Difficult Listening

I'd like to start a personal thread here for what I call "Difficult Listening". You know, the opposite of "Easy Listening" - music that challenges your preconceptions of what music should be. This can come from anywhere. Every genre of musical expression has elements within it that push the boundaries of the expected format. From that, in my opinion, the format is broadened, or as Frank Zappa put it, "Without deviation from the norm, progress is not possible."

I'm starting this thread with Dr. Eugene Chadbourne, a guitarist whose records have irritated more of my friends than possibly any other records I've played. It's not easy to describe what you will hear. Dr. Gene plays riffs that no other guitarist would try (or often, would want to try). Sounds come from his guitars that are just not what are supposed to be coming from a wooden box. A human mp3 player, his repertoire includes everything from Bach to Thelonius Monk, The Beatles to Captain Beefheart. A recent release of Merle Haggard covers is a delight, taking Merle to the heights of absurdity. ("Merles Just Want to Have Fun" by Bryan and The Haggards)

The first release to get any national exposure was "Earth vs Shockabilly" (by Shockabilly, with Eugene Chadbourne), coming out in 1983. The Shockabilly group only held together for a couple years and all the while Chadbourne would release independent projects and collaborations. "Country Music of Southeastern Australia", from 1984, is one of those recordings.

There are dozens of records and CDs by Chadbourne or various collaborations. If you count the one-of-a-kind cassette tapes he would sell at his shows, there are probably thousands of recordings out there. Most of them will, if nothing else, present familiar songs in unfamiliar ways, often with a dose of social conscience thrown into the mix.