A to Z Band Challenge : Special "F" Word Edition

There are other bands that begin with the letter "F", but since this is MY list of the first five on MY mind, you won't be seeing any garbage like Fall Out Boy on it! Though I debated on Foghat, they missed the cut, simply because others came to mind first. My top five for musical "F" words are :

NaNoWriMo on a Sour Musical Note? NAH!

Thus far, I have failed to meet ANY of my "NaNoWriMo on a Musical Note" challenges! I have barely touched my bass, I have no recording method set up yet, and I haven't had time to touch my friends poems / songs. I have yet to TOUCH that file cabinet with all the songs in it, so that will not be happening this month, either. In fact, although I have kept up with all of my editorial duties, I have yet to get much over 10,000 words in my regular NaNoWriMo challenge.

A to Z Band Challenge : The Letter E

It is getting harder and harder to stay on target with this challenge. For some letters I have way too many bands to include here. For a few, there may wide up being a shortage, though I haven't run across that yet. Perhaps if I do, I can go back and hit a few I missed, but I will probably just do an "honorable mention" on all of those at the end. "Z" may be a bit harder anyway...we shall see.

A to Z Band Challenge : The Letter D

Doi, Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain

It will be hard containing this one to the first five that come to mind, but I will try.

Dio -

Ronnie James Dio was, in my opinion, one of greatest singers who ever lived. RIP, Ronnie. You were a true wizard on stage. You mesmerized your audiences with both your phenomenal voice, and your massive stage presence. There is no other like you...try though they may. Joe Lynn Turner could not replace him in Rainbow, nor can Tony Martin in Sabbath...sorry guys, no offense intended...just how I see things. Dio is still a major influence on me. His large body of work, with various groups, and as a solo artist still influences many besides myself. 

NaNoWriMo on a Musical Note

Can we as musicians also participate in NaNoWriMo? Well, why not? Unless they are strictly instrumental, songs are composed with words too. Often they are composed to accompany catchy phrases, thus is the allure of pop music, right?

An opera is a complete story in and of itself. Many have even sprung from the premise of a classic or popular novel. We even have rock operas from bands such as The Who, Pink Floyd, and Queensryche. The 70's were replete with progressive rock bands who themed side long, or even entire albums with a specific story line. Yes, Rush, and Pink Floyd all come to mind there. 

Any great opus of musical work can be compared to a novel, can it not? If they aren't the type of a novel, they are often major biographical works for that particular artist, at the very least. How better to learn a bit about your favorite musician, than to study the depth of their lyrics...in depth, no less. 

My personal musical endeavors for NaNoWriMo are sadly far less adventurous. I plan first and foremost to create a system on which to record. This has been a major thwart to my musical creation of late, and it is time to solve the issues at hand...somehow. I then plan to finish working out the music and vocal melodies that I started to accompany my friends wonderful poetry. There are currently two songs left dangling unfinished in this vein. 

If the above plan for recording falls through somehow, or if by some miracle I manage to finish these projects ahead of schedule, then I will proceed will another ambitious musical endeavor. The collecting, organizing, and potential re-working of my own massive fountain of lyrical creations. These will hopefully come to some fruition of their own in various manners. 

Those are my personal planned experiments into a "novel musical approach". I wonder if any of my fellow musical mad scientists have any such motivations. I'd love to hear about it if you do.

This article was inspired in part by articles written about the late Lou Reed by  Julia Muransky and  ChrisJarmick , both of which can be found on http://fullofknowledge.com/ .