OFF: 10 most loved

[Doug Pearson]

Here's my list (excluding Hawkwind and any bands I've had any degree of
personal involvement with), in the approximate order in which I discovered
them:

* Beatles (Great singers, GREAT songwriters, competent instrumentalists on
an individual basis, but fantastic as an ensemble, lucky enough to have an
excellent & sympathetic producer to work with)

* Ramones (as 1977-era punk bands go, I probably prefer the Pagans, Crime,
and a few others, but it was these guys who seriously turned my head around
when I was 12)

* Velvet Underground/John Cale/Mo Tucker (Lou Reed's solo career hasn't
done much for me except 'Metal Machine Music' but John Cale is an
all-around musical genius, and Mo has made some damn fine solo albums)

* Fairport Convention/Sandy Denny/Richard Thompson (amazing that two fine
songwriters, one with a gorgeous voice, and one brilliant guitarist, could
wind up in the same band)

* Flamin' Groovies (the essence of what rock'n'roll was about in the 50s &
60s)

* Deviants/Pink Fairies (Kick Out The Jams, MOTHERFUCKERS!)

* Parliament/Funkadelic (no explanation necessary)

* Faust (the most far-out of all Krautrockers, who could still write great
pop songs!)

* Sun City Girls (the most inventive band on the planet in the 80s/90s)

... there's nine, since I'm certain that I've left out (at least) one of my
top ten bands.

        -Doug
         ceres at sirius.com