cravings

[blue-russian.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure why the feeling was so striking, but for the last couple of days I've felt this almost visceral need to hear some Talking Heads (before any of you ask "who are they?" - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talking_Heads).

I have a lot of admiration for them at a critical level, but I wouldn't say I was particularly a huge fan. Most importantly, I'm sure I probably haven't listened to more than a couple of songs over the last few years. And hear suddenly I *needed* to hear them, and it wasn't that feeling of "Oh, 'Naive Melody' is a great song, I want to hear it again." It was as if something was missing in my diet.

Anybody else know what I mean?

Comments

[blue-russian.livejournal.com]

Also - not to distract from question above - part of what I wondered this morning, as I finally *did* listen to them, was whether this kind of absence in one's diet is part of the larger ebb and flow of influences - e.g. does the range of "current" music lack some element that was key to a particular group in the past, and as multiple musicians feel that lack, you start to hear them create something based on that sound (e.g. why a few years ago Gang of Four suddenly seemed to be the touchstone for a lot of people).

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

Well maybe the ebb and flow of influence is affecting you! I've seen Talking Heads cited quite a lot recently by indie bands, though not so much the more playful 82-85/Tom Tom Club stuff material!

I am always really interested in which old stuff is 'in' and 'out'.

[blue-russian.livejournal.com]

I sort of had that thought, although with the exception of Arcade Fire (and that was two years ago) I haven't been listening to the stuff that cites them.

[catsgomiaow.livejournal.com]

Hehe, I get that quite a lot but then I am a HUGE Talking Heads fan! :) The other day I had this massive craving for the Rolling Stones - my brain just said "NEED THIS NAO PLZ" so I know exactly what you're talking about.

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

The band I get this most with is The Fall. I like them, I don't listen to full length albums by them, I just sometimes need a Fall track or three on my playlist.

[jeff-worrell.livejournal.com]

I get this occasionally, tho not often wrt Talking Heads. More frequently, my conscious is aware that I'm in the mood for someone but my subconscious won't reveal who it is, so I have to go through my records until I find them. This happened with The Breeders of all people recently. (And then the next day ILM announced their new album had leaked. *cue Twilight Zone theme*)

[blue-russian.livejournal.com]

yeah, sorry, i didn't mean specifically re: Talking Heads, I just meant the feeling in general

[koganbot]

So this question is "what is missing from modern music that one's synapses occasionally find necessary."

Good punk, e.g., "Search and Destroy" and "Sonic Reducer" and "Violet." Occasionally, a current act will pull this off for a track or two (Black Angel's "Never Got Over You" and A.R.E. Weapon's "Have You Ever?" and Ashlee Simpson's "I Am Me") but never with any consistency. Of course there are things that don't sound like punk but emotionally work like it for me, for instance whole chunks of Britney's Blackout. But Britney's not getting the music to jam your face to the floor in the specific way that Rocket From The Tombs once did, so she's not creating that specific visceral feel. I think that the meaning of the electric guitar and of "punk" has changed so that someone who picks up that instrument and that genre isn't likely to make that music (with a couple of exceptions mentioned above), which is why outsiders like Shanks 'n' Ashlee can pull it off as a one-shot at least as well as the people who don the punk symbols.

just a sidenote

[pony-meat.livejournal.com]

i thought raw powerthe stooges and funhouse.

[blue-russian.livejournal.com]

Actually, no, that wasn't the question at all. I just put that second comment in after having wondered for a while why I felt this particular KIND of compulsion. (Most of us like to scale up their personal thoughts and insights into grand schemes, I think. But in this case I really just asking about the particular feeling, and I don't think it's at all the same as "Oh I really want to hear some punk" or jazz or whatever. Although maybe it is.

to edit my last post -

[pony-meat.livejournal.com]

i thought raw power was a slide from the stooges and funhouse.

i have respect for the talking heads

[pony-meat.livejournal.com]

but i'm not a huge fan.

they are guilty of the same things many current 'indie' bands are guilty of - taking cues from great bands but losing the soul and meaning in the translation.

as for th question, sometimes something gets into yr head and you just get can't get it out - no strings attached does that occasionally, as does some country pop like lucinda williams. it can feel so weird and out of place because these sounds will just come into your head after years of not hearing them and demand attetnion.