100 Western "rock" songs with (faux-)Arabian/Arabic riffage

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"Rock" used very loosely in quotations.

100. Dead Can Dance - "Threshold"
99. Cabaret Voltaire - "Eastern Mantra"

Ian Riese-Moraine. Exposing ambitious careerists as charlatans since 1986. (East, Saturday, 11 June 2005 14:55 (eighteen years ago) link

98. David Bowie - "The Secret Life of Arabia"

Taste the Blood of Scrovula (noodle vague), Saturday, 11 June 2005 15:00 (eighteen years ago) link

please don't ANYONE cite The Tea Party!

peepee (peepee), Saturday, 11 June 2005 15:03 (eighteen years ago) link

97. Jah Wobble "Everyman's An Island"

peepee (peepee), Saturday, 11 June 2005 15:06 (eighteen years ago) link

I know there are some Cure songs that would fit this, but I can't think of which ones!

Ian Riese-Moraine comes explosive! (Eastern Mantra), Saturday, 11 June 2005 15:11 (eighteen years ago) link

96. Bruce Springsteen--Worlds Apart

kornrulez6969 (TCBeing), Saturday, 11 June 2005 15:15 (eighteen years ago) link

95-1. Kashmir

rogermexico (rogermexico), Saturday, 11 June 2005 15:47 (eighteen years ago) link

There, remembered one!

94. The Cure - "Shake Dog Shake"

Ian Riese-Moraine comes explosive! (Eastern Mantra), Saturday, 11 June 2005 17:38 (eighteen years ago) link

93. The Cure - "Killing An Arab" (duh, obvious! Get one brain, Ian!)

Ian Riese-Moraine comes explosive! (Eastern Mantra), Saturday, 11 June 2005 17:39 (eighteen years ago) link

polvo to thread

mookieproof (mookieproof), Saturday, 11 June 2005 17:49 (eighteen years ago) link

There are a million psych/garage songs with "Eastern"-sounding modal riffage.

Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Saturday, 11 June 2005 18:04 (eighteen years ago) link

92. "Paint it Black"

Jeanne (Tim Ellison), Saturday, 11 June 2005 18:50 (eighteen years ago) link

The brief intro to PJ's "Go" sounds somewhat Arabian to mine ears. But the rest of the song isn't, so I'm loath to assign a number here.

VegemiteGrrl (VegemiteGrrl), Saturday, 11 June 2005 18:56 (eighteen years ago) link

91. Led Zeppelin -- In The Light

Hurting (Hurting), Saturday, 11 June 2005 19:06 (eighteen years ago) link

90. The Doors, "The End"

mookieproof (mookieproof), Saturday, 11 June 2005 20:15 (eighteen years ago) link

89. dick dale - miserlou!!!!!!!
88. echo & the bunnymen - thorn of crowns

jake b. (cerybut), Saturday, 11 June 2005 20:20 (eighteen years ago) link

87. echo & the bunnymen - "the cutter"

PB, Saturday, 11 June 2005 20:22 (eighteen years ago) link

86. Thompson Twins, "Gap"

rogermexico (rogermexico), Saturday, 11 June 2005 20:27 (eighteen years ago) link

There are a million psych/garage songs with "Eastern"-sounding modal riffage.

between "paint it black" and the yardbirds, yeah, i think there are 100 there.

el sabor de gene (yournullfame), Saturday, 11 June 2005 20:47 (eighteen years ago) link

85. Radiohead - "Pyramid Song"
84. Nick Drake - "Cello Song"

*the little Arabian flourish in these songs is very similar*

PB, Saturday, 11 June 2005 20:51 (eighteen years ago) link

83. Offspring - Come Out and Play

john'n'chicago, Saturday, 11 June 2005 21:06 (eighteen years ago) link

82. Living On The Ceiling - Blancmange

Though Steven Luscombe did go on to do loads of kinda authentic eastern-inflected stuff after that, so it's perhaps a touch unfair to label it 'faux' in such a pejorative way ...

darren (darren), Saturday, 11 June 2005 21:23 (eighteen years ago) link

81. PiL, "flowers of romance"

fact checking cuz (fcc), Saturday, 11 June 2005 21:41 (eighteen years ago) link

80. Madness: Night Boat To Cairo
79. About half of this year's Eurovision entries.

Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Saturday, 11 June 2005 21:51 (eighteen years ago) link

78, yardbirds, over under sideways down
77. yardbirds, still i'm sad

xhuxk, Saturday, 11 June 2005 22:23 (eighteen years ago) link

76. Savage Republic - "Next to Nothing" (and surely more songs of theirs, too)

Ian Riese-Moraine: exposing ambitious careerists as charlatans since 1986. (East, Saturday, 11 June 2005 23:47 (eighteen years ago) link

75. SR again - "Viva la Rock 'n' Roll" (Alternative TV cover)
74. Shakira - Ojos Asi
73. Baader-Meinhof - Mogadishu

joseph cotten (joseph cotten), Sunday, 12 June 2005 00:48 (eighteen years ago) link

PWEI "Eat Me Drink Me Love Me Kill Me"

Si.C@rter (SiC@rter), Sunday, 12 June 2005 01:26 (eighteen years ago) link

Uh, 72. obviously

Si.C@rter (SiC@rter), Sunday, 12 June 2005 01:26 (eighteen years ago) link

are you including Egypt?

'Cos the Egyptian Lover uses that same generic-Egyptian motif in so many songs.

71. The Egyptian Lover - Girl

Nic de Teardrop (Nicholas), Sunday, 12 June 2005 02:39 (eighteen years ago) link

Girls

Nic de Teardrop (Nicholas), Sunday, 12 June 2005 02:43 (eighteen years ago) link

70. fatimas, "hoochy coo"

metal assembly (Jody Beth Rosen), Sunday, 12 June 2005 03:40 (eighteen years ago) link

icehouse - "no promises"
paula abdul " my love is real "

iva bowie davies, Sunday, 12 June 2005 03:43 (eighteen years ago) link

icehouse - "no promises"
paula abdul " my love is real "
divinyls "sleeping beauty"

iva bowie davies, Sunday, 12 June 2005 03:43 (eighteen years ago) link

Queen - "Mustapha"

Bryan Moore (Bryan Moore), Sunday, 12 June 2005 04:08 (eighteen years ago) link

mouth to mouth - faith no more

freiden4xl, Sunday, 12 June 2005 04:31 (eighteen years ago) link

64. Nirvana - Love Buzz (I can't remember what the Shocking Blue version sounds like)

Deluxe (Damian), Sunday, 12 June 2005 04:38 (eighteen years ago) link

63. Four Tops, "Reach Out, I'll Be There"

Joseph McCombs (Joseph McCombs), Sunday, 12 June 2005 05:14 (eighteen years ago) link

62. UNKLE vs Slam - psycho tourist.

danny boy, Sunday, 12 June 2005 09:21 (eighteen years ago) link

61. Luscious Jackson "Water your garden"

Sami (Sami), Sunday, 12 June 2005 11:52 (eighteen years ago) link

please don't ANYONE cite The Tea Party!

---peepee

Heh heh...surely you realize that you kinda just did so YOURSELF, right? :)

But whatever - I'll appease you by not citing "Bazaar". And "Fire In The Head" would be redundant with "Kashmir" already mentioned. So, instead...

60.Robert Plant, "Wreckless Love"

Myonga Von Bontee (Myonga Von Bontee), Sunday, 12 June 2005 12:07 (eighteen years ago) link

Paul Revere & the Raiders - 1001 Arabian Nights

Skelter68, Sunday, 12 June 2005 12:35 (eighteen years ago) link

58. "Rock the Casbah" if you count percussion riffs.

Pete Scholtes, Sunday, 12 June 2005 14:00 (eighteen years ago) link

57. (The intro to) The Cult's She Sells Sanctuary

Palomino (Palomino), Sunday, 12 June 2005 14:29 (eighteen years ago) link

A whole buncha lotta Siouxsie and the Banshees...I will get a list together forthwith.

Telephonething, Sunday, 12 June 2005 14:48 (eighteen years ago) link

56. "White Rabbit" Great Society/Jefferson Airplane
55. "Mecca" Gene Pitney

Frank Kogan (Frank Kogan), Sunday, 12 June 2005 22:06 (eighteen years ago) link

54. piano magic - "amongst the books an angel"

etc, Monday, 13 June 2005 05:02 (eighteen years ago) link

prince "seven".
joy divison "love will tear us apart"- chorus
guns and roses "welcome to the jungle - intro riff

iva bowie davies, Monday, 13 June 2005 08:45 (eighteen years ago) link

Robert Plant and Jimmy Page - Most High

jen s., Monday, 13 June 2005 15:38 (eighteen years ago) link

49?. Richard Thompson, "The Uninhabited Man."

(Not hearing it in "Love Will Tear Us Apart," BTW, but Ear of the Beholder and all that. Sounds Western to me.)

The Mad Puffin, Monday, 13 June 2005 16:37 (eighteen years ago) link

Sun City Girls to thread

Zack Richardson (teenagequiet), Monday, 13 June 2005 16:42 (eighteen years ago) link

(no one is distinguishing between Indian and Arabian music in this thread, and there isn't a lot of distinction, so I won't)

48. Alanis Morrisette, "Baba"
47. Sting, "Desert Rose" (yeesh!)
46. Ray Stevens, "Ahab the A-rab"

and at least half of everything 3 Mustaphas 3 ever did.

Vornado, Monday, 13 June 2005 17:00 (eighteen years ago) link

Really? Ouch. I wanted Arabian, people! Particularly guitar -- I'm really fond of the sound in the songs I mentioned.
45. Siouxsie & the Banshees "Into The Light"

Dee Xtrovert (dee dee), Monday, 13 June 2005 21:23 (eighteen years ago) link

44. The Bangles "Walk Like An Egyptian"

kornrulez6969 (TCBeing), Monday, 13 June 2005 21:45 (eighteen years ago) link

ian, how can you start with Eastern Mantra and not mention:

43. Cabaret Voltaire-Yashar

42. Sara Goes Pop-Arab O-habab of Arabia

Dan Selzer (Dan Selzer), Tuesday, 14 June 2005 00:50 (eighteen years ago) link

Yes - "It Can Happen"

Flaneur, Tuesday, 14 June 2005 17:18 (eighteen years ago) link

(41.)

Flaneur, Tuesday, 14 June 2005 17:19 (eighteen years ago) link

40. The Beatles - I Am The Walrus (the "semolina pilchard" section)

joseph cotten (joseph cotten), Tuesday, 14 June 2005 17:35 (eighteen years ago) link

39. TFUL 282 - "Hornet's Heart"

o. nate (onate), Tuesday, 14 June 2005 17:54 (eighteen years ago) link

38. The Cure - "Wailing Wall"
37. The Cure - "If Only Tonight We Could Sleep"
36. The Cure - "The Snakepit"

I don't really hear the arabic riff in "Shake Dog Shake" though.

Seb (Seb), Tuesday, 14 June 2005 20:54 (eighteen years ago) link

> joy divison "love will tear us apart"- chorus
> guns and roses "welcome to the jungle - intro riff

WTF? They're both about as Western-sounding as it gets.

Palomino (Palomino), Tuesday, 14 June 2005 21:05 (eighteen years ago) link

35. Supersystem, "Everybody Sings"

jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 14 June 2005 21:23 (eighteen years ago) link

I don't really hear the arabic riff in "Shake Dog Shake" though.

I think it's a bit more obvious on the Concert version.

34. The Specials: "Ghost Town"

Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Tuesday, 14 June 2005 23:49 (eighteen years ago) link

three years pass...

33. Jeff Buckley - Dream Brother
34. Jeff Buckley - What Will You Say?

ecuador_with_a_c, Wednesday, 20 May 2009 17:30 (fourteen years ago) link

oops
32. etc

ecuador_with_a_c, Wednesday, 20 May 2009 17:36 (fourteen years ago) link

31-Rainbow-Stargazer

Bill Magill, Wednesday, 20 May 2009 17:39 (fourteen years ago) link

30. tool - 4 degrees

borntohula, Wednesday, 20 May 2009 17:50 (fourteen years ago) link

29. Camper Van Beethoven - ZZ Top Goes to Egypt
28. Men's Recovery Project - Egyptian Assassin

bendy, Wednesday, 20 May 2009 18:37 (fourteen years ago) link

27 - Dungen - Mina Damer Och Fasaner (?) But that riff can be Hindi-Indian...

jaydaven, Wednesday, 20 May 2009 21:18 (fourteen years ago) link

26. Space Cossacks - The Space Victory Theme
25. Avengers VI - Heartbeat
24. The Ghouls (Richie Podolar) - Coffin Nails
23. The Atlantics - Bombora
22. The Apemen - Bahareba
21. Huntington Cads - New Dimension
20. The Volcanos - Whirl Pool
19. The Nocturnes - Third Star To The Left
18. Satans Pilgrims - ¿que Honda
17. The Treble Spankers - Araban
16. The Prodigy - Medusa's Path

meisenfek, Thursday, 21 May 2009 02:27 (fourteen years ago) link

15. The Nebulas - T-16
14. Django Twango - The Sheik Of Hips
13. Dave Myers & The Surftones - Moment Of Truth
12. Al Casey - El Aguila
11. The Sentinals - Latiña
10. Frankie Laine - Jezebel
9. The Pharaos - Pintor
8. Roger Abbound - Beirut Chillout

meisenfek, Thursday, 21 May 2009 20:49 (fourteen years ago) link

7. the cramps - "the most exalted potentate of love"

鬼の手 (Edward III), Thursday, 21 May 2009 23:03 (fourteen years ago) link

6. gal costa - "tuareg"

鬼の手 (Edward III), Thursday, 21 May 2009 23:10 (fourteen years ago) link

^ hoping to start debate of tropicalia = western tradition y/n

鬼の手 (Edward III), Thursday, 21 May 2009 23:22 (fourteen years ago) link

lotta this on secret cheifs 3 records

cool app (uh oh I'm having a fantasy), Thursday, 21 May 2009 23:27 (fourteen years ago) link

chiefs, even

cool app (uh oh I'm having a fantasy), Thursday, 21 May 2009 23:28 (fourteen years ago) link

there's one caetano veloso arrangement that was ripped off for a mario 64 world

cool app (uh oh I'm having a fantasy), Thursday, 21 May 2009 23:31 (fourteen years ago) link

Manics- Tsunami (5)
Depeche Mode- Everything Counts (4)

Morley Timmons, Friday, 22 May 2009 05:28 (fourteen years ago) link

3. Mandy Moore - In My Pocket

Josefa, Friday, 22 May 2009 05:50 (fourteen years ago) link

2. Holy Wars - Megadeth

Marty Innerlogic, Friday, 22 May 2009 09:18 (fourteen years ago) link

Not 1. Calling your attention to the album and project Baghdad Heavy Metal (myspace link), which I just came across this week. It posits itself as a wartime crossing of paths, but in reality it seems to be a one-off by some musicians associated with travelling troupe "Bellydance Superstars": Steven Last (keys/prog) of Galactic Caravan, Steve Hunter (guitar) of Lou Reed's band, and percussionist Issam Houshan, along with a rotating cast of guest vocalists (including Sammy Hagar). Overall sound is a lot like Rachid Taha's rock crossover, and the album sounds like its auditioning for incidental music on an HBO miniseries. But I don't have a problem with that. Special commendation for "Blue Sky Goodbye" (featured at the myspace), as vocalist Woroud is very good in a Natacha Atlas overdub emphatic mode.

Derelict, Friday, 22 May 2009 13:15 (fourteen years ago) link

-1. Metallica - Wherever I May Roam
-2. David Bowie - Yassassin
-3. Inertia Creeps - Massive Attack
-4. Dirt - Alice in Chains

Quite a lot of metal sounds a bit Middle Eastern to my ears, maybe because of a propensity for minor keys?

chap, Friday, 22 May 2009 19:00 (fourteen years ago) link

one year passes...

This is not western rock, but it is rock, which means it is sort of western, and it is not Arab.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GSn39O-1v0g

(And once again thanks to the Electric Mole crew for providing good leads.)

_Rudipherous_, Saturday, 30 October 2010 16:06 (thirteen years ago) link

one year passes...

(due to a sudden moment of clarity in my corroded memory, remembering this 90s project)

Turkish Delight - saburie

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72HHlq8lKN0

meisenfek, Sunday, 20 November 2011 06:34 (twelve years ago) link

MBV - Swallow

Chris S, Sunday, 20 November 2011 06:40 (twelve years ago) link

Sun City Girls to thread

― Zack Richardson (teenagequiet)

+1 + Sir Richard Bishop

Moka, Sunday, 20 November 2011 08:11 (twelve years ago) link

seven years pass...

"The Blood" by the Cure https://youtu.be/v9_Xvpxdwcg

moeSC, Monday, 22 April 2019 17:33 (five years ago) link

Not "rock" but just heard it in the radio today so
"The Fakir"- Cal Tjader, arranged and composed by Lalo Schifrin
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8AU_91XRstM

Theory of Every Zing (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 22 April 2019 18:29 (five years ago) link

Blaak Heat a band i discovered through the Svart label shop sale . Whole lp Shifting Mirrors has an arabic theme running through it, not sure about teh 2 lps they cut before they shortened the name

Stevolende, Monday, 22 April 2019 21:06 (five years ago) link


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