Current mood:
rockin
Yea, you know the ones I'm talking about. Songs from your
favorite bands that you once loved that are still undeniably awesome pieces of
musical art and expression. Years ago, you rocked'em out BIG TIME and threw the
proverbial fist in the air and honored them proudly. But, as time went by
something went wrong...
You began to feel the love for them drift away, almost
like a best friend whom you'd slowly grown apart from. What happened? Did the
wanderlust stem from the road often less traveled, or were you like me and heard
the material on the friggin radio so much that you just got beyond burnt?
Either way, we all have them. I've cobbled together what it is at this point a
modestly short list of some of the songs I hail as great tracks, but somewhere
along the line radio completely bummed them out for me. I'm sure I'll add more
as time goes by.
But for now, the finalists are...
Crazy Train by Ozzy
Osbourne
Ozzy is a living legend, and Randy Rhoads just might be
the greatest man to ever pick up the axe. But that said, I'm gonna go fucking
crazy if I hear this one more time in the next ten years....and not the way Ozzy
would like! This song, although a classic piece of rock n' roll and the track
that solidified Ozzy as a solo artist and proved he didn't need Black
Sabbath to leave his mark in history -- I just don't wanna hear it
anymore. Can I get Suicide Solution or Revelation
(Mother Earth) instead?
Welcome to the Jungle by Guns
N' Roses
It was the song that ruthlessly kicked rock n' roll in the
ass in the late 80's and blew the landscape wide open for one of the biggest
bands in the land. As more and more pretenders stepped up to the hard rock
stage, fruitlessly imitating their predecessors who did it right, Guns
N' Roses broke down the door to hard rock dominance and rose to iconic
stature beginning with Welcome to the Jungle. Now, anyone
who knows me or has taken the time to pay the least bit of attention to my
myspace page can ascertain that GN'R is one of my favorite bands of all time and
frontman Axl Rose is one of my childhood heroes. I used to crank this song up
incredibly loud and antagonize many a passer-by outside my bedroom window as a
child and young adult. Appetite For Destruction was a
virtual soundtrack for my NES craze, rockin it out while playing video games
with the TV volume turned down. But these days, Jungle is
probably the least-listened to track of GN'R's entire catalog. As far as I'm
concerned, It's So Easy is track 1 of
Appetite. I don't wanna hear it on the radio, I don't wanna
see the video either. I'm just done with it unless it's played live. That's
about it.
Smells Like Teen Spirit by
Nirvana
Although not the originator of the classic anecdote, Kurt
Cobain is often referred to for uttering the phrase "it's better to
burn out than to fade away", and boy is that spot on with this fucking
song. Smells Like Teen Spirit kicked off the civil war of
rock music in the early 90's and fronted the revolution to be known as the
alternative genre. By 1992, bands like Motley Crue, Poison,
Ratt, Quiet Riot, Whitesnake, Warrant, and a whole slew of others who had
enjoyed star-studded success for years, feeding off the hairband
era, saw their one-way tickets to have their asses kicked out the back
door of mainstream rock punched and delivered in one fell swoop. When this song
hit the airwaves it seemed like the change happened over night. And me
personally, while I generally like this tune I was never too big of a fan
of Nirvana's work outside the album Bleach, which is a
kickass record from start to finish. Still, no one can deny the importance of
Smells Like Teen Spirit and the effect it had on everyone at
the time. But, that was yesterday. Stop playing it every damn day on the radio
and voting it as the best rock song of all time! It isn't within a light year
of that prestigious honor.
One by
Metallica
Ah yes, I remember how cool it was to hear Metallica on
the radio in 1988 and to see their first video on MTV. I spent many nights
rockin out to One, blasting it's crunchy riffs and pounding
double-bass drumming on my little RCA cassette playing jambox. Though a great
song with the accompanying video that made Metallica a
household name in the mainstream metal world, I personally view this song as the
beginning of their fall from musical grace. Sure, they made millions upon
millions of dollars in the years to come and over two decades later remain the
biggest metal band on this earth. But, I look to Metallica's
earlier work as their finest hour, musically. And I don't care how you spin it,
to me there isn't one Metallica album I'd rather hear than
Kill'em All, Ride The Lightning, or Master of
Puppets. And while One was their rocket ship to
the stars, I don't wanna be constantly reminded of their departure from the raw,
unchecked fury of the underground.
War Pigs by Black
Sabbath
Who could deny Black Sabbath
single-handedly created the beloved genre of music known as heavy metal? Not
I. And I've got a friggin blood note waiting to be signed and slapped in the
face of anyone who disagrees. Tony Iommi is the shit and one of metal's most
influential guitarists and Ozzy, well....nuff said. Great band, and
War Pigs is a great tune that'll delight the classic metal
fans' ears the first 20,000 times you hear it. After that.......I dunno.
Something just changes. There's gotta be a reason why this song is the only one
I've ever gotten a complete 100% score from on Guitar Hero.
Maybe because I've heard it so much my subconscious can hum it in my sleep! Eh,
give me Fairies Wear Boots or hell, even Iron
Man.
Rock N' Roll All Night (Party Everyday)
by Kiss
I don't care where you live, everyone has a local rock
radio station that has this one on their daily rotation.
Kiss is, well Kiss. You're usually either a fan or you're
not. Me, I'd say I'm a listener. While I Love It Loud is
one Kiss song I could hear over and over till the end of time and not get sick
of, I sat back and pretty much watched the Kiss train go by. Just never hopped
on the bandwagon. But, that said, I don't look to turn the dial when they hit
the radio either -- except when I hear the opening seconds of Rock N'
Roll All Night (Party Everyday). I think I'd rather sit in a room and
listen to paint dry before I'd elect to sit through this one from beginning to
end again. Radio has KILLED this song for me in every sense of the word. If
it's still one of your favs, good for you. Play it loud, rock it proud.
Me.........I'll stick to changing the channel or blasting something else loud
enough to where I can't hear you.
Freebird by Lynyrd
Skynyrd
Ugh......my stomach just turned at the thought of the
opening sounds. I have heard this tune so many times I don't even remember the
lyrics. That's great that you're gonna have it played at your funeral, I guess
I won't have a choice then (I promise I won't say a word). And thanks Mr.
Zombie for sticking it in the final minutes of The Devil's
Rejects, prompting me to either turn off my surround sound or
just skip to the final gun shot blasts and call it a night. It's hilarious that
Guitar Hero II warns you repeatedly before you play this song
once you unlock it. It asks if you're sure you wanna play it
about three or four times before the track actually loads.
Skynyrd is a great band and they have a load of songs I like
to listen to, but mostly because of radio, this is one I wouldn't mind
if it fell off the face of the earth, never to be heard from
again.
Rock You Like A Hurricane by
Scorpions
I'm a Sirius subscriber. I love my Hair
Nation station. But, I gotta tell ya -- no song makes me change the
channel faster than Rock You Like A Hurricane. This is one
of those cool songs from the 80's that should get a spin once every couple weeks
or even a month or so. IMO, it just doesn't have near enough staying power to
hold it's weight much longer than that. Sirius loves to throw it out at you at
least once a day. No thanks.
That's it for now. I have a feeling I'll be adding more
in the foreseeable future...
You are a nut! :D
yeah i can add a lot to this list but an excellent start