Bands You Need To Be Listening To If You Aren't Already

I'll start all this out by stating the obvious: The music industry in America is a joke.  Talent means nothing. It's the American Idol generation and whatever looks good on TV is what's marketed.  Not to mention forgotten a year afterwards.

Back in the 60s and 70s you had better be good, you had better be able to put on a live show and kick ass. From The Grateful Dead to The Allman Brothers to Hendrix to Vaughn to Black Sabbath to The Who to Zeppelin etc etc. The list just goes on and on. These bands were all innovators and actually, you know, played instruments.

I'm always amazed when I see a "band" performing on some television show and you don't see any equipment. None of their instruments are plugged in yet you hear music. Doesn't the music consuming public notice this? Or is the better question do they care?

Today, people are told who's good and to whom they should be listening and whose albums to buy.  Back in the day, if you sucked you didn't make it.  Talent just doesn't mean anything anymore. Today it's all what all about looking the part.

So let's get started, shall we? This list is in no particular order at all.

Animals As Leaders
Yes.

Yes that man, the self taught Tosin Abasi, is playing an 8 string guitar.  A custom, headless Strandberg 8-string.

He and his band are playing music so densly polyrhythmic and technical it should be illegal.  These guys are so enormously talented it makes me sick.



The Aristocrats

Paul Gilbert, along with Marco Minnemann, released this incredible jam session called "Spaceship One".  To put it perspective Marco tried out for the vacated position in Dream Theater left by Mike Portnoy's departure.  He was too good. Dream Theater needed someone that sounded more like Portnoy...not someone that had his own style.

Here's just a taste called "Jackhammer". The entire set can be seen on Youtube here.

But this isn't The Aristocrats. After this video will be The Aristocrats.  I just had to share this with ya.



Now, onto The Aristocrats: