Our Immortals. (Or, Another Stubborn Blog. About Another Stubborn List.) AND, Dressing Up For The Day.

*****AUTHOR'S NOTE*****:

First and foremost, an error in a past blog was bought to my attention (4 times...I didn't even know that 4 people read what I write.), so the frontman from the Dropkick Murphys left to form Street Dogs, and I wrote that he was formerly in Flogging Molly. I get those 2 bands often confused, but, I was wrong, and thanks for those that pointed it out, and keeping the accuracy of RHT on point. On with the show.

As my writing on here would indicate, I'm a bit obsessive. To the point where there's lists for everything. They change monthly, weekly, or in the case of my favorite cereal, daily. I do currently enjoy a good bowl of Frosted Mini Wheats, but by tomorrow, I'll be moving on to the faithful Cap'n (who I realized, by way of my 6 year old nephew, has eyebrows...on his hat. Cap'n Crunch is nowhere near socially acceptable for today. But he does have a delicious cereal.), and so on.

But, there's one list that every music fan should have. The Immortals. The Finest 20 (or so...) artists of all time in YOUR book. I got this idea from Rolling Stone. Which would tell you that it's a bad idea, but like 4 or so years ago, they put out an issue listing the 100 greatest artists of all time, as voted on by RS staff, which at last look still consisted of Jann Wenner, so the list is not valid at all. Let's take a look and break it down:

The First 50

The Final 50

First 50 first. Ok, so should the Beatles and Dylan be 1/2? Of course. After that, I get cloudy. I am by no means an Elvis guy. I take Little Richard at 3 (Little Richard who did his own tribute....to himself...), and drop Elvis, maybe even below Jerry Lee Lewis, but probably not. I don't like The Stones a lot either, but I think they need to be at 4. And is Ray Charles 5 ahead of Stevie Wonder because Wonder is still alive (making sub-par records... "Sub Question...is it better to burn out? or fade away?" ahh..High Fidelity. Always good for a laugh.), and when this was compiled, Charles had just died? really? I mean, body of work would suggest that Stevie Wonder be ahead of Ray. And for me, Springsteen just has to be ahead of Buddy Holly, Bo Diddley (Who should probably be higher himself...), U2, and Muddy. At LEAST. All of those artists deserve this list, no doubt. But I can't justify Bruce lower than Buddy Holly, and I LOVE Buddy Holly. It goes without saying that Jerry Lee needs to be higher. The Killer was right there with Elvis, Chuck Berry and Little Richard building rock. I AM impressed by the amount of Motown love on here, but Smokey Robinson? I get the vibe that he's recognized on here solely because every other artist that he wrote for got a nod on here. I will say, for all of my hip-hop roots and standing up for rap, and etc...Public Enemy at 44 as the first rap group listed, is fair enough for me. I'd like to see The Band higher, but I don't know how much of an argument I can make at 50.

On to the second 50. First off, by this point, if you're me, you're thinking "Wait, Roxy Music? where the hell is Fleetwood Mac, Pink Floyd, and Jay-Z?" But more on that later. The second 50 is awesome at times, and a joke at others. I'll be the first to come out and say it. There's no way. NO way that The Sex Pistols, Eminem, Tupac, and Ricky Nelson are in the 100 greatest artists ever. I can even listen to the Pistols argument, and back off them. But RS has a love affair with dead artists, and controversial artists, and here we are. And the slight of having every other genre covered except reggae (Aside from the mandatory Bob Marley nod), to just have Scratch Perry as a throw in at 100 (after the throw in of Curtis Mayfield) is borderline offensive. Scratch Perry should be above Dr. Dre....who was above Phil Spector (even the strongest rap fan, with any knowledge of other popular music would have a "WTF?" moment there...). I mean, yeah, Dr. Dre made The Chronic, we get it. But what has he done since 1994, other than live off of a reputation as hip-hop's...well....Phil Spector. He's been surpassed by Timbaland, DJ Premier, and now Kanye West (Who actually did his tribute, proof that West can think about someone other than himself for about 20 minutes.), so that was an odd choice. But, then there's the good. The insight to put Louis Jordan (albeit a bit too high), Carl Perkins, Martha and The Vandellas, and James Taylor on the list was good enough for me.

(If you have time, read the tributes...some of them were great. Justin Timberlake on Al Green, Rick Rubin on AC/DC, Wyclef on Marley, Elton John on Stevie Wonder, and Billy Joel on Elton John. Great stuff.)

Now, of course all of that is subjective. And we could debate RS for days. But OUR lists should be our own. My list is ever changing. I've got 25 Immortals, and the top will always be the top. The order might change, it's kind of like musical BCS. Springsteen is like USC. He may not always be number 1, but he'll never drop below 8, you can bet on that. Springsteen was born into me. Dad from Jersey, Born To Run always in the house. Plus, the line "The poets down here don't write nothin' at all/they just stand back and let it all be" ranks among my favorite lyrics of all time. I listen to Springsteen too much to have him slip, but he just recently reclaimed the 1 spot, he was in a slump...I mean, yeah he was still Bruce...but until Magic came out, he was out of it. He always has to remember that he's best when he's with his band, but he'll always be above the rest for me. After Springsteen, there's never any constant. Jay-Z is sitting at 2 right now, but it's tentative, with the Clash coming up from 5 to 3 after I got my hands on an exclusive edition of thier first album. And if a band is broken up, or if an artist is dead, they move just the same. Sleater-Kinney and Otis Redding move up and down most frequently. It's not as though I have some list written down somewhere, don't panic, it's not that bad...it's just a mental thing. I can think of my favorite artists and where they rank just by listening to them, or talking about them. New artists (Mid-majors) have knocked out older ones. At the bottom, Bonnie Raitt constantly flips in and out of the 25 spot with Kanye West. I don't know if West can get into this just yet. I need one more classic album (And from what I've heard, "808's And Heartbreak" ain't gonna do it), and Bonnie Raitt just seems disinterested in anything new. Fall Out Boy (Boise State) jumped in a few years back and knocked out James Taylor, who would be Oklahoma. (They currently rest somewhere around 18...but their new album can make or break), and Interpol bumped out the B-52's, as I realized that I was more Fred than the entire band. I find it's a bit anal, but whenever people ask me my favorite artists, I don't have to think. I have my immortals. If Springsteen is USC, Lindsey Buckingham is OSU. He's always near the top, but never wins out in the end. Although he probably should. By the way, don't sleep on Gift Of Screws (Buckingham's latest release)...it took 8 years to make, and it's brilliant.

Finally, I've dressed up, with a female friend as a music couple for this evil holiday for 5 years straight now. And tonight, I'm attending a party as Lindsey Buckingham, and a friend will be Stevie Nicks. Now, seeing as I am indeed black, this will be hard to pull off (last year: Ike and Tina Turner. Bad taste? maybe. Did it bring the house down? God yes.), but 2 years ago, I did a Cobain/Love thing that went over well. And Buckingham from the Tusk era won't be that hard to do. I got a ridiculous hat, suit jacket, cowboy boots, and a v neck t-shirt. The people who are throwing the party are pretty music savvy, so they'll get the Stevie Nicks thing right away and be able to assume who I am. I thought of pulling some joke with like fake cocaine or something....but even I have my limits.

So, on this Halloween day, let's give thanks (A month or so early...) for our favorite artists, and for costumes that make us look dumber than we actually are. Enjoy the night, folks.