Quote:
Originally Posted by jackhammer
Yeah but why? This is not a confrontational thread more a thread for members to really post in detail and not be lazy bastards  |
I see how it is!
For the Beach Boys... Well, the only other bands I considered were the Doors and the Velvet Underground. I narrowed it down to those three because of the lack of good/important
bands in the 1950's, those two were the best of the 60's, none of the 70's bands are good enough in my eyes, and I think it's still too soon to judge any bands that started in the 1980's or afterwards.
Initially I thought about who was the best out of those three, and the list came out like this. There was a definite order, but they're all very close.
1. VU
2. Doors
3. Beach Boys
But, then I thought about it a little more and my next thought about it was what qualities would I look for to represent my country and how relevant are they to my country.
The Velvet Underground are incredibly influential and have a tremendous, if small discography. Very much the same as the Doors, too. The Beach Boys have a vast, large discography that has a lot of quality but also some duds and misfires. In terms of relevance to Americans in general, the Beach Boys in their early days are uniquely American when they sing about cars, girls and summers on the beach. I also feel the genre of surf rock/music in relation to America is very close to the relation between British Invasion and the UK. It's something the world can easily identify with that country. And to see the Beach Boys grow into the band they became in the late 60's and early 70's and create music as deep and influential as the stuff the Doors and VU were making; makes me give my vote to the Beach Boys.
As for solo artist, I went through the same process with Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen and Miles Davis. I'm not a huge fan of the Boss, but his sound is something that can be identified as uniquely American. Bob Dylan was very influential for his time and is as recognizable a name in music as you'll get. However, Miles Davis IS jazz and jazz is the most American genre of music, IMO.
Happy(,) Jack?
