When it comes to music, you will quickly discover that Knuckles doesn't have any clue of what he's talking about. But the iTunes playlist does not lie. So for those of you who want to immerse themselves in the Knuckles soundtrack here you go:
Knuckles likes the idea of Frank Sinatra. He really does. The cool persona. The white shirts and skinny black ties. Rakish hat. Calling chicks broads. Swinging. But the only problem is that Sinatra's music doesn't sing. Of the rest of the rat pack, only Dean Martin makes the Knuckles' playlist. His few hits are enjoyable every couple of years. Volare bites donkey dick. He also put out a country album that blows chunks. So it was only after seeing the vast bulk of songs in his iTunes program that Knuckles was force to admit that his favorite music is...
Harsh Country
But nothing, and Knuckles means nothing from after 1972. Unless the performer was around before 1972. Like Cash, Haggard, Waylon Jennings and Hank Williams the first. Dwight Yoakam and Steve Earle are the two exceptions to the the modern country rule. Shania too, but not for her singing. (Come to think of it, there are notable exceptions to this rule that Knuckles will discuss further on.)
Johnny Cash is the greatest. Knuckles doesn't care that the Industry Rectal Probes sucked up to him the last couple years. Cash is king. Anything he sings is great. Even when he covers a prototypical wimp hit like "Bridge of Troubled Waters."
Another fine purveyor of harsh country was Kris Kristofferson. Stop! You'll pay for your laughter! Kristofferson's version of his song Sunday Morning Coming Down is the goddamned best fucking piece of music you would ever want to listen to on a sunny Sunday morning when you're hung over and your life ain't worth shit. And he sings it better than Cash did. It's that good.
Here are recent picks (and only because they would have been just as good 50 years ago.) Earle's Guitar Town gets a lot of play. Knuckles heard an Earle interview a few years back, just after he got out of jail. (Earle, not Knuckles. Knuckles is still in jail.) Earle was going on about the right-wing Republicans are Tools of Satan and all that crap, never realizing that you can take any number of his whining songs and use them as a campaign theme for Pat Buchanan. Dwight's on the playlist cause he'd got such a purdy mouth.
Johnny Dowd is new but he's probably been around for ages. He's gotta be in his fifties. The album Knuckles listens to the album Pictures from Life's Other Side. Dowd's music is traditional, twisted, dark and addictive. One more before Knuckles goes on: Nico Case and Her Boyfriends. This woman sings of very unpleasant things. After her hearing her songs, you just want to get in your truck, drive to the nearest bar and hurt the guy who did it. Hurt him real bad.
German and English classical
Knuckles listens to all the usual suspects. But it must be pre-1850 vintage. Modernism, progressivism, Freud, Marx, Woodrow Wilson, income tax, Italian unification, Engles, Andrew Johnson, pacifism, Bolshevism, public school, and baseball all conspired to kill classical music. Thanks much for the cultural indolence and political tyranny, you fuck-funnels.
Chicago and Texas blues
Knuckles lumps these two sub-genres together because they play the hubcap guitar and use knives and broken bottles for slides. Of course, the blues purists will clog Knuckles' comment section with nasty personal attacks. But hear this. Knuckles isn't afraid to speak truth to power.
Philly R&B
Thought the Motown thing was okay. But it gets old fast. And Knuckles would bet a sawbuck that no one can identify one Motown hit that isn't being used by ad graverobbers to sell sneakers or douches. Seventeen years ago, Mrs Knuckles gave her man the 8-disc compilation of Atlantic Rhythm & Blues singles from 1947 to 1974. They hold up better than Diana Ross's truss.
Prog rock
So absolutely cool in the late 70s. Most progressive rock is severely dated. A couple months ago Knuckles bought the CD of Uriah Heep's Demons and Wizards. Shut up! It was good. Was. Now it sounds like a parody of Spinal Tap. (Which was a parody of bands like Uriah Heep.) But a band that did hold up was the Brit group, City Boy. It's been about 25 years since Knuckles last listened to their breakthrough album, Dinner at the Ritz. Still have the vinyl record and played it. Sweet, sweet Jesus, it still sounds great. But Knuckles is wary of getting the CD, if it's available. Just googled "city boy." Mutt Lange produced their albums. That's it. Dinner at the Ritz is going into the playlist once again for heavy rotation
Russian and German Male Choruses.
There's something about the mournful harmonies of adult men singing that reaches my core. Rachmaninov's Vespers is played frequently. Knuckles attributes the connection to the long hours driving through the dark prairies in the dead of night and hearing their voices. It all seemed right.
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