Unusual but good music thread

[Philonous]

Tom Waits. Not for guys who just recently quit drinking or womanizing, as he’s likely to make you go right back to those things.

He’s pretty much my go-to artist for long drives. I just go to the Tom Waits page of iTunes and let the songs play over my car stereo. Listen to anything from him.

I guess it’s you’d hear from poets in 1950’s New York City artsy-fartsy taverns. Half-drunk poet with an even drunker piano player (although Waits does both the singing and piano-playing—along with the drinking).

“Vaudeville”—that’s what it really is.

That “Way Down In The Hole” theme song from that old Baltimore crime show “The Wire”—that’s Tom Waits.

The few songs he does that touch on Christian themes do so from the standpoint of Primitive Methodism, and he seems to halfway mock it. Sounds like a hobo.

A lot of people hate this stuff.

It’s escapism. Like playing a video game, only you can do it while you’re driving or working. A “diversion”—has no purpose beyond that.

 

[stugatz]

Tom Waits. Not for guys who just recently quit drinking or womanizing, as he’s likely to make you go right back to those things.

I looooooooooooooove Tom Waits. He almost makes me romanticize my days of doing, uh, the exact same things he talked about, even though I was miserable every single day of my life when I did them.

I wouldn't call his music hard to listen to - the melodies are there, and it's not like he intentionally tries to drive you away like The Residents or Captain Beefheart. But MAN, does it have a learning curve sometimes. This one from Bone Machine is just terrifying and I love every second of it.

 

[ed pluribus unum]

I think this is one of those "love it or hate it" tunes. Judging by the comments, I think most of the dislikes come from people who expect to hear a Tina Turner song.
I like the low-key delivery and 80s-ish sound.