The Official Top 10 Anything...

[cjd874]

Top 10 musicals- updated
1. A Chorus Line
2. West Side Story
3. Come From Away
4. Avenue Q
5. Hadestown
6. Wicked
7. Bugsy Malone
8. Hairspray
9. Little Shop of Horrors
10. Fiddler on the Roof

I'm partial to West Side Story, Wicked, and Hairspray myself. Although "One" from A Chorus Line is an AWESOME song! And the entire concept of Avenue Q is hilarious.

 

[fuzzygobo]

My top 10 Led Zeppelin songs (in no particular order)

1) When the Levee Breaks
2) You Shook Me
3) Your Time Is Gonna Come
4) Thank You
5) over The Hills And Far Away
6) The Ocean
7) Kashmir
8) Fool In The Rain
9) Good Times Bad Times
10) Black Dog

Some of the more obvious ones- Dazed and Confused, Whole Lotta Love, and Stairway to Heaven, I don’t rate as highly as they were ripoffs of other songs. In many cases, it took Zeppelin decades to pay royalties for stuff they stole. Robert Olant said just as much, “A good artist borrows, a great artist steals”.

 

[fuzzygobo]

The thing that made the above mentioned songs so great, was the chemistry between bassist John Paul Jones and drummer John Bonham. Plant eventually became a great lyricist, and Page, from the start, besides being a guitar hero, was an unbelievable producer. The band chemistry worked so well, when Bonzo died, there was no way to replace him.

 

[cjd874]

My top 10 Led Zeppelin songs (in no particular order)

1) When the Levee Breaks
2) You Shook Me
3) Your Time Is Gonna Come
4) Thank You
5) over The Hills And Far Away
6) The Ocean
7) Kashmir
8) Fool In The Rain
9) Good Times Bad Times
10) Black Dog

Some of the more obvious ones- Dazed and Confused, Whole Lotta Love, and Stairway to Heaven, I don’t rate as highly as they were ripoffs of other songs. In many cases, it took Zeppelin decades to pay royalties for stuff they stole. Robert Olant said just as much, “A good artist borrows, a great artist steals”.

Killer list! I don't know Your Time is Gonna Come, but all the other ones are incredible.

 

[fuzzygobo]

Your Time Is Gonna Come is the opening track on Side Two of their first album.
Yes folks. Once upon a time we listened to music on these big, slowly-rotating vinyl discs. When one side was over, you had to take the needle off, flip the record over, put the needle back on just right, and you got music. Very labor intensive, but we made it work.

It’s nice to know there’s still a demand for vinyl. Not in large quantities, but even in Wal Mart you can get a few titles on vinyl.

Cassettes and 8 tracks are gone, but vinyl will still never completely go away. Not as long as hipsters and old coots like me still have a working turntable.

 

[cjd874]

Your Time Is Gonna Come is the opening track on Side Two of their first album.
Yes folks. Once upon a time we listened to music on these big, slowly-rotating vinyl discs. When one side was over, you had to take the needle off, flip the record over, put the needle back on just right, and you got music. Very labor intensive, but we made it work.

It’s nice to know there’s still a demand for vinyl. Not in large quantities, but even in Wal Mart you can get a few titles on vinyl.

Cassettes and 8 tracks are gone, but vinyl will still never completely go away. Not as long as hipsters and old coots like me still have a working turntable.

As a kid in the '90s, my dad had a vinyl record player AND a CD player. We would listen to music on both devices. Nowadays I use my computer and smart phone, but there will always be a place in my heart for vinyl.
Anybody else remember the liner notes or lyric booklets that came with each record or CD? I LOVED reading those to see the names of the people who sang, played instruments, mixed the music, etc. And singing the lyrics out loud was fun too!

 

[fuzzygobo]

I got a machine from Target that’s a combination record player/CD/tape deck.

The biggest drawbacks with tape decks and VCRs, sometimes the heads would chew the tapes up. It was a chore pulling the tapes out when they got jammed, and if the tape broke, they were no good anymore.

I still have a lot of records, mostly jazz, that were never released on CD. Even with the scratches and pops, I still love them.

 

[fuzzygobo]

My top 10 favorite Frank Zappa albums

One of the most influential (not necessarily popular) composers, songwriters, Producers, bandleaders, and guitar heroes of all time.

Extraordinarily intelligent, honest, outrageous, but highly original. Each album is an epic.

1. Sheik Yerbouti
2. We’re Only In It For The Money
3. Uncle Meat
4. Hot Rats
5. Freak Out!
6. Apostrophe/Overnite Sensation
7. The Lost Episodes
8. Shut Up and Play Yer Guitar
9. The Best Band You Never Heard In Your Life
10. 200 Motels

 

[Blue Frackle]

An equal eccentric; even less popular than Zappa but fits every descriptor of his, my top 10 Todd Rundgren records:

1. A Wizard, A True Star
2. Todd
3. Todd Rundgren's Utopia (1974)
4. Hermit of Mink Hollow
5. Healing
6. Liars
7. Something/Anything?
8. Initiation
9. No World Order
10. Another Live (Utopia)

Todd pulls no punches and runs the gamut from Billboard #5 pop to rap to a 30-minute prog opus in this collection: the most underrated and under-appreciated genius ever imo... I must've listened to Just One Victory 3x in a row on my lunch break the other day:

I must've listened to this song over 1,000x and it doesn't get old.

If you like Zappa, check out Freak Parade from the Utopia record:

In a world full of freaks
You can creep, you can crawl
But the world's biggest freak
Is the one with no balls

Edit: Actually, the popularity contest between Rundgren and Zappa is fascinating: I feel like everyone knows the name Frank Zappa but couldn't recognize one song by him whereas Todd has Bang the Drum but no one even knows it's him anyway lol.

 

[cjd874]

My top 10 favorite Frank Zappa albums

One of the most influential (not necessarily popular) composers, songwriters, Producers, bandleaders, and guitar heroes of all time.

Extraordinarily intelligent, honest, outrageous, but highly original. Each album is an epic.

1. Sheik Yerbouti
2. We’re Only In It For The Money
3. Uncle Meat
4. Hot Rats
5. Freak Out!
6. Apostrophe/Overnite Sensation
7. The Lost Episodes
8. Shut Up and Play Yer Guitar
9. The Best Band You Never Heard In Your Life
10. 200 Motels

Great list! Personally I prefer the '70s material over the '60s material, but to each their own. My favorite albums are Joe's Garage (with Frank Zappa's personal favorite solo "Watermelon in Easter Hay") and One Size Fits All (which contains MY favorite Zappa song "Inca Roads"). Some other albums that I enjoy: Chunga's Revenge, Live at the Fillmore East '71, Roxy & Elsewhere, and Live in Chicago '78. My list:

1. One Size Fits All
2. Joe's Garage
3. Roxy & Elsewhere
4. Chicago '78
5. Hot Rats
6. Overnite Sensation
7. Sheik Yerbouti
8. Live at the Fillmore East '71
9. Apostrophe
10. Chunga's Revenge

Zappa's 1974 lineup was perhaps his most musically advanced...George Duke on keyboards, Napoleon Murphy Brock on lead vocals and saxophone, Tom Fowler on bass, Chester Thompson on drums, and the amazing Ruth Underwood on percussion. But his 1978 lineup comes in a close second - Tommy Mars & Peter Wolf on keyboards, Ike Willis & Denny Walley on guitars and vocals, Ed Mann on percussion, Arthur Barrow on bass, and a young drummer named Vinnie Colaiuta who would later record and tour with Sting, Joni Mitchell, and Herbie Hancock.