Having read references to SD and WB music I understand SD was considered Jazz/Rock music. I can mostly agree with that although whenever questioned, much Jazz music is mentioned, never heard any Rock & Roll music or bands referenced. Blue eyed Soul isn't Rock necessarily. Of course from DF's actual tour drippings he mentions he had never heard an AC/DC song and wouldn't know one if he heard one (private gig for RDJ)! My question is, how can that be? But that's a question for him.
Now I understand Musicians and especially accomplished ones not listening to other people's music or even much of the, for lack of a better word POP or Rock & Roll radio.
My question for our WB friends here is understanding that Walter favored and certainly generated a Jazz/Reggae style if you will, what if anything did he like, ever listen to, or seek out that was categorized as Rock & Roll? Are there any Rock bands or any Rock music that he liked, followed, listened to?
You might like this, this is my friend at our Christmas party..Ukelele Lady
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVnX1CaNOsA
That was so cool hearing him groove to Sly's Hot Fun. A high school favorite of mine, though not for the funkiness of it. No, it's because we mis-heard the lyric "county fair in the country sun" as "Connie Bear in the country sun". So of course friends and I then created the Connie Bear Club (very exclusive). Alright, now back to more important WB items of interest...
speaking of ....Matt -- you've gotten a glance at some of WB's shelves. Without getting fancy or anything, what 2 or 3 CD titles jumped out at you as "who'd a thunk it?" sides?
Rock? (wb)? actually, plenty!! Project # 485 is to use an app like "Music Buddy" to scan and make a pdf library of Walter's CD collection (re-i tunes; that will be collected some other way), Once things slow a bit here Ill post some examples.((hoping to do the same with with his books. He had an awesome library. Nobody will take books as donations anymore. Anybody out there have a little in-town or gown library with space that could use a little "Becker Reading Nook" ?? I’d screen out the dirty stuff first :-))
Actually, re-reading your Q I now see you’ve asked specifically about Rock. Hm...yeah he listened to some rock I guess. But mainly to lots of alt and eclectic stuff you might not have predicted. We'll get to that soon, promise! (Hey Matt, have you grown those extra 4 pair of arms and 6 brain lobes yet? Me neither).
Meanwhile and apropos of nothing, here’s something just for fun.
Why is the film so short? do you notice something subtle happen about sec 10? Right-o; he noticed me filming. (it always made my little black heart go pitter pat to see his “personal private performance” thing kick in:- Hey Walter baby…do you think you could come back, just for a little bit? Just for a minute or two? Sure would appreciate it. The films are great, but “aint “nothin’ like the real thing baby..”.)/ Anyway, we had agreed ages ago that me filming was not conducive for the purpose of him messing around for his own pleasure…and we agreed to keep ‘those clips short. [Ed: didn't have the same problem just being listened to --- but not surprisingly, being filmed activated more self-awareness than was helpful for thr purposes of 'just messing around']
---and those of you who saw WB in concert a lot, you can 'prolly guess why I stopped filming just exactly when I did. right? Right? _____ C'mon show pros.... it's subtle; but I know you "see" it for sure. "-)
(Hey Ulrich, can you find that piece of shit buzz bassamp, get a homeless dude to piss on it, then toss it off the B-Bridge please?)
Well, we know that both of the guys were big Bob Dylan fans, and you can certainly hear influences from The Beatles, though that could be said for all of popular music post-The Beatles. Though it isn't rock, I would say there are Burt Bacharach influences, and I would be surprised if there isn't some good R&B influences sprinkled throughout as well.
I think that Walter and Donald both instinctively shied away from talking about their contemporaries and how they felt about the music they were making, and while I think Donald is bullshitting when he says he doesn't know who AC/DC is (he's commented on hearing Steely Dan songs on the radio, and one might rightly recall that AC/DC was played on the same stations way back in the early seventies), I understand why he feels compelled to say something like that. Being cool is part of the schtick. If I had to guess which "rock" artists WB and DF were influenced by, I'd say the weird ones. We know Dr. Buzzard's Original Savannah Band. They certainly were exposed to Frank Zappa. They must have heard Mark Knopfler with Dire Straits because they called him in to record for Time Out Of Mind. Most of those other studio guys they hired they likely learned of through work they admired.