Writers = Musicians

[exist10z]

I wasn't sure whether to put this in 'Other Music' or 'Off Topic Ramblings', so here it is.

I thought of this when considering the discussion in the 'What is your Sgt. Peppers?' thread.  The argument concerning the seriousness or lack-there-of, of certain bands, as relating to their importance.  There is definitely, it seems to me, a way of approaching that question that suggests something has to be serious/involved/long/deep, to be important or good or the best.  I think I made the case, clumsily maybe, that it's really a matter of perspective and preference.  I don't think something has to be a suite, or concept, or even particularly deep, to be moving or significant musically (which is odd, as that is generally what I favor philosophically).  So, I started thinking about how this relates to literature.

So, this is just off the top of my head, and I haven't read (or heard) everything obviously, and maybe you have better comparisons.  I didn't have any real criteria when making the comparisons, these just seemed natural. 

F. Scott Fitzgerald = The Beatles
Hemingway = Led Zeppelin
Mark Twain = The Rolling Stones
George Orwell = The Who
Leo Tolstoy = Pink Floyd
Dostoyevsky = Rush
Kurt Vonnegut = Bob Dylan
Aldous Huxley = Jethro Tull
Franz Kafka = Yes
John Steinbeck = The Allman Brothers

Of course Ken Kesey = The Grateful Dead (or maybe it's Hunter S. Thompson?)

Anyway, haven't even gotten to more modern comparisons yet...

[EverythingChanges]

Rush, to me, is more like H.G. Wells

Edgar Allan Poe as Floyd perhaps? Both continually refer to sanity and the lack thereof and focus on beautifully melancholic themes.

Black Sabbath = H.P. Lovecraft

[exist10z]

Obviously there's no right or wrong, and I like the Rush = Wells.  It's funny, I was thinking of your argument from the other thread when I equated Floyd to Tolstoy, long, epic, deep, substantial, as a measure of importance.

Poe is a bit too short and snappy to be Floyd, at least for me.

I might equate Poe to The Clash, or maybe even more The Smiths.  Concise, witty but serious, kinda heavy topically.

Like the Sabbath too.

[MamaKel]

I'd go with:

JRR Tolkien=Zeppelin
George Orwell=Floyd
Bill Shakespeare=Dylan
Aldous Huxley=The Doors
Ken Kesey=The Dead
Zora Neale Hurston=Badu
Maya Angelou=Lauryn Hill
Hunter S. Thompson=Rolling Stones
The Bible=Bob Marley
F. Scott Fitzgerald=Woody Guthrie
Hemingway=Neil Young
Gabriel Garcia Marquez=Santana
Paulo Coehlo=Paul Simon
James Baldwin=Miles Davis

That's all I got so far.

[Tracy 2112]

Charles Bukowski= Tom Waits
Mark Twain= The Band

[exist10z]

I'd go with:

JRR Tolkien=Zeppelin
George Orwell=Floyd
Bill Shakespeare=Dylan
Aldous Huxley=The Doors
Ken Kesey=The Dead
Zora Neale Hurston=Badu
Maya Angelou=Lauryn Hill
Hunter S. Thompson=Rolling Stones
The Bible=Bob Marley
F. Scott Fitzgerald=Woody Guthrie
Hemingway=Neil Young
Gabriel Garcia Marquez=Santana
Paulo Coehlo=Paul Simon
James Baldwin=Miles Davis

That's all I got so far.

Some good ones there, some obvious connections, and a few I like better than mine after consideration.  Shakespeare/Dylan of course, and I like the ZNH/Badu, that seems like a natural.  I need to think of some more modern/current musical connections.

[exist10z]

Charles Bukowski= Tom Waits
Mark Twain= The Band

Yep...

[MamaKel]

Big fan of the Tom Waits and Band choices...

I'm going to go ahead and say it.

Dave Eggers=MMJ

For me, at least.  From his heartbreaking humor amidst tragedy to his personal philosophies about the practice of philanthropy...It just seems to fit to me.

If I could be a fly on the wall while Dave and Jim had a conversation, I might pee in my tiny fly pants.

[Tracy 2112]

Wendell Berry= MMJ

2 reasons, the Kentucky connection and something I like to think of as practical metaphysicality

[EverythingChanges]

Obviously there's no right or wrong, and I like the Rush = Wells.  It's funny, I was thinking of your argument from the other thread when I equated Floyd to Tolstoy, long, epic, deep, substantial, as a measure of importance.

Poe is a bit too short and snappy to be Floyd, at least for me.

I might equate Poe to The Clash, or maybe even more The Smiths.  Concise, witty but serious, kinda heavy topically.

Like the Sabbath too.

I'm not familiar with Tolstoy's work.  I didn't look at it based on length, although that is interesting.  I was looking more closely at that melancholic beauty that Poe captures so well throughout his work.

[Tracy 2112]

Edgar Allen Poe= Andrew Bird

[sweatboard]

Dr. Seuss = Daniel Johnston/Nirvana/The Beatles
Tolken = The Rush
Wallace Stevens = Sonic Youth/Nirvana/The Flaming Lips
Robert Frost = Bon Iver/Iron and Wine
James Joyce =Pink Floyd
J.D. Sallinger = Metallica/The Beatles/The Pixies
Stephen Hawking/Robert Frost = Andrew Bird
Chaucer = The Mars Volta? 
Bob Dylan = Shakespear with a guitar
The Bible = Nickleback/The Grateful Dead
Eddie Vedder = Jesus with a ukulele
Jim James = GOD with a Full Band!!!

[pawpaw]

Cool thread. 

William Faulkner = Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds
Haruki Murakami = The Cure
Kurt Vonnegut = Frank Zappa
Philip K. Dick = Talking Heads
George Orwell = Elvis Costello

[Jaimoe]

At least the folk side of Neil Young is more Canadiana, so homegrown heroes Stephen Leacock, Robertson Davies or W.O. Mitchell would fit. Farley Mowat sometimes fits too.

[Tracy 2112]

Cool thread. 

William Faulkner = Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds
Haruki Murakami = The Cure
Kurt Vonnegut = Frank Zappa
Philip K. Dick = Talking Heads
George Orwell = Elvis Costello

[sweatboard]

So, reading over this thread I have come to the conclusion that I really need to read Kurt Vonnegut.  What should I start with?

[Tracy 2112]

So, reading over this thread I have come to the conclusion that I really need to read Kurt Vonnegut.  What should I start with?

Cat's Cradle

[EverythingChanges]

Slaughterhouse V is a good one from Vonnegut, but I can personally say I didn't necessarily enjoy it while I was reading it.  However, after I finished the book and thought about it a bit more, I realized there was a whole lot of symbolism that I found extremely fascinating.  Slaughterhouse V has become one of my favorite pieces of literature to analyze and really dig into with meh mind.

[sweatboard]

Thanks!!  I think I'll start with "The Cats Cradle" because I really like cats....and I'm afraid of slaughter houses.   

[exist10z]

Thanks!!  I think I'll start with "The Cats Cradle" because I really like cats....and I'm afraid of slaughter houses.   

If you can't find Cat's Cradle easily, you might also try The Sirens of Titan, Player Piano, or Breakfast of Champions.  Those are great also, but Cat's Cradle is probably my favorite.  Slaughterhouse 5 is a classic, but not actually one of my favorites (and just for comparison, that's like a Jacket fan saying that ISM isn't a favorite).  He's probably my favorite author, not necessarily the 'best', but my favorite.

Vonnegut Quotes:

Tiger got to hunt, bird got to fly, man got to sit and wonder why, why, why.
Tiger got to sleep, bird got to land, man got to tell himself he understand.
- Cat's Cradle

There's only one rule that I know of, babies—God damn it, you've got to be kind.
- God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater


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- Timequake