Rock and Roll
Each week, I try to create an interesting column about music that I like. Hopefully, I can introduce or reintroduce my readers to songs they haven’t heard before or haven’t heard in a great while.
Today’s column isn’t about some obscure song from 1971 by Genesis, it’s about great Rock and Roll songs.
Obviously, this is a subjective list and definitely not all inclusive but it will touch on some truly great Rock and Roll. These aren’t the best songs or the greatest songs (perhaps a few are) just songs that epitomize great Rock and Roll. Hard driving beats, great guitar work, great vocals, powerful drumming and any added flourish the artists use to create great Rock songs.
The easiest one for me would have to be The Rolling Stone’s “Sympathy For The Devil”. I think you already know that I think this may be the greatest Rock and Roll song ever written. Jagger’s vocals, the lyrics, Keith Richards guitar work and yes, Charlie on the drums. To me, it is the perfect Rock and Roll song. In addition, the video on YouTube is great as well.
Surprisingly, I am going to put “Smokin’” from Boston’s debut album. Come on, listen to this song and tell me this isn’t a great Rock song. I have heard it 100,074 times and I still tap my feet with the beat. Boston’s debut album would have to be one of the best debut albums of all time. Go back and listen to it from the beginning and I am sure you will hear what I hear.
Did someone say Lynyrd legitimately? No. Too bad because you can put down Southern Rock all you want, take a listen to the band’s version of the J.J.Cale classic “They Call Me The Breeze”. Another song that just get my Rock mojo going. Honestly, I think their version is way better than the Cale version and I do love J.J.Cale.
Let’s face it, love ‘em or hate ‘em, Aerosmith has produced an incredible amount of Rock and Roll over the years. I didn’t say it was all good and to be honest, they may have released what, like 17 or 18 studio albums, the bulk of it was crap. Still, they do have a couple of very very good albums to their credit and digging through all the muck, I should be able to find something I could include here. In actuality, it was very easy, “Train Kept a Rollin” is another great Rock and Roll song. Steven Tyler’s vocals are raw and there was a little trickery involved (it was recorded in the studio and live and overdubbed) but it falls squarely in my kick ass Rock and Roll list.
Typically, I try to be a little more selective when I make up these lists but occasionally I have to go mainstream and by mainstream I mean Thin Lizzy’s “Jailbreak”. This Irish band found success in the US after the release of this single even though they were very popular across the pond for years. It was overplayed on FM radio and still is in the rotation of every classic rock outlet in the World but yet I can’t turn it off when it comes on. Funny, because it is not even close to being my favorite Thin Lizzy song. That would be “Dancing in The Moonlight”.
Picking a great Rock song by AC/DC is next to impossible. They probably could Skynyrd place 10 songs on this list and it’s like choosing a favorite child. You just can’t do it. Don’t sue me but I have to go with “It’s a Long Way to The Top”. Great Rock song but it has the most ambitious use of bagpipes on any Rock song ever. I love the whole arrangement.
Same goes for Led Zeppelin. How can you choose? Zeppelin is a little different because they had multiple periods over the years. Blues, legitimately, etc. Tough to look at a catalog with a thousand songs in it and try to pick the best Rock and Roll in there but as the title of my column says “Rock and Roll” has to be it. Bonham’s drums and Jimmy Page’s guitar work perfectly with Robert Plant’s vocals.
Another group that could place a few songs here is Van Halen. I’m going with “Mean Streets” here only because this is my favorite VH song and if I actually sat down and argued with you I might lose to those who love “Jamies Crying” or “Eruption” or “Running with The Devil”. You see, you think it’s easy but it’s not.
I will give “Lazy” by Deep Purple another shot at fame here. It is not a traditional hard rock song at first. It starts with one of the greatest intros in history. A long organ centric riff and then it gets into it. Hard driving like “Smokin’”? No. However, it is a great Rock and Roll song. Trust me here.
My next entry is by Queen. It was either “Tie your Mother Down” or “Dragon Attack”. Kind of flip a coin here. Both songs are great. “Dragon Attack” is more a showcase for Brian May than it is for Freddie Mercury which is fine by me. May might be one of the most underrated guitarists in history. “Tie Your Mother Down” is a prototypical Rock and Roll song. So, I have a tie. BTW, this is just my opinion, while the World loves Queen and Freddie Mercury I do not think they are the greatest thing since a toasted bagel. You look at every album they put out and that album might psychedelic a good or very good song but 90% of everything they did was filler material that actually never saw the light of day.
I will throw a little curveball and add a couple of groups that have gotten zero respect over the years, Alice Cooper and Grand Funk Railroad. Yes, Alice Cooper was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2011 but you know how I feel about that institution. In any event, they were always looked down upon and were too theatrical but if you dig through their albums you will see some finely crafted pieces of music. Lyrically, Cooper bought into his image but his band was as good as any band during that period and listen to “Schools Out from beginning to end and you see what I mean. With that album in mind I think “Blue Turk” would be a good candidate for great Rock and Roll song. As for Grand Funk Railroad, they put out three albums worth listening to and the rest was downright horrible but at their peak they were as hard driving a rock and roll band as you will ever hear. Throw a dart at their set list and you will find hard edged Rock and Roll but I would say that “Aimless Lady” would be my choice here. Mark Farner could play guitar for sure and this song just is another kick ass song from a band that shot itself in it’s Rock and Roll foot in the late 70’s and early 80’s.
I can’t do a list like this without putting The Who on here somewhere. My all time favorite band The Who were Rock and Roll with more brains, more guts and more problems. Again, it’s tough but I am going to go with “Who are You”. It basically typifies everything the band has stood for for 40 years. Intelligent track and I think it might have been one of the last songs Keith Moon played on. It’s actually a semi-biographical story of Townsends experience going drinking with a couple of Sex Pistols.