Thnkgreen: A Man of Many Threads

For me, it has to be either Odessey and Oracle by the Zombies, or The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society by The Kinks. I would wager most music fans aren't really aware of these two.

I'm thinking .... something Zappa.... I'm not sure which one to choose. Maybe Weasels Ripped My Flesh?

I think after The White Album [Odessy] is probably the most well known album from 1968 - FAR from obscure

I can almost promise you if you went up to a young person in their 20's today and said "Do you know who the Zombies are? What is the name of their second album" they'd stare at you as though you had antlers on your head. Trust me, it's obscure.

 Think of a band or artist that had two consecutive albums that were night and day from one another. The best example for me would be Radiohead, OK Computer and then Kid A

(Incidentally, this is the last thread I am posting for a while. I get the impression that my input isn't really wanted on these forums)

I grew up listening to both bands, and with each passing month I get angrier and angrier that the brothers from both bands can't act like adults and show some brotherly love. Ironic that both bands hit the road on a 'Brotherly Love' tour many years ago. Not to sound grim (though it is) but especially with all the covid related misery in the world, the sudden death of Lennon many years ago.... I mean, WHAT is it going to take for these two groups to reform, and who will be first. I don't even want a tour - how about rent a room a play a pay-per-view stream online, with the proceeds going to charity? "Let There Be Love".... "All I Need Is A Remedy..."

I have been thinking about this music forum and had an idea I wanted to run by everyone. I wonder how difficult it would be for the moderators to aggregate the most commonly viewed threads.... maybe the top 5... and keep those permanently open under 'Sticky Threads'. If I had to guess, the top five would be something like

1. What is the greatest band of all-time
2. What is the greatest album of all-time
3. What is the greatest song of all-time
4. What is the most underrated....
5. What is the most over-rated...

(These are just examples)

Then every time someone new comes to the music forum, those five questions (or it could be 10) are the first thing they see (and want to dig into). It's just a thought.....

Ok, this one is going deep, but I'd really like to know your thoughts. (*that's what she said*)

Anyways, the White Album and the Manson killings.
'I Hate Myself and I Want To Die - Cobain's suicide
'Heal the World' - Michael Jackson's alleged pedophilia
'Love Will Tear Us Apart' - Ian Curtis's suicide
'I Believe I Can Fly' - R Kelly and underage girls
'Just Like Starting Over' - John Lennon's murder
'Night Prowler' by AC/DC
James Brown as an icon for the black community.... and this

I want to know if I am the only person that has a hard time listening to certain songs or artists and separating the dark side of life from the music. When I was younger, and found out about the connection with the White Album and Manson, my first thought was 'I'm not listening to that album anymore. Period.' Then as I grew older, and read article where McCartney expressed the original intent for a track like 'Helter Skelter', I felt better BUT even to this day it's not a track that I play often, and certainly don't feel comfortable about. Same with the album '20/20' by the Beach Boys.

Is there anybody else that understand what I am trying to say? Does anyone else feel uncomfortable with certain songs/albums? How do you get over it?

A little background. I grew up in the South (USA), aka "the Bible Belt". I attended a Christian , all-white private school from kindergarten through the 8th grade and had pretty much the same classmates for about 10 years or so. A very sheltered childhood. It was drilled into my head during this time that rock music was evil, the devil's music. KISS stood for 'Kids In Satan's Service', ACD/DC (especially considering they made an album called 'Highway To Hell') stood for Anti-Christ/Devils Children. A lot of this sort of thing. Still, the music drew me closer. My Dad had a phenomenal album collection and knowledge of music, so it was always a part of my life (mainly Motown). Still, I grew up fearing certain bands and certain types of music. I ended up going to a public high school and it was a culture shock to say the least. I got a guitar when I was 16 and started a little group with some of the other kids. I read music magazines constantly. This is in the early 90's. As my reading progressed, I did start to notice certain... trends I guess you'd call them. The dark side of rock music. Things that were glorified (specifically drugs) in my (high school) youth as being cool... the more I read, the more I realized they had destroyed so many lives. Alcohol too. When Kurt Cobain died I was devastated. I really looked up to his attitude more than anything (remember the 'Corporate Magazines' t-shirt on Rolling Stone?). Who is doing that now?

What I am trying to say is that there is a real, real dark side to the music business. I was wanting to know how the rest of you overlooked that part. I'm sure a book could be written about this topic (if there isn't one already). The lives the music has destroyed - both artists and listeners. At the same time, I know it has helped a lot of people. And then, one of my heroes, Frank Zappa, would tell you that there is no connection (no method of suggestion) between music and listener. Music has definitely helped me many many times. There was a period in my life though that I was so freaked out about finding out (*this is just a made up example*) little surprises like "Oh, you like the song X? That's the song that the Carolina strangler would listen to while he was chopping up his victims". You know, freaky things like that.

It got to a point where I would only listen to classic jazz. But as my reading continued, I'd find out "oh, Lee Morgan was murdered on stage" or "Oh, Charlie Parker died young". There's tragedy in all music. R&B - "Oh, you didn't know Marvin Gaye's Dad killed him?" "You didn't know Otis Redding died in a plane crash?" Ugh!!!!

As time has gone by I have gotten better at separating most of the darkness, but every once in a while the right song will hit me at the right time and I think to myself "damn, I still have a problem with this." I'm 43 now, so I'm not sure I'll ever truly get over some of these negative mental associations. My sister tells me sometimes that I am too negative and I tell her "you are too naive. I didn't make up all of these tragedies." I think I have just read a lot more about them, or found out about them accidentally in some cases.

I've had this idea for a little while, but want to know what you think. There are many music enthusiasts on the SHFs. If each one were to 1) vote for the album needing remastering and 2) chip in whatever they could afford to "produce" the remastering effort, might this be a way to get albums in greatest need of mastering accomplished? I was thinking the venture could be a 'mastering club' of some kind, with a yearly due to join. In return for the dues, a portion of that money would then go to the mastering efforts, in addition to any additional contribution that the member might want to add (if the voted upon album were one that they REALLY wanted in remastered form). I'm not the most eloquent writer, so I'll try to propose this idea with a scenario as well.



According to this thread, 'Hotter Than Hell' is a mess!



Step 1 - Set up the 'club', with it's own page within the SHF's (or it's own site).

Step 2 - Members are asked (like the thread above) to voice which albums need mastering most. A list is then compiled.

Step 3 - A quarterly(?) poll takes place where the members of the 'club' vote amongst the top 5 titles on the list from Step 2.

Step 4 - (For sake of this exercise) 'Hotter Than Hell' is voted as the album to be re-mastered.

Step 5 - Someone (who) within the 'club' contacts the rights owners for 'Hotter Than Hell' and speaks on behalf of the 'club'

Step 6 - The album is remastered (m.e.t.i.c.u.l.o.u.s.l.y). The mastering sessions are filmed (which would then be bonus content accessible by the members of the club. (Would be REALLY cool if the artist or other involved with the making of the album sat in during some of the remastering)

Step 7 - Once the mastering is complete, members of the 'club' are allowed to purchase a discounted copy of the final product. There could be different tiers for the finished album. Maybe a signed (by the remastering team), numbered version that costs a premium amount. Then a more affordable version.



A portion of the profits from the remastered album would go back into the pot for the next voted album on the list.



Concerns? What would keep this from working. IMO, the voting might be a contentious endeavour, but - majority rules. Maybe (if it were quarterly) there could be a different genre each quarter?



Also, thought that contributions would be accepted from the general public as well. If you are a KISS fan for example, and want to contribute, have at it. There could be a page in the album with all contributors to the remastered album, and each contributor could add a small personal message maybe?