Some Great Musical Moments

1) First on the list is Bob Dylan’s performance at the 1998 Grammy Awards. This was the infamous show where he was confronted by a spastic, hippy-acid dancing man, known best by the phrase written across his chest: “Soy Bomb”. The sequence of reactions that follow Dylan’s discovery are priceless: the initial, startled shock as he notices the dancing figure next to him; the double-take and the beady-eyed-stinkeye; and then the dismissive cold shoulder he gives as he turns back toward the microphone without missing a beat. The song continues and Soy Bomb is eventually taken off stage, although he continues to dance for a surprisingly long amount of time.

2) It’s somewhere in the early 90s and The Beets, a fictional band on the cartoon “Doug”, are singing their hit song “Killer Tofu”. They were like Oasis meets Beatles (which is redundant since Oasis more-or-less ripped off the Beatles, bringing the Fab Four’s hooks into 90s mainstream music). In appearance they were like the Ramones. The Beets were the deities of pop-rock in the world of “Doug”. They were also worshiped in reality with hundreds of children air-guitaring to the chorus along with the oddly-colored cartoon characters. It was a dismal day when the band broke up as the show moved to Disney. “Let It Beet” was their last album. The Beets encased the spirit of “Doug” with their killer hook– “Ayeoou. Killer tofu” and “I Need Mo’ Allowance”.

3) Speaking of cartoons, “Bobby’s World” had a massive library of clever sing-alongs during its run. They really were sing-alongs, as the cartoon was always subtitled for easy following. The greatest musical moment in the series occurred with the song “Animals Don’t Wear Underwear”. Other classic originals include the one about various modes of transportation Bobby will take on a vacation and the ode Bobby sings to his brother in exchange for saving him from a swimming pool. Maybe “Silly Symphonies” by Disney pioneered the partnership of music and cartoons in the 30s, but both the 90s classics “Doug” and “Bobby’s World” helped move that artful tradition into the present.

4) A moment of near-enlightenment; John Coltrane starts chanting, “a love supreme” on his song “Acknowledgment”. It was this mantra that gave the album its name. “Acknowledgment” is a perfect introduction to the suite of songs that follow after it. The swelling saxophone solos and beating rhythm section all play toward that one chant, that one hurdle, as a gateway to the rest of the album. It is a great moment in musical history no matter when it was heard in an individual’s listening experience.

5) Napster reigns king and is then deflated. Recently, Oink.org also has a productive reign before being shutdown.

6) Johnny Cash becomes even more of a badass. He was already a genuine O.G. at the height of his popularity in the 60s, but then he lost it for awhile (especially in the 80s — a terrible decade for many of the older artists). He then made a significant comeback with “American Recordings” in 1994. It was from “American Recordings” that he again started to dominate the airwaves and eventually regained his status as badass to an unprecedented level. After Cash was diagnosed with a terminal illness came the “real shit” as Mobb Deep would say; American III, American IV and the posthumous album, American V rank in the top of the tops.