CLASSIC ROCK TRACKS POLL voting thread -- deadline July 15 -- VOTING CLOSED

shhh, mookieproof... I'm gearing up to have a WDVE listening marathon this weekend while I do my ballot and I'm trying to manifest a reality in which I can get through 3 days without having to hear that shit.

I just noticed that Fleetwood Mac - Never Going Back Again is not on the list. I might write that one in.

251 after the second cut

ooh good catch, i may have to as well

I think I love every single by Jefferson Airplane/Jefferson Starship/Starship.

Also, if you don't know "Starship Trooper", pls listen thx.

I hadn't heard Atlanta Rhythm Section's "so into you" before, what a nice southern groove.

can't believe i didn't put Supertramp's "Bloody Well Right" in the list, that's the song of theirs i really love

Alright I have never knowingly heard Asia before this moment. My goodness, this is silly.

one thing led to another; they were young

Listening to some of these songs through a sound system better than the one in a 1978 Pinto is a weird revelation. The bass in "Feelin' Stronger Every Day" really throbs!

Jumping around in some dude's Spotify playlist and hitting re-recordings is depressing as hell.

Yeah, "takin care of business" just doesn't sound as good if it's not a) on a slightly distorted radio or b) on the pa system after a memphis grizzlies home game victpry

Just realized that Spill the Wine is some sort of inspiration for Guided by Voices "Hot Freaks". Pollard must have been guided by Burdon that day:

"I was taken to a place
The hall of the mountain kings
I stood high by the mountain tops
Naked to the world"

"i walked into the house of miraculous recovery
and stood before king everything
and he asked me to join him in the red wing
took me to pie land
said, "i'm a thigh man"
i will be eternally hateful"

i am pleased to say that the Spotify playlist of nominated tracks is DONE and fully stocked with 59 hours of music: http://open.spotify.com/user/1219464571/playlist/54fE6NUiIkUpeR4WENZWWr

Jumping around in some dude's Spotify playlist and hitting re-recordings is depressing as hell.

― it's not rocker science (WilliamC), Thursday, July 3, 2014 10:28 PM (19 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

been trying to avoid those, but obviously spotify is a minefield for that kind of thing. feel free to point out songs that have the wrong version in the playlist and i'll try to fix 'em (maybe also tell me what album to search for to get the right one if you can).

thanks for the list. been listening for the last couple days

Wish I'd thought to nominate "And We Danced" and "All You Zombies" by The Hooters, even though I'd probably be the only person who'd consider voting for either.

i'd consider voting for them in an 80s poll

I hit three rerecordings this morning in the A's and thought the list might have a lot of them throughout, but haven't caught any since. Here are those 3 --

The Animals -- both tracks. Grab the ones on The Animals Retrospective, the 2nd album in their band overview.

Atlanta Rhythm Section - "So Into You" - scroll down to the 20th Century Masters: The Millenium Collection and that's the good one. That one on 70s Classics is pretty good -- almost had me fooled.

I don't want to pick nits too hard though -- that playlist is a great piece of work, thanks for assembling.

nah picking nits is good and helpful in this sitch. thanks!

would have definitely voted for The Hooters

Both Badfingers are rerecordings, but looks like the original versions aren't available at all.

Blondie's "One Way or Another" is rerecorded. Weirdly, the only place I could find the original is on the Mean Girls soundtrack album.

man i can't figure out April Wine at all

though this reminds me that if Saga's "on the loose" had been nominated my cutdown would have been even tougher. poor canada.

George deserves no love since he removed "Delaware" from George Thorogood and the Delaware Destroyers. And even before that he sucked so no worries

otm. also worth destroying and/or withholding your love: anything by southside johnny and the jukes after they deleted the asbury. anything by jason and the scorchers after they ditched the nashville. this is a hard-and-fast rock and roll rule. (also, obviously, the tampa bay rays after they parted ways with the devil.)

Both Badfingers are rerecordings, but looks like the original versions aren't available at all.

yeah, badfinger has been an online music problem from the beginning of online time.

I've never seen these jams in one place at the same time

Free - All Right Now
Head East - Never Been Any Reason
BTO - You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet

man i can't figure out April Wine at all

― resulting post (rogermexico.), Thursday, July 3, 2014 11:07 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I've never even heard of those songs before. Down here, April Wine means "Roller" and "I Like To Rock" (neither nominated BTW).

though this reminds me that if Saga's "on the loose" had been nominated my cutdown would have been even tougher. poor canada.

Yeah, I nominated it along with several other songs that didn't make the cut. I may write in "On The Loose", "Hypnotized", "Whiskey Man", "Amie", and "Love is Like Oxygen", or I may not. I haven't started the ballot process yet.

I've never seen these jams in one place at the same time

Free - All Right Now
Head East - Never Been Any Reason
BTO - You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet

― that's not my post, Thursday, July 3, 2014

i'm not sure what you're suggesting but if you're suggesting they're the same song because DCG then just no. on has moog, one has koss, and one sucks.

rog if you're insinuating that the one that sucks is BTO then you can GT(F)O

Iirc, YASNY is an interesting feat of recording: it started out as a brief ad-libbed song the band played to get levels in the studio, and their engineer recorded it and then made a series of loops of different elements (lyrics, riffs etc.) which were built up into the final song.

On the spotify, "Games Without Frontiers" Peter Gabriel is a remake.

Oh shit, all the Peter Gabriel that finally turned up on US Spotify a few months ago is now gone again.

Still listening to all these tracks on Spotify (thanks Some Dude) and I can't believe I never caught all of the lyrics for Mr. Saturday Night Special. Who knew Skynyrd were pro-gun control?

Two feets they come a creepin'
Like a black cat do
And two bodies are lyin' naked
Creeper think he got nothin' to lose
So he creeps into this house, yeah
And unlocks the door
And while a man reaching for his trousers
Shoots him full of .38 holes

[Chorus]
Its a Saturday night special
Got a barrel that's blue and cold
Ain't no good for nothin'
But put a man six feet in a hole

Big Jim's been drinkin' whiskey
And playing poker on a losin' night
Pretty soon, Big Jim starts a thinkin'
Somebody been cheatin' and lyin'
So Big Jim commences to fightin'
I wouldn't tell you no lie
And Big Jim done grab his pistol
Shot his friend right between the eyes

[Chorus]

Hand guns are made for killin'
Ain't no good for nothin' else
And if you like your whiskey
You might even shoot yourself
So why don't we dump 'em people
To the bottom of the sea
Before some fool come around here
Wanna shoot either you or me

rog if you're insinuating that the one that sucks is BTO then you can GT(F)O

― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Thursday, July 3, 2014

insinuating nothing. BTO is the worst.

[NB i was forced to sing "takin' care of business" in public on multiple occasions in cover band days and so yeah maybe THIS TIME IT'S PERSONAL but seriously fuck that terrible song forever]

possibly more bad and hated than Defend the Indefensible: "Wonderful Tonight"

"Work out!"

^^ i'll have you know i have legitimate PBTOSD and that post could have used a trigger warning

OG Skynyrd was, if not "liberal," at least progressive-leaning. They campaigned pretty heavy for Carter in 1976 and "Saturday Night Special" makes no bones about Ronnie Van Zant's opinion of guns.

First cut is down to 508. That was just stuff I don't like or don't believe fits the format. All I need to do now is add in all my write-ins and cut another 460 or so. Then make an order being fair to balance of time and style, my own favorites, and my interpretation of importance.

I'll post the write-ins ahead of time here. I'm not sure why. Maybe someone else will want to vote for them. Maybe some dude won't want me to skew the results or create extra work by leaving them on my ballot.

He's already said there's at least one song he might write-in on his own ballot, so they're fair game imo.

Yeah, I'm not surprised by LS's politics, but more surprised that pro-gun mid-westerners I grew up with never picked up on this and made a big deal about it. Maybe guns weren't as heavily politicized in the '70s?

xp

anti-gun and pro-environment!

Maybe they dig Ronnie too much to argue :)

You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet is cool, great sound, good hook (though with a cruel backstory: they were making fun of a guy in the band with a stutter), nice bassline IIRC. This was on a tape of summer fun hits that I believe we got from Domino's Pizza and which never left my sister's ready reference of tapes, so I am irrationally attached to the song. (Can't remember what else was on there...Summertime Blues for sure, maybe Summer in the City.)

''Takin' Care of Business'' always sounds a little forced though, band trying too hard to have a working class catchphrase kind of hit. ''Work out!'' is indeed where it all falls apart, a sad contrast to ''You need educatin'!''

I cannot stomach BTO in any way

Let It Ride by BTO is completely awesome tbh

I'm a little tired of thump-thump BTO too. Try "Hey You," which I voted for--closer to power-pop, almost.

I won't clutter this up with embeds, but two great clips I've found:

"Hey You": youtube.com/watch?v=NyMNCqhRNOM&feature=kp
"Can't Get It Out of My Head": youtube.com/watch?v=ZrffDM3hHk8

The second is almost like an actual video...in 1974?