I haven’t had a chance to add to my “quite the looker in his younger days” list in a while. Ruben Blades has solved that problem.
Author: Joe
Roots
I used to hate the Roots, then I heard Game Theory, and now I love them. But … Jay Leno? Seriously?
Rolling Stones
I’m not sure what’s more impressive: The fact that these guys have been around and kicking for more than 50 years basically intact, or the fact that for the last 40 of those years they haven’t released anything worth listening to. (Note: Every time he sneezes, Mick Jagger makes $10 million. I’m sure he cares—a lot—about my opinion.)
Rod Stewart/Faces
On the list of musicians who actually have talent and completely threw it away, Rod Stewart probably ranks right at the top. “Da Ya Think I’m Sexy”? Number one, no. Number two, even when my kid was five and had a speech impediment, he knew how to spell and pronounce “do.”
Rockpile/Brinsley Schwarz/Dave Edmunds/Nick Lowe
The complicated history of these players and groups deserves a blog of its own. But my mom likes Dave Edmunds, and Nick Lowe released an album called Pinker and Prouder Than Previous, which sounds like a gay anthem, even though I’m pretty sure he’s not gay. So that must count for something.
Rockabilly
How is “rockabilly” different from “early rock and roll”? Is rockabilly different from early rock and roll? No idea. But I like the song “Summertime Blues,” so I needed a way to get it onto a list somehow.
Robyn Hitchcock
See Jonathan Richman. Swap in “Robyn Hitchcock.”
Bonus points for the lyric, “And balloon man/Blew up/In my hand.” What does that even mean?
Robert Johnson
The devil may have gotten Johnson’s, but clearly the real winners from that deal are anyone who loves music that comes from the soul. Pretty much every artist and genre that gets a list on this blog (except the prog rockers and, you know, Madonna) can trace their lineage back to this one man and his guitar. To be honest, I think the devil got shafted.
Rickie Lee Jones
Rickie Lee Jones once told an interviewer that she was no-way-not-at-all-not-one-bit-how-dare-you-even-suggest-it influenced by Joni Mitchell.
Rickie Lee Jones is in denial. Or lying.
Richard Thompson/ Richard & Linda Thompson
When your cheeriest lyric is about being “Nearly in Love” and your cheeriest melody is in a song about riding the “Wall of Death” … let’s just say, I bet Richard Thompson is a hoot at parties.
Playlist of the Day 