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

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?

Let It Ride is a car commercial -- sorry. No thx. They just remind me of the sonic wallpaper of a place I am desperate to leave.

fair enough! i am mercifully unburdened by extramusical associations with a lot of this stuff - the only bto song that anyone really knows in the uk is YASNY

Sit down for George Thorogood?

Keep hearing this in Lil Jon's voice

So I switched from actual CR radio to our Spotify playlist, and while 100% fewer commercials is a bonus I'm bummed I missed out on the chance to win tickets to see Foreigner & Styx in Camden.

"Oowatanite" is the April Wine song I associate the most with CRR from growing up. I never thought they were at all great, though.

Keep hearing this in Lil Jon's voice

irl lol

growing up I thought some of these songs--"Lunatic Fringe" "Burnin' For You" "Twilight Zone"--were by the same band

and that band rules

bummed that the 86 cutoff date keeps me from voting for Thunderstruck

BTO rules, u all suck

Just noticed a nom that was disallowed -- I'm going to make room on my ballot for the write-in, hope y'all will too.

Amie - Pure Prairie League

ILM loves thin lizzy, right?

"boys are back in town" gets better every time i hear it

^^^

Only have ever heard this song on CRR. Will definitely vote for it.

(I mean "Amie," but same goes for Lizzy.)

ILM loves thin lizzy, right?

Trying to finish my ballot today and "The Boys Are Back in Town" will surely be in my top ten, I love Thin Lizzy so much.

Also writing in UFO, "Too Hot to Handle," and I invite anybody who agrees with me to do the same

Re: BTO, I own their greatest hits (''...So Far!''), and have listened to it on several occasions, but I swear all I can come up with in my head are the big two.

Lunatic Fringe is so great. Any fictitious band would be happy to have it linking together their brute rockers with their spacey jams.

And woah, woah, woah. ''Amie'' is essential here! Sliding that into my crowded ballot immediately.

''The Boys are Back in Town'' definite top ten. Never unhappy to hear that on the radio. Love how joyous the guitar is... the 'boys' sound kind of like awful sexist bros, but the music kinda convinces you that everybody involved really loves their antics. This gets really problematic re: the girl wlaps them in the face, but still, what craft. Was even thinking it might be #1 til I remembered some pummeling super-jams that really have to get top billing.

thin lizzy forever

so much swagger

I browsed around the rest of the Spotify list while I ate breakfast and found a few more rerecordings.

Dobie Gray - "Drift Away" -- looks like the original isn't available on Spotify, but it's on youtube --
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NIuyDWzctgY

The John Lennon and Ringo Starr tracks, but the originals aren't available. Ditto "Games Without Frontiers"

Kiss -- "Beth" -- I've never been a Kiss fan so I don't know for sure, but this one sounds a little off somehow.

Orleans - "Still the One" -- scroll down to the one that says "45 Version," track time is 3:55

Ozark Mountain Daredevils -- "Jackie Blue" -- the original is on 20th Century Masters: The Millenium Collection, track time 4:12

Pilot -- "Magic" -- get the version on Anthology, track time 3:07

Stealers Wheel -- "Stuck in the Middle With You" -- the original is on the Reservoir Dogs soundtrack

Basically I looked for all the 70s one-hit wonders fucked by the music industry. I was surprised that Blondie did a bunch of rerecordings.

listening to Jailbreak for the first time rn

growing up i always loved "The Boys Are Back In Town," but i couldn't place Phil's accent, and ended up picturing Arnold Schwarzenegger delivering the verses, which still entertains me to this day.

Just noticed a nom that was disallowed -- I'm going to make room on my ballot for the write-in, hope y'all will too.

*Amie - Pure Prairie League*

Aw, nuts. I would have totally voted for this but I already submitted my ballot. I LOVE this song.

Amie write-in campaign? Count me in.

WC's suggested playlist changes implemented, cheers!

I'd heard "Amie" certainly, but I never knew who'd done it (to be fair, I haven't looked very hard). This is a great song, though!

oh man, didn't notice that wasn't on the list - that's a crucial omission

"Jailbreak" shld have gotten nominated too

It did...I remember ctrl+f'ing the nominations thread for it...but it didn't make it to some dude's final list.

::puts feet up, takes nap::

For a while, maybe longer if i ---LONGER IF I DOOO A HOOOOOO

thanks to this poll i had "green eyed lady" stuck in my head last night & this morning woke up with "caught up in you"