Please consider the following in terms of rock music only, not jazz/classical/etc:
What is the longest song that you are willing to sit through?
What is the shortest recording that you are willing to admit constitutes an actual song?
What is the shortest song that contains an actual bona fide jam?
What is the longest song that does not contain a jam?
Please rank from most preferable to least:
a) ’60s psychedelic jams
b) ’70s southern rock jams
c) ’90s jam-band jams
What do you suppose led to the a dearth of jamming in the ’80s?
Does the MC5’s “Kick Out The Jams” really count as kicking out the jams or is the song structure and performance too tight for the jams to have been actually kicked out?
Name your favorite rock jam.
Name your least favorite rock jam (please be specific, ie, don’t just say Phish).
Do you think that the Hear Factor, Season 2 discs contained any jams? Do you think we’ll ever know for sure?
What is the longest song that you are willing to sit through?
If it actually manages to state its case in an interesting fashion (i.e., it doesn’t just keep saying the same thing over and over again), I’m not sure I have a limit. If it’s basically one long song with a multi-minute outchorus, uh… I dunno, six minutes?
What is the shortest recording that you are willing to admit constitutes an actual song?
For me, for something to be a “song,” it has to have a discernible beginning, middle and end. The shortest one I can thinkn of would be “Her Majesty.”
What is the shortest song that contains an actual bona fide jam?
Man, I dunno!
What is the longest song that does not contain a jam?
Hm. “Hey Jude”? No, wait: “A Quick One.”
Please rank from most preferable to least:
a) ’60s psychedelic jams
b) ’70s southern rock jams
c) ’90s jam-band jams
I’ll take ’em in that order, unless I can wedge Santana-style jams in on top.
What do you suppose led to the a dearth of jamming in the ’80s?
Huh?
Does the MC5?s “Kick Out The Jams” really count as kicking out the jams or is the song structure and performance too tight for the jams to have been actually kicked out?
Pince-nez move here, but I think the MC5 might have been using the phrase in a more conversational sense, as in “get the lead out.”
Name your favorite rock jam.
Probably something off of “Caravanserai”
Name your least favorite rock jam (please be specific, ie, don?t just say Phish).
Phish.
Do you think that the Hear Factor, Season 2 discs contained any jams? Do you think we’ll ever know for sure?
Mod, I got four words for you: kick out the jams.
It depends what you mean by “song”. Chris Butler has that 60 minute song, “The Devil Glitch”, that is pretty great, however, I’ll admit I’m less very unlikely to sit through it than to listen to a CD mix that the Great 48 made for me where it is chopped up and used as a recurring theme. A song, I’d guess, should top out at around 12 minutes. I think Desolation Row is in that ballpark, and I love how the basic structure is the same throughout, but each verse seems to be subtly ratcheting up the stakes, then he blows out a penultimate harmonica verse and goes to the punchline. This was a real big Dylan template, especially in the early days. On the other hand, Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands, about the same length, seems to just drone on forever. (That may be the long jam of Dugout chatter)
Shortest song with a Jam?
Stinky Winkles version of Webern’s Opus No. 5, preceded by a section of free improvisation from the Miniatures record which featured 51 artists doing songs under one minute. The jam is probably about 8 seconds.
Longest song without a Jam?
Chris Butler’s Devil Glitch, although the approach of giving the track in sections to other folks to fill in the accompaniment might qualify it as some type of conceptual meta-jam.
Did the MC5 Kick Out the Jams?
Who are we to quibble?
Favorite Jam?
No, not Dark Star, It’s
Dark Star=>St. Stephen=>The Eleven=>Turn on Your Lovelight
Least Favorite Jam?
I would have even less patience for Free Bird than for people yelling it out randomly at every show.
Will Season Two of Fear Factor include jams?
Of course. Many folks have a very low tolerance for jams. Fear Factor is all about pushing folks’ buttons. JAM!!! (By the way, I also know my Fear Factor contribution included Jams.)
I can’t think of a Jam jam. Were there any?
-What is the longest song that you are willing to sit through?
a friend of mine who plays in bardo pond always says “time to go play *the song*” right before it’s time for them to go on stage; by this he means that since he’s been in the band, they’ve been playing the same song, just starting and stopping every ten minutes or so. sometimes, i’m willing to pop in and sit through it.
-What is the shortest song that contains an actual bona fide jam?
any of the d.boon wanky wanks in the beginning, middle, or end of some of those more laid back songs on ‘double nickels.’
-What is the longest song that does not contain a jam?
‘close to the edge’ is a whole album side…so’s “gates of delerium.” neither of them have jams. same for all four sides of “tales.”
-Please rank from most preferable to least:
a) ’60s psychedelic jams
b) ’70s southern rock jams
c) ’90s jam-band jams
who made an ucky in here?
-What do you suppose led to the a dearth of jamming in the ’80s?
Reagan.
-Does the MC5’s “Kick Out The Jams” really count as kicking out the jams or is the song structure and performance too tight for the jams to have been actually kicked out?
it’s a song about jamming in the more expansive sense of the word. it doesn’t contain a jam.
-Name your favorite rock jam.
“looking at you” by the mc5.
Good call Saturnismine, The Minutemen might be the ultimate rock jam band. I guess it is a dangerous idea though, imitating them unveils things like Faith No More.
What is the longest song that you are willing to sit through?
The only rule is that there are no rules. Plus as long as I can sit I’m ok. Stand through is another matter.
What is the shortest recording that you are willing to admit constitutes an actual song?
The early Minutemen records are full of good ones at around 40 seconds. Wire’s Pink Flag has few good ones shorter than a minute. I’m trying to think of good ones. Happy Birthday is about 10 seconds long, but I hate Happy Birthday.
What is the shortest song that contains an actual bona fide jam?
Easy Wind on Workingman’s Dead is about five minutes long, and it gives a nice short taste of the band’s m.o. with a two-chord groove.
What is the longest song that does not contain a jam?
The only way to do it is like those long prog things from the 70s, which are really just a sequence of shorter composed pieces.
Please rank from most preferable to least:
a) ’60s psychedelic jams
b) ’70s southern rock jams
c) ’90s jam-band jams
There are good examples in each category.
What do you suppose led to the a dearth of jamming in the ’80s?
Thatcher.
Does the MC5’s “Kick Out The Jams” really count as kicking out the jams or is the song structure and performance too tight for the jams to have been actually kicked out?
They’re kicking OUT the jams, not gathering them in.
Name your favorite rock jam.
The long version of Voodoo Chile on side one of Electric Ladyland.
Name your least favorite rock jam (please be specific, ie, don’t just say Phish).
I like Phish fine, though like the Dead I prefer them as a song band. My least favorite is Grand Funk’s Closer To Home. I’m your captain yeahyeahyeahyeah? NononononoNO.
Do you think that the Hear Factor, Season 2 discs contained any jams? Do you think we’ll ever know for sure?
I know for a fact that they do.
I’ve got numerous album-length recordings by the likes of Eno that I listen to all the way through, but I’d guess his stuff like Discreet Music may not be a “rock” answer. Is there anything rock that I like that’s longer than “Sister Ray”‘s 18 minutes? I don’t listen to it all the time, but I can listen to it all the way through a few times per year, and I still enjoy the experience.
Good question! I wish I kept better track of song lengths, although I can count forty 1-minute songs on The Residents’ Commercial Album. In more standard rock ‘n roll terms, there must be something I love that’s shorter than, say, Elvis Costello’s “Hoover Factory,” which seems to last less than 2 minutes. The Beatles’ “Her Majesty” is not a bad short song, nor is “All Together Now,” which also seems short to me.
I’ve got to think about that.
According to what Townspeople have said, both in their comments and their seeming lack of buy-in on my “jamming stance,” what’s longer, “Freebird” or “Stairway to Heaven”?:P How about Van Morrison’s “Listen to the Lions”?
a, b, c – in the order you’ve listed these choices.
Yamaha DX-7s, drum machines, and pouffy shirts.
This song, in particular, is an anthem celebrating the jamming stance, but I’m done trying to convince you guys of the stance’s validity!
“Marquee Moon,” if I may consider it a jam.
Stoned Deadheads fumbling through “Feelin’ Alright” while tripping in someone’s living room. (I like the real song, by the way, whether by Traffic or Joe Cocker.)
Yes, to both questions. GREAT question!
“What is the longest song that you are willing to sit through?”
I’m proudest of my attention span.
“What is the shortest recording that you are willing to admit constitutes an actual song?”
The theme song from SIXTY MINUTES
“What is the shortest song that
contains an actual bona fide jam?”
“Mystery Party” by The Stickmen
“What is the longest song that does not contain a jam?”
“Alice’s Restaurant” deserves a mention
“Please rank from most preferable to least:
a) ’60s psychedelic jams
b) ’70s southern rock jams
c) ’90s jam-band jams”
I’m with everybody else with his one but on an unconnected note, I wouldn’t mind hearing the long version of Foghat’s “Slow Ride right now. I should also admit to owning THE SIKET DISC from Phish (their “experimental disc”). Anyone out there even own any authentic 90’s jam band music?
“What do you suppose led to the a dearth of jamming in the ’80s?”
The excess of jamming in the 70’s. It wasn’t a complete dearth though, how often was it that we found Nixon’s Head members rocking Tuesday’s “Last Minute Jam” at Dobb’s?
“Does the MC5’s “Kick Out The Jams” really count as kicking out the jams or is the song structure and performance too tight for the jams to have been actually kicked out?”
I’ll by the Mod’s stance argument
“Name your favorite rock jam.”
I’d say Miles’ “Jack Johnson” if I was buying The Mod’s theorem. I’m not, so I’d say “Little Johnny Jewel”.
“Name your least favorite rock jam (please be specific, ie, don’t just say Phish).”
Every closing number at a Rock Hall of Fame ceremony.
“Do you think that the Hear Factor, Season 2 discs contained any jams? Do you think we’ll ever know for sure?”
I’m nervously cracking up here, but I’m secretly hoping someone explains the joke.
db wrote
Yes.
Details Big Steve, details! I’m not sure I’ve ever heard a spirited defense of any jam bands around here. Govt. Mule perhaps?
I still have the scars from defending the Dead, db, and I don’t want to go down that road again.
I actually just bought my first Govt Mule album off emusic. I like the latest version of the Allman Bros when I see them on TV, and I liked that album of theirs from about 5 years ago, the one with the elephants on the cover. Warren Haynes is a good all-around musician, and I like Derek Trucks’ slide.
I have several Phish albums, but as I say I like the song-oriented studio albums over the live stuff. I liked the North Mississipi Allstars album I bought too. I’m sure I like some other artists that other might dismiss as jam bands.
It’s been also said that Sonic Youth has evolved into a jam band. That long song of theirs The Diamond Sea would be a good one for Jamuary.
In the coming days I’m hoping to post a long, live, acoustic jam that I witnessed by North Mississippi All Stars last year. They were really good. I was surprised and relieved.
The problem I have with Phish is they sound like the Dead, if Bob Weir had taken over the group and fired Jerry Garcia and Phil Lesh.
Their attempts to be creative come off as too cute and their attempts to stretch out sound like bad jazz fusion.