Music List 1: Top 10 Rock Songs

[labyrinth2015]

Interrupting the flow of fic yet again to engage in some conversation about mainstream/modern rawk.motherendurance's precious, precocious 12-year-old made me a list of his top ten songs, which were startlingly mature and classic-rock centric (Aerosmith! Guns n Roses!).

He was polite enough to ask me, in my turn, for my favourite rock songs - clearly his awesome mom has raised him right! So, here are my top 10 rock faves, sweet boy: feel free to tell me how uncool they are, ha ha.

Springsteen: "Thunder Road"

I got into the Boss and rock n roll when I was fifteen and writing a comix column for a local rock n roll/pop culture fanzine - I was given a Bruce album and told my musical tastes (80s British new wave!) needed to be improved, pronto.

Bruce has a zillion rock n roll hits, but I've picked classic Thunder Road from his seminal Born To Run album, which, to me, is the best rock song of all time - it speaks of the open road, and taking a chance on love. This vid is from an amazing, high energy live performance in 1978, when Bruce was heartbreakingly young, and, ever the consummate storyteller, he gives this awesome introduction to the song.

The Police: "Roxanne"

In the history section, I would have named the intelligent music and unmistakable one-of-a-kind guitar work of either Dire Straits (Expresso Love) or Derek + the Dominoes/Eric Clapton (70s Layla), but the vids of Knopfler and Clapton were, to put it mildly, not very interesting (though they were amazing live when I watched them in concert, so many years ago).

Instead, I've picked recently-reunited rock band The Police, known for their blend of rock, reggae and synthesizers. As a girl I fell in love with their sophisticated rhythms, Copeland's progressive snare and syncopated drumming and the complexity of Stingo's early lyrics. I picked Roxanne (a gorgeous, deceptively simple song about a lover who needs to give up her, er, day job) over brooding Synchronicity II (which allegedly references Carl Jung's theory of synchronicity), but both are different, amazing rock songs. This version is the rocking 1979 version from The Police's European tour, complete with backstage footage, and when the boys are ridiculously young.


U2: "Mysterious Ways"

In many ways, U2 has to be my favourite band. The big proponent of stadium rock of the 1980s, they moved into alternative industrial rock in the 1990s and reinvented themselves as the pyrotechnic rock chameleons of the new millennium. I've selected Mysterious Ways with its killer groove and shimmering bass line off the fabulous Achtung, Baby album - this was spectacular when I watched it in 1992, and feels as fresh today.


Del Amitri: "Always the Last To Know"; Later version

Underrated Scottish pop rock band, whose forte was simple, beautiful melodies and acidly cynical lyrics. I love the Del's album Change Everything, beyond reason - my LJ subtitle is taken from this song. Listen to the bass hook twisting sinously through this ironic song about how you'll always love the lover whom you did wrong and drove away.


INXS: ”Need You Tonight”

For 80s soft rock I briefly considered listing my favorite song from each of Jon Bon Jovi (acoustic Living on a Prayer), Bryan Adams (Summer of 69) or Don Henley (Boys of Summer), but decided to go with 80s Antipodean New Wave/funk rock gods INXS.

Although my personal favourite INXS song was Never Tear Us Apart, the insistent, infamous, iteratively dirty groove of signature song Need You Tonight (off seminal album Kick) was the rhythm to which my entire college generation, er, engaged in romantic activity, and still makes me fan myself to this day.


Robert Palmer/Power Station: "Addicted to Love"

Palmer was the elegant, soulful heavyweight of experimental funky, bluesy, bossa nova rock, and this classy, hot song with its horn section, tight guitar line and funky bass groove is pretty much guaranteed to get me on the dance floor (or a table, ha ha).


Melissa Etheridge: "I Want To Come Over"

I wanted to get a female rocker on this list, and while I adore Chrissie Hynde and the Pretenders something fierce, love to rock out to Heart, and from the 2000s I enjoy Gwen Stefani's genre, Melissa's I Want To Come Over has got to be THE classic grrlrock song - all gravelly and yearning - "It's a need I can't explain/I wanna come over/To see you again" - with such a great rocking rhythm.


Coldplay: "Viva La Vida"
Our Lady Peace: "Innocent"

My popular music listening took a bit of a dive in the late 90s to early/mid 2000s - I was busy marrying, gestating and raising littles, and pretty much all about the ballads and lullabies all the time (and Hi!FIVE, but we shall not go there, ahaha).

So, while I would occasionally enjoy the alt/indie/grunge rock offerings of late 90s/00s bands like Nirvana, Oasis, Blur, Pearl Jam and Nickleback, I wouldn't return to really being in love with a rock band until Coldplay. They are the archetypical 2000s rock band - swaggering, bombastic, full of themselves, all labyrinthian lyrics and musical stylings - and I was all primed to love them in all their glory. I love this lush, conceited, gorgeous song, and when they came to play the Island this year, this was just unreal.

Around this time I was also introduced to the raw, occasionally surreal stylings of altrock band Our Lady Peace - in some ways, they are the anti-Coldplay, and the heartfelt, gorgeous simplicity of Innocent (covered by Cook during Idol, downlist!) is the antithesis of Viva La Vida.


David Cook: "Declaration"

I could go on and on about David Cook all day on this journal. I am insanely in love with his intelligent modern rock oeuvre, and although I dig the dirty, grungy vibe of his older songs and the infectious, headbanging Bar-Ba-Sol, I think this headlong, anthemic offering is the most representative of his style and showcases both his lyrical prowess and assured melodic composition, his edgy growl and his lush upper range. Also, he is so goshdarn *pretty* ;).


B, I hope you enjoyed this half as much as I did! You come play any time, okay?

 

 

Comments

[evilgeniuslady.livejournal.com]

Oh, I don't know. Heavy Cloud, No Rain and Love Is Stronger Than Justice are both quite rockin', as is Nothing 'bout Me. And how about that Jimi Hendrix cover? ;)

I love the revamped Don't Stand so so much. It's just awesome live, but I'm not too fond of the original version. David can certainly cover it if he wants (I just about cheered out loud recently when I saw a photo of Skib wearing a ...Nothing Like the Sun t-shirt).

YOU HAVE NOT SEEN THE RIVER DUET?!? OMG YOUTUBE TO THE RESCUE! (LINK)

Dylan is a brilliant songwriter, but I cannot stand his voice, sorry (he always reminds me of someone with Down's Syndrome when he sings, which is a horrible comparison, I know, but that's the leap my brain makes, and it's not one that urges me to seek out his songs). I have to say Skib is ever so slightly nasal, though, yes. I like him, but he twangs a bit much for my liking.

[jehane-writes.livejournal.com]

OMFG, I AM SO DEAD FROM THE SQUEE. I mean, I am squeeing, SQUEEING, so much it is SILENT, and I am sitting here with my hand pressed over my mouth, FLAILING THE OTHER ARM LIKE A TEENAGER, that is how much I AM DEAD.

Sting's subtle, gorgeous phrasing, on, "Me and Mary we met in high school/When she was just seventeen"? KILLED ME.

And, the way they put their heads together, their voices blending, on the chorus? The hotness of young Bruce in his vest? THE HOTNESS OF STINGO, rocking what on anyone else (even our fair David) would have been TEH MOST HIDEOUS FLEUR-DE-LYS JUMPER FROM HELL, but on him, was a perfect and romantic outfit with a poet's collar? GUH.

Thanks to your Youtube link, I found this as well: Bruce and Sting dueting on Every Breath You Take. I thought it was SO fantastic, as well, especially when they alternated lines on the chorus, and traded runs and yells? AMAZING.

THANK YOU, bb, you've made my night! It's late, off to bed with me, hopefully perchance to dream of the gentlemen in question ;)

PS: I love Skib's twang, aksherly *wink*. I guess I don't mind the nasal. I should send Willie Nelson your way one day (*hee*)!

[evilgeniuslady.livejournal.com]

Oh man. I'd forgotten about Every Breath, even though I had it on the same tape. Probably because The River is a better song imo than Every Breath, so I just rewatched River over and over again. I'm a bad bad Sting fan, but Breath is probably my least favourite of all his songs. It's such a stalker song disguised as romance... which, hey. A thought. I'd love it if David covered it. He'd totally make it creepy and stalkerish as hell, and then I could finally enjoy it the way it should be sung. That said, Sting and the Boss do give a good version as well.

Hope you had pleasant dreams. ;)

Gosh, I have so many quirks when it comes to musical preferences, don't I? No twang, no synth, no nothing. No wonder I sometimes have long stretches where I don't listen to any new music at all.

[jehane-writes.livejournal.com]

OMFG, David should totally cover Every Breath. I loved it when he made Always Be My Baby creepy and stalkerific!

Yes, The River is the better song. But Bruce/Sting make such beautiful music together on Every Breath! (Um, just realised I used that unintended slash up there. But I kind of like it, so it's stayin' ;).)

Can't remember the dreams, but I know I woke with a smile on my face ;)

[evilgeniuslady.livejournal.com]

Even more than Always Be My Baby, I got total chills when he snarled out or is someone loving you? during Hello. I'm not sure how the public at large would react at him stalkerfying Every Breath, though, people seem to love it as the ultimate love song, playing it at weddings and such (which, *shudder*, I so don't get. Did they ever actually listen to the lyrics?). I want him to do it soooo badly.

Bruce/Sting makes a lot of sense, especially after seeing them sharing that mic (seriously, they were on a huge tour, with tons of technicians and equipment, they couldn't get a second mic set up?).

[jehane-writes.livejournal.com]

Hello is the moment where my hair stood totally on end, the stalkerificness blowing me completely away! Ohhhh, David.

Thank you: I kind of need another ship like I need a hole in the head? That said - THEY LOOK SO CUTE AND HAPPY TOGETHER! Sharing the mic and being just up in each other's space. And the amazing trading of lines, so like sexin', just saying ;)

[evilgeniuslady.livejournal.com]

Hello was almost like Roxanne for me. That moment where the world sort of shifts, and you know you've witnessed something extraordinary, something you need to explore as far as it will take you.

Heh. Multishipping is the way to go. ;) (And hey, Sting once wrote a song called Need You Like This Hole In My Head. *g*)