyn]

Elvis...I like some of his early rockabilly style tunes, otherwise I've never cared for him at all. When he died, the lady that lived right across the street came over, knocked on the door, my mom answered it. Neighbor was full-on balling her eyes out, "have you heard, Elvis died!"

I was like, "whaddaya know." My mom was even less impacted lol

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

I think he had a great voice, it was just the style of music I wasn't a fan of. I certainly never particularly enjoyed early Rock n Roll, but maybe if I had been there it could have been different. As Charger says there is no denying his importance.

If peeps are shocked at his inclusion on my list then there may be a bigger shock to come! I might throw it in tomorrow just to get the ridicule out of the way!

[Zzzptm]

Well, I hold out an olive branch on Elvis because I know I've got a big shock or two that I'm saving for the end of the list.

[Charger]

Oh I think I might have one or two on my list that might cause some "What? Why?"'s here...or maybe not as you lot know me pretty well already...

[Zzzptm]

Just to get it out of the way, then, I'll have Dara O'Brien pre-express my shock:

[Charger]

Well I'll go with one here although this shouldn't come as a big surprise to anyone though.


Pick #4

BOB DYLAN - Gotta Serve Somebody

I HATE Bob Dylan. His singing is dreadfull, most of his music is dull and I consider him to be one of THE most overrated singer/songwriters in the world!
BUT this song is actually pretty good. I first heard it on the tv show Sopranos back in the day and only found out it was Bob Dylan after I had bought the show's soundtrack cd and this was on it.
There is another Bob Dylan song I like called All Along The Watchtower but only because it was covered by a certain left handed guitar wizard by the name of Jimi Hendrix whose version blows Dylan's out of orbit! That song was also very prominent in the tv show Battlestar Galactica but now I digress.

This song does suffer from the typical totally bland preformance style of Dylan but for some reason it actually works here. This just proves the point that when a crap artist does enough material they'll hit the gold once!

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

^^^
I like quite a few Bob Dylan songs... when they've been performed by other people, the example you give being the best. Absolutely agree that his voice is substandard!

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

My number 4 choice feels a little like a fraud choice because I actually like 4 or 5 songs by the act in question... usually the more quirky songs in their catalogue.... but seriously I don't really care about them that much!

The Beatles - She's Leaving Home

BUT, this is a seriously good song, so emotional, great lyrics, a great performance from them. I just realised it is mainly an orchestral piece too. It's off Sgt Peppers which has another their better songs (Life in a Day).

I don't really appreciate their earlier stuff even though it's very much of its time and set standards which would define music trends to follow. Their later stuff is where I like the occasional song, Eleanor Rigby is another one I really like.

But the songs I like really are few and far between, but outside the hits I'm not so familiar with their deeper cuts!

[Charger]

I was thinking about The Beatles but honestly I can't think of a SINGLE song from them that I actually really like!

[Zzzptm]

^^^
I like quite a few Bob Dylan songs... when they've been performed by other people, the example you give being the best. Absolutely agree that his voice is substandard!

He is a much better songwriter, 100% agree. I like his acoustic work, I think it lends a better interpretation to his material.

And I knew Charger was no Beatles fan, but KDC??? Well, this is an interesting turn. Myself, I find that I'm more partial to George Harrison's songs and that, like Dylan, many Beatles songs are better when done by others. I'll start another thread to go into more depth and I think we might be able to have some fun with it.

My next one has two videos...

The first is when I first encountered the song, as part of the soundtrack for Il Divo, an Italian biopic of Giulio Andreotti, controversial former Prime Minister of Italy. He was alleged to be connected to a number of mafia killings and also alleged to have employed a "strategy of tension" that provoked leftist extremists in order to drive votes away from the political left. The strategy is alleged to have resulted in radical leftists choosing to murder the then-PM, Aldo Moro. LOTS of allegations in this guy's life. Fascinating biography and the clothing in the film is amazing.

Anyway, the song played for the opening montage:

Go to 2:17 to get to the start of the song.

I was stunned with how the pop tune worked so intimately with the beats of the violence depicted. Really well arranged. And the song itself was catchy, so I went to get it in full:

More fun with the video, really enjoyed it and the song is totally catchy - I like EDM and this track had a strong House vibe to it. So I went to check out their other stuff, and...

... yeah, that's why they're here. It was just that one song that was good enough for me. Still, I really love it and that movie is amazing stuff.

[Vyn]

That Dylan record is the only one of his I own, and that's only because my dad bought it when it came out and it was handed down to me.

Th Beatles were all about timing; another place and another time they would have been a second-rate band that got some airplay but with more of a niche following rather than BEATLEMANIA!

Z once again pulls out some tunes I have never heard of. Cassius is pretty cool!

Up next for me is The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. I really like their version of this tune, everything else they produced makes me want to take a nap:

[Zzzptm]

^ California-flavored outlaw country, to sum up. It's a good cover, but I like versions by Johnny Cash and The Staple Singers better.

[Charger]

Well both of you pulled something out of your hats that I've never even heard of...


My #5 is

VON BONDIES - C'mon C'mon

I heard it on this for the first time:

Rescue Me was a fantastic show about a group of NYC fire fighters struggling with their lives and PTSD after 9/11 the show dealt the heavy topic with great (albeit very dark) humor and some good action.
Denis Leary created the show and starred in it and did a wonderful job.

But this isn't about the show it's about the song. I had to find out (luckily it was in the end credits of the show) what the theme song was and had to find out more about Von Bondies but sadly nothing in their work even came close to the sheer brilliance of this song. It's kind of a punky fast rock song. They weren't from New York though but from Detroit.

Fun fact the band has two women but neither handles the vocal duties.

[Zzzptm]

Pretty decent punk-flavored power pop there, but, yeah, there's a lot of that going around. Gotta focus on the good tracks and leave the rest outside.

My next track is one we've visited here before. Safe to say I wanted to find other tight tracks from this outfit, but, nope. Swing and a miss on the lot of them. But this one persists...

Yes, the band are all from England... but I swear they gotta be Swedish somewhere with a song like this!