Year Long Music Project for 2011

tenacious-d-guitarwayI have decided to do a ambitious year-long music project for 2011. The idea is to help my sons (and myself) learn more about the history of popular/rock music by looking at one song per day for the entire year. The scope is to chronologically cover the history of rock and pop music from 1955 to 2010 by playing and discussing one song per day with my sons.

Here’s how the calendar will work. Each year in music will span six days, with five “miscellaneous” days for the end of each decade. This will cover exactly 365 days!  I’m really going to try and stick to the actual years the songs came out too, though I’ve got a little wiggle room if a single from an album was issued in the year after the album. Still, this will take considerable organization especially for musically-rich years like 1957, 1967, 1971, and 1983.

Here’s where I need your help

As stated above, the idea came about to give my sons a musical education. But then I thought maybe I should blog about the pick each day. Then it was suggested that I could record the discussion and make it available as a podcast (with the song in question maybe or maybe not included in the audio, depending on how much I thought this might get me in trouble with the RIAA). The blog post idea certainly makes sense because I’ve got figure nearly every song I’d select has some sort of video on YouTube that I could include as part of the post, or album art at the very least.

So, help me define the scope of the project. Please look and these choices and let me know where you think I go with this.

  1. Just a discussion with the kids
  2. Blog post on Kevdo.com
  3. Blog post on dedicated blog (e.g. SongADayForAYear.com)
  4. Audio podcast on dedicated blog (these episodes would be approximately 5 mins long)

Looking forward to hearing your comments about the scope of the blog. Also, if there are songs/artists (especially non-obvious choices) that you think I should cover I’d welcome that feedback as well.

Adam Curry Records Best Cowbell Track Ever

adam_curryThe cowbell. An obscure tool turned instrument that has became a pop culture beacon thanks to the seminal SNL sketch featuring Will Ferrell and Christopher Walken. That sketched referenced Blue Oyster Cult’s hit “Don’t Fear the Reaper,” long considered to be the best use of a cowbell ever recorded. But we have a new champ.

Adam Curry and John Mellencamp.

First, yes… that Adam Curry. The former VJ turned father of podcasting. And, no… they didn’t record the song together. The recording is a mashup of sorts and is taken from Curry’s Daily Source Code podcast. Curry often plays the cowbell on his show but on the June 25th episode he really got into it, no doubt inspired by Mellencamp’s 60’s tribute song “R.O.C.K. in the USA.”

So, here it is… the Adam Curry Cowbell Mix of John Mellencamp’s “R.O.C.K. in the USA” (MP3)