Ty Revisits "Talkin Blues"

Recently I have been back on a reggae music kick. I have been listening to older Jimmy Cliff, Toots and the Maytals and, of course, Bob Marley. There is also some solo Peter Tosh thrown in there, but it is mostly Marley and Cliff. The other day I was looking for some older Marley stuff to listen to, his more ska/early reggae music stuff, but I came across the record "Talkin Blues". I remember liking this album when I first heard it some 15 or so years ago. But at that time, all of The Wailers stuff was great. I decided I was going to check out "Talkin Blues" again to see if it holds up.

Well, not only does it hold up, this is officially my favorite Wailers album. It has that VH1 Storytellers or Unplugged or NPR's small desk concerts vibe to it. Almost every song is interspersed with Bob Marley talking about the band, the songs or just life in general. It is neat to hear what he has to say about these topics. I also like hearing his talking voice. He is very Jamaican, and I love that accent. When you get to the songs, it is almost like a greatest hits record, and every song is recorded live. When doing some research on everyone's favorite website, Wikipedia, I found out the album wasn't released until 1991, but it was recorded between 1973-75. I wonder why there was such a delay, but it was worth it to get this wonderful, timeless album.

The tracks on the album include, "Talkin Blues", "Burnin and Lootin", "Kinky Reggae", "Get Up, Stand Up", "Slave Driver", "Walk the Proud Land", "Lively Up Yourself", "You Can't Blame the Youth", "Stop that Train", "Rastaman Chant", "Am-A-Do", "Bend Down Low" and "I Shot the Sheriff". That is a murderer's row of the band's songs. And to get to hear them all live, recorded live in a studio, it just adds to the allure of this album. It also starts off with a bang with "Talkin Blues". When you can kick off a record with a funky reggae song, it will hook the listener right away. Hearing "Talkin Blues" right at the top took me back to when I first heard this album and when I fell in love with it. Bob Marley's voice is so unique and vibrant and wonderful and perfect. No one can replicate him, and that is why he is one of the greatest musicians and writers of all time, and far and away the greatest reggae artist of all time. Then they come right at you with a classic. "Burnin and Lootin" is as relevant now and it is just as awesome. "Kinky Reggae" is one of my all time favorite songs, and to hear it live, in a studio setting, adds just a little extra pizzazz to it that I love. When Peter Tosh gets to take over the vocals, we get two of the best songs ever written and performed. His version of "Stop that Train" is soulful reggae at its best. It is so good. He tops that with his performance on "You Can't Blame the Youth". That song literally changed my life and how I viewed historical figures. I read up on the people he talked about in the song and realized how horrible they were. I also appreciate the message of the song. We truly cannot blame the youth if we do not give them honest answers and raise them to respect people. The lyric, "when every Christmas comes you give the youth a fancy toy gun/so you can't blame the youth when they turn bad", speaks volumes to me. I will not buy, and I ask family members as well, to not give my kids toy guns because I am so anti gun. I will even cite this lyric when telling them why I do not want them to buy my kids toy guns. Then they close it out with three stone cold classics. We get "Rastaman Chant", which is a truly perfect reggae song, "Am-A-Do", which may not be as well known, but it is so danceable and "Bend Down Low", which is some baby making reggae music.

This album is so perfect. I am so glad I revisited it. I am so happy that I can go to it anytime I want to hear some classic reggae music by the greatest reggae band of all time. I know that Bob Marley is loved by a ton of people, but it still isn't enough in my opinion. He should be listed on every list as one of the greatest musicians ever. And "Talkin Blues" definitely belongs in the greatest albums talk from now on. It is a classic.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

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Happy Birthday Bob Marley

Before I get into what I am going to talk about today, I want to praise Martellus Bennett. He is a true patriot by refusing to go to the White House to take a picture with the current "president". He is standing by his beliefs, I fully agree and support his decision, his team should too, and I hope this leads to many, many other pro athletes refusing to go to the White House. I know that a second Patriots player has already said that he will not go as well. This makes me very happy that pro athletes, who make millions upon millions of dollars, can see the injustice and stand up for what they believe in. This is just the start, and I know more athletes and coaches, and maybe, just maybe, owners will stand by their players and protest this terrible, awful, racist "government", and not go to these photo ops. Nothing would upset that puppet and child more than pro athletes refusing to come say hi and take a picture. Thank you for starting the revolution Martellus Bennett, and hopefully the majority of pro athletes that win championships will also refuse to go to the White House for the next 4 years.

Okay, now for my main point of today. Yesterday would have been Bob Marley's 72nd birthday. I was going to write about him yesterday, but I had to touch on the Super Bowl. Bob Marley is, and always will be, an idol of mine. He was my introduction to "real" music. Before Bob Marley, I did not listen to music with instruments and decent singers. I was busy listening to pop and crappy rap music. I still listen to some pop music, and my taste in rap has gotten much, much better. But, Bob Marley was my guide. He was my intro to good music. My father and brother sat me down and they played me a bunch of music that they thought I'd like. I heard Cream, Bob Dylan, Run DMC, Ben Harper, Public Enemy, among many others, and while I was blown away by them all, Bob Marley was the one that I kept going back to. I could not get enough of his voice. I could not get enough of his band. 

At the time, I did not understand his message, but as I got older and devoured his entire catalog, I began to not only understand, but also agree with pretty much everything he was singing about. Bob Marley was an activist in a very volatile time in his homeland of Jamaica. He stood up for the downtrodden and did everything he could to help. We could really use a person like him today, that is for sure. But, he always gave back to his people. He always went back home to see his people and help out anyway he could.

Bob Marley was also heavily involved in his religion, Rastafarianism. He was a very close personal friend of Hailee Saliasse, when they were both still alive. Bob Marley was a man that not only talked the talk, he walked the walk. He was a true power to the people person. It is a bummer that he died so young. His religion forbade him from surgery, which could have removed the cancer that started in his toe and spread through his entire body, but he still lived all 36 of his years on Earth to the fullest.

We know Bob Marley for his music, and it is absolutely timeless. I can put on any record of his, and it feels relevant no matter the time. From ages 16-22, Bob Marley was all I listened to. As I said earlier, I devoured his music. I devoured his life story. I was, and I do not think I'm exaggerating, probably the biggest Bob Marley fan in the state of Missouri. His music was literally all I listened to for 6 years. I did everything I could to be like, and act like Bob Marley. I even had dreadlocks for a time, when I had hair. I always proclaim that Robert Johnson was my gateway to playing guitar, and he is, but Bob Marley was my gateway to good music. Through Marley, I learned that music played with instruments could be great. I loved the reggae sound. I loved the heartbeat rhythm to the music. I always feel relaxed when I listen to Bob Marley. His voice in undeniably unique as well. Marley has the greatest voice in the history of reggae music, and one of the greatest voices in music ever. It is so damn great. I even try to mimic his tone when I am singing along in my car, which can be very embarrassing for my wife and kids, but Marley's music moves me like that. I wanted to have a Jamaican accent when I was a high schooler because of Bob Marley.

I just wanted to wish one of my all time favorite musicians a belated happy birthday. I wish he were still alive, god we could really, really use him right now, and I miss him every time I hear his records. If you want some suggestions, go listen to records like "Exodus", "Catch a Fire", "Talkin Blues", his 4 disc box set of all his music, his early ska/reggae stuff, or my personal favorite record, "Burnin and Lootin". It is all great, and given the corrupt nature of the world right now, the music is incredibly poignant. I wish you were still alive, but at least I have your music to listen to for the rest of my life, and that is a great gift you left us. Happy belated birthday Bob Marley, and Rest in Peace.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He is a strong believer in getting up, and standing up, for your rights. Follow Ty on instagram and twitter.

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The Greatest American Band Debate: What is Hip and Cool is Always Changing

So, I never really thought I was getting old until very recently. Now, I'm not old by any means. I'm 33 and I'll turn 34 near the end of 2016. But, working with younger kids has made me feel kind of old. I will reference players that I assume everyone knows, even if that everyone includes children that were born in 2010. I made a reference to Shaquille O'Neal and Shawn Kemp during basketball season, and the kids, especially the 5 and 6 year olds stared at me blankly. I didn't realize they have no idea who those guys are and Shaq is a sure fire hall of famer. But, the younger players only know of LeBron James and Steph Curry. At least most know who Michael Jordan is, even if it only means they know about his sneakers, they at least know the name.

But, sports aside, I am getting pretty old when it comes to pop music and music played on the radio. I recently sat down with my 12 and 9 year old nieces, you'll hear them on the podcast tomorrow, and the people they were telling me about, I maybe knew 1/3 or even a 1/4 of their names. I looked at them as blankly as my young athletes looked at me. I consider myself a pretty hip and knowledgeable person when it comes to music. But, with that being said, I do not care for pretty much all of modern pop music. There's a few people I enjoy. I like Hozier, I've written about Alabama Shakes and I'm a humongous Black Keys fan, but I was also told by my nieces that those aren't really pop bands and musicians. Their music is more rock they said.

This was the exact moment when I felt old.

This must have been what my parents felt like when I was listening to Puff Daddy and Mase and I told them that their music was old and stuffy and uncool. I finally understood what they said to me back then. I would get older one day, and what I like will not be popular anymore, if it ever was. I thought they were crazy, but they were right, as they always have been. My nieces threw some bands and singers at me and they may as well have been speaking a foreign language. As I said, they will name all these people on the podcast, but I still don't remember the names. I know of people like Taylor Swift, Maroon 5 and One Direction, which the 9 year old rants about, but those people weren't even really on their radar anymore. They've already moved on from these bands and found new singers and bands to adore.

While this makes me feel old, I also feel like this is a big problem with modern pop music. No one sticks around that long anymore. Sure, some will have two or even three hits, but the majority are new versions of "one hit wonders". There's so many bands and singers that have one hit song, but they never do anything after that. At least nothing that's played on the radio. This doesn't make them bad singers or bad bands, it just means they capitalize on one song and on a very young fan base who's musical taste isn't fully developed yet. This is not meant to be a slight, I just said I listened to Puff Daddy and Mase, but then I grew up and, in my opinion, I got way better taste in music.

I also listened to what my dad said and listened to the music he lent me the older and more mature I became. My dad introduced me to Bob Marley, Bob Dylan, The Beatles and Robert Johnson, among many, many others. This makes me hopeful that my nieces parents will do the same. Their dad is my oldest brother and he and I have similar taste in music. I hope he does what our dad did for me, but I also know that he plays good music, like Radiohead and TV on the Radio in their house, so the girls are being exposed to good music, they just don't recognize it yet, just like I didn't when my father was playing good music in the house.

I know they will come around at some point, with urging from their parents, but it was equally fascinating and upsetting at their knowledge of modern pop music. They both really do listen to everything they can, that's great and very fascinating. They devour as much pop music as they can. It's awesome that young kids still listen to so much music, even if it's stuff I don't care for. But, it's also upsetting because this is the first time that I have truly felt old. I just had no idea of what they were talking about at times and I was that old man berating young kids and their music these days. I feel like I will try and listen to some of the stuff they mentioned, but I know I won't like most of it, even before I listen to it. Modern pop is just not for me, but it has its many fans and its many fans are very young.

Both my nieces give some wonderful insight and they make me happy because they truly do love music. Music makes everyone happy and there is something for everyone. You will get old and young kids music will sound weird to you, but just think of how you felt when you were a kid and your folks wanted to listen to their music. It took me 33 years, but what I thought would never happen happened. I felt old, but it's not that bad. That's what's supposed to happen. As we get older things change and change can be odd and weird, but you will always have your thing and your music. That will never change.

I also would like to thank my nieces for talking to me and trying to open my mind to new music. It didn't work, but they put out an excellent effort. Listen to the podcast tomorrow because it's was a delight to record and I know everyone, be they 80 or 8, will really enjoy the two conversations I had with my two nieces. They were funny, insightful and a lot of fun to chat with, even though they made me feel old.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. Like Grandpa Simpson, Ty was once cool, but what was cool to Ty just changed, and now it is scary. Listen to the X Millennial Man Podcast tomorrow to hear the tale, and make sure you follow Ty on twitter @tykulik.

The Greatest American Band Debate: The Ramones

For the greatest American band debate on Seed Sing, I'm going to nominate another band that I'm not really a fan of, but to be reputable, we have to acknowledge these bands that most of the music listening population recognizes as an all time great. The band I'm going to talk about today, I actually dislike almost as much as I dislike the Beach Boys. That band is The Ramones.

The Ramones are widely considered the founders of punk rock music, a genre of music I'm not that into, but I recognize how important and influential it is and has been. For my punk rock, I go to Iggy and the Stooges, who I will write about at another date, or more prog type punk rock like King Crimson or Mars Volta, I'll also be writing about Mars Volta at a later date. King Crimson is from England, so they don't make the cut in our debate. Those three bands, in my opinion, are way, way better than The Ramones, but they aren't recognized like The Ramones. The Ramones are credited with starting punk rock because every single one of their songs is a tight 2 minutes and they only play three chords and the lyrics are sung muffled. That, for all intents and purposes, is the definition of punk rock. When it comes to my personal definition, punk rock is anarchy and disestablishment and great, complicated guitar work, especially solos.

When it comes to front men, Iggy Pop is a much better punk rock singer than Joey Ramone. You can understand most of what Iggy Pop is saying and as far as on stage theatrics, there is no one that comes close to Iggy Pop, especially not Joey Ramone. But, Joey Ramone is widely looked at as the essential punk rock front man, much to my shock. He just kind of stood on stage and garbled his way through each song. People will call that punk rock, I say, he was hiding the fact that he was not that good of a singer and he had some form of stage fright.

Then, when you look at the musicians in King Crimson or Mars Volta, they are so much better and so much more proficient than Johnny, Dee Dee and Tommy Ramone. Robert Fripp, of King Crimson, is ten thousand times the guitar player that Johnny Ramone ever wished he could be. And oh my god, Omar Rodriguez-Lopez is one of the greatest, most innovative and weirdest guitar players I've ever listened to in my entire life. I think he's an alien that was put on Earth to show us humans what a real guitar god looks and plays like. He is the Millenial's Jimmy Page. He's a guitar wizard that people will call legendary in about 20 years. I guarantee I will be telling my son about him when he's in his twenties and asks me about music from my generation. He's the man. Do people really say the same thing about Johnny Ramone? Is he a legendary, all time great guitar player? I don't think so. He doesn't have any memorable solos and he basically plays three chords on every song. Anyone that takes one guitar lesson can pretty much learn the entire Ramones song book. It is literally that easy. Just learn a G chord, a C chord and an F chord and you are good to go.

Let's get back to why some believe they are so influential. I will bend and say that without The Ramones, we would have never gotten The Sex Pistols, another band I'm not so fond of, but people love, Jello Biafra, who is a genius musician, there'd be no Black Flag, who is a much better band and Bad Brains, who are a great, great punk rock/reggae band. They did influence these bands and musicians and countless others, but the people I just mentioned took that influence, ran with it and made much, much better music than The Ramones. I know that people love the "simplicity" of their songs. Critics love the fact that they got their message out in 2 minutes or less. In my opinion, they could only handle that small amount of music because they were not that skilled. They needed to get everything done in a short amount of time because, if their songs lasted longer, they would be seen as subpar musicians and songwriters. They wouldn't be as highly regarded as they are now. Big time magazines and publications like "Billboard" or "Rolling Stone" even went as far to name them the second greatest rock group of all time, behind only The Beatles. That's down right insane. No way are they better than The Rolling Stones, Bob Marley and the Wailers, The Kinks, Public Enemy, The Beastie Boys, The Paul Butterfield Blues Band, Janis Joplin and the Holding Company, the Flying Burrito Brothers, I could literally go on and on with bands that are far superior to The Ramones.

I also acknowledge that the Ramones had a big stake and were very influential in making the cult classic movie "Rock and Roll High School" that many people adore. Have any of these people that claim to love that movie seen it lately? It does not hold up well. The movie is a lot like The Ramones music. It's kind of a muffled, garbled look at a Detroit high school in the 70's. It's boring and pointless too. I don't get the love for that movie. It's very overrated.

Look, I understand that a lot of people think The Ramones are one of the greatest American bands, I'm not one of those people. But, I also realize that we at SeedSing have to recognize and write about things we don't like or disagree with if we want to be taken seriously. So, I made the best case that a non fan of The Ramones can make. I believe that there are thousands of bands and musicians that are much, much better than The Ramones, but not everyone sees it that way. Much to my chagrin, these are the "reasons" that The Ramones belong in our greatest American band debate. Please tell me why I'm wrong in the comment section, but also check out some of the people I mentioned above and go listen to the people that The Ramones influenced instead of listening to The Ramones.

That's the best advice I can give you.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture Editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man podcast. He once adored the Ramones, then learned their entire catalog in one afternoon and moved on. 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.