Rattle wrote:Miniike wrote:I'm not very knowledgeable about pretty much any of these genres, but I assume if you want to get into psychedelic rock you've already tried Pink Floyd. If not, try Pink Floyd. They got decidedly less psychedelic in the later years, but Piper at the Gates of Dawn, Saucerful of Secrets, Meddle and a little underground indie album called Dark Side of the Moon are all essential psychedelic listening. In contrast to Floyd's "dark psychedelia", there was also Cream's "light psychedelia", with Disraeli Gears being a full on classic at this point. Other important groups, like The Doors and 13th Floor Elevators I haven't tried out yet.
As for myself, I'm currently familiarizing myself with the catalogs of Pink Floyd and The Beatles, with a bit of Rush and Arcade Fire when I feel like some fun and some feels respectively. I'm still a stupid noob though.
Also, come on honey, what happened to your Red Hot Chili Pepper fanboying?
To be honest I'm not that familiar with the go-to's of classic rock (Pink Floyd, Rolling Stones, Beatles, etc.), but I really do need to get around to it. Pretty much all I know of is 90's alternative rock and I could write a whole fucking book about that, hence why I'm trying to expand my tastes. As long as we're talking about Rock Essentials, the first album in my top 7 is a
M U S T - L I S T E N.
Also, if you're into Arcade Fire (i'm not -that- familiar with them either, i've just heard a few of their songs and know they're an indie rock band), then try Modest Mouse. Considering you seem like kind of a turbopleb (in a good way) I would recommend you go to We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank to get you started, but let it be known that it's EASILY not their best work, so if you like it/like it but feel like there's something missing, try The Moon and Antarctica.
my RHCP fanboying has pretty much ceased however I still hold some of their music dearly (a lot of it actually), but nowadays a lot of their discog falls under "guilty pleasure" for me, rather than "this is genuinely great music that I am comfortable with saying that I like". regardless, Blood Sugar Sex Magik will always remain a superb album.
Haha, I am a superpleb, and will be until I'm knowledgeable enough about pleb music to move on to hipster music. I also have not gotten around to The Rolling Stones, The Who or even Bob Dylan...woe is me.
I've heard good things about Modest Mouse, but never tried it. I guess I'll get on that.
Siamese Dream and Smashing Pumpkins in general is also something that's piqued my interest. I think I listened to some of
Gish at one point, and of course
Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness is basically a classic at this point. Never looked further in.
I can't vouch for the Rolling Stones (yet) but The Beatles have
The Red Album (1962-1996) and
The Blue Album (1967-1970), which are pretty much the best gateway drugs a band could ask for: it's a compilation of both singles and album tracks meant to show their progression, and they're more nuanced and complete then any greatest hits album I've ever heard. And of course they're well worth exploring album-wise. If you're impatient and want to get straight to the masterpiece era, then
Rubber Soul was pretty much the transitioning point and
Revolver was where they first planted their boots in the experimental-critics-favorite era (just don't take "experimental" as a golden rule;
Sergeant Pepper is amazing, but it's pretty much just a bunch of pretty pop songs). But if you're willing to accept that lovey-dovey 60s boy band lyrics can be accompanied by great music, then you can just start at the beginning with
Please Please Me, though their "silly pop masterpiece" is definitely
A Hard Day's Night.
Pink Floyd is...a bit trickier, mostly because they've got a fascinating-but-convoluted history. Their debut,
Piper At The Gates of Dawn, is usually considered a psychedelic masterpiece. At that point the frontman was Syd Barrett, a crazy weird and awesome guy who had an affinity for science fiction, fairy tales, and LSD. Basically all this is exemplified in
Piper. Then Syd's health wasted away due to LSD and he quit the band to set out on a short-lived solo career. Roger Waters took over, and then Floyd became more of a progressive rock band (
Atom Heart Mother,
Meddle) until
Dark Side of the Moon came along, at which point they basically became their own genre. After a few more albums, Roger quit and David Gilmour took over to produce a variety of underwhelming throwbacks until they finally signed of with the mediocre
Endless River.
So basically there's five Floyds: psychedelic Syd Barrett Floyd (which only lasted for
Piper and somewhat in
Saucerful of Secrets), progressive Roger Waters Floyd (
Ummagumma through
Meddle), wacko-philosophy-memorial-rock-opera Roger Waters Floyd (
Dark Side of the Moon through
The Final Cut) and hey-guys-remember-when-we-made-good-music David Gilmour Floyd (
A Momentary Lapse of Reason through
The Endless River). So when someone is like "Hey, you should listen to Pink Floyd", it's just kind of stupid.
Anyway, I'm looking forward to your book on 90s alternative.