CLASSIC ROCK TRACKS POLL: THE RESULTS

The ringing acoustic strings behind the funky main riff in "Long Train Runnin'" where it goes "ting dnh dnh ting ting ting" is one of my favorite things in all of classic rock.

for sure

well folks, we've got #69 coming up, and one thing i know about making a sixty-nine... its that you need a couple of faces:

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

69. The Faces – Stay With Me
928 points, 15 votes

lmao gr80

ha!

loool

TOO FUCKING LOW! Top ten for me, a true facemelter, with a classic intro and an even better rave-up at the end.

lol

is there a Spotify playlist going for this yet? I don't know that song by title

http://open.spotify.com/user/1219464571/playlist/7pw9uBSg3Vb49ONnFZEn3O

http://open.spotify.com/user/1219464571/playlist/7pw9uBSg3Vb49ONnFZEn3O

Only thing missing so far is AC/DC.

Consider this Part One to Maggie May's Part Two.

and an even better rave-up at the end.

One of the best rave-up endings ever. The way they ramp up the intensity after the solo bits is insane (and love Kenney getting the final word in).

I've never heard this before

The Faces were truly one of the greatest bar bands. They're always loose, but the music is always so rich--two keyboards (organ and piano), two guitars, and Rod's voice, which sounds like it could be another guitar.

I grew up thinking of Rod as such a lame balladeer, really blew my mind when I started listening to a station that played "Stay With Me" regularly. I think it was in my top ten.

I kind of hate the meanness of "stay with me" but the performance is undeniable. which I guess is kind of the point, so fair play Faces.

this next track is the only one in our top 100 to be officially dedicated to a space station (true story)

http://i.imgur.com/JuxH2vs.jpg

68. Electric Light Orchestra – Don’t Bring Me Down
930 points, 13 votes

wish "Evil Woman" was higher than this but happy about the ELO love

some dude you should do a Jackson Browne deep cuts! Digging the blog btw.

BRRRRROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOCE!!

xpost GROSZ!

DBMD is such a great, alien combination of sounds: that pounding of drums, the high vocals, the synths, and the wall-of-sound delivery of I TELL YOU ONCE MORE! It's so danceable and sing-a-longable that it's easy for me to forget how weird and cool and spacey it sounded when I first heard it.

http://images.comiccollectorlive.com/covers/7d9/7d9e7d50-20d1-415c-81e2-7ed33bbe95e2.jpg

re: (the) faces, here's a lil something from our man tyler

http://doomandgloomfromthetomb.tumblr.com/post/69608307073/country-comforts-there-have-been-rumors-of-a

I would love to be partying with all the people in these pictures.

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

67. Led Zeppelin – Ramble On
937 points, 13 votes

That Faces show tylerw posted is totally brilliant.

And their boxed set (Five Guys Walk Into A Bar... -- best box title ever) is endlessly thrilling. Easily one of the best boxes ever.

Yesssssssssssss

TOO LOW

I can see arguments for a number of Zep songs being their "most classic rock" - Euler and rogermexico pointed up "Hey Hey What Can I Do," and I totally hear that, but somehow this is it for me: adventure, dynamic range, romance, escape, whip-crack drums, and - - - RAMBUHLIN!

Definitely one of the five greatest songs to mention the word "Mordor"

"Ramble On" may be the Zep staple I'm least likely to ever tire of. Awesome kick drum action.

dr casino otm

my fave Zep CR tune

i was one of the two #1's for "sweet home alabama," which is on one hand a way more complicated song than it's generally given credit for being (see also: randy newman) and on the other hand such a tight and punchy, perfectly executed rock and roll number, with the best fucking guitar sound ever put on record. i don't think it's a song about waving the confederate flag so much as it's a song about challenging the outside world's assumptions about who these people are who are waving confederate flags. it's very self-aware, and it's begging to be unpacked and repacked ("in birmingham they love the governor / BOO HOO HOO"). it's a celebration of southern music and a counterpoint to two of neil young's worst songs, one of which unfortunately was at the time turning into one of neil young's most overplayed songs. it's merry fucking clayton on backing vocals, and her story in "20 feet from stardom" about absolutely not wanting to sing a fucking song celebrating alafuckingbama but then deciding to register her own protest by singing the fucking hell out of it is one of my favorite stories about the multitudes upon multitudes contained within these four minutes. it's a song about being in love with american music, an art form that itself is full of 200 years of pain and joy and tension and release and... i don't know, maybe i'm totally wrong about all this. i'm not from the south, and have spent very little time there. i love tahis song though.

and speaking of skynyrd and neil young, i cited this wikifact about "sweet home alabama" in the doctor casino listening thread:

There is a semi-hidden vocal line in the second verse after the "Well, I heard Mr. Young sing about her" line. In the left channel, you can hear the phrase "Southern Man" being sung lightly (at approximately 0:55). This was producer Al Kooper doing a Neil Young impression ... According to Leon Wilkeson, it was Kooper's idea to continue and echo the lines from "Southern Man" after each of Van Zant's lines. "Better...keep your head"..."Don't forget what your / good book says", etc. But Van Zant insisted that Kooper remove it, not wanting to plagiarize or upset Young. Kooper left the one line barely audible in the left channel.

what i have discovered since then is that while by all indications the original version of skynyrd didn't do any such young-mocking in their live shows, the current skynyrd lineup has made it a standard part of the song.

johnny van zant: "well i heard mr. young sing about us"
backup singers: "southern man better..."
johnny: "well i heard old neil put her down"
backups: "...keep your head" (one backup singer pats her head)

at 1:08 here, for example:

youtu.be/1h6KLmLSSb8

xpost Great post, fcc. If I wasn't from the south, I think I might be able to hear the song that way and it would have shot up into my top twenty. It really is a hell of a composition/performance/recording. Some things are just hard to disentangle.

(xp) aargh, i mean at 1:08 here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1h6KLmLSSb8

Some things are just hard to disentangle.

totally agreed and totally understood.

it's a song about challenging the outside world's assumptions about who these people are who are waving confederate flags

Yeah, and as such it is not really any more convincing than "Accidental Racist." (Though it is a much better song, obv. -- I'm not disputing its massive hooks.)

Anyway, hooray for Marshall Tucker placing!

I stand with fcc!

in re complexity/simplicity, if this is "just that endless loop of three chords" then I'm sure it's no big deal for Shakey to tell us all what key it's in.

;-)

I like the font.

http://imgick.al.com/home/bama-media/pgmain/img/alphotos/photo/2013/08/-87095eb60b96bfcf.jpg

plate number otm "ooo ooo ooo"

lol

Just grabbed lunch and they're playing "Life's Been Good" in this place

it sure has, Joe, it sure has

That plate was the last generation of Alabama plate to feature the slogan "Heart of Dixie," which was only phased out in January of THIS year.

The other major association I have with the phrase "sweet home" is the bad teenage comedy anime DNA ^2. That doesn't help either.

it's in D

xxp

Robert Plant might not have taken us all the way to the darkest depths of Mordor, but one thing's for sure.... we're not in Kansas anymore