CLASSIC ROCK TRACKS POLL: THE RESULTS

graphics interchange fail

I personally think this is indeed a big improvement over the last song, and I hope you'll agree...

http://i.imgur.com/dVO6xFQ.jpg

45. The Pretenders – Back On The Chain Gang
1084 points, 16 votes

the verse vocals are so dopey
--David Schramm (Sufjan Grafton)

Everything non-gilmour in this track is meh, but everything gilmour is the best thing he ever did.

As much as I love looking at photos of young David Gilmour* I really really do not care for Pink Floyd. I like Meddle all right, but everything else just makes me feel sad. I think it's a combo of overexposure from the stoners I hung out with in high school/college, watching The Wall while on acid and developing an abiding hatred of everyone and everything involved in that movie, and living underneath a bunch of butthead fratty potheads who would listen to Dark Side of the Moon REALLLLLLLY LOUD for HOURS AND HOURS every night.**

*I mean...

http://www.legendarytones.com/GilmourDSOM.jpg

**Not really every night, I'm sure.

xpost lol yeah I can't imagine this one being fun to cover for anyone but whoever's on lead guitar

the back-and-forth vocals are fun. especially if you get to play crazy Roger Waters. "That'll keep ya going for the show..." "they'll be no more AAAA" i swear it's dope fun.

"Back on the Chain Gang" is one of my very favorite songs of all-time, but I couldn't in good faith rank it higher than #12 because I've probably only heard it twice or three times on CR radio.

Back On The Chain Gang, is there a sadder song in the CR canon once you know the backstory?

"Comfortably Numb" would have been top ten for me if I'd been making my ballot at age 17, and DSOTM in the top albums easy. Today, I didn't vote for any Floyd at all. Teenage angst has worn off well, now I just want easy-going summertime jams or horned-up rock motorcycle pyrotechnics. Or Boston.

I kinda don't get how "Welcome to the Machine" got so heavily canonized. I love it, but it's so fucking weird and unconventional compared to almost everything else on those stations.

palate cleanser, a weird little break before we return you to your previous rocking

back on the chain gang is a good'un imo and yeah, a gutpunch for sure

I spent a good portion of the semester I discovered the Pretenders untangling DESCENDING THE EYES AND DESCENDING LIKE FLIEZ or whatever she sings

Wikipedia: In an interview with Guitar Player in 1992, George Harrison claimed that "Back On The Chain Gang" utilizes a chord that he had "invented" and incorporated into the Beatles song "I Want to Tell You": "That's an E7 with an F on top and I'm really proud of that because I invented that chord… There's only been one other song, to my knowledge, where somebody copped that chord - Chrissie Hynde and the Pretenders on 'Back On The Chain Gang.'"

When does that happen? At the turnaround at the end of the bridge?

best bridge ever

otm

I don't know. I just think it sounds fishy for anybody to say that they invented a guitar chord. xp

yeah but it's George!

Bohemian Rhapsody was the first use of that chord

watching The Wall while on acid

I have never understood why anyone thought this was a good idea

It wasn't my idea. I wanted to go outside and frolic but my dirtbag friends thought being trapped in front of a screen and watching some misogynistic babyman's whiny mama issues writ large and set to annoying music.

...would be a better idea.

Sorry, acid flashback.

lol at George claiming invention of a flat-9 chord

Ugh, a couple of hours ago I typed out a rather long response to voodoo chili's question about what it was like to hear "I Can See For Miles" on the radio in 1967 and I fell asleep without posting it (SICK DAY TODAY). And now I think it's too long to bother with.

HOWEVER. I can tell you what it was like to hear Bohemian Rhapsody for the first time in 1975, and that was WTF IS THIS? I was a HUGE Queen fan at time (still am, and voted for BR although placed it low due to severe burnout on it) and I thought it was hilarious. And brilliant. Over-the-topness wasn't unexpected from Queen because Queen II was already full of it (COME TO OGRE BATTLE!!!) but this was profound. And this was a song that EVERYBODY knew. And Queen was not at all a huge band at the time, I mean, people who were INTO MUSIC knew them, but there was no cable TV at the time and most people didn't read Rolling Stone or Creem and there was no cable TV and Queen was still one of those bands that you had to actively seek out. But EVERYBODY knew this song. I don't think the charts can properly indicate just how huge this song was.

Also, YES! REFUGEE! I love you Tom Petty and I love every thing you do and I voted for this song but it is not one of the two Petty songs that were in my Top Ten and I fear that neither of them will place higher than Refugee. So I'm just gonna cuddle up with Refugee for a while and then cry that my two favorite songs in the whole world (not just Petty songs, my TWO FAVORITE SONGS, PEOPLE) probably aren't going to be on this list.

I can't think of any other song that uses the "Hard Day's Night" opening chord

hey Sandy, I wouldn't give up hope on both of those songs if I were you.

Don't let go, we've got a few more drivetime jams to get you home for the end of today's programming...

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

44. .38 Special – Hold On Loosely
1090 points, 16 votes

for a long time during the voting, "Caught Up In You" was actually ahead of "Hold On Loosely," which totally confused me because in my mind "Hold On Loosely" was always the undisputed .38 Special masterpiece and the other songs were okay but negligible by comparison. they still ended up pretty close and "Caught" technically has more votes.

This is all a common misconception. Let me settle this before the thread gets derailed: George Harrison did not invent that chord, but he did invent slapping and popping, almost simultaneously with John Entwistle. They agreed to share credit jointly for the invention, but Paul McCartney, who heard them practicing, promptly incorporated it into his upcoming solo record. Paul has generally avoided discussing the matter over the years.

aww yeah summer 1981 nothing but "hold on loosely" and singles off of Foreigner 4 (aka all of Foreigner 4)

gr80 with Special Achievement in Rollout Pix on this one

Wow, placement for both of .38 Special soundalike singles. Totally surprised.

xpost:

aw, thanks, here's the source material, as i'd planned on using the top half for another image but it didnt make the cut, and it really deserves to be seen: http://i.imgur.com/xCXmT07.jpg

Also Back on the Chain Gang YES YES YES. God, what a great song. I still have a hard time listening to it without crying, Jimmy was so great.

Speaking of crying, I'm thinking that maybe I need to start a separate Sandy's Stories of CLASSIC ROCK thread so that I can tell about stuff like how Chrissie Hynde is the only rock star who ever made me cry (and not cry in a sentimental way, but cry in a you-hurt-my-feelings-you-mean-person way) without hogging this thread. But then again, I don't know.

structure of the vocal melody on this one is pop genius -- just builds and builds from the opening of the verse all the way to the chorus

I just listened to Comfortably Numb having not listened to it for quite a few years and man I can't at all hear what I once liked in it, or what anyone now likes in it.

multixp: One-Winged Dove! I've never known what those words were 'til now! I always thought it was 'one we love'.

the world could use more Chrissie Hynde stories

Skynyrd + The Cars - the songs (with some major exceptions) = .38 Special

Hyndesight is 20/20

hey Sandy, I wouldn't give up hope on both of those songs if I were you.

― some dude

You give me reason to live again

To my mind, Hold On Loosely has the better solo, Caught Up In You the better vocal.
if these 2 things were combined in one song my mind would explode.

Pretty sure Chrissie is playing that as an A/F too.

multixp: One-Winged Dove! I've never known what those words were 'til now! I always thought it was 'one we love'.

― Ismael Klata, Wednesday, July 30, 2014

lol it's not that either!

lollllll

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kenF3_77774

YOUR BABY NEEDS SOMEONE TO BELIEVE IN

AND A WHOLE LOTTA SPACE TO BREATHE IN

DONT LET HER SLIP AWAY

SENTIMENTAL FOOL

My wife is still mad at me for giving our son the middle name "Gang"...

http://i.imgur.com/jsXylV4.jpg

43. James Gang – Funk #49
1111 points, 20 votes, 1 first place vote