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7 Bands That Made Me Do What I Do
21 Jul 2008, 15:33
This is part of a multi-blog post that started over at www.matthewebel.com
Every music site I sign up for has the same "Influences" field. To say that an artist influenced me is rather trivial... I may not like 50 Cent, but his work has influenced me (in the "dear God don't ever let me sound like that" kind of way).
There are a certain number of acts, however, that throughout my development have made me want to play better, write better, entertain better, and be better. They are the ones that made me ask, "why can't I do that?" And then I asked, "what can I DO to be like that? It's the line between influence and inspiration, and there's 7 on my list that cross that line.
Of course, to read the list you're going to need to travel around the net a little. I'm posting one inspiring act here, but the rest are elsewhere. Here's where you'll find them:
-Ben Folds - Facebook Discussion Topic
-Pat Monihan/Train - MySpace
-Jason Mraz - iLike
-Pink Floyd - Here!
-Billy Joel - Stereofame
-Dave Matthews Band - PMN
-Derek Webb - matthewebel.com
Pink Floyd
Yes, yes, I know, I'm WAY too young to appreciate Pink Floyd, yadda yadda. Look, when you can make a record that really immerses the listener in a psychedelic journey (without sounding like a bad acid trip), that's something. When you can sync it up (allegedly) to a classic movie's playback, that's something. When you can weave new synthesizers, technically proficient British guitar rock, varied time signatures, mellow grooves and blistering social commentary together, that's something. When you can do it all on analog reel-to-reel tape with equipment that runs on tubes... well, that's something else. "Dark Side Of The Moon" has been and remains one of my favorite albums. I can only hope that one of mine will inspire for as long as theirs has.
For the rest of the artists, just click on one of the links above!
Every music site I sign up for has the same "Influences" field. To say that an artist influenced me is rather trivial... I may not like 50 Cent, but his work has influenced me (in the "dear God don't ever let me sound like that" kind of way).
There are a certain number of acts, however, that throughout my development have made me want to play better, write better, entertain better, and be better. They are the ones that made me ask, "why can't I do that?" And then I asked, "what can I DO to be like that? It's the line between influence and inspiration, and there's 7 on my list that cross that line.
Of course, to read the list you're going to need to travel around the net a little. I'm posting one inspiring act here, but the rest are elsewhere. Here's where you'll find them:
-Ben Folds - Facebook Discussion Topic
-Pat Monihan/Train - MySpace
-Jason Mraz - iLike
-Pink Floyd - Here!
-Billy Joel - Stereofame
-Dave Matthews Band - PMN
-Derek Webb - matthewebel.com
Pink Floyd
Yes, yes, I know, I'm WAY too young to appreciate Pink Floyd, yadda yadda. Look, when you can make a record that really immerses the listener in a psychedelic journey (without sounding like a bad acid trip), that's something. When you can sync it up (allegedly) to a classic movie's playback, that's something. When you can weave new synthesizers, technically proficient British guitar rock, varied time signatures, mellow grooves and blistering social commentary together, that's something. When you can do it all on analog reel-to-reel tape with equipment that runs on tubes... well, that's something else. "Dark Side Of The Moon" has been and remains one of my favorite albums. I can only hope that one of mine will inspire for as long as theirs has.
For the rest of the artists, just click on one of the links above!
