I know that 1978 wasn't in this "look back" but you got to have the Cars as a challenger (at least)---I guess?! with Devo. I think the Cars debut did the same thing for New Wave/Alt that Devo did but just with better overall songwriting. I would have VH and the Cars as 1a/b. The Cars release has hits, weird tracks and its a fun record like VH just without the overt sexual vibe. Love your overall writing and the podcasts.
Yeah I have been told a time or two that I live in the weeds. Love this kind of discussion. A fun conversation my friends and I used to have is name a artist/band that started in the 60's and was able to navigate the 80's and still maintain some kind of relevancy with their releases. Most bands artist completely lost themselves with either having nothing left to say or gave in to the worse impulses of production/trends of the 80's.
I'd vote for the Hold Steady (or the Drive by Truckers) in that 2005-2008 span just because it feels like the last time there was an unapologetically great ROCK band, without any ironic distance. Even the Black Keys, who I agree were pretty great in their peak, were doing a minimalist bit.
Fleetwood Mac became an American band after they added Nicks and Buckingham -- geographically, sonically. I understand the argument, but ... no, they were an American band which had some Brits in it.
I love this topic (and that article) so much because there's a surprising amount of texture to it, starting with the fact that so many the greatest American acts are solo or "and the..." bands, while the great Brits are almost all true bands.
But the quibble I've always had with the original article is that if there was a case to be made for inducting a non-majority American group, it's The Band. Canadians get testy (very rightly!) when the US starts treating it as a northern province, but still, that band was absolutely steeped in Americana and is more strongly associated with Woodstock, the South, and LA more than anywhere in Canada. You can slot them between VU and CCR in 1968, when the epochal, hugely influential Big Pink was released, and not lose anyone.
Rules are rules, fine, but there are always exceptions (ahem, Sly & the Family Stone), and the Band was truly exceptional.
Hopefully not a dumb assumption, but isn't Johnny Blue Skies the name of the band that made the album, not a nom de plume for Sturgill Simpson? So that he kept his pledge not to do solo albums by forming a band?
I know that 1978 wasn't in this "look back" but you got to have the Cars as a challenger (at least)---I guess?! with Devo. I think the Cars debut did the same thing for New Wave/Alt that Devo did but just with better overall songwriting. I would have VH and the Cars as 1a/b. The Cars release has hits, weird tracks and its a fun record like VH just without the overt sexual vibe. Love your overall writing and the podcasts.
Yeah, I actually had that as a potential quibble but I didn't want to get too far into the weeds.
Yeah I have been told a time or two that I live in the weeds. Love this kind of discussion. A fun conversation my friends and I used to have is name a artist/band that started in the 60's and was able to navigate the 80's and still maintain some kind of relevancy with their releases. Most bands artist completely lost themselves with either having nothing left to say or gave in to the worse impulses of production/trends of the 80's.
I'd vote for the Hold Steady (or the Drive by Truckers) in that 2005-2008 span just because it feels like the last time there was an unapologetically great ROCK band, without any ironic distance. Even the Black Keys, who I agree were pretty great in their peak, were doing a minimalist bit.
Fleetwood Mac became an American band after they added Nicks and Buckingham -- geographically, sonically. I understand the argument, but ... no, they were an American band which had some Brits in it.
Green Day may not be your cup of tea… but American Idiot was clearly the biggest NormStream Rock album of 04/05, no?
Yeah, that's fair.
I love this topic (and that article) so much because there's a surprising amount of texture to it, starting with the fact that so many the greatest American acts are solo or "and the..." bands, while the great Brits are almost all true bands.
But the quibble I've always had with the original article is that if there was a case to be made for inducting a non-majority American group, it's The Band. Canadians get testy (very rightly!) when the US starts treating it as a northern province, but still, that band was absolutely steeped in Americana and is more strongly associated with Woodstock, the South, and LA more than anywhere in Canada. You can slot them between VU and CCR in 1968, when the epochal, hugely influential Big Pink was released, and not lose anyone.
Rules are rules, fine, but there are always exceptions (ahem, Sly & the Family Stone), and the Band was truly exceptional.
Awesome to see this. I was obsessed with that column, can’t wait for part 2!
Hopefully not a dumb assumption, but isn't Johnny Blue Skies the name of the band that made the album, not a nom de plume for Sturgill Simpson? So that he kept his pledge not to do solo albums by forming a band?
He has said repeatedly that "Sturgill is dead" and that he's sick of his name, etc. so it's pretty clearly a new stage name for him.
Johnny Blue Skies sounds like the name of a hippie mobster