Tag Archives: List

Playlist | Proto-Punk 🧷

Posted on by Standard 7

Inspired by the comments on a reddit post, I wanted to dig into some pre-“punk” proto-punk. I set Gemini, ChatGPT, Perplexity, & Copilot to the task as I’m fascinated by their ability to parse & compile information if prompted accurately. (I’m also fascinated my their penchant to provide completely incorrect or even made-up information. Some time I will have to blog about my experiment in having them search restaurant menus in an area to see if they serve shellfish. Copilot recommended some seafood places, so clearly it wants to kill me.)

I added my own stuff that some of them disagreed with, but it is my list after all. 🤣 Going back to little Richard and including Black Sabbath’s “Paranoid” were points of contention, as I would expect from a conversation with people.

Music snobs aficionados, audiophiles, and punk rock gatekeepers will argue all day every day about the origin of punk… but for me, to be clear, it’s the moment that the Ramones’ self-titled album dropped. So, with that in mind I gave the language models this prompt:

There is and always will be constant debate, but if we agree for the premise of this exercise that the Ramones self-titled debut album was the first punk album… What are 25 songs that should belong on a proto-punk or punk precursor playlist?

I would assume bands that get mentioned as the progenitors would most likely include The Kinks, the Sonics, Link Wray, The Stooges, the MC5, the Velvet Underground, New York Dolls, & more I’m sure to be missing. Maybe even the band Death who hailed from Detroit MI?

All songs on the list should have been released before April 23, 1976… and be listed in order if release date by single or album, whichever dropped first.

This has been corrected for my typically egregious spelling/typing/lack-of-proofreading errors. After tossing the rules to the wind, keeping to the spirit of punk rock, we arrived here:

  • “Little Demon” – Screamin’ Jay Hawkins (1956)
  • “Tutti Frutti” – Little Richard (1955)
  • “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On” – Jerry Lee Lewis (1957)
  • “Rumble” – Link Wray (1958)
  • “La Bamba” – Ritchie Valens (1958)
  • “Love Me” – The Phantom (1958)
  • “Louie Louie” – The Kingsmen (1963)
  • “Surfin’ Bird” – The Trashmen (1963)
  • “Baby Let Me Take You Home” – The Animals (1964)
  • “House of the Rising Sun” – The Animals (1964)
  • “I’m Crying” – The Animals (1964)
  • “You Really Got Me” – The Kinks (1964)
  • “Gloria” – Them (1964)
  • “I Can’t Explain” – The Who (1964)
  • “Dirty Water” – The Standells (1966)
  • “My Generation” – The Who (1965)
  • “Strychnine” – The Sonics (1965)
  • “I’m a Man” – The Yardbirds (1965)
  • “We Gotta Get Out of This Place” – The Animals (1965)
  • “96 Tears” – ? & The Mysterians (1966)
  • “Wild Thing” – The Troggs (1966)
  • “Complication” – The Monks (1966)
  • “Psychotic Reaction” – Count Five (1966)
  • “Pushin’ Too Hard” – The Seeds (1966)
  • “7 and 7 Is” – Love (1966)
  • “I’m Not Like Everybody Else” – The Kinks (1966)
  • “You’re Gonna Miss Me” – The 13th Floor Elevators (1966)
  • “Talk Talk” – The Music Machine (1966)
  • “I’m Waiting for the Man” – The Velvet Underground (1967)
  • “Doctor Please” – Blue Cheer (1968)
  • “Sister Ray” – The Velvet Underground (1968)
  • “Fire” – The Crazy World of Arthur Brown (1968)
  • “Jigsaw Puzzle” – The Rolling Stones (1968)
  • “Kick Out the Jams” – MC5 (1969)
  • “I Wanna Be Your Dog” – The Stooges (1969)
  • “Little Doll” – The Stooges (1969)
  • “TV Eye” – The Stooges (1970)
  • “Paranoid” – Black Sabbath (1970)
  • “Get It On” – T. Rex (1971)
  • “School’s Out” – Alice Cooper (1972)
  • “Suffragette City” – David Bowie (1972)
  • “Raw Power” – Iggy & The Stooges (1973)
  • “Search and Destroy” – The Stooges (1973)
  • “Personality Crisis” – New York Dolls (1973)
  • “Jet Boy” – New York Dolls (1973)
  • “Urban Guerrilla” – Hawkwind (1973)
  • “Violence” – Mott the Hoople (1973)
  • “Cum On Feel the Noize” – Slade (1973)
  • “Editions of You” – Roxy Music (1973)
  • “Ooh La La” – Faces (1973)
  • “Subway Train” – New York Dolls (1974)
  • “Hey Joe” – Patti Smith Group (1975)
  • “Piss Factory” – Patti Smith (1975)
  • “Roxette” – Dr. Feelgood (1976)
  • “The Next Big Thing” – The Dictators (1975)
  • “Chez Maximes” – The Hollywood Brats (1976)
  • “After Eight” – Neu! (1975)
  • “Ghost Rider” – Suicide (1977)
  • “Little Johnny Jewel” – Television (1975)
  • “30 Seconds Over Tokyo” – Pere Ubu (1975)
  • “Burn My Eye” – Radio Birdman (1976)
  • “Politicians in My Eyes” – Death (1976)
  • “Cherry Bomb” – The Runaways (1976)
  • “Roadrunner” – The Modern Lovers (1976)
  • “She Cracked” – The Modern Lovers (1976)
  • “Shake Some Action” – Flamin’ Groovies (1976)
  • “Blank Generation” – Richard Hell & the Voidoids (1977)
  • “Anarchy in the U.K.” – The Sex Pistols (1976)
  • “Sonic Reducer” – Dead Boys (1977)
  • “Neat Neat Neat” – The Damned (1977)
  • “Chinese Rocks” – Johnny Thunders & The Heartbreakers (1977)
  • “Psycho Killer” – Talking Heads (1977)

I used Tune My Music to import it to Spotify from a text file, then copy to Amazon Music from there. I tried to go to Amazon first, but it messed up quite a bit of the songs. I did have to add “7 and 7 Is” by Love manually as it shows as “Seven and Seven Is” on Spotify. It weirdly plopped a Bob Marley song in that spot. Amazon was full of weird covers and the wrong songs when trying to import from text.

So, what do you think of the list? What’s missing? What needs added? Are my parameters skewed? Do you not accept anything past the date of what parameters were set? What obscure band that 14 people heard at the time is missing from this list? Don’t come at me with the Sex Pistols over the Ramones. Should we whittle it back to 25? Only have 1 song per artist? Come at me with healthy discourse.

Great Movie Villains List! (via Branded in the 80s)

Posted on by Standard 8

You know I like to post about movies.  You know I like 80’s movies.  There’s a great list over at Branded in the 80s:

New League assignment, my Top Ten favorite movie villains…

SWEEP THE LEG!I’ve seen almost all those movies.  I agree with all of the choices that I recognize.  [LIST SPOILERS – Read the other one 1st:] Man, I hated Johnny & The Cobra Kai.  Sensei John Creese was the incarnation of evil.  I dig this list because it’s not full of the obvious choices.  There’s no Darth Vader, no Joker, no Xenomorph.

I’d include (in no particular order):

Walter Peck

Dr. Peter Venkman: “This man has no dick.”

Walter Peck – He wasn’t the main villain in Ghostbusters, but he sure was more evil than Gozer or Zuul.

Monster Squad - Dracula

“Mr. Alucard Called…”

Count Dracula – The one from The Monster Squad was just scary.  He was pure evil.  He took control of all the other not-quite Universal Monsters.  He had vampire wenches.  He was a badass.

Skesis

A dying race, ruled by a dying Emperor, imprisoned within themselves in a dying land.

The Skeksis – From The Dark Crystal.  They were ridiculously creepy.  They still creep me out.  Jim Henson was a weird, wild, dark, & scary dude.  Frank Oz only served to drive the madness.

Greg - Just one of the guys

“Isn’t he great, muscles and a sense of humor. Well, let’s thank Greg for the lunch time thrills and spills he’s given us. OK, EVERYBODY GET UP! GRAB AN END OF YOUR TABLE!”

Greg Tolan – From Just One of the Guys.  Was this guy a preppy a-hole in every movie?  He had the market cornered on it in the 80’s.  And the girl did look like Daniel from the Karate Kid…

Then there’s Ted McGinley‘s character Stan from Revenge of the Nerds, Scut Farkus from A Christmas Story, The dude that wasn’t quite William Zabka from One Crazy Summer, and so many more.  What’s on your not-so-obvious villains list?

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I Miss My Corner Guitar Store « Guitar WTF

Posted on by Standard 3

Check out this sweet post (& the rest of the blog) from Guitar WTF?: I Miss My Corner Guitar Store « Guitar WTF.

A sample:

…At first I was mad, but then I though it would be more fun to get even.  Yeah, I know, its immature.

How To Be Annoying At The Guitar Store

  • When a sales person is talking to another customer listen in.  After everything they say you say, “that’s what you think”.
  • Ask the sales person for a pick,  immediately put it in your pocket and leave the store.

Guitar WTF? | I Miss My Corner Guitar Store

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Band Names: The List

Posted on by Standard 16

Is your awesome idea for a band name already taken?  Assuming you read my other blog about this & have learned to Google potential names, and you’re stuck for ideas… Don’t give in to the temptation to just name your band that anyway.  Be different.  Be original.  Let me (& hopefully the eventual comments on this blog) help you out.

88 MPH

88 MPH

I might pull some of these from an older ever-evolving list at a website that’s a virtual ghost town any more.  I haven’t checked to see if any of these are actual band names.  You need to do that.

As always, I’m begging for input.  Please, add to the list.  It can be serious, scary, intelligent, funny, but make them catchy.  Include a reference/inspiration if you like.

Dianoga

Dianoga

I didn’t come up with all of those, but they’re all from that goofy list.  Let’s add some more.  Make them better than band names that have already been used. Make them memorable and creative.  Make them something that you can register on Facebook, Band Camp, Twitter, MySpace, Google+, Reverb Nation, Pure Volume, or buy the .com (or at least .org).

Put your potential band names in the comments below.  Go!

(If you use one, and we need to cross it off of the list, let us know that too!)

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Rock’s Greatest Guitar Intros? (a.k.a. Another Stupid List?)

Posted on by Standard 26

“Top however many of whatever” lists are designed to generate ire & promote discussion.  This one undoubtedly has in many circles.  Spreading around the internet like herpes, here’s the latest from some radio station somewhere:

What are The Top 10 Greatest Guitar Intros in rock?  Well, someone compiled a list and put it on the Internet.

All the songs were released between 1967 and 1990.

Here’s the list:

10.)  “School’s Out”,  Alice Cooper  (1972)

9.)  “Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout Love”,  Van Halen  (1978)

8.)  “Thunderstruck”,  AC⚡DC  (1990)

7.)  “Sweet Home Alabama”,  Lynyrd Skynyrd  (1974)

6.)  “Heartbreaker”,  Led Zeppelin  (1969)

 5.)  “Working Man”,  Rush  (1974)

4.)  “Layla”,  Derek and the Dominos  (1970)

3.)  “Suffragette City”,  David Bowie  (1976)

2.)  “Purple Haze”,  The Jimi Hendrix Experience (1967)

1.)  “Eruption / You Really Got Me”,  Van Halen  (1978)

Source: Wise Brother Media/ Radio 96.1

What?  ☘ Shenanigans ☘ I say!  I bet you say it too.  I mean, there are some stellar songs on that list, but also glaring omissions.  Some other yahoos are taking a poll.  Gibson made a list a while ago that grabs some more timeless tracks & grabs “Sweet Child O’ Mine” which would be close to or at the top of my list & really, who could forget “Crazy Train”?  And neither list makes note of the banes of guitar stores’ existence “Enter Sandman” or “Smells Like Teen Spirit“.  And where the hell is Black Sabbath?  “Sabbath Bloody Sabbath” has to be one of the coolest intros ever, among so many more.  What about “Welcome to the Jungle”?

If you’re gonna include “Sweet Home Alabama”, why not “Stairway to Heaven”, or even that one Pearl Jam song that’s all jangly and has that sweet tone where Vedder mumbles incoherently.  Hendrix’s version or “Hey Joe” or “Voodoo Child (Slight Return)”?

“Eruption”?  Clearly awesome, but it’s its own song, isn’t it, not an intro?  I mean, what are the rules here?  Why not just throw in some bass like “Bassically“/”N.I.B.” or “Anesthesia [Pulling Teeth]”/”Whiplash”?  A bass is arguably a guitar, right?

Nothing by Heart?  “Sunshine of Your Love” anyone?  “Start Me Up”?  “Hair of the Dog?”  No ZZ Top?  Nothing by Aerosmith?  No “Talk Dirty to Me?”  Ha ha.  Just making sure you’re paying attention.  What about some more metal stuff?  No Pantera?  No Slayer?  No Metalli-freakin’-ca?  No punk rock?  Well, I guess not a bunch of punk has blazing riff like intros.

What is rock?  Can rap or funk be included?  What about some crazy stuff by guys like Carl Perkins or Willie Nelson?

It’s clear my friends that we need to make our own list.  I dig Velvet Revolver’s “Set Me Free”, but I may be in the minority there.  Remember, this is guitar intros, not riffs.  I’m guessing we should aim for guitar-only intros, or we would all have to concede to “Rock You Like a Hurricane” for being the most powerful.   There’s also that one Avenged Sevenfold song…  it’s got a killer riff at the beginning, but I think there’s some drums right at the beginning.  If these are OK, is there room for “No Sleep till Brooklyn” or “Fight For Your Right”?

Start naming songs.  We’ll figure out some ground rules, set a number, set up some brackets & some votes.  We’ll even name it something classy like “The Actual Best Rock Guitar Intros of All Time (Not Chosen by Idoits)”.  Then, we’ll spark more idiots to have more useless arguments discussions.

♫♪ ☠ ♬♩

♫♪ ☠ ♬♩

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Guitar World: The Top 10 Reasons to Quit Playing Guitar

Posted on by Standard 5

Guitar

This made me laugh.  I wanted to share with other guitar players and music fans:

Guitar World: The Top 10 Reasons to Quit Playing Guitar

Sigh.  Ha ha.

Happily, long ago I realized that I have absolutely no guitar chops.  I decided to just try to write solid songs & be entertaining.  Punk rock is my friend.

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The #FoodAllergyMomArmy

Posted on by Standard 14

So, if you follow me on twitter, you may have seen me use an odd hashtag; #FoodAllergyMomArmy

“What’s a Food Allergy Mom Army“, you ask?  It’s what happens when you ask your twitter friends about air travel and Epi Pens.  I was served with an onslaught of what would later become known as nagtweets, demanding that I get a 2nd Epi Pen, and that I carry it on the plane, not in my luggage.  Most all of my replies were from moms of kids with food allergies, some with food allergies themselves.  Even though I bet we’re around the same age, I had an instant army of adopted moms looking out for my well-being.

I’ve received advice  & support on food allergies from other sources on the web, but they’ve increased exponentially since I’ve joined Twitter.  Now, I use twitter to keep in contact with other friends, and to follow fun stuff like music, Star Wars, Fringe, & local Pittsburgh stuff… but it’s definitely my go-to resource for Food Allergy support.  That’s support on many levels… whether it’s information, advice, or sympathy.

So, if you’re on Twitter, and you have food allergies, check out my allergies list, and the #FoodallergyMomArmy will eventually make themselves known.   (Maybe the’ll even comment here.)

LIES ABOUT POTATO CHIPS

Posted on by Standard 8

Today, I checked out a link on the Yahoo! site because it was simply titled “The Best Potato Chips“.  Well, I like potato chips… so I had to see what was up.  Well, the first annoying thing was that it said that there’s a list of 21 chips… but there are only 7 listen on the page… then the “Continue Reading…” link takes you to a slide show.  I hate slide show lists.  I want to see it all, right there in front of me, right away.  This isn’t a meeting, I don’t need a power point presentation.  These aren’t your vacation photos, I don’t need a slide show.

Turner Dairy | Chip DipThey did manage to recognize the awesome that is plain old ordinary Ruffles.  When I want to eat Turner’s chip dip, this is the chip that I must have.  Just ask anyone who works at the Rite Aid by my house.  I’m always there buying ruffles & Turner’s dip.  Really.  Just ask them…  “Is there a weird guy in here with crazy sideburns buying Turner’s Dip and Ruffles all the time?”  They’ll totally, be like “Yeah!”  I’m telling you.

As for the rest of this list though, it’s a lie.  Don’t believe it.  If the list had any credibility beyond being able to recognize the top of the line “ordinary” chip, it would have included Beer Chips or Snyder (of Berlin) Honey BBQ Chips.  There is just no excuse for these glaring omissions.  Shame on you, Shine From Yahoo!.  Shame on you.

BEER CHIPSI’ve written of Beer Chips before, here in my blog and at PittsburghBeat.com.  Why?  Because they’re awesome.  They’re next to impossible to put down.  I’m sure I could eat an entire bag without thinking about it, and probably have.  If we break them out when people are over, the bag disappears.  Kudos to the Beer Chips people on distribution, as I’ve seen them in places from Giant Eagle and Market District to Aldi.  You may have guessed that Beer Chips are chips somehow cooked with beer.  If you haven’t guessed this, then just stop reading, as all of this will be most likely lost on you anyway.  They’re sweet, they’re salty, and they do have a hint of a beer taste… but it’s ever so slight.  Of course, they also go great with a nice bottle of Yuengling, Straub, or Penn Pilsner in my experience.  Just writing this, I may have to stop at the store to get these next time I’m out.  They are that powerful.  I mean, I have beer in the ‘fridge, but how can I enjoy it now without Beer Chips?  I can’t.  That’s how.

Snyder of Berlin | Honey BBQ ChipsOn to the Snyder of Berlin Honey Bar-B-Q Potato Chips.  First off, I love honey BBQ in general.  Gooski’s Honey BBQ wings are one of my favorite foods ever.  You just  generally can’t go wrong with Honey BBQ.  I think my first experience with these was at camp.  They were out as a snack one night and I think I ate most of the bag.  I couldn’t stop.  Again, these have that incredible sweet/salty combination that is a win every time.  I know you can generally get them at most Sheetz locations, but it’s hit or miss if they’re there in Giant Eagle or wherever I happen to be grocery shopping.  If I see them, I just unconsciously grab them and only realize they’re in my hand or the grocery cart when I go to check out.  Now, one must beware of the Herr’s and Wise imitations.  Well, I don’t know who was really first… but for my own personal tastes, Snyder of Berlin is the standard Honey BBQ chip to which all others ought to be measured.  Actually, the Herr’s is an acceptable substitute if necessary, but the Wise ones are just inferior chips altogether.

Speaking of imitations, one of these days I need to get down to the Snyder of Berlin vs. Snyder’s of Hanover thing.  (There’s even a creepy Facebook group about the rift…) They each have that ominous and almost vindictive disclaimer on their packaging that they’re not associated with the other. Too weird.

Herr's | Ketchup ChipsThere are, of course, a few others worth mentioning…  Herr’s makes some bad-ass Ketchup flavored chips, some Salt & Pepper ones, and a bunch of other cool/weird flavors.  Utz makes a bunch of flavors and are quite decent chips.  (Is it “uhtz” or “ootz”?) Although, I see a “crab” flavor, and that scares me a little.  I may have to write to them about that.  Snyder of Berlin also has a ton of interesting varieties, another of my favorites being the kettle-cooked Sea Salt & Cracked Pepper chips.

You may thank me that you’re now more informed on the subject of the best potato chips than the average Shine From Yahoo! reader.  I’d be interested to see if you agree with me or if you’re just wrong.  Please feel free to talk about your favorites in the comments section!

Global Thermonuclear War

Posted on by Standard 1

Those are still scary words.  Ha ha ha.  ☢

Today, I was made aware (via ThinkGeek on Twitter) that this was the day in 1983 that the movie WarGames was released.  This is one that’s at the top of my “favorite movies from my childhood” list.

Another Twitter post (from TB5918) linked to some cool WarGames sounds at Movie Sounds Central.

When I was younger, the USSR was still around and there was this really weird thin Cold War line between them being the enemy or a friend.  It was clear that our respective governments were unsure of the other, but the people in each place were just curious about each other.  They were a great movie bad guy.  Every stock film bad guy was a Communist from the USSR because they were so easy to identify and to fear.

WarGames not only appealed to the budding computer geek in me, but it really pointed out to me that maybe the Soviets weren’t the bad guy.  Maybe we were.  Maybe no one was.  Plus, the whole machines taking over thing kind’ve messed with my little mind.

I was also fascinated with how he hacked a payphone.  I never did get to try that out.  (For the kids, this is a payphone.)

I know my parents had to spend mad cash on renting this VHS (and possibly Betamax, we had one of those first…) for me multiple times.  I have it on DVD at home somewhere now.  I rescued it from the Walmart $5 DVD mid-aisle bin.

I really recommend checking this out if you’ve never seen it or if you have no idea what I’m talking about.  If you have seen it, go watch it again!  (Hey – even Rotten Tomatoes likes it.)

I’m gonna have to make a “Favorite movies from my childhood” list.

Maybe I can convince the wife that we need to watch this tonight, to mark the occasion…

WarGames | JOSHUA

Joshua

Top 25 Star Wars Fight Scenes

Posted on by Standard Reply

If you’re not following Distracted By Star Wars somewhere, then you’re missing cool stuff like this:

Mashi88 | Top 25 STAR WARS Fight Scenes

…and you should really be ashamed of yourself.