20 GREATEST MUSIC ACTS - COMMENTS - Jim Colyer
1 ABBA
ABBA is not in the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame yet. They have been eligible since 1999. Swedish ABBA was the first group not from the U.S. or Britain to chart pop/rock records consistently over a period of several years. They had 9 number one singles in Britain and sold 300 million records. Everyone knows the disco hits like Dancing Queen & Take A Chance On Me, but ABBA's catalog is filled with songs which explore every conceivable style of music. Beyond the group, Agnetha Faltskog, Frida Lyngstad, Benny Andersson & Bjorn Ulvaeus have had successful solo careers. ABBA will make the Hall of Fame. It is taking time.
2 THE BEATLES
The Beatles were unchallenged in the 1960s. Every group wanted to look and sound like The Beatles. Other musicians combed their hair and tried to stand and hold their guitars like John Lennon and Paul McCartney. I bought Meet The Beatles when it came out in the winter of 1964. In a way, it was the first real album. Albums up to that point consisted of one good song heard on radio and 11 duds. On Meet The Beatles, every song was a good one. I do a lot of Beatles karaoke. A song from this album I do is George Harrison's Don't Bother Me. I also like John Lennon's Not A Second Time. Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band stands apart because of its intense psychedelia. Beatle literature holds that Pepper is Paul's album. I try to disprove that because John Lennon is my favorite. Lucy In The Sky with Diamonds, Being For The Benefit of Mr. Kite and A Day In The Life were penned by Lennon.
3
ELVIS PRESLEY John Lennon said, "Before Elvis, there was nothing." He was right. At least, there was no good music. Elvis Presley, Little Richard, Chuck Berry and Jerry Lee Lewis are at the heart of every record produced in the last 50 years. But it was Elvis who made it possible. He had the looks, movements and charismatic appeal that drove girls wild. He scored 18 number ones in the 1950s and 60s. Heartbreak Hotel, Hound Dog, Don't Be Cruel, All Shook Up, Jailhouse Rock, Treat Me Nice and One Night were electric. Never before and not since has this kind of sexuality been captured by pop music. The Army slowed Elvis down but after his discharge, he turned to love songs like It's Now Or Never and Can't Help Falling In Love.
4
SHANIA TWAIN Shania Twain is the best artist of the last decade on the strength of 3 albums: The Woman In Me, Come On Over and Up! Shania and her husband, Mutt Lange, co-wrote the best crop of girl songs ever. Women sing their songs nightly in karaoke bars around the country: Any Man Of Mine, You Win My Love, (If You're Not In It For Love) I'm Outta Here!, Honey I'm Home and Man! I Feel Like A Woman! Shania's Up! album showed a progression in the tradition of ABBA. 19 songs like Forever And For Always and I'm Gonna Getcha Good elevate Shania's feminist themes to true art. She is still the edge. Her last video, I Ain't No Quitter, was shown by Country Music Television. Shania has rocked Nashville and country music in a way it never was before. I saw her in concert in Nashville in 1998. It was the best show I ever saw, 2 hours of hits.
5
JOHN LENNON John Lennon aligned himself with the peace movement and ushered in the singer/songwriter era. Lennon's solo efforts had a substance which Paul McCartney never achieved. Songs like Give Peace A Chance and Imagine helped to end the Vietnam War. Lennon went number one with Whatever Gets You Through The Night.
6
LITTLE RICHARD Little Richard is at the core of the music of the last 50 years. I bought his records in the late 1950s and played them on my little turntable. I was 12. I remember the Specialty record label: yellow, black and white. The best Richard songs are Good Golly Miss Molly, Lucille and Long Tall Sally. Little Richard inspired Paul McCartney as Chuck Berry inspired John Lennon.
7
AGNETHA FALTSKOG After ABBA, blonde Agnetha went on to do 3 solo albums. Wrap Your Arms Around Me was hot. She was still basking in the glow of the ABBA years. Several of the musicians who worked with ABBA played on it. Agnetha's second solo album, Eyes Of A Woman, was more distant. It was European and a bit techno. In 1987, she did I Stand Alone. She recorded it in Los Angeles. The album's producer, Peter Cetera, thought Agnetha was going to stay in the States and promote. Instead, she boarded a plane and flew home to Sweden. Needless to say, Cetera was mad. Agnetha's career ended for 17 years. She finally did another album at age 54. In her years with ABBA, she was one of the world's most beautiful women.
8
BURTON CUMMINGS Canadian Burton Cummings has one of the best voices in rock music. Everyone knows his voice when they hear it. Cummings did a series of solo albums in the late 1970s and early 80s. Stand Tall and Never Had A Lady Before are superb. Cummings never became a superstar because of his personality. He drank and was known for his ego. I talked to one of his best friends in Nashville. He referred to him as an "asshole." Nonetheless, Burton Cummings is a great talent.
9
RICKY NELSON Ricky Nelson is underrated. He made great records: Travelin' Man, Hello Mary Lou, It's Late, Just A Little Too Much, Young World and Teenage Idol. He appealed to girls. After Elvis, they went for Ricky. I watched Ozzie & Harriet every Saturday night for one reason, to see Ricky Nelson sing his latest hit at the show's end. Guitar legend James Burton played lead over his shoulder. Burton went on to play for Elvis in the 70s. One reason for Ricky not getting his due is that his father controlled everything. Ricky Nelson influenced The Eagles.
10
CREEDENCE CLEARWATER REVIVAL CCR was the only band from the 60s and certainly the only American band to challenge The Beatles. John Fogerty wrote 20 songs that are American classics: Proud Mary, Green River, Fortunate Son. The list goes on. It is a pity about the mess between Fogerty and Saul Zaentz. I do not know much about it. Fogerty was probably a pompous ass. I am sure he made big bucks. He is a songwriting legend. I was home on leave from the Army for Christmas, 1969, and was obsessed with Creedence. I played their albums constantly. It drove my girl friend crazy.
11
THE BEE GEES It took years for me to appreciate The Bee Gees. Their first hits reeked with self-pity. It was during the Saturday Night Fever period that they impressed me. Stayin' Alive and Night Fever fronted disco. Barry Gibb looked like Jesus. The Bee Gees entered the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame in 1997 amid the disco revival. They produced a song called Alone, which is one of their best.
12
JERRY LEE LEWIS I remember seeing Jerry Lee Lewis on TV around 1957 or 58. He was ahead of his time. His blonde locks fell around his shoulders as he pounded the piano. His hair was longer than The Beatles' hair in 1964. I recall hearing Great Balls Of Fire on the radio. Electricity went through me. Whole Lot Of Shakin' Going On, Great Balls Of Fire and Breathless summed up the sex act. There was nothing left to do after that except to have kids. Rock 'n' roll quieted down. It settled into Doo Wop which was a 1940s revival with a rock and roll influence. Jerry Lee Lewis was there at the beginning with Elvis Presley, Little Richard and Chuck Berry.
13
CHUCK BERRY Chuck Berry virtually invented rock 'n' roll guitar. Johnny B. Goode licks are right below the surface of every guitar solo. My favorite Berry song is Sweet Little Sixteen. I did it last week in a karaoke bar. People went wild. It may have been the first time they heard it. Another song I like is Nadine. It is not played much. It came out after The Beatles cited Chuck Berry as an influence.
14
THE GUESS WHO Burton Cummings and his band, The Guess Who, charted These Eyes, American Woman and No Time. Randy Bachman played guitar and went on to found Bachman Turner Overdrive. They recorded the classic, Taking Care Of Business. The Guess Who's output is voluminous. Why, then, is the group so disregarded? It may be the negative lyrics of their only number one, American Woman. It is both a put down of American women and America itself. The song appeared as Richard Nixon was bombing women and children in Vietnam, but that no longer matters. Canadian Guess Who is seen as condemning its southern neighbor. Another problem is the name of the band. It is vague, too easily confused with The Who, another group with a bad name.
15
BOB SEGER Seger had a string of albums which will forever enshrine him in the annals of classic rock. My favorite Seger song is The Fire Down Below. A criticism might be that his catalog is too immersed in nostalgia. He is forever looking over his shoulder. I saw him in a small club in Louisville before his hits.
16
ACE OF BASE AOB is a family; two sisters, a brother and a friend. They are second generation ABBA and hit the charts with a mega-seller, The Sign. Videos highlighted the Berggren's youth and good looks. They continued with quality work although each successive CD is more pessimistic than the one before it.
17 ROXETTE
I gave myself to the Swedes for awhile. Roxette was a great band from Sweden fronted by Per Gessle and Marie Fredricksson. Their albums, Look Sharp! & Joyride scored big. It Must Have Been Love was a number one hit from the film, Pretty Woman. Roxette had 4 number one records in the U.S. That is amazing when you consider ABBA had only one number one in the States (Dancing Queen). Roxette was influenced by ABBA but more influenced by The Beatles.
18
DEL SHANNON My favorite singer before The Beatles was Del Shannon. His classic, Runaway, is about all that remains. In the sterile music scene of the early 1960s, Del Shannon was a link between Elvis and The Beatles. He was the first American to cover a Beatles song, From Me To You. He wrote his own material and played minor chords on guitar with a beat. I had a bunch of his records on the pink Big Top label. I liked Little Town Flirt. Shannon's lyrics centered around teenage angst and the pain of losing another girl friend. After years of playing revival shows, he committed suicide in 1990.
19
OLIVIA NEWTON-JOHN Olivia broke in with a series of countrified hits like If You Love Me Let Me Know and Please Mister Please. She appealled to two generations of men. She was a star. Oddly, she is remembered almost exclusively for Grease, her film with John Travolta. Her last big record was Physical. It was number one for 11 weeks.
20 DONNA SUMMER I looked over Rolling Stone Magazine's 50 top influentials. We agree on Elvis & The Beatles. From there, I either leave them or they leave me. I can not see Aretha Franklin at #9. I would choose Donna Summer over Aretha. Donna Summer had a plethora of hits from 1975 to 1983 and has periodically returned. Rolling Stone has a problem with Donna being billed as the Queen of Disco. The music industry grew bent on labelling disco a fad even as it produced anthems like YMCA and I Will Survive. Donna Summer offered Last Dance, Bad Girls, Hot Stuff and She Works Hard For The Money. She remained true to the song. It was not her goal to see how many octaves she could slide up and down while tearing the song apart. This is a problem with modern female vocalists. A friend in Nashville referred to it as vocal acrobatics. They yell, squeal and bellow. Donna Summer may be a white man's black woman, but that is not why I put her above Aretha. She made better records.
The disco records of the late 1970s are some of the greatest recordings ever made. Their energy is unmatched. The disco beat was a heartbeat - thump thump thump. It called a whole generation of baby boomers to rise above the chaos of Vietnam and Watergate. Disco music was about sex. It was about fun and freedom. It was all out. That is why it made enemies. How long can you keep a smile on your face? ABBA and The Bee Gees were the kings and queens of disco: Dancing Queen, Take A Chance On Me, Staying Alive and Night Fever. But there were others: Donna Summer doing Hot Stuff, K.C. and The Sunshine Band with Get Down Tonight, YMCA from The Village People and Le Freak from Chic. Chic was a class act. There was Thelma Houston's Don't Leave Me This Way, Rod Stewart & Do You Think I'm Sexy and Alicia Bridges with I Love The Nightlife. There will never be another era like it. Jimmy Carter was president. America had no enemies. No Bin Laden and no AIDS. Just peace and love and disco!
Contact: jim@jimcolyer.com
JIM COLYER
ABBA is not in the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame yet. They have been eligible since 1999. Swedish ABBA was the first group not from the U.S. or Britain to chart pop/rock records consistently over a period of several years. They had 9 number one singles in Britain and sold 300 million records. Everyone knows the disco hits like Dancing Queen & Take A Chance On Me, but ABBA's catalog is filled with songs which explore every conceivable style of music. Beyond the group, Agnetha Faltskog, Frida Lyngstad, Benny Andersson & Bjorn Ulvaeus have had successful solo careers. ABBA will make the Hall of Fame. It is taking time.
2 THE BEATLES
The Beatles were unchallenged in the 1960s. Every group wanted to look and sound like The Beatles. Other musicians combed their hair and tried to stand and hold their guitars like John Lennon and Paul McCartney. I bought Meet The Beatles when it came out in the winter of 1964. In a way, it was the first real album. Albums up to that point consisted of one good song heard on radio and 11 duds. On Meet The Beatles, every song was a good one. I do a lot of Beatles karaoke. A song from this album I do is George Harrison's Don't Bother Me. I also like John Lennon's Not A Second Time. Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band stands apart because of its intense psychedelia. Beatle literature holds that Pepper is Paul's album. I try to disprove that because John Lennon is my favorite. Lucy In The Sky with Diamonds, Being For The Benefit of Mr. Kite and A Day In The Life were penned by Lennon.
3
ELVIS PRESLEY John Lennon said, "Before Elvis, there was nothing." He was right. At least, there was no good music. Elvis Presley, Little Richard, Chuck Berry and Jerry Lee Lewis are at the heart of every record produced in the last 50 years. But it was Elvis who made it possible. He had the looks, movements and charismatic appeal that drove girls wild. He scored 18 number ones in the 1950s and 60s. Heartbreak Hotel, Hound Dog, Don't Be Cruel, All Shook Up, Jailhouse Rock, Treat Me Nice and One Night were electric. Never before and not since has this kind of sexuality been captured by pop music. The Army slowed Elvis down but after his discharge, he turned to love songs like It's Now Or Never and Can't Help Falling In Love.
4
SHANIA TWAIN Shania Twain is the best artist of the last decade on the strength of 3 albums: The Woman In Me, Come On Over and Up! Shania and her husband, Mutt Lange, co-wrote the best crop of girl songs ever. Women sing their songs nightly in karaoke bars around the country: Any Man Of Mine, You Win My Love, (If You're Not In It For Love) I'm Outta Here!, Honey I'm Home and Man! I Feel Like A Woman! Shania's Up! album showed a progression in the tradition of ABBA. 19 songs like Forever And For Always and I'm Gonna Getcha Good elevate Shania's feminist themes to true art. She is still the edge. Her last video, I Ain't No Quitter, was shown by Country Music Television. Shania has rocked Nashville and country music in a way it never was before. I saw her in concert in Nashville in 1998. It was the best show I ever saw, 2 hours of hits.
5
JOHN LENNON John Lennon aligned himself with the peace movement and ushered in the singer/songwriter era. Lennon's solo efforts had a substance which Paul McCartney never achieved. Songs like Give Peace A Chance and Imagine helped to end the Vietnam War. Lennon went number one with Whatever Gets You Through The Night.
6
LITTLE RICHARD Little Richard is at the core of the music of the last 50 years. I bought his records in the late 1950s and played them on my little turntable. I was 12. I remember the Specialty record label: yellow, black and white. The best Richard songs are Good Golly Miss Molly, Lucille and Long Tall Sally. Little Richard inspired Paul McCartney as Chuck Berry inspired John Lennon.
7
AGNETHA FALTSKOG After ABBA, blonde Agnetha went on to do 3 solo albums. Wrap Your Arms Around Me was hot. She was still basking in the glow of the ABBA years. Several of the musicians who worked with ABBA played on it. Agnetha's second solo album, Eyes Of A Woman, was more distant. It was European and a bit techno. In 1987, she did I Stand Alone. She recorded it in Los Angeles. The album's producer, Peter Cetera, thought Agnetha was going to stay in the States and promote. Instead, she boarded a plane and flew home to Sweden. Needless to say, Cetera was mad. Agnetha's career ended for 17 years. She finally did another album at age 54. In her years with ABBA, she was one of the world's most beautiful women.
8
BURTON CUMMINGS Canadian Burton Cummings has one of the best voices in rock music. Everyone knows his voice when they hear it. Cummings did a series of solo albums in the late 1970s and early 80s. Stand Tall and Never Had A Lady Before are superb. Cummings never became a superstar because of his personality. He drank and was known for his ego. I talked to one of his best friends in Nashville. He referred to him as an "asshole." Nonetheless, Burton Cummings is a great talent.
9
RICKY NELSON Ricky Nelson is underrated. He made great records: Travelin' Man, Hello Mary Lou, It's Late, Just A Little Too Much, Young World and Teenage Idol. He appealed to girls. After Elvis, they went for Ricky. I watched Ozzie & Harriet every Saturday night for one reason, to see Ricky Nelson sing his latest hit at the show's end. Guitar legend James Burton played lead over his shoulder. Burton went on to play for Elvis in the 70s. One reason for Ricky not getting his due is that his father controlled everything. Ricky Nelson influenced The Eagles.
10
CREEDENCE CLEARWATER REVIVAL CCR was the only band from the 60s and certainly the only American band to challenge The Beatles. John Fogerty wrote 20 songs that are American classics: Proud Mary, Green River, Fortunate Son. The list goes on. It is a pity about the mess between Fogerty and Saul Zaentz. I do not know much about it. Fogerty was probably a pompous ass. I am sure he made big bucks. He is a songwriting legend. I was home on leave from the Army for Christmas, 1969, and was obsessed with Creedence. I played their albums constantly. It drove my girl friend crazy.
11
THE BEE GEES It took years for me to appreciate The Bee Gees. Their first hits reeked with self-pity. It was during the Saturday Night Fever period that they impressed me. Stayin' Alive and Night Fever fronted disco. Barry Gibb looked like Jesus. The Bee Gees entered the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame in 1997 amid the disco revival. They produced a song called Alone, which is one of their best.
12
JERRY LEE LEWIS I remember seeing Jerry Lee Lewis on TV around 1957 or 58. He was ahead of his time. His blonde locks fell around his shoulders as he pounded the piano. His hair was longer than The Beatles' hair in 1964. I recall hearing Great Balls Of Fire on the radio. Electricity went through me. Whole Lot Of Shakin' Going On, Great Balls Of Fire and Breathless summed up the sex act. There was nothing left to do after that except to have kids. Rock 'n' roll quieted down. It settled into Doo Wop which was a 1940s revival with a rock and roll influence. Jerry Lee Lewis was there at the beginning with Elvis Presley, Little Richard and Chuck Berry.
13
CHUCK BERRY Chuck Berry virtually invented rock 'n' roll guitar. Johnny B. Goode licks are right below the surface of every guitar solo. My favorite Berry song is Sweet Little Sixteen. I did it last week in a karaoke bar. People went wild. It may have been the first time they heard it. Another song I like is Nadine. It is not played much. It came out after The Beatles cited Chuck Berry as an influence.
14
THE GUESS WHO Burton Cummings and his band, The Guess Who, charted These Eyes, American Woman and No Time. Randy Bachman played guitar and went on to found Bachman Turner Overdrive. They recorded the classic, Taking Care Of Business. The Guess Who's output is voluminous. Why, then, is the group so disregarded? It may be the negative lyrics of their only number one, American Woman. It is both a put down of American women and America itself. The song appeared as Richard Nixon was bombing women and children in Vietnam, but that no longer matters. Canadian Guess Who is seen as condemning its southern neighbor. Another problem is the name of the band. It is vague, too easily confused with The Who, another group with a bad name.
15
BOB SEGER Seger had a string of albums which will forever enshrine him in the annals of classic rock. My favorite Seger song is The Fire Down Below. A criticism might be that his catalog is too immersed in nostalgia. He is forever looking over his shoulder. I saw him in a small club in Louisville before his hits.
16
ACE OF BASE AOB is a family; two sisters, a brother and a friend. They are second generation ABBA and hit the charts with a mega-seller, The Sign. Videos highlighted the Berggren's youth and good looks. They continued with quality work although each successive CD is more pessimistic than the one before it.
17 ROXETTE
I gave myself to the Swedes for awhile. Roxette was a great band from Sweden fronted by Per Gessle and Marie Fredricksson. Their albums, Look Sharp! & Joyride scored big. It Must Have Been Love was a number one hit from the film, Pretty Woman. Roxette had 4 number one records in the U.S. That is amazing when you consider ABBA had only one number one in the States (Dancing Queen). Roxette was influenced by ABBA but more influenced by The Beatles.
18
DEL SHANNON My favorite singer before The Beatles was Del Shannon. His classic, Runaway, is about all that remains. In the sterile music scene of the early 1960s, Del Shannon was a link between Elvis and The Beatles. He was the first American to cover a Beatles song, From Me To You. He wrote his own material and played minor chords on guitar with a beat. I had a bunch of his records on the pink Big Top label. I liked Little Town Flirt. Shannon's lyrics centered around teenage angst and the pain of losing another girl friend. After years of playing revival shows, he committed suicide in 1990.
19
OLIVIA NEWTON-JOHN Olivia broke in with a series of countrified hits like If You Love Me Let Me Know and Please Mister Please. She appealled to two generations of men. She was a star. Oddly, she is remembered almost exclusively for Grease, her film with John Travolta. Her last big record was Physical. It was number one for 11 weeks.
20 DONNA SUMMER I looked over Rolling Stone Magazine's 50 top influentials. We agree on Elvis & The Beatles. From there, I either leave them or they leave me. I can not see Aretha Franklin at #9. I would choose Donna Summer over Aretha. Donna Summer had a plethora of hits from 1975 to 1983 and has periodically returned. Rolling Stone has a problem with Donna being billed as the Queen of Disco. The music industry grew bent on labelling disco a fad even as it produced anthems like YMCA and I Will Survive. Donna Summer offered Last Dance, Bad Girls, Hot Stuff and She Works Hard For The Money. She remained true to the song. It was not her goal to see how many octaves she could slide up and down while tearing the song apart. This is a problem with modern female vocalists. A friend in Nashville referred to it as vocal acrobatics. They yell, squeal and bellow. Donna Summer may be a white man's black woman, but that is not why I put her above Aretha. She made better records.
The disco records of the late 1970s are some of the greatest recordings ever made. Their energy is unmatched. The disco beat was a heartbeat - thump thump thump. It called a whole generation of baby boomers to rise above the chaos of Vietnam and Watergate. Disco music was about sex. It was about fun and freedom. It was all out. That is why it made enemies. How long can you keep a smile on your face? ABBA and The Bee Gees were the kings and queens of disco: Dancing Queen, Take A Chance On Me, Staying Alive and Night Fever. But there were others: Donna Summer doing Hot Stuff, K.C. and The Sunshine Band with Get Down Tonight, YMCA from The Village People and Le Freak from Chic. Chic was a class act. There was Thelma Houston's Don't Leave Me This Way, Rod Stewart & Do You Think I'm Sexy and Alicia Bridges with I Love The Nightlife. There will never be another era like it. Jimmy Carter was president. America had no enemies. No Bin Laden and no AIDS. Just peace and love and disco!
Contact: jim@jimcolyer.com
JIM COLYER
posted by Jim Colyer at 9:38 AM
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