24 rock classics (my list)
John Marchioro
OK, rather than simply curse the darkness, though I will continue to do that (it’s a dirty job, but someone’s gotta do it), I have decided to light the proverbial candle in order to dispel the prevailing ignorance and philistinism. Here is my list of 24 great (not the greatest, I do not flatter myself to think that I know them all, and think such lists are not terribly wise anyway, unless of course they have been compiled by moi) rock songs that I have greatly enjoyed over the decades….
1. Muddy Waters, “Mannish Boy”
2. The Kingsmen, “Louie Louie”
3. The Yardbirds, “For Your Love”
4. Cream, “Sunshine of Your Love” (alternative: “White Room”)
5. The Beatles, “Revolution” (many alternatives: “I Am the Walrus”, “Come Together”, etc.)
6. The Who, “Long Live Rock” (alternative: “I’m Free”)
7. The Rolling Stones, “Gimme Shelter” (alternatives: “Brown Sugar”, “Can’t You Hear Me Knocking”, “Monkey Man”)
8. Jimi Hendrix, “Crosstown Traffic” (alternatives: “Foxy Lady”, “Little Wing”)
9. Robin Trower, “Daydream”
10. Jethro Tull, “Aqualung” (alternative: “Locomotive Breath”, though the jazzy “Serenade to a Cuckoo” is a personal favorite)
11. Deep Purple, “Hush”
12. Santana, “Black Magic Woman”
13. Jefferson Airplane, “White Rabbit” (alternative: “Volunteers”)
14. Allman Brothers, “Blue Sky” (alternative: “In Memory of Elizabeth Reed”)
15. CSNY, “Woodstock”
16. Led Zeppelin, “Since I’ve Been Loving You” (several alternatives… I always liked “Dazed and Confused” a lot as well)
17. ZZ Top, “Cheap Sunglasses” (alternatives: “Balinese”, “Waitin’ for the Bus/Jesus Just Left Chicago”; though again I love the more bluesy stuff better, like “I’m a Fool for Your Stockings” and “Bluejean Blues”)
17. The Sex Pistols, “God Save the Queen”. Or any other Sex Pistols song. Personally I always enjoyed Sid Vicious’ version of “I Did It My Way”.
18. Elvis Costello, “Radio Radio”.
19. U2, “Mysterious Ways” (many alternatives; “Bullet to Blue Sky” comes to mind)
20. REM, “Orange Crush” (alternative: “What’s the Frequency Kenneth?” “Answers from the Great Beyond” is a great song, but it is more pop than rock)
21. RHCP, “Otherside” (“Can’t Stop” is a great song too…)
22. Radiohead, “There There” (many others too)
23. Soundgarden, “Black Hole Sun” (alternative: “Spoonman”)
24. Moby, “We Are All Made of Stars” (OK, that was a joke, my bad… How about Nirvana’s “Heart-Shaped Box” instead? Another great song)
I also like Aerosmith’s “Take Me to the Other Side” and “Mama Kin”…. Great songs, lots of energy.
I love Frank Zappa, but it is hard to think of a single song that really stands out, perhaps “Muffin Man”….
Yes, I have ignored most post-1975 stuff because it is mostly dreadful IMHO… I mean, Queen? Supertramp? Elton John? “Domo Arigato Mr. Roboto?” This stuff is so bad it makes Grand Funk Railroad and The Guess Who seem like rock Mozarts by comparison. At least Bachman Turner Overdrive played rock…. And yes, Iknow “post-1975” is a broad swath, but I have tried listening to most of it, and frankly it sucks…. Rock’s best days ended in the early 1970s.
And no, I also do not care for heavy metal in its various manifestations, so no, no Black Sabbath, no Kiss, no Ozzy, no AC/DC…. Sorry.
And no big hair bands from the 1980s like Quiet Riot, Def Leppard and Bone Jovi. No. See a barber immediately, guys. And then take some music lessons.
I have also ignored most prog rock since it is dated and frankly embarrassing to listen to these days, but I suppose you could throw in a Pink Floyd classic like “Have a Cigar” (though personally I prefer “Great Gig in the Sky”), or a Yes classic like “Roundabout” (though personally I prefer “Heart of the Sunrise”…. But there are also a lot of bands that never got the recognition they deserved, like early Genesis before Peter Gabriel left the band. And then there is King Crimson, which did really really interesting stuff for years, and had a cult following around the world for it, but never had commercial success like the other bands above….. And needless to say, there are a lot of great prog rock bands like Henry Cow, Hatfield and the North, National Health, The Art Bears, Jade Warrior and so on that only a few oddballs like me have ever listened to, let alone heard of….
But I digress.
One thing to add here, something I was actually thinking about a bit the past month: Rock anthems. Many rock groups produced signature songs that everyone has heard a million times. “Hey Jude” would seem to be the first of these, though perhaps the practice predates that. But you can easily think of a long list of songs like this: “Stairway to Heaven”, “Free Bird”, “Dream On”, “Don’t Stop Believing”, “Born in the USA”, etc. etc. What is interesting is that the other list and my list do not include a single one of these. I am not sure where and how the practice of the rock anthem started, or the extent to which it was calculated (I think it was highly calculated, but then I am a cynic, if not by birth then by experience). But the fate of the rock anthem may well involve the law of diminishing returns… Everyone knows the song in question, everyone kowtows to it, and everyone is pretty much sick of hearing it at this point.
Anyway, my two bits.
Except: Long live Jimi Hendrix, the greatest guitarist who ever lived. Listen to “Pali Gap”…. That is rock.
dav...@gol.com
That’s certainly a big improvement.
I’d prefer some pre-Aqualung JT; Stand Up was far better than anything after that.
You need Quicksilver “Pride of Man”, Janis Joplin “Summertime”, Neil Young “Cinnamon Girl”, Traffic “Low Spark” (or Mr. Fantasy), and something Blind Faith in there. Maybe Grateful Dead doing Dark Star/St. Steven (or Morning Dew to go along with Pride of Man). Maybe some early Winwood (Gimme some loving, or whatever) at number 4.
I can do without anything after number 15 on your list, though. (I’m only half joking: most of that is stuff I never listened to, so can’t comment reasonably. Talking Heads and Pretenders probably don’t belong…)
David J. Littleboy
Tokyo, Japan
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John Marchioro
John Marchioro
dav...@gol.com
>>>>>>>>>
Carl and I had a disagreement about this and he tried to educate me by giving me a bunch of post-1975 material.... Some of it was pretty listenable. But I am pretty hopeless about post-1975 rock, still feel it was all downhill after the early 1970s.... It became horribly commercialized, and bands that started out doing resolutely non-commercial stuff ended up pigging out. Pink Floyd was one of the worst offenders in this regard, but it was hardly alone. U2 also pigged out horribly. One thing I will say for Johnny Rotten is that he never pigged out, not that I follow his "work" closely, but I do not think he ever tacked to the mainstream...
<<<<<<<<<
Yes. I count 1972 as the year rock lost it. Although in thinking about it, maybe it never had it.
- I am not a Grateful Dead fan, never cared much for Janice Joplin or Traffic or Neil Young either.....
Well, the Dead are problematical but the high points are lovely (Casidy, St. Stephen, Morning Dew) and the rest is just having fun on good tunes. Jopin’s Summertime is classic beyond words, and not liking Traffic and Neil young is unthinkable. But I think I see where you are coming from, and it isn’t folk. Folk was horrificly bland pablum in the Kingston Trio/PPM days, but for some reason found something to say for itself around the time Dylan went electric. There was a ton of good music around then, and what’s good in rock came out of that.
- I like Clapton and Jeff Beck a lot though, wish there were more space. I would have included "Layla", but it gets kind of boring after the first few minutes if you ask me... All the energy is in the opening riff, and it does not get sustained after the singing is done... Beck's "Goin' Down" is another classic, and his cover of Steve Wonder's "Cause We've Ended as Lovers" is a noble piece of riffing....
The lack of space in most of rock is why the Live Cream album is so great. Agreed on Layla. Beck’s People Get Ready is lovely.
But to get back to reality: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXqZL9TdDV0
John Marchioro
dav...@gol.com
As is often the case, wiki has the answer.
“In the 2000s, McBee unsuccessfully sued a Japanese company that opened a chain of stores under his name”
David J. Littleboy
Tokyo, Japan
From: not-hony...@googlegroups.com <not-hony...@googlegroups.com> On Behalf Of John Marchioro