leonardcohenforum.com

let's spice things up a bit. i know leonard's music ranges from mostly folk and adult contemporary to a little bit of jazz, a little bit of blues, and various things in-between. but rock and roll.... hard rock, classic rock, oldies rock.... anybody listen to that stuff?

kiss, t. rex, the velvet underground (and lou reed solo, of course), the beatles, led zeppelin, the eagles.... i can name a thousand. does anybody enjoy this music too? i know not all of them really have the depth and touch of wisdom as cohen does (except maybe reed), but i've listened to rock and roll all my life before i ventured into leonard's music. and i still listen to it all the time.

i hope i am not alone here.

Hello Jason,

of course, our musical spectrum is a broadway - but I never been into hard rock that much. I remember arguing with my long-haired hippie friends that a drum solo can't be called music because you can hardly hear a melody. Little did I know then. But I was on the cohen track already and none of these guys listened to what I said anyways. They were just wondering why I loved that British band "Sparks" so much. Yeah, T. Rex had some great songs - and I always liked Lou Reed. The walk on the wild side is such a unique sound. As is Bowie's "Sounds and visions". Where do you want me to end this list ? Somehow I love to name Roberta Flacks "First time ever I saw your face" here and now. What a beauty - like a butterfly sometimes all of a sudden a tune flutters around your ear and it makes your day.

Marc Bolan is a bastion of wisdom! Ah man, his work is so much ahead of us even today.

That is all I have to say on this matter.

Mentioning Lou Reed with Kiss is criminal, man... Hahahaha... 'nuff said, if we are talking of wisdom.

Over & Out,
Sean
http://www.livejournal.com/users/passthrufire

ahahahaha! sean, that's a good one. thank you for a response, henning. listen to some live stuff from led zeppelin and especially for some drum solos by john bonham. that guy was insane. or take "moby dick" for example... that was a song for him by far. it had a great riff for an instrumental track, but the song is taken by bonham's drum solo. it's incredible. or even the drum solo in edgar winter group's "frankenstein." hm, that's kind of funny. rockin' instrumental tracks with classic novel titles. hahaha. interesting. i didn't realize that until now. melville and shelley would be proud. hahaha.

ah yes, and bowie was one i forgot to mention. "sound and vision" is a great song. it's hoppy and upbeat and i love it.

Bruce Springsteen embodies everything that rock n roll is about. Darkness on the Edge of Town and Born to Run rank as two of the best albums ever made. And those live shows!
Also, I really like the Clash. For their short time together they have a phenomenal amount of quality material. Probably the greatest rock band ever.

kathleen, no beatles, stones, or zeppelin to qualify for "best band ever" prize?

I think that the Beatles are dreadful and overrated. They are only lucky that Buddy Holly died and that Elvis started to make shit movies and music.
I have nothing against Led Zeppelin, but I never became the fan that I was supposed tobe.

YOU DISLIKE THE BEATLES!?!?!?!?!?

I loathe the Beatles.

The Beatles breathed a different kind of fresh air into my life. I love their music, and admire them greatly. My position on luck in the industry is that it can [and generally seems to] make all the difference in 'getting there' ~ however, groups generally need to have what it truly takes to sustain themselves and achieve true greatness. [When I say that, I'm also not saying that every 'big' group is "great" ~ however, the nature of the Beatles songs and melodies have made them transposable into full, Leonard Bernstein orchestrations. Even as much as I detest Muzak, et al, the songs they tend to use are the 'old standards,' the songs that stand the test of time. There they are, as well, in elevators, grocery stores, department stores, and in 'on-hold' recordings for corporate and business telephone systems.] Even the most clever of marketing skills were not responsible for the phenomena the Beatles were when they hit our shores and the Ed Sullivan Show. It was truly a phenomena, unto itself. 'Luck' in England may have facilitated their arrival here; but after that, luck had already played all the parts it was going to. Perhaps, I should say "She," as in Lady Luck .

~ Elizabeth

I wasn't that keen on the Beatles when they were on the scene although I will put them on now occasionally, I was more into The Kinks and The Stones, later I got into Led Zeppelin, Deep purple and Black Sabbath.
Now I listen to a wide variety it all depends on my mood.

Wendy

yeah, well, i'm a huge marilyn manson fan. beat that.

When I want to laugh, I listen to Weird Al Yankovic. When I want to cry, I listen to Peter Cetera. When I want inspiration to take over the world, I listen to Leonard Cohen.

abso-fuckin'-lutely, man. haha. but, i listened to "weird al" in grade school, and, well, i dunno if i've ever cried listening to a peter cetera song, but he's alright. i am a moderate chicago fan. haha. that still doesn't beat marilyn manson though.

The american author Kurt Vonnegut often says that it's the mission of an artist to make people appreciate their lives. And when anybody asks which artist succeeded, he replies: The Beatles!!!!