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You're not going to believe this,but I logged on to Barbelith this evening specifically to post to a thread like this, or start my own, and what's the first thing I find? Shiiiiiny...
Bestbestbest classic rock songs? OK. How about these for starters:
Aerosmith, 'Dude (Looks Like a Lady)'
Steve Tyler's sleaze in full effect, utterly infectious chorus, and a genuinely non-cringeworthy lyric about a sexual encounter with a she-male of non-specific origin that leaves our hero gagging for more, twinned to a riff that's so 'classic rock' that you just know it's got the Coke logo tattooed on it's ass.
Dead Kennedys, 'California Uber Alles'
Breakneck, beautiful Californian hardcore from, barring Black Flag, the greatest exponents of the genre EVER. Ooooh but this is gud, gud moosik, stop-start chorus and fantastic lyrics, Biafra's voice careening all over the place like a car crash. "It's the suede/denim secret police, They have come for your uncool niece..." Yahhhhhh!
Van Halen, 'Hot For Teacher'
Sticking with California, but skipping from San Fran to LA - the greatest LA rock n' roll band of all time (they really became a straight rock band when Diamond Dave left, no matter what Ed says). Similarly breakneck speed, but pure youthful energy, exuberant and silly. From Ed's delerious guitar solo to the taunting, flicking-the-bird riff (played taut and sneering one moment then out of control and flashy the next) to Roth's dirty high school lyrics - "Ah brought mah pencillllll... Gimme something to write on!" and of course, the faux-coy "Ah don't feel tardy..." - there are many Dave-era VH songs that could make the case for being classic rock in the best possible sense of the phrase, but this one kicks like you're sixteen again.
Led Zeppelin, 'Black Dog'
Can't dance to it, which is normally an automatic killer for a classic rock song, but damn this is a killer all on it's own. The riff, the tight-leather-pants scream from Our Rob - so sexual it's almost healing. Pure rock n' roll heaven.
The Wildhearts, 'Pissjoy'
Bit of Jack favouritism here, and it's well noisy, produced to elicit screams of protest from your speakers, but nothing gets more recklessly joyous than Ginger's boys when they're in full swing, and this one - a glorious ode to partying with all, ah say ALL of your mates, the soaring highs as prominent as the crushing lows... this is, for me, the unofficial anthem of all me n' spooky's debauched forty-eight hour celebrations of drugs, alcohol, friendship , music and movies. Visions of kicking back in the park when you're a kid, kicking back in a semi-detached with people who should know better when you're a late-twenties professional... the engineer and producer's kids screaming the song's title in the chorus in a pre-pubescent orgasmic shriek... it doesn't get any more ROCK than this.
Jimi Hendrix, 'All Along The Watchtower'
Better than Dylan. Better than sex.
The Rolling Stones, 'Gimme Shelter'
Political, tragically always today. Female vocals kicking it over Mick's frankly (as usual) rubbish vocals, slide guitar shoving the music's urgent pulse along when it needs it... this is historically probably one of the most vital songs from a classic rock n' roll band that have, today, settled for simply being moribund. "It's just a kiss away..."
MC5, 'Kick Out The Jams'
Utterly incendiary even today. Along with Iggy and the Pistols, one of the major influences on the '80s American hardcore scene, and for good reason. Punk started in 1976? Oh, fuck off. Try ten years earlier...
Queens Of The Stone Age, 'Feelgood Hit Of The Summer'
Bit recent, this, but listen to it play out... Definitive rock music for the post-Nirvana, post-ecstacy generation (yes, it does exist. 'Scenes' are media-based - real life blurs the boundaries). Stop-start chemical vehemence to the point of stichomythia. 'Black Dog' for today. And yes, for some reason you can dance to this one.
Black Flag, 'Rise Above'
Like I said in another thread - the only Flag song that acts as an imperative anthem for, you know, the kids. Hardcore! Yes! Rise above, we're gonna rise above!
I have to go listen to some music now.
I have to go listen to some music now... |
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