The Dark Monkey's Top 100

#1 – Todd Snider

#2 – John Prine

#3 – Ryan Adams/Whiskeytown

My first taste of Ryan Adams and/or Whiskeytown came from a story I heard on the radio.  The story was talking about how some guy named Ryan Adams stormed off stage because people kept yelling for “Summer of ‘69”.  You may or may not know that “Summer of ‘69” was a Bryan Adams hit, not a Ryan Adams hit.  Now I don’t know if people in the audience were just fucking with him (which is what I assume), or if they really thought they were seeing Bryan Adams.  It might have been a festival, in which case the latter could possibly be true.  Anyhow, my first reaction was “maybe the bastard should have changed his name if he didn’t want to be mistaken for Bryan Adams”.  My second reaction was “I would have learned to play “Summer of ‘69” with alternate lyrics that were either really dirty or anti-Bryan Adams, for just those occasions.”  Other than that I didn’t give it much more consideration because I thought Ryan Adams was one of those boy band kids gone solo.  At some point, and I really don’t know if it was a month or a year later, I came across the band Whiskeytown.  “Hard Luck Story” was the first song I heard, and it was a good one to hear first.  Then I heard “Too Drunk To Dream” and I knew I had to find out more about this band.  What I found out is that they had broken up, but their main singer, a guy named Ryan Adams, had released a solo album.  And I swear to God one of my first thoughts at that point was “is this the same Ryan Adams that stormed off the stage when people were shouting for “Summer of ’69’”.  After a little research I discovered that he was infamous for having a temper and did in fact storm off the stage a few times when Bryan Adams was “mentioned” at one of his shows.  But I liked the Whiskeytown stuff so much I had to give his solo stuff a try, despite how much of an asshole he may or may not have been.  I heard “To Be Young (Is To Be Sad Is To Be High)” and “Come Pick Me Up” from his first solo album and decided on the spot that I don’t care how much of an asshole he is if he keeps making music like that.  Over the years I have followed Ryan and watched him continue to piss people off.  For example, he pissed off his record company when he recorded the “Love Is Hell” album, giving them trippy experimental indie rock (it drew comparisons to Radiohead) when they wanted “Gold” part 2.  The record company told him they weren’t going to release the album and to go back into the studio and try again (they officially said the album was too dark and sad).  So he went back into the studio and recorded “Rock n Roll”, and album that danced on the fringe of hard rock.  Both albums were eventually released, and Ryan subsequently drifted back into Americana mode.  But those two albums didn’t just piss off the record company, they alienated some of his alt-country fans too, but that didn’t seem to bother Ryan.  And it didn’t bother me either.  “Love is Hell” and “Rock n Roll” are two of my favorite Ryan Adams albums.  Don’t get me wrong, it was Americana Ryan that first hooked me, but the diversity he showed from “Gold” to “Rock n Roll” to “Love is Hell” earned even more of my respect.  Not to mention I love when an artist stands up to a record company.  For the record, I have seen Ryan Adams live twice and Bryan Adams was not mentioned either time.  

#4 – The Damnwells

I discovered The Damnwells through the band Whiskeytown.  I happened to be online reading about what the different members of the band did after Whiskeytown broke up.  One of the drummers (not the original Whiskeytown drummer, but a replacement) went on to join The Damnwells.  So I added them to my list of bands to investigate.  I remember the first song I downloaded was “Sleepsinging”, and it was one of those instant musical crushes.  I ended up buying the entire first album (something I rarely do in the digital age), and every album they released since.  I even bought the DVD documentary about the band called “Golden Days”.  And it was watching that documentary that elevated the band to number 4.  It was an interesting look behind the scenes of the music industry in the mid-2000’s.  And it introduced me to the band’s singer and main songwriter – Alex Dezen – on a personal level.  I loved his attitude throughout the movie, which saw The Damnwells go from being the next big thing to being dropped from their label before the album was finished.  The movie also put their songs in a new light for me.  You could really understand what Dezen was trying to say with his music.  While the original lineup split up, Alex Dezen has continued to record under the name The Damnwells with a series of rotating musicians.  And it is easy to see that The Damnwells have always been the Alez Dezen project.  It doesn’t matter who he has backing him, his lyrics and vocals and guitar playing are unmistakable.  And he puts on a great live show as well.    

#5 – Johnny Cash

No one is cooler than Johnny Cash.  He lived a hard life.  He made some great music.  He wrote some unbelievable songs.  But it just might be the songs he didn’t write that elevates him to that next level.  Cash was able to take any song and make it his own, putting his undeniable Man In Black stamp on it .  Nowhere is that more prominent than on the Rick Rubin produced “American Recordings” series of albums.  In fact, there is a well-known quote from Trent Reznor talking about Cash’s cover of his song “Hurt” in which he says  “…that song isn’t mine anymore.”  I’m sure there are many songwriters that can say the same thing (I’m speaking directly to you, Kris Kristofferson).  And while his renditions of other people’s songs may have elevated him, you can’t refute the power of his own writing.  Johnny Cash is a legend.  And there is a reason for that.  He made a mark by giving a voice to imprisoned convicts.  But he didn’t stop there.  He became a proponent for anyone downtrodden.  And feeling broken and demoralized quite often myself, it was like he was a proponent for me.  He was only 71 when he died.  Much younger than the Parkinson’s Disease made him appear to be.  He actually died on the day of my 5^th wedding anniversary, 25 days after my son died.  41 days before my 30^th birthday.  That’s a couple of months I’ll never forget.  

#6 – Richard Ashcroft/The Verve

You’ve probably heard “Bittersweet Symphony”, you might have heard “Lucky Man”, and there’s a possibility that you’ve heard “The Drugs Don’t Work”.  All three are great songs, but just the tip of the iceberg for this band (and their frontman) that many consider a one hit wonder. But that’s ok, because nothing turns me on more than obscurity.  Yes, my first taste of The Verve was “Bittersweet Symphony” and the video of a goofy looking guy being an asshole as he’s walking down the street.  It was a catchy tune, but back in 1997 it didn’t grab me like the song “Velvet Morning” did a few years later.  It was actually my best friend who re-introduced me to the band after Ashcroft made his first solo album.  I’ve mentioned before that my best friend and I make a point of trying to turn each other on to new music.  It’s almost like a game.  And the best game one dude can play with another dude before unwritten rules are enforced.  So I was sitting in my best friend’s back yard, blazing a fatty, sipping on a cold one, and he says I want you to hear something.  And I love when he says that.  Especially when fatties are being blazed and cold ones are being sipped.  As with tradition, when we play something new for each other we never say anything about the song beforehand.  We just play it.  Except for maybe saying “you might of heard this before” or “I’d be surprised if you heard this before”.  But any real discussion happens after the listening.  And there is always discussion.  That’s one of my favorite parts.  Anyhow, the song he chose to play me was “C’mon People (We’re Making It Now)” from Richard Ashcroft’s first solo album (Alone With Everybody).  And I felt the claws digging in.  During the post listening discussion I found out that Ashcroft was the singer of The Verve.  And I also found out that my best friend heard most of the album in a record store (remember those?) when the clerk was playing it.  The clerk educated my friend on all things Verve and Ashcroft and my friend left the store with every Verve and Ashcroft album available in the U.S.  And then he played me “Velvet Morning” from the Verve’s Urban Hymns album.  And that’s when I felt the claws not only dig in deeper, but pick me up and spin me around.  Listening to The Verve and/or Richard Ashcroft (especially while high) is a trippy experience.  The music resonates so vibrantly that it flows around you like an ocean of sound, entering your body through every pore, filling you, giving you life.  And that’s just the music.  The lyrics take you to another level.  And isn’t that what we’re all trying to accomplish?  Reaching that next level?    

#7 – The Beatles

And John Lennon and Paul McCartney and George Harrison and Ringo Starr.  That’s one of the really nice things about the Beatles, even after they broke up they still continued to put out really good music as solo artists.  Yes, even Ringo (“The No No Song” ranks up there with anything the other three members recorded).  Even though their recording career as a unit only lasted seven years, they created over thirty years worth of great music during that limited time.  And that isn’t even touching on their solo careers.  At their poppyest in 1964 they still rocked harder than anyone else.  They embraced the psychedelic era with open arms, risking alienating their audience in the process, an they were open about their use of hallucinogenic drugs to enhance their songwriting.  It’s that attitude, mixed with great songwriting, great musicianship, and great harmonizing, that defines who the Beatles were.  There rebellious side appealed to young boys, and their dreamy good looks and pleas to hold your hand while they loved you do appealed to young girls.  But take away the legend and there are still some really good songs.

#8 – Pink Floyd

Most people only really know the post 1973 Pink Floyd.  And with reason.  “Dark Side Of The Moon” (released in ’73) is (possibly) their best album.  Even if you’re not listening to it while watching The Wizard of Oz.  But Floyd released some good shit before 1973 too.  In fact, one of my favorite albums is their first – “Piper At The Gates Of Dawn”.  But I’m a pretty big fan of Syd Barrett and all of his lunacy, which many Floyd fans are not.  And I can see why.  There really are two versions of Pink Floyd.  The trippy psychedelic pop of the Barrett era, and the trippy progressive art rock that defines Pink Floyd now.  I just happen to like both.  It’s that variety bullshit you’re tired of me talking about.  My older brothers loved Pink Floyd, although I doubt they even knew who Syd Barrett was.   But it seemed like “Dark Side Of The Moon” and “Wish You Were Here” and “Animals” and “The Wall” were always playing.  And when my brothers weren’t playing them, the klassic rock station in town was.  One memory I have as a teenager was coming home drunk and stoned and passing out in my bed with the radio on (which was standard).  I woke up at some point in the middle of the night with “Echoes” playing and I felt my entire body pulsating.  The music flowing through my veins.  I felt like I was going to vibrate out of the bed.  It took me a few minutes to realize where I was and what was happening.  The power that music has to physically touch you was apparent that night and I haven’t forgotten that feeling.  Nor do I think I ever will.  It’s kind of like the first time your dick penetrates a pussy.  You’re at a loss for words to really describe the feeling, I mean really describe the feeling, but you never forget it.  

#9 – Frank Zappa

All the great ones die too soon.  And Zappa was one of the greatest ones.  Frank was one of my best teachers when I was in high school.  He taught me about music, humor, government, child rearing, sex, religion, television, censorship… basically he taught me about life.  A casual listen to any Frank Zappa album might make you think of musical chaos, like the albums were recorded while in drunken stupors and drug induced fog.  But Zappa was known to be a perfectionist in the studio, and on the stage.  He only used the best musicians, and every sound you hear is there on purpose and for a reason.  And he never touched drugs.  But he’d fight a bloody battle for your right to use them.  A large part of me is a reflection of Frank Zappa.  I fell in love with his ideals, because I honestly feel that if everyone thought like him the world would be a much better place.  No one can sum up his ideals better than the man himself, so I will end with some of my favorite Frank Zappa quotes.    

“The most important thing to do in your life is to not interfere with somebody else’s life.”
 

“Being cynical is the only way to deal with modern civilization, you can’t just swallow it whole.”

“A drug is not bad. A drug is a chemical compound. The problem comes in when people who take drugs treat them like a license to behave like an asshole.”

“If you want to get laid, go to college. If you want an education, go to the library.”

“If you wind up with a boring, miserable life because you listened to your mom, your dad, your teacher, your priest, or some guy on TV telling you how to do your shit, then you deserve it.”

“On a personal level, Freaking Out is a process whereby an individual casts off outmoded and restricting standards of thinking, dress, and social etiquette in order to express creatively his relationship to his immediate environment and the social structure as a whole.”

“Drop out of school before your mind rots from exposure to our mediocre educational system. Forget about the Senior Prom and go to the library and educate yourself if you’ve got any guts.”

“Their stupidity does not amaze me, it’s when they’re smart that amazes me. It’s baffling whenever you find someone who’s smart — incredible. Soon you’ll have zoos for such things.”

“I have four children, and I want them to grow up in a country that has a working First Amendment.”

“The first thing you have to do if you want to raise nice kids, is you have to talk to them like they are people instead of talking to them like they’re property.”

“The essence of Christianity is told to us in the Garden of Eden history. The fruit that was forbidden was on the Tree of Knowledge. The subtext is, All the suffering you have is because you wanted to find out what was going on. You could be in the Garden of Eden if you had just kept your fucking mouth shut and hadn’t asked any questions.”

“The more boring a child is, the more the parents, when showing off the child, receive adulation for being good parents — because they have a tame child-creature in their house.”

“To me, absurdity is the only reality.”

“Hey, you know something people? I’m not black, but there’s a whole lots a times I wish I could say I’m not white.”

“Some scientists claim that hydrogen, because it is so plentiful, is the basic building block of the universe. I dispute that. I say there is more stupidity than hydrogen, and that is the basic building block of the universe.”

“The United States is a nation of laws: badly written and randomly enforced.”

“Without deviation, progress is not possible.”

“One of my favorite philosophical tenets is that people will agree with you only if they already agree with you. You do not change people’s minds.”

“The computer can’t tell you the emotional story. It can give you the exact mathematical design, but what’s missing is the eyebrows.”

“Without music to decorate it, time is just a bunch of boring production deadlines or dates by which bills must be paid.”

“Certification from one source or another seems to be the most important thing to people all over the world. A piece of paper from a school that says you’re smart, a pat on the head from your parents that says you’re good or some reinforcement from your peers that makes you think what you’re doing is worthwhile. People are just waiting around to get certified.” 

“There is no such thing as a dirty word. Nor is there a word so powerful, that it’s going to send the listener to the lake of fire upon hearing it.”

“You know, people are basically shitty. It’s when they prove it over and over again that it gets obnoxious.”

“Anybody who wants religion is welcome to it, as far as I’m concerned—I support your right to enjoy it. However, I would appreciate it if you exhibited more respect for the rights of those people who do not wish to share your dogma, rapture, or necrodestination.”

“Stupidity has a certain charm - ignorance does not.”

“I’m not here to impinge on anybody else’s lifestyle. If I’m in a place where I know I’m going to harm somebody’s health or somebody asks me to please not smoke, I just go outside and smoke. But I do resent the way the nonsmoking mentality has been imposed on the smoking minority. Because, first of all, in a democracy, minorities do have rights. And, second, the whole pitch about smoking has gone from being a health issue to a moral issue, and when they reduce something to a moral issue, it has no place in any kind of legislation, as far as I’m concerned.”

“One size does not fit all.” 

“In a fight between yourself and the world, always side with the world.”