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Hi again everybody
As I told you in my previous posts, I'm a newcomer to this site (should I say "New kid in Town", one of my favorite Eagles' song ?°) and first thing I would like to say is that I'm astonished by the job you guys are doing.
I (stupidly) thought I was the only guy in the world doing endless Excel lists of songs and artists, and it feels good to know that it's not true !
as I told you, I'm 37, French, I live near Paris and I work as an editor in a publishing house doing school books. the rest of my life is devoted to my family (a wife, a daughter and a son to come next november) and MUSIC (and to a lesser extend, films and books).
I started making music lists in 1981. I was 11 and I was very found of the various Hit parades (translate : single charts) that were given by different radio stations (it was before 1985 when a national TOP 50 was created in France). At thta time I used to make compilations of the various hit parades. A good beginning (I remember a certain summer of 1983 when Michael Jackson with Beat it used to compete against david Bowie's Let's dance and Police's every breath you take)
I grew up during the 80's. at that time, Punk and New wave and the rising of Fm Radio stations in France had created a sort of blackout, a big musical amnesia. on the air you very seldom heard music from the 60's and the 70's with all of its treasures (except a few beatles' songs).
And then, from 1988 on , 20th anniversaries occured : the first was newspaper Libération's, which published in the summer of 1988 a special issue called (translation) "Our 20th birthday's album, 1968-88". that was a list of 100 albums elected by 20 of France's greatests musical critics, reporters and writers.
I see that you don't have this list and I will post it to you soon, because Ithink it's a good one. It shaped my musical universe, and made me discover rock music.
shortly after that, in 1989, I started working on a compilation project about Rock History : it consisted of 5 tapes with about 100 songs i had taken from various sources, but with a historical approach (I didn't take my own preferences into account).
in 1992, I made a list of rock's most popular artists, relying on various sources (mostly French)
at the same time, I was singing in a band called Wait and See (influences : the who, Neil Young, 60's and 70's music) and we made a few gigs in Universities and clubs around Paris
In 1995, I wanted to do the same compilations but with my own favorite 100 songs, and the project became a book, a novel thet was published in 2000. The book only contained 30 songs and told a story mixing fiction, personal life and musical memeories.
In 2000, I discovered electronica and a list that I can give you made by a friend of mine who is a critic and writer. this guy (Guillaume Bara) wrote a book called La Techno with a list of best electro records from the beginnings to 1998.
In 2001, I started working on a much bigger project : a history of blues; it consists of a big Excel list of more than 1800 songs or albums, chosen from various sources (books, encyclopedias, AMG's genres lists, songs inducted by Blues Hall of Fame, etc.)
I'm still working on that list but it's substantial and valid. it's a mega-playlist (i have it as a WMP selection on my computer)
Then last year in 2006, I decided I'd do the same with country music, rock and R&B (including Hip Hop).
i'm just starting these lists, and that's why this site will help me so much.
my sources are :
1. Encyclopedias and books on the history of these musical genres : for each artist substantially quoted, I take one (or more) song (s). to decide which song I take, I make a complation of my sources.
2. All music Guide : The Bible. this site has a very good section called "explore music" by genres . For each style you have a list of top songs and albums.
3. Various "all times" lists made by critics all over the world
4. my own tastes : for each artist, there's a sort of "vote", each source (books, compilation of lists) having a vote. my opinion is also taken into account
5. billboard, Uk and worldwide charts and sales statistics (you find a lot on that stuff in wikipedia)
i hope i made myself clear because even in french it's hard to explain (even my own wife doesn't clearly understands why i spend so much time doing excel lists about songs of 50 yers (or more) of age.
so, i can contribute to this site by giving you my sources.
i can see that the site called les disques de l'année one one hand and Olivier Moinet on the other hand have already done a great job with French lists. But I have some that I don't see in your list and that I will post you
the problem is they are not on computer. i'll have to type them but I don't mind doing that, it's something I wanted to do anyway and it's such a great pleasure to help this project.
in a next post (I have to get back to work), I'll give you a list of sources
Please tell me how to attach files to posts (I'm not a Web expert).
Hope I didn't bother you with this long post.
bye
Nic
