RIP Chris Cornell

Chris Cornell was found dead this morning at 52 years old.

It took me awhile to process this. Awhile back I wrote about Soundgarden as one of America's greatest bands. I was a fan of Soundgarden before most other grunge groups. Soundgarden was the psychedelic grunge group. I loved Nirvana and Pearl Jam, but for some reason, I enjoyed Soundgarden the most. They were bizarre and weird and like nothing I had ever heard before. They also made some of the most innovative and inventive music videos I have ever watched. "Black Hole Sun" to this day still scares me a teeny tiny bit.

What attracted me to their music was their guitarist, Kim Thayil, but there was always something about Cornell's voice that I really liked. He was great at grunge music, but he could also do rock and psychedelic vocals with relative ease. His voice was one of the first things that made me realize how great music with instruments can be. I love hip hop, I always will, it has probably surpassed blues music as my favorite genre, but back when Soundgarden came about, I was listening to some really crappy hip hop. Soundgarden kind of shifted my taste in music as a teenager. And while it was Thayil's crazy guitar that I loved, Cornell's voice had just as much to do with it as anything else.

Chris Cornell was different from guys like Kurt Cobain and Eddie Vedder, who he will be forever compared and mentioned in the same breath as. Kurt Cobain was pretty much the John Lennon of the grunge scene. He was the moody genius that left us way too early. Eddie Vedder is the Paul McCartney of the grunge era. He has done so much great stuff, both with and without Pearl Jam, but his best stuff is his Pearl Jam stuff. Just like McCartney's best is with the Beatles. To me, Chris Cornell was the George Harrison of the grunge genre. Now, for those of you that do not know me, that is incredibly high praise. George Harrison is not only my favorite Beatle, but he is one of my all time favorite musicians. What I loved about Harrison, I find myself liking the same things about Cornell. They were both different. They both tried weird and crazy shit that other contemporaries didn't have the guts to try. As I have already mentioned, look at the music video for "Black Hole Sun". Sure, maybe a video like "Smells Like Teen Spirit" might have meant more to the generation, or "Jeremy" may have had a better message, but I remember "Black Hole Sun" more than both of those videos, or any other video from that era. It was cool and crazy. The stretchy faces and the wild stuff that was going on, I was scared, but I could not look away.

As far as his music stylings, he was a lot like Harrison as well, just with different genres. Harrison was able to straddle the lines of pop, rock and Indian music. He loved his sitar and that sound of music. Cornell was a rock legend and could do some of the best psychedelic stuff since the 60's. He made psychedelic music accessible to kids like me that didn't discover the greats until later in life. And, the best thing about this, we didn't even know we were listening to psychedelic rock. We just thought it was rock music, but looking back at it now, Soundgarden, and Cornell more so, were presenting us with some of the wildest psychedelic music since Jefferson Airplane, not Starship, or Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band. I will be forever grateful to him for this. He was my gateway to psychedelic rock. I have found other, older artists, but Cornell and Soundgarden were my stepping stone.

Cornell even ventured out himself and formed the band Audioslave. For the record, I think this was a failed project, but it did give us the chance to hear Cornell sing with the greatest guitar player of my generation, Tom Morello. In his band, Soundgarden, he got to play with the most underrated guitar players, Thayil, and in Audioslave, he got to jam with Morello. That kicks ass. These 2 guys respected him so much that they asked and enlisted his vocals when forming their bands. That should speak volumes to Cornell's talent and pull with people in his field.

I'm still kind of in shock that he is gone. When I saw the headline this morning I said out loud, "NO WAY". I just couldn't believe it. I mean, he was only 52. That is way, way too young. He had so much more that he could have given the world with his music. The early reports are saying that it is a possible suicide as well. That makes it even more unfortunate and upsetting. Things seemed good for Chris Cornell, Soundgarden was back touring, and he seemed in good spirits at their last show according to all reports. I had even contemplated going to see them here in Saint Louis this Saturday. They were doing a show here in 3 days. Now, no one will ever get to see the original Soundgarden ever again. That is a sad statement. I can't peer into someone's soul or mind, but if it was suicide, that would be heartbreaking.

Go out, especially if you are in your mid 30's like me, and listen to as much Soundgarden as possible today and remember their greatness and Cornell's incredible voice. Rest In Peace Chris Cornell. My idols and people that shaped the person I am today need to stop dying.

If you or someone you know is struggling with suicidal thoughts, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is available 24 hours a day at 1-800-273-8255. 

Ty

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

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The Greatest American Band Debate: Pearl Jam

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

Today I will be getting back to the greatest American band debate and I will be getting back to the grunge era. I know that our head editor RD will disagree with this choice, but I am, and always will be a very big fan of Pearl Jam.

Pearl Jam made grunge music accessible to everyone. They weren't as influential, or as good for that matter, as either Nirvana or Soundgarden, but I find myself listening to Pearl Jam more than I listen to most music from the 90's. They made grunge music top 100 type music. Usually I don;t care for top 100 music, but I always get happy when a good band, a band like Pearl Jam, makes music that everyone deems top 100. That means that everyone can hear them, not just their fans.

I was not a fan, I had never heard of Pearl Jam, until I heard and saw the video for the song "Jeremy". This song is brutally tragic and so is the video. It is about a bullied kid coming into his school and massacring everyone and everything. This song came out before all the tragedies that happened in the 2000's, and even the stuff that goes on now. Pearl Jam was ahead of the times, by a wide margin, with the song "Jeremy". What stuck out most for me from the song was how catchy it was. It is a very sad, very gut wrenching song, but as I sit here typing this, the chorus is rattling through my brain. It made every top list the year it came out. The video was played everywhere. It had the desired effect. The song made people think about this tragic event, and people started to do things to try and curb bullying in schools. It is a very important song and everyone should listen to it at least once in their life. "Jeremy" opened the Pearl Jam door for me.

After hearing "Jeremy", I went out and bought the album "10", which featured "Jeremy". It also had mega hits like "Even Flow", "Alive", "Porch" and "Garden". These songs are quintessential grunge songs, especially "Alive" and "Even Flow". Those songs are timeless and it gave the world Eddie Vedder's incredibly unique singing voice. I love that, still today, I can put the "10" on in my car and be shocked back to when I was a 10 year old in the early 90's, rocking out to this incredible album.

With the success of "10" Pearl Jam put out "Vs", another classic. "Vs" has choice hits on it like, "Daughter", "Animal" and "Dissident". Again, Pearl Jam was writing thoughtful rock music that appealed to the masses. I don;t think there is a sadder, more poignant song than "Daughter". Go listen to it right now and try not to be moved by how sad those lyrics are.

Having only released two albums Pearl Jam was proving to be some of the best song writers on the planet. They had more hits than pretty much any grunge band and the songs that were hits had meaning behind them. They weren't pointless pop songs, they were rock songs with a message. Two years after "Vs.", they released "Vitalogy". Now, full disclosure, this was the last Pearl Jam record I bought. It is not as good as "10" or "Vs", but there is till some very good songs on the record. I personally really enjoy songs like "Not For You" and "Immortality". They show a more grown up version of Eddie Vedder and Pearl Jam. It is still grunge music with a message, but the band is a bit tighter and they sound like they fully formed on "Vitalogy", especially on "Not For You" and "Immortality". But, "Vitalogy" as a whole isn't that great. It's good, but not as good as their earlier stuff. I admit, it has to be hard to try and follow up two great records, but Pearl Jam tried their hardest and it almost worked. They continue to release albums, but they just don't match the greatness that was "10" and "Vs".

Pearl Jam became much more active politically and socially throughout their careers. They had the huge lawsuit with Ticketmaster. They believed, and I agree, that Ticketmaster is a bunch of thieves. They charge you the face value for the ticket, but then they surcharge the hell out of you. Pearl Jam thought this was wrong, so they took them to court and let the world know that Ticketmaster was taking advantage of them. I will be forever grateful to Pearl Jam for doing this. I used to buy all my stuff through Ticketmaster, but after reading and hearing about this lawsuit, I jumped ship as soon as possible. Now, I will only go through bands, comedians or venues webpages to buy tickets because I know that Ticketmaster can't do a damn thing to me. They cannot add charge after charge on my bill and all my money goes to the artist and the venue. Sure, the artist doesn't get all of it, but at least Ticketmaster isn't gouging me and the artist can control the price of everything. That is all due, for the most part, to Pearl
Jam. They have always been the champion the of the little man. The people that aren't the 1 percent. Pearl Jam wants to help out anyway they can. I don't see a lot of artist do that, but Pearl Jam does it, and then some.

Then there is Eddie Vedder. Me personally, I adore Eddie Vedder. I thought he was the perfect front man for Pearl Jam, and he has proven to be an excellent solo artist. He is extremely multi talented and will continue to have a very long career in music. When I saw him at the Fox in Saint Louis about 5 years ago, not only was it one of the best concerts that I have ever been to, but he crushed the show. It was during his ukulele phase, and the show was incredible. Vedder is, by far, the biggest "rock star" that I have ever seen live, and he totally delivered. The show lasted for almost 3 hours and I could have easily watched another 3 hours and I would have been enamored. Eddie Vedder is what every "rock star" should strive to be. He stands for all the right things, he fights for the little guy and he does his best to help everyone, be it through his music or otherwise. I adore Eddie Vedder.

I also adore Pearl Jam and they 100 percent belong in the greatest American band debate. Tell me why I'm wrong RD. I await your ruling.

ed response: In the podcast, I did not say Pearl Jam is bad, I said they were overrated. They made one good song, and have been playing variations of that same song for decades. Mic drop.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. Who is the Greatest American Band, Ty has many nominees you should take a look at. Get to know the next Greatest American Band by following Ty on twitter @tykulik.

The Greatest American Band Debate: Nirvana

For the greatest American band today, I'm going to go back to the grunge era. Grunge was pretty pivotal in my life. I was a pre teen and teenager right when the music style became huge. Grunge was a newer style of music that I had never heard before and I was into it. I liked the drums, guitars and the gruff singing that came along with it and it got no better than Nirvana.

Nirvana may be the greatest grunge band of all time. They are definitely the most influential, and I don't think that is arguable at all. Nirvana exploded on the scene with their mega hit, "Smells Like Teen Spirit". This was like no other song that I had ever listened to before. The guitar would start out kind of slower and quiet, then it would build and get much more rough, in a good way, and Kurt Cobain would squeal the chorus. That chorus, while it may be impossible to know exactly what Cobain was singing, is the most memorable chorus from the 90's, in my opinion. The video was pretty groundbreaking as well. The band playing in a school gym with some cheerleaders and kids dancing to this very gloomy song about the plight of teenagers. The video was sad, but it was made to be sad. The teenagers were brain dead, that is what the song is essentially about.

After seeing the video for "Smells Like Teen Spirit", I needed to hear more music from this band. I was very intrigued by their sound. They only released three albums of original music, but I only ever bought two of them. "Bleach" was put out a few years before "Smells Like Teen Spirit" hit it big, but I never really listened to that record. But "Nevermind", that was where it was at. That record is wonderful. It is the best grunge album, hands down. It takes every good thing about grunge music and makes it truly great. There is obviously "Smells Like Teen Spirit" on the record, but there is some other big time hits on that record. Songs like "Come As You Are", "Lithium", "On a Plain", "Drain You" and "Polly". Let us not forget their 20 minute epic, it's actually 13 minutes, then 10 minutes of silence, to close out the album, "Something in the Way". That song is their best Velvet Underground impression, and it sounds like something that could have easily been on "White Light, White Heat". But, those other songs I mentioned, they are grunge classics. They use distortion and loud drums and exceptional bass playing and Cobain's perfectly written lyrics are phenomenal. The songs on this record are, by far, the best music of the entire grunge era. Nirvana came at the exact right time and they capitalized on their gift for writing and playing grunge music.

Once Nirvana had the enormous success that was "Nevermind", they released "In Utero" two years later, and that album is also very fantastic. There are some mega hits on that record as well. "In Utero" has songs like "Heart Shaped Box", "Dumb", "Pennyroyal Tea" and "All Apologies". I mean, come on, those are some massive hits just two short years apart. No matter if you like or dislike Kurt Cobain, you have to admit, he was one of the greatest songwriters of all time. He had a knack for writing some touching, yet very sad and very gloomy music, and in the early 90's, that's what the people wanted to hear. Most people were sick of bubble gum pop and how boring and generic rock and roll had become, but then here came this band singing and playing sad, touching and poignant music, and the majority of the country was enthralled. The video for "Heart Shaped Box" was almost as weird and scary as Soundgarden's "Black Hole Sun", but both of those songs were great. I prefer "Heart Shaped Box", but that's just me. "Pennyroyal Tea" is a beautifully written and played song. It is one of my all time favorite Nirvana songs. "All Apologies" may be the saddest song to ever make the top ten of the Billboard charts. That song is heart wrenching, but damn if that chorus is not catchy as hell.

With "Nevermind" and "In Utero", it seemed like Nirvana was going to be making great music for many years to come. But, Kurt Cobain took his own life, if that is what you choose to believe, because he couldn't handle the fame. I'm going to go on a bit of a rant here, but I don't think, for one single second, that he killed himself. At the time of his death, Cobain was married to another musician, Courtney Love, and I firmly believe that she was incredibly jealous of Nirvana and Kurt Cobain's fame, and I will go to my grave believing that she had something to do with the death of Cobain. I am not the only one who believes this. She couldn't handle the fact that her significant other was so much more successful and, quite frankly, better at making music than her.  Cobain's death gave her immediate fame and people came to her defense and started talking about how good her band, Hole, was. Courtney Love became the poster child for someone that lost someone they loved way too soon and she started to get more acting jobs and Hole was a band that everyone wanted to play at their venue or their festival. Many people think Courtney Love did something, I don't know if she actually killed him, but I have my thoughts. You will never shake my belief of this.

After Cobain's untimely death, the remaining members of Nirvana, who are the exceptional Krist Novaselic and the still working Dave Grohl, released a couple of albums posthumously. A lot of them are straight up greatest hits records, but they released their "MTV's Unplugged" record almost right after his death, and that record is incredible. The band was stripped down and they did mostly covers and it is one of the best records of all time. It is, by far, the best of the entire "Unplugged" series. Kurt Cobain, who was usually stand offish and quiet and could even be mean during one on one interviews, seemed to be happy and was cracking jokes and playing and singing some great, great songs. Cobain seemed at peace doing this unplugged sets. That record is exceptional and everyone should go out, buy it and listen to it right now. You will be amazed at how great of a band Nirvana truly was.

I don't know any other word to describe him, but Cobain was a musical genius. He had a knack for written lyrics and composing music. He was the lynchpin to Nirvana being as famous as they were. The other members of the band were very talented as well. Krist Novaselic was and is a great bass player. He can play almost any style of music and play it well. He is one of the better bass players of all time. He is still making music to this day as well. Then there is Dave Grohl. Everyone that has heard any music knows something about Dave Grohl. He is the front man for Foo Fighters. He has produced many metal bands, especially RD's favorite, Probot. He has a great HBO series that is all about the roots and start of music. He has done tons of things with Tenacious D. Basically, Dave Grohl is one of rock and roll's hardest working men. And he is pretty darn good at making and playing music.

Look, we couldn't do this debate without adding Nirvana. I feel like, as the millennial of the website, it would be best that I write about them because they were so influential in my formative years. I love Nirvana and they are definitely one of America's greatest bands of all time. I do not think anyone will disagree with me.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He may buy into some conspiracy theories surrounding Nirvana, but he does not buy that Kurt Cobain faked his own death and is really Rivers Cuomo. That is just silly. Follow Ty on twitter @tykulik.

The Greatest American Band Debate: Soundgarden

For the greatest American band debate today I'm going to take my first, but definitely not last, plunge into grunge music. There is a lot of influential grunge bands out there and the first one I want to highlight is Soundgarden.

Now, let's get this right out of the way at the start, I did not listen to Soundgarden until much, much later in my life. I mean, they had been broken up, reunited and broken up again before I came to their music. When they first hit the music scene, they were not anywhere near my radar. I was listening to more hip hop and comedy records when Soundgarden made their first appearance. But, as I got older, in my late 20's, I "rediscovered" Soundgardean and, my god were they incredible.

The stuff I heard sounded like grunge mixed with psychedelic music. It was intense and weird, but it was also really good and very interesting. I obviously remember "Black Hole Sun", but to be quite frank, that video scared the hell out of me. All those weird, melting faces with permanent smiles, it was terrifying. But, listening to the song as an adult, it is incredible. I love that a song like that got so much airplay and so much face time on MTV and popular radio stations. That is a dark and depressing song, but it sounds catchy, so the people at those radio stations and at MTV deemed it okay enough to be played. The song is basically about an apocalypse of sorts. Lyrics like, "black hole sun, won't you come and wash away the rain", I mean, that is some depressing stuff. Or, you get stuff like "boiling heat, summer stench, beneath the black the sky looks dead" and that is immediately followed by, "call my name through the cream and I'll hear you scream again". Those are some of the darkest lyrics I had ever heard on pop radio and MTV. This song is about death and decay, but it's got Chris Cornell's unique voice and the band wailing away on their instruments to perfection, and it sounded oddly upbeat. This was a great way to get airplay back in the 90's. You could write dark and depressing stuff, but if it sounded nice, filled with major chords and a kick ass guitar solo, you got airplay. And Soundgarden did it all so well on "Black Hole Sun". Now, in my 30's, not only do I really like the song, but I also LOVE the video. It is so weird and bizarre, but it is perfect for what that song is about.

Soundgarden isn't just about "Black Hole Sun" and Chris Cornell, not by a long shot. First of all, the band behind Cornell is dynamite. Matt Cameron is a very good drummer. They've had five or six different bass players that are all very good, Cornell, while being lead vocalist, also played guitar, but then there is Kim Thayil on lead guitar. Thayil is a master guitar player. The way he used effects and distortion and reverb was quintessential 90's grunge and he was damn good too. He was a joy to watch play. He would whip his incredibly long hair while thrashing away on his guitar. Some of his solos are some of the best that I have ever heard. Thayil was, and still is, one of the greatest rock guitar players of all time. In fact, I personally think Thayil is a much better guitar player than a guy like Slash, but he doesn't get the acclaim. That's a shame. Go back and only listen to Thayil and be amazed at how wonderful and unique and awesome his work is on guitar. Thayil is a legend. Chris Cornell has his place, but I think he is a bit overrated as a singer and guitar player. He got very lucky to be in a band with Thayil. But, without his unique vocals, Soundgarden may have never hit the big time. Cornell has gone on to do other things, but nothing comes close to comparing his work in Soundgarden. The band that he and the members of Rage Against the Machine, minus Zack De La Rocha, started, Audioslave, is a joke. Don't listen to Audioslave. Listen to Rage or Soundgarden. They are both far superior. 

Then there is the actual music. I have mentioned and talked about "Black Hole Sun", but that whole album, "Superunknown" is awesome. It was their fourth album, but it is the one that put them on the map and it is the only one of their albums that really needs to be mentioned. "Superunknown" is incredible. It perfectly melded grunge with rock and had elements of psychedelic music as well. We have the aforementioned "Black Hole Sun", but there is also some great songs like, "Spoonman", "The Day I Tried to Live", "My Wave" and "Fell on Black Days". All these songs are dark and depressing and beautiful. The musicianship is incredible. These guys know how to play and play very well together. I know I said before that I'm not a big fan of Cornell's, but his vocals are perfect on this album for this genre of music. As I said before, I came to this band very late in my life, but this album one hundred percent holds up. They made some records before, and even 2 after "Superunknown", but we don't even need to touch on those because "Superunknown" is so great and such a perfect representation of grunge and 90's popular music. I'm serious, go back and listen to that record and you will be transported to wherever you where in that time of your life. I hear it now and I think back to hearing it for the first time and not understanding it and being scared by it. I was too young to get it when it first came out in 1994. But, 22 years later, I understand and recognize how truly great that record is. That album gave the whole world Soundgarden. Before then, the only people who knew of them where people that lived in Seattle and big time grunge nerds that needed to listen to every grunge band. "Superunkown" unleashed this incredible band for everyone to hear. It is truly one album that allows me to put this band in this conversation. Most of the other bands I have written about have multiple albums that makes it easier to put in the debate, but Soundgarden, while having 6 full EP's, only really needs just this one, and it's more than enough to put them up for greatest American band.

I'm a pretty big Soundgarden fan now. They have tried to make it work recently, but they will never be as good as they were in 1994. They came along at the exact right time for them and they grabbed their chance and ran with it. I really enjoy Soundgarden, especially Thayil, and you really only need to hear "Superunknown" and I think you will agree with me.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. Have you missed any of our previous Greatest American Bands? You can find them all right here. Ty has a twitter, go follow him @tykulik.

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.

The Greatest American Band Debate: Influencers

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

When  it comes to music, no one is completely unique.

Continuing our discussion on the website of the greatest American band, I want to focus on influential bands today. I'm not going to single out one specific band, I will give my readers many examples. The one problem I ran into doing research for this piece, it was hard to find American bands that were truly influential. It was easy to find bands from the UK that were influential. You can take Pink Floyd and see their influence on many current bands like Radiohead or Muse. You can take Led Zeppelin and see their influence on bands like the White Stripes and Black Keys. There's so many more from the UK that have influenced American bands. Doing further research, I found that these bands from the UK were influenced by American musicians, but not bands. Zeppelin and Cream were heavily influenced by guys like Robert Johnson and Son House. In fact, a lot of the UK musicians were very influenced by blues musicians from the 20's and 30's. So, like I said, it was tough, but with help from my father, we found a good number of influential American bands.

When we talked, the first band that came up was the Paul Butterfield Blues Band. If you listen to our most recent podcast, you know that's my dad's favorite band. What makes them so influential, they had great musicians playing great, rocking blues music. Their writing was top notch. You take a band like the Black Keys, and as much as Zeppelin influenced them, the Paul Butterfield Blues Band was just as important to shaping their music. The same could be said for a band like Buffalo Springfield. This is another band that had great musicians and wrote great songs, and members of Buffalo Springfield would break away and do some really big things in the music industry. Stephen Stills and David Crosby were in Buffalo Springfield before they were Crosby, Stills and Nash. I love music that has distortion in it. It's my favorite effect on guitar. That's where a band like Ike Turner's Rockin 88's come into play. The story goes, while traveling, their amps fell off the car and were sliced. Ike and the band didn't know what to do or where to get new amps, so they used them. While playing, the guitar sounded gruff, but they all liked it. Distortion was born. Look at any number of rock bands, be it RATM or Soundgarden or Alabama Shakes, and you can hear how important distortion is to their music. Another, bigger band, Sly and the Family Stone, brought the concept of playing funky rock and roll, while having a big band feel. The way they injected horns and funk in their music reminds me a lot of what a band like Black Joe Lewis and the Honeybears are doing right now. You can take bands like the Eagles and Three Dog Night and see the influence they have on bands that focus on the vocals and harmonies in their music. Take a band like the Killers and see how much the Eagles and Three Dog Night meant to them getting started in music. A band I never really listened to until my dad told me about and have recently listened to and kind of enjoy is ELO. They have a unique electric sound and most of their music is all instrumental. I can see how a band like Ratatat was influenced by ELO. Some of their songs sound identical. It's uncanny.

Even bands from the 80's have influenced current bands. Look at Blondie, they had a cute blonde girl as their lead singer, and a bunch of dudes begin her. Tell me Grace Potter and the Nocturnals weren't influenced by that. They have the exact same makeup to their band. The Talking Heads were this avant garde, take all kinds of risks kind of band. If you just listened to them, I bet you wouldn't be able to guess what they looked like. I look at someone like Har Mar Superstar and feel the same way. He and his band play funky, R&B music, but Har Mar looks exactly like Ron Jeremy. When I first heard him and the Talking Heads, I felt the same. I loved the music, but I had no idea what these musicians looked like. Devo had a big influence on electronic/rock music. They took big chances and hit home runs every time. I look at a current band like TV on the Radio and see they were heavily influenced by Devo. Aerosmith, with their accessible to all ages rock music reminds me a lot of the Foo Fighters. Even a band like Nirvana has influenced younger musicians. I look at Conor Oberst and I just know that he listened to a ton of Nirvana. His lyrics are almost as poetic as Kurt Cobain and just as sad sometimes.

So, there are a lot of influential American bands. You have to do some research, but you can see how influential a lot of the bands from the 60's and 70's are on current day musicians. Go check out some of the bands I've mentioned today and compare them to who you are currently listening too, it may surprise you.

Go out and seek older music too, you will see the influence, I promise you.

Ty (With a little help from his dad)

Ty is the Pop Culture Editor for SeedSing and the co-host of The X Millennial Man Podcast. The biggest musical influence in his life is Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem. Follow Ty on twitter @tykulik.

The Greatest American Band Debate: The Introduction

Time to get the records out.

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

I'm a lover of all music.

All music except for jazz and new age country that is. People often pose the question to me, "Who's the best band"? There is any number of answers to give. Some may say The Beatles, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones, etcetera. The one thing you may have noticed in those answers is, those are all bands from overseas. Mainly the United Kingdom. Why no American bands? Is it because most great American musicians are solo artists? We have Bob Dylan, Janis Joplin, Robert Johnson, BB King, Miles Davis and Woody Guthrie just to name a few. And before I get yelled at online, I don't count Janis Joplin's backing band, The Holding Company, or Bob Dylan playing with The Band(who are all Canadian except for Levon Helm) as great American bands. They're very good, but not great.

So, let's break it down. Who is the greatest American band? Do they come from the 50's, 60's, 70's, 80's, 90's or 2000's? Is there even an American band that can hold a card to the great bands from overseas? I don't know that for sure, but I'm going to throw out a lot of great American bands today and we can all decide together.

Let's take the 50's. One band that comes to mind for me is The Crickets. You may know them as Buddy Holly and the Crickets. The Crickets played on some of the greatest songs in the history of music and were just as important to Buddy Holly's music as Buddy Holly was. Some people may put The Crickets into The Holding Company category, but go back and listen to some of their stuff and you will see how influential they were on modern day rock and roll.

In the 60's, we got some more psychedelic rock bands from America, but I'm not too crazy about some of these bands. First, we have The Doors. I am not a fan of the Doors, but they were hugely popular and definitely put their stamp on rock music. Jim Morrison was fine as a poet and songwriter, albeit super overrated in my opinion, but his band was really pretty good. They just had an unfortunate choice in picking their lead singer and were stuck with Jim Morrison. Then there's the Beach Boys. I CANNOT stand the Beach Boys. They made crappy pop music and are an abomination to rock and roll. That being said, they are in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and a lot of people not only like the Beach Boys, they love them. Their fans will also defend Brian Wilson to the heavens, no matter how difficult of a person he is to work and deal with. My favorite American bad from the sixties, by far, is Creedance Clearwater Revival. Their brand of rock music, mixed with blues and soul is undeniably great. They've had a ton of hits and a ton of fans, are in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and John Fogerty is still making pretty good music as a solo artist.

The 70's brought along a lot of great talent to American rock and roll. We got the Eagles, Aerosmith, ZZ Top and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. Each one is great in their own right, and in the case of Aerosmith and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers they are still making music. In Tom Petty's case, he is still making great music. Many people might even say that The Eagles are the greatest American rock band of all time. I disagree. The 70's did put out some great music from all corners. We also got KISS, the Ramones and Sly and the Family Stone. Another band from the 70's that people love is Grateful Dead. Not me though. In my opinion, they are a jam band that has no structure to their jams. I don't want to hear one song that's usually three and a half minutes long turn into a 30 minute song. no thanks. My older brothers will be pretty upset at me for trashing the Grateful Dead, but I just don't like them. When it comes to 70's American bands, it gets no better than the Allman Brothers Band. They played great songs with a beautiful mixture of rock and blues. Robert Johnson introduced me to the blues and Son House introduced me to slide guitar, but the Allman Brothers made slide guitar and rock/blues music cool. They are not just one of the best American bands, they're one of the greatest bands of all time period.

The 80's changed what rock music could be in America. Bands like Heart and The Runaways showed that girls can rock just as hard as guys. Blondie blended all different types of music, and did it very well. And yes, Blondie is the band name, Debbie Harry is their lead singer's name. But, when it comes to 80's rock bands in America, the Talking Heads are the greatest. David Byrne is a genius and still making fantastic music. The Talking Heads were innovators and way ahead of their time. They tried so many different things with their music and, more times than not, hit it out of the park.

The 90's brought on the grunge era in American rock music. We got great bands like Green Day, Soundgarden and Pearl Jam. Each band is great in it's own way. Green Day brought back punk/pop music. Soundgarden brought back the psychedelic rock from the 60's and 70's and Pearl Jam was dark a brooding. A very cool version of emo. Then came Nirvana. Kurt Cobain was a musical genius. Especially as a lyricist. His lyrics are profound and prolific. He died way too young and became way too famous too fast. His two band mates, Kris Novaselic and Dave Grohl were excellent. Most people know Dave Grohl and all the work he's doing right now and Kris Novaselic has played bass for many different bands. When it comes to 90's American rock for me, it gets no better than Weezer. I love Weezer. Rivers Cuomo is a great writer and very excellent, very underrated guitar player. Their first album, "The Blue Album" is a work of art. Then, they released "Pinkerton" which is just as good and maybe even a bit better than "The Blue Album" Weezer is awesome.

Which brings me to the 2000's. Time will have to tell with this era. It's only been 15 years and these bands still need a bit more seasoning. That being said, there are some bands on their way to greatness for sure. The White Stripes could've been on their way if they were still making music. Jack White has also become an unfavorable character and a shell of his former self as a musician. He's also a well known asshole too. Bands like the Black Keys and TV on the Radio still need time, but in the Black Keys case, they are well on their way. There are other bands such as, Alabama Shakes and The Shins, but like I said earlier. Time will tell.

See, in this long piece I couldn't single out just one American band. There's a lot to choose from and if I was told that I had to name one right now, I'd pick the Black Keys, strictly because they're my favorite band. I didn't even touch on rap groups and yes, rap groups can be considered great American bands. I'll leave that for a future piece. So people out there reading this, let me know which American bands are great in your eyes. Who did I leave out or who did I bash that you like. Or, do you agree with me. Leave a comment and until later, keep listening to good rock and roll music.

Be it American rock or otherwise.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the co-host of the X-Millennial Man Podcast. He is eager to write another 1000 words on music. Follow him on twitter @tykulik