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ROCK AND ROLL! => All Them Other Guys => Topic started by: Zzzptm on December 27, 2023, 09:20:14 AM
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So that means one *could* care less about these bands, bar the one song... :smug:
OK, rules are simple:
1. No need to consider ranking. These acts are lucky to get a mention from the likes of us.
2. These are not "best tracks of acts that you know I'm a huge fan of but the rest of the list doesn't necessarily get into." Like, we all know those bands already. These are songs from bands that we're likely to say, "Oh man, they SUCK!" and then, after a considered pause, we say, "Except for..." and name the ONE SONG of theirs that we can not just tolerate, but *like*.
3. For example, I HATE Radiohead. If I found one song of theirs that I could endure, that would not be on the list here. These songs need to be the kinds where, when we make up playlists for just ourselves, we decide to include.
4. We don't have to totally hate the band. The band could also be one we're just meh about, but, hey, THAT ONE SONG IS GOLD!!! Like, I really don't care one way or another about The Sweet. So, if I found a song of theirs that totally blew me away, that song would be on my list.
5. One-hit-wonders are perfectly acceptable. If that song was the only one the band ever did, and it's incredible, pop it on the list. Or if they only did one album and only one song off that album really lit you up, include that song. The rest of the album can be OK, but this song is the standout.
Gentlemen, get your lists ready! Once we check in that we're good to go, we can start the reveals.
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If you got 2 or 3 songs you like from a band you can otherwise pass on and the band has made a LOT of songs, that could be fair game if you're hard up for material.
Adding this... don't go with a song you don't actually get excited about when it comes up. There are songs you're OK with, but this one you could actually look forward to if you saw it later down the playlist.
One more edit... if the list goes over 10, then consider how little you care for the rest of the band's work as a deciding factor. There's a difference between wanting to maybe see what else they could do as opposed to no, you really have zero interest in exploring their catalog any more.
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I may post a YouTube link when I do mine. There is one band that may appear twice... but I'm not sure I yet have my 10.
Maybe look to start this one on January 1st.
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Yeah, a week should be good for getting the list and YT links would be a good way to see if others find a like for the same song.
I'm not ranking mine, but I'm putting the more well-known bands I only have one song from towards the end, for best dramatic impact.
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I think my list could greatly exceed 10, I've just thought about it for 5 minutes and I already have 9 so I may not need to repeat any acts. Some of the songs are from bands I'm not that familiar with other than the songs I really like, so I may note where I'm just ignorant of an act rather than one I don't care for.
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Sounds like a plan!
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This isn't going to be overly easy as there are so many and it's hard to remember everything....but I'm sure I can think of 10.
Gotta start putting my list together.
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I think my list could greatly exceed 10, I've just thought about it for 5 minutes and I already have 9 so I may not need to repeat any acts. Some of the songs are from bands I'm not that familiar with other than the songs I really like, so I may note where I'm just ignorant of an act rather than one I don't care for.
I took one band off my list because I really really liked the one song, hadn't heard any of their other stuff, went to go listen to it, loved it, and then had a band I cared about. So no more song on the list. :D There were a few other bands I had where I thought, yeah, if they make another album I'll give them another try. I want to like them. They're off the list.
So all the ones on my list are tracks where I went out, tried to find another song of theirs that I really liked, and came back disappointed in that regard. Every one of these I can say safely that I didn't find anything else by the band that got me interested. Some of the bands are obscure ones, some are pop sensations, and some are considered giants in their respective fields and I'll be looked at like some kinda two-headed alien by their fans for saying that the vast body of their work I could easily not hear ever again and be just fine with it.
There's A LOT of AC/DC and Whitesnake that I do not like, but way more than one song of theirs that I do reach for when making playlists, so they're not on my list. Same for ABBA, dammit, and I blame my wife loving them for me to be into more than one ABBA song! :P There are also bands like Grong Grong that I like zero songs from, not on that list of mine. Guns and Roses... I find myself just not excited at all for the stuff I used to really like and the stuff I don't like, ugh. Not on my list.
I got my list and I'm playing through each of the songs and I get a good "yep, that's all of them I want to hear" as I play each track. I know what happens if I go for any other tune by these bands, won't be happy with the results, but these are a fun mix.
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I found a fair ammount of songs to fit the bill here! Some of which might truly shock you! ;D
Went away from metal quite a bit as well with my choices...but I'm not sure this is going to be my final list as there might be something I had forgotten about....so it is good to have a bit more time with this one than on the other lists which in comparison were bit easier.
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Oh, I am expecting shockers here, having a few of my own. :)
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I was thinking of including some "very" well known acts... the problem is I don't care that much for them, but they've done so much stuff that there's a good 6 or 10, or more songs of theirs I actually like, Hmmm!
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Well, we'll never really know... or care about enforcing the rules once the list is posted. :)
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Selection number 1
The Gin Blossoms - Hey Jealousy
I've known of this song for maybe 10-15 years, in researching this I was shocked to learn it came out about 1993! It does have 90s feel about it though.
I know nothing about The Gin Blossoms except for this song.
This is a pop, guitar driven song and it really got to me, I rather like the lyrics to it and it doesn't outstay its welcome.
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Numero Uno:
Go Back - Crabby Appleton
This thing was all over the radio back in the day, and it's pretty catchy. By the time I picked up the album several years had gone by and not only was it dated it was like the band had evaporated. It seemed like I didn't hear them on the radio again until about fifteen year later on an oldies station. Bleh, I can listen to the album, but it sounds like over engineered Musak to me. This tune, however, stands out.
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This is a pop, guitar driven song and it really got to me, I rather like the lyrics to it and it doesn't outstay its welcome.
I agree! I had an experience when I was ~17 wherein the opening lines to that song were something I said. No doubt the details are fuzzy after all the years, but dang near word for word.
She let me stay, btw.
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KDC is right, that is a catchy tune. And I, too, know nothing else about The Gin Blossoms.
The Crabby Appleton tune sounds like Mountain meets The Doors kinda sorta. Fun fact is that both of their albums were critically acclaimed and went nowhere.
Here's my first entry into the field:
The year is 1966 and there's LOTS of acid everywhere, including Austin, Texas. That's where Roky Erickson and The 13th Floor Elevators were doing their thing:
I got the album this came from and its follow up and while there are many OK songs on them, none of them hit me the way this tune did. This tune in particular got bands like R.E.M. and other indies a huge musical inspiration. I love playing it and don't need the rest of their work. Roky Erickson kept turning up here and there, Syd Barrett style, due to his in-and-out relationship with mental hospitals and law enforcement. Quite a character, he passed away in 2019.
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A long time ago, first pressings of their first two albums fetched a tidy sum. Someone decided that making fake copies of all International Artists records was a good thing to do, and they flooded the collector's market, driving the price of the originals up even more.
The prices have gone down a lot judging from what I just looked up.
And just like Zz, I only care about that one song lol.
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My first pick goes to the 80s!
Sandra - (I'll Never Be) Maria Magdalena
I'm not sure when I first heard this one...probably in the 90s...but I am fairly certain it was before my introduction to Heavy Metal. Must have been on the radio.
The vocal melody on this one is gold and the song is quite catchy as well.
I don't think I've ever even really heard anything else from this german singer. I know she released few more albums in the 80s and actually has been somewhat active since releasing albums every now and then...
But I think you can officially call her a one hit wonder!
Fun fact this made it to #1 on Finland's official single's chart back in 1985!
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I rather liked all three of those. Very much of their time... that Sandra song could only have been from the mid-80s. I half expected Morten Harket to start singing! :)
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^^ THAT IS SO 80s!!! OMG!!! The polo shirts! The jackets with pushed-up sleeves! The pony tail off to one side! The big earrings! The one gloved hand! The synths! The lighting! The drum sounds! The echo effects!
Put me right back in my junior-senior years in high school, nice nostalgia. :)
For my second entry, I give you "Complex World" by The Young Adults:
Yes, it was used as the intro credits music for the film Complex World, all about an iconic Providence, Rhode Island rock and roll club and the nefarious forces trying to blast it to kingdom come. The song comes up later in the film, right when everything gets blown up. The film itself is not ruined by my giving away the ending. It's pretty clear everyone's doomed from the get-go. What's wild is how raw the film is, like it's almost... not even got a budget... :P
For me, the film is much better when I don't watch it and The Young Adults are a fine party band, but it's only that one song of theirs that really stood out to me and was playable over and over.
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Choice number 2
Adam & The Ants - Dog Eat Dog
(While this video says it's "Live in Manchester" it looks like a mimed performance in a TV studio... like Top of the Pops)
1980, and The New Romantics first emerged in the UK. Adam and the Ants were the first to make it really big... but after their first few singles they turned to garbage with poncy pop songs. Anyway this was the best of their early songs, and I still rather like it.
I'm familiar with a lot of their output and apart from the early stuff I wouldn't give it another listen.
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Okay my second pick is going to be bit more recent and bit more to our genre of music.
IN THIS MOMENT - The In-Between
I first heard this song on Radio Rock during the late night jukebox and was instantly like "What is this!??! Sounds awesome!" That singer has some serious presense. So it took me a while to find out the band...I had heard about them but never checked them out. So now I was like wow! This is pretty great I need to check them out! And I did...and I was horribly dissapointed! Didn't really find another song I truly liked.
But Maria Brink does have a hell of a voice and she uses it quite differently from most singers in metal.
I still really really really like this song and it pains me that I couldn't find more stuff from In This Moment that touched me like this one did...
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I smell a little bit of Jefferson Airplane in that 13th Floor Elevators song...something about that guitar sound...
That's also a good canditate for that screaming or yelling thing that we talked about at one point for the intro bit...Kind of a cool song though.
And Crabby Appleton! Oh man I swear I read it Crappy at first and was like huh!?
Adam & The Ants had their stage get-up going for sure!
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No. 2:
Monkey On Your Back - Aldo Nova
Always liked this tune's melody. Rest of his stuff is pretty blase.
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^ lol, I didn't include Aldo Nova because I like two of his songs! :D
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Oddly, I never got into his other hit.
I have never heard of the Young Adults or the In-Betweens...I HAVE heard that Sandra song before though. Yeah, 1987 is stamped all over that thing lol
Adam & The Ants. There was a time when I liked Mr. Ant. When he first hit the scene, and then he went one direction and I did not follow.
No 3:
Only song of his I enjoy, everything else he is popular for is pap. Admittedly I have never heard any of his entire albums except this one, because I bought it due to this song being awesome.
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Gotta say Bryan Adams is a major yuck to me...and that song was no exception. :D
For my 3rd one I'm going back to the 80s again.
THE BANGLES - Walk Like An Egyptian
I can fully understand why this song was such a huuuuuge hit. Cause it really is an ear worm. But in a good way. The melody is nice, the vocals are great and the girls were pretty.
This is absolutely quintessentially 80s again. And lot of the stuff back then was either great or horrible. This falls in to the great department for sure.
But I tried and I tried but couldn't really get into any of their other stuff...there are few songs that I found okay but nothing even came close to this one.
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Regarding Mr. Adams, I don't even like that one. But at least he's tolerable when he shows up in the mix. The Bangles, though, I like a number of their tracks. Walk Like an Egyptian is 100% fun times, rock and roll for partying and not thinking too hard.
Now for my number three entrant...
I was teaching and one day the kids are all crazy about "the video with all the treadmills" and so I had to watch it...
And I thought, "Wow! I need more of these OK GO cats!"
Turns out, no, I just needed that one song with the treadmills. Best Do-It-Yourself video, hands down. The tune itself is catchy enough to be fun through the years.
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Bryan Adams I'm no fan of, I quite like Summer of 69 and bought the album Reckless as a result ... turns out Summer of 69 was the only good song on the album... ho hum!
I loved the Bangles, I have their Different Light album... hot and talented, too many good songs to appear on my list.
Choice number 3 for me is
Elvis Presley - Always on my Mind
As a friend of mine once said "if you throw enough mud some of it will stick", basically if you record enough songs some of them will be quite good. And that is the case with Elvis Presley... I'm really not a fan but I've always like 2 or 3 songs of his and this one in particular.
I'm very familiar with his catalogue and just don't care for it.
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:zomgwtfbbq:
Man, I'm a nut for Elvis! OK, so most of his movie soundtracks in the 60s were trash, but oh man wow to only get into just one of Elvis' songs is like blowing my mind, duuuuuuuuuude! :twitch:
If you haven't heard his rendition of Bob Dylan's "Tomorrow Is a Long Time", you owe it to yourself to try this hidden gem from Elvis' catalog. It was tucked away in a flop movie soundtrack album, wasn't in any film, and even some of his biggest fans had no idea that this exists.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_HzZrOGlRk
It's a beautiful, amazing song that is unique in his repertoire. But, hey, even if you don't like it or don't try it, I will still consider you a friend, KDC. :D
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Elvis is a bit of a hit and miss for me too...Couple of his more rockier tunes are okay but those "him and his acoustic guitar" songs are mainly just dull.
One can't deny his influence on rock though...and especially getting the ladies into it at the time! ;D
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Elvis...I like some of his early rockabilly style tunes, otherwise I've never cared for him at all. When he died, the lady that lived right across the street came over, knocked on the door, my mom answered it. Neighbor was full-on balling her eyes out, "have you heard, Elvis died!"
I was like, "whaddaya know." My mom was even less impacted lol
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I think he had a great voice, it was just the style of music I wasn't a fan of. I certainly never particularly enjoyed early Rock n Roll, but maybe if I had been there it could have been different. As Charger says there is no denying his importance.
If peeps are shocked at his inclusion on my list then there may be a bigger shock to come! I might throw it in tomorrow just to get the ridicule out of the way! :D
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Well, I hold out an olive branch on Elvis because I know I've got a big shock or two that I'm saving for the end of the list. :smug:
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Oh I think I might have one or two on my list that might cause some "What? Why?"'s here...or maybe not as you lot know me pretty well already... :D
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Just to get it out of the way, then, I'll have Dara O'Brien pre-express my shock:
(https://64.media.tumblr.com/96acc45664e33d7eac763345e3f4bc36/0f1d7d1aa7ef10c1-9e/s540x810/d0aa58f8565ccc80e37e3eebe7ec7005acb671ec.gifv)
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Well I'll go with one here although this shouldn't come as a big surprise to anyone though.
Pick #4
BOB DYLAN - Gotta Serve Somebody
I HATE Bob Dylan. His singing is dreadfull, most of his music is dull and I consider him to be one of THE most overrated singer/songwriters in the world!
BUT this song is actually pretty good. I first heard it on the tv show Sopranos back in the day and only found out it was Bob Dylan after I had bought the show's soundtrack cd and this was on it.
There is another Bob Dylan song I like called All Along The Watchtower but only because it was covered by a certain left handed guitar wizard by the name of Jimi Hendrix whose version blows Dylan's out of orbit! That song was also very prominent in the tv show Battlestar Galactica but now I digress.
This song does suffer from the typical totally bland preformance style of Dylan but for some reason it actually works here. This just proves the point that when a crap artist does enough material they'll hit the gold once!
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^^^
I like quite a few Bob Dylan songs... when they've been performed by other people, the example you give being the best. Absolutely agree that his voice is substandard!
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My number 4 choice feels a little like a fraud choice because I actually like 4 or 5 songs by the act in question... usually the more quirky songs in their catalogue.... but seriously I don't really care about them that much!
The Beatles - She's Leaving Home
BUT, this is a seriously good song, so emotional, great lyrics, a great performance from them. I just realised it is mainly an orchestral piece too. It's off Sgt Peppers which has another their better songs (Life in a Day).
I don't really appreciate their earlier stuff even though it's very much of its time and set standards which would define music trends to follow. Their later stuff is where I like the occasional song, Eleanor Rigby is another one I really like.
But the songs I like really are few and far between, but outside the hits I'm not so familiar with their deeper cuts!
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I was thinking about The Beatles but honestly I can't think of a SINGLE song from them that I actually really like! :D
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^^^
I like quite a few Bob Dylan songs... when they've been performed by other people, the example you give being the best. Absolutely agree that his voice is substandard!
He is a much better songwriter, 100% agree. I like his acoustic work, I think it lends a better interpretation to his material.
And I knew Charger was no Beatles fan, but KDC??? Well, this is an interesting turn. :) Myself, I find that I'm more partial to George Harrison's songs and that, like Dylan, many Beatles songs are better when done by others. I'll start another thread to go into more depth and I think we might be able to have some fun with it. :D
My next one has two videos...
The first is when I first encountered the song, as part of the soundtrack for Il Divo, an Italian biopic of Giulio Andreotti, controversial former Prime Minister of Italy. He was alleged to be connected to a number of mafia killings and also alleged to have employed a "strategy of tension" that provoked leftist extremists in order to drive votes away from the political left. The strategy is alleged to have resulted in radical leftists choosing to murder the then-PM, Aldo Moro. LOTS of allegations in this guy's life. Fascinating biography and the clothing in the film is amazing.
Anyway, the song played for the opening montage:
Go to 2:17 to get to the start of the song.
I was stunned with how the pop tune worked so intimately with the beats of the violence depicted. Really well arranged. And the song itself was catchy, so I went to get it in full:
More fun with the video, really enjoyed it and the song is totally catchy - I like EDM and this track had a strong House vibe to it. So I went to check out their other stuff, and...
... yeah, that's why they're here. It was just that one song that was good enough for me. :D Still, I really love it and that movie is amazing stuff.
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That Dylan record is the only one of his I own, and that's only because my dad bought it when it came out and it was handed down to me.
Th Beatles were all about timing; another place and another time they would have been a second-rate band that got some airplay but with more of a niche following rather than BEATLEMANIA!
Z once again pulls out some tunes I have never heard of. Cassius is pretty cool!
Up next for me is The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. I really like their version of this tune, everything else they produced makes me want to take a nap:
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^ California-flavored outlaw country, to sum up. It's a good cover, but I like versions by Johnny Cash and The Staple Singers better. :D
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Well both of you pulled something out of your hats that I've never even heard of...
My #5 is
VON BONDIES - C'mon C'mon
I heard it on this for the first time:
Rescue Me was a fantastic show about a group of NYC fire fighters struggling with their lives and PTSD after 9/11 the show dealt the heavy topic with great (albeit very dark) humor and some good action.
Denis Leary created the show and starred in it and did a wonderful job.
But this isn't about the show it's about the song. I had to find out (luckily it was in the end credits of the show) what the theme song was and had to find out more about Von Bondies but sadly nothing in their work even came close to the sheer brilliance of this song. It's kind of a punky fast rock song. They weren't from New York though but from Detroit.
Fun fact the band has two women but neither handles the vocal duties.
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Pretty decent punk-flavored power pop there, but, yeah, there's a lot of that going around. Gotta focus on the good tracks and leave the rest outside. :)
My next track is one we've visited here before. Safe to say I wanted to find other tight tracks from this outfit, but, nope. Swing and a miss on the lot of them. But this one persists...
Yes, the band are all from England... but I swear they gotta be Swedish somewhere with a song like this!
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Up next: Don't care for anything this guy did solo, but this song is a timeless truism:
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My 5th slection
The Dubliners with the Pogues - The Irish Rover
This was a big hit for The Dubliners and the The Pogues around 1987 (it was a UK top 10, y'know!). And while Irish sea shanty type songs are not really my thing there was something satisfyingly anarchic about this one. Things to look out for in the video include Shane McGowan's "pearly whites".
I don't know anything else by the Dubliners and except for Fairytale of New York, I know nothing else by The Pogues.
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The Dave Mason song makes me want to listen to Jimmy Buffet.
The shanty song makes me want to watch Father Ted, and that means a bonus song for me. It's a song I can't stand from an act I can't stand AT ALL except in one certain context...
"He's WORSE than Hitler!"
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^^^
Blocked in the UK!
I'm going to add a bonus song of my own. Today we saw the death of actor David Soul at the age of 80. The Starsky and Hutch star also had a singing career and while I didn't care for it for the most part, I really liked (and bought) his 1977 No. 1 single in the UK Silver Lady
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Ah that was Cutty Ranks' Limb By Limb - The jungle music track played by Father Stack in the "New Jack City" episode of Father Ted. Guaranteed to clear the room if we don't have that show involved. :D
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I quite enjoyed all of today's choices particularly C'mon C'mon
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Ah that was Cutty Ranks' Limb By Limb - The jungle music track played by Father Stack in the "New Jack City" episode of Father Ted. Guaranteed to clear the room if we don't have that show involved. :D
Excellent episode!
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My #6 might be a bit of a shocker again...but maybe not. ;)
POLICE - Murder By Numbers
I first heard this song in the movie Copycat (with Sigourney Weaver and Holly Hunter) back in the late 90s. Good movie.
The track has a good melody and lyrics. I bought the album Syncronicity soon after and found it to be extremely dull part from that one song! :D
I have never been a Sting fan either, his music also falls into the dull category. Nothing there. Kind of like U2.
But I still very much enjoy this one song.
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I never knew David Soul sang. It doesn't immediately grab me but is better than most actors who recorded some tunes.
I like quite a few songs from The Police, then there are others that I will change the station if they come on.
When this came out I was living in Washington DC, and quite involved with the local music scene there. As a fan, to be clear. But did make some acquaintances, one of which introduced me to Justine Frischmann. Who gave me an EP with this on it. I thought, and still think, it's a catchy groove. Sadly for Ms. Frischmann and company, I just couldn't get into any of their other stuff.
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My number 6
Mountain - Nantucket Sleighride
This is more a case of just being ignorant to their other recordings rather than not caring about them. The tune first came my attention back in the day when the final section was used as the theme for a UK current affairs program back in the 70s and 80s (Weekend World if my memory serves).
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I think there is an Elastica song I like, but I'm pertty sure it's not that one! A quick google doesn;t enlighten me though!
I think David Soul was a singer before he was an actor, so not like he didn't have form.
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I think David Soul was a singer before he was an actor, so not like he didn't have form.
I have to say this was news to me too. And he's not a half bad singer either I see....generic though.
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Regarding The Police: They are also a hit-and-miss group with me. Maybe one out of 4 or 5 tracks they do, I want to hear again. My fave of theirs is Message in a Bottle.
Regarding Mountain: they are definitely worth digging deeper into.
Regarding Elastica: That be some obscure, but cool stuff.
Now for my next track, I turn to a band that just had the wrongest possible name for what they were doing:
Heavy Metal Kids, but they played all kinds of stuff, actually leaning into reggae a lot. Frustrating and confusing and this one pretty much the only song of theirs that really does right by 70's hard rock standards.
And I love it.
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I think there is an Elastica song I like, but I'm pertty sure it's not that one! A quick google doesn;t enlighten me though!
I think David Soul was a singer before he was an actor, so not like he didn't have form.
That makes sense RE: David Soul.
The only other songs from Elastica I know about are Stutter and Line Up, because they're on that EP. Looking at Wikipedia it seems their first album was a massive hit in the UK, so I can only imagine a bunch of stuff off of it got airplay.
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Heavy Metal Kids - oh my. That may have been the first time I have ever heard their music, although I have heard -of- them before. I seem to recall avoiding them because, due to the name, I assumed they were something like
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Interesting that there was a band already in early 70s using the term Heavy Metal...never heard of that before!
My Number 7 is a trip to the late 90s.
TINA COUSINS - Killin' time
This is kind of your standard Brit Pop but Tina's voice is great (and she's not painful to look at either!) and the song rythm is brilliant.
I think I heard this on Radio and then went on buying the album...only to sadly discover there was nothing else worth listening there. But this song made an everlasting impression on me and thus it has stayed on my playlists all these years.
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^ "The Heavy Metal Kids from Uranus were an invention of William S. Burroughs, and it seems like the early 70s had a rule where a band name had to be some kind of Burroughs reference... Soft Machine and Steely Dan in that category, for example.
My next list item is "Unsung" by Helmet.
Awesome opening groove, great chunky riffs, industrial-style closing section. Great single and it made me want to buy the album.
Buying the album made me want to rethink my music-purchasing methodology.
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Helmet also made a great cover of Symptom Of The Universe at some point...that one made me want to listen to more of their stuff...it didn't take either.
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I'll catch up on your choices later, I'm slightly rushed at the moment!
My choice today was a last minute change, because one of the songs I had left I wasn't very happy about (it's an ok song but not THAT awesome!). And then I realised I'd forgotten about this one!!
Glenn Campbell - Wichita Lineman
This has a great melody, intelligent lyrics, and I actually bought a double CD greatest hits of his just for this song... actually there are a couple of others on there I don't mind too much but I really don't otherwise care about him!
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For me, Glen Campbell is someone that I didn't know I liked as much as I did, given his strong presence on tracks from his session work. He's got an early rock and roll record that is a real hoot to listen to.
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Glen Campbell was a fantastic musician. I don't care for most of his output as a solo artist, but it is impossible to deny or ignore his amazing craftsmanship.
Hahahahaha, Helmet. Yeah, I fell into the same trap with them. Picked up Meantime on cassette from Y&T Records in Rockville Maryland. Dropped it in the car stereo and headed down to (The still called at the time) Washington National Airport to pick up my future wife (up for a visit whilst we were still dating). I was deflated from the music. Didn't have any other tapes with me, so had to listen to the radio. I was bummed.
Up next: Greg Kihn and his tune Jeopardy. Despite its content, I have always considered it to be a "fun" song with a good bass line. Maybe the video has something to do with that perception. In any event, I didn't like his previous hit(?), and at the moment cannot think of anything else he put out that got airplay, although I'm pretty sure he had some. That's how much I don't care about the rest of his catalog lol.
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Oh yeah he had that other song, I think... Can't remember or be moved enough to look it up. :D
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Ironically my #8 shares the same title as #7
DOOM UNIT - Killing Time
This was a massive hit here in Finland as the band won the Radio Rock Starba contest with this song back in 2009...and as much as I can remember this was clearly THE best song of the bunch that were nominated. Great hard rocky metal tune with great vocal melodies.
Eventhough the band got a lot of air time (not only on Radio Rock) they never really made it big. And honestly I can understand why. The rest of their stuff is rather mediocre and they had very little originality.
But this song is a great one and something I listen to every now and then!
Fun Fact. Back in 2009 the tv show Harper's Island (a something of a slasher show with a bunch of people caught in an island being killed off) started and the tv adds here used Killing Time as the background music!
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Getting really picky with my next pick...
Most of everything else REO Speedwagon does makes me change the channel or just grit my teeth and wait out for the next track, but that's a strike against the radio show I'm tuned in to. But this song, and ONLY the live version of it from 1977, I will turn up and rock out to. The studio version is plodding, by-the-numbers rock and roll. But this live version lights up the sky.
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My number 8
Big Country - Chester's Farm
When they first emerged in the early 80s I had time for Big Country, I have their first album and this song is off their 6th album The Buffalo Skinners. They have done one or two songs which are great... but of the 12 songs on this album it's only this song and "We're Not in Kansas" that I care about (and from their first album it's only "In A Big Country" I can listen too). They have so much filler and generic stuff I just don't care.
I marginally prefer this song to the other one off this album but on another day I could have listed that one. This is a rocking anti-vivisection song!
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Both "Killing Time" songs were very listenable, I probably prefer Doom Unit.
Not a fan of REO Speedwagon either, that was okay for sure but I probably won't rush to hear it again. The same could be said for Jeopardy, not bad but I won't pursue it further.
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This is a rocking anti-vivisection song!
That is only the second song I have ever heard from them. The other, of course, "In a Big Ass Fucking Country and Shit." Although I recall hearing that the band was wildly popular.
Doom Unit! Never heard of them, but that tune isn't half bad.
REO Speedwagon. OMG, I had some friends back in the day that were legit fanatics. Knew a girl that would always tell everyone who would listen what she would let Gary Richrath do to her if given the opportunity. Passed up at least five tickets to go see them at one point or another. Did happen to catch them at a Summer Jam one year, but they were one of several groups so I had to take the good with the bad.
My next offering, a guy who, in the late 70's/early 80's, seemed to have more popularity than I could understand. Was never a big Montrose fan, either, but thought he was better in that outfit. He can sing, not sure why I never got into his groove. But I did like this song:
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I remember hearing guys at school going all like HAGAR RULES! THE RED ROCKER! HELL YEAH! BEST ROCKER EVER, DOOD!
I found most of his stuff to be not... quite... fast... enough... This track is one where Sammy and the band actually put in a good tempo, but just about all his other stuff, I re-record at a faster speed so it can rock out properly. And then I forget I did that because there's so much out there that's so much better than Hagar's output. Wasn't a fan of Van Hagar, either. :)
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Yeah, Van Hagar was an abomination of epic proportions. Made them a lot of cash from what I understand, though!
They would have an entry in this list from me, if they had one song I enjoyed haha.
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My 9th choice is:
Johnny Cash - Hurt
Like Elvis and the Beatles, I knew much of Johnny Cash' work but didn't really like it for the most part... Ring of Fire seemed a little over rated, and if I never heard A Boy Named Sue again I'd be happy!
But this, this is such an emotional rollercoaster, it just so perfectly conveys an older persons deteriorating health. Trent Reznot who wrote the song for Nine Inch Nails has said that Cash' version is THE version.
It was also used in the trailer for Logan a few years back and was just perfect for that also.
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^^^
That is a good version (better than the original) but oh my god did it play a LOT on Radio Rock last year and the year before...I have most likely heard that song over 100 times there and I am totally sick of it! :D
Ring Of Fire I think is my favourite Cash song but that too has ofcourse suffered from being over played.
My #9 takes us to the late 70s and to a killer galloping riff!
HEART - Barracuda
First time I heard this song was on a DORO album called Love Me In Black but that version is very different as it was Doro's more experimental phase. Usually Doro's covers are atleast as good as the original but this one wasn't. The original is far superior.
But I have not found anything else of real interest from Heart. But this gallop is just awesome....call me nuts but I love a good galloping riff!
I saw that Heart have done some comeback shows in the past week or so and I watched a preformance of this song and oh god it made me want to cry...horrible. But thankfully we have the original.
Fun Fact: Ann Wilson is actually together with former DIO drummer Simon Wright and they are pretty active posters on Facebook.
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I don't mind Heart, Barracuda is their best song. Anne has a great voice, but they didn't make good use of it as often as they might have.
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Regarding Van Hagar, I thought I liked one of their songs, but I actually almost liked about 6 of theirs. At least they were better than the next version with the Extreme singer.
HEAD SPINNING ALERT because KDC dropped another truth bomb I didn't expect! :rofl: Oh man, yes, that is an incredible rendition, full of the passion and emotion Johnny Cash can convey in a song. He took that song and made it a signature for himself. To be sure, I like tons of stuff from The Man in Black, it's entirely possible to be a fan of his. :D
Not so much head spinning with the Heart pick from Charger. There are about 10 songs from Heart that I like, and Barracuda is the queen of them all. In the 70s, they could go too soft on their albums and in the 80s OH MY THAT IS DIFFERENT with them going all the way on the 80s ballad metal thing.
A wee tiny rabbit hole is that the music in the Lord of the Rings trilogy sends me up the wall. It's so "hey, I'mma gonna make you *feel* a certain way, so, yeah, get ready..." and not actual composition that I would want to hum along with as I strolled about. The music from Star Wars and Indiana Jones, that I could hum along with and remember. Same for the Harry Potter theme. LotR? Can't remember a note of it, except that it just hit me the wrong way. So the films come out on DVD and I go to certain scenes and turn the movie volume down and crank up the stereo. This was the track for the Battle of Helm's Deep when Gandalf's crew show up. Yeah. I think I played The Mob Rules for the Uruk-Hai attacks and stuff like that, it just made better sense.
On to my 9th pick...
Late 70s, discovering things on the radio... I'm a kid, not even a teenager, just got an old radio my folks were about to toss and now I'm finding rock and roll stations in Dallas. There's a lot of Top 40 crap, but I settle on two that got a great feel to them, KZEW 98 "The Zoo" and "Q102" KTXQ 102. Don't look for them now, they're not there anymore... but they played album rock, the format where DJs would just grab any old song that they fancied and spin it for the kids out there. Yes, there were hits that were in rotation and stuff like that, but in-between, the DJs got to shine with their picks. Love that style and it's how I like to DJ my shows.
So one day, it's 1980, I'm in the summer between 6th and 7th grade and I hear this song on the radio and fall in love with it...
I go with this YouTube link and not one that shows the band performing because that's how I heard it, on the radio, no images except what was in my head. I had no clue who these guys were or what they looked like other than I really liked the pulse and the riff on the keyboards. I'm like, "yeah, Genesis, they rock."
Then I heard other stuff they did with Phil Collins on lead vocals and there was some OK stuff, sure. There was some cringe stuff, true. But nothing like this song. And I wanted to like them.
Years later, it's the early 90s and someone says, "Oh dude, they were riding on fumes when they did Duke! You should check out their stuff with Peter Gabriel! Blow your mind how awesome it was!"
It blew my mind, all right, but it was how HORRIFIC it was... the song with *THAT NOTE* just creeps me out and then The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway, WTF is that? A rock opera about the consequences of castration?
:shock:
Consequently, I can be happy with never hearing another Genesis song from the Peter Gabriel era. I'm cool with that. And I like this one from the Collins era, end of story. :smug:
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I was thinking about adding Van Halen to the list but part from the drum intro to Hot For Teacher I couldn't think of anything I liked enough!
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Heart is ok - Magic Man is such a period-piece, it's like I can smell 1976 when it plays. And I don't really like it, but it's "ok". Basically how I feel about their entire catalog, they just didn't write music with me in mind haha.
Genesis. Would love to hear what Billy thought of the Gabirel era. I'm of the same mind as Z; I have straightforward dislike for those tunes. Unlike Z, though, there are two Genesis songs that I like: Turn It On Again and Abacab. Abacab by a slight edge.
Johnny Cash. I agree, his rendition of Hurt is great. I've always felt his music was "ok", much like I feel about Heart. It doesn't scare me away, but it doesn't attract me either. Would rather hear "Five Feet High and Rising" than "The Return of The Giant Hogweed" any day, though.
I present to you all The New York Dolls, performing their internationally acclaimed, smash hit, "Trash".
"Trash, go pick it up" fucking brilliant. Sadly, not even "Personality Crisis" could make me interested in anything else they did.
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Genesis I never liked...always considered them as girly rock...no power.
New York Dolls is the kind of punk I'm really not interested in at all.
Okay then...
My final pick is going to be the shocker....or not depending on how well you know me....and you know me pretty well so no shock.
LED ZEPPELIN - Dazed And Confused.
And even so I think this version is FAR superior to the original:
Not a fan of the Zep...to me it was always the lesser interesting and more poppy distant cousin of Purple and Sabbath. They lacked punch. And their live versions took the "wankery" to a whole new level.
But out of their career there is one song that I do enjoy and that's Dazed And Confused. It's got enough of that heavy blues vibe that both Sabbath and Purple had but they lacked for the most part. Ofcourse Plant's vocals are the weak spot which is why I also added a version with proper vocals.
Ofcourse this isn't REALLY a Zep song at all which I guess is why I like it! :lol:
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I've never been a huge Led Zep fan either, but I like a few songs here and there so wouldn't have made my list. I'll give that Tony Martin version a listen later.
My last choice, and may not be a surprise to some, but this song was what inspired me to suggest the topic in the first place.
Bon Jovi - Dry County
Ok there's a couple of other songs by them I don't mind but this is the only song which justifies their existence!
The song is epic at nearly 10 minutes, has slow and gentle moments, faster moments an interesting middle section with a really good guitar solo. It has a story too!
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There are two songs from Bon Jovi that I really really like. Blaze Of Glory and Wanted Dead Or Alive. So they wouldn't have made it to this list. There's another good one that I've heard on radio few times but damn if I can remember the name right now...
Majority of their stuff is pretty poppy crap but they do have those few gems. Never heard that song before so I'll be giving it a spin as soon as I can!
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Wanted Dead or Alive is one of the two songs I don't mind the other being Keep The Faith, but in themselves neither justify the existence of the band.
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Hello, I'm the guy who likes the kind of trash glam punk sound that New York Dolls was laying down. The kind of stuff that sounds better the closer it is to a demo tape that never went anywhere but straight to fans' bootlegging tapedecks! :smug:
I'm surprised that Charger likes a Zeppelin song, albeit one that is done much better by someone else. Zep was a band that I liked much more as a teen than I do as an adult. There are still tunes of theirs I like to reach for now and again, but most of the time, it's with a twinge because I know there's another song that inspired them that I have in my library that's a total gem of a rocker as an original. So, usually when I'm in a mood for Led Zeppelin, I spin some old Willie Dixon.
Tell you what, Iron Maiden could benefit from a workshop with Bon Jovi about keeping a listener's attention over 10 minutes of a tune. Good pick, KDC.
Now for my big finish, I was saving this for the end...
Got this as the lead track off of Metal Massacre compilation from Metal Blade and really really liked it. I got other Slayer albums after that, this was like the late late 80s, and I was really into thrash and speed.
Then I got older and everything started to sound the same. I wasn't getting a rush off of the tunes anymore and then there was how the lyrics were really turning me off at some point, so I just couldn't anymore with the constant thrash.
As years passed, I could take it in small doses again, but I've always kept a little spot for this track. If I need more thrash than this one, then I really need some thrash. If not, then I play it, get my neck good and sore, and then go back to my business and previous playlist.
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Slayer would not have made my list, too many of their tunes that I like.
I have never been a Bon Jovi fan, but of course have heard the hits - never heard Dry County before. It's not bad, I would never have thought they could produce something of that quality!
Led Zep. They occupy the same space in my head as the Beatles. But whereas with the Beatles I just really can't get into them at all, I can listen to LZ, but as background music. They sort of act as a musical palate cleanser. Whenever I can't decide what to listen to because nothing sounds good, I'll put on some LZ, listen to while doing other things, and then suddenly everything else sounds so much better :)
Last one from me is from The Cars. When I first heard about them, they had a sort of punkish aura. But not really. Like Elvis Costello when he first hit the scene. I tried to catch their groove, but could never quite get there, but this song of theirs is excellent. I especially like this low-fi version, I think it suits the song, and Ric's style, perfectly. Too bad they chose to be more "geek" than "punk".
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Lol, yeah, The Cars! I like their "Just What I Needed" as well, so that's 2 songs of theirs I like. :D Their earliest stuff is best and then... 80s happened in a bad way to them...
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I now realise I could have included Slayer as the only song of theirs I like is Seasons in the Abyss (it's a little less thrashy even a little commercial... with a melody!!)
Yup, The Cars while a band I'm no fan of they have done a 2 or 3 good songs
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Tomorrow I may post a few (dis-)honourable mentions!
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Here's some honourable mentions, I won't put links in, if you wanna listen to them google it!
REM - Losing My Religion
Duran Duran - Rio
Talking Heads - Psycho Killer
Nickelback - How You Remind Me Ahem! :whistling:
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Nickelback - How You Remind Me Ahem! :whistling:
:kramer:
A ditto for ZZZ for having Slayer on here...that's a travesty!
I could add Duran Duran but I would have chosen A View To A Kill instead.
Pat Benatar - Hell Is For Children was close of making my list as well...although I'm not super crazy about that song either nor do I know enough about her other stuff to really judge.
Venom was something I considered as well but I do enjoy a few of their tracks although In League With Satan is SUBERB.
And honestly I probably missed a lot due to the fact that I just can't remember
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Sssshhh!!! I tried to conceal that one! It's not like I'm proud!
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Nickelback?
:nono:
But Vyn just found a Michael Bolton song that I can get into, so all is forgiven. :smug:
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NICKELBACK!!
In the interest of fairplay:
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Could only watch so much of the Nickelback parody before deciding a parody of Nickelback is almost as bad as Nickelback themselves. :P
On the other hand, I wanna put Kim Mitchell into the mix:
I know he made other songs, but this is the one of his that I actually downloaded and play all the time. Because it rawks! :rockon:
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Could only watch so much of the Nickelback parody before deciding a parody of Nickelback is almost as bad as Nickelback themselves. :P
Yeah, I think I made it to about 1:30 and bailed lol. That Mitchell video is the shiznit!
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Was cruising around for 90s tunes and hit on this one...
OH MY GAWD IT'S SABOTAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGE
And, yes, no other Beastie Boys song I'm into. But this one SLAMS.