Music and the Art Of Survival
I recently took a little time off to get a bit of rest and relaxation.
You know what I mean...escape from the hum-drum grind of work and life.
I thought the time away would do me good. Get away from it all and catch up on
my reading and try to get a tan at the same time. All I managed to do was get a
severe sun-burn and get through thirty pages of a book I've been meaning to read
for the last year.
It wasn't the surroundings that kept my mind preoccupied as it was the din of
confusion that kept assaulting my ear drums where ever I went. I thought that
I could escape from the music of the world and hide away in a secluded little
paradise and get to the matter at hand...reading.
I was wrong...Every where I went I was inundated with the music that the world
wants to throw at you. I went to a mall and the sounds hit me like a howitzer's
deafening blast. Do we really need this sick, sappy middle of the road dribble
when we're looking for suntan oil and aloe vera lotion? I went back to my hotel,
and while riding the elevator to my floor, good, old Muzak seeped into my cranium and
embedded itself there for the next three hours. I have a question for Muzak...Who
the hell told you that it was okay to take a KISS classic like 'Rock and Roll All
Night Long' and turn it into melodic garbage? I keep getting this awful picture
of Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons skipping around like pansies to the Muzak version
trying to look and sound intimidating. Doesn't work for me.
And it didn't end there...No matter how I tried to avoid music I ran into it
like crash test dummies hitting a brick wall. On buses, at the movies, in cabs,
walking the city streets and even talk radio...The worst part of it all...I
started humming snippets of songs until I had forced myself to remember the
entire song...You haven't really lived through hell until you've convinced
yourself that you need to know every word to Rick Springfield's 'Jessie's Girl'...
So I've decided that next year I'll pull a Tom Hanks and do my best Robinson
Crusoe imitation and find myself a deserted island. I'll just bring the
necessities to keep me going for a month...Food, water, suntan lotion, reading
material, my portable CD player with a month's supply of batteries and 10 CD's
with the music I want to hear...
And what would I take with me? Here they are (In no particular order)...
- The Beatles - White Album
Without a doubt, the most diverse album The Fab Four ever recorded. A little bit
of everything.
- AC/DC - Back In Black
Tell me I'm not the only one who could listen to 'You Shook Me All Night Long'
all night long?
- B.B. King - Live At San Quentin
Probably the best live album B.B. ever did...It contains one mean
rendition of 'Into the Night'.
- Aerosmith - Rocks
Maybe...Just maybe...I'll finally figure out what Steven Tyler is singing in
'Last Child'.
- Randy Travis - Heroes and Friends
Country? No, Randy Travis. Some great duets on this CD, including 'Waiting For
the Light Change' with B.B. King and 'Smokin' the Hive' with Clint Eastwood.
(Yes that Clint Eastwood).
- Chuck Berry - Greatest Hits
What's music without the father of rock 'n' roll?
- Tina Turner - Simply the Best
It's Tina...If you didn't grow up listening to her then you wouldn't understand
why it's a necessity on a deserted island.
- Saturday Night Fever soundtrack
Gotta practice my John Travolta strut...Stayin' alive, stayin' alive...
- INXS - Kick
Rock with an Australian funky backbeat...Not a bad track on the entire album...
- Cowboy Junkies - The Trinity Sessions
Sometimes you just need to chill out and relax...This serves the purpose and
it's one hell of a freshman album from a Canadian trio that just doesn't get
the respect they deserve.
Of course, there are a few other CD's I'd take with me...Any rap artist out there
as well as Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake...Hey you gotta have coasters for
your drinks and something to fan the fire at night.
- Richard Blaine
* Richard Blaine's views and opinions do not necessarily
reflect the views and opinions of the staff at Twin-Music.