My Musical Progression

I think the reason that I've been posting so infrequently the last few months is twofold: 1. Thank G-d I'm more or less at peace in my life and I don't feel the need to vent via the blog 2. I've been writing a lot of fiction and I find it difficult to make the transformation to "real" mode.
Nevertheless this blog has been a long time coming. And it's length should keep you busy for a lil while.

I want to talk about music. I love music. It drives me, inspires me, frustrates me and can-more than anything else in this world-fuel my emotions. The right song can turn a frown to a smile, or simply facilitate the darker times in our lives. As a child the first songs I loved were from Disney movies and from Uncle Moishe. I then got into show tunes thanks to the wonderful drama staff at Camp Raleigh. I was an 8-year-old running around going "Who am I? I'm Jean Veljean!" and "Masquerade! Made up faces on display! Masquerade!", those lyrics might be off but that's how I sang them as a kid. When I was ten I had a counselor obsessed with Madonna- in many disturbing ways now that I think about it. So for months I walked around humming "Rain", "Vogue", and "Papa Don't Preach"- actually I knew the latter tune 'cause when I was six my sister made her own video of that at Universal Studios. Now every piece of music I've mentioned I still enjoy to an extant as an adult. I think some of those Disney Tunes were quite catchy. I believe Uncle Moishe was an excellent way of teaching Torah and Mitzvot to small children, and his songs were quite catchy as well(cmon sing it with me now "Don't walk in front of me I may not follow. Don't walk behind me I may not lead...." I promise you will find yourself humming this sometime in the next 24 hours.) I still think Les Mis is the best Broadway musical ever, and that Phantom is quite good. And Madonna....well I am not ashamed to admit it- she's an incredibly talented musician. She's written some excellent songs (she writes around half her tunes- her brother and Babyface wrote a lot of them as well). I'm not so into the earlier 80's work she did, but I still think "Like a Prayer" is an unbelievable musical piece-and if you can, find Guster's catchy cover of it-more on those Jews later.
As I reached the age of 12 I discovered a new type of music: alternative rock, and this genre, more than any other wrapped its silky web around me. The first alt-rock song I truly enjoyed I then called "The Killer in Me is the Killer in You"- I didn't know who the band was, nor did I mind the lead singers nasal voice. I would sing this song to myself all the time but didn't know whose it was. For my Bar-Mitzvah my wonderful, late uncle got me a few CDS. They were Pearl Jam's Vitology (still their second best album in my opinion), Madonna's Immaculate Collection (he remembered I liked her) and The Breeders Last Splash. I had never heard of the latter bands work, but I came to enjoy them in the coming years. But within a few months of my Bar-Mitzvah I discovered a band called "The Smashing Pumpkins" and I was completely transfixed. I instantly fell in love with "Tonight, Tonight"- its still my favorite song. Then I heard this really angry, adrenaline filled tune I called "Despite All My Rage", and I loved it (of course I later learned its title was "Bullet With Butterfly Wings")! Then I found out that it was also by The Smashing Pumpkins. I couldn't believe one band could make two songs that were so strikingly different. I was beyond impressed. Then I heard 1979- and that sounded nothing like the other two as well! Unbelievable! Such musical range! And then the bomb fell. One Sunday Z100 played a whole Pumpkins block (yes they used to play good music in those days) and that song I liked years ago was playing, "The Killer in Me Is the Killer in You". I then learned it was called "Disarm". That was it. The Smashing Pumpkins were my favorite band. Period. I bought their box set "The Aeroplane Flies High" which contained about 30 unreleased tracks from the Mellon Collie recordings. And most of them were great! That combined with the other 28 songs on the actual album and you had one dumbfounded teenage Jew. I bought their first two albums. I rocked out to "I Am One" , "Today" and "Siva". Chilled to "Daydream", "Luna" and "Soma", and was completely floored by a song called "Mayonnaise" (I know the title blows, but download this song! Trust me! It's a masterpiece!).
I was an angry, depressed teen. Tis the truth. But the Pumpkins music (really Billy Corgans music) supported me through that. I wasn't depressed because of the Pumpkins, but I felt that the band got what I was feeling. They balanced me. Mellon Collie was melancholie, but it was also beautiful, angry, despondent, and incredibly harmonic. It rang true in my ears, and is still the best album of all time in my opinion. Sure I loved Pink Floyd, Metallica, Ozzy, Live, Bush, Pearl Jam, The Cranberries, The Doors and loads of other bands but for me it was the Pumpkins.

Is anyone not named Josh Becker still reading? If so then thanks for sticking around, I am getting to some important points.
When I was 19 the anger started to subside- but I still loved the Pumpkins. However I was introduced by some great friends named Oren and Josh to their favorite band, Guster. At first I was apprehensive, some of the songs were a lil "sissy-like" to me. Then they told me the whole band was Jewish, and I thought that was cool. Driving down the streets of L.A. I heard a tune called "Barrel of A Gun" and it rocked, but in a melodic way. Then a slow ballad cam on. The first time I heard "Either Way" my heart melted. It was a slow beautiful tune that had an incredible build up, and had the potential to rock the house. The type of song a whole camp would sing at once (Which they did at Hillel in 2001- I was general. I used Guster. The song went down as legend :) I bought Guster's "Lost and Gone Forever" and I truly believe it is THE BEST album released between the years of 1995 and 2002. The Pumpkins had broken up. I had bought every Guster album (there were three at that point, now there's 6 including the live one), and they became my new fav's. NOTE- THE PUMPKINS HAVE GOTTEN BACK TOGETHER!!! So things will get complicated :)

Now to the real stuff. The point, if you will. It's fascinating how our musical tastes don't so much change as they are altered. They evolve. I realize now that I am a fan of melody. I like the type of song its fun to sing or hum along with. You could do that with Uncle Moishe, Les Mis, Madonna as well as with the Pumpkins and Guster (Guster is the most fun to sing along with). Fancy guitar playing and complicated songs and pieces just don't do it for me. Listen to some of Bachs works. They're impressive, but they don't really resonate. It's hard to find a motif. Listen to Guster's "Amsterdam" and there's a good chance you'll be walking around later going "Gonna write you a letter, gonna write you a book" and wont even realize it. Guster was the first band other than the Pumpkins that I enjoyed 99% of their songs.
Since getting into Guster my musical taste has matured again. Now I find myself loving the work of contemporary artists like Keane, Tom McRae, Except Saturday, Joshua Radin, Snow Patrol, and the magnificent Sufjan Stevens. I don't think I would have liked any one of these bands 10 years ago. I hadnt lived enough.
These musicians are all combined by the incredible passion they have in their songs. That's what I dig about them. But they all have wonderful melodies and musical arrangements (the Cello on Mcraes work in breathtaking). But ten years ago my ears wouldn't have been ready for such tunes. I've been recently getting into Bob Dylan and I'm amazed. His songs are poetry (ironically it was a poem called "Last Thoughts on Woody Guthrie" by Dylan that got me listening to more of his tunes). His music is complicated at times, simple at others, but always vibes well. His voice is awful, true, but heres something I believe: The three greatest "Rock n Roll" songwriters in history- not musicians, singers, performers- songwriters, are Bob Dylan, Billy Corgan and Rav Shlomoh Carlbach. OK you might be laughing at that but I'll strengthen my point. Dylan is a no brainer, everyone from Joan Baez, to Jimmie, to Neil Young, to Dave Mathews, to Howie Day has used his songs. I think "All Along the Watchtower" is the best song ever written. I believe this because I've heard 7 versions of it and each one is different and remarkable- but they're all the same song (I could write a whole blog on Watchtower, but I'll just say that Dave's version with Santana is probably the best). The point I'm making is that even though Dylan doesn't sing well others do, and they make his songs true gifts.The same goes for Corgan and Carlbach. Now Corgan's works are infinetly more complicated than Rav Shlomoh's, but that's just how he layered them. Look what Soulfarm has done to the Rav's work. That's impressive stuff. And for Corgan. He has written every possible type of rock song: alt, metal, progressive, punk, deathmetal, trans-pop, folk, grunge, synth-you name it. Imagine someone like Amy Lee singing his songs and youll understand where the respect comes from (or download Evanescence's cover of "Zero" or Scarecrow Adams cover of "Stand Inside Your Love").
Now while I'm in my car I listen to those new artists I mentioned above (and Sufjan's "Chicago" IS my #1 happy song :) but when I put my Ipod on shuffle and a Pumpkins song comes up that Billy wrote 15 years ago I'm floored and amazed. But I hear the melody. I hear the passion. And I know, no matter where my musical tastes take me in the coming years I will always be in debt and awed by Corgan and the Smashing Pumpkins.