Typically I have zero interest in memes, with the one exception being music memes. I think music is a decent indicator of one facet of someone’s personality, so I like to read about what music other people are into, and I like to share what music I’m into. In the end, music is like food. If you don’t like something, you don’t like it. But if you try something new and you like it, well, then you’ve just got a bigger menu for the future. Ya heard? Anyway, here’s the meme, courtesy of the Slender Reed:
Copy this list, leave in the bands you’ve seen perform live, delete the ones you haven’t, and add new ones that you have seen until you reach 25. An asterisk means the previous person had it on their list. Two asterisks means the last two people who did this before you had that band on their list.
Here’s my list (in no particular order). Play along if you like, and let me know if you do.
1. Bob Dylan***
2. The B-52’s*
3. Mighty Mighty Bosstones*
4. Soul Coughing
5. De La Soul
6. A Tribe Called Quest
7. Talib Kweli
8. Dave Matthews Band
9. Roots
10. G. Love and Special Sauce
11. Long Beach Dub Allstars
12. Cake
13. Pete Yorn
14. The Toasters
15. Toots and the Maytals
16. The Pietasters
17. Eric Clapton
18. The Beastie Boys
19. Tori Amos
20. Counting Crows
21. Ani Difranco
22. Talking Heads
23. Outkast
24. George Clinton and the P. Funk Allstars
25. Sugar Ray
(Bonus Sugar Ray anecdote! When I was in college Sugar Ray and Orgy came through as part of some MTV nationwide college concert promotion bullshit. Tickets were free, so I said what the hell and went. As you may have guessed, it pretty much sucked all the ass in the universe, but an acquaintance of mine was really into Sugar Ray, so my friends and I hung out with her while she diligently waited outside his tour bus for a glimpse of him. After about 30 minutes of waiting two skanky chicks stumbled out of the bus and were followed closely by some douchey manager type guy. He pointed at my acquaintance and her female friend and said, “You two. On the bus. Your friends can leave.” So I told her I’d see her in class, and when I did a few days later she told me that the band bought the four pills of E that she had, plus the dime of marijuana, plus the joint she had. Apparently their douchey manager had failed to find any drugs in the area, so they paid out the nose for what she had. However, the really amusing part of the story is that apparently on entrance to the bus, Mark McGrath stumbled out of the back bedroom portion of the bus, grabbed my acquaintance’s friend, and proceeded to rail her so vigorously that the bus was rocking back and forth while my acquaintance sold drugs to the rest of the band.)
And then Mark McGrath went on to host Entertainment Tonight. Or Extra or whatever show he is on.
I have a lame concert list. I’ve only been to, like, five. I’ll put them in here and won’t even bother with the meme. It’s so small.
The Refreshments
Vonda Shepherd (free concert at NAU Homecoming)
Paul McCartney
Dave Matthews (I’m actually going to see him again next week)
That’s it. 4. What’s wrong with me?
Oh, and I saw the Alanis acoustic tour.
Here’s mine. I’ve seen 4 of the same bands you listed. Luckily for me, that does not include Sugar Ray!
Great story…..but kind of creepy, too.
I’m going to tag myself with this meme. It seems like a fun one.
OHHH - I’m going to see Cake tomorrow night - are they good live?
Mel- Good? No. Ass-shakingly great? Yes. Try not to dance. I dare you.
I started making the list. I don’t know if I can even remember 25 that I’ve seen live. Anyway, too many bands on the list were either dead, had dead members or don’t tour any more. I started with Zepellin, Tull, Frank Zappa.
FZ being dead always bums me out. Happy f-ing birthday to me.
Good LORD. My concert list starts when I was 11 with Huey Lewis and the News. I’ve seen so many damn bands that I can’t imagine listing just 25. I was obsessed with Music and stupid guys in bands for wayyyy too long. So, I’ll modify this slightly—I’ll tell you the bands I partied with.
1. Radiohead –The Band was responsible for my husband and I getting together. They gave us free tickets to their Philly show last year as a wedding gift
2. Splitsville–Dated guitarist (local Band born out of a local band from the early 90’s called “The greenberry woods” ) he was proud about having a video on MTV back then. Oh, and he was a jerk.
3. Cherry Poppin Daddies - Dated Alto Sax player
4. The Specials - Invited to stand on stage while they played during the 1998 Vans Warped tour.
5. Green Day–Had all access pass because of Splitsville boyfriend. Partied with them during 1998 HFStival. (and Fastball. and Crystal Method, and the foo fighters….)
6. Kiss–Partied with them and Faster Pussycat in 1993 (JUST PARTIED I was 18, naive and scared to death, too.)
7. Deftones–Played catch with them while we grilled out after the Vans festival was over. They’re really strange cats.
8. Megadeth–Dave Mustane is an asshole.
9. Pearl Jam and Red Hot Chili Peppers –Lucky enough to have a friend whose Mom/Dad owned the sound company that did the sound for the second Lollapallooza. Again—18, scared, naive and Anthony Kedis sacred the shit out of me.
10. Jackyl (Okay okay. I deserve a flogging for that one)
Bonus Cherry Poppin Daddies story: I happened to be pretty good friends with the trumpet player and dated the Alto sax player for a bit. I remained friends with them and when the swing thing died in, like, 1999/2000. Their tour was canceled due to lack of interest. They were hired to play a private party for Deutsche Bank at the B & O RR Museum and my friends snuck me in. One of the party goers identified me, quite correctly, as a party crasher and thought it was great to see people with such interest in the music. Later that evening, we all went back to the Hyatt downtown ad proceeded to run up a $900 tab at Pisces. That was a fun night. It was the last show they ever played live before they disbanded shortly after that.
That being said, your list and mine has some decent overlap. You have eclectic taste for such a dil-hole!
ACW - I’m not taking that bet - I’d lose for sure. Thanks for the tip.
ACW we share Dylan only. Either: one of us has terrible taste or: I am 15 years older than you are.
Possibly both.
lori: holy shit!
YNL—tee hee. I look back on those days and always say….
I did…what?
Lori and Alan- There was a period in my life where all my friends and I did was go to shows. Fall and Winter nights were spent in DC and Baltimore catching punk/ska and hip-hop shows, and Spring and Summer days, nights, and weekends were spent catching jam-bands, hippie groups, and funk shows. Local festivals (like Artscape) alone take me well into 100 bands.
Also, Radiohead is one of a handful of bands that are still on my list of bands that I still want to see. And I’d have killed to see Zappa. Killed.
ACW - we share the B-52’s and quite possibly Sugar Ray (uh huh), but they were at one of those all-day festivals and I think I was shopping the tshirts during their set, so I didn’t include them on my list. But yeah, you do have ecclectic taste, which is oh-so-cool.
Oh if you include shit like Artscape and NO Jazz Fest, well hell we can add Celia Cruz, BB King, the Meters, Deftones, Ice-T, Horton Heat, Sun Ra…
I’m with you, I’d love to see Radiohead. Can’t believe Fatman knows them. Wow.
I’ve actually seen none of the bands on that list, although I’ve seen a lot of live bands. I go to a lot of festivals so see a lot of music, and about 3 gigs/concerts a year. While your taste is slightly different to mine I like the music, it’s just most of the list isn’t bands I’d go to see live.
Radiohead is possibly the most amazing band I’ve ever seen. When I saw them in Philly last year, they opened with “You and Whose Army”. The entire venue was so quiet you could hear a pin drop—except one idiot who didn’t turn off his effin cell phone. Fucker.
It was AMAZING to see that. The reverence us die hard fans have towards the band was readily apparent. They’re supposed to release a new album soon…..slackers.
“And I’d have killed to see Zappa. Killed.”
FZ came to my school for two shows in 1984. This was when times were good. The drinking age was 18 and the neocons were still just a dribble down some womans thigh. But I digress.
Seating wa sin the gym. There were bleachers and some floor seats. Somehow I scored floor seats pretty close up front — within the first ten rows.
When he came out on stage, the entire gym is standing on the bleachers and seats screaming at the top of their lungs. Frank came to the front of the stage, calmed everyone down and said, “Ok boys and girls. Let’s be ladies and gentlemen. Everyone sit down in your seats, please… Sit down!”
Everyone sat down. Then he said, “Ok, now we can begin.”
He turned around and began conducting. I don’t remember any of the music that was performed. I just remember thouroughly enjoying the entire night.
Plus, he always fueled my distrust of authority.
1. Dave Matthews Band*
2. Cake*
3. Green Day
4. 3 Doors Down
5. Billy Idol
6. Mariyne Manson
7. Velvet Revolver
8. Weezer
9. Marron 5
10. Dirks Bentley
11. Miranda Lambert
12. Toby Keith
13. Feul
14. The Hives
15. Chemical Brothers
16. Garbage
17. R.E.M.
18. Prodigy
19. Moe Dither
20.
21.
22.
23.
24.
25.
Oh shit Incan’t beleive I forgot to include that I saw Radiohead and Travis multiple times.
See my list
Ahh…Radiohead.
I remember I used to give Thom Yorke daily updates on the World Bank/ IMF protests in DC, back in 2000. After the birth of his son, he became less chatty and I haven’t heard from the Band since they threw us Congrats last year. Their new stuff sounds great live, but we are all patiently waiting for their new album. Dammit.
I have a Sugar Ray story too, only mine’s not as good. My sister and I had lawn seats to see them with the Goo Goo Dolls when she hurt her knee (torn ACL — ouch!) and was barely able to walk, even on crutches. The venue kindly moved us to folding chairs in the front row, where Sugar Ray got annoyed that my sister was sitting down through their set. They kept motioning for my sister to stand up — until she waved her crutches at them and they figured out that she couldn’t. So they gave her a guitar pick.
Oh man, Mark McGrath the man, and by ‘the man’ I mean a total douche. Gotta love rockstars!
What are you.. a lesbian or something? Tori Amos AND Ani DiFDranco
Lori- I’m a lesbian in a man’s body.