The “Water Cooler” is a feature on Claycord.com where we ask you a question or provide a topic, and you talk about it.
QUESTION: What’s your favorite genre of music, and who’s your all time favorite musician?
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Hard to pin it down to a single genre. Through the years, as I get older, my taste in music has changed. It started with the 50s and early 60s rock ‘n roll, then went into the late 50s and early 60s Motown, with artists like The Four Tops, The Temptations, and Smokey Robinson. In The Late 60s I was enjoying the psychedelic sound of San Francisco, with groups like Big Brother and the Holding Company, Quicksilver Messenger Service, Jefferson Airplane, and the Grateful Dead. In the 70s I was dancing away to Disco, and in the 80s I was into Country. Today, I enjoy smooth jazz, some classical, and the big band music of the 30s and 40s. I absolutely cannot stand opera and rap, and since I like drums, my all-time favorite musician is Buddy Rich, followed by Gene Krupa.
I was blessed to have seen Buddy Rich live twice. It was life changing.
I searched for drummers with such an unbelievable snap to their left hand. The closest was Carl Palmer of ELP; fast, crisp, precise. In the late-1970’s Vinnie Collaiuta arrived. Not only did he have the wrist snap, but he could cycle in and out of 19/16 to 4/4 to 21/16 on command.
As a Buddy Rich fan, you are likely already acquainted with Vinnie. However I always feel obligated to mention him just in case.
Before leaving California, we enjoyed the oldies Rock and Motown shows at Concord Pavilion.
My own! But that is true of most musicians who write music. And I am also my favorite musician but for different genres I have certain composers I like and there are many.
What kind of music do you write, Captain Bebops?
All kinds. I was a music major in college. I’ve played in music groups from country to symphonic. My principal instrument is percussion and secondary keyboards. I have a Captain Bebops channel on YouTube.
Led Zeppelin. Their music still great after all these years.
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I was a total Led Head in high school. The license plate on my first car was PAGEFAN.
Favorite Zeppelin album – Physical Graffiti
Saw “The Song Remains the Same” at the Sun Valley Mall theater several times.
can I suggest going to Rick Beato’s youtube, where one of his latest videos listens to each instrument in Stairway, highlighting the electric piano played by JPJ. I had no idea and it was awesome to hear…
My first real concert was Led Zepplin at Nashville Municipal Auditorium in 1970, and it was amazing!
Rock …. Jim Morrison, Jimi Hendrix, Donovan, Eric Clapton, Who, Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin , CCR , Jefferson Airplane …. in no particular order
Black metal. Don’t really have a favorite musician, but I have been listening to Psychonaut 4 a lot lately.
Early Country Western and Blue Grass.
I was cooking up a needlessly complicated list until I read Concord donut’s comment.
It’s Led Zeppelin. And yes, they’re were their own genre.
But Coltrane and Miles are right up there.
And Johnny Cash.
Here I go with a list 🤓
Classic Rock, Classic Country, and Classical
Bay Area 90’s rap. To name a few we got Too Short, Spice1, 2Pac, E-40 and the Click, Dubee and the greatest Mac Dre! Brotha Lynch Hung too but he’s Sacramento. Go ahead and thumbs down ya haters! Haha!
There’s some real good bay area hip hop right now. If you like the classic MC-era 90s sound, you might really dig Skinny Hendrixx & The Earthtones from Oakland. If you’re into more of a modern sound with some R&B, you might like Ay Gabe out of Concord. If skill’s your thing, this Vallejo dude Red Lotus is about to blow up.
Death Metal, including all sub-genres (MDM, SDM, etc.).
I still like that old time rock and roll
That kind of music just soothes the soul
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Also, anything by Junior Brown… like this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WniSt0yhroE
Dr. Jellyfinger, I like how you incorporated song lyrics with your genre response. 🙂 Great Bob Seger song! I am unfamiliar with Junior Brown, but I am listening now.
To capture all I listen to, I would have to say rock (hard, blues, metal) and jazz (fusion) with focus on guitar artistry, as a broad genre..
Gangsta rap. N.W.A “f…k tha police” is an example
Garbage.
How did I miss this subject music is one of my favorite things to talk about.
When I was a teenager in Denmark, my friends and I were into jazz, we would take the bus or train into Copenhagen and to go to one of Europe’s best jazz clubs, Montmatre. Dexter Gordon was living in Copenhagen at the time and often played there, saw him several times, he played with my fellow Dane Niels Henning Orsted Pedersen. We listened to the Beatles, The Stones (which I kind of liked), but we were not really into them. We were into folk music, Pete Seeger, Peter, Paul and Mary. When I was an au pair in Westport Ct, and the Beatles came out with Sgt. Pepper’s and I totally changed my mind about them, bought Abby Road and the White Album as well. However, The Doors were my favorites, the past couple of years I have revisited The Band, and love them, no one like them. Also like Neil Young, U2, Lynard Skynard, CCR, many others, but these are foremost in mind. I still love jazz, Charlie Parker, Ben Webster, I like classical, the crooners, musical and some country as well, and some blues, some rock has a lot of blues in it, Clapton, The Band,The Doors.