1. Nike Air Jordan XI 2. Nike Air Force 1 3. Converse All Star 4. Nike Air Jordan III 5. Nike Dunk 6. Nike Air Foamposite One 7. Nike Air Max 95 8. Nike Air Jordan IV 9. Adidas Superstar 10. Puma Clyde
Other Notables:
13. Vans Slip-On 16. Nike Air Jordan V 18. Nike Air Max I 21. Vans Era 29. Reebok Omni Pump Lite 34. Nike Air Max 90 37. Nike Air Max 97 39. Vans Old School 68. Nike Air Force 180 72. Nike Air Huarache 78. Vans Sk8-HI 79. Vans Half Cab 80. Etnies Sal 23 83. ES Koston I
There was a mini-genre of singer/songwriters in the late '60s and early '70s that has never gotten a name. They were folky but not exactly folk-rock and certainly not laid-back; sometimes pissed off but not full of rage; alienated but not incoherent; psychedelic-tinged but not that weird; not averse to using orchestration in some cases but not that elaborately produced. And they sold very few records, eluding to a large degree even rediscovery by collectors. Jeff Monn, Paul Martin, John Braheny, and Billy Joe Becoat were some of them, and Sixto Rodriguez was another on his 1970 LP, Cold Fact. Imagine an above-average Dylanesque street busker managing to record an album with fairly full and imaginative arrangements, and you're somewhat close to the atmosphere. Rodriguez projected the image of the aloof, alienated folk-rock songwriter, his songs jammed with gentle, stream-of-consciousness, indirect putdowns of straight society and its tensions. Likewise, he had his problems with romance, simultaneously putting down (again gently) women for their hang-ups and intimating that he could get along without them anyway ("I wonder how many times you had sex, and I wonder do you know who'll be next" he chides in the lilting "I Wonder"). At the same time, the songs were catchy and concise, with dabs of inventive backup: a dancing string section here, odd electronic yelps there, tinkling steel drums elsewhere. It's an album whose lyrics are evocative yet hard to get a handle on even after repeated listenings, with song titles like "Hate Street Dialogue," "Inner City Blues" (not the Marvin Gaye tune), and "Crucify Your Mind" representative of his eccentric, slightly troubled mindset. As it goes with folk-rock-psych singer/songwriters possessing captivating non sequitur turns of the phrase, he's just behind Arthur Lee and Skip Spence, but still worth your consideration.
