The 50th Anniversary Music Project

In August, my parents will celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary. As part of their present, I'm going to make them a collection of music tentatively titled "Fifty Years of Popular (and Semi-Popular) Music," including an annotated discography. So far it's been a lot of fun mapping out what this monster is going to look like (and I say "monster" because right now it figures to be at least 12 CDs worth of material), and friends and colleagues have been generous in loaning me CDs of the songs that are only part of my vinyl collection.

The planning is about to turn into the writing, and as I get further along, the annotation will be posted on the blog. But for now, here is a nearly final artist list:

ABBA
The Allman Brothers Band
The Association
Average White Band
The Band
The Bangles
The Beatles
The Bee Gees
Chuck Berry
The B-52s
The Blasters
Blondie
David Bowie
James Brown
Jackson Browne
Glen Campbell
The Cars
Johnny Cash
Rosanne Cash
Ray Charles
Chic
The Clash
Sam Cooke
Elvis Costello
Counting Crows
Creedence Clearwater Revival
Sheryl Crow
Jim Croce
Dire Straits
Dixie Chicks
Devo
The Doors
Nick Drake
Bob Dylan
The Eagles
The English Beat
Eurythmics
Fleetwood Mac
Aretha Franklin
Peter Gabriel
J. Geils Band
Gnarls Barkley
The Go-Gos
Bobby Goldsboro
The Grateful Dead
Macy Gray
Al Green
Patty Griffin
Cast of "Hair"
Daryl Hall and John Oates
Isaac Hayes
Don Henley
Hoobastank
Hues Corporation
Buddy Holly
Chris Isaak
The Jackson Five
Michael Jackson
Elton John
K.C. and the Sunshine Band
Gladys Knight & the Pips
Kool and the Gang
Alison Krauss
Cyndi Lauper
Little Richard
Los Lobos
Lynyrd Skynyrd
Madonna
Bob Marley and the Wailers
George McCrae
John Mellencamp
Moby
Van Morrison
Harry Nilsson
The O'Jays
Roy Orbison
Outkast
Pet Shop Boys
Tom Petty
Liz Phair
Wilson Pickett
Elvis Presley
The Pretenders
Prince
Otis Redding
R.E.M.
Cast of "Rent"
The Rolling Stones
Sam & Dave
Bob Seger
Carly Simon
Simon and Garfunkel
Paul Simon
Frank Sinatra
Sister Sledge
Sly and the Family Stone
Soggy Bottom Boys
The Spinners
Dusty Springfield
Bruce Springsteen
Steely Dan
Rod Stewart
Talking Heads
James Taylor
Three Dog Night
Tower of Power
U2
Wall of Voodoo
Dionne Warwick
The Who
Lucinda Williams
Al Wilson
Jackie Wilson
Bill Withers
Stevie Wonder
Neil Young
Warren Zevon
ZZ Top

There's more to come, and I'm sure someone is being left off the list, but you get the idea...