CLASSIC ROCK TRACKS POLL: THE RESULTS

ugh, i had "our house" on my most hated list too
does anyone like that song?!

the stiff Who-like attempt at funk

I dunno, I think they pull if off reasonably well. Moon couldn't have done it (he sort of tried on "The Relay," which wasn't stiff, but wasn't particularly funky, either), and Zak Starkey can't sit in that groove either. It's probably their only post-Moon song that really allowed Kenney Jones to do what he does best (maybe "Another Tricky Day," too).

I didn't participate in this poll – fatigue, sorry! – but will follow closely. And, yeah, I hear "Eminence Front" more than "You Better You Bet" these days.

*dons headphones*
*adjusts chair*
*pulls microphone in close*

well its a beautiful Monday morning here at The Aorta, and its my pleasure to fill in for some dude today. i'll be with you over the next couple hours as we take you through the rest of our bottom twenty...

anywho, i'll shut up now and just ask you to listen....

listen to the wind blow....

http://i.imgur.com/SiNpBpZ.jpg

97. Fleetwood Mac – The Chain
832 points, 13 votes

This song is the ne plus ultra of instrumental and vocal interplay.

A CR station named "The Chain" would be cool.

... fuck ...

re: Eminence Front, nah, yeah, they do pull off what they're doing fine, I was more trying to express that I like the interaction between their baseline approach and the funkier thing they're attempting here, it makes for a cool sound.

Just heard "Our House" for the first time recently and I thought it was pretty but can tooooootally understand why it would be hated as proto-twee hippie self-celebration. Would have been interesting if CSNY had all got laryngitis and had to focus instead on shopping these songs around to passing bubblegum acts - a little faster and a little punchier and this would be a forgettable rain-on-the-windowpane number. It seems like a good song for kids and probably even written with kids in the room - the very-very-very fine house is the kind of thing I'd have enjoyed singing at age 7 or something.

It's also not so loud that it will wake up the other kid that you've just lullabyed, or get in the way of the conversation about Watergate while you're doing the dishes. In a pre-Raffi universe, with a whole lot of boomers starting little families, these were probably a pretty big selling point to this (and a lot of other AM gold), and may also relate to why this stuff has been purged from the macho and individualist Classic Rock universe.

kids who like schlocky songs maybe

• Eminence Front an awesome song to play around with the crossfades, for the beginner. They did a lot of good stuff with Kenny.

• A common re-written lyric to be sung in junior high was "she looked at me with her one brown eye and said...."

• I've got this memory of crossing the Mississippi late at night into St. Louis and hearing The Chain on KDHX. When I played bass in the second band, the drummer and I would just play that final riff over and over, and with no one there to finally go CHHAAAAAIIIIN, we'd just keep going up and up into the air until we turned into butter.

proto-twee hippie self-celebration.

That's otm, and pretty much why I hate it. It feels like, "Remember that counterculture stuff we used to be into? What was THAT about? This is so much nicer! With two cats in the yard, oh shit, did the cats get out again?"

But I also hate everything else CSN and sometimes Y ever did (except for "Ohio").

Ooh Cooper Black, excellent - my favourite font.

Nash wrote "Our House" about Joni Mitchell and she dumped him like a week later. Critics.

So many great things about The Chain, especially that final section with the awesome bass riff, and "RUNNING IN THE SHADOWs!"

It feels like, "Remember that counterculture stuff we used to be into? What was THAT about? This is so much nicer! With two cats in the yard, oh shit, did the cats get out again?"

Huh, yeah, that's pretty hate-able - I read it as much more like hippies coupling up in a shabby old hippie house, walls leaning, "If it's yellow, let it mellow" in the bathroom, etc. The fact that they are yard cats seems key here, also note that all their amenities are nature-driven: flowers, sun through windows. Still totally self-satisfied and ex-activist, but closer to McCartney or even the bohemian urbanites in "I Do It For Your Love" than sneering ex-hippie "yeah, money rules!" anthems.

(Two cats may also indicate two couples: this may not look like a family to anybody else, but our house is a very fine house.)

Loving the photos.

(Sorry, I have nothing to say about "The Chain" - always enjoy it when it's on, nicely shaded, cool opening, just never connected with me beyond that.)

http://i.imgur.com/M7P2uWl.jpg

96. The Kinks – Lola
833 points, 15 votes

So many great things about The Chain, especially that final section with the awesome bass riff, and "RUNNING IN THE SHADOWs!"

THIS

I heard "Yoda" before I ever heard "Lola," and therefore always consider it sort of a novelty song...despite a deep and abiding love for all things Kinks.

i first heard about 'lola' on 'family ties,' so

I read it as much more like hippies coupling up in a shabby old hippie house, walls leaning, "If it's yellow, let it mellow" in the bathroom, etc.

haha, yeah, I never thought of it like that, but that totally makes sense.

at some point in the last few years "Gypsy" became my go-to FMac radio jam, but for a number of years "The Chain" was my shit, glad it made the cut.

on the cassette of it's hard that i had, the end of eminence front was abruptly cut off

scarred me for lyfe

love the chain but kinda wish the bass/runnin in the shadows part rocked harder

i'm 0/5 so far

heads up, folx: believe it or not, we've got a three-way tie coming up for the ninety-three spot...

http://i.imgur.com/GGJraHM.jpg

93. (tie) Journey – Don’t Stop Believin’
834 points. 14 votes, 1 first place vote

love these crazy thin point margins. This poll is going to be so unpredictable.

xxpost i'm still not sure whether i love or hate "lola," which i guess is just right.

gr80 that pic is amazing and OTM

Yeah there were several more songs in the 800 point range that just missed the cut. For a while I was sure "Don't Stop Believin'" was out of the running entirely, which woulda kept people guessing a bit more.

i still believe

honestly a little stunned by DSB coming in so low.

High five to the one first place voter!

That's me.

I had it at 28.

it's no stone in love

the first track from the top 100 to also appear on our "worst" list.... will it be the last??

Hopefully not! I need "Takin' Care of Business" to make this poll.

it's no stone in love

― mookieproof, Monday, July 28, 2014

it's not even "wheel in the sky"

wonder if either of those will make the cut...

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

SS at the top there stands for "Steve Smith" naturally.

that little turnaround they do on 'niiiiight' at the end of the chorus before it goes back to the intro chords drives me insane.

Heaven is a funky moose.

I do kind of wish I felt the same way now about "Don't Stop Believin'" as I did when I first heard it.

You stopped belevin'!

Believin' too!

Feel like a poll of the same people 10 years ago would have led to far higher placement for Don't Stop Believin

Expecting a few more Detroit shout-outs before poll is through