I intended to tell you about it before it started, but time flies..
We have started again with our yearly tradition of the top 2000. It 
started tonight at midnight and will continue until dec 31 midnight.
And they will play ever song. Now listening to nr 1832 Whitney Houston- 
The greatest love of all. (Not my choice but there are people that like 
it).

There is some Dutch but it is mainly mainstream. (With comparatively 
little of my favorite artists ;) )

It is broadcasted also on the internet via: http://top2008.radio2.nl/
with a button labeled 'luister live' (listen live).

our top 10 for this year (that nobody will be listening to):

10	U2                      One
9	Guns n' Roses           November rain
8	Alan Parsons Project    Old and wise
7	Animals                 The house of the rising sun
6	Meat Loaf               Paradise by the dashboard light
5	Led Zeppelin            Stairway to heaven
4	Deep Purple             Child in time
3	Boudewijn de Groot      Avond
2	Eagles                  Hotel California
1	Queen                   Bohemian rhapsody

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andrel <a_l### [at] hotmailcom> wrote:
> 1 Queen                   Bohemian rhapsody

Never understood its appeal.  Musically at least, it's bad, like most pop/rock,
except it doesn't even stand out like other Queen hits for instance.

Must be one of those songs which act like a hymn to a generation or something,
with hidden messages or whatever...

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On 26-Dec-08 18:32, nemesis wrote:
> andrel <a_l### [at] hotmailcom> wrote:
>> 1 Queen                   Bohemian rhapsody
> 
> Never understood its appeal.  Musically at least, it's bad, 

says who? ;)

> like most pop/rock,
> except it doesn't even stand out like other Queen hits for instance.

Such as?

> Must be one of those songs which act like a hymn to a generation or something,
> with hidden messages or whatever...
> 

When it came out in 1975 it changed the music scene. It may not be the 
truly first but it was a long song, with lots of tempo changes and a 
video that has become an icon. Effectively a sort of mini opera. Nobody 
would have believed at the time that something like that could be a hit. 
After that and because of it the music channels became viable.

Let me guess, you were born after 1970? If so you will never be able to 
experience the shock. Just as I am not able to really understand why 
Beethoven's fifth was so shocking at the time.

(BTW I don't have it in my collection and it would not have been my nr 1 
choice but as a collective nr 1 it is well deserved)

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andrel wrote:

> When it came out in 1975 it changed the music scene.

Really?

I guess I'm too young to understand. I just like it because [parts of] 
it sounds good. ;-)

-- 
http://blog.orphi.me.uk/
http://www.zazzle.com/MathematicalOrchid*

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On 31-Dec-08 14:21, Orchid XP v8 wrote:
> andrel wrote:
> 
>> When it came out in 1975 it changed the music scene.
> 
> Really?
> 
> I guess I'm too young to understand. I just like it because [parts of] 
> it sounds good. ;-)
> 
Yeah, that is the trouble with you youngsters. No sense of history.

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andrel <a_l### [at] hotmailcom> wrote:
> 1       Queen                   Bohemian rhapsody

  I must wonder about that choice myself as well. IMO Queen had much more
epic songs, such as "I want it all", "I want to break free", "The show
must go on" and perhaps the best known one, "We will rock you" (although
that one has been abused way too much).

-- 
                                                          - Warp

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andrel <a_l### [at] hotmailcom> wrote:
> On 26-Dec-08 18:32, nemesis wrote:
> > andrel <a_l### [at] hotmailcom> wrote:
> >> 1 Queen                   Bohemian rhapsody
> >
> > Never understood its appeal.  Musically at least, it's bad,
>
> says who? ;)

Decrepit music connoisseurs. ;)

> > like most pop/rock,
> > except it doesn't even stand out like other Queen hits for instance.
>
> Such as?

Warp pointed out some...

> When it came out in 1975 it changed the music scene. It may not be the
> truly first but it was a long song, with lots of tempo changes and a
> video that has become an icon. Effectively a sort of mini opera. Nobody
> would have believed at the time that something like that could be a hit.
> After that and because of it the music channels became viable.

Videos are not music.  Musically, I still don't see the appeal.  Most classical
music offer more tempo changes than that, and certainly much more harmonic
texture juice... :)

> Let me guess, you were born after 1970? If so you will never be able to
> experience the shock.

1974 to be precise.  But yes I can look at it today and grasp in shock. ;)

> Just as I am not able to really understand why
> Beethoven's fifth was so shocking at the time.

Shocking or not, that's not why I listen to good music.  If it can't sustain
itself without lyrics, videos, shock, dancing performances and all the showbiz
flash, it's not worth it.

No, I can't help to sound like an ass... :P

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On 01-Jan-09 16:40, Warp wrote:
> andrel <a_l### [at] hotmailcom> wrote:
>> 1       Queen                   Bohemian rhapsody
> 
>   I must wonder about that choice myself as well. IMO Queen had much more
> epic songs, such as "I want it all", "I want to break free", "The show
> must go on" and perhaps the best known one, "We will rock you" (although
> that one has been abused way too much).

I am not a Queen fan, but I think all of these are straight and standard 
pop songs. Chorus refrain chorus refrain repeat until bored. Bohemian 
rhapsody is different and when it came out and was first shown on TV it 
touched a great many people. I know it was one of the few songs that my 
father was really impressed by, my wife told me that in the weeks after 
she had seen it the first time she tried to watch every music program 
hoping they would show it again. I think i did the same and so were 
many, many others. So, if there is one Queen song that stands out from 
all other Queen material it is this one. At least for my generation. As 
I remarked to Andy, if you weren't there you will not be able to 
understand what an impact this song had. Just as that I won't be able to 
experience the shock of hearing Beethoven's fifth or Heartbreak Hotel or 
Hey Jude for the first time.

Note I am writing this from a Dutch perspective, which is the only one I 
have. It may be that in other countries Bohemian Rhapsody is perceived 
differently, but here it is the one that stands out over all the other 
work. BTW the same holds for Hotel California that is also perceived 
here as the best Eagles' song. That is why they are at nrs 1 and 2, the 
Beatles, Presley, or the Floyd don't have a change of getting close to 1 
because everybody has it's own favorite.

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On 01-Jan-09 17:40, nemesis wrote:
> andrel <a_l### [at] hotmailcom> wrote:
>> Just as I am not able to really understand why
>> Beethoven's fifth was so shocking at the time.
> 
> Shocking or not, that's not why I listen to good music.  If it can't sustain
> itself without lyrics, videos, shock, dancing performances and all the showbiz
> flash, it's not worth it.

It is slightly more complicated than that. IIRC: They made this piece 
and wanted to bring it out as a single. Which was more or less 
impossible because it was too long and these tempo changes were 
considered out of the question for a pop song (strange because this is 
by definition later than the Beatles, but let's not get sidetracked). 
They decided to use a trick: add a video to it with a theatrical ending. 
Then on TV they would not be able to cut it after a few minutes. That 
worked because everyone was in awe of the video and that meant that the 
single was also played in full on the radio. It also meant that my whole 
generation has listened to it often and very focussed, so it has stuck 
in our collective memory. Incidently I think it is still a good song 
also, and it would not have worked otherwise.

Basically they created the whole concept of a music video in its own 
right just to get their song played. You have been brought up with the 
concept of music videos as a given and probably have not realized that 
when you were born the idea did not even exist yet. BTW I know that 
there were videos made before BR but they were just performances of the 
song or sometimes artistic illustrations. Yet they were there to point 
to the song, which was the important thing. Starting with BR the video 
would be a (and often *the*) key factor in the success of a song.

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On 01-Jan-09 20:08, andrel wrote:
> Chorus refrain chorus refrain repeat until bored. 

Watching some translated songs of Leonard Cohen (into Frisian) on the TV 
it suddenly dawned on me that I should have used 'stanza' or something 
like that in stead of either 'chorus' or 'refrain'. My brain keeps 
surprising me.

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