Your Top 5 Bands and/or Musicians of all Time

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cedica
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Re: Your Top 5 Bands and/or Musicians of all Time

Post by cedica »

Skitr, posts from 2022 already! Is it time to start slogging again?

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Eli Watson
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Re: Your Top 5 Bands and/or Musicians of all Time

Post by Eli Watson »

If you love Songs for the Deaf by Queens of the Stone Age, strap in. If not, you may want to skip ahead. It's one of my top 5 albums ever, and I'm going to shamelessly geek out about it herein. It's tangentially mountain related. This post will work best if you're closely familiar with the album.



For anyone unfamiliar, the third studio release by the California Desert borne Queens of the Stone Age entitled Songs for the Deaf (2002) is a concept album intended to take the listener from the heart of Downtown Los Angeles out to the desert town of Joshua Tree primarily by US-60 & US-62. You, the driver, are tuning into radio stations along the way that reflect the passing cities en route. Having done this drive myself, it's all but perfect. For a wonderful in-depth analysis check out this reddit post. Worry not, the rest of my post won't be anywhere near as detailed as that linked.

Driving in Colorado is pretty amazing, but California is a race track if you can catch traffic at the right time. There's a certain lawlessness in the desert that only exists in the fringes of Colorado far away from the I-70 corridor... which also happen to be my favorite parts. Only once have I hit the speeds in Denver that are standard in the concrete hive of Los Angeles. Ever since doing this drive myself and gaining newfound appreciation for each and every song on the album, I've always looked for an equivalent drive in Colorado which encapsulates that transition from the chaotic feverish pace of the introductory track through the weird and zealous environments to a calm and tranquil resolution. The album clocks in right around an hour (+/- depending on whether you're pressing play on a CD and starting with Track 1 "You Think I Ain't Worth a Dollar, But I Feel Like a Millionaire" or pressing play on Spotify/streaming services with Track 0 "The Real Song for the Deaf", and whether you're including the bonus tracks). I'll refrain from from getting bogged down in some of the options I've considered, but I've honed in on southside Denver through Colorado Springs towards Cañon City.

Driving on I-25 Southbound, if you press play on Track 1 at Exits 195ish it's about as close of a match as I've found yet. The cheeky radio host of the intro track brings you into the metro-mania of Top 40s and pop hits. Traffic on the southside isn't nearly as infuriating as anything north of the 70 & 76 interchanges nor even the 55 mph zones through city center, and therefore some of the variably paced chaos of the first track is lost a bit. However you want to start the album late enough that you both optimally time the Gap, and it lasts all the way through to the Springs without having to repeat tracks (as you do in the Southern California original), but I digress. You roll through the hills as you climb towards Castle Rock along to "No One Knows" and "First It Giveth". The high energy "Song for the Dead", which is a favorite of mine, pulls you into Castle Rock as you struggle to maintain any semblance of the speed limit and out the other side into "The Sky is Fallin'". The wacky radio interlude between songs throws you into the cranked-out speed of "Six Shooter" as you, appropriately, shoot the Gap. It's damn satisfying if you time it right and traffic is conducive to zoom zooms.

"Hangin' Tree" brings you into Monument, and Southern Colorado opens up before you to "Go With the Flow" and "I'm Gonna Leave You". As "Do It Again" fades out, the radio interludes really start to shine from here to the end. The album originally simulates the driver escaping the hot metropolis of Los Angeles, cresting passes into the low Palm Desert before finally arriving in the high desert on the outskirts of the Mojave to the tune of increasingly fringe radio hosts / DJs. Just like any other transition from booming metropolis to fringe communities, there are some distinct belief systems that ebb and flow between the two juxtaposed worlds. This can be readily grasped through obvious demonstrations like billboards, or more subtle nuances like the spectrum of radio stations available in an area. Colorado Springs isn't what I would call a "fringe community", especially compared to the edges of the Mojave Desert and the Morongo Basin, but I don't think it's unfair to say that the reputations of the largest two cities on the Front Range are uniquely contrasted considering their close proximity. Similarly Missouri has some of the loosest drinking laws in the state and in response Kansas has some of the more restrictive; these borders of ideological clashes inevitably arise. Nevertheless, "God Is in the Radio" as you approach the Springs and the radio tunings get stranger and more zealous. It is the reputation of the Springs in particular that really sell this route alongside the album.

Exit I-25 at last, and turn onto 115 South towards Penrose / Florence. Roll through the hills alongside Fort Carson, as the wailing guitars of "Song for the Deaf" scream. You've almost made it out of the Front Range city-scapes, but you've got one last test of red lights and limited speeds before you can open up through the foothills southwest of Colorado Springs. The eerie but calming "Mosquito Song" comes through, and you've done it: you've escaped. Breathe a sigh of relief and enjoy the wonderful drive south up to the Wet Mountain Valley, or the incredible stretch of US-50 to Salida. You're in a different world entirely than you left an hour ago. Subaru's and Tesla's have been replaced by trucks and 4x4s. Welcome to Fremont County and beyond.

Anyway, if you entertained me this far thanks for reading. All of this is subject to how fast you choose to drive I-25 South, of course. This was me nerding out about one of my all-time albums that I've enjoyed en route to my all-time regions of our colorful state.
Last edited by Eli Watson on Thu Oct 06, 2022 9:24 am, edited 1 time in total.
People who are hardcore don't think they're hardcore. Marshall Ulrich, Fastest Known Podcast #85
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cedica
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Re: Your Top 5 Bands and/or Musicians of all Time

Post by cedica »

^^^ The world needs more essays like this. And those perfect song transitions that we used to seek on mix tapes. That's metal, brother!
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-wren-
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Re: Your Top 5 Bands and/or Musicians of all Time

Post by -wren- »

cedica wrote: Tue Feb 01, 2022 7:34 am ^^^ The world needs more essays like this. And those perfect song transitions that we used to seek on mix tapes. That's metal, brother!
The search of perfect song transitions is still alive and well in playlists among some of us!
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12ersRule
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Re: Your Top 5 Bands and/or Musicians of all Time

Post by 12ersRule »

Enjoyed the hell out of your QOTSA essay, Eli. I love that album ("God is in the Radio" is my favorite track) and "Rated R". The later QOTSA albums don't quite do it for me, but they generally have a couple of gems on all of them. Really dig Kyuss as well.

Still a lot of good music out there, it's just harder to find.

Here's what I'm liking right now:

Sports Team -

The Oreilles -

She Drew the Gun -
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Brian Thomas
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Re: The Ballad Of Deuces Wild

Post by Brian Thomas »

12ersRule wrote: Tue Feb 01, 2022 8:19 am
Sharing that Deuce love for Valentine's Day...

"I try my best to be just like I am, but everybody wants you to be just like them" - Bob Dylan
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Re: Your Top 5 Bands and/or Musicians of all Time

Post by 12ersRule »

Happy V day Brian, hope it was a good one.

Probably gonna see these guys at the Larimer Lounge this Sunday. Still need to get a ticket though.

UPDATE: purchased ticket.

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cedica
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Re: Your Top 5 Bands and/or Musicians of all Time

Post by cedica »

Nina Hagen is back in business with this ongoing "reunion", ahmmm. It is beginning to look almost like good old days.
](*,)
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Re: Your Top 5 Bands and/or Musicians of all Time

Post by FireOnTheMountain »

Gettin a little too new school in here (no offense...). That was a cool essay/story Eli!

Everyday is a G r A t E f U L Day here in the ID...?
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Re: Your Top 5 Bands and/or Musicians of all Time

Post by FireOnTheMountain »

Every now again, some Bob is good for the soul too!

Everyday is a G r A t E f U L Day here in the ID...?
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Re: Your Top 5 Bands and/or Musicians of all Time

Post by greenonion »

What would be your more relevant title for this thread since it has, ummm, veered a bit?
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Re: Your Top 5 Bands and/or Musicians of all Time

Post by 12ersRule »

Here's a good gray weather day spotify playlist I have - Smashing Pumpkins, Sonic Youth, Lush, Brian Jonestown Massacre - that sort of thing.

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5eilw ... =copy-link

Any other recommendations based on that list?
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