The Great HTF Music Challenge (1 Viewer)

[Walter Kittel]

Trans-X - "Living On Video" - Well, it did have some melodic content which is usually one of my biggest gripes with this style of music (as in a lack of that quality.) But, I don't think that style of percussion will every appeal to me due to the repetitious and predictable nature of that type of song element. All the old school tech in the video was kind of cool in a nostalgic sort of way. I think that was a Commodore CBM 8032 featured in the video. (It was difficult to make out due to the resolution of the video.)

911 - "Twenty Four Seven" - Didn't really care for this one; I'll leave it at that.

Connie - "Funky Little Beat" - Vocals sound a little bit like Madonna in spots. The synthesizer gives the song some body and helped maintain my interest, but (repeating myself) not feeling the percussion.

- Walter.

 

[John Dirk]

Trans-X - "Living On Video" - Well, it did have some melodic content which is usually one of my biggest gripes with this style of music (as in a lack of that quality.) But, I don't think that style of percussion will every appeal to me due to the repetitious and predictable nature of that type of song element. All the old school tech in the video was kind of cool in a nostalgic sort of way. I think that was a Commodore CBM 8032 featured in the video. (It was difficult to make out due to the resolution of the video.)

911 - "Twenty Four Seven" - Didn't really care for this one; I'll leave it at that.

Connie - "Funky Little Beat" - Vocals sound a little bit like Madonna in spots. The synthesizer gives the song some body and helped maintain my interest, but (repeating myself) not feeling the percussion.

- Walter.

For whatever reason I still love the Trans X song and often use it for workouts. Good observation regarding Connie.

 

[Citizen87645]

John's dance tracks made me think of Phantogram, whose debut Eyelid Movies is still probably my favorite album of theirs:




But also really enjoy their collaborations with Big Boi, first as a "feat." on his album Vicious Lies and Dangerous Rumors:




And then more officially as Big Grams:

 

[John Dirk]

Mouthful of Diamonds
The groove and synth effects of this one are nice. Unfortunately the vocals and tone just aren't to my liking. It feels like a track that should have been fun and light but was given an overly serious tone.

CPU
Again, I like the powerful percussion and synth. The Rap and chorus aren't as interesting but, yea, I could see this pumping in a club scene these days.

Big Grams - Fell In The Sun
Gotta be honest - To me this track illustrates the sad commercial tradeoff that has been made to keep Rap relevant to a new generation. The "Gangsta" sub-genre was the first attempt. Now that it has sort of run its course we have this new sanitized variety. It's certainly not the worst of its kind I've heard but there's really nothing engaging here either. I long for the days when Rap music was lyrically powerful and socially/politically connected but times do change and it is, after all, a business.

 

[BobO'Link]

Phantogram, "Mouth Full of Diamonds" - Big Boi, "CPU" - Big Grams, "Fell in the Sun"

Overall, I didn't care for any of these and, by now, that shouldn't come as a surprise. To me, they all sport a boring, repetitive, drum machine laden rhythm track and just go nowhere for their running time. When it comes down to it, I've never heard anything from any dance or rap artist that makes me like the genres. When I listen to new tracks it all sounds like everything else I've heard from those genres. The fact that I do not pay attention to lyrics unless I like the *music* of a song and even then likely not until after dozens of listens make those genres very tough sells. Musically, they have the stereotypical "It all sounds the same" for me.

 

[John Dirk]

Prolific artists from different genre's addressing the same topic with identically titled songs. As far as I'm aware they're unrelated musically. I like the first track for the instrumentation as well as Prince's unique lyrical style. The latter is yet another example of how Rap used to be socially and politically relevant.

Prince - Sign O' The Times

Grandmaster Flash - Sign of the times​

 

[BobO'Link]

Prince, "Sign O' The Times" - One of those incredible musicians who I never much cared for. Incredibly talented guy. I have a copy of "Prince's Greatest Hits" but couldn't tell you the last time I listened to it (over 10 years at least).

Grandmaster Flash, "Sign of the times" - I made the mistake of watching the video. All I could think of while it was playing was how much fun it must have been to do those jumps with that launching platform.

I admit to not trying to make out the lyrics on either as neither grabbed me enough to try.

 

[Malcolm R]

Phantogram, "Mouth Full of Diamonds" - Big Boi, "CPU" - Big Grams, "Fell in the Sun"

Overall, I didn't care for any of these and, by now, that shouldn't come as a surprise. To me, they all sport a boring, repetitive, drum machine laden rhythm track and just go nowhere for their running time. When it comes down to it, I've never heard anything from any dance or rap artist that makes me like the genres. When I listen to new tracks it all sounds like everything else I've heard from those genres. The fact that I do not pay attention to lyrics unless I like the *music* of a song and even then likely not until after dozens of listens make those genres very tough sells. Musically, they have the stereotypical "It all sounds the same" for me.

I think people often feel that way about other genres that don't grab them. I think a lot of rock or country tracks sound the same, though there are specific artists in those genres I enjoy, usually based on the vocalist. I find myself drawn more to singers' voices than considering their specific genre of music.

There are a lot of dance tracks I don't care for. As an example, I never understood radio's love affair with Calvin Harris. He's one producer/DJ that I find his work to be very simplistic and repetitive. I have a couple of his songs (usually if he's working with an interesting vocalist like Florence Welch or John Newman), but some of his biggest radio hits mystified me by their popularity ("Summer" "Feel So Close").

I don't generally pay attention to lyrics, either, for the most part. The overall sound of a song and singer has to grab me first. Then I'll learn the lyrics as I sing along, and some time later I might actually consider what the words are saying.

 

[BobO'Link]

Here's a band that's been neglected so far. They had a huge hit in 1970 with the song "American Woman" but it was their album "Share the Land" that was, arguably, their best overall work. It produced several hits and AOR tracks, most with a message.

The Guess Who - "Share the Land":



The Guess Who - "Hang on to Your Life":



The Guess Who - "Hand Me Down World":

 

[jcroy]

Here's a band that's been neglected so far. They had a huge hit in 1970 with the song "American Woman" but it was their album "Share the Land" that was, arguably, their best overall work. It produced several hits and AOR tracks, most with a message.

I don't remember the original Guess Who version. IIRC, Lenny Kravitz did a cover of "american woman" which was on heavy rotation on basic cable music channels like VH1 in the late 1990s.

 

[John Dirk]

Phantogram, "Mouth Full of Diamonds" - Big Boi, "CPU" - Big Grams, "Fell in the Sun"

Overall, I didn't care for any of these and, by now, that shouldn't come as a surprise. To me, they all sport a boring, repetitive, drum machine laden rhythm track and just go nowhere for their running time. When it comes down to it, I've never heard anything from any dance or rap artist that makes me like the genres. When I listen to new tracks it all sounds like everything else I've heard from those genres. The fact that I do not pay attention to lyrics unless I like the *music* of a song and even then likely not until after dozens of listens make those genres very tough sells. Musically, they have the stereotypical "It all sounds the same" for me.

I completely understand this sentiment. I feel the same about some of the more obscure Rock selections and pretty much all Psychedelia, Punk etc. That's why I often ask folks why they like the tracks they submit. More than not I've learned it has little to do with the actual quality of the material and more to do with where they were in life's journey when they discovered it.

For me, Rap represents a light we were able to shine on many injustices that plagued our world and specifically my people during a time when we had no other voice. I think my love for Disco, Dance [although I can't actually dance one bit] and Electronica is just an off shot of the tech geek in me.

 

[John Dirk]

The Guess Who

"Share the Land":
Very strong vocals and a nice tempo and tone. Nice track.

"Hang on to Your Life":
Don't care for the yelling style employed here. Nice guitar solo and chorus but an overall pass.

"Hand Me Down World":
It wasn't apparent in the other tracks but this one has a sort of British sound which sent me on a search where I learned they're actually Canadian. Decent track.

 

[jcroy]

For me, Rap represents a light we were able to shine on many injustices that plagued our world and specifically my people during a time when we had no other voice. I think my love for Disco, Dance [although I can't actually dance one bit] and Electronica is just an off shot of the tech geek in me.

(Without getting heavily into politics).

Back in the day, I looked at rap as a "newspaper" or "CNN" reporting news events from a very different perspective.

Some punk rock was like this too, where it was like a "newspaper" or "cnn" (or bbc) reporting stuff from a lower class perspective. For example, a lot of The Exploited song lyrics sounded like "news" from a lower class british perspective during the 1980s Thatcher era.

Since then, nowadays this type of "news" reporting would be on facebook, twitter, blogs, etc ....

 

[John Dirk]

One of those incredible musicians who I never much cared for

I'm a bit surprised as I take you for somewhat of a purist, which is exactly what Price represented. Flamboyant for sure, which can be off putting to some, but only when on stage. He seemed sort of like Muhammad Ali to me in that sense.

I made the mistake of watching the video. All I could think of while it was playing was how much fun it must have been to do those jumps with that launching platform.

I know. That's got to be one of the worst videos ever filmed. I hate that they ruined [what I think was] a pretty good song with it.

 

[Walter Kittel]

Phantogram - "Mouthful of Diamonds" - It is no secret that I am a fan of heavy bass lines and fuzzy guitars, and the synthesizer in this cut, in its own way, provides that kind of foundation for this song. The vocals were fine, but I would be happy listening to an instrumental version of this song.

Big Boi - "CPU" - The first half really didn't work for me, for the same reasons that Bob discussed above. Just a bit too repetitive and the musicality felt limited. Some of the electronica held my interest and I did like the second half of the track (minus the narrative in the outro.)

Big Grams - "Fell In The Sun" - Liked Sarah Bartel's (Phantogram) vocal performane, the rest not so much.

Of the three tracks, the first was easily my favorite.

- Walter.

 

[Walter Kittel]

Prince - "Sign 'O' The Times" - Solid selection. Always enjoyed the instrumentation on the artist's songs, and this song is no exception. The primary variable for me with Prince's music is the lyrical content; sometimes it works, sometimes less so. This a quality track from an incredibly talented artist.

Grandmaster Flash - "Sign Of The Times" - Listened to this without viewing the video (Thanks for the warning. ) Musically speaking not that involving, but lyrically strong. Not exactly my cup of tea, but I can see the appeal of message based content. (Very easy to draw a parallel to some great Rock music of the late '60s and early '70s.)

- Walter.

 

[Walter Kittel]

The Guess Who - Another group whose absence from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame boggles the mind.

"Share the Land" - IMHO, Burton Cummings has a remarkably resonant singing voice and style and this song really showcases that quality in the artist. This is probably my all time favorite song by The Guess Who. Holds up remarkably well.

"Hang On To Your Life" - Not sure the more aggressive vocal style works as I think it kind of undermines Cummings' appeal (at least to me.) Like the instrumentation though and while I don't like it as much as the first selection in the post, still very listenable for the strengths the group brings to their music. (Probably could've done without the outro.)

"Hand Me Down World" - Nice selection. Vocals, instrumentation, and lyrical content all work to create a very satisfying song.

- Walter.

 

[BobO'Link]

I know. That's got to be one of the worst videos ever filmed. I hate that they ruined [what I think was] a pretty good song with it.

It wouldn't have been so bad but there seemed to be a complete disconnect between the song and video.

 

[BobO'Link]

"Hang On To Your Life" - Not sure the more aggressive vocal style works as I think it kind of undermines Cummings' appeal (at least to me.) Like the instrumentation though and while I don't like it as much as the first selection in the post, still very listenable for the strengths the group brings to their music. (Probably could've done without the outro.)

For me, this one is all about the music and I tend to ignore the vocals. That spoken ending, though, has always taken me out of the song. When I'd make a mix tape with that one I'd *always* fade it on the feedback to cut it off before the spoken part began. I'm wanting to think there was a single version of that one that also omitted that bit but don't recall for sure.

 

[BobO'Link]

I don't remember the original Guess Who version. IIRC, Lenny Kravitz did a cover of "american woman" which was on heavy rotation on basic cable music channels like VH1 in the late 1990s.

Yes, Kravitz did a very good cover of "American Woman".

Here's the original album version... The acoustic open was edited off to create the single.

The Guess Who - "American Woman":