Apr 22, 2009

There are two types of people in this world.

Ok.. so apparently I fell asleep last night before posting this because I took a benadryl and it knocked me out and I just noticed it sitting in my drafts.
I intended to include more links
but now I don't remember what they were.
Seriously, benadryl should be a controlled substance.

There are two types of people in this world.
And a million ways to finish that sentence.
The first time remember hearing that opener it was followed by "Beatles people and Rolling Stones People"
and the most unusual one I'd heard was "Those that like Halvah and those that don't"

Growing up in Brooklyn in the late 70s and into the very early 80s there truly were two types of people in the world: Those that listened to Rock and those that listened to Disco. I distinctly remember narrowly escaping several fistfights that were precipitated by someone throwing down the "rock sucks" or "disco sucks" gauntlet
And if you happened to be in Junior High at the time, everything about your existence was defined by which of these you chose. Who your friends were, what clothes you wore, where you hung out, what hairstyle you had.. all of these fell in line behind your musical choice.
.
I was a rock person, driven, at least in part, by my lack of desire to style my hair every morning. Rock people definitely had it easier in terms of the personal maintenance, and I think my wardrobe for a few years consisted largely of black rock concert t-shirts. Perhaps if i had the easily-styled hair that neatly and easily fell into those Farrah Fawcett flips, the entire course of my liie might have been different.

Fortunately Junior High ended and we all moved on to more meaningful pursuits and became passionate about more important things, such as Atkins vs. Weight Watchers, Facebook vs. Twitter and the all-important Mac vs. PC . . Musical rivalries of this type do still exist though (the styles have changed but the dynamics haven't).

So anyway, my point. Because I grew up in such a volatile musical climate, it suprised me tremendously when I first learned that the artists don't always share the same allegiences as their fans. For this reason I always enjoy hearing musical artists talk about their influences and likes and have them be things that you would never associate with them.

Here we have Wyclef talking about Bruce Springsteen:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f6psg0BEg94


An article on Frank Sinatra and a whole bunch of people:

http://www.usatoday.com/life/music/news/2008-05-11-frank-sinatra_N.htm

On a related note: I also really got a big kick out of seeing Dee Snider singing "Tradition" from Fiddler on the Roof on one of those VH1 "I love a decade that isn't this one" things. I would love to see a remake of Fiddler starring Dee Snider as Tevye.

1 comment:

thatfarmgirl said...

I use Rhapsody and I love looking at the artist's mixes. Anthony Bourdain (not a musician, I know) has an awesome mix that includes Curtis Mayfield's "Pusherman."