In Which Doctor Casino Listens to Classic Rock Classics for the First Time

xpost Yeah, I'm cracking that one out again. I think I underrated it a bit above.

damn those classic songs with titles that don't stick. there oughta be a law.

but i love you, ilm, for turning an outfield video into a conversation about chooglin'.

sticking to the '80s, but this time with a song where if you don't know the title, i'm 99 percent sure you don't know the song. also, a rare appearance by prince in the classic rock canon (non-chooglin' division).

SONG #21: STEVIE NICKS "STAND BACK"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bwdDVZsz2es

YES

EPIC

more music should sound like this

instant dancefloor every time

I hadn't checked out this song until recently and when I did, it seemed very very familiar to me, but I couldn't quite figure out why.

So did some searching and found that it was sampled in the track "Welcome 2 Thee Lite" by Thee Jamie Starr Scenario, which appeared in a Radio Soulwax mix.

this song rules

Stand Back: Shit, we're off to a good start here. I'm a sucker for this kind of propulsive synth bassline, gauzy pad and wham-wham drum thing. Vocals are cool too, I like how they're just kinda trucking along as part of the larger picture. It makes the 'exceptions' like the drum fill before the chorus (edit: or the the little forlorn guitar interjections later on) really pop. This is like the keyboard version of "Edge of Seventeen" in terms of relentlessness but I can't help when I grew up: this kind of synth sound really suggests Big Life Decisions, Moments of Crisis, all that.

Yeah, this keeps getting cooler. Head bobbin' along, the la la las and the dancier guitar (sorta watered down Chic) riding against each other. Bassline subtly getting more urgent. Ooh totally love the play between the backing vocals well leavin' me standin' here and the lead STAND BACK! This is totally great. Not very CR but that's okay.

Second listen, now with the (shorter) video version. Still great. Man. Stevie Nicks looks so different (my one mental picture is really the back cover of Rumours). There's kind of a misfit there that sums up something that works great about this song - the inherent scratch or rasp to Nicks's voice brings in this touch of humanity and basically of the 70s to this otherwise unearthly soundscape. Goes along with some of my comments above about Outfield vs. Eddie Money. Not that I think synth music has to have a - - - okay, aside, around 2:00, the dissolve there makes it look like Stevie Nicks is morphing into a hideous monkey monster - - - not that I think synthy music needs to be redeemed by some conventional notion of the human. I love stuff that really pushes it out there. But in some cases the contrast is really interesting and makes something special. Is it okay if I'm getting a huge crush on 80s Stevie Nicks watching this? Her little bop at "Wa-ha!" (2:58) is amaaazing, <3. Feel like there's a bit of Kate Bush (with less weirdness and art) in the whole presentation here (the last weird swoon, the spinning around with the drapey garment) but I could be way off.

Has anyone ever attempted to break this song down as the pre-answer to "Don't Come Around Here No More"?

or, basically, Veg, rogermexico, and sparkle motion OTM

I love this bit from Wikipedia: Nicks has often told the story of how she wrote the song. She wrote it shortly after she was married to Kim Anderson. The newlyweds were driving up to San Ysidro Ranch in Santa Barbara when Prince's song "Little Red Corvette" came on the radio. Nicks started humming along to the melody, especially inspired by the lush synthesizers of the song, and "Stand Back" was born. They stopped and got a tape recorder and she recorded the demo in the honeymoon suite that night. Later, when Nicks went into the studio to record the song, she called Prince and told him the story of how she wrote the song to his melody. He came to the studio that night and played synthesizers on it, although his contribution is uncredited on the album. Then, she says, "he just got up and left as if the whole thing happened in a dream."

By the way I do a fantastic karaoke version.

Just ONCE I'd like a Prince story to end with "he awkwardly tripped on the door jamb on the way out."

etails: Really? What about you and Prince?

Stevie Nicks: Let me state this here and now: We did not have a sexual relationship--I did not let that happen.

Details: How did you meet?

Stevie Nicks: When we were recording "Stand Back" I decided to be really blatant and call Prince up and tell him that I had been inspired to write the song while listening to "Little Red Corvette." I told him that I figured my song was half his. He came over to the studio where I was recording and listened to it--as I turned extremely white and started to shake. Then he walked over to the piano and put on a really incredible keyboard track. And not only did Prince make it up right on the spot, he played it with only two fingers. Then he left.

Details: Did you see him again?

Stevie Nicks: Yes, when I was on the road a year or so later. I was sick, and Prince brought some cough syrup up to my hotel room. He was sweet--he walked around the room folding things, fluffing pillows, tidying up in general. Then he gave me a spoon of it himself. But when I asked for another spoonful he changed--he said, "I didn't come all the way up here just to get you hooked on another substance!" Then he left.

Details: Do you still see him?

Stevie Nicks: No. I was at the premiere of Purple Rain, and in the scene where he slaps Apollonia I freaked and had to go sit in the bathroom. Afterward I went back to see him, and when he asked why I'd left, I had to tell him, "When you popped Apollonia, it kinda popped my brain." He looked at me like it just killed him. We've never spoken since. (sighs) It’s a shame, really...we were alike in so many ways.

Details: Such as?

Stevie Nicks: Well, for one thing, we both liked wearing black chiffon around the house.

Tracking back over the thread, I just wanted to say that listening to "Renegade" while watching the muted video for "Hocus Pocus" worked out surprisingly well, especially when dude's face would line up with Styx's shrieking. This doesn't work quite as well for the "Rosalita" audio but when it does it's...something.

xpost omg

Continuing my experiment of picking random adjacent videos for songs that didn't have videos in-thread: "Your Love" over "Peace Frog" reeeeeeally points out how weird and empty Outfield's world is... there is just no matching up these two versions of rock at all. However, clean-cut Outfield guy happily declaiming about blood being up to his ankles is kinda cool. It seems to work best with Outfield starting at 0:20 so you skip over the "arrival" of the band.

that is possibly the greatest interview sequence i've ever read!

But when I asked for another spoonful he changed--he said, "I didn't come all the way up here just to get you hooked on another substance!" Then he left

said in a Margaret Hamilton witch voice, followed by disappearance in a puff of purple, lilac-scented smoke.

Oh wow, the fuller story of Stevie and Prince is better than I'd hoped for.

somebody should option the stevie and prince story and turn it into a screenplay.

This is totally great. Not very CR but that's okay.

i think that's the main reason i left it off my cr ballot in favor of "edge of seventeen," but it's one of the omissions that has been haunting me. (the george harrison thread revive, meanwhile, made me question my decision to overlook "what is life." ilm, you are filling me with small regrets this week.)

we need a different poll for like the period from Van Halen through Soundgarden

the one I secretly regret leaving off is "missing you" but hey, not CR

agree

ha! agree we need a Golden Age of AOR poll or agree "missing you" is not CR but is K-CLASSIC?

both

We need more genre polls, I'd totally be willing to run a power pop one

I've never heard these Pretenders and Stevie Nicks songs on CR radio and don't think I know them. "Brass in Pocket", "Room on Fire", "Edge of Seventeen", yes.

Where is the poll that lets me rep for I Can Dream About You?

i'm fascinated by the discussion on all of these threads of what does and does not constitute classic rock. so, speaking of stevie nicks ... does this?

SONG #22: TOM PETTY & THE HEARTBREAKERS "YOU GOT LUCKY"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtLpZWNyM0I

i love that video

note to dr. c: the song itself does not start until the kick drum intro at 1:12 in the official video; all the soundtracky stuff before that is video-only. but it's a classic tp video.

also, if i can trust my ctrl-f skills, this song was not discussed at all in either the nominating or voting threads.

NB: Tom Petty is not fond of this song. Sez it's one of the few times he wrote a quickie single.

He's wrong.

In my failed attempt at a CR ballot this was my top petty track and in my top 10 overall

Which is to say. Petty on petty not otm

I think this was the only Petty track on my ballot. Very surprised to find he's dismissive of it.

He spends a lot of time in that (excellent) Paul Zollo Conversations With... book dismissing it. He's not high on Long After Dark generally. He's not crazy about "Change of Heart" either.

First synth on a Heartbreakers record too.

To answer the original question, Tom Petty feels unquestionably CR to me. Don't think there's a CR station in the country that doesn't have at least 5 Petty songs in rotation.

I mean, one of his top songs is about sex AND America, he has a "no-nonsense" persona, seems like a "traditional" guy even if he uses synths and sometimes sounds a little Byrds-y.

And if I'm being less charitable toward CR, there's the contempt for women in songs like "You Got Lucky" and "Breakdown"

I never thought Petty's CR bonafides were in question

As I finalized my cr ballot, I was kinda surprised to see that my go-to heartland rock bro was CougCamp (the only artist to land tracks on both my best and worst tracks lists). Most of the nommed Petty and Segar cuts are kinda played out for me at the moment. And The Boss is up there in Beatles 'outside of it all' land.

I love Tom Petty so much, I had a hard time cutting any of his songs and I was tempted to write some more in but I couldn't break my rule of three songs max for any artist. Two of his songs were in my top ten and one was number one.
"Change of Heart" is so great, just hook after hook, Tom, you silly man.

contempt? I hear a lot of self-doubt in lines like this:
Girl, if you can do better than me/Go, yea go, but remember Good love is hard to find

I nixed everything by Petty, Mellencamp, Seger, and Steve Miller in my first cut. Not sure if I know this one though tbh. Will listen some time after this Moss Icon record.

i was most definitely not questioning petty's classic rock bonafides in my original question. i was wondering, though, about the classic rock community's feelings toward this particular synth-pop track from 1982.

Petty is an amazing lyricist. Seemingly tossed-off lines that stick in your mind forever. He's up there with Chuck Berry and Iggy Pop in that regard.

My first impression is that this is some bullshit even by Tom Petty standards, which probably means that I agree with his self-evaluation here.