Month: November 2012
Top 5 Rock songs with a whistle involved.
5. Patience-Guns and Roses-Axel starts with a whistle and a nice melodic whistle at that…”see I am not really a bad guy after all” type of whistle. How many PBR’s do you think have been downed to this song! (PBR=Pabst Blue Ribbon-a quintessential American beer favored by the working man)
4. Jealous Guy-John Lennon- The best time to hear this is on a car radio at 3am driving down a lonely highway in the pouring rain. Lennon at his best had a way of letting you feel his pain as your pain because we all have the same experiences and all do stupid stuff.
3. Pumped up Kicks- Foster the People– Catchy tune about shooting bullets at your mates for play time fun. Only California can produce a band to make this sound so cool.
2.That Smell –Lynyrd Skynyrd – Ronnie Van Zant throws in this great “calling in the dogs” whistle to usher in guitar solos and hounds that will be right on your ass if you keep messing around with illicit substances and take that slow boat out into dark oblivion. It is short but it makes the point that he is used to calling in all the dogs. Lynyrd Skynyrd- great rock band!
1. Dock of the Bay -Otis Redding –You can call this soul if you want and say I’m stretching a bit but..Man!…what a song. He sung his heart out and died young in a plane crash…nothing more Rock n Roll than that. I officially proclaim this an honorary rock song if it wasn’t already.
Top 4 Worst Rock songs about Rock…too painful to add a 5th one!~
1.Kiss – Rock n roll all night- it’s warm with an instant flavor packet of melodic stadiumness. It is the Ramen noodles of a rock song….no substance, but it will take the hunger away and fool you into temporarily thinking you had something, you had nothing.
2. Bob Seger -Old time rock and Roll -“just take them old records off the shelf, I’ll sit and listen to them by myself’…why don’t you do that Bob- Horrible song which may have faded away had it not been for Tom Cruise dancing in his underwear in “Risky Business” .
3. Billy Joel -Still Rock n Roll to me– This song actually made it to number 1 for two weeks in 1980- What dark days these were…Bette Midler released “The Rose” which is better than this(Don’t get me wrong, I am not a fan of Bette, but if I happen to end up in a Mexican prison and they give me a choice of these two songs to listen to, not knowing what implications making this choice will lead to, I will take “The Rose” and hope for some “wind beneath my wings” to get the hell outa there!) Also in 1980 Michael Jackson was the still untarnished “king of pop/good angel” with “Rock with You” at the top of the charts (he had yet to hang babies out the window, marry Lisa Marie Presley for a couple weeks and sleep with 10 year olds) I am not judging here…I am just saying… he had some quirky habits.
4.Jefferson Starship– We built this city (on Rock and Roll) -Bernie Taupin was in on writing this??? Is this the same Bernie that wrote the great songs with Elton John? How do you go from “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road” to this?- And Grace Slick was part of this mess? “one pill makes you change the name from airplane to starship and sing on one of the most insipid tracks of all time”. (that is a reference to Jefferson Starships’ “White Rabbit” for those that may not know-a great rock song)…What happened here? San Francisco must be some kind of city for people to produce this crap in an effort to keep paying the rent so they can stay there…that is the only reason that makes any sense.
Top 4 Rock songs about Rock- still searching for the 5th.
1. Rock and Roll- Led Zeppelin – “Been a long time, been a long lonely lonely time”. This is the standard that all rock songs are measured against.
2. Rock n Roll- Lou Reed-“One fine mornin’, she puts on a New York station
and she couldn’t believe what she heard at all”. Lou Reed is the classic outsider that becomes cool- He should not be a rock star, he is short and awkward and not smooth as a singer- but he gives it all and throws N.Y.C grit in every beat. His music makes you feel like you are walking down a dark city street.
3. Rock n Roll ain’t noise pollution- AC DC– The lead singer Bon Scott has died and the critics were ready to bury the rest of the band with him. This tragic loss fueled the energy of “Back in Black”and this track is like a big -F U- to all the haters. To go on and even to reach a new level when losing a lead singer is an almost impossible feat in the history of rock.
4. I know it’s only Rock n Roll but I like it– The Rolling Stones- Simple and hypnotic. No fuss or additives thrown in. It’s only Rock n Roll but I like it says it all.
5. [ nothing here yet] I don’t have a fifth song because I wanted something that is powerful enough to sit at the table with the other four songs and hang out. There are some that could drop by for a quick visit and maybe grab a slice of pizza with these guys…but nothing that would be able to really hang out ‘till 3 in the morning when the 5th shot of tequila makes the rounds.
Cave of Fame 