The Community
ROCK AND ROLL! => All Them Other Guys => Topic started by: Zzzptm on December 10, 2024, 10:19:26 AM
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No streets, neighborhoods, or alleys, those are for a different thread. :smug:
Gonna kick it off with a song that sums up pretty much every single song about Texas and the places in it in a very Texas way. "Stupid Texas Song" by The Austin Lounge Lizards is a song about Texas for Texans by Texans.
"We're obnoxious. We don't care." :D
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Well I'm gonna kick things off here with a lovely song about California...this is a more about a certain place in California than the entire state but it still works.
ROB ZOMBIE - (GO TO) CALIFORNIA
I will NOT be putting these in any specific order here this time.
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Inspired by Charger's recommendation in the other thread to "crank up some Nightwish!":
I present Elvenpath by Nightwish!
Nightwish released their debut album, "Angels Fall First," in 1997, and Elvenpath is the lead track. It references much in the way of Tolkien’s Middle-earth locales like Lothlórien and Rivendell.
And further inspired by Charger, I won't be posting these songs in any particular order.
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^^
Good choice that one! Slipped through my mind completely! Great tune!
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"Back in the USA" by Chuck Berry, with the MC5 version being my favorite, with the original a very close second. This should be the national anthem. It's much easier to sing, it's rock and roll, and it sings the praises of the good ol' USA!
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Should also knock out all the country songs about Texas, so I don't feel tempted to crowd up my rock and roll list later on:
1. Stupid Texas Song - The Austin Lounge Lizards
2. The South Coast of Texas - Guy Clark
3. Agua Dulce - Rusty Wier
4. Have You Ever Seen Dallas From a DC9 at Night - The Flatlanders
5. Waltz Across Texas - Ernest Tubb
6. You Can't Get the Hell Out of Texas - George Jones
7. London Homesick Blues - Gary P. Nunn
8. Amarillo Highway - Terry Allen
9. Hill Country Rain - Jerry Jeff Walker
10. I Saw Miles and Miles of Texas - Jim McGraw And The Western Sundowners
I feel right about that, so it'll be rock and roll submissions from me from now on. :smug:
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Aaahhh!! I'm already behind!
Pick 1
Bob Seger - Get Out of Denver
I'm not usually a big fan of Southern Rock, but sometimes those bands can knock it out the park. This is from a fantastic live album too.
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Now that Z deflated the elephant in the room (soooo many songs about Texas that are of the country variety) it's time to get down to business with Mr. Tom Waits.
Not sure what the two have in common, but it sounded good!
Anyway, in 1983 Tom Waits released his eighth record, Swordfishtrombones, to universal acclaim and celebration. I remember Walter Cronkite announcing on the six o'clock news that Queen Elizabeth was so overcome with joy that she actually stripped nude and danced out in front of Buckingham Palace. Even Ronald Reagan and Fidel Castro shared a drink of vodka and a Cuban cigar in honor of Swordfishtrombones.
Or not.
But the sixth song on side one is called, "Town with No Cheer," and it is about Silverton Australia. That much of this post is true!
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Next one for me is one that maybe stretches the parameters of the topic a bit but it DOES at least mention a place...and a pretty big place.
MOTÖRHEAD and GOING TO BRAZIL!
This is a bit of a strange song for me because in the beginning I didn't much care for it but I soon learned to dig it. It's a very nice little fast rocker wiht some really good tongue in cheek style lyrics which Lemmy does oh so well. It's about a plane ride to...well...Brazil.
This live version comes from one of their better live DVDs from back in 2013.
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^ :yes: Total banger, that one!
It should be no surprise that I also have rock and roll songs about Texas in my back pocket...
The Doobie Bros' "China Grove" has a fantastic riff to it and the song goes through a well-written bridge, making the return to that might riff quite satisfying. Perfect singalong song for a road trip.
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Never a fan of Going to Brazil either, but that live version works rather well.
2nd pick for me
Hawkwind - Arrival in Utopia
From their Choose Your Masques album, a nice chunk of space rock, with a break down in the middle I rather like. A fictional location of course!
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Going to Brazil was always low on my list of Motorhead songs - which isn't very low, and higher than many other bands' output. First I'd heard that live rendition; it does lift it up. Anyway...
Into the Void - Black Sabbath. You all know the story.
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"Going to Brazil" is right up my alley, it sits solidly with great Golden Age rock and roll 12-bar-blues-based efforts. It's Johnny Burnette with the amps cranked up and the hair let down, I love that track and always have. :)
Next stop in my rock and roll itinerary is a piercing documentary about Hadrian's Wall...
Saxon's "Carpe Diem" makes me want to stand on those old stones and wait for the ghosts of the past to come to me from that place. :headbanger:
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Well well well... I'll call your Saxon and raise with some more SAXON!
This song is about a very famous place in New Mexico where something very very interesting happend some 80 odd years ago. Weather balloon my ass!
We all know THERE'S SOMETHING IN ROSWELL!
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DUN DUN DUNNNN :yes: :headbanger:
I was guessing you wanted to claim that one for Finland! :)
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Digging all the Saxon love around here!
This one centers on Nargothrond, a fortress in Tolkien’s Middle-earth. As I consider these songs, there are almost as many rock songs about Middle-Earth as there are country songs about Texas. But not much in the other way around :)
Anyway, this is, "Mirror, Mirror," by Blind Guardian. It is the ninth song on their 1998 release, Nightfall in Middle-Earth. As you can imagine, there is a metric fuck-tonne of music on that album about hairy midgets and shit.
For your listening pleasure:
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Forgot to post yesterday, so I'll try and do a second one later today...
Pick no. 3
Big Country - We're Not In Kansas
From the 1993 album The Buffalo Skinners - a patchy album at best, but when it gets it right it can be really good.
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I had Blind Guardian's Nighfall In Middle Earth album back in the day but I didn't really get into it and sold it...never really liked Hansi's vocals to be honest..But that's a good song though.
My fourth pick shall take us to Leningrad at hight of the Second World War.
BLAZE BAYLEY - CITY OF BONES
Telling the story of how during the very long siege of Leningrad the Russians endured and survided the Nazis siege of the city that lasted over 2 years and 4 months. With very little provisions and food...most of the people there were reduced to mere skeletons because of starvation.
From Larry's drum intro to the monster riffs and the near prefect vocal delivery of Blaze makes this song a masterpiece!
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Oooh that is some STRONG, grim history. I'm liking that.
I first heard this song as an intro to The Drew Carey Show, done by The Presidents of the United States, and then tracked down Ian Hunter's original. I give you "Cleveland Rocks":
:rockon:
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I think I've caught up now with my 4th choice...
Rush - Xan... er, A Passage to Bankok
I think Xanadu was too obvious for my choice of Rush song, especially as they have a wealth of songs to choose from. A Passage to Bankok from 1976s "2112" album just proves the album isn;t all about the title song, this is easily one of the greatest 3 minute songs ever.
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Passage to Bangkok is a great tune indeed!
This tune from 1976 is the title track and suffers from Stairway to Heaven syndrome: a good song played on the radio so much it sucks now. But it is a good song, and very evocative of a place. The Eagles with Hotel California -
I was reading the Wikipedia article about the Hotel California album, and had to share this bit, fucking awesome haha:
" While the band were recording the album, Black Sabbath were recording Technical Ecstasy in an adjacent studio at Criteria Studios. The band was forced to stop recording on numerous occasions because Black Sabbath were too loud and the sound was coming through the wall. The last track of the album, "The Last Resort", had to be re-recorded a number of times due to noise from the next studio."
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Passage to Bangkok is a total banger and Don Felder's solo in Hotel California is what keeps that song fresh for me.
And those crazy kids in Black Sabbath with their heavy rock and roll noise! :smug:
Another city on the Great Lakes that's famous for its rock and roll heritage is Detroit. And say what you want about Kiss, I don't care, I'm probably saying the same things, too. But "Detroit Rock City" is a great track about the city they grew up in. Hometown heroes singing the praises of their mother city.
The video is obviously a few archive scraps patched in to try to match the studio track, but it's an interesting look at the Kiss of 1976 and the production values we had back then.
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Weren't they all from NYC, not Detroit? Or did they just wonkify the name of the song, but are really singing about NYC?
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I think they were New Yorkers...part from Gene ofcourse who was from Israel.
But Detroit was a big rock city at the time so I believe that's why they wrote a song about it.
My 5th pick is about a fictional place.
JUDAS PRIEST - HELL IS HOME
This is a story about a man who in life was hated and scorned by everyone (much like me) and finally found his home in Hell which he soon became to rule.
The soft intro leading to the ultra heavy verse is pure brilliance and Tim's vocals especially on this live version are nothing short of AMAZING!
Killer tune and it hit very close to home lyrically for me.
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Never been much of a Kiss fan but that's one of their better songs.
Pick Number 5
Gustav Holst - "Mars" from The Planets Suite
Not a fictional place, but a place mankind has never visited. I'm not a huge classical fan, but I know I like some of it. Mars is my favourite piece but I could have gone with a couple of the other planets.
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My rock and roll pick number six is...
New Orleans!
Originally done by Gary U.S. Bonds back in the day, Gillan took it and added a bit more speed and thunder to make it a proper heavy rock selection.
The original is great fun, but I *really* like the metalled-up version here. :smug:
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^^
That is another winner for Ian! Great rock 'n roll tune that one!
I'm going to the sands of SAHARA with this Nightwish tune
This is a great atmospheric heavy opera-like tune. Has a strong middle eastern vibe to it which I like like...and Anette's vocals are suberb here.
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Since I missed yesterday's post - here's two:
Megadeth with Hangar 18. The real-life place where the US Gov hides their alien artifacts!
Followed up by David Bowie's "Life on Mars?" This one popped into my brain immediately upon seeing KDC's post with Holst's composition in it.
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Love Hangar 18... and Life on Mars is one of my favourite Bowie songs.
For my pick #6
Slayer - Seasons in the Abyss
My favourite Slayer song, never been a huge fan of them but this is a great song. I suspect I like it because it's a little "commercial"... shock!!
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Are we already up to number 7 with these? One day, we need to do a list of 30 songs so it goes a whole month. :D
Time for Rainbow doing Gates of Babylon!
The footage is from a live performance in a studio. I always liked those early videos that didn't do lip syncs, but did concert or performance footage. The music does *all* the talking on this video, although there's a wicked glare from Blackmore at the camera that's fated to do a close-up of his solo. He's just centimeters away from being Blackmore's next optical victim!
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OH YOU STINKER!!
I was gonna do that!
Now I have to rethink things...
Well I'm gonna buy myself some time and do this one for my 7th pick
Here's a little song about some things that lead to things that happened on a 3 square mile battlefield near a town named WATERLOO
From the masterpiece album that is The Glorious Burden Waterloo finished the album with a massive bang. Richard Christy's drumming on this track is especially brilliant, and ofcourse Tim's vocals soar through the story with great presense!
I always have a facination for these historical pieces and this one happens to be the second one to fit this topic perfectly!
OH goddamnit! Now I just saw that Vyn stole another one from me! What the hell dudes!? HAH! But I think I found a replacement for the Hangar already! ;D
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Lists like these, it's ninja or be ninja'd! :smug:
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Almost forgot to post today! Hopefully this isn't one of Charger's picks! :D
Pick number 7
Motorhead - Metropolis
Not quite sure why I like this one so much. It may be because it's slower and maybe more thoughtful!
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^^^
It nearly was! I was contemplating between Going To Brazil and this one but elected to go with the first one...I was hoping someone would pick this one as it's a heck of a good tune...
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^^^
Ah, I'd forgotten you had already posted a Motorhead track!
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Well for my 8th pick (which would have been a certain song about a certain place in the Nevada desert) I'll go with ANOTHER song about the same place..
This one coming from mr. GEEZER BUTLER and it's called AREA CODE 51
This might not be quite the classic that Hangar 18 is but it's still a pretty tight song from Geezer's best solo album. This one goes bit more to the point than the Megadeth song and might not be among Geezer's best lyrics but I've still always really liked this one....could be because obviously I have a soft spot for the topic.
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Big Apple Dreamin' (Hippo) - Alice Cooper
Ted
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Big Apple Dreamin' (Hippo) - Alice Cooper
Ted
Yeah, gotta have NYC represented!
So because I want to find another NYC song, I'll post double today, as I think this was one of the tracks I used for songs between 10 and 15 minutes, "Blue Desert" by Sky Valley Mistress:
Man, I sure hope they're able to get their next album birthed. It's a shame that it slipped out of their planned release date for this year.
And my NYC song is Steely Dan's "The Royal Scam".
It's not a love letter to The Big Apple, but neither is it a writing of divorcement. There's a begrudging empathy for the people they're bumping shoulders with as they record a dangerous reality about the compressed humanity shuffling the city streets.
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Rush - Rivendell. A song about some place mentioned in some book by some dude. I may have already posted some tunes along the same lines.
I always liked this album and thought it was given short shrift, but after 2112 came out, it's like this song is some kind of nascent 2112. In hindsight.
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^^^
Great album... ghastly song! ;) :D
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Pick number 8
Yes - Siberian Khatru
A lot of Yes fans rank this track among their favourites... I'm inclined to agree! A nice live version here.
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Aye, that's a non-ghastly tune from Yes! I reach back to that Rush comment because both bands were at their best when they got right up to the line of self-indulgence, but stop. Sometimes they hit it, or cross over a bit.
And Rivendell was Neal being so self-interested he didn't even bother with allegory in the slightest. It was like his love song to Tolkien, and I see why a lot of folks discard it.
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Well for my 9th pick I had to go back to the drawing board thanks to ZZZ....but I came up with this!
IRON MAIDEN - PASCHENDALE
This is about a rather famous battle during the first World War...(surprise surprise I'm going with a historical song again) In the battle The Allies try to break through German's western front.
Maiden's song concentrates on a single soldier's view of the battle.
This is a great song from what I consider to be Iron Maiden's last truly great album. And eventhough at the time I did not understand why they made yet another live album/DVD now it's great to have a live version of this song!
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^^^
I do like that one too... I was thinking about that one for my IM choice, but there's others I can go with if I choose them!
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My 9th choice has to go to Stiff Little Fingers' "Alternative Ulster"
Would that we could have lands that stayed peaceful for people who wanted peace and places to go for those who desired war, far away from the places of peace.
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My 9th pick is:
Iron Maiden - Back in the Village
I like their "Prisoner" related songs, but the other is not suitable for this list.
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The year: 1972.
The band: Deep Purple.
The song: Smoke on the Water
The tie-in: Lake Geneva, Switzerland.
You may have heard of it.
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:sneaky:
The logic checks out, though. Well played, Vyn!
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I've been sitting on it from the get-go, figured someone would drop it in here at some point. Then decided to grab the brass ring for myself haha
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Truth be told, it totally slipped my mind. I didn't see the gold right under my nose.
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It was not among my choices either. So point to you sir!
Okay last one.
And the only christmas song here...and one of the very few that I truly truly love!
This is from Savatage's DEAD WINTER DEAD album and it's called
CHRISTMAS EVE (Sarajevo 12-24)
This whole album is about the Yugoslavian war which was still very current back in 1995 when the album was released. And it was pretty uncommon for Metal bands to write a concept about a war that was ongoing.
Anyways they released this as a single and pushed it towards radio stations as the band thought it would have been a great fit and might have been a hit...well it did nothing...most stations wouldn't even play it because it was heavy metal...Then in the following year they formed a new band called TRANS SIBERIAN ORCHESTRA and put the exact same song, the SAME VERSION in fact as a lead single and it became a huuuuge hit and eventually led TSO becoming one of the biggest christmas touring bands of all time...go figure.
Anyways this is one hell of a tune and it's a fitting finale for this list.
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Wow, that *is* an awesome finish! Thanks for that!
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My final offering is one of the grand-daddy songs of Rock and Roll. "Kansas City" is an old standard, done by many artists, but my favorite is Little Richard's "Kansas City-Hey Hey Hey".
There are other versions Little Richard did, but this one's the best one.
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Remember libraries? Here ya go - Toto singing about Africa!
Too bad by the time he finally found the book he needed it all went up in smoke. What a pisser!
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My last selection
The Stranglers - The Last Man on the Moon
Off their last album Dark Matters, this is one of my favourites off what I suspect will be their final album.
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Toto? Really? Toto!?!
Me not like. :D
I've heard that Little Richard tune before...that's a good one!
The Stranglers song surprised me...as I thought I wouldn't like it...instead I found myself enjoying it.
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I'm with Charger on the Toto thing. :smug:
And, yes, The Stranglers are a great add to one's collection. Very good stuff and thanks to KDC for turning me on to them.
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Back in the early 80s I quite liked Africa by Toto, it's not aged well!
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I recall reading about a device someone put out in the desert somewhere in Africa that played "Africa" by Toto, on repeat. Just out there in the middle of nowhere playing that song.
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A few Honourable Mentions...
The Dead Kennedys had a couple of possibilities...
California Uber Ales
Holiday in Cambodia
An obvious Iron Maiden track I considered...
Transylvania
And plenty of Rush songs...
Cygnus X-1 Books 1 and 2
Xanadu
Seven Cities of Gold I could go on!
AC/DCs Highway to Hell nearly made my list
I didn't even think about anything from the Sabbath catalogue!
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I dropped "Holiday in Cambodia" for "Africa". I also thought about dropping Planet Caravan in there, but I already did one Sabs tune and they were both about outer space.
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TONS of songs from the early Rock and Roll years, I could make a separate top twenty list for those.
And then there are the songs about people from places like Woman From Tokyo... or Gal From Kokomo...
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For the next list, I propose we do songs extolling the virtues of vehicles! Songs about planes, trains, automobiles, boats, rockets, or other engines of transportation.
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So what say, vehicular rock next?
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I'm OK with that one, we can come back to the "streets and venues" at a later date.
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Hmm...might struggle a bit with that one but let's see what I can come up with! :D
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Transport tunes work for me!