On a related note...

Whenever I see debates on YouTube about whose music is the greatest- who's the greatest guitar player, does shredding suck, does the blues rule all, and how much do we hate/worship Hannah Montana- it makes me realize that I'm so much happier than those people, simply because if I summarize my opinion of music, it is this:

All forms of music are equal. The only real way to judge music is to consider the level of performance quality and the sincerity therein- and even those are matters of opinion, for the most part.

Also, the only quality I really look for in any kind of music is sincerity. Do they mean it when they sing and play, or is it just made on an assembly line? Even when the music is commercial, I like it if they focus on pleasing the customer rather than making money. The only thing that really turns me away from a group or musician- besides being boring, insincere, or poorly played- is if they glorify violence and/or lustful sex, or encourage worshipping Satan, which I object to on principle. I'm not too crazy about bands who're angry all the time either.

Everything else is fair game.

(I do make an exception with The Shaggs, who are notoriously terrible musicians. They're just so... sincere! Yeah, I know, I'm using that word a lot.)

I got da bloooooz...

I think Robert Johnson is considered the greatest blues singer-songwriter of all time because no one bothers to even try and write blues songs as interesting as he does. For a guy who only has three chords at his disposal ("They're Red Hot" being an exception), he sure could do a heck of a lot with them.

Let's (Not) Twist Again

The best part is, I'm almost certain that there's a name for the dance they're actually doing.

Stuff about punk again

Something must be wrong... I listened to samples of the US version of The Clash's debut album, and I found it inoffensive. It didn't really excite me much. And here I am, a big fan of "Should I Stay or Should I Go"! I expected something more like that... Maybe I shouldn't have listened to tough-as-nails Oi! bands beforehand.

Although I'm told that the original UK version is better.

Buffalo jerky

Best jerky ever.

THE NEW SECRET TO WHITER TEETH

I think the only thing those teeth-whitening ads accomplish is reminding me to brush my teeth.

Musical generalization

Do you know what I think the quintessential sound of the '60s is, spanning all genres?

Double-tracked vocals.

Just think about it: almost every musician or group you can think of used double-tracked vocals. It was a very new thing, and previously used most famously by Les Paul and Mary Ford and Buddy Holly.

The Beatles...
The Beach Boys...
The Monkees...
Everybody who worked with Phil Spector...
The Kinks...
Jimi Hendrix...

...And those are only the most famous names I can think of off the top of my head. Well, let's face it- the only musicians or groups I can think of that probably didn't use double-tracking frequently, as far as I know, is Bob Dylan, The Rolling Stones, Janis Joplin, and James Brown. So perhaps the more stripped down music of the time lacked it. And really, would you want your stripped down music to have double-tracked vocals, unless you were anything like The Ramones? Or maybe it's when your singing voice already packs a punch...

I'm excluding instrumental groups, of course.