Musician Monday: Brian Jonestown Massacre

To guarantee there's always a bit of content being generated for you, my lovely reader, I am going to begin a few smaller weekly series. The first of these is called Musician Monday. Every Monday for as long as I feel like doing it, I will be highlighting an already established artist, why you should listen to them, and a couple of my favorite songs by said artist. These posts are going to be pretty brief, but the true meaning of them isn't for you to read some words that I write about music (though it is awesome that you'd do that anyway, keep it up). Their purpose is the music and the sharing of that music so everyone can know more awesome music. With that in mind, let us begin.

Today, I want to highlight a very quality band that has definitely had some major success but has never reached the level of mainstream: Brian Jonestown Massacre. It seems that these unfortunate souls were born in the wrong generation. Had they been around with the Rolling Stones in the 70s or even gotten into the music scene early 80s, Brian Jonestown Massacre probably would have been a mainstay of classic rock now. Their "rock and roll" sounding melodies and harmonies definitely fit better in our parent's generation of music. Unfortunately for them, Brian Jonestown Massacre got their first start out at the tail end of the 80s, missing their prime era by a margin. Regardless of their mismatched sound to their age, Brian Jonestown is still a very talented band that effectively uses the minimalist-style vocals similar to the Smashing Pumpkins to create a nice little twist to the old classic rock style that transforms it into a hipster relic of the past. To give a general idea of my liking of them, Brian Jonestown Massacre would be pretty firm in my Top 50 list, a still prestigious feat if I do say so myself (which I do).

One thing that always baffled me is the feud between fans of BJM and fans of the Dandy Warhols over which band is better. Any time I would be looking at a youtube video of either band's songs there would always be pages and pages of comments arguing about one being superior and the other sucking. First off, its comparing indie apples and oranges. Their styles are slightly similar, but outside of the vocals, they diverge pretty quickly. Second, they are both fantastic artists. Personally, I prefer the Dandy Warhols, but that doesn't detract a single bit from Brian Jonestown Massacre's talent or personal style. Anyway, on to my 3 picks.

Wisdom (5:22)

This was the very first BJM song I ever listened to, and boy is this a doozie. Every time I listen to it, it takes me back to when I was first discovering lesser known gems like BJM.

Straight Up and Down (4:30)

My personal favorite song. It's just so chill and relaxing to listen to; it's as if the words don't even matter. They just melt into the framework of the song and it all becomes just one unified sound.

Anemone (5:34)

Close second song, and their most popular song out there. Pretty much a straight jammin' track with not much to it but the rhythm and soul of the music.

If you have heard of Brian Jonestown Massacre, let me know what you think of them. If not, glad I could show you; let me know what you think anyway. If you know of a specific artist you think I should highlight, comment here or message me on Facebook or Twitter. I hope you all enjoyed the music and hope to see you again next Monday when I show you another awesome Indie band.