The Best of the Top 10 Best of Lists of 2012 (and one I just made up)
I’ve got a little bit of blogger list-envy going on today, since I threw together my favorite album titles of the year a couple weeks ago, passed them onto Kim for her thingamajig, and now that post is as worn out as a pair of Frye boots from the sixties. After reading all of your lists, even the ones that mentioned KISS and The Shins, I want to do mine all over again. It might be not be any different, but I feel lonesome out here while all of you are having f-u-n.
Using the Listverse website, I think I have something a tad different from what y’all are doing these final weeks of the year. Billing itself as “the original “top 10” site, they put up over 15 million pages a month to more than 6 million readers.They are focused on lists that intrigue and educate, specializing in the bizarre or lesser- known trivia. Every day they present two new unique lists in any one of our fifteen categories, from art & literature to science & nature. (As you may soon figure out on your own, I’m going to cut and paste most of this blog, so the latter comes from their “About Us” page. Consider this My Best Steal of The Year.)
So because your time is precious and mine is not, I went over to their Music Category and took a look at their lists. And so these are some pretty interesting ones (at least I think so), and I’ll give you one sample from each. If you’re lost, just hang on and you’ll figure out what I’m doing here. So with that introduction I present, My Best {Music} Lists of 2012.
10 Famous Songs With Unknown Originals
Sung first in the movie “The Singing Hill” (1941), the song was covered numerous times by popular artists before Fats Domino recorded the version we are all familiar with. Perhaps the surprising thing is that none of those covers were remembered.
10 Beatles Innovations that Changed Music
Although early jazz artists created short music-film performances of their songs, and Elvis filmed unique settings of his songs that were parts of movies, the Beatles were the pioneers of marrying the two ideas into the concept we now know as the music video – a short, stand-alone film of a musical act presenting a current song that may or not be a live performance. The idea came to the Beatles as a way to ease their ridiculously tight schedule – instead of the band having to make tons of public appearances on TV shows around the world, they could send a video of themselves instead. The first dedicated music video was for the single “Paperback Writer/Rain” in 1966.
Top 10 True Rock Music Stories
On December 4, 1971, Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention were performing a concert at the Montreux Casino when a member of the audience decided to fire a flare gun into the rattan covered ceiling. The casino quickly caught fire and burned to the ground. All of Zappa’s equipment was lost, but he survived the fire. The event was the inspiration for the song Smoke on the Water by English rock band Deep Purple.
A week after the casino fire, Frank Zappa and The Mothers played at the Rainbow Theatre, London, with rented gear. During the encore of the show, an audience member rushed the stage and pushed Zappa into the concrete-floored orchestra pit. It was a long fall and Zappa was nearly killed. He suffered serious fractures, head trauma, and injuries to his back, legs, and neck. He crushed his larynx, which caused his voice to drop a third after healing. Zappa was lucky to survive the event and was forced to use a wheelchair for an extended period. The assailant was a man named Trevor Howell who told reporters that he believed Zappa was eying his girlfriend.
10 Great Film Scores Snubbed By the Oscars
That’s right, everyone’s favorite whistling tune didn’t even get a nod. Neither did any other aspect of the film. It’s the quintessential quick-draw, stare-down music, parodied in hundreds of films after it. Morricone got the two-note motif in his head when he heard a coyote make the same sound on location in Spain. He thought it sounded as barren as the desert.
Top 10 Lesser-Known Folk Musicians
Jackson C. Frank belongs at the top of this list because of his tragically short career which seems undeserving given his incredible songwriting talent. Bert Jansch, leading figure of the 1960s’ British folk scene, referred to Jackson as, “an absolute genius.” He even credits Jackson with having a large influence on the music of that period and the songwriting of today. Jackson’s most popular song that no doubt influenced the folk musicians of that time is “Blues Run the Game.”
As a child, the furnace at Jackson’s school exploded killing several of his classmates and injuring him. While in the hospital, he learned to play the guitar. By the time he was sixteen, Jackson was playing covers in the States. But he heard that London was the place to be for folk music so he traveled there, eventually meeting and playing for Paul Simon. Simon offered to produce Jackson’s record, which would become Jackson’s first and only record – a self-titled release in 1965.
Sadly, after this initial release, Jackson struggled with money, writer’s block, and nervousness about performing. Years later, Jackson took off in search of his old friend, Paul Simon, only to end up homeless in New York. He was in and out of mental institutions and on various meds that left him bloated, dazed, and confused while continuing to live on the streets. A fan and friend of a friend named Jim Abbott found Jackson despite his lack of a resemblance to his old album cover. Jim helped Jackson find shelter and medical care. He sorted out a backlog of royalties and got Jackson a guitar so he could write songs again. His nineties career consisted of some home-recordings and open-mic work at coffee shops.
Top 10 Musical Comedy Teams of All Time
OK….it’s me (Ed) again and I just sort of made this one up because I wanted to end things on a high note. The Marx Brothers are considered by some to be the greatest comedy team, but they were also extremely musically talented. Chico could play the piano effortlessly as seen above, and was loved for his “shooting the keys” manner of playing. Harpo’s voice was a rich baritone, and too low for his clownish persona, so he elected never to speak, except a few times at ceremonies, and on a talk show in the 1970s. He played the harp better than most professionals, and he taught himself by ear. His form was all wrong, but professionals came to him for instruction on how to play like him. And Groucho…well there’s “Lydia The Tattooed Lady”.