Happy Hour

Favorite Forms Of Music

I am, how they say, 'very' heavy into music. In this edition of 'Happy Hour' I would like to briefly discuss my favorite forms of music. After all, there are many different genres. This is in no particular order, but we will be staring with my very favorite one.

Minneapolis Music, as perfected by Prince, is my absolute favorite. I did a blog a while back on Prince, so this should come as no surprise. This book Got To Be Something Here by Andrea Swennson gives a pretty interesting account of the history of music in Minneapolis, and its evolution with Prince. His style of music was very distinct and unique; you always knew a Prince song when you heard it on the radio. If you are unfamiliar, but curious, I would say take a listen to the 1999 album for a prime example. Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis are superb practitioners of this style of music as well, and I would recommend Janet Jackson's Control album in this regard.

Funk is probably my second favorite perhaps tied with Pop. Pop is fun, and who can resist a finger snappin' toe tappin' tune? It is hard to argue with the top 40...well, it used to be. Funk, on the other hand, reaches a little deeper. There is something about funky music that makes a person make stink face.

Stink face is a good thing when listening to funk, and the go to guy here is George Clinton. I first heard of George through Prince, of course, and ended up purchasing all of his stuff. I got into Bernie Worell and Bootsy Collins as well. I have a separate playlist on my iPod for 'Funk,' because I love it so much.

I really got into New Age music in the nineties. Some people think of it as boring, meandering, zombie noise as George Carlin once put it, but it depends on the group. I agree some New Age music is kind of boring to listen to, but when done right it can be very contemplative and spiritually enlightening. Also, I lump in several different types of music into this category such as Celtic, Electronic, etc. The best group in this category is Enigma. They have been making music for a long time, and still are. You cannot go wrong with any of their stuff. I have tons of movie soundtracks, and some of them I consider New Agey like Gone Girl by Trent Reznor or the original Tron album by Wendy Carlos.

I love R&B and Soul music, but mostly old school stuff like New Edition, Kool and the Gang, and En Vogue. I also like Angie Stone, who I discovered through Prince. I think R&B peaked in the nineties however, but the list of groups, and thus material, is vast.

Prince introduced me to Jazz with his Madhouse albums, and Candy Dulfer. I have all of her stuff, she is amazing. I also love Herb Alpert, who I discovered through Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, and I have all of his stuff also. He is truly remarkable. Sheila E. did some great jazz music as did several people who worked with Prince in Minneapolis such as Rhoda G. and Eric Leeds.

It should go without saying that Classical music is a favorite. I love Beethoven, but I really like any 'dark' classical song that has either an eerie or melancholy tone. I find that Russian composers tend to create these types of songs. Go figure...

I like old school 'positive' rap by guys like Father MC. Again, you have to go back to the nineties for most of this, but DJ Jazzy Jeff and The Fresh Prince were pretty good as were MC Hammer and Salt-N-Pepa.

I do not really care for country, to be honest, but I respect it. Their songs tend to be clean not vulgar, sweet not salacious, and patriotic. They tend not to sing about how shitty the country is, or about shooting cops.

I do not like Gangsta Rap. I have some of it only because George Clinton was involved. Guys like Tupac, Ice Cube, and Snoop Dog have incorporated George and his style into some of their stuff so I like those particular songs. Snoop even remade "Cool," which is The Time's first hit, so I have that too. By and large, I cannot tolerate that shit, and especially today's stuff. Holy cow it sucks!

No techno. Never did and never will like it. The closest I ever got was The Seduction of Claude Debussy by The Art Of Noise. I love The Art Of Noise and have all of their stuff. I actually liked this album, but only they could pull that off.

Then you have things like New Wave, Hard Rock, Heavy Metal, and Alternative just to name a few of the other styles of music. I may have some Kiss, Van Halen, and Guns N' Roses songs, but largely do not care for this genre. I liked New Wave back in the eighties, but I sort of lump that in with Pop. Can someone please explain to me what Alternative music is? I would really like a clear cut definition, please get back to me. Thank you, and that is all for now.