Bands I’ve Never Seen

As I drove out to the hanger this morning, I turned on my usual Sirius/XM channel (#33, First Wave, of course) and they were just starting “Dead Man’s Party.” I, of course, cranked it up to eleven, which is both wonderful and dangerous. Wonderful because it’s really fantastic to just wallow in the song and sing along. Dangerous because it’s easy to be driving at about 85 without noticing it when you’re rocking out. The local constabulary frowns on that.

As often happens when listening to Oingo Boingo, there was a touch of melancholy when the song was over, because it’s extremely likely that I’ll never get to see them in concert. Danny Elfman has had some hearing-loss problems from his earlier rock & roll days and has stated that he will never perform in concert again. We’ll just have to live with all of the great music that he’s now composing for movie soundtracks. That, and cranking it up to an eleven when we’re alone in the car.

That thought in turn got me to thinking of other bands that I would really, REALLY like to see live, but either haven’t yet or won’t ever be able to for some reason or the other. In only the most vague sense of order from most lusted after on downward…

Oingo Boingo — see above. The mix of punk & rock & horns is just perfect. Especially the horns. No one else used a brass section in rock as much as Oingo!

Pink Floyd — I know that Roger Waters is touring with a bunch of musicians that do bits from “The Wall” and other Pink Floyd albums, and I would go see it if I get the chance, but what I really want is the whole group, and that’s not going to happen.

Jethro Tull — Loved them since the 1970’s, I’m a sucker for rock & roll flute. They’re actually still touring as of a year or so ago, so this one might still happen.

The Who — “Tommy,” the first rock opera. “Quadrophenia.” “Behind Blue Eyes.” “Baba O’Riley.” Of the three first rock & roll supergroups, this is the one I would have killed to see live.

Genesis (not just Phil Collins) — I would like to see Phil Collins solo, mind you, but seeing the group re-unite on tour would be amazing.

Depeche Mode — Along with Oingo Boingo, the best of the 80’s, punk, and alternative.

Jean-Michel Jarre — I suspect many of you will have never heard of Jean-Michel Jarre. I would recommend that you take care of that gaping hole in your lives. Start with “Oxygene” as I did back in about 1977 when a co-worker gave me a tape and said, “YOU HAVE GOT TO LISTEN TO THIS!” Jarre has done spectacular concert events with 100,000+ people showing up, because he only does them every few years. The last few have been done in Asia and Europe, but if he would do one here, I would be there.

Amanda Palmer — Words can’t describe how much I admire this woman, her music, her art, her Twitter feed, and her TED Talk. It’s not a matter of “if” I will see her, it’s a matter of “when” and “how many times.” But I haven’t seen her in concert yet.

Stan Rogers — An incredible artist taken from us way too early. If you’re not familiar with his work, pick up “Northwest Passage.” Or “From Fresh Water.” Or any one of his other eight albums. Many, many years ago I had an opportunity to see him at McCabe’s in Santa Monica and I didn’t take it. There will always be next time, right?

Santana — Still touring from time to time, I may yet get a chance. “Abraxas” spun my head around in 1970. I still have the vinyl, the one that had the sticker over the naked black woman on the front cover. I can still do wicked air guitar to “Oye cómo va.”

Pet Shop Boys — Just to hear them do their mashup “Where The Streets Have No Name/Can’t Take My Eyes Off Of You” would be worth the price of admission. But there’s so much else as well.

Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young — They had me hooked with that infamous line at Woodstock. If you can listen to “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes” and not do the “do-do-do-do doots” at the end, we might not be able to be friends.

Supertramp — “Breakfast In America” was an album on which I just about wore right through the vinyl due to all the constant replays. Have I mentioned how much I love rock & roll piano? Listen to the long, wonderful, piano solo in “Child Of Vision” and be happy no matter how lousy the day was.

Blood, Sweat & Tears — David Clayton Thomas and the boys were another rock & roll group that didn’t always fit the rock & roll mold. Fantastic musicians, great songs.

Billy Joel — The original piano man, a great storyteller. He periodically tours and does Vegas, so it might happen. I assume that we’ll all get to sing along?

There are a whole bunch of folk-ish artists from the 60’s that aren’t with us any more that I wanted to see:

• Steve Goodman — “A Dying Cubs Fan’s Last Request” and “City of New Orleans” are huge favorites of mine.
• Tom Lehrer — No one did political and social satire like him.
• John Denver — Some folks think his music is a bit syrupy, but I find it very sincere and full of joy.
• Jim Croce — Yet another artist taken from us way too soon.

There are still a few folk-ish artists who are still here and I might still get lucky:

• Arlo Guthrie — Dare I hope that I could hear him do “Alice’s Restaurant” for a Thanksgiving concert?
• Jackson Brown — “Running On Empty,” “Doctor My Eyes,” and finally, “The Load Out”
• James Taylor — Sweet Baby James
• Chicago — I know they’re still touring, but I don’t want to hear them do anything after the first three albums. Sorry, they were great when they were angry and protesting the Vietnam War, and just seriously pissed off and full of righteous indignation. Plus, I have I mentioned how I love a horn section in rock & roll? And rock & roll flute, as in “Happy Cause I’m Going Home?” Once they got pop and started putting out things like “Bungle In The Jungle” they were dead to me.

From my teen years:

• Jimi Hendrix — Oh, sweet heaven, could he play the electric guitar. His set from Woodstock was amazing. It was only a few years ago that I realized that it was done at about 4:30 AM. That will wake ’em up!
• Frank Zappa — Indescribable, his music kept me at least half sane with my college days work schedule. Remember, don’t eat yellow snow!
• Queen — Wouldn’t it be great to hear “Bohemian Rhapsody” done live? Flamboyant Freddie Mercury, burned out too quickly. On the other hand, Brian May’s still around, with a Ph.D. in astrophysics for his daytime gig these days. If that’s not truth being stranger than fiction, I don’t know what is.
• Heart — I think there’s actually a chance to see them this week at the LA County Fair. Maybe next year.
• Boston — I think they’re still touring as well, so maybe it will happen.
• The Guess Who — Last I heard there were two or three versions of the original group out there doing county fairs and small venues, each one headlined by one of the original band members. Can’t we all just get along, and maybe do a tour with some decent sized crowds?
• Meat Loaf — Like a bat out of hell, that’s how I would be moving if I got the chance to see him.
• Moody Blues – Electronic rock & roll done by classically trained musicians. Works for me!
• Yes — “Fragile” was another album that I just about ground to dust with all of the repeats.

From my punk, alternative, new wave college years:

• Linkin Park — Okay, so they came out way after my college years, but I still have at times been a bit obsessed over several of their albums. At one of their concerts I would stick out like a sore thumb, but I could live with that.
• The Police / Sting — Do they still tour? If they do, is it even conceivable that tickets might be available for less than an exchange for your first born?
• U2 / Bono — See “The Police / Sting” above.
• Blondie — I believe Debbie Harry is still doing some gigs, I don’t know if she’s with any other members of the band. My favorite rock & roll T-shirt from my college years had her picture on it. I don’t know where it is today, which is probably just as well. I don’t think the world is ready to see me try to fit into it.
• The Smiths (not just Morrissey) — Another group that’s never, ever getting back together. Morrissey periodically tries to put out a solo album and tour, but he’s got some issues, both with his health and with his eccentricities.
• Tonio K — One huge punk album that I remember (“Life In The Foodchain”) but the last I had heard, somewhere along the line he had a significant life change. He’s now doing gospel and Christian rock? The guy who did “H-A-T-R-E-D” with those lyrics? Jeez Louise!
• REM — Lots of fantastic hits, I’ve seen them on some of the old MTV studio concert bits on television. I don’t know that they would be great in a stadium, but in a much smaller venue, just a thousand seats or so? That would be delicious!
• Pat Benatar — Hard core, kick ass, rock & roll. Hit me with your best shot!
• Pretenders — A group that I remember being able to leave my graveyard shift boss just agog. He was a tad straight laced, we needed the music to stay awake, he often couldn’t believe what we were listening to.
• Yello — They had more than the one hit, lots of their stuff is very weird, almost like electronic sound poems with tons of odd rhythms, sound bite mixing, sampling, and sound effects. Oh, Yeah!
• Alanis Morissette — “Jagged Little Pill” was full of some really powerful and moving anger. Things dropped off after that, but I hear that her new stuff from the past couple of years is very good. I’ll have to check it out. What would really be interesting is hearing her takes on some of those anger-driven songs now that she’s matured and mellowed.
• Huey Lewis & The News — The heart of rock & roll. Just fun music, I’ll bet they were (are?) a blast to see live.

The Beatles — Included as much for completeness as anything else. I’m not and never have been a huge Beatles fan, although there are plenty of their songs that I enjoy. I’m just not a fanatic. Of course, they’ll never get back together now, but it would have been nice to see them back in the day, just to say that I had done it, if nothing else.

Finally, there are a bunch of country artists/groups that are still quite active and touring, we just haven’t gotten the opportunity to see them live yet. As “bucket list” material goes, seeing them will be pretty low hanging fruit.

• Alison Krauss
• Dierks Bentley
• The Band Perry
• Lady Antebellum
• Darius Rucker
• Zac Brown Band
• Blake Shelton

Who’s not on the list that has you shocked and horrified that I would forget them, or worse, not want to see them? The Rolling Stones? Bruce Springsteen? Elton John?

Who’s on the list that you just can’t wrap your head around, especially when matched with others on the list? (Stan Rogers and Tonio K? Really?)

Who would be on your list?

The comments are open.