Is this where I ask fellow fans and not Mona and Lisa?

[Francis Gerald (Jerry) Chamness]

1) MonaLisa-Twins

2) The Beatles

3) John Sebastian (Lovin Spoonful)

4) Queen

5) The Eagles

6) Willie Nelson

7) The Beach Boys

8) Billy Joel

9) Chicago

10) The Zombies

11) Olivia Newton John

12) The Rolling Stones

 

[Michael Triba]

A GREAT DOZEN Jerry!  If I had gone to 12, my #11 is Beach Boys and #12 is also the Rolling Stones! Love your #11!  She was my major crush in my early 20’s buddy!

[Howard]

I have kept my list to groups only. I’d include individual artists in a separate top 10.

1. The Rolling Stones

2. The Beatles
3. MonaLisa Twins
4. The Kinks
5. Manfred Mann
6. The Hollies
7. The Who
8. Led Zeppelin
9. Pink Floyd
10. The EasyBeats

Yes I know. They’re all British bands. The EasyBeats met in an Australian migrant camp but they came from the UK, except for Harry Vanda and Dick Diamonde who were from the Netherlands. And I now consider the MLT to be Liverpudlians!

[Michael Triba]

Another GREAT LIST Howard!  Like Jerry, your list is all from back in the day, except for MLT!  You would like my brother Tom, who like you was H.S. Class of ’70.  (That was your class, right?)  His TOP 3 are 1. Rolling Stones  2. The Moody Blues  3. The Beatles.  I should ask him his entire TOP 10, but I know he would also have your #7, 8, and 9!

When I first found MLT 2 years, 8 months, and 1 day ago, within weeks I put them tied with the Moodies for #1.  My list back then was also all bands:  #3 Beatles, 4 Bee Gees, 5 ABBA, 6 Beach Boys, 7 The Who, 8 Rolling Stones, 9 E, L, &P, 10 Traveling Wilburys.

No worries buddy about all Brits.  My old list has only one fully American band.  IMHO the world’s greatest music has always come out of Europe and especially the British Isles.

If I had to rank continents it would be 1. Europe 2. North America 3. Australia 4. South America.  After that I am pretty clueless and the other continents are not my cup-of-tea.  They do their own thing and everyone has some great stuff.  I might also like the Music of Antarctica; lol!

So far, our average rank of MLT is #2!  Thanks for participating buddy!  Maybe you can get your buddy Tim to do so.

[Michael Triba]

Hey, hi Howard!

Long time, no talk to buddy!  (I have not gone the way of Timmy or Picasso.  Not yet that is.)

Good news!  Since I started this thread, upon further review and reflection, my current listening habits, and their lifetime bodies of work, I have refined and tweaked my TOP 10 and made it a TOP 15.  This is more accurate and realistic, and reflects more than 5.5 decades of music.

1  MOODY BLUES

2  ABBA

3  ALYONA YARUSHINA

4  STEPS

5  BEE GEES

6  BEATLES

7  MONALISA TWINS

8  BEACH BOYS

9  TRAVELING WILBURYS

10  ROLLING STONES

11  MICHAEL JACKSON

12  THE WHO

13  JETHRO TULL

14  KATIE MELUA

15  MILK’N BLUES

(I have omitted “The” in front of each band to which it applies, except for #12, for whom the “The” is usually verbalized.)

You are the first to know, my friend!  I will also post this is on my Facebook Timeline, for my friends there.  Some of them are also The World’s Greatest Music Fans along with you and me, and some of them are even here in this Club.

Cheerio and Pip Pip and all that Jazz!

P.S.  If I expand to a TOP 20, prog-rock would dominate:  Emerson, Lake, and Palmer; Electric Light Orchestra; Led Zeppelin; Pink Floyd; and Cream; and most likely in that order.  So ha ha; I guess you really do have my TOP 20!  I’m sure I am forgetting someone, so mentally go ahead and put them in #21 to #25.  Accept no substitutions, please!  😉

[Michael Triba]

So sorry Howard!

I sent you my revised TOP 20 last night and I totally forgot about THE COORS.  It was late and I was tired.  But again, this is SO difficult, because now I have omitted Norah Jones!  🙁

But here it is up to the minute:

1  MOODY BLUES

2  ABBA

3  ALYONA YARUSHINA

4  STEPS

5  BEE GEES

6  BEATLES

7  MONALISA TWINS

8  THE COORS

9  BEACH BOYS

10  TRAVELING WILBURYS

11  ROLLING STONES

12  MICHAEL JACKSON

13  THE WHO

14  JETHRO TULL

16  KATIE MELUA

16  MILK’N BLUES

17  EMERSON, LAKE, & PALMER

18  ELECTRIC LIGHT ORCHESTRA

19  LED ZEPPELIN

20 PINK FLOYD

[Howard]

Actually I was HS class of ‘69!

I could easily do a second top 10 that included groups and soloists like The Byrds, The Beach Boys, Bob Dylan, The lovin’ Spoonful, CCR, Ry Cooder and Little Feat. Unfortunately Little Feet’s singer-songwriter, lead vocalist and guitarist Lowell George, died of a heart attack in 1979, aged only 34.

 

[Michael Triba]

Unless Australia has a different age that kids start school, you must have been one of the youngest in our Class of ’69.  I was one of the oldest and thus one of the first to drive to school as a sophomore.  Are you going to your 50th reunion this year?  We have a couple days of events and I did go to some.  Of course, I again live in the city of my birth.

MY DOB is 11/8/50.  When was yours?

Yup, I have a TOP 25 that I unfolded one by one in Facebook when I was trying to say goodbye there.  With the new faces in my TOP 10, everything would be jumbled now.

That is really sad when folks die that young.

[Howard]

My DOB is 12/08/1951 (I’ll be 67 this Saturday). I commenced school in 1957, the year after I turned five. We did seven years of primary school and six years of High School. I attended four primary schools and two high schools. Most of my education was in New South Wales but my first year of school was in Queensland and my last two years of high school were also in Queensland.

I am only in contact with one of my fellow students and he has lived in Northern Ireland since the seventies. We only reconnected a few years ago via Facebook. My last two years of high school involved several different classes and one of my classes included just two of us. Myself and the girls school Vice-captain. Our Latin teacher left for England half way through my final year and apparently there was no one left in the State who could teach Latin, so that left the two of us to our own devices and consequently my Latin studies stopped. A pity really as this was the only reason I was attending this particular school and I had to catch two trams just to get there!

[Jung Roe]

My list would have to be groups at different times over the years that have impressed and impacted me the most musically, not that I still listen to some of them.  My musical taste has been kind of all over the place actually.

1.MonaLisa Twins

2.Beach Boys

3.Beatles

4.Rolling Stones

5.Sheryl Crow

6.Moody Blues

7.Pink Floyd

8.Super Tramp

9.Elton John

10.Eagles

11. Bee Gees (before the disco days)

12. Enigma

13. AC DC (Bon Scott days)

14. The Kinks

15. Guess Who

16. Led Zeppelin

17. Joan Jett

18. Madonna

19. Bananarama

20. U2

 

 

[Michael Triba]

Wow Jung Roe!  Your list is by far the closest to what mine was for many decades!!!

When I first met MLT here was my TOP 7:  1 – Moody Blues. 2 – Beatles. 3- Bee Gees. 4 – ABBA. 5 – Beach Boys. 6 – The Who. 7 – Rolling Stones.

I was a HUGE Sheryl Crow fan about 2005 and saw her twice in concert; once indoors, and once outdoors.  I bought ALL of her albums, but the last one in which she returned to her country roots.  I don’t mind a little country, especially some of the pop-crossover.  But Sheryl fell out of favor with me and I best now say why in this venue.

Great list Jung and I like you even better since I see how high The Moody Blues are on your list.  I would send you a FB friend request, but I am about to inactivate it for 2-3 months.  I did that once for a month and got a LOT DONE!!!  This MLT CLUB and website will keep me plenty busy, eh?  🙂

[Martin]

I have pondered this question often, but I listen to and enjoy so much different music, that to make a list of even a hundred favourites would be doing a disservice to literally hundreds of other artists that I love equally as much.    🙁

[Michael Triba]

Thanks Martin; I know how you feel.  Except for my TOP 2, my lists are subject to change often.  I just revamped my TOP 10.  My current TOP 10 reflects who I listen to the most at any given moment.  In 2005, Sheryl Crow would have been TOP 5.  (See my comment to Jung Roe.)

So, in other words, you might have a TOP 200, with a 200-way tie for #1, eh?  LOL!  🙂  Thanks for your comment, sir!

[Martin]

Hehe… yes, something like that Michael.

I listen to a wide range of music so if we’re talking about all styles, yeah I could probably make a Top 200 list of favourite artists or composers.

I’ve always gravitated towards melodic folk/pop/country and rock music with good vocal harmonies though.   Those are my favourite genres – the styles I like to write in, and enjoy listening to most of all.  So I’m sure I could narrow it down to maybe just 100 or so…    😉

[Jim Yahr]

I hate lists and I’m not sure that this isn’t more of an influences than a favs list, but here goes:

 

Beatles,
Dylan,
Beach Boys,
Buffalo Springfield,
Simon and Garfunkle,
Cream,
Led Zepplin,
MLT,
Sinatra,
Queen,
Pink Floyd,
Byrds,
Eagles

The top 5 are solid, the rest  we’ll call 6th and they’re in no particular order.  The 6th place list could vary with whatever I have on at the time.  I like music – listening, playing, singing.  My list actually came from my the iPod classic that has 11,000 songs on it ranging from classical to rap-metal.  Those are the top 13 most played artists so that’s my list for now.

[Michael Triba]

Thanks for participating Jim!  Those are all great and world-class musicians.  I see you are a musician yourself!

Whoa, 11,000 songs!!!  I wonder how long those would take to play?  About a year ago I was big into an Internet site for indie musicians and their fans.  One could build their own Internet “radio station” for free and I had 112 songs from 40 artists.  That alone took over 6 hours to play.  I have now totally abandoned the place.

I have my fave music and artists on an Mp3 player, but it does not hold anything near to your iPod.  Take care buddy, and I’ll see you around this groovy fan club!

[Jung Roe]

Hi Michael!  Yeah, Moody Blues did some incredible songs and I think and they are underrated in many greatest band lists I think.  I love Tuesday Afternoon, can listen to that all day, as well as the all time classic Nights in White Satin and many others.  My list was up to 25 at one point, and I had to go back and curtail to 20, even though it was supposed to be a top 10.  And shhhh… ABBA was in there somewhere too 

Your #4, 5, 6 and 9 I’m not familiar with.  I’ll have to check them out on Youtube.

And loving the MLT club too!

Have a great weekend!

 

[Michael Triba]

Thanks Jung!  TUESDAY AFTERNOON is my #1 Song of ALL-TIME and has been since I first heard it in the 60’s!  This is much more than just a song for me; it is the theme of my life!  “I’m just beginning to see; now I’m on my way.”

The indie-folk duo Whitherward did a YouTube cover of it for me.  I have spent time with them the last 3 times they came to Omaha, and even landed them an appearance on Omaha TV.  Ask Itso and Carol and Ricky and Jerry about that!  Just a few months ago they were #9 on my list, but now not.  🙁  I still love them and feel bad about that.  They were just distracting me from MLT too much.

My #4 ZOOMED into my TOP 25, TOP 10, and TOP 5 from nowhere!  MLT have it all; vocals, instruments, cuteness, etc.  But my #4 who is working on her first album of originals, is the best vocalist I have ever heard!  How else could I put her above The Beatles?

My #5 is like ABBA 2.0 from the UK.  Christomir introduced me to them and their music.  In their early 20’s in the 90’s, they are now in their early 40’s and better than ever, after a 10-year breakup.  I better not gush too much about others here, however.  Yikes!

But there is NO ONE who compares to the MONALISA TWINS!!!  I even had them tied with the Moodies after just a month of knowing them.  But now I want no ties in my TOP 25.  I cannot deny my 52 year relationship with The Moody Blues.

Take care Jung and God bless you, sir!

[Michael Rife]

Oh gosh….even my top 10 list changes from day to day….number 1 is a no brainer….the Beatles.  Well, here it is for today.

1) Beatles

2) Poco

3) MLT

4) Pure Prairie League

5) James Taylor

6) Simon and Garfunkel

7) Badfinger

9) Stephen Stills (various groups and solo)

10) Richie Furay

11) Buffalo Springfield (contains 9 and 10….but I’m trying to separate out the works)

12) John Denver

13) Gordon Lightfoot

14) Kinks

15) Queen

16) McCartney and Wings

17) Paul Simon (solo)

18) Dylan (could be higher)

19) Lonestar

20) Norah Jones

21) Nick Drake

22) Mamas and the Papas

23) Rascals or Young Rascals

24) Nilsson

25)  Turtles (Flo and Eddie)

 

[Michael Triba]

Wow Michael!!!

Poco must really be something for you!  I have heard of them, but my brother and I never bought any of their albums.  I’ll had to refresh myself on their top songs.  Most of us here have MLT in their Top 3!

Like Jung, I should have FB friended you long ago.  You have always had great comments and are a “TOP SHELF FAN!”

LOVE NORAH JONES and saw her in concert here in Omaha in June 2017, one of the 4 BEST concerts of my life!!!  Tied with Moody Blues, Rolling Stones, and Paul McCartney concerts.  Better for me than The Who in the 7th row!  I was in the middle balcony in a 2,000 seat venue for her, but wish I had paid more to get much closer.  Between a quite moment between songs I yelled out, “LOVE YOU, NORAH!!!”  All heard me and Norah stepped to the mic and center stage and said “THANKS TO YOU!”  Made me swoon, Michael!  🙂  I had her Top 10, but now she has settled back to about 20 or so.  My only jazz artist in TOP 25!

Your #4 is awesome, and I LOVE #24 and have his greatest hits CD.  next time I re-do the whole TOP 25 (maybe never, lol) he should be there.  Many folks do not know he was Lennon and McCartney’s fave American songwriter!

Thanks my fellow Michael!  🙂

[Michael Rife]

Hi Michael;

Yes, Poco is something to me.  I was aware of them in the 1970s and then I got their 1997 greatest hits CD.  Then around 2002 they started to have an internet buzz by their fans from the 1970s.  From there they had a reunion-type show in 2004 and have been touring heavily since then.  Since 2005 I have

1) Been to around 15 of their shows.

2) Become an official fan member called of all things Poconuts.

3) In 2011 they invited 20 Poconuts into the studio to record some background things for their 2013 CD.  I was fortunate enough to be one of them and we ended up in a video (cameo only).

4) Bought all of their CDs.  They have had about 20 released since 1968.  I also have a bunch of their shirts, hoodies, and other merch.  I joke around and call part of the walk-in closet the Poco wing.

5)   Probably most important, partly due to them, I picked up my guitar again and started playing  in 2005 after a 25 year absence of playing.  I also started playing the drums again.  After that I learned the mandolin.  It influenced my wife to pick up the violin and keyboard again.  She has also learned the viola and bass fiddle since then.  From there we joined other musicians and play every weekend.  To be honest……I can’t put a value on that.

6) Have explored deeper the country-rock genre:  Byrds (Sweetheart of the Rodeo), Pure Prairie League, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Frank Walsh, Outlaws, Marshall Tucker, Unicorn, Turnpike Troubadours.  In short, I have turned into a music-nut again.

Thanks for calling me “top shelf”.  That is such an honor.  Also, glad we are FB friends.  Your fellow Michael.

[Martin]

It’s a bit of a surprise and very cool to come across another Poco fan here, Michael!

I started listening to them in the very early 1970s when I first heard, “You’d Better Think Twice” and they quickly became one of my favourite bands.  I haven’t followed their later incarnations, but I have all their recordings from the original period (1969-1989) – mostly on vinyl – as well as a few compilations and CD reissues.

And it’s a real good feelin’ to know that their music helped inspire you to start playing again!   🙂

[Michael Rife]

Thanks!!

[Michael Triba]

Wow Michael!  I’m surprised POCO is not your #1!  I have never heard of any TOP FAN being that involved in a band!

I’ve only seen The Moody Blues 6 or 7 times, and my younger bro Tom who has a lot more jack than me, has seen then at least a dozen, including a Meet-and-Greet with them on 10/14/16, Justin Hayward’s 70th b-day!  I gave Tom a 6-page letter he gave to Justin along with an autographed copy of “When We’re Together” that Mona and Lisa wrote a personal note on.  In the letter I told the Moodies all about MLT!

In breaking news:  MLT’s buddies THE ZOMBIES made the 2019 Class of Rock and Roll Hamer of Fame!  I’m certain that you and they already know.  “The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has officially announced next year’s inductees: Radiohead, Janet Jackson, Stevie Nicks, Def Leppard, The Cure, Roxy Music and the Zombies will all join the class of 2019.”

The Moody Blues of course were inducted last year with 4 others, so this is a bigger class.  Have a great day, buddy!  I need to listen to Poco.  “Amie” is their song?  Love that one!

[Michael Rife]

Yeah, Poco is pretty nice to their fans.  But, I don’t believe any other band could top the Beatles.  I was 10 years old in Feb. 1964 and it changed music and culture some.  By 1966 my parents gave me a single Christmas gift: a set of Ludwigs that was the same style as Rongo’s set:  Ludwig’s Black Pearl. I used those drums in the garage band and then later on I was in the marching band and orchestra in high school (playing various percussion instruments).  When Sgt. Pepper’s was released, the guys and I listened to it daily after school for months.  We did the same for the White Album (though we did skip over Revolution #9).  To a lesser degree we did the same earlier for Rubber Soul. So, there’s a lot of growing up memories with the Beatles that is hard to top.  Mike.

[Michael Rife]

Also, concerning the Zombies:  About time!!!!  And Amie is Pure Prairie League’s song.  Poco has released over 20 LPs so there is a lot to listen to.  Mike.

[Jacki Hopper]

I ‘m going to have to give you my top 20….at least the 20 that come to mind offhand… Plenty more I like in different genres…. ????????????

1. MLT

2. Glass Tiger

3. Patsy Cline

4. Cass Elliot

5.Mamas & Papas

6. Beatles

7. Le Meow

8. April Verch

9. Amy Winehouse

10. Led Zep

11. Eric Clapton

12. Fleetwood Mac

13. Abba

14 BeeGees

16. CSN

17. Dave Mason

18. Vince Gill

19.  Duran Duran

20. Loretta Lynn

[Michael Rife]

Hi Jacki;

I like Patsy Cline, too.  She was ground breaking as a country artist……refused to be treated differently because she was a woman and had a lot of strength.  I was born in the town where she lived (Winchester, VA) and grew up 20 miles from there.  So, to me she’s a home-girl.  Now Winchester is a small town (around 20,000 people) and the town I grew up in is also a small town (also around 20,000).  So, I grew up in the next small town 20 miles to the north of her and many in my home town didn’t like her because of how she did things.  There are no secrets in small town USA and the rumors about her private life spread.  Even so, she was a ground-breaking artist.  Mike.

[Howard]

Wow Jacki! An interesting selection there and some from way out of left field. Some I’ll have to check out on the web. A much more country/folk lean than others. It made me think, there ares so many favourites I have but I’ve only listed the ones that were favourites right from my youth when I first got hooked on pop music in the sixties (apart from MLT of course).

I could always add favourites from more recently like Amy Winehouse and Cindy Lauper (I saw her in concert here Downunder when she was doing her blues numbers – awesome!).

I currently have MLT my third favourite but know the day is coming when they’ll force themselves into top spot. Just find it hard to move the Stones and Beatles at the moment with our over fifty year relationship!

Thanks for sharing your top 20.

[Jacki Hopper]

And… Stones… Zombies… Byrds… CCR.. Eagles… Styx…. Kansas… Boston…. Bangles… Joan Jett… Cyndi Lauper… Jim Croce… BB King… Stevie Ray Vaughn… Travelling Wilburys… Johnny Cash. . Steppenwolf… John Sébastien & Lovin Spoonful… Joni Mitchell… Billie Holiday… Ella Fitzgerald and many more still I could list… So… I basically like a variety in genres and decades????????????????????????????????

[Martin]

I understand all too well, Jackie.   ….and that’s exactly why I’m NOT able to post a list of my favourite artists.  There are simply too many and the list covers such a variety of genres that I’m afraid it would take me forever and would veer way off topic – even for this general music discussion forum.

[Howard]

Apologies to Cyndi for my massive faux pas in spelling her name incorrectly. I relied too heavily on auto correct which changed my ‘y’ to ‘i’. You’ve listed some good ones there, including BB King who I saw three times in the seventies, Steppenwolf (and their great ‘Monster’ album) and Billie Holliday. And what about Joan Jett’s rocking, punk version of ‘Little Drummer Boy’!

https://youtu.be/R5_gk-1OGXU

[Jung Roe]

Wow Howard.  Thats an interesting and fun version of Little Drummer Boy you found.  Never knew of this one by Joan Jett.  But Im glad I have the MLT one.  Nothing is quite the same after that.

[Howard]

Yes Jung, and nothing is in vain after that either! They are just indescribable. All the superlatives have already been exhausted!