OH, THE THINGS I DON’T KNOW….It may appear that I’m some sort of music-obsessed jerk with an axe to grind, and perhaps I am. Certainly the charge "hipster" has been leveled by at least two people in the MONKS comments below. Ouch! But appearances can be deceiving. Would you believe that all this “informed” blather is just smoke and mirrors? You wouldn’t believe some of the bands I’ve never heard before! I got to thinking how, for example, in at least 19 years of knowing & reading about them, I’m never actually heard the SWANS. Never even been interested! Or more recently, the oft-cited RICHARD YOUNGS. Who he? I may read about these folks here and there, but -- you're not gonna believe this -- the list of musicians and bands I’ve never heard is even longer than the list I have heard! Here are a few examples that, to my knowledge, have never crossed my eardrums:

The Feelies, Tower Recordings, Jim O'Rourke, Voivod, The Pack, No Neck Blues Band, Yoshimi, The Apples in Stereo, Jarboe, Popul Vuh, Public Nuisance, Curved Air, The Mighty Hannibal, Rhys Chatham, Esquerita, Derek Bailey, Andrew W.K., Alice Coltrane, Henry Cow, Blonde Redhead, Paul Butterfield Blues Band, Incredible String Band (wait, turns out I have heard them!), Blechtom From Blechdom, Soft Machine, Ash Ra Temple, Wreckless Eric, Nikki Corvette, Virgin Prunes, Huggy Bear, Sensational Alex Harvey Band, Quintron, Tenacious D, Melt Banana, Exodus, Dr. Feelgood....

And it goes on from there. I wish I could have cited “BRIGHT EYES”, but I was tricked into hearing him by a very, very mean person earlier this year. Now, of this list, who among them deserves to be heard? Anyone?

posted by Jay H. at 2:41 PM