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Please make me a beginner doom/stoner, etc… workout playlist

whatizitman

whatizitman

Sep 9, 2014
1,053
1,427
#1
I’ve put off giving a good doom/stoner/whatever listen for too long for reasons. So your assignment - should you choose to accept - it is to give me a few songs to check out while I do some mild 50 year old dad workouts today.

Me? Grew up on Zeppelin, with a penchant for sabbathy grind and 70s groove rock. I liked NWOBHM, but pretty much stopped there and stayed in “alternative” rock styles from then on out. Appreciated but never a Metallica fan. I’ve always kept a love for good lick-heavy rock, ala Soundgarden, etc… But apart from some QOTSA, I stayed out of more stoner-y stuff. And doom I just figured was a death metal spin-off, so had no interest.

I’m ready to be schooled. Be gentle, but show me the goods. Thanks!
 
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#3
Ok so I just pulled up Spotify playlist - doom stoner metal. First song was Clutch. Not sure why I can’t get into them. I’ve tried more than once. Skipped to next song.

Dozer - Big Sky Theory. Now we’re effin taking! A little put off by the first downtuned chords. But the groove and vocals came in and I was hooked. Good stuff. Gonna see where it goes.
 
#4
fu22ba55 said:
Black Sabbath: 1 & 2
Sleep: Holy Mountain & Dopesmoker(Jerusalem)
High On Fire: Art of Self Defense & Surrounded by Theives

That alone should cover most the bases to get you busy as a stoner/doom bassist.

I'd also say Electric Wizard, but can't point to specific albums.
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Cool! Thanks.

I play guitar, bass, and a tiny bit of drums, so I tend to listen to the entire package. But above all that I’m a song person. As much as I love Black Sabbath’s sound and groove, even Ozzie’s voice and delivery, the lyrics and vibe get cheesy really fast for me. It’s been a thing for me about most genres of metal from 80s on, too. That’s just me. OTOH I’ve heard nothing of your more recent suggestions, so I’m gonna try ‘em out right away!!
 
#6
whatizitman said:
Definitely digging some Electric Wizard stuff. Thanks @fu22ba55
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I'm not a big "genre/label" guy, but to my limited understanding, pretty much all doom/stoner starts by worshiping at the altar of Black Sabbath a bit. They are the Jamerson/McCartney/Geddy of stoner/doom. Cheezy lyrics or not, you have to go through the tunnel of Sabbath to understand doom/stoner's origins. I'm sure someone will correct me on that.

(Musically, stoner/doom relies on lots of really slow pentatonic riffage).

Then, to my understanding Sleep pretty much defined the genre. They are to stoner/doom what Nirvana was to Grunge. Sleep are the poster children. (High On Fire probably not technically stoner/doom, but those first two HOF records are masterpieces. Then things get a little more metal-y.)

Dopesmoker / Jerusalem is one 60-ish minute long song. My advice? Gas up the car just before dusk, find somewhere flat, straight and dark, and drive for an hour straight listening to that tune. If you don't understand stoner/doom after that, then I don't know what else could paint the picture better for you.
 
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#8
Listening through the spotify list, so far I’m leaning more to the desert side of things. But that’s a given, since that’s where I was to begin with. I also am a slut for desert, tacos, and cheap Mexican beer. Kinda goes with the territory, I guess.

I’m gonna keep digging in. Thanks again for all the suggestions! Keep ‘em coming! It really appreciate it!
 
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#9
Listening to Sleep now. They certainly had it right from the getgo. Cool. But not what I would listen to more than a few minutes without some memorable hooks to keep my attention. It’s weird, because I love it. It’s just missing that extra song hook I’m conditioned to listening for. Call me ADHD, but I need something new and shiny every few minutes to keep me in.

Regarding Sabbath… Yesterday I watched that Tony Iommi interview, and definitely resonated with what he said about Paranoid. As much as the groove and grind is what I dig most about the song, I would have been among the “new audience” it brought in. I was a baby when it came out, so never gave them a good listen until I was much older. And even that, it still wasn’t ubiquitous on the radio until a Coors commercial on the early 90s. I was far too into the early 90s rock then to give it more than a nostalgic nudge, despite my love for grunge with sabbath influences. It is what it is.

Loving my very overdue deep-ish dive today. Please keep them coming!!
 
#10
whatizitman said:
I’ve put off giving a good doom/stoner/whatever listen for too long for reasons. So your assignment - should you choose to accept - it is to give me a few songs to check out while I do some mild 50 year old dad workouts today.

Me? Grew up on Zeppelin, with a penchant for sabbathy grind and 70s groove rock. I liked NWOBHM, but pretty much stopped there and stayed in “alternative” rock styles from then on out. Appreciated but never a Metallica fan. I’ve always kept a love for good lick-heavy rock, ala Soundgarden, etc… But apart from some QOTSA, I stayed out of more stoner-y stuff. And doom I just figured was a death metal spin-off, so had no interest.

I’m ready to be schooled. Be gentle, but show me the goods. Thanks!
Click to expand...
If you want to get to the absolute roots, check out the first two Blue Cheer albums…



Then, although they were trying to come off like an American Zeppelin, and lingered a bit on blues-rock concepts, there was Cactus, with Tim Bogert…


Dust, with a young Marky Ramone(Marc Bell)on drums, Kenny Aaronson on bass, and guitarist Richie Wise, who went on to mentor Kiss…


Sir Lord Baltimore…


..and a couple of obscurities:
Ursa Major, with Dick Wagner, who went on to do tag-team guitar work with Steve Hunter for Lou Reed, Alice Cooper, and on Kiss albums(Greg Arama, bass)….

Wagner was also in heavy psych rock band, The Frost.
Another Detroit band, totally under the radar, The Up…

Then, these guys actually had a hit with this but dissapeared quickly…


That’s just the American stuff, in the UK there was Gun, who morphed into Three Man Army…

And even though they started as a blues band, The Groundhogs went off in other directions…

https://youtu.be/jCEoMC2rXjQ

Don’t overlook the first three Blue Oyster Cult albums(forget “Reaper”), and while they were the roots of punk, sample the Stooges and MC5
 
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#12
Michedelic said:
If you want to get to the absolute roots, check out the first two Blue Cheer albums…



Then, although they were trying to come off like an American Zeppelin, and lingered a bit on blues-rock concepts, there was Cactus, with Tim Bogert…


Dust, with a young Marky Ramone(Marc Bell)on drums, Kenny Aaronson on bass, and guitarist Richie Wise, who went on to mentor Kiss…


Sir Lord Baltimore…


..and a couple of obscurities:
Ursa Major, with Dick Wagner, who went on to do tag-team guitar work with Steve Hunter for Lou Reed, Alice Cooper, and on Kiss albums(Greg Arama, bass)….

Wagner was also in heavy psych rock band, The Frost.
Another Detroit band, totally under the radar, The Up…

Then, these guys actually had a hit with this but dissapeared quickly…


That’s just the American stuff, in the UK there was Gun, who morphed into Three Man Army…

And even though they started as a blues band, The Groundhogs went off in other directions…

https://youtu.be/jCEoMC2rXjQ

Don’t overlook the first three Blue Oyster Cult albums(forget “Reaper”), and while they were the roots of punk, sample the Stooges and MC5
Click to expand...


Wow! Cool! I love a history lesson! Seriously! I was asking about newer stuff. But I’m definitely interested in the roots.
 

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