I wanna rock
I haven't done one of these silly web quizs in a while for the simple reason that I thought I had exhausted most of the interesting ones. Then, via Ahistoricality, I find this one. Like him, I was a bit skeptical at first. There's no mention of the Beatles, for instance, nor are there quite a few other important bands. In my case, I wondered where the hell was The Clash? (Although I suppose Rancid could stand in, given how much early Clash wannabes they are, which is probably why I like them.) Bob Dylan? The Who? Jethro Tull?
Oddly enough, though, it came out pretty close to my musical tastes, with one exception. Punk is not a "medium" influence on me! It should be at least "high," if not "highest"! How could I get that, while choosing The Ramones, Rancid, The Sex Pistols, and others? How could I get that when I noticed the glaring omission of The Clash (a.k.a. The Only Band That Matters) on the quiz? I'm guessing it's because I'm not a big fan of some of the bands they probably considered "punk" (Third Eye Blind, The Hives, etc.--the Hives are OK, but nothing fantastic, and Third Eye Blind just plain sucks).
Oh, well...We dinosaurs need to keep rocking on!
Oddly enough, though, it came out pretty close to my musical tastes, with one exception. Punk is not a "medium" influence on me! It should be at least "high," if not "highest"! How could I get that, while choosing The Ramones, Rancid, The Sex Pistols, and others? How could I get that when I noticed the glaring omission of The Clash (a.k.a. The Only Band That Matters) on the quiz? I'm guessing it's because I'm not a big fan of some of the bands they probably considered "punk" (Third Eye Blind, The Hives, etc.--the Hives are OK, but nothing fantastic, and Third Eye Blind just plain sucks).
Oh, well...We dinosaurs need to keep rocking on!
Your Taste in Music: |
| 80's Alternative: Highest Influence |
| Classic Rock: Highest Influence |
| 90's Alternative: High Influence |
| Progressive Rock: High Influence |
| 80's Pop: Medium Influence |
| 80's Rock: Medium Influence |
| Adult Alternative: Medium Influence |
| Punk: Medium Influence |
| Ska: Medium Influence |
| Old School Hip Hop: Low Influence |
What a culturally limited list that is though... No Ali Farkha Toure, no Salif Keita, no Orchestra Baobab, no Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, no Daara J... not even a single token 'world music' star sauch as the Buena Vista Social Club.
ReplyDeleteThere isn't much in the way of folkies either, really.
ReplyDeleteYou call yourself a dinosaur? I'd only heard of about four or five of the choices before.
ReplyDeleteAnd no Bach, Mozart, etc., etc.
"Buena Vista Social Club"? Wasn't that a movie with Jim Garner?
Orac, did you check Blink-182, Green Day, or Social Distortion? You can question the punkness of Blink and Green Day, but Social D are just about as a punk as Rancid. Also, Green Day came out of the same East Bay scene as Rancid (or better yet, Operation Ivy), so if you include Rancid as punk (which is hard not to do) it's difficult to exclude Green Day even though they've gone much more mainstream than their Gilman Street brethren.
ReplyDeletePunk is a really hard thing to define as it's not entirely about musical style. Image, attitude, exposure, and politics really play into it. Most of the Clash albums, if released today, would not be considered punk albums (aside from maybe their debut) because they don't revolve around the three chord, under 3 minute formula that the Ramones personified and has become the punk blueprint. Their posturing and attitute (as well as their political message), however, are definitely punk.
Also, Rancid are only clash wannabes in their attitude, politics, and ska/reggae influences. Rancid employ much complex bass lines and their california roots show up with surf-rock inspired cali-punk guitar riffs.
Oh, and the Hives are more euro-garage rock than punk, and Third Eye Blind are 90's alternative or alternative (definitely not punk).
Coming in very late...
ReplyDeleteMy biggest problem with this one is that it's incredibly US-centric. I'm in Australia - but I couldn't find mentions of even popular Aussie bands like INXS or Cold Chisel. There also wasn't that much UK content either, which meant I wasn't able to choose stuff I even *knew*.
I'd also agree on the whole "where's the folkies?" question.