This is where the Peon Pulpit honors the great works. While many of the artists/works recognized here have been honored elsewhere for their greatness, a secondary focus of this area will be to honor those that have been maligned, under-rated, ignored or possibly even scorned unjustly.
Basically this is just an excuse to give 'props' to stuff and people I like.
Basically this is just an excuse to give 'props' to stuff and people I like.
And now, The Inductees (In No Particular Order):
MUSIC
- Hall & Oats - While they have a very strong portfolio of music from the '70's and '80's, their induction into the Hall Of Greatness can be justified on the strength of the song "She's Gone" alone. Wow...I love that song.
- The Carpenters - For their entire catalog of music.
- Skinny Puppy - For their entire catalog of music. And for stuff like this & this.
- White Zombie - Exclusively For La Sexorcisto. Certainly one of the greatest rock albums of all time.
- The Three Degrees - For the song "When Will I See You Again"
- Townes Van Zandt - For his entire catalog.
- Michael Martin Murphey - For the song "Wildfire"
- Rush - Do you really need to ask?
- Hector Berlioz - Entire Catalog of music.
- The Cure - Entire Catalog, but in particular the album Pornography
- XTC - Entire Catalog
FILM
- The Matrix - One of the greatest Sci-fi movies of all time
INVENTORS
- Willis Carrier - For inventing modern air conditioning
FOOD
PRODUCTS
OTHER ARTISTS
- Bill Hicks (Comedy)
- Clarence John Laughlin (photography)
Started 01/02/2009
9 comments:
On the music front, let me add a few bands for consideration:
Partridge Family - go ahead and laugh. When your done, listen to one of the best bubblegum pop bands ever. C'mon Get Happy - damn right! I dare you not to hum these tunes.
Ambrosia; England Dan and John Ford Coley; Firefall, Atlanta Rhythm Section, Little River Band, Gordon Lightfoot; Al Stewart and Cat Stevens. Isn't it time to stop arguing and just listen?? Let's honor right here and right now greatness that was 70's mellow rock? I knew you would say yes.
Whitesnake - Stop your posing with your Iron Maiden shirt you just bought at Saks. Sometimes being a Led Zeppelin ripoff band just works. Slide it in.....to your mp3 player of course.
Asia - the best of the early 80's rock scene. Forget the hits for a moment and listen to the other tunes. Continue to resist? I know not why.
Kansas - yep. See them live while you can. Those why continue to deny will be sent to their knees and crushed - only to be saved by honoring the power and greatness of metal that is Kansas!! Carry on wayward sons.
Alice in Chains - perhaps the most underrated band of the Grunge era - maybe ever. Look, when your fingers get gangrene and fall off from heroin addition, you're pretty committed and serious about what your talking about.
Gene Autry - wow did this guy have a voice or what??
The Ventures. You know the drill. Get your board and head out.
Backstreet Boys (Millennium Album only). "I Want it that Way" is simply the best pop music release of all time. I am not kidding.
W.A.S.P. - OK, maybe not the band but the vocals of Blackie Lawless can only be approached by maybe - maybe - Roth. Wild Child alone is an amazing metal work that remains part of the legitimate repoitoir.
OUT!!
Shape and dry laundry system. See it at www.shapendry.com. It accomplishes the the product hat trick: incredibly useful, easy to use and saves you a ton of money on dry cleaning. Oh, did I also mention that your clothes will look like new forever by avoiding the dryer?
On the music front let's all consider Brasil 66 - their greatest hits album will get you there. Unbelievably terrific music from one of the most unrecognized bands ever.
Let's honor Canada eh??
Rush? Sure. Loverboy? Maybe.
But, let's not forget to add Triumph, BTO and April Wine too.
Now, take off you hosers!!
Rush has been added.
Television - I think the Pulpit might have had had this category in the past. Still, there are a huge number of well done and important documentary shows out there that nobody thinks about. I would suggest CBS's 48 Hours Mystery, NOVA's Frontline, Nat Geo's Locked Up Abroad, Bio's I Survived and any (I mean ANY) HBO Sports Documentary. Just saw their documentary from 2007 on the Thrilla in Manilla. Wow - that is what documentary filmaking is all about. A unique - and totally contrarian - revelation of events that everybody thinks they know well. Ends up revealing completely new information and emotionally brings this story up to date. Simply an incredible 90 minutes. How this show does take home every Emmy should be the subject of a 48 Hour Mystery.
On the product front I think a few products are worthy:
Air conditioning. Imagine life without it...or, instead, imagine a time when life expectancy was 45.
Brita. Brought cleaner water into every home cheaply and easily. Plants lived longer, pets lived longer - YOU lived longer!
The electric toothbrush. Not the Gitmo confession tool of dread that your parents fired up in the 70s with their Close Up toothpaste. Yep, that is precisely why an entire generation lost their gums. Have no fear - take your pick. Braun or Sonicare. In either case, these tools have hugely changed a daily chore - for the better.
The electric tea kettle. Simple, safe, fast and effective. A real time saver and painlessly increases the consumption of tea. Need I say more?
GPS. Who would have thought that maps would be obsolete? Makes the Blair Witch Project look like an episode of Little House on the Prairie. "Where the hell is the map!!!???" Who the f**k cares? Get the damn GPS out of the car and walk away from the guy uriniating in the corner and into the local Target store.
The digital camera. Kodak and Polaroid are heading out of existence along with professional photography studios. Took power away from the professional photographers and put it into the hands of ordinary people. believable impacts that are often overlooked. Where is Big Foot, the Loch Ness monster or UFOs? The digital camera has ruined all of those In Search Of episodes that scared the shit out of everybody 30 years ago.
One product that does not get nearly enough attention for societal impact is the VCR. The ability of individuals to become their own private movie houses has had enormous upsides e.g. educational benefits, nostalgia, catching content that would have otherwise been lost, more choice in what and when we watch etc.
However, the downsides of the VCR on our society are often overlooked. Most notably, allowing a steady unchecked stream of adult content and violent images to reach children has had enormous negative societal impacts that are only now being studied and understood.
Not to mention that it changed how society interacted. No longer handing out with friends and neighbors or heading out to the bowling league with the folks from work or the PTA meeting with neighbors or playing cards on the weekend. Now as Jackson Browne said many years ago people are "locked inside your houses. There's no time to find you now."
Willis Carrier - bout time G.
Now a few other forgotten household items:
Ziploc bags. Lots of uses. My favorite? Hefty One Zip. Taking Ziploc up a huge notch. No struggling to match the colors to "groove it" shut.
Glad Press n Seal - Saran Wrap on roids. Pure genius.
Hefty Gripper garbage bags. Why let your kitchen trash can raise your blood pressure?
Glad Cutting Sheets. Disposable cutting boards. How simple, how useful, how clean, how....no longer made. Further proof that a great idea is not enough. It also has to appeal to the moron masses. Snuggies? Sham Wows? Sure. A potentially life saving kitchen gadget - gone.
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