All over you find "star" ratings, "thumbs up" ratings, etc. Usually that means anything with half a star is pretty bad, one star not so good, five stars excellent. Well my new Bear ratings are going to be slightly different.
I don't need the lower star values because I never feature music on here that I don't like. If it's not on here then you can assume one of two things, I haven't found it yet, or I did and I didn't like it.
My new Bear ratings will work like this, I will assess whether of not Bear in that particular area of time would like the song/album. So here are my five Bear Ratings.
40's Bear - This one actually won't be assigned. Of course I know that I was capable of making sense of music back in those days, but who is gonna trust the ratings of a 6 year old. I was 6 at the very end of the fourties. But just as an example my favorites at the time were
"The Teddy Bears Picnic" and
"Donkey Serenade".
I also like to sing Flanagan and Allen songs with my mother on my way up to bed.
Me and my shadow
Strolling down the avenue
Oh, me and my shadow
Not a soul to tell our troubles to
And when it's twelve o'clock we climb the stairs
We never knock 'cause nobody's there
Just me and my shadow
All alone and feeling blue
50's Bear - This era of Bear loved
Elvis Presley,
Buddy Holly,
Little Richard,
Fats Domino,
Eddie Cochran,
Gene Vincent,
Johnny Cash,
Roy Orbison, The Everly Brothers,
Bo Diddley,
Chuck Berry,
Carl Perkins,
Screamin' Jay Hawkins, The Coasters,
The Platters,
The Moonglows and many many others. Typically this arena will just be the last half of the fifties from 1955 though 1959. The first half of the fifties goes closer to the 40's with the likes of Johnny Ray,
Nat King Cole, Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, Doris Day, and others of similar ilk who would come to play again with 21st Century Bear.
60's Bear - Here all of the fifties greats were still in play, until The Beatles ruined it in 1962 by downgrading Rock 'n Roll back to Pop. So this era of Bear was a started with a strong dislike of the Beatles and a love of
The Rolling Stones who along with so many others re-introduced us to the Blues. Singers and bands of this era that I liked were: anything Eric Clapton was in,
Leonard Cohen.
Bob Dylan, Sam Cooke, Jimi Hendrix,
PJ Proby. Ray Charles,
Pink Floyd, Otis Redding, The Byrds, Marvin Gaye, The Four Seasons,
Eartha Kitt, The Who, Wilson Pickett, Stevie Wonder, The Kinks, The Doors, Led Zeppelin, Dion, Jefferson Airplane, The Mamas & The Papas, Sam & Dave, Solomon Burke, Cream, Creedence Clearwater Revival, The Yardbirds. Simon & Garfunkel, Joe Tex, Etta James, The Lovin' Spoonful, The Ventures, Jan & Dean, The Ronettes, Janis Joplin/Big Brother & Holding Company, The Animals, Ike &Tina Turner, The Band, The Righteous Brothers, Donovan, The Crystals, Frank Zappa, Percy Sledge, The Shangri-Las, Dick Dale, Van Morrison/Them, The Isley Brothers, The Hollies, Dusty Springfield, Steppenwolf, Dr John, Manfred Mann, Procul Harum, The Moody Blues, Desmond Dekker, Traffic, The Pretty Things, Santana and again many many more. The Beatles were forgiven in 1967 when they released "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" which took them out of the pop mode into the psychedelic rock arena.
70's Bear - In addition to all of the previously mentioned artists found these favorites in the 70's. John Otway, Ian Dury, Elton John, The Eagles, Queen, Mike Oldfield, Tom Waits, Black Sabbath, David Bowie, Fleetwood Mac, John Lennon, Bee Gees, Chicago, Bob Marley, Bruce Springsteen, The Clash, Lynyrd Skynyrd. Derek & the Dominos, Alice Cooper, The Allman Brothers Band, Neil Young, Rod Stewart, Bob Seger, Steve Miller Band, George Harrison, Peter Frampton, Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young, Billy Joel, Deep Purple, Jackson Browne, Doobie Brothers, Yes, ZZ Top, Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Jethro Tull, Bad Company, Steely Dan, Electric Light Orchestra, Kinks, Patti Smith, Heart, Donna Summer, Paul Simon, Linda Ronstadt, America, Styx, Iggy Pop, Cat Stevens, Supertramp, Genesis, Mott The Hoople, Warren Zevon, King Crimson, Blue Oyster Cult, Ten Years After, Todd Rundgren, Joe Cocker, Carly Simon, Nazareth, Issac Hayes, Joe Walsh, 10cc, Alan Parsons Project, Roxy Music, Meat Loaf, Thin Lizzy, Blondie, Don McLean, Dave Edmunds. As with the previous lists, these are in no particular order.
- I've grouped these two eras together simply because there was not so much good stuff then, just my opinion. U2, Dire Straits, Bon Jovi, Talking Heads, R.E.M., Duran Duran, John Mellencamp, Pat Benatar, Billy Idol, Peter Gabriel, INXS, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Rufus Wainwright, Eurythmics, The Cars, Pet Shop Boys, Don Henley, Tracy Chapman, Cyndi Lauper, Depeche Mode, Men at Work, Robert Palmer, Tears for Fears, Scorpions, Simply Red, Eurythmics, Talking Heads, B-52's, Joan Jett, Stevie Nicks, Sting, The Pretenders, Squeeze, Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Stray Cats, Blondie, Madness, UB 40, Falco, Simple Minds, Adam Ant, Bonnie Raitt, 10,000 Maniacs, David Lee Roth, A Flock of Seagulls, George Thorogood, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Paul Young, Chris De Burgh, Nirvana, Pearl Jam, The Smashing Pumpkins, Alice In Chains, Green Day, Nine Inch Nails, Rage Against The Machine, Bjork, PJ Harvey, Tori Amos, Dave Matthews Band, Stone Temple Pilots, Liz Phair, The Fugees, Manic Street Preachers, The Verve, Alanis Morissette, Sinead O'Conner, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, Sheryl Crow, Kenny Wayne Shepherd Band, Matchbox Twenty, Blues Traveler, Barenaked Ladies, Goo Goo Dolls, Sarah McLachlan, Eric Johnson, Jewel, Collective Soul, Melissa Etheridge, The Wallflowers, Cranberries, Sevendust, The String Cheese Incident, Widespread Panic, Gov't Mule, Joe Satriani, Everclear.
- Again all of the previous eras, plus Amy Winehouse, Adele, Ane Brun, Duffy, Lily Allen, Jessie J, Outkast, Eminem, Coldplay, The White Stripes, Pearl Jam, Muse, The Roots, Franz Ferdinand, Bright Eyes, Ben Harper, Death Cab for Cutie, John Mayer, Sigur Ros, The Killers, Snow Patrol, The Shins, Daughtry, Robert Randolph & Family Band, Keane, Scissor Sisters, Pink, Iron & Wine, Evanescence, The Handsome Family, Los Lonely Boys, Matchbox Twenty, Jet, Puddle of Mudd, Martha Wainwright, My Morning Jacket, British Sea Power, Coheed And Cambria, Black Keys, Kings Of Leon, Fountains Of Wayne, Fiona Apple, Good Charlotte, The Fray, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, O.A.R., Decemberists, Damien Rice, Jason Mraz. And of course because of nostalgia all of the stars from the fourties were brough back into play. Age makes one nostalgic. But also along the way I have discovered a penchant for new lesser known or even unknown artists, and these can be found by perusing this blog.
Just as an example if you went to
February 2012 you would find the following artists: Anneke Van Giersbergen, Fanfarlo, Regina Spektor, Kate Martin, Lauren Fulbright, Yori Swart, Lydia Cole, Jenny Hval, Jenny Gillespie, All Will Be Quiet, Soko, Alcoholic Faith Mission, Honeychurch, Swaying Wires, Lotte Mullan, The Unthanks, Frida Hyvönen, School of Seven Bells, Annah Mac, The Cadillac Kings, Ana Moura, Amanda Mair, Nicole Atkins, AA Bondy, The Kills, My Darling Clementine, Petra Jean Phillipson, James Levy And The Blood Red Rose, Chelsea Crowell, Emeli Sandé, Oh Land, Laurena, Olinde, Gossling, Jenny Owen Youngs, Erika Jayne, screens, Bernice, Anaïs Mitchell, Heritage Blues Orchestra, Laleh, Mount Washington, Chairlift, Warpaint, Valkyrien Allstars, Oddfellows Casino, The Jim Italiano Band, Trailer Trash Tracys, Beth Jeans Houghton, The Pines and Giorgis. Any and all of which are worth a listen.
