The Greatest American Band Debate: The Up-and-Comers

For the greatest American band debate, today I'm going to write about some current bands that I think are on the verge of belonging in the conversation. These particular bands aren't quite at the level of some of the other bands I've written about, but they could be if they continue on their current paths. Some of these bands have only put out one, two or three albums, but the albums they've released have put quite an impression on not only me, but the masses as well.

The first band I want to talk about is Alabama Shakes. I have written about them already on the website, reviewing their most recent album "Sound and Color". As my review stated, I love this album. It's a wonderful array of different genres of rock music. They use cool effects and bring in new instruments to mess around with. Their first album, "Boys and Girls" was an out of nowhere phenomena to me. I had a friend tell me about the record, I bought it not having heard anything from it, and was immediately hooked. It's a throwback to swamp rock. It's funkier than any Creedance album I've heard, and Brittany Howard is a powerhouse. If Alabama Shakes continues to get better and experiment like they have on their first two records, there will be no denying the fact that they belong in the conversation. They are bringing swamp rock to the masses and taking chances that make their music sound that much better. Alabama Shakes are a very good band.

Another band that is on the verge is Ratatat. I've written about their record and concert on the website. They are bringing electronic music to the masses. Their newest album, "Magnifique", was one of the best reviewed records of the year. Ratatat is the newer, better version of a band like YES or ELO. Their electronic music appeals to the masses because it's guitar driven. It's not jump computers and repetitive beats used over and over again. It's actual music that has a beginning, middle and end. There are no words, but you get the gist while listening. You can also tell when the bridge comes in. They are weirdos making some of the best electronic music I've ever heard. They have released more albums than the other bands I will mention today, but they don't have the mass appeal that some of the other bands do. That has begun to change with "Magnifique", and if my father is into an electronic band, they have to be good because he doesn't like electronic music at all. Ratatat is a great band that is finally getting noticed.

Black Joe Lewis has a chance to be huge. On their first two records the band went by Black Joe Lewis and the Honeybears. They played some of the funkiest rock and roll I'd ever heard. Black Joe Lewis almost sounds like a modern day James Brown, scream singing lyrics, and the rest of the band is dynamite. The horn section is absolutely phenomenal. The drums and guitars are totally on point. After the release of their first two albums, they changed their name to Black Joe Lewis. They've released one album under this name and while it's not as funky, it's one of the best rock and roll albums I've heard in a long time. The band uses very heavily distorted guitars and they almost have a metal sound. But, just when you think it's going to be Black Sabbath esque, Black Joe Lewis comes in with his awesome, gruff voice and gives you what you are used to out of the band. The horns even make an appearance on more than half the album. Black Joe Lewis is great. They are one of the best rock bands out there now. They should be playing arenas, but they may like playing the smaller venues more. Black Joe Lewis is incredible. Go out and listen to them now.

The Arcs, another band I've written about before, put out one of the coolest albums I've heard all year. "Yours Dreamily" is a Western movie soundtrack with fantastic musicians playing the music. It's not corny like most Western movie music, it's rock and roll mixed with funk, blues and even a little R&B. It's not literally a Western movie soundtrack, that's just what it sounds like to me. The Arcs are one of Dan Auerbach's side projects. He has many other interests outside of the Black Keys, but The Arcs has been my personal favorite. It doesn't hurt that Richard Swift is the co founder of this band. He's an awesome solo artist, and he's been playing bass with the Black Keys on their most recent tour. Dan Auerbach has a chance to be in this conversation at least twice. He's a musical genius and I'd take him any day over the extremely overrated Jack White. If The Arcs continue to make more and more records, I'd be hard pressed to not write about them for the greatest American band debate.

The last band I want to talk about today is St. Paul and the Broken Bones. They've only released one album so far, but it's dynamite. "Half the City" is 50's and 60's R&B come to life in the 21st century. The band plays excellent, funky music in the background and the lead singer has one of the best voices I've heard in a long while. He can hit very high notes. He reminds me of a modern, better Rufus Thomas. The band is incredible, as I stated before, and they play perfect funk/R&B music. Not too many people know St. Paul and the Broken Bones, but I have a feeling that will change very soon. They have a radio friendly sound and they will start to become more and more popular within the next few years, especially if their future albums are as good as their debut. There are many other bands I'm leaving out of the discussion today, but these five have the best chance to end up in the greatest American band debate in the future. As long as they all continue to do what they're doing, and get better and better, they will all be as famous and popular as the bands I've written about for this debate previous to today.

Go out and listen to these bands if you don't already. You'll thank me later.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture Editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man podcast. He will be travelling a lot this Thanksgiving and plans on listen to these bands multiple times. Follow Ty on twitter @tykulik.

Guitars are Great and the Gibson SG is the Greatest Guitar of All

Ty's first life partner

In lieu of writing about a band for the greatest American band debate on SeedSing, I'm going to write about an instrument today.

It's an instrument that I play, I'm very average, but I love. This instrument is the guitar. Now, I know, that's a very open ended thing to write about. To make it more interesting though, I'm going to specifically talk about a brand of guitar, that I and a lot of pros prefer. I'm a big fan of Gibson guitars.

A Gibson SG was the first real electric guitar that I bought. This guitar was my baby before I had real babies. The sound was so clean and smooth. Even when I put distortion on heavy on my pedal board, it still sounded clean. The feel of my SG was phenomenal. It was heavy, but not too heavy. It felt good when I rested it on my lap. I liked the feel when I stood and played it. The colors are beautiful. There's hints of dark brown, black, white and even soft red colors. It looks like it was cut from a humongous redwood tree. I was, and still am, a bit obsessed with this guitar. It was the first thing I bought when I got my first paycheck from my first real adult job. I had been at the dental lab I first worked in, waited two weeks, got my paycheck, cashed it in and went straight to Guitar Center. I brought my dad and two of my brothers with me. I had tested this particular SG prior to this day, but I wanted to weigh all of my options. I tried Squires, Epiphones, Alvarez and Fenders, just to name a few. They all sounded decent and were within my price range, but I kept going back to the SG. I even tried different styles. I tried semi and full hollow bodies, 12 string, electric/acoustic combo guitars, but none of them sounded and felt the same as the SG. After about two hours, my dad and brothers agreed that it was time for me to just pick a guitar already. I went with the SG because I could not shake it. I thought about it the whole week leading up to the purchase, and kept saying about the other guitars I tried, "it sounds fine, but that SG, that's a great sounding guitar".

So, I bought the SG, on sale, with cash. That's how much I wanted this guitar. I brought it home that night and played it for what seemed to be 10 hours. I just couldn't put it down, it was the coolest thing I ever owned, and it was truly mine because I bought it with my own hard earned money. I had an acoustic, and I still have it, prior to this purchase. It's a Washburn that my folks bought me for the holidays about 12 years ago. It's a fantastic guitar and still sounds excellent, but it's not my SG. I have a dobro that I play slide and rhythm guitar on, but it's not my SG. I have a lap steel that I strictly use for slide guitar, but it's not my SG.

Do you see what I'm getting at? My SG is a wonderful and beautiful guitar. I know this sounds like a love letter to a guitar. It sounds like that because it is a love letter to my guitar. This is the best inanimate object that I own. I have a full size Michigan football helmet, I have a signed Charles Woodson football, I have a lot of Michigan memorabilia, and as much as I love these things, they don't compare to my SG. I've heard people, mostly older people, tell me that Gibson is inferior to Fender, but I vehemently disagree. They all tell me that when I'm older, I'll understand, but my love for Gibson guitars will not waver. I'm 32 now, been playing guitar since I was 20, and I still prefer Gibson over Fender. I'll take Gibson 10 out of 10 times if you ask me.

I know that a lot of the older blues musicians, blues is my favorite style of music, play Fenders, but nothing compares to Gibson guitars, and most importantly, their SG brand. I mean, look at some of the famous musicians that played Gibson brand guitars throughout their entire career. First of all, the man who invented Gibson, Les Paul. He was a genius guitar player and created the whole Gibson brand. He is one of, if not the, greatest guitar players that ever lived. Go back and listen to him playing guitar, it's masterful, and he did it all on his Les Paul brand Gibson guitar. Slash, from Guns and Roses and many other side projects, plays Gibson guitars. I may not like the genre of music he plays, but he is an incredible guitar player that only plays Gibson guitars. No way he gets that same sound out of a Fender, not in a million years. Jimmy Page, maybe the second greatest guitar player, behind Les Paul, plays primarily Gibson guitars. He is the master of blues/rock and it sounds so fantastic coming from his enormous collection of Gibson's. Do you think that "Stairway to Heaven" or "Whole Lotta Love" would've sounded the same if he played on any other brand of guitar? No way. Randy Rhoades has played only Gibson's his entire career. You may not know who he is, so I'll tell you. He's been Ozzy Osbourne's lead guitar player his entire career. He played on songs like "Crazy Train" and "War Pigs". Both songs, Gibson guitars. Zakk Wylde, widely considered one of the best heavy metal guitarist of all time, has played all those dizzyingly fast riffs on only Gibson guitars. Ace Freehly, KISS leading guitarist, has played only Gibson Les Paul's his whole career. I don't like KISS, but Freehly is a pretty damn good guitar player. Duane Allman, probably the greatest rock and roll slide player of all time played all of those hits from the Allman Brothers on Gibson guitars. Eric Clapton, arguably considered the best guitar player of all time, played every hit song and every fantastic solo on Gibson guitars. When he was with Cream, Gibson guitars, with Traffic, Gibson guitars, the lead on "While My Guitar Gently Weeps", Gibson. Enough said. Bob Marley, the king of reggae music, played Gibson guitars. That steady beat and groove that almost everyone has come to love was played and made famous on Gibson guitars. I'll get crushed by my brother Seth if I don't mention that Jerry Garcia played a Gibson, an SG at that. I don't like his music, but it's hard to ignore their influence on music, and he was playing a Gibson. Even newer musicians, like Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys, plays pretty much only Gibson guitars. Gibson's are the best.

I think I made that point pretty clear today. But, tell me why I'm wrong or why Fenders are better, or any other brand for that matter, than Gibson in the comment section. Anyone who's played a guitar, or still plays guitar has a favorite brand and mine are Gibson guitars. Specifically, a Gibson SG.

They're the greatest.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man podcast. He neglected to tell us that all great wannabe guitarists play Gibson, it was the original Guitar Hero controller. Follow Ty on twitter @tykulik.

The Greatest American Band Debate: Digable Planets

I'm going to get back to music that I enjoy today for my nomination to the greatest American band debate. Last week, I nominated the Beach Boys, but I made it abundantly clear that I loathe the Beach Boys. Today, I'm getting back to mid 90's rap music and I'm nominating Digable Planets.

I know a lot of people may not know who Digable Planets are, they only released three albums, but everyone knows one of their songs. I'll get to that song in a bit. Also, of their three albums, I only like one of them. But, the one I like is classic and way ahead of it's time. Much like my Sugarhill Gang blog, I nominated them based on one song, Digable Planets get the nod simply based on one classic album. The album that I'm speaking of is called "Reachin (A Refutation of Time and Space)". This album came out in 1993 and it was totally different from anything I'd ever heard. I hadn't yet discovered A Tribe Called Quest, so the jazz influence that Digable Planets used on this album was completely new to me. The way each of the members rhymes on each of the songs is very much their own unique style. The three members are named after insects, they went for a whole vibe of being insects from another planet on this album, very weird but very cool. Their names are Butterfly, the leader, Doodlebug, the city boy and Ladybug Mecca, the fierce feminine voice of the group. Butterfly has a very cool, hip way to how he raps. He sounds so confident and comfortable doing what he does. He is one of the most underrated and best rappers I've ever heard. Butterfly brings the "street" to the group. He's got a gruffer voice, but he also reads poetry on this album and speaks truth on political beliefs of the band. Ladybug Mecca is awesome. She's a strong female and she can rap with the best of them. Some of her verses on some of the songs are incredible. She is/was a true genius of a rapper. They use jazz as the driving force in their sampling on this album. Now, I don't care for jazz music, but put a beat to it and some good rapping, I'm totally on board.

As I said before, Digable Planets came to me before Tribe, so without them, I would've never found Tribe. A Tribe Called Quest is one of my all time favorite groups and you can read why I like them so much on the site involved within this very same debate. "Reachin" came to me as a pre teen. My brother Seth, who's been on the podcast before, introduced to them. I was listening to Ma$e and Puff Daddy and Seth gave me this record and told me to "enjoy some real hip hop". He was right on the mark, and I listened to this tape, that's right, I remember when there were tapes, so much, I wore it out and my folks had to buy it on CD for me. I love everything about this album. I used to listen to it on my Walkman while playing basketball with my friends. I was, and still am, totally obsessed with this album.

It opens with "It's Good to Be Here". This is a great song. They talk about their love for music and the fact that they're just happy to be performing together. This song proved to me that all bands don't hate each other, some really do enjoy the other band mates company. After that song, it's great song after great song, in my opinion. Songs like "Pacifics", "Where I'm From" and "What Cool Breezes Do" are classics. "Pacifics" is a groovy, jazzy rap song. It's a great early 90's rap tune. "Where I'm From" shows the band giving love to their hometowns. It's a great song for anyone from either Philadelphia or New York. "What Cool Breezes Do" is almost a full on jazz song. There's rapping on it, but this song is more about the instrumentation. "Time and Space (A New Refutation Of)", has Doodlebug reading poetry and the rest of the band doing straight forward rap. It's pretty great. The song I spoke of earlier that I thought most people would know is "Rebirth of Slick (Cool Like Dat)". This song was played pretty heavily on the radio in the 90's and I still hear it in commercials from time to time. The chorus is the most memorable part. simple lyrics, "I'm cool like dat, I'm cool like dat, I'm cool like that, I'm cool" and they switch it up a little with, "I'm cool like dat, I'm fly like dat, I'm hip like dat, I'm down like dat". I guarantee most of you know this song when you hear it. Later in the album they have great songs like "Jimmi Diggin Cats", "La Femme Fetal", "Nickel Bags" and "Swoon Units". "Jimmi Diggin Cats" has the band expunging the fact that, if Jimi Hendrix was still alive, he'd be a Digable Planets fan, and it's hard to argue with them listening to the song. "La Femme Fetal" is a song that's way ahead of it's time. The lyrics call out people that oppose places like Planned Parenthood and talk about how insane right wing Christian nut jobs truly are. Had this song been released now, it would be all over social media. Back then, it was kind of overlooked and that's a shame. The song is about a young couple who decide to abort a pregnancy because they live in squalor and don't have the means to take care of a child. It has a great message and for the pro choice people out there, me included, this is a great statement song. I love this song so much. "Nickel Bags" is about exactly what you thin it's about. Each member takes a turn talking about how much they like weed and why it's so good. This is a love song to marijuana. Also, this was ahead of it's time too. Release it today, it would be a mega hit. "Nickel Bags" would put Afroman's "Because I Got High" to shame. "Swoon Units", the second to last song on the record is a straight ahead rap song. Each rapper is rapping fast yet smooth and the beat is very bass heavy. It's a good song. This album is a rap masterpiece and I love every minute of it.

It's kind of a shame because they peaked so early, but "Reachin" is a great high point to have in their short career. I love this album and I love Digable Planets. I hope this piece brings new listeners to the group and you discover this great album.

Digable Planets, you get my nomination for the discussion of greatest American band today.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture Editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man podcast. He is still washing the Beach Boys stink off his mind and needs some great hip hop to clear his thoughts. Follow Ty on twitter @tykulik.

The Greatest American Band Debate: The Beach Boys

It is frustrating when a lot of people like something you may despise. 

If we at SeedSing are going to be a competent and commendable website, we need to give recognition to things that we may not like, or even hate in this case, but other people adore. We kind of did this on the podcast when I had my brother Seth on and he talked about his love for the Grateful Dead. I'm clearly not a fan of theirs, but Seth loves them and we gave him yet another platform to opine on why he loves them. I'm going to tackle a band that I truly despise for the greatest American band debate, but a ton of other people, easily in the millions, loves and adores. Today, I'm going to talk about, not really make the case for them, just talk about the Beach Boys.

Let's get this straight right out of the gate, I really, really, really hate the Beach Boys. They're bubble gum pop music in my opinion, and I think Brian Wilson is one of the most overrated musicians of all time. Had he not had a nervous breakdown, he wouldn't be the "icon" that he is today. There'd be no movies or books about him, he'd just be another run of the mill musician. He's not genius, not even close. So, have I laid out the fact that I really dislike the Beach Boys enough yet? I think so, but my hatred will bubble up throughout this post today. Let's get to why a lot of people, not me, think they're not only the greatest American band, but the greatest band of all time. First of all, they introduced, or some even say, invented the California surf rock sound. This sound was very popular in the 60's, and is kind of making a resurgence nowadays. People like to say that they have the best vocal harmonies of any band ever. I don't hear it, but fans seem to think they're the greatest. That's high praise to be told that you have the best harmonies of all time. That's a huge accomplishment in music. Brian Wilson is the unquestioned leader of the band, and he wrote and orchestrated pretty much all of their music. This is music to fans ears, but not that impressive to me because I don't like their music at all. Their music sounds simplistic, but fans adore this. He wrote their biggest hit "Good Vibrations". This song epitomizes California rock. It's poppy with an easy guitar riff and the vocals couldn't be anymore "beachy". That's what I like to refer to their harmonies as, "beachy". That means, to me, that they sound like they're singing on the beach, in every song. Kind of a happy go lucky vibe to their music, also known as "pop" music. Everybody knows the song "Good Vibrations", so, for all intents and purposes, that makes them one of the greats. That sentence just hurt my brain. God, I hate the Beach Boys. "Good Vibrations" came after their most critically acclaimed album, "Pet Sounds". I've tried with this record, and I just don't get it, but critics and musicians and fans adore it. It is the essential California rock record. People will tell you that they brought psychedelia to the masses with this album, but I'll take any Pink Floyd or Jimi Hendrix or even any YES album over "Pet Sounds" for my psychedelic music. "Pet Sounds" opens with another humongous hit, "Wouldn't It Be Nice". This song is not psychedelic, it's pop. The Beach Boys thrive with songs like these. "Good Vibrations and "Wouldn't It Be Nice" are in their wheel house and songs like these were massive hits because this is what the masses liked and still like. It's poppy and fun and while they may be sad lyrically, they sound happy, so fans like them and think they're happy songs. "Good Vibrations" and "Wouldn't It Be Nice" are no different than current songs like "Honey I'm Good" by Andy Grammar or "I'm Yours" by Jason Mraz. They're all bubble gum garbage, but the masses love it. They called the album "Pet Sounds" because they literally use pet sounds. This is like the stupid stuff Phish does, using vacuums as instruments, that people seem to think is innovative. It's not psychedelic, it's stupid. But, most critics heaped praise on the Beach Boys for doing this. They thought it was ingenious, and only a musical "genius" like Brian Wilson could pull this off. 

Soon after "Pet Sounds", Brian Wilson started to lose his mind. This wasn't like Syd Barrett from Pink Floyd, who literally did lose his mind, I feel like this was, what some today would call, a media ploy. I feel like the Beach Boys wanted to be even more famous, so they made Brian Wilson go nuts. I'm sure he has a problem, but he's still alive and making music, so he couldn't have been that nuts. The Beach Boys, and more famously, Brian Wilson did gain even more notoriety after this. The band broke up after "Pet Sounds", but some iteration of the Beach Boys still made albums up to 2012, and they're still touring. What they may be most famous for, post Brian Wilson, is the fact that they recorded "Kokomo", but even bigger than that, they play live with John Stamos. This makes them very lame, in my opinion, but when "Full House" was a massive hit, being on the show multiple times, as the Beach Boys were, they were remembered and gained even more fame. Older fans would see this and think, hey they're still doing it. And younger fans, they loved them some "Full House" and teenage, and even a lot of adult women, loved them some John Stamos. They regained their old fans, and brought a whole new generation of fans by being on "Full House".

In 2004, Brian Wilson released the album "Smile" to huge critical acclaim. I believe the editor of this website, RD himself, bought this album when we lived together (ed note: yes I did). He would put it on, and I'd think, Jesus, this is crap. I think even RD hated it too (ed note: yes I did), but he would listen to it and try to like it. I don't get the love, but fans loved it. The love for the Beach Boys is very weird to me. They've won tons of Grammys and other music awards. Some magazine named them the most influential American rock band(bull shit) and they're still beloved to this day. I've said it many times, I HATE the Beach Boys, but if we are taking this debate seriously, they need to be mentioned. I know a lot of people will read this and call me a hater, and I definitely am a hater of the Beach Boys, but at least I took time today to put them in this discussion. I also know that I left out huge chunks of their career, but I don't care enough to mention any of it. I feel I covered what is best known and what made the Beach Boys famous. 

This post was very hard for me because I'm a music snob and the Beach Boys boil my blood. But, I did it, I made the "case" for the Beach Boys as the greatest American band. I know this will read very different from my other greatest American band posts, but you have to put bands in this discussion, even if you dislike them. Go ahead Beach Boys fans and skewer me in the comment section, I know it's coming and I'm ready for it. 

Bring it.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man podcast. While writing this piece, Ty was humming along the Blue Jean Committee's hit song "Catalina Breeze". Follow Ty on twitter @tykulik.

The Greatest American Band Debate: Wu Tang Clan

Today for the greatest American band debate, I'm nominating the Wu Tang Clan.

I love Wu Tang. They're one of, if not the best rap group of all time. People will throw out Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five or Eric B and Rakim, both I will be writing about on a later date, but Wu Tang is far superior. They have great, very memorable songs, but they get my nomination simply based on the fact that almost every single member of the band is still performing rap music and some are doing great things in acting. The fact that these guys not only have hit record after hit record while with Wu Tang, but most of them have had hit records as solo artists. That doesn't happen too often, but some of the members are more known for their solo stuff than their Wu Tang stuff.

I do want to mention some of their famous songs still, and I'll do that right now. Songs like "C.R.E.A.M.", "Wu Tang Clan Ain't Nothing to F$&k With",  "Protect Ya Neck", "Bring Da Ruckus" and "Killer Beez". "C.R.E.A.M." Is an awesome, classic rap song with a great, great chorus. It's an acronym for cash rules everything around me and that's the epitome of a classic rap lyric. I love it so much. "Wu Tang Clan Ain't Nothing to F$&k With" is such a cool, dirty, hard core rap song. They put themselves at the front of greatest rap group with this song. They let it be known that they were the best, and anyone coming to get the crown, step off because you don't mess with Wu Tang. "Protect Ya Neck" is grimy rap at its best. This song is filthy in all the right ways and it gave each member a chance to shine. "Bring Da Ruckus" is a cool rap song about bringing the noise to rap. It's a joyous song about the beauty that is rap. "Killer Beez", while not one of their best songs, has the coolest music video ever. Each member kind of morphs into a bee while rapping and it was very, very cool. Check it out if you haven't seen it.

But, as I said earlier, they're getting my nomination because of the members of this group. This is a murderers row of all time great rappers. Let's list them off right now, RZA, GZA, Method Man, Ghostface Killah, Ol Dirty Bastard, Raekwon, Inspectah Deck, Cappadonna, Masta Killa and U God. See, some of the best of all time. U God is still making solo albums, but he's probably the least famous. Masta Killa hasn't made an album since 2012, but he's still active with Wu Tang and he still performs live with the band. Cappadonna was in the first iterations of Wu Tang and he still performs with Theodore Unit, another hip hop group with Ghostface Killah. Inspectah Deck was a performer and producer for Wu Tang and received critical praise for his lyricism and way he rapped. He did some solo work, but now he's a top of the line producer, mainly doing things for Wu Tang. Raekwon is awesome. He's made a great career for himself as a solo artist, and he was an integral part of Wu Tang at their height. He's credited with creating "Mafiosi" rap. He's got one of the coolest styles of rapping that I've ever heard. We all know about Ol Dirty Bastard. He was one of the grossest, yet coolest rappers I've ever heard. His style was all his own and it will never be duplicated. His most famous lyric, "ooh baby I likes it raw", is disgusting and glorious. I loved ODB and I still miss him. Rest in peace. Ghostface Killah is my favorite member of Wu Tang. I love his style of rap, and his solo albums are the best of the bunch. His style is grimy and gritty and politically conscious. He's achieved critical acclaim for his work with Wu Tang and his solo stuff. Ghostface Killah is one of the all time greats in the world of rap music. Method Man has gained more notoriety for his acting than he ever did with his music. Now, that's not to say that he's not a great rapper, he is. Just listen to the Wu Tang song "Method Man". It's about him and he's the star on the track. But, he's taken to acting like a pro. He's been a star, a role player and a cameo guy and he always crushes. Just look at his role on "The Wire". He played "Cheese" and he was excellent as a thuggish drug dealer and, spoiler alert, when he got shot in the face, I was stunned. GZA is a genius. He wrote the majority of Wu Tang's songs and is the founding member of the band. He always seems like the most level headed guy in the room. He deserves way more praise than he gets. Without him, we never would've gotten Wu Tang. He has maintained a successful solo career as well. I love everything the GZA does. The final member, RZA has the most critical acclaim in music and acting. He's right up there with the GZA. Where the GZA started Wu Tang, the RZA produces everything they do. He's also, for most people, the first name you think of when talking about Wu Tang. He's made a ton of solo albums, he's appeared as a guest on a ton of albums and he's, hands down, one of the greatest rappers of all time. He's highly in demand. As far as the acting, not only has he done as much, if not more, than Method Man, but he's also written and directed movies. He's appeared in movies like "Ghost Dog", "Funny People" and "Coffee and Cigarettes" (ed note: Plus he was the Blind Master in the G.I. Joe: Retaliation - awesome movie). In these bit parts, he all but steals the show. He's a great actor. He's also written and directed and starred in "Man With the Iron Fists", both one and two. While these aren't the best movies, they're campy throwbacks to old school Kung Fu movies and he wrote them. That's impressive. He's right up there, influentially, with the GZA.

Wu Tang Clan is an all time great. This blog was easy for me to write because these guys are so famous and so influential to rappers today. Look at a group like Odd Future and tell me they're not striving to be the next Wu Tang. Wu Tang is awesome and they absolutely, 100 percent deserve to be in this discussion. These above reasons are why.

And remember, Wu Tang Clan ain't nothing to mess with.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man podcast. He yearns for a Wu Tang Christmas sweater. Follow Ty on twitter @tykulik.

When Bad Pop Culture Happens to Hopeful People

This is what happens when you mix hope and awfulness

Piggybacking on our podcast from Saturday and RD's piece about sports heartbreak, I'm going to talk about a different type of heartbreak.

Today, I'm going to talk about two movies and two albums that left me heartbroken. There's things in your life that you look forward to and, even though movies and music are very low on the list, things as small as that can leave you heartbroken. You look forward to something coming out, you're already a fan and the first, or everything prior in the catalog, is great, and then a movie or an album comes out, and it's just a dud, and that makes me upset. All the build up and it's just a pile of garbage. That's what I'm going to talk about today.

First, let's talk about two albums that left me heartbroken. I was a huge fan of the band Rocco Deluca and the Burden. Their first album, "I Trust You To Kill Me" was phenomenal. Rocco Deluca is a fantastic slide guitar player, playing my favorite type of guitar, a dobro. He had a way with the slide and how he used chord progressions and effects that was pretty astounding. "I Trust You To Kill Me" had everything on it. There was blues, rock, love songs and everything I liked. I tried to teach myself songs off the album. I only do that with records that I really like. It was a great album. I saw the band perform at the Duck Room in Saint Louis, and the concert was excellent. He played all the songs off the record, played old blues standards, and blew me away. I was fully on board with whatever was coming next from Rocco Deluca and the Burden. In 2009, the band released their second album, "Mercy". Of course I bought it on the day it was released. I listened to it immediately, and this is where the heartbreak seeps in. This album wasn't the same. It was more emo and sad. I didn't know that the band was going through stuff, and they did break up after this album, but what they put on record was, quite frankly, garbage. There was no distorted slide guitar. There was no fire and passion coming from Deluca's vocals. The band seemed disinterested and the album was a complete downer. Being OCD, I gave this album many, many chances. I swear, I've listened to it from start to finish at least ten times. I still have the album downloaded on my iPod, but I don't listen to it. It is a bad record. This really bummed me out. I also heard that in interviews, Deluca kind of said that if you don't like this album, you're not a real fan of his. He's portrayed himself as kind of an asshole before this album was released, and this interview further proved the point. That also made me upset, because, I was a fan. I really liked what they did on their first record, but to act like this after you put out a dud of an album is really upsetting. I recommend listeningto "I Trust You To Kill Me", but give "Mercy" a hard pass. It's not good.

Another musician and band that I adore, not so much anymore, Ben Harper and the Innocent Criminals, put out six great, different albums and then their seventh record ruined all the good vibes I had. I was a huge fan of Ben Harper's in high school. The second show I ever saw, the first under my own accord, was Ben Harper at the American Theater in Saint Louis. I was a junior in high school and me and a friend of mine showed up about six hours early so we could be front row. I spoke about this show on one of our early podcasts. It was great. I was hooked and loved everything Ben Harper was doing. He was my introduction to slide guitar. His music introduced me to a lot of the blues that I still listen to. He has a really good voice. The band can do everything from rock to reggae. They're very versatile. And, like I said earlier, their first six albums are very good. But, in 2006 a double disc was released called, "Both Sides of the Gun". I was a bit older by this time, and my love was wavering just a bit. I really enjoyed his previous album, "There Will Be a Light", but that was more a Blind Boys of Alabama record than a Ben Harper record. "Both Sides of the Gun" was supposed to be Ben Harper getting back to what made me like him so much. He was supposed to put the acoustic guitar down, which he apparently fell in love with, and get back to the slide guitar. He does on "Both Sides of the Gun", but barely. That's what left me heart broken. He was supposed to have a return to form, but he only did on about four songs on a 18 song double record. It wasn't a return to form at all, it was all a lie, at least in my mind. I listened to this record a bunch too, trying to like it, but I just couldn't. It was too poppy. Ben Harper, inexplicably, started to yell sing on songs. The band didn't sound very good. It was a huge disappointment. I even went to see the band tour this album, and it was a pretty dreadful show. They didn't sound good live anymore, and that made me even more heartbroken. They kind of redeemed themselves with the album "Lifeline", but "Both Sides of the Gun" left a bad enough taste in my mouth, that I haven't purchased a Ben Harper record since.

Now, to the movies that bummed me out. In 2012, I saw previews for a movie entitled "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter". This preview had my favorite president, Lincoln, and mashed it up with him being a badass vampire hunter. I was on board. I couldn't wait to see this movie. Opening day couldn't come fast enough. I dragged my wife and her friend along with me because they had to enjoy how awesome this movie was going to be with me. I thought it would be selfish of me to go see it alone. I wanted to share it with the people closest to me. So, not only did the three of us see it on opening day, but we saw it in 3D. I don't like 3D movies, but this movie was going to be so awesome, why not see it in 3D. The first hint I should've taken that this was going to be terrible, the theater was basically empty for a rush hour show on an opening Friday. But, I thought, people were going to miss out on the greatness that is "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter". Then, the movie started. I was excited, but, that excitement was drained almost immediately. This movie was so awful. The acting was bad, the action was terrible, the fights were poorly performed and the 3D gave me a headache. This was not the movie I expected. This was supposed to be the movie of the summer in 2012. What the hell happened? I should've realized that a lot of movies released in early summer are released then because they're so bad. This was heartbreaking. I so wanted to love this movie, but I couldn't even like it in a way that people like bad movies. It wasn't fun bad, it was just bad bad. How could a movie that looked so cool be so terrible? Previews, that's how. The only good thing that came out of this awful, awful movie was, I don't take previews that serious anymore, going so far as to not watch trailers for movies that I'm excited to see. Don't watch "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter". It's very, very bad and will only disappoint you.

Another movie that broke my heart was Tim Burton's "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory". I adore "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory", and I figured that Tim Burton would do a good job with a remake. Casting Johnny Depp as Willy Wonka seemed like a home run in my mind. That was not the case. First of all, Depp as Wonka was god awful. Instead of playing it with the whimsy and humor that Gene Wilder does in the original, Depp plays the role like a creep. He seems like a guy that shouldn't hang around children, and definitely shouldn't own a chocolate factory. He was dreadful in this role. But, he wasn't the only problem. This movie was an absolute train wreck from start to finish. The kids cast in the iconic roles played them way too over the top. They're supposed to be snotty kids, but these actors took that way too literally. Freddie Highmore, who I think is a pretty good actor, doesn't do such a good job as Charlie. He was too boring. I wanted this movie to be as good as the original, but it was so bad. Tim Burton tried to put his weird vibes on this movie, but this movie doesn't need his touch. This is supposed to be a whimsical movie, but Tim Burton tried to make it dark. That doesn't work here, and it broke my heart. Tim Burton needs to stick to his darker stuff and not ruin another classic movie. I looked forward to this movie, but it was so bad, it just made me upset.

So, there you have it. There's a lot of other stuff besides sports that have left me heartbroken, but these four particular things left me the most heartbroken as far as pop culture goes. Tell me some things that have left you heartbroken in pop culture in the comment section, or tell me why I'm wrong about the stuff I mentioned today. And avoid the things I mentioned today at all costs.

You'll thank me later.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He wants to give all these things in big kiss while at a party in Cuba and tell them how they broke his heart. Follow Ty on twitter @tykulik

The Greatest American Band Debate: TV on the Radio

Getting back to the Greatest American Band debate, today I'm going to nominate a band that's only been around for a little less than 10 years, but I feel like they're on the verge of becoming one of, not only the greatest American bands, but just one of the greatest bands of all time.

I found out about this band in 2006, and since then, I've been a huge, huge fan. Their debut album, "Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes" had me on the name alone, but after listening to it over and over again, I was immediately hooked. I'm of course speaking of TV on the Radio. I know that they're fairly newish, they've been around for almost a decade like I said earlier, but they're so innovative, and just really, really good musicians. TV on the Radio formed in New York, Brooklyn to be exact, but they didn't release the aforementioned "Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes" until 2004. They had released one EP before, entitled "Young Liars", and it's awesome, but it doesn't even begin to show you how great of a band they are. "Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes" was like nothing I'd ever heard before. I heard one of the songs on MTV2, when they still played music videos, "Staring at the Sun", and it was everything I wanted it to be. It was emo, alternative, bluesy and very rock and roll. I love "Staring at the Sun", it was my gateway to TVOTR. What made this album so unique was all the different genres they showcased. Songs like "Ambulance", with Tunde Adebimpe singing acapella and the band giving him an almost doo wop background was incredible. "Poppy" is a 7 minute epic that builds and builds and builds to an epic awesome rock and roll ending. "Bomb Yourself" and "Wear You Out" are two great ending songs to this album. Both songs are like the band King Crimson came back together, found the fountain of youth and played their songs a bit more listener friendly. The guitars are distorted and funky, but not as hazardous to your ears as some King Crimson tunes are. This album came out of nowhere and I still love it as much today as I did in 2004.

They followed "Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes" up with the fantastic "Return to Cookie Mountain". This album couldn't be more different than their debut, but that's a good thing because, it showed that they had range. They could play more than alt rock music. Take a tune like, "Wolf Like Me". Sure, it's got heavy guitars on it, but it's almost played like a radio song. It's got a great chorus, and Tunde's vocals are absolutely incredible. The opener, "I Was A Lover", features lead guitarist, Kyp Malone, providing lead vocals, and he's just as good a singer as Tunde, he's just different. There's also a really cool, really odd drum beat as well. On "A Method" and "Dirtywhirl", we get a glimpse of what they will sound like on future records with their big booming guitars and their really cool instrumentation. Tunde sings both of these songs and his vocals are perfection, especially on "Dirtywhirl". Another song sung by Kyp Malone, "Blues From Down Here", is really, really good. It starts out with Malone singing solo, no instruments and then pow, it hits you with fuzzy guitars and loud drums. The chorus is really catchy and memorable. It's an awesome song.

In 2008, TVOTR came out with their most critically acclaimed album yet. They released "Dear Science" and in 2008, Rolling Stone named it Album of the Year. This record is a masterpiece. TVOTR is crushing it on every level on this album. "Halfway Home", the opener is an awesome rock and roll song. Great distorted guitars, a really nice drum beat and great vocals from Tunde. "Dancing Choose", their "single" from this record is a really good song. It has elements of rock, alternative and even a little bit of jazziness to it. "Golden Age" is a phenomenal song that lets TVOTR do what they do best and mix genres of music. "Love Dog" is a really cool rock song. It starts out with a faint piano and drums, and just keeps building, gets louder and is met at the bridge by a crescendo of sounds that all come together perfectly. It closes as quietly as it starts, and everything in between is sublime. "Lover's Day" is a neat little song to close out the album. It's kind of poppy, but in a TVOTR type of way. "Dear Science" is a perfect album from start to finish. If someone were to ask me where to start with TVOTR, this would be the album I'd give them first.

They followed "Dear Science" up with the very underrated and under appreciated "Nine Types of Light" in 2011. It's hard to follow up a great album, but I feel like TVOTR did just that with "Nine Types of Light". This album is a bit more radio friendly and poppy, but TVOTR makes it work to their advantage. My gateway to this record was them releasing the song "Will Do" a couple of months prior to the release of the album. "Will Do" is a great radio rock song and the music video is really cool and trippy. Check it out if you haven't seen it. There are some other really great songs on this album. "Second Song" is a really cool blues/rock song that opens this album. "Keep Your Heart" is a sad song, and Malone's singing and lyrics make it even sadder. "Killer Crane" is a really unique slow song with some cool use of different instruments. "New Cannonball Blues" is Malone doing his best Howlin Wolf impression. This song is awesome. It's like Zeppelin, but Malone sings it as if he's channeling Howlin Wolf. "Caffeinated Consciousness" closes out the album and it's the best three chord rock song I've ever heard. Malone's guitar and Tunde's singing are so good on this song. This was the last album that featured original bassist Gerard Smith, who died of lung cancer nine days after the record was released. The song "Killer Crane" is almost a hymn for him, with the video being mostly still shots of the band, with the majority of them featuring Smith. "Nine Types of Light" was also released as a movie. It's more music videos for each song than a movie, but it moves like a movie. I highly recommend listening to the record and then watch the movie. This was a really good idea by TVOTR and it totally works with their persona.

Last year, they released "Seeds". They took time off due to the death of Smith, and "Seeds" was the result of their off time. This is a really good record and it kind of gave TVOTR the little bit of fame they have always deserved. Songs like "Careful You", "Test Pilot" and "Loved Stained" are all slow burners with very cool and innovative music accompaniment. "Careful You" has one of the coolest guitar effects I've ever heard. Other tracks like "Winter", "Lazzeray" and "Happy Idiot" are straight up rock and roll songs with TVOTR's distinct sound. My favorite song on the album, "Seeds", is love song esque, with great lyrics and simple yet sophisticated instrumentation. "Seeds" seems cathartic for the band and it's a fitting tribute to Smith.

As I said earlier, I know that TVOTR is still semi new, but they belong in this conversation for all of these and many more reasons. They will continue to keep making cool, interesting new music and I'm very excited for what their future holds.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man podcast. He wants to know what American music makes you rock. Come write for SeedSing, then follow Ty on twitter @tykulik.

The Greatest American Band Debate: The Monkees

They were a big influence on the Beatles.

RD Kulik

RD Kulik is the creator of SeedSing and enjoys the early film collaborations of Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels. He wants you to write for SeedSing.

The Greatest American Band Debate: The Not So Greatest Bands of Today

For the Greatest American Band debate, I'm not nominating anyone today, I'm going to tell you why I think a lot of the bands out there today, that are played on the radio will not be in this conversation.

These bands don't have the staying power that a lot of the bands myself, RD and Tina have written about. I know I wrote Sugarhill Gang and how they are a one hit wonder, but they invented a genre of music. These bands today aren't inventing anything, they are strictly one hit wonders, or bubble gum pop. Now, I do like some current bands a lot. I've written about the Black Keys for this very debate. I'm a huge fan of TV on the Radio and I will be writing about them in the near future for this debate. I'm a huge Odd Future fan. I think they're the new Wu Tang Clan. The problem is, these bands don't get much, if any, radio play. Their music isn't catchy enough, or it's too weird for the masses. I've had a problem with pop music, I've written about the current state of radio on this site before, pretty much my whole life. When I was in high school, while I was listening to Outkast and Ben Harper and the Innocent Criminals, my friends and girlfriends were listening to shit like N'Sync, Backstreet Boys and Britney Spears. These people and "bands" will never be mentioned in any debate involving good music ever. They are ear worms. They're a hazard to people who listen to them, and the fans are some of the most annoying people in the world. They act like crazed religious people when talking about this music. It's not sufficient enough for them when I say I don't like this music. They have to not only berate me for not liking the music, but tell me why I'm wrong. And before you say it, I'm not telling you that you have to listen to the bands I like or have mentioned, I'm just telling you why pop music isn't sustainable, especially what they play on the radio. Do any of you millennials really think that Backstreet Boys or N'Sync is going to be Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees?

I didn't think so.

I have this same feeling for current pop "stars' like Taylor Swift, Miley Cyrus and George Ezra. You read that and said, "those are all solo artists, they don't count", okay, here's some current bands that will never be in this conversation, Imagine Dragons, OneRepublic and EchoSmith. As far as the solo artists go, Taylor Swift is annoying. I don't know if she's a country musician, or a pop musician. It's pop, right? She's a terrible role model as well. She may not want to be a role model, but she is. Her music all sounds the same, especially the garbage she's currently putting out. Miley Cyrus is terrible in every way. She's an abysmal singer, a terrible dancer, a bad actor and a shitty person. She's the worst. George Ezra was cool when he first came out, but he's doomed to be a one hit wonder. His sound is too weird, and the fact that "Budapest" became a hit is completely shocking to me. People will only remember him for that one song. The "rock" bands that they play on the radio today are just as bad. Imagine Dragons are America's version of Nickelback. They might not be as terrible as Nickelback, but it's pretty close. They are more worried about their image than their music. They are a band of haircuts that play absolutely unlistenable music. First of all, their songs do literally all sound the same. They are all horrible rock songs. They want to sound like The Black Keys mixed with pop music, but it doesn't work for them at all. When they were on SNL last year, first of all, they sounded bad and when they brought Kendrick Lamar on to perform their second song, even he couldn't save how terrible it was. I love Kendrick Lamar, and when he can't make you song mildly enjoyable, you have a problem. OneRepublic sounds like the crappiest version of a Christian rock band, and Christian rock music is terrible. Their song, "Counting Stars" is so bad, that when it's on the radio, I'd rather listen to the band Train, and I hate Train. They are also a bunch of dudes that seem more interested in their look rather than their music. If these bands put a quarter the effort into their music that they do their look, they might be decent, probably not, but maybe. OneRepublic is a hazard to your ears. Avoid listening to them at all costs. EchoSmith is a brother sister combo, I believe, but their music sounds like love songs to each other. It's creepy. I don't like the way they sing to each other. It's like Donny and Marie Osmond. Go back and watch the old SNL skit where Julia Louis Dreyfuss and some male cast member, I don't remember who (ed note: it was Gary Kroeger), play the Osmonds, and they're singing so sweetly to each other, they start to make out. That's what I fear with EchoSmith.

I'm just fed up with today's music I suppose. But, these bands will never be remembered for making great music, or even decent music. They will become trivia questions at companies trivia nights. Their sound has no staying power. They will never, ever be mentioned in the Greatest American Band Debate, except for today, and I'm trashing them. In ten to fifteen years from now, I won't come back to this topic and talk about any of these bands. So, what does this say about American music and radio right now? I guess, if I had to give an answer I'd say, that we are in a bad place right now with "pop" music. We don't have any CCR's or Talking Heads or Sugarhill Gang's to listen to and that's a shame. Step your game up pop bands and start making better music.

Please.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man podcast. Every morning he turns on his radio and has hope. Within in 5 minutes his hope is replaced with dread. Follow Ty on twitter @tykulik.

The Greatest American Band Debate: Outkast

For the Greatest American Band debate today, I'm nominating Outkast.

Outkast is probably my second favorite rap group, behind A Tribe Called Quest. For those of you out there complaining that two people don't make a group, two or more is the definition of a group. You need at least two people to form a group, and Outkast found two of the coolest, most innovative rappers and musicians. Outkast started in 1992 in Atlanta, Georgia. Andre 3000 and Big Boi met each other at a mall, and their connection was immediate. They both like the same kind of music, and had grown up in the same type of households. Little did they, or any of us for that matter, know that their music would cross generations, have tons of hits, win a shitload of awards and become classic. They were just two young dudes that liked to rap.

As I said before, they formed Outkast in 1992, but they didn't put out their first album until 1994. In 1994 they put out "Southernplayalisticaddilacmuzik". Say that three times fast. This is a phenomenal debut. The songs on this record allowed both Andre 3000 and Big Boi to shine. You could hear, early on, that they both had very unique, almost unheard of styles of rapping. Take a song like "Players Ball" off this album. In this song, you can hear Andre 3000's love for funk come through not only in his rapping, but also in the music put to the verses. "Players Ball" also gave us the hard, almost gangster style of rap from Big Boi. He had a much gruffer flow, but paired together with Andre 3000's smooth delivery, it was perfect. Another great song on this album is the self titled "Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik". This song is an homage to funky, dirty rap music. The chorus is awesome and both members are outstanding rapping on this song. "Southernplayalisticadilacmuzik" is the gateway to how groovy, funky and nasty, in a good way, that Outkast would eventually become. The song "Hootie Hoo" off this record is Big Boi at his absolute best. This is a straight forward rap song, none of the funkiness is needed from Andre 3000, and Big Boi demolishes this song. I feel that Big Boi was at his absolute best on this album. That's not to take anything away from him on subsequent records, he's great all the way through, but he's best on "Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik".

In 1996 Outkast released their second album, "ATLiens" to critical acclaim. The fans love this album too. One of their biggest hits is on this album, "Elevators (Me and You)". This song is absolutely incredible. Big Boi and Andre 3000 each do their own thing to perfection, and the chorus "me and you, your momma and your cousin too, rolling down the strip on fours, coming back with the Cadillac doors" is so cool and so memorable. This song was my jam in middle school. You also get "Jazzy Belles" and "Wheelz of Steel" on this record. "Jazzy Belles" is when Andre 3000 kind of took a step forward and became the "leader" of Outkast. This song is all him, written and mostly performed by only him and it's fantastic. "Wheelz of Steel" is more in Big Boi's wheelhouse. It's another straight ahead rap song that Big Boi crushed. You could see early on that each had their own style, but they knew how to blend together really well.

In 1998 we got, what I consider, to be the first truly great Outkast album, "Aquemini". The songs are great on this record, but I want to take a second to talk about the album artwork. This is one of the coolest covers to an album that I've ever seen. It's like they painted a picture of the two of them in the gaudiest, most ridiculous outfits, but only a band like Outkast could've pulled it off. Andre 3000 is shirtless, wearing a turban on his head, and Big Boi is literally dressed like a pimp, in a green three piece suit, top offed with a feather in his hat. Now the songs. On "Aquemini", we got the classic, "Rosa Parks". This song is so awesome. The video was cuckoo bananas, but the song is great and the chorus is wonderful. Say what you will about Outkast, those guys can write a catchy hook. You all know it, "ah nah, hush that fuss, everybody move to the back of the bus". It's so, so cool on so many levels. Rosa Parks was so offended by the language in this song that she sued Outkast, but they settled out of court because they explained to her that the song was an homage to her courage. We also got a song more in Big Boi's tone with "Skew It on the Bar B". It's another run of the mill rap song made ten thousand times better by Outkast. This song also has another great chorus. The song "Spottieopiedopealicious" off this record is where my love for Outkast became real to me. This is the funkiest rap song I've ever heard. It's got great, funky backing music and it's a story, not a song. This song showed me a completely new style of rap that I didn't think existed. I love this song and any time it comes on my iPod, I turn the radio up.

Outkast next album is the greatest album of their illustrious career. In 2000 they put out "Stankonia". This was my jam in high school. When this record came out, it was all I listened to on my way to and from school for almost a year straight. Every song on this record is a classic. We all know the hits, "So Fresh, So Clean", "B.O.B" and "Ms. Jackson". These songs are great. "So Fresh, So Clean" became the anthem for me and the entire football team. Another great chorus, that I still sing to this day, and both Big Boi and Andre 3000 do their thing on this track. The guy that sings the chorus sounds like a 21st century Barry White. This song is incredible. "B.O.B" is like a great rock song. There's heavy guitar and both members are rapping so fast, I had to look up what they were saying. This is a great song to listen to while working out, or if you need to be pumped up for something. "Ms. Jackson" may be Outkast's most recognizable single. Everybody knows the chorus and when Andre says, "wooooooo, I AM FOR REAL", everyone sings along with him. This song has their best chorus of any song they've ever written. While all three of these are classics, I really enjoy the first track on the album, "Gasoline". This is another rap song that has the heavy guitar and faster rapping on it. It's like a rock and roll song, but better because of the way Outkast performs it. "Stankonia" is on the Mount Rushmore of albums for me.

With rumors swirling after the release of "Stankonia" that the band was breaking up, they put out a double album in 2003 that allowed the two of them to put out solo records, but release it under the name Outkast. "Speakerboxxx/The Love Below" was an excellent experiment by Outkast. I will admit, I've only listened to "Speakerboxxx", Big Boi's "solo" album, maybe three times all the way through. It isn't that good in my opinion, and I feel like Big Boi only did it as a favor to Andre 3000. But, "The Love Below" is an absolute masterpiece. Songs like "Prototype", "Vibrate", "Roses" and the mega hit, "Hey Ya" are classics. "Prototype" has Andre 3000 playing an electric guitar and singing a love song. "Vibrate" is an experimental hip hop song that I guarantee inspired Flying Lotus to do music. "Roses" is a collaboration with Andre and Big Boi. Very good chorus and very good vocals. The video for this song is cool too. And of course we got "Hey Ya" off this record. If you don't know this song, you've been living under a rock for the past decade. "The Love Below" proved to me and the rest of the world that Andre 3000 was the genius that Big Boi needed when Outkast started and that Andre 3000 is extremely talented.

After this record, each member went their own way. Big Boi acted a bit, but he has kept to himself for the most part. Andre 3000 is a bona fide star now. They did make another album, the soundtrack to their movie "Idlewild". This soundtrack is fine, but it's nothing compared to their previous work. The movie is okay as well, but not great. Outkast has won several grammys and many, many other awards. They each are able to do their own things now and do them successfully. They had a great run as a band and released some of the best rap music to date. For these and many other reasons, Outkast belongs in this conversation. I will be forever indebted to them for introducing me to funky rap music and "dirty south" rap music. I love Outkast and I hope the rumors of a reunion tour are true. They got back together in 2014 and performed some shows, but I want then to do a new album and tour the country. One can only hope.

Thanks Outkast, thank you for all the great music.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the othert host of the X Millennial Man podcast. He has many other rap artists to nominate, but is curious about your Greatest American Band. Join the debate, then follow Ty on twitter @tykulik.

The Greatest American Band Debate: The Sugarhill Gang

SeedSing is filled with music lovers. We can not agree on who is the best band from the States. The Greatest American Band Debate will be a regular feature where we discuss and compare bands who started in the good old USA. If you have any suggestions of bands we should debate Contact us seedsing.rdk@gmail.com

For Seedsing's Greatest American Band debate, I'm going to nominate a group based solely on one song.

That may sound weird, or even unfair, but this one song started a revolution of great, great music that, had these guys not put this song out, we may have never had. The band that I'm going to nominate today is Sugarhill Gang. We all know their famous song, "Rapper's Delight". This is the one song that I'm speaking of and will be the basis of my blog today. In 1979 three guys, Master Gee, Wonder Mike and the now deceased, Big Bank Hank, started a rap group in New Jersey. All three of them had their own rapping style, but combined, they made one of the most influential and greatest rap songs of all time. Without these three, and their producers and business people that were around them, we never would have gotten rap music. Some may argue with me and claim that Blondie's "Rapture" was the first rap song, but it's not. "Rapture" came out in the early eighties and "Rapper's Delight" came out in 1979. Blondie was not a rap group as well. Blondie was a rock group that happened to have Debra Harry "rap" on one song. It gained commercial success because Blondie was a great band and Debra Harry was very pretty. But, had "Rapture" been the stepping off point for rap music, we would've never gotten some of the greats that we now have or had. "Rapper's Delight" and Sugarhill Gang made rap accessible to everyone. This song crossed generations and races of all kinds. Talk to anyone you know, be they a fan of rap, rock, reggae, blues, jazz, any type of music and I guarantee they all know at least one line from "Rapper's Delight". This song is one of the greatest songs of all time. Not just rap, I'm talking any genre of music.

Sugarhill Gang was composed of the three guys I mentioned before. They were all free style rappers, but they didn't really know how to put their music on a record. In the late 70's, rap was not a thing. It hadn't been invented yet. Some producers heard what these guys were doing, and they wanted to put it on record so everyone could hear it. They just didn't know how to put music to what they were doing. Some genius decided to use a sample from a Chic song and the idea of sampling and rap was born. The Chic song they used was "Good Times". It had a constant beat that went throughout the whole song. The producers isolated this music and had the members of Sugarhill Gang put their rap verses to the music. "Rapper's Delight", and for all intents and purposes, rap music was born.

"Rapper's Delight" is, by far, the longest rap song that I've ever heard. It comes in at just around 8 minutes. How crazy is that?"! A rap song lasting for 8 minutes is unheard of, unless we're talking Wu Tang Clan which I'll write about on another day. The length of the song allowed each member to truly shine. We, the audience, got to hear these three emcees do their thing. They were incredible, and no one knew what to call this music. People were amazed at what these guys were doing. They brought the world and the US a new style of music. What made it even more crazy was the fact that there was no hook or chorus. When each rapper took his turn, they spoke the famous lyrics, "I said a hip hop, the hip to the hop you don't stop, rock the bang bang boogie, the up jump the boogity beat". Those are the first real verses of rap music ever recorded. This song was so popular, it was the first rap song to reach the Billboard Top 40. It was lightening in a bottle. 

I was born three years after the song came out, but "Rapper's Delight" was my ipso facto introduction to rap music. To hear what these three did was incredible. I didn't hear the song until the nineties, I was a teenager, but even back then, I understood the importance to rap music that this song had. Without this song, I would never had listened to Notorious B.I.G or Jay Z or A Tribe Called Quest or even rap groups like Outkast. You can go back and watch or read interviews with the vast majority of rappers and rap groups and they will all cite Sugarhill Gang and "Rapper's Delight" being one of their gateways to rap music.

As I said before, this song crosses many, many generations. The first person to tell me and have me listen to this song was my father. He's 32 years older than I am. I have a three year old son and I will put "Rapper's Delight" on in the car and he will mumble the lyrics I wrote before. So, just between three people, myself, my father and my son, we all know the song. That's a 64 year old, a 32 year old and a 3 year old. Tell me one other song that does that. Another great thing about Sugarhill Gang as a group, they're clean. They don't use any swear words and their albums are family friendly. That's almost unheard of in a lot of music today. I love that I can play "Rapper's Delight" with my son in the car. He likes the song and it gives me a chance to listen to something other than children's music. Don't get me wrong, I like that the kids music helps my son learn, but I'd much rather listen to "Rapper's Delight" than the ABC song again.

Sugarhill Gang put out five albums, but nothing came close to the greatness that is "Rapper's Delight". Their other stuff is decent, and they even made a kids rap album, but "Rapper's Delight" was their peak. What a great peak to have though. They are responsible for creating an entire genre of music. The music they created, rap music, may be the most popular music there is today. They are still performing today with the two surviving members and some other friends of theirs. That's pretty incredible that they are still out there doing music. They've even scored some top 100 hits, but it's all overseas.  

With one single song, Sugarhill Gang created rap. That's reason enough for me to nominate them in our debate. They may be more of an influence, which I've written about, but they created "Rapper's Delight", therein creating rap. They belong on this list for that reason alone. Go out, after you read this, and listen to "Rapper's Delight" and be grateful that they created this song. Without Sugarhill Gang, we wouldn't have rap and without rap, we wouldn't have some of the greatest music there is today.

Thank you Sugarhill Gang. You guys belong in the Greatest American Band debate.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the co-host of the X Millennial Man podcast. When he was little, Ty thought hip hop was what a rabbit listen to. Follow Ty on twitter @tykulik.

The Greatest American Band Debate: A Tribe Called Quest

We've been doing our Greatest American Band debate on the website for a little over three months now. We've discussed many great bands, old and new. Some are hugely famous, others a little more underground. What dawned on me this weekend though, we haven't discussed any hip hop/rap groups.

That's a shame.

Hip hop/rap is the only type of music that is truly American. It originated in the US and, only about 10 years ago, did it start to come from overseas. There's a plethora of rap groups that I will be writing about over the next couple of months, one every week to be precise, and today I'm going to start with my personal favorite, A Tribe Called Quest. Tribe, which I will call them the rest of this piece, was the first true hip hop group that I was exposed to that was good. I listened to people like Puff Daddy and Mase and Onyx, but those were all pretty terrible rappers. Puff Daddy is a genius producer, but a not so good rapper. Mase was cool for a minute, but he went into some weird tail spin and I believe he's a preacher now. Onyx had one really good song, "Slam", but in preparation for this blog, I listened to it again, and sadly it doesn't hold up. Puff Daddy did introduce me to the GOAT, Notorious B.I.G., but he's a solo act, so he's out of this discussion.

Once again, my oldest brother, the same one that introduced me to the Velvet Underground, introduced me to Tribe. They were like nothing I ever heard before. They had a smooth, jazzy sound. But, they also were phenomenal rappers. Q Tip was the smooth operator of the group. He had a soulful, yet political consciousness that spoke to me. He delivered his lyrics with ease. He was/is such a good rapper, he made it sound easy. It's like watching a really good NBA player, someone like Magic Johnson, who is so good, they make it look easy. I can't do the things they do, but they make it seem possible. Phife Dawg came at you like a canon. After one of Q Tip's verses, Phife would come in and blow you away with his intensity and, almost angry, delivery. He was the perfect compliment to Q Tip. One was smooth(Q Tip), the other would punch you in the gut(Phife). Ali Shaheed Muhammed was a fantastic DJ, and when he did rap, he was decent. Ali Shaheed was more of the voice of reason in Tribe. He kept them going, even when times were rough. I'll touch on the rough times later. Ali Shaheed clearly just wanted to make music. He didn't want to argue and fight and gripe with the band, he just loved music. Look at the work he's done with D'Angelo or TLC or Tony! Tone! Toni!, the guy is a musical genius. They had a fourth member, Jarobi, but he only appeared on their first album, and he was, for all intents and purposes, their hype man. Jarobi and Phife still remain close friends to this day, so, for that reason alone, he deserves mentioning when talking about Tribe.

All three(four if you want to count Jarobi) were great as a group. They knew what each of them excelled at and they capitalized on that knowledge. In the long run, they grew to hate each other(really Q Tip and Phife hated each other, Ali Shaheed just wanted to make music like I said earlier) because with genius and ego comes jealousy. Q Tip and Phife were both so great at what they did, I think they both grew suspicious of each other and that's when the infighting started. These fights led to the demise of the band, they would reunite for four years, but I will talk about that later, and they only made four albums. But, those four albums are fantastic. Their debut album, "People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm" is groundbreaking. I'd never heard anything like this ever before. You had four guys interweaving jazz grooves with hip hop beats and two of the best rappers to ever walk this Earth. Talk about coming out of the box and crushing a grand slam. This album put not only the hip hop world on notice, but all of the music business started to pay attention to Tribe. This is not only one of the best rap albums of all time, it's one of the best albums of any kind of music ever made. On this album, you can hear the influence it had on other hip hop bands like Digable Planets or Dilated Peoples. Without "People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm", we would never have had those groups. Sophomore albums are usually a step down from debuts, but not in Tribe's case. Their second record, "The Low End Theory" was not a slump, it was a revelation. This is, in my opinion, the greatest rap album of all time. Q Tip was always the leader, but Phife took a huge step forward and became an unstoppable force on this record. They took all their jazzy beats and bumped it to a whole other level. They matured and became better rappers than I ever thought they could be. This is a must own album for all music lovers out there. Even if you don't like rap, you'll like "The Low End Theory". It's music for all different music lovers. After this album is where the fighting started for Tribe. As I said, Phife started to become a force and I don't think Q Tip liked that. It may sound like I'm being too tough on Q Tip and, yes, Phife is my favorite of the group, but that's not the case. I just think that two geniuses will eventually grow to dislike each other when they spend that much time together, and that's what happened. They still made two more albums though. "Midnight Marauders" is a really good record. The story goes, they were fighting so much that each of them recorded in their own studio, but when you listen to this record, it sounds like Q Tip and Phife are standing right next to each other in the recording studio. This is also the album where Ali Shaheed got to do some rhyming. He was pretty good too. They recorded one last record, "The Love Movement", but you can definitely tell that they were ready to be done with each other. It's still a really good record, but you knew it was going to be their last. They put out four great, classic albums in a short amount of time, and I didn't even get to some of the songs on these records.

In fact, let's do that now. Songs like, "Buggin Out", "Bonita Applebum", "Can I Kick It", "I Left My Wallet in El Segundo", "Award Tour", "Oh My God", "Steve Biko(Stir it Up)" and many more are classics. "Buggin Out" is when Phife busted out on the scene. Go listen to his verses in this song and be amazed at how awesome he is as a rapper. He is great. "Bonita Applebum" might be one of the greatest love songs I've ever heard. If it wasn't so dirty, I'd want it as my first dance at my wedding(full disclosure, my first dance song at my wedding was "Sea of Love", a great choice in my opinion). "Can I Kick It" might be one of the most quotable songs of all time. Wherever I'm playing sports with my son and we have a ball that we are kicking, whenever he says, "Can I kick it?", I say, in my best Tribe impression, "Yes You Can!". That song is awesome. "Oh My God" is the best kind of ear worm you can get. I hear that chorus and the rest of the day, I'm singing that in my head and out loud. "Steve Biko(Stir It Up)" has one of the coolest grooves in a rap song that I've ever heard. Q Tip is his smooth self on this song and he delivers his lyrics like a god damned pro. "Award Tour" is my favorite Tribe song. The verses and the chorus are awesome, both Phife and Q Tip shine, and they give a shout out to their main man, Ali Shaheed Muhammed, throughout the whole song. It's a really, really good song. There's many, many more songs I could talk about, but these are my favorites, and the ones I listen to the most.

As I've said before, they fought a ton, but they did reunite for a brief time in 2004 until 2008. They played sold out venues and sold out festivals. Fans were eager to see them live, and for the most part, they delivered. Go watch the excellent movie, "Beats, Rhymes and Life: The Travels of A Tribe Called Quest" directed by super fan and actor Michael Rappaport, and you'll see them reunite, but you also see the fights that were going on, specifically between Q Tip and Phife. This is a really good movie about Tribe and it's a must see for all fans. All of the members went on to solo careers, but Q Tip is/was by far the most successful.

Before I give my closing thoughts on Tribe today, I also wanted to mention that they were contemporaries with Busta Rhymes, Common and the great De La Soul. These two bands and two solo artists grew together at the same time. How crazy is that. Tribe is one of the greatest bands of all time, not just in hip hop/rap, but in all music. A Tribe Called Quest is, by far, one of the Greatest American Bands and they absolutely belong in our conversation. The things I've written and many, many more reasons are why I nominate them today.

Tribe rules.

(ed note: A Tribe Called Quest has also not been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. What they hell is wrong with the hall?)

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture Editor for SeedSing and the co-host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. At one time Ty was rocking some series dreds, he now rocks a bald spot. Follow Ty on twitter @tykulik.

The Greatest American Band Debate: The Cars

We all have a soundtrack to our lives. There are songs we hear that immediately transport us back to a certain time in our life. These songs are not always considered great by the critics and keepers of pop culture, but they have strong personal feelings. Everybody born before 1980 can sing the first few bars of the song Alex P. Keaton hears when he thinks of Ellen. I had no idea who sang that song, or what it was called. (Billy Vera and the Beaters, At This Moment. Now you know, it that is half the battle.) Music is the closest thing we have to time travel. Sometimes we hear a song, and we are transported to a time long forgotten.

The Cars created some of the greatest memories with their incredible music. The band was able to build these memories by making some of the greatest music to come out in the early 1980's. Ric Ocasek and his sound is iconic, but he was not a solo artist.  The Cars were a band who went through many previous incarnations with new members being picked out of other small local bands until an influential sound could be created. Ocasek first picked up bassist Benjamin Orr in Cleveland and headed to Boston. Once in Boston the duo added and subtracted many members until the Cars were formed with Ocasek, Orr, Elliot Easton on guitar, Greg Hawkes on keyboards, and David Robinson on drums.  The synth heavy, new wave sound of The Cars helped move the nation away from disco. The bands first two albums, The Cars and Candy-O both brought the band great success, but their eternal greatness was going to be how The Cars music was brought to the masses visually.

On August 1st, 1981 MTV launched and created a new trajectory for popular music. Well regraded musicians who did not have a good look, such as Christopher Cross, were suddenly being left behind. The pretty bands like Duran Duran and Flock of Seagulls (???) were now taking over your screens and speakers. The Cars were one of the first bands to understand that great music videos could complement great music. They were already commercially and critically successful with their sound, now The Cars were gaining a new level of fame with their videos. At the very first MTV Video Music Awards, The Cars took home the top prize for their video for "You Might Think".

The Cars already had the great music, they now were considered the best music video artists. Incredible music and mind blowing videos is not how an entire generation will remember The Cars. In 1982 the film Fast Times at Ridgemont High opened and left its mark on all of generation x. Writer Cameron Crowe and director Amy Heckerling created iconic characters, and produced one particular scene that would hit a bit close to home for many of the audience. (link kind of NSFW). The iconic music used for this memorable scene was the song "Moving in Stereo" by The Cars. Like the Alex Keaton sad song, Phoebe Cates coming out of the pool song has been planted in our brains and created a moment we will never forget. The red bikini, the exit from the pool, the slow walk, the embarrassment, all to the voice and bass of Benjamin Orr with backing from the rest of The Cars. Anyone born before 1980 knows that scene, and they know that song. The Cars created an everlasting memory.

The Cars broke up in the late eighties, and bassist Benjamin Orr succumbed to pancreatic cancer in 2000. There have been a few different line-ups touring under The Cars, mostly playing iconic hits from the bands greatest days. In 2010 the living founding members of The Cars reunited, recorded a new album, and went out on tour. It is down right criminal that The Cars have not been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The keepers of the hall need to correct this oversight. The Cars created a sound for a generation.

In crowning the Greatest American Band, we get caught up in who made the most popular music, and we forget to give credit to the bands that are timeless. The Cars may not be the most popular, although they did pretty good at selling records, but they were unforgettable. When I listen to The Cars Pandora station, there is recognizable hit after hit. The moment "Moving in Stereo" comes on I am transported. Over thirty years later I can feel the excitement, and the embarrassment at the same time. That is true greatness.

RD Kulik

RD is the Head Editor for SeedSing. He hopes now that the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has no more Beatles to induct, maybe a deserving band like The Cars can get some love. Nominate your Greatest American Band and write for SeedSing.

Ty saw Ratatat live, and you should too

Delivering the best in electronica

Last night I saw Ratatat at the Pageant in St. Louis and it was a really excellent show.

I bought the tickets last month while on vacation in the UP of Michigan and the excitement had continued to build for the entire month of August all the way to last night. I usually don't get too excited for concerts like I used to. When I was a teenager and in my early twenties, I'd buy tickets in advance and constantly think about the upcoming show. I would be on razors edge by the time the show came around. It was not a great way to go to shows because I felt like I was too amped up when the concert finally happened and, while the shows were usually great, I didn't enjoy the experience as much as I should have. As I've gotten older, I don't get overly excited until I'm at the show. Last night, I found a happy medium between my two selves. I was very excited, but I've learned to temper expectations until after the show when I can really critique it. What had me more excited than normal was the fact that I'd never seen Ratatat before. Most shows I go to now, it's bands that I know will be good, or great. I don't have the time to go check someone out live that I only know a few songs, or have never heard of. I'm getting to old to discover new music live. I prefer to listen to someone on record many times before I commit to seeing them live. Ratatat brought out old feelings in me. I was excited to see a band for the first time. Full disclosure, I've listened to their records a TON and I knew exactly what I was getting into, thus making the decision to go easy. I brought my brother Seth along. He's the one who introduced me to the band and he's closest in age to me, being only four years older than me. What made the anticipation greater for me, Seth goes to a lot of live music, he's seen somewhere in the thousands of live shows, but he'd only seen Ratatat once, seven years ago. He was, for all intents and purposes, as new to them as I was.

Let's get to the show. The opener was one guy that called himself Hot Sugar. We arrived late to the show because, unless it's a double bill, I don't care for openers. They're usually boring and are only on the tour because they're on the same label as the headliner. We walked in during his first song, listened for about 2 minutes and went outside. We re-entered the venue when he was playing his last song, heard about another two minutes and he was off the stage. So, four total minutes of Hot Sugar and that was all I needed to hear to know I didn't care for his music. It was ambient DJ music, I bet if I stayed for his whole 40 minute set, I could've taken a cat nap. But, openers don't really matter, let's get to Ratatat. Their set started with a big projection screen that had Ratatat written in big block letters. The music playing sounded like something out of Star Wars and the block letters were shooting off fireworks. The band finally emerged and for an hour and a half, they crushed. Their set ran the gammit of their albums. They played songs off of all their albums. They opened with "Pricks of Brightness" off their new album "Magnifique". It was an awesome way to start the show. The lead guitarist shredded and his band member played a really heavy, chest thumping bass line. The set only got better from there. Other tracks off "Magnifique" included an excellent version of their six and a half minute epic "Nightclub Amnesia". They played the slower, what I call their "Mario Bros" water level song, "Magnifique". They played their single "Cream on Chrome" and my favorite song off the new album, "Abrasive". It was great to hear these songs since they're so fresh in my head. But, as I said earlier, they played songs off all their albums. Other standouts were, "Wildcat", "Shempi" and "Loud Pipes". "Loud Pipes" was pretty great. They played a bit of guitar, but both members of the band ditched their guitars for a couple minutes and banged away on the drum that each had set up in front of them. The same can be said for "Shempi". Both songs have guitar in them, but they focus more on the drums and it was a nice change of pace from the majority of the show. "Wildcat" is a classic Ratatat song. When you hear the cat's growl, you know it's on. That song is incredible live. What I was happily surprised by, they played "Seventeen Years". It was their first of two encore songs. This was the song that introduced me to Ratatat. I didn't know that "electronica" music could be guitar driven, but "Seventeen Years" proved me wrong. It was AWESOME live. I was so, so happy to hear this song last night. It's my favorite Ratatat song and it's always nice when a band you like plays your favorite song at a live show.

The songs were great, but the show going on behind them was just as cool. They had a big projector behind them and two flat screens on the side of the stage. Random images were shown on these devices throughout the show. We saw lions, birds, old sculptures and an eight armed running baby. The lead guitarist would stand in front of the projector screen when it was white and we got to see his shadow throwing down on guitar. It was pretty great. The light show was awesome too. They had a ton of reflective lights and pulsing white and orange lights throughout their set. The light show we got during "Nightclub Amnesia" was exceptional. I felt like I was in a disco in the 70's, but in a good way. The two guys in the band also provided me enjoyment. They each stood, at various moments, with their legs spread about a foot apart and proceeded to play their instruments phenomenally. My only gripe with the concert had to do with the venue. I love the Pageant, but the balcony was closed and the 21 and over area was packed. When we were in that area, I felt like a sardine in a can. It was very uncomfortable. Thankfully, Seth suggested we move to the under 21 section, since neither of us were drinking, and it was our best decision of the night. No gripes with Ratatat, just with the choices the venue made.

This was an excellent show and I'm extremely happy I got to see Ratatat live. They were on my concert bucket list and I can now cross them off. I will see them any other time they come to St. Louis. They were that great. So, if Ratatat comes anywhere close to you and you're a fan, see them.

It's well worth your money.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the co-host of the X Millennial Man podcast. If you come to St. Louis to play a show, Ty will be there in the under 21 section to do a review. Follow him on twitter @tykulik.

The Greatest American Band Debate: Creedance Clearwater Revival

For the Greatest American Band debate, I nominate Creedance Clearwater Revival this afternoon.

I know, it's probably pretty weird for a millennial to nominate CCR, but I just recently got into their music, and these guys were awesome. Hell, John Fogerty is still making pretty good music. I think the main thing that drew me to CCR was their sound. These were four Californians, but their music sounded like they were from the bayous of Louisiana. I love how gruff and raw their music sounded. The best thing I read or heard, I don't remember exactly, was, someone called their music "swamp rock". It was really bluesy and had sounds of rock and roll, but that "swampy" sound with the guitars and John Fogerty's vocals was a perfect description. I love that their music is referred to as "swamp rock".

This is another classic American rock band that only stayed active, meaning the original four founding members, for five short, but very productive years. They put out seven albums in five years. That's unheard of nowadays. You're lucky if you get two albums in two years from your favorite band or musician now. Hell, it's almost expected that a group will take two to three years off after each album. The fact that CCR had that many albums, four of them recognized as some of the best rock music ever, in that short period is very, very impressive.

Now let's look at what puts CCR in this discussion. The members of the group include, Tom and John Fogerty, Doug Clifford and Stu Cook. We all know who John Fogerty is. He was CCR's lead singer, guitarist and wrote every single lyric and instrumentation of every CCR song. His brother, Tom, was the rhythm guitarist. He's the Fogerty that we all only know for one reason which I'll touch on later. Doug Clifford was the drummer and Stu Cook played bass. I think we all can agree that John Fogerty is head and shoulders above the other members of the band, but this band wouldn't have been so famous had it not been for the other three members. Tom Fogerty was the rhythm guitarist, and contrary to popular belief, they're important. They keep the timing for the band just as much as the drummer. Tom Fogerty was crucial to their sound as well, because he loved old blues music. He brought them inspiration for their sound. Stu Cook brought the gruff, distorted bass sound to this swampy music. He's really good and next time you listen to CCR, try and just listen to the bass, he's really incredible. Doug Clifford on drums was awesome. He also kept time for the band, but his drumming on songs like "Born on a Bayou" or "Fortunate Son" are great.  The albums they released, as I said earlier, are prolific and they busted them out. Seven in five years. They started in late 67 early 68 with their debut album titled, "Creedance Clearwater Revival". This is a great debut. They did take one year off, but in 1969 they had one of their most prolific periods of new albums and new music. They put out three albums in 1970, "Bayou Country", really taking off with the swamp rock sound, "Willy and the Poor Boys", showing their blues roots and the classic, "Green River", this album showed the band melding all their sounds into one and making an epically awesome rock/blues album. They took a much deserved rest and in 1970, they put out two phenomenal albums. In 1970 we got "Cosmos Factory" and "Pendulum".  "Pendulum" is a really good rock and roll album. In fact, this is their most basic rock album, in my opinion. "Cosmos Factory" is great on so many levels. This is, by far, my favorite CCR album. This album is much like "Green River", melding all their styles into one, but it's better, because the band had been playing together for awhile then and with the same members and comfort in each others musical ability, they were able to make their best music. "Cosmos Factory" is a must for CCR fans and for rock fans in general. This album is awesome. In 1972 they released their last album with the four founding members, "Mardi Gras". This album is okay, but you can tell that they were beginning to grow weary of each other. That much time together with the same people that aren't family or loved ones will take it's toll on a lot of people.

Back to the great albums and some of the songs included in these albums. CCR has a TON of hits. Songs everyone knows like, "Fortunate Song", "Bad Moon Rising", "Lodi", "Run Through the Jungle" and "Travelin Band/Who'll Stop the Rain". The early hits, "Fortunate Son" and "Bad Moon Rising" are great, anti war songs. Something some people may not know is, the members of CCR were veterans and after they returned home, they became the first, real protest band. They hated the war and told anyone within ear shot why the war was wrong through song. I love this about them. In a time where it was frowned upon to talk down to authority, they fought authority and used their platform, music, to fight it. "Lodi" showed a softer side to the band. This is a quieter song abut being stuck in one place at a certain point in your life. It's a really cool change of pace. "Run Through the Jungle" has one of the coolest sounding guitars I've ever heard on record. The riff sounds simple, but that doesn't make it any less awesome. It's so cool. This song really shows off John Fogerty's guitar playing ability. "Travelin Band/Who'll Stop the Rain" was the bands way of getting two songs on a single record. They're both great, memorable songs. Really smart idea by CCR too. Pack more music on a record for the fans. CCR also did a good amount of cover songs. Their version of Marvin Gaye's "Heard It Through the Grapevine" is a ten minute epic swamp rock song. They took a 2 minute R&B song and turned it into this ten minute swampy, bluesy rock and roll song. They covered Roy Orbison's "Ooby Dooby" note for note. This was them thanking one of their influences. When they first exploded on the scene, a song a lot of fans liked was their version of Screamin Jay Hawkins "I Put a Spell on You". This is a classic blues tune, but they put their twist on it, and it's really good. Many people think CCR covered the Ike and Tina Turner classic "Proud Mary", but this was an original CCR tune.. Their covers are almost as good as their originals. That takes talent in my opinion.

CCR also had problems with each other and other bands. They famously said about the Grateful Dead, while following them at Woodstock, that they, and I quote, "put audiences to sleep with their music". I don't like the Grateful Dead personally, so I find this very funny. More notably, they didn't get along with each other after they released "Mardi Gras". John Fogerty didn't really like anyone in the band, but he and his brother Tom fought the most. They went so far as to break all communication off with each other and didn't ever speak to each other again. Tom Fogerty died in the 80's due to complications from AIDS and John Fogerty never got any real closure with his brother. That's a bummer. John Fogerty also has the famous court case where he was sued by his former record company for sounding too much like John Fogerty. When he signed , as a young, dumb kid, he signed all his rights away. The record company basically had a strangle hold on all of CCR's music, but he must have had some damn good lawyers, because he won the case and now has all the rights to his own music. The fact that this record company sued him shows how big of dickheads record executives are. They don't care about music, they care about money. Fights, or "beefs" like these are now common place in music, but CCR was one of the first bands to openly fight like this. You may disagree with me, but that tells me they're an American band. They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993, but they dislike each other so much, they wouldn't play together at the ceremony. As I said earlier, John Fogerty is still making music today, but don't expect any kind of reunion with the rest of the living members of CCR. According to a recent interview, John Fogerty was asked if CCR would ever reunite and he said, "I'd be up for it, but I don't think the other guys want anything to do with me anymore". Sad, but also, that's bands for you. One minute they love each other, the next they hate each other. I love CCR and their five year run is unparalled. They deserve and belong in our debate. The above reasons are why I'm nominating them. Creedance Clearwater Revival is awesome and will forever be credited with creating a new brand of music, "swamp rock".

That's pretty cool in my book.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the co host of the X Millennial Man podcast. If his car gets stolen he is holding our hope that the cops can find his Creedance tapes. Follow Ty on twitter @tykulik.

Cloves and Fedoras: Dan Auerbach's experiment with The Arcs pays off

Is it already time to rock?

Dan Auerbach of the Black Keys side project, The Arcs, put out their debut album "Your Dreamily" today and I'm here to tell you, you need to buy this album, not only if you're a fan of the Black Keys, but if you're a fan of experimental rock/blues/funk/R&B/spaghetti western music.

Dan Auerbach and the members of the band(Richard Swift, Leon Michaels, Homer Steinweiss, Nick Movshon, and features Kenny Vaughan and Mariachi Flor de Toiloache) take a bunch of chances, and more times than not, they knock it out of the park. I had heard the leaked tracks, "Outta My Mind" and "Stay in My Corner" about a month ago and I was immediately on board. "Outta My Mind" is a Black Keys esque rock song, but that's where what I call spaghetti western music comes into play. There's a keyboard playing music that sounds like it's straight out of an old Clint Eastwood western. I've always liked this sound, what I will now call the spaghetti western sound, in the old western movies, so I really liked hearing it on a rock record. "Stay in My Corner" is a sweet love song. It's really funky, yet psychedelic at the same time. I love the mixtures of genres within a song. Other great early tracks include, "Put A Flower in Your Pocket" and "Cold Companion". "Put A Flower in Your Pocket" is a straight up spaghetti western song. It sounds like it could be on the soundtrack for "The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly". There's awesome guitar and that really cool keyboard sound. It's a great song. "Cold Companion" is a bit more of a blues/rock, Black Keys style song. Auerbach plays some really solid solos on this song. Auerbach is an awesome guitar player and he gets better and better with his vocals with each album he puts out.

The first nine songs are all in the spaghetti western, blues, rock genre. The last five songs find them making a complete genre change. The back half of the album turns into a funky, R&B record, and I couldn't be happier about it. Songs like "Velvet Ditch" and "Searching the Blue" are straight up R&B songs, but they add horns to each one, making them really funky. "Velvet Ditch" is where the album makes the switch. It starts out like a rock song, but then it slows down and has Auerbach showing off his falsetto voice. It's, for all intents and purposes, an R&B song. And just when you think it can't get any funkier, here come the horns. It's a great addition to the sound the band is looking for. "Searching the Blue" is the closing track on the album and it is horn and guitar heavy. Auerbach croons while crushing it on the guitar and the horns are dynamite. The genre switch is Richard Swift putting his stamp on this album. He's been touring with the Black Keys the past couple of years, playing bass, but he's put out solo albums himself, and he has a very folksy/funky/R&B sound to his music. He's a great musician and you should go out and buy his solo stuff if you enjoy this album.

I love that Auerbach is taking chances like this lately. He's really branching out with his music. He wrote all the songs on the last Black Keys album, "Turn Blue", and that was a very Pink Floydian type of album. This album, "Your Dreamily" and this new band, The Arcs, show him trying his hand at R&B and psychedelia music. He is so much better than Jack White at everything he chooses to do musically. He's also a better person from what I hear about Jack White. I love this album and I love that Auerbach and Carney are good enough friends that each can do their own side projects. It's really going to help the Black Keys get better and better with each album they put out in the future, having so many different styles of music that they are able to play.

Go out and buy "Yours Dreamily", sit back and the enjoy the cool, funky, spaghetti western, smooth R&B music that they play. It's really, really good.

I am not kidding, it is really, really good.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the co host of the X Millennial Man podcast. He was debating how many albums a band needs to be considered one of The Greatest American Rock Bands. Follow Ty on twitter @tykulik.

The Greatest American Band Debate: LCD Soundsystem

SeedSing is filled with music lovers. We can not agree on who is the best band from the States. The Greatest American Band Debate will be a regular feature where we discuss and compare bands who started in the good old USA. If you have any suggestions of bands we should debate Contact us seedsing.rdk@gmail.com

My nomination this week for the Greatest American Rock band debate on our website I'm going to make the case for LCD Soundsystem.

I'm a huge fan of this band. They only made three albums, but dammit, they're three great albums and James Murphy is an alt/electronica/rock god. This band is so good, and they quit at the peak of their popularity, making their story about a thousand times cooler. I usually talk about albums during my debate, but with LCD Soundsystem, I'm going to talk more about their many, many awesome songs and people that they played with regularly. I'm also going to touch upon why James Murphy is so great. And I'll close everything out talking about the fantastic concert film, "Shut Up and Play the Hits".

So, let's get to the songs. Some great tunes from LCD Soundsystem's catalog include, "Daft Punk is Playing at my House", "Sounds of Silver", "New York I Love You, But You're Bringing Me Down", "Dance Yrself Clean", "Us V Them", "Never Tired As When I Wake Up", and "Drunk Girls", among many, many others. These particular songs just happen to be my favorites, and the reasons why I'm nominated them today. "Daft Punk is Playing at My House" is a great introduction to the band. The song has a pretty cool guitar groove with some great drums and vocals. The song is about setting up for a Daft Punk show at James Murphy's home. This song is LCD Soundsystem at their criticizing peak. The song is a joke and it's awesome. Let "Daft Punk is Playing at My House" be your guide to all the great, "silliness" that is LCD Soundsystem. "Sounds of Silver" is a pretty awesome, pretty straight forward rock and roll song. It starts out with some acapella singing from Murphy and then morphs into a traditional rock song, that totally works. While it is a traditional rock song, LCD Soundsystem adds their twist to it, and it works to perfection. It's a great opener to the album of the same name. "New York I Love You, But You're Bringing Me Down" is such a sad, yet sweet song about the state that this band formed. It's a beautiful song, accompanied by some eloquent, sad piano playing. when the guitar comes in, it's such a cool change of pace. The song is slow, for the most part, but when the two guitars come in, distortion heavy I might add, it transform into an excellent rock song. I love this song. It makes me feel like I'm in New York, although I've never been there, and I feel their pain about longing for the city that New York used to be. Lyrics like, "your millionaire mayor is now convinced he's a king", or "New York I love you, but you're freaking me out", are so beautifully poetic and at the same time sad. I love this song. "Dance Yrself Clean" is LCD Soundsystem at their absolute best. The song starts out with a 2 and a half minute quiet opening with only Murphy's vocals and what sounds to be either a single bass or piano note. The lyrics are almost unintelligible and you keep waiting and waiting for what's going to come next. After the intro, the song bursts into a heavy electronic/rock song that is so groovy, you can't help but dance to it. There's awesome keyboard, guitar and drums in this song. Murphy's vocals, as you get further and further into the song, get better and better. This is my favorite song of theirs by far. The song goes back and forth between the quiet intro and heavy verse and chorus. I love everything about this song. Stop reading this, go listen to this 7 and a half minute epic, and come back and finish this blog. Best LCD Soundsystem song by far. "Us V Them" is so heavy and fast, I thought it was a punk song the first time I heard it. It's heavy on the guitar and the solos in this song are so awesome. In the live version, this song lasts about ten minutes, and it's so great. Once again, Murphy crushes the vocals, at one point basically screaming the words. This is the heaviest sounding LCD Soundsystem song in their entire catalog. "Never Tired As When I Wake Up" has the band doing another slow song. It's got sweet, quiet, soulful vocals from Murphy and the band playing behind him plays very slowly and sweetly. It's almost like a lullaby. The song is about being tired of life and the things going on around you. But, the worst part is how tired you are when you awake from a deep sleep. They posite the thought, that, at least when you're sleeping, you can dream away the bad feelings. But, in the end, you wake up and go about your day, no matter how tired you are. This is actually a very sad lullaby. "Drunk Girls" has the band back at their punk rock core. Fast paced with lots of bass and drums. It's another "silly" song from the band. It's about how stupid all people get when they're drunk. The title is meant to be satirical. This is a good, short song from the band. These are all great songs and anyone thinking about listening to the band, use these songs as your gateway.

Next, James Murphy's awesomeness. James Murphy is, in my opinion and a lot of others, an alt rock god. He's so cool and confident and great at what he does. He even wore full, three piece suits when the band performed live. He had and has a style that is all his own. People don't compare him to anyone else, because there's no one else like him. He's unique. His contemporaries adore him as well. The band Arcade Fire loves James Murphy and LCD Soundsystem. They were influenced by him and the band in my opinion (ed note: James Murphy did produce Arcade Fire's last album Reflektor). Reggie Watts and James Murphy performed live a bunch of times. Murphy has even gotten into acting lately and made friends with alt comic geniuses Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim. Basically, James Murphy might be the coolest person on the planet. He's an awesome dude.

Which brings me to my last point and reason they belong in the debate, the concert film, "Shut Up and Play the Hits". This movie chronicles their last concert they ever performed as a band at Madison Square Garden. This might be the best concert film ever made. That's right, I think it's better than "The Last Waltz" or "Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars" or any other concert movie you put up against it. This is a phenomenal portrait of what it's like to put on a show and how hard it is for a band to quit. There's so many emotions running through everybody in the band, the performers that played with them and even the fans. The fans are so excited for the show, but they also don't want it to end, because they know, this is it. They have never performed live or in the studio as LCD Soundsystem since this show. The movie moves seamlessly from the band back stage being emotional, to them performing their hits, to the crowd cheering and dancing and crying. They close out the show with "New York I Love You, But You're Bringing Me Down", and the song lasts forever. They don't want the show to end and neither do the fans. The house lights come up, but the band is still playing and they even drop balloons on the sold out crowd, that's still there. This movie is enough for me to put them in the greatest American band debate, but all the other reasons I've mentioned make my case even stronger.

So, these are the reasons I nominate LCD Soundsystem for greatest American band. Tell me why I'm wrong or right in the comment section, and go out and listen to the awesome band known as LCD Soundsystem.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor and co host of the X Millennial Man podcast. The head editor suggest Ty give Reflektor a listen, he can borrow the editor's copy. Follow Ty on twitter @tykulik.

The Greatest American Band Debate: Guns N' Roses

SeedSing is filled with music lovers. We can not agree on who is the best band from the States. The Greatest American Band Debate will be a regular feature where we discuss and compare bands who started in the good old USA. If you have any suggestions of bands we should debate Contact us seedsing.rdk@gmail.com

On the morning of November 23rd, 2008 I purchased my first Guns N' Roses album. I left work that morning so I could get to my local Best Buy and be one of the first people to get my hands on the highly anticipated Chinese Democracy. I had been a fan of Guns N' Roses since the beginning, and owned many of their songs through burned cds and mp3s, but this was going to be the first album I paid american currency for. I had heard many of the tracks leaked online, and I was pumped. Chinese Democracy was set to be the greatest album of my generation. Over the last decade all music fans were waiting for this album. Early reviews were positive. I drove around in my car listening to Chinese Democracy from beginning to end. I was happy, yet I was also underwhelmed. Their greatness was still not to be questioned.

Guns N' Roses torched the horrendous glam rack scene with their debut album Appetite for Destruction. The Whitesnakes, Ratts, and Poisons of the world were finally going to be wiped away from my MTV. G N' R was making raw, hard rock popular again. The opening riff of "Sweet Child o' Mine" was the "Satisfaction" of my generation. Slash was about to give generation x our greatest guitarist. Axl Rose's wail was lyrical and animalistic. Duff McKagen, Steven Adler, and Izzy Stradlin (who I always thought was the live version of Steve Dallas) rounded out a band that would usher in a golden age of American rock. Guns N' Roses was a fast living, hard rocking, antidote to the squareness of Reagan's america. The greatest american band was born in fire and burned extra bright.

Guns N' Roses had great music, and they also had a Spinaltapness to their lives. Drugs, groupies, and other general debauchery cemented G N' R as the new rock gods. During the summer of 1991 I was working landscaping at the neighborhood I was living at in St. Louis. One of my older colleague's brought me to his apartment and showed me his framed ticket from the July 2nd Guns N' Roses show at Riverport Amphitheater. This show was famous because Axl Rose jumped into the crowd to beat the hell out of fan with a camera. Security was lax at the show, the band stormed off, and a riot ensued. I learned in my landscaping partners apartment that day that Axl may hate St. Louis, but G N' R fans in St. Louis love the band. Riot be damned. A band that can tear apart your stadium, and still be loved, is a band that kicks ass.

I immediately started to borrow G N' R albums from my friends. I knew there was some awesome filthiness in a song like "Rocket Queen". Epics like "Don't Cry" and "November Rain" just kept building into magnificent pieces of music. Even covers like "Knocking on Heaven's Door" carried the distinct mark of Guns N' Roses.  All the turmoil and overexposure of being the world's greatest rock band seemed to not slow Guns N' Roses down. America once again ruled the rock landscape, and it was only going to get better.

This is the part in "Behind the Music" where the screen goes to black and white and the music becomes slow, because all of Guns N' Rose's success was about to come crashing down. The band had been fracturing for years, but when Slash officially left, G N' R seemed to be finished. Like all epic rock band stories, drugs, women, and creative differences ended the success of america's greatest band. So it seemed.

The end of the road was not in sight for Axl Rose. The decade long hype for Chinese Democracy was proof of our appetite for Guns N' Roses. The early 2000's were filled with embarrassing performances from Axl and his latest incarnation of Guns N' Roses. The internet was filled with false starts for Chinese Democracy.  Even Dr. Pepper was caught in the crossfire of the debacle. Axl and Slash refused to play together at their 2012 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction. The glory days for G N' R seemed long gone, yet the band continues to make top music news anytime we hear their name.

There are still rumors of new Guns N" Roses music. Whenever it seems like their best days are gone, Axl Rose can still command attention just by using the cred built up by G N' R's golden age. Epic debauchery, band infighting, and kick ass music easily makes Guns N' Roses The Greatest American Band. Their best stuff may be twenty years old, but when the newest delayed album drops in ten years, I will be at Best Buy when the doors open.

RD Kulik

RD is the Head Editor for SeedSing. He wants to hear from you what kind of music rocks. Write for us.

The Greatest American Band Debate: The Velvet Underground

SeedSing is filled with music lovers. We can not agree on who is the best band from the States. The Greatest American Band Debate will be a regular feature where we discuss and compare bands who started in the good old USA. If you have any suggestions of bands we should debate Contact us seedsing.rdk@gmail.com

My submission today for our Greatest American Rock Band debate is the Velvet Underground.

I came to the Velvet Underground late in my life. I was in my early twenties when my oldest brother and my father gave me their self titled album. I was immediately hooked. What stood out most to me was, Lou Reed's "singing" and his beautifully written lyrics. I put singing in quotes because, he didn't so much sing, he talked. It was like written poetry put to great, very experimental for the time, music. I was in love and I gobbled up there short, but prolific music catalog. People will say, they reunited and made more albums, or after Lou Reed left, they still made music as the Velvet Underground, but the band that I'm submitting today is the one that put out three, others will say four, albums in a short 5 years. Those three albums they released were all great and extremely influential to what is now known as alternative rock. Without Velvet Underground, we'd never had other great American bands like Soundgarden, Pearl Jam or even Nirvana. Go back and listen to Velvet Underground, then listen to Nirvana and try to tell me with a straight face that Kurt Cobain wasn't heavily influenced by Lou Reed and Velvet Underground.

Before people jump on me and say, they're not an American band, Nico is from Germany and she made them famous, I say bull shit, Nico was a terrible singer and the album she made with them is great because of Lou Reed. She was only on one album as well. This band was created and made it big in New York City. All the important people involved with Velvet Underground are from America and they're an American band. Let's get to what puts them in the discussion for greatest American band.

First of all, Velvet Underground had two of the greatest rock musicians and writers in the first incarnation of the band in Lou Reed and John Cale. These two are some of the greatest writers in the history of music, and a lot of people would say they're responsible for creating alt rock. They both went on to bigger things after leaving Velvet Underground, but they did their best stuff together. I don't think you can argue that, it's a fact. As I've already stated, Nico was heavily involved with their debut album, but so was eccentric artist Andy Warhol. He was solely responsible for adding Nico to the band, and while some may same it was genius, I personally believe he was intimate with her and that's why she was a member, albeit short lived, with Velvet Underground. There's no denying that she helped make them a household name, but I think she's wildly overrated. She still deserves a mention when talking about Velvet Underground though. Same can be said for Andy Warhol. His cover for their debut album is iconic, but that and his involvement with Nico are the only connections to the band. They also had a great, very underrated singer and drummer in Moe Tucker. Her singing on their third album was revelatory to me. In my opinion, she's a thousand times better than Nico and I wished they found her before befriending Nico and Andy Warhol. Moe Tucker should be talked about right along with Nico, but unfortunately, she isn't and that's a shame. Doug Yule was in the band at the beginning, but what he's best known for is, continuing the band after Lou Reed departed. They were never as good, but the name Velvet Underground sure draws a crowd and Yule knew that. He's no Lou Reed, but he's not a dummy either.

Let us now look at their albums and songs that make them great. Their debut album, "Velvet Underground and Nico" is easily their most widely known album. Every music fan needs to own this record, not for what Nico and Andy Warhol add to it, but for the brilliant song writing from Lou Reed. Songs on this album include classics like, "Waiting For the Man", "Run, Run, Run", "Femme Fatale", "All Tomorrow's Parties" and the wonderfully, brutally sad "Heroin". "Waiting For the Man" is a great rock and roll song about a guy(most will say Lou Reed), waiting at the corner for his drug dealer. It's got a great guitar riff and wonderful lyrics about a junkie waiting to get his fix. "Run, Run, Run" is a fast paced, Velvet Underground version of a punk song. It's talk-singed wonderfully by Lou Reed. "Femme Fatale" and "All Tomorrow's Parties" put Nico on showcase. Her vocals are weak, but the instrumentation is excellent in both songs. Each song has a slow psychedelic burn to them and they build and build to these huge endings that are wonderful masterpieces, Listen to these songs for the instruments, not for Nico's vocals. Velvet Underground's best and most known song is "Heroin". This song is brutal, but wonderful. It's a seven plus minute ode to a junkie succumbing to the joy and then inevitable pain that heroin brings to him. I've never so much as smoked a cigarette or drank a beer in my life, but this song describes how to do heroin to perfection. It's eerie because you know that Lou Reed is speaking from experience. This song is so painfully beautiful. I love everything about it, especially how upsetting it is.

They garnered fame and fans from this album, but they ditched Andy Warhol and Nico, and went on to make the weirdest, most experimental album I've ever heard. I don't know if I like this album, but I know it's great. It's like the "Citizen Kane" of Velvet Underground music. The album I'm speaking of is, "White Light/White Heat". The album only has six songs, but it's running time is well over an hour long, The song, "Sister Ray" is the 17 minute, 27 second closer to the album. It can at times be both frustrating and exciting to listen to. There's a lot of wailing on instruments, some great, some weird. Never in my life to that point had I heard a 17 minute long studio song, and this song tells me why you shouldn't do it, but dammit, it's a very influential song to bands like Mars Volta and King Crimson. "Sister Ray" was their introduction to making these expanding punk rock type songs. "The Gift" is another long song on the album, clocking in at over 8 minutes. I like this song for the instrumentation. This is a jam type song, but it has structure to it and I never get bored listening to it. "Here She Comes Now" is a back to basics, short rock song. "Here She Comes Now" is the "hit" of this album. "White Light/White Heat" may frustrate me at times, but I understand why it's an important and influential album.

For their third, and in my opinion, last studio album(people will say that "Loaded" was their last true studio,I disagree), they went back to basics and, as my father called it, made a soft rock/punk album with, "Velvet Underground". This is, by far, my favorite Velvet Underground album. This was the record my oldest brother and dad gave me first, my entry into the Velvet Underground universe. These are softer, almost easy listening type songs. "Pale Blue Eyes" is a beautifully underscored song about the lady in Lou Reed's life and how pretty her blue eyes are. It's sweet in a way. Really great, slowish guitar and drums on that song. "Beginning to See the Light" is more up tempo and a basic rock and roll song. "I'm Set Free" is a great song about getting off drugs and your eyes clearing and seeing that there's a whole world out there that you can discover without drugs. This album is upbeat, a total departure from what they were doing before. The closing track, "Close the Door", is sung by Moe Tucker and it's a sweet lullaby about a couple going to bed together. I adore this album and will be forever grateful to my dad and brother for introducing it to me.

Like I said earlier, a lot of people will tell me I left "Loaded" off the list, but for me, after "Velvet Underground" they were never the same band again. They released a bunch of live albums and even reunited, but these three albums are the best of Velvet Underground. They're great and monumentally influential to modern day alternative music. Lou Reed is a genius and will forever be one of the greatest writers of all time.

These are the many reasons that Velvet Underground belongs in the conversation for Greatest American Rock band.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the co host of the X Millennial Man podcast. He thinks the soup inside a Campbell's soup can does not get enough credit. Follow Ty on twitter @tykulik.

Cloves and Fedoras: Lux Lisbon is a band you should know

Some new music to make your ears happy.

Cloves and Fedoras is SeedSings reviews for little known pieces of pop culture.  Feel free to contact us with your own submissions of undiscovered gems that must be known.

I was recently introduced to a new band via Twitter. They started following me and sent me a direct message that had a free download of their new ep. I was very happy to receive this gift. I downloaded the ep and just recently gave it a listen and it's really, really good.

The band is called Lux Lisbon and the ep is titled "Get Some Scars". This is a really cool thing they're doing for their fans, sending out a link for a free download. Believe me, the album is well worth multiple listens. They're an English band, but you can hear influences from all over the world. My wife was listening and she said they reminded her of the band Queen. My son and I were listening to it in the car, he's only three years old by the way, and he said to me, "daddy, this sounds like Oasis. The ones you and mommy listen to". I've listened to the ep a few times now and I hear traits of Glen Hansard, Fleetwood Mac and old blues musicians like Howlin Wolf. The singer has a great voice, and while not as gruff as Howlin Wolf, he's got a cool, raspy voice that works perfectly for their style. The female singer is better than Amy Whinehouse in my personal opinion. When she sings, "Devil Got Me Dancing", I got chills. Her voice is that good.

Other songs I really enjoyed were, "Keep Me Wild" and "Demons You Show". "Keep Me Wild" has a great acoustic guitar and the singer is really bringing out his inner Glen Hansard, almost yelling the lyrics. It's really intense in the best possible way. "Demons You Show" is a great rock song that needs to get some radio play. I like every song on the ep, those are just my favorites.

The band even includes bonus tracks and you get some live songs and some stuff they did at the BBC. I like when bands do that on their album. That shows their true musicianship and Lux Lisbon doesn't disappoint. These guys are really good and I think they will be a pretty big band within the next year. They have something special about them. I'm just glad they contacted me via Twitter and gave me the free download. It was a great idea by them and more, less known bands should do the same thing. I know that when a new album comes out from Lux Lisbon, I'll buy it the day they release it. So, check this band out and let them know how awesome they are, because they're really, really good. And I'd just like to say thanks again for contacting me and hooking me up with the download.

You guys and girls are awesome.

You can download Lux Lisbon's music for free on their website luxlisbon.com

Ty 

Ty is the Pop Culture Editor for SeedSing and co-host of the X Millennial Man podcast. If you send him music, he only asks that it is good music. Follow Ty on twitter @tykulik.