Over the weekend, Big Money Mike (popblerd on Twitter) from Popblerd! and I talked the year in pop music. While we do this from time to time, including on his show’s podcast, we decided to record it as a year end music podcast for this site.
We discussed some of the big themes in pop music for the year, such as Eminem’s big comeback, Justin Bieber’s success and what we think happens to him when the pop idol status goes away, and why it was a good year for hip hop.
We also bring on Matt Bjorke (roughstock on Twitter) from Rough Stock to talk the year in country music. Matt talks a bit about Taylor Swift’s history and we go into small detail about black country music artists. Then he gives us his favorite album of the year.
Mike and I finish by going over a bunch of albums and we give quick thoughts about them.
You might think after missing on SonicClash’s American Idol Pick the Top 12 contest that Garrett and George were done with American Idol prognostication.
Nope.
Tune in to this special edition of Sonic Clash Radio to hear the American Idol Geeks discuss Simon’s last year, who should have been in the top 12, and the controversy surrounding Michael Lynche. They even tell you their picks for the final 3, although George cheated and added a fourth.
But even that’s not enough. Stayed tuned because Sonic’s new Idol contest will be unveiled way before the first singer takes the stage Tuesday.
Watching a world pass them by but sticking to the idealism that made them 60s favorites, PP&M were the VH1 band of their day that wanted to break on MTV but not lose their loyal listeners. Puff (The Magic Dragon) wasn’t about anything but a child’s imaginary playmate they insisted, much like The Beatles insisted that many of their well known drug songs were simple odes about fun places.
Back to back Grammy Awards in 1962-1963 for Best Pop Performance for If I Had A Hammer and Leaving On A Jet Plane established the trio in music’s mainstream. They were no longer the torch bearers of Seeger’s legacy, but a musical force (much like early Kanye) that could keep a foot on each side of the road and walk straight down the center.
The artists they influenced are in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, as are the artists that influenced them. They gave voice to Bobby Zimmerman’s Blowin’ in the Wind. They did the same thing for John Denver’s Leaving on a Jet Plane in that awkward period the Far Out guy experienced between the Chad Mitchell days and his stint as a Rocky Mountain troubadour.
Peter Paul & Mary covered Dylan especially well. In The Wind, the band’s third album in 1963, featured three Dylan penned tracks. They would constantly return to Dylan covers, including I Shall Be Released and Too Much of Nothing. Tim Hardin was another favorite songwriter to cover, as was influence Pete Seeger.
Perhaps no better measure of the respect PP&M generated is found in the musicians credits on their albums. Artists like Herbie Hancock grace the credits of the band’s discography. And if Paul Stookey wanted to write songs and Peter Yarrow wanted to produce them, Mary Travers was the soaring voice cementing the two and firmly establishing the trio in pop music history.
RIP Mary. Day is done.
*For those who didn’t delve too deep into the discography, the headline is the first line of Day is Done, one of Peter, Paul and Mary’s last hits.
