pierson

ergo the ambigously gay westerns of that era...

every lone ranger needs his tonto...

and that's not mentioning the most tragic musical loss so far, which was lead singer of House Of Freaks Bryan Harvey who, along with his wife and kids, was brutally murdered in Richmond VA on New Years Day.... not to take anything away from Barry Cowsill, but Bryan was the musical force behind a very cool original duo (sorta Americana folk/rock) and deserves at least as much recognition as one of the less integral members of our beloved Cowsills... House of Freaks' hit their peak between 1989 and 1991 with "Tantilla" and "Cakewalk"-- Harvey had a very distinct Lennon-esque voice and wrote some incredible gems along the way (i.e. "40 Years," "Never" "Broken Bones")... for more about the disturbing news check out this link: http://www.cnn.com/2006/LAW/01/07/richmond.slayings.ap/index.html

YOU NAILED IT!!! THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT CONSTITUTES MAINSTREAM MUSIC TODAY... AND THE ersatz-PUNK bands who now litter the landscape-- very cookie cutter tattoed/pierced-to-the-gils idiots who couldn't write an original tune to save their life (bar My Chemical Romance) also meat & potatoes ROCK: 3 Doors Down Nickelback Creed (Strapp) Five For Fighting stuff like Little Steven's show is "alternative" just like the Raspberries were & still are... nothing mainstream about them, except maybe the song "Starting Over"... good point on Green Day, they've morphed into an Arena-punk band... BUT they have the right idea & are doing it well... bless their hearts and Billy Joe's bad over-enunciating

Musical Artists: VAN DUREN, PREFAB SPROUT, ED HARCOURT, PERNICE BROTHERS, JON BRION T.V. Show: 30SOMETHING, FREAKS & GEEKS, MY SO-CALLED LIFE Actor: DIANE KEATON, TERESA WRIGHT, JULIE CHRISTIE, BUD CORT, CHARLES GRODIN Movie: DINER, HAROLD & MAUDE, MAGNOLIA, BREWSTER MCLOUD

WELL, if you give someone ONE song and hope they get what the band is about, most of the bands listed would be totally misunderstood... that's my point.... you CAN'T understand Led Zeppelin by listening to "Stairway To Heaven"-- you can't understand The Kinks, Who, Pink FLoyd, Genesis, Big Star, Todd Rundgren, Joni Mitchell, Byrds, Neil Young, Van Morrison, Bruce Springsteen, Rolling Stones, Raspberries, Beatles, Move/ELO, Faces, Jethro Tull by such a crazy idea... YOU CAN turn people on to a band by playing the most universally accepted tune, but that's not the best way to do it with classic rock bands who have so much material... especially a band like The Who, or even The Bee Gees (play a disco fan "Lemons Never Forget" and see what they say!!) who vary a lot from decade to decade... there are bands who you can do it with and get away with it without it being a big misrepresentation: Kiss, Alice Cooper, Aerosmith, Bad Company, Montrose, Sex Pistols, Nirvana, MC5, Stooges, Ramones, Shoes, AC/DC, Van Halen, Searchers, Dave Clark 5, Grass Roots... but I ALMOST ALWAYS find the most revealing stuff is the stuff you don't hear a lot...

Here's my list for the worst choices of "band defining" songs by those who posted: this list should be retitled: top rock songs that white u.s. citizens have had ingrained in their skulls via bad radio and a lame pop culture Led Zeppelin - Stairway To Heaven NO NO NO NO NO Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here GOOD SONG, BUT NOT A BAND TO BE DEFINED BY A SONG, FOR SURE Aerosmith - Dream On DEFINITVE POWER BALLAD?, YES... BUT NOT THE BAND'S DEFINING SONG... Rolling Stones - Start Me Up ONE OF THE WORST CHOICES POSSIBLE, ONLY BECAUSE IT'S BEEN SO OVERPLAYED IT COULD BE LABELED AS THE MOST USELESS STONES SONG ALIVE... PLEASE PULL OUT 'BETWEEN THE BUTTONS'... Beatles - Revolution THIS WAS ON THE 'WHITE ALBUM'-- GET IT??? Cure - Boys Dont Cry NOPE The Who - Wont Get Fooled Again SEE PINK FLOYD COMMENT Beach Boys - Babara ann JEEEZES.... THIS IS SCARY.... FROM THE BAND WHO BROUGHT US 'PET SOUNDS'.... I'M IN TEARS NOW... Elton John - Crocodile Rock ALMOST AS BAD AS THE BEACH BOYS CHOICE... ONE OF ELTON'S WORST EARLY SINGLES..., AND THIS WAS THE FIRST 45 I EVER PURCHASED, SHAME ON ME... Queen - We Are The Champions HUH???? Rolling Stones - Satifaction SEE 'START ME UP' Beatles - Hey Jude THE MOST UNDEFINABLE BAND.... Kinks -- Victoria SEE PINK FLOYD COMMENT (at least you didn't choose "Lola") Genesis - Abacab WOT? WHATEVER (OR THROW AWAY YOUR SINGLES AND LISTEN TO YOUR ALBUMS): Doors - Hello I Love You Madonna - Like a Virgin Ramones - I Wanna Be Sedated Turtles - Happy Together Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers - Don't Do Me Like That 3 Dog Night - Joy to the World Huey Lewis & the News - I Want a New Drug Guess Who - American Woman Cyndi Lauper - Girls Just Wanna Have Fun Cars - Just What I Needed Mamas & Papas - California Dreamin Monkees Theme - Monkees Jump - Van Halen Every Breath You Take - Police Show Me the Way - Peter Frampton Dancing Queen - Abba Moondance - Van Morrison Pretty Woman - Roy Orbison Bridge Over Troubled Water - Simon & Garfunkel

not to be a heel, or to take wind out of things, but this is where i cry "foul"... Very few bands have one song that "DEFINES" them, ESPECIALLY the Raspberries... it's what Eric fought against after the labels tried to pigeonhole them & make them remake another "Go All The Way" (which, Eric did with ease on "I Wanna Be With You") if there is one song by a band that captures their essence at it's most rarified, SURE that's cool.... but for most bands and artists they usually FIGHT against such thinking because it boxes them in and makes their audience LESS open to experiment and expansion (i.e THE BEATLES. Neil Young)... for the Berries, it has to be "Go All The Way" because it sets the pace & it opens the door... Sure a lot of other amazing tracks expand on it (i.e. "Ecstasy") while the ballads are of another stripe... If anything, "Overnight Sensation" is an anomoly for the Raspberries where it's almost their most atypical song... a masterstroke, indeed, but really the closing note on a brilliant burst of ephemeral magic... and an amazing glimpse into where the band could've progressed... way too short lived...

the only thing is, with "My Aim..." it's not as impressive, although it's right there (just like your Bruce trifecta... you could start w/ the first... but #2,3,4 is really the HIGH MARK... w/ Stevie you could go to "Songs..." but after that he's spotty or just a little soft... if i had a choice i would go earlier to "Music Of My Mind" and "Where I'm Coming From"... but the three i picked are where he reaches his creative peak...

Eric's solo LPs, like the 'Berries suffers a hiccup with the third one (Side 3, & Change Of Heart)... both are the weakest of the of albums 1 through 4.... Here's a few other great trifectas: PINK FLOYD Dark SIde Of The Moon Wish You Were Here Animals LED ZEPPELIN III IV Houses Of The Holy BIG STAR #1 Record Radio City 3rd JONI MITCHELL Blue For The Roses Court & Spark NEIL YOUNG Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere After The Goldrush Harvest or my personal fave: On The Beach Tonight's The Night Zuma ALICE COOPER GROUP Killer School's Out Billion Dollar Babies PERNICE BROTHERS Overcome By Happiness The World Won't End Yours Mine & Ours ED HARCOURT Here Be Monsters From Every Sphere Strangers CLASH Clash Give Em Enough Rope London Calling MOTT THE HOOPLE All The Young Dudes Mott The Hoople RAMONES Ramones Leave Home Rocket To Russia AL GREEN Let's Stay Together I'm Still In Love With You Call Me STEVIE WONDER Talking Book Innervisions Fulfillingness' First Finale STEELY DAN Countdown To Ecstasy Pretzel Lgic Katy Lied KISS Kiss Hotter Than Hell Dress To Kill VAN MORRISON Astral Weeks Moondance His Band & The Street Choir SHOES Present Tense Tongue Twister Boomerang CHEAP TRICK Cheap Trick In Color Heaven Tonight JIMI HENDRIX Are You Experienced Axis: Bold As Love Electric Ladyland DICTATORS Go Girl Crazy Manifest Destiny Bloodbrothers VELVET UNDERGROUND Velvet Underground & Nico White Light/White heat Velvet Underground TODD RUNDGREN Ballad Of Runt Something/Anything A Wizard A True Star PREFAB SPROUT 2 Wheels Good (aka Steve McQueen) From Langley Park To Memphis Jordan: The Comeback PRINCE Purple Rain Around The World In A Day Parade BYRDS Mr Tambourine Man Turn Turn Turn Fifth Dimension SQUEEZE Argybargy East Side Story Sweets From A Stranger DWIGHT TWILLEY & BAND Sincerely Twilley Don't Mind Twilley HARRY NILSSON Pandemonium Shadow Show Aerial Ballet Harry DAVID BOWIE Hunky Dory Ziggy Stardust Aladdin Sane REPLACEMENTS Let It Be Tim Pleased To Meet Me ROXY MUSIC For Your Pleasure Stranded Country Life SIMON & GARFUNKEL Sound Of Silence Parsley Sage Rosemary & Thyme Bookends HAMELL ON TRIAL Big As Life The Chord Is Mightier Than The Sword Choochtown DRAMARAMA Stuck In Wonderamaland Vinyl Hi Fi Sci Fi IVY Apartment Life Long Distance In The Clear XTC Drums & Wires Black Sea English Settlement THE CHURCH Of Skins & Heart Blurred Crusade Seance BADFINGER Magic Christian No Dice Straight Up ELVIS COSTELLO This Year's Model Armed Forces Get Happy THE WHO Sings My Generation A Quick One Sell Out THE KINKS Face To Face Something Else The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society T. REX Electric Warrior The Slider Tanx

A LOT OF CHOICES ARE VERY QUESTIONABLE: Genesis: "...And Then There Were Three", "Duke", "Abacab" those 3 above is where they "lost" their old sound-- very sad I WOULD GO W/ "LAMB LIES DOWN...", "TRICK OF THE TAIL" "WIND & WUTHERING' Queen: "News of the World", "Jazz", "Play the Game" ABSOLUTLEY WHERE I LOOSE IT WITH QUEEN... I would choose "Queen II", "Sheer Heart Attack" and "Night At The Opera" The Cars: "The Cars", "Candy-O", "Panorama" "PANORAMA" is a very weak album... Boston: "Boston", "Don't Look Back", "Third Stage" TOO LONG INBETWEEN LPs & only the first one is "solid".... ELTON JOHN Don't Shoot Me I'm Only The Piano Player, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, Caribou I'll adjust AnneG's Elton to: Honky Chateau Don't Shoot Me GYB Road BIG PROBLEM W/ ELTON.... "Don't Shoot Me..." is his weakest album during his "hot streak (i.e. "Elton John" through "Captain Fantastic") the best 3 in a row from Elton (imho) are: TUMBLEWEED CONNECTION, MADMAN ACROSS THE WATER, HONKY CHATEAU Marvin got it right the first time w/ this Eagles choice: (can't choose "Hotel Crapafornia" because the original essence of the band is toast...) 1. Desperado 2. On the Border 3. One of These Nights HOLLIES 1. Another Night 2. Russian Roulette 3. A Crazy Steal MY HOLLIES CHOICES WOULD BE: For Certain Because (aka "Stop Stop Stop") Evolution Butterfly (aka "King Midas In Reverse") PAUL MCCARTNEY 1. Red Rose Speedway 2. Band On the Run 3. Venus & Mars AS MUCH AS NO ONE WOULD EVER AGREE W "WILDLIFE" (it's definitely as good as "Red Rose...", I WOULD CHOOSE THE FIRST 3 MACCA LPs "Mccartney" "Ram" "Wildlife" JACKSON BROWNE: 1. Late For the Sky 2. The Pretender 3. Running On Empty AFTER "LATE FOR THE SKY" JB GOT LESS INTERESTING... I would definitely go w/ the first 3 solo LPs "Jackson Brown" "For Everyman" "Late For The Sky"

here's my 2 cents: THE BEST CHOICES SO FAR: BEATLES (does it get any better than this?): 1. Rubber Soul 2. Revolver 3. Sgt Pepper BOB DYLAN Bringing It All Back Home Highway 61 Revisited Blonde on Blonde ROLLING STONES Beggars Banquet Let It Bleed Sticky Fingers AEROSMITH "Get Your Wings", "Toys in the Attic" "Rocks" BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN 1. The Wild, the Innocent, & the E Street Shuffle 2. Born to Run 3. Darkness On the Edge Of Town & Marvin's ELO choices

the Click Five are lacking something... as much as it's refreshing to see "guitar" based melodic pop/rock (aka power pop), their manufactured looks and overproduced (i.e. pro-tooled vocals) sound doesn't win thewm any points... even Adam's songs sound like they were phoned in-- very by-the-numbers... little deeply felt inspiration (something which the 'Berries always had)... they don't hold a candle to other bands doing it in much more sincere fashion: see Lovetap (lovetapmusic.com) or anything on Myracle Brah's "Bleeder" CD.....

i don't know... they are good, but they are not great and do not deserve to be ahead of certain "unheards" that are so much better.... see The Chamber Strings, Chi-towns BEST pop band in many a moon...sadly awol since 2002... i saw the Redwalls on a bill w/ their labelmates Marjorie Fair (the MOST unrecognized brilliant band of 2005) and they were OK, but it's not in that zone that my friend Matt MacHaffie refers to as "Genius Level"-- Children Of A Lesser Faces

only the Alessi fanbase

One word: DUGH!! Not so... even though being cynical w/ beatlebum is protocol... anthony does have diabetes and was hospitalized before... that's never been something they used as getting a rise out of others... the death hoax, however could easily be such... BUT you never know...

knowing their history and an email i received today, i would agree too...

1. RASPBERRIES- BB Kings, NYC 7/24 (Sunday) 2. MARJORIE FAIR- Mercury Lounge, NYC 3. FLASHCUBES- Paradise, Boston 11/11 4. SCREEN TEST- Shifty's, Syracuse, NY 7/9 5. HAMELL ON TRIAL- Saraha Street Grill, Stroudsberg, PA (12/22) 6. BRIAN WILSON @ Wolf Trap, VA 8/10 7. PERNICE BROTHERS @ Jammin Java, VA 8/11 8. ED HARCOURT @ Maxwell's, Hoboken NJ 4/26 9. JOE'S BAND @ Duck Inn, Chaumont, NY 10/29

No... it's all too very real... which for those of us who received an email from him only hours before he died makes it tougher to fathom... here's the email from Drew: "Funeral Services are Monday and Tues. ONLY in N.Y. on Long Island. The Mass will be 'at sea' in East Hampton, where his ashes wil be spread throughout the great Atlantic near A'sorig area as a child. Again , this all was a sudden shock to myself and both and all our respective families and friends. It all happened so very suddenly on Thurs eve, right after dinner and also right after we were on a few musoc mess brds and sending e mail to my family and to some eric carmen & Moby & Dylan & The BeaTles and Wham! mess brd members like rasbernie and pat pierson and lew & brenda sue and WhamMan and beatlbabyboomer ..& then about 10 hrs later, he pased away at St. Vincent's. Anthony Di' Napolitan, Jr. R.I.P. March 11th 1956- Dec 22'nd 2005"

yes... drew's spouse anthony passed away (both would from time to time don the "beatlebum" tag, but i think it was anthony who was the "wildest" poster)... I'm guessing we both received the same email... it's definitely not a hoax...

yes... he does deserve credit... especially since the lyrics on the 1st album are the funniest/wittiest lyrics ever... never to be outdone

Tommy J(ames) and whatever "...Itro" was, made for the moniker in the summer of '72 by the dock of the bay -- taped off the radio.... "Love Song" does appear on the Rhino best-of (Tommy James the solo years) that came out in the early '90s but's now out of print & a tad price-y-- it also lacks some LP cuts like "Lady Jane".... a PRIMO Canadian-esque pop wonder

only just recently tipped to the inside story... just picked up a hadnful of TJ vinyl (first 3 solo LPs circa 70-73) -- the first one being a big source of great lost shoulda been hits... still waiting to get the "lone" single "Love Song" which Tommy Allen swears by.... should be here before x-mas

Tom Waits Randy Newman Carole King Joni Mitchell Tom Rush Tim Hardin Fred Neil Tim Buckley Leonard Cohen Lou Reed Bryan Ferry Difford & Tilbrook (Squeeze) Joey Ramone & Dee Dee Ramone Rick Neilson (Cheap Trick) Marvin Gaye Pete Ham (Badfinger) Nilsson Pagliaro Miles Gtoodwyn (April Wine) Nick Drake Emitt Rhodes Ian Huner (Mott The Hoople) David Johansen (New York Dolls) Alex Chilton & Chris Bell (Big Star) Nick Lowe Dwight Twilley Al Green Roy Wood (Move/ Wizzard) Marc Bolan (T. Rex) Noddy Holder (Slade) Joe Strummer & Mick Jones (The Clash) Tom Verlain (Television) Patti Smith Robert Hunter/Jerry Garcia (see: American Beauty) Sly Stone John Prine Loudon Wainwright III Bill Withers Ronnie Laine (Faces) Bob Marley Gram Parsons Graham Parker Jonathan Richman (Modern Lovers) Paul Weller (The Jam) Dave Edmunds Jeff & John Murphy (Shoes) Al Stewart