Monday, February 07, 2005

Songs you introduce people to: potential poll /collection?

As I don't have THAT many regular viewers, this may be something we come back to at a later point, but inspired by Norm's songpoll, my thoughts turn to all those songs that didn't make his list. The ones where there was only one vote for them. The scarcely heard and relatively unknown songs.

You know the ones I mean: the songs/pieces of music that lay beyond the mainstream. The one (not-a) hit wonders. I do NOT mean bands so obscure that you only know them because you are IN them - though some exceptions can always be made for new music recommendations - but generally rather the material to which you always feel compelled to introduce people. It may be generational: the influences and inspirational music behind something more contemporary --- not necessarily a "this was the real thing" nostalgia, but perhaps part of an expansive musical education ("did you realise...?") It may be a stylistic leap: from certain classical music - melodic, string-based, the score to a film that doesn't exist - to some of the gentler sounds of post-rock. Or it may just be that some music is just too delightful in an unquantifiable way to not be shared: a lyric, a chord sequence, a musical phrase.

I'm going to think on this further and offer some (relatively) obscure materials for consideration. If you want to send me your contributions - limit yourself to FIVE if you can - then maybe we can collate a recommended list that goes beyond "greatest" or "best" and encapsulates the spirit of "you MUST hear this..."

Email me through the contact address in my profile.

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