When I was in high school, I had a regular column
in the sports section of the school newspaper (The
Sentinel) called ‘Thumbs Up/Thumbs Down’. It was
easy to write and people liked it, so I recreate it here
for you now, as a quick guide of some of my likes
and dislikes in the world of music…
THUMBS UP: Disco (^)
THUMBS DOWN: Prog
THUMBS UP: The Flying Burrito Brothers
THUMBS DOWN: The Eagles (^)
THUMBS UP: The Beatles (^)
THUMBS DOWN: Oasis
THUMBS UP: PJ Harvey
THUMBS DOWN: Joanna Newsom (^)
THUMBS UP: Iggy Pop (^)
THUMBS DOWN: G.G. Allin
THUMBS UP: Off The Wall
THUMBS DOWN: Thriller (^)
THUMBS UP: Jungle Brothers
THUMBS DOWN: NWA (^)
THUMBS UP: Gregg Allman (^)
THUMBS DOWN: Cher (^)
THUMBS UP: The Fillmore (^)
THUMBS DOWN: Slim’s
THUMBS UP: Bluegrass In The Park
THUMBS DOWN: Ticketmaster (^)
THUMBS UP: The Doors
THUMBS DOWN: Jim Morrison, poet (^)
THUMBS UP: ‘Fire On The Mountain’
THUMBS DOWN: ‘Dark Star’
THUMBS UP: Blue Note (^)
THUMBS DOWN: Free Jazz
THUMBS UP: Cold Fact (^)
THUMBS DOWN: Coldplay
THUMBS UP: Keith Richards (^)
THUMBS DOWN: Toby Keith
THUMBS UP: Canned Heat
THUMBS DOWN: Canned ham (^)
THUMBS UP: Lester Bangs (^)
THUMBS DOWN: Richard Meltzer
THUMBS UP: Willie Nelson in concert
THUMBS DOWN: Shuggie Otis in concert (^)
THUMBS UP: LPs (^)
THUMBS DOWN: CDs
THUMBS UP: Rick Rubin
THUMBS DOWN: Phil Spector (^)
THUMBS UP: Nigel Tufnel (^)
THUMBS DOWN: David Coverdale
THUMBS UP: Joy Division (^)
THUMBS DOWN: Throbbing Gristle
THUMBS UP: Saxophone
THUMBS DOWN: Bagpipes (^)
THUMBS UP: Ice Cube, rapper (^)
THUMBS DOWN: Ice Cube, actor
THUMBS UP: Johnny Rotten
THUMBS DOWN: Sid Vicious (^)
THUMBS UP: Freedom Rock (^)
THUMBS DOWN: Jam bands
THUMBS UP: Willy Wonka (^)
THUMBS DOWN: Christopher Cross
THUMBS UP: Roky Erickson’s comeback
THUMBS DOWN: Sly Stone’s comeback (^)
THUMBS UP: The Rat Pack (^)
THUMBS DOWN: The Brat Pack
THUMBS UP: Jimi Hendrix
THUMBS DOWN: Jimmy Buffett (^)
THUMBS UP: Dave Davies (^)
THUMBS DOWN: Dave Matthews
THUMBS UP: Beastie Boys (^)
THUMBS DOWN: Eminem
THUMBS UP: Al Green
THUMBS DOWN: Weird Al (^)
THUMBS UP: Pearl Jam’s first 3 albums (^)
THUMBS DOWN: Pearl Jam’s last 3 albums
THUMBS UP: AC/DC (^)
THUMBS DOWN: R.E.M.
THUMBS UP: New wave Bono
THUMBS DOWN: Statesman Bono (^)
Tags: "Weird" Al Yankovic, AC/DC, Al Green, bagpipes, Beastie Boys, Blue Note, Bluegrass In The Park, Bono, Canned Heat, Cher, Christopher Cross, Cold Fact, Coldplay, Dave Davies, Dave Matthews, David Coverdale, disco, Eminem, Freedom Rock, G.G. Allin, Gregg Allman, Ice Cube, Iggy Pop, Jim Morrison, Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Buffett, Joanna Newsom, Johnny Rotten, Joy Division, Jungle Brothers, Keith Richards, Lester Bangs, LPs, Michael Jackson, Nigel Tufnel, NWA, Oasis, Off The Wall, Pearl Jam, Phil Spector, PJ Harvey, R.E.M., Richard Meltzer, Rick Rubin, Roky Erickson, saxophone, Shuggie Otis, Sid Vicious, Slim's, Sly Stone, Spam, The Beatles, The Brat Pack, The Doors, The Eagles, The Fillmore, The Flying Burrito Brothers, The Rat Pack, Thriller, Throbbing Gristle, Ticketmaster, Toby Keith, Willie Nelson, Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory
20 July 2010 at 8:34 am |
I’m with you on a lot of these — but thumbs up to “fire on the mountain” and thumbs down to “dark star”?!? “fire” strikes me as jam-band noodling, whereas “dark” (along with “playin’”) is the dead’s great vehicle for psychedelic exploration. but that’s me. great post/idea. cheers.
20 July 2010 at 9:30 am |
Thanks for the comment. I actually saw the Dead do a killer live version of ‘Fire On The Mountain’ so it’s stuck with me as a favorite. Definitely jam-band noodlish, but in Jerry’s hands on a good day, it could be transcendent. I know a lot of the true Deadheads love ‘Dark Star’ but it’s never clicked with me. Cheers!
20 July 2010 at 10:09 am |
thumbs up: thriller
thumbs down: dangerous
thumbs up: dave matthews (but not too up)
thumbs down: diamond dave
20 July 2010 at 11:49 am |
Down on Slim’s? I’m surprised. And also surprised you didn’t select Birdsong for your GD thumbs down selection…La la la la….LA…..
20 July 2010 at 1:04 pm |
I’ve seen some good shows at Slim’s, but I can’t stand that room. The floor is concrete, there are about 20 poles between the bar and the stage, and the stage is about 2 inches off the ground. By the end of a show there I feel like midgets have been pounding on my lower back with sledgehammers for two hours…
Oh, and I love ‘Birdsong’ – I laugh out loud every time I hear it…
20 July 2010 at 4:32 pm |
Birdsong has ben a long-running joke between me and my friend, Jerry-Garcia-photo-guy (who you’ve both met). Almost always a 1st Set closer, it was the perfect song to run to the bathroom and beat the halftime crowd.
On Saturday night, he and I saw Tom Petty. Shortly before the concert started I leaned over and told him “I hope Petty plays Birdsong about halfway through the show.”
20 July 2010 at 5:27 pm
Good stuff.
23 July 2010 at 8:54 am |
hmmmmm…. couple of thumbs down i have an issue w/… but you know what they say about opinions….
:)
respect!
23 July 2010 at 9:18 am |
Let me guess – Cher and G.G. Allin??
23 July 2010 at 11:24 am |
World B. Furr didn’t have an objection to GG Allin. Speaking of long standing jokes…GG is one of ours! I got a hold of a GG Allin movie from a friend at work and I’ll never hear the end of it.
23 July 2010 at 1:30 pm |
Quite a charming guy, that G.G….
4 February 2011 at 10:03 am |
R.E.M.’s first two, Chronic Town (EP) and Murmur are absolute classics, but it’s your store, blaspheme all you want.
4 February 2011 at 11:01 am |
Yes to Murmur. No to ‘Shiny Happy People’…