I Like Music

Like the O'Jays, I love music. Lot's of it. The kind that makes you move and groove. The kind that not only makes you dance but tells you how. Because of my love for music, I'll probably spotlight a song or two every once in a while on this blog.

Today, I'm starting with this mega-post featuring a variety of songs that represent my musical tastes and the reasons behind them. For you R&B fans that care to walk down memory lane with me, keep reading! For those unfamiliar with the genre but are open to the exposure, you keep reading too!

BASS: I grew up mainly listening to R&B. This probably influenced my musical aesthetic because the instrument that resonates with me most is BASS! Shameless, thrashing, in-your-face bass. The stronger the better! Tom Browne's "Funkin' for Jamaica," One Way's "Pull (Fancy Dancer)" and the Whispers' "Keep on Loving Me" all have bass that would slap you in the face if it could! Other base-rich songs include Slave's "Snap Shot," Shanice's "It's for You," and Jeffrey Osborne's "Only Human."

BEATS: Compliment the bass with an intricate beat and you get popular favorites like BBD's "Poison," Mary J. Blige's "Real Love," and Erykah Badu's "On and On" along with less popular songs like Faith Evans' "I Just Can't," Caron Wheeler's "I Adore You," and Ledisi's "Joy."

JUST PLAIN GOOD MUSIC: Even if a song lacks strong bass, if it has interesting instrumentation, it's solid gold for me. D-Train's "Something's on Your Mind," Evelyn Champagne King's "I'm in Love," D'Angelo's "Left and Right," and Jill Scott's "My Love" really get me going.

VIOLINS: I love string instruments, especially violins. The violins in James Brown's "It's a Man's World" and Jill Scott's "He Loves Me" are mesmerizing. Even the synthetic violins in Pebbles' "Girlfriend" are sweet on the ears. Other than violins, I never thought a string instrument could sound so pretty until I heard the mellifluous guitars in "Visions" by Stevie Wonder. Now I can appreciate the rich guitar instrumentation of India Arie's "The Truth."

BREAKING IT DOWN: Because I like a good groove, power ballads usually do nothing for me. But every rule has an exception and Monica's "Why I Love You So Much," Tony Terry's "With You," and Whitney Houston's "I Have Nothing" are three. A song that starts off bland but has a good "breakdown" towards the end has a better chance of winning me over. Case in point: "A Heart Is a House for Love" by the Dells. The gospel direction the song takes, along with the addition of the bass and the repition of "stand up" and "build it up" always put me in a tizzy. Another song with a hard-hitting "breakdown" is Rachelle Ferrell's "Nothing Has Ever Felt Like This."

MOODY MUSIC: Grooving is good, but I also like somber, moody music played in a minor key. James Brown's "Try Me," Mary J. Blige's "My Life," and Babyface's "Soon as I Get Home" all fall into this category.

ASCENSION & DESCENSION: I like weird elements in songs, like ascension or descension along the chords. An extreme example can be found in the opening of Janet Jackson's "Miss You Much" (ascension), but many songs have subtler offerings. (Many are in this post!)

GOOD SINGING: All of the above can be thrown out the window if the vocals are banging. Mariah Carey's "Honey" readily comes to mind in this case. I love a good ad lib, so although the music is somewhat boring, Carey's liberal use of ad libs really resonate with me.

COMBINING THESE ELEMENTS: Michael Jackson's "Who Is It" has many of these elements with that aggressive bass, that kick to the beat, those violins, the overall somber mood, the alternating two-note descension and ascension, the hee-hee's, da-da's, and "taint-of-another-brother" ad libs. All of it gets me going. Love.That.Song!

NON-R&B MUSIC: With the demise of R&B, I've had to venture out into other genres. To my delight, I've found many appealing songs out there. I hear strong bass in No Doubt's "Ex-Girlfriend," emotive violins in the Beatles' "Eleanor Rigby," somber piano keying in Maurice Ravel's "Gaspard de la Nuit," and spirited guitar and banjo playing in Sheryl Crow's "Redemption Day." And I can get just as excited about the 3rd movement of Beethoven's Sonata #14 as any fast-paced R&B track.

These are just a few of the treasures sitting in my iTunes library and my CD rack. I'm completely open to new sounds, so please share some of your favorite songs--R&B or otherwise--if you think I might enjoy them.

Until the next time: rock on, good people!