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  • SonicClash 2008 Top Tens: Aboard the Rock ‘n Roll Train

    Over the next week, the team here at SonicClash will be posting lists of their favorites from this year. First up to bat is our rock ‘n roll renaissance man, Mikey Hersh. Take it away, Mikey.

    Keep in mind that this Top 10 list is not about the greatest tunes in terms of musical integrity.  These are the ten songs of 2008 that brought a smile to my face. These ten songs have great melodies, great guitar riffs, or a great dance beat. My list probably isn’t going to match up to all of the critics, but I determined my list on what songs really made an impact on me regardless of whether it’s cool or not to admit.  I have no shame in including songs from the Pussycat Dolls and New Kids On The Block on my list. Remember to understand my warped tastes in music, and don’t take me all that seriously on this list. Music is very subjective, and just because a song has three chords or is formulaic doesn’t mean it isn’t quality.

    1) Rock & Roll Train:AC/DC-  AC/DC not only put out a killer album after making me wait eight years, but they also contributed another song that will be a classic in the same vein as Highway To Hell and Back In Black.  Rock & Roll Train was AC/DC’s first ever song to be nominated for a Grammy, and has been
    kicking ass on the modern rock charts.  The song even peaked at #47 on the dance charts.

    2) Never Walk Away:Journey–  Journey also returned in full fashion going back to the sound that made them famous, even if Steve Perry is no longer in the picture.  Never Walk Away, the first track on the album, is a killer tune that sounds like Be Good To Yourself from the Raised On Radio album.  A song so good, that I got chills upon listening to it for the first time.

    3) Use Me:Hinder–  I thought Hinder would be a here today, gone tomorrow band.  Their first album was okay, and that Lips Of An Angel song was definitely not as great as it was hyped up to be.  Use Me, the first single from Hinder’s sophomore album sounds just like an 80’s hard rock song.  It has a great opening guitar riff, and a fun chorus.

    4) Summertime:New Kids On The Block– This is the first song on my list that I’m sure to get shit for.  I don’t care, this song has a great dance beat, and was the perfect comeback tune for a group who I wanted to die quickly back in 1988.  It’s a song that defined the summer, and a song I wish I would have heard more of at the clubs.  The New Kids surprised many, and especially me with a catchy pop song that works.

    5)  My Apocalypse:Metallica–  I was very impressed with Metallica’s new album, and the fact that they decided to go back to their old sound.  My Apocalypse was not officially released as a single, but was one of the tracks you could download before the album was released.  The song is a full-out kick-ass song, and a song that works well when you are having a bad day and want to take your aggression out.

    6) I Will Be With You (Where The Lost Ones Go):Sarah Brightman & Paul
    Stanley    –  Not a well-known hit, but anytime Paul Stanley from KISS goes outside the box, I’m going to take notice.  On this track, he collaborates with Broadway star Sarah Brightman for a fun little pop song.  It’s always fun to hear Paul try to sing songs that are outside the rock and roll style we are used to from him.

    7) Troublemaker:Weezer–  I truly believe this should have been the first single, although as the second single of the Red Album, it’s been a huge hit on the modern rock charts.  Rivers Cuomo is the king of writing these 3 minute rock songs with that noticeable melody.  The lyrics are fun, and this might just be my new theme song.

    8) When I Grow Up:Pussycat Dolls–  I’m getting to get heat for this one also!  I thought nothing would best Don’t Cha, but I was wrong.  When I Grow Up has a fun dance beat, and the “When I Grow Up, I want to have boobies” line in the song is the lyric of the year.  Ha ha ha ha ha!

    9) Rise Above This:Seether–  It might be formulaic, but still good. Seether knows how to write songs that get ingrained in your head.  My eyes light up whenever I wake up to WDHA in the morning and hear this song as I try to wake up.

    10) Hot N Cold:Katy Perry–  I know I’ll also get shit for this one, but I prefer Katy Perry’s second single.  I Kissed A Girl got old really quick, but Hot N Cold is a fun song that brings back memories of rollerskating back in the 80’s for some reason.

  • FORTY-FIVE REVOLUTIONS PER MINUTE #18: Born Sippy

     

    STEALERS WHEEL “Star” b/w “What More Could You Want” (A&M Records #AM-1483-S, 1973)

    Everybody knows Scottish folk/pop/rock duo Stealers Wheel’s Dylanesque 1973 Top-10 smash, “Stuck In The Middle With You,” a classic oldies-station staple even before that director included it in that movie. (Sense a theme here?  Backtrack to 45 RPM #15.  I assure ya, boys, it’s purely coincidental.)  Fewer people, however, know about “Star,” the Wheel’s follow-up single, much less their brilliant 3-LP output.  I’ll get to that in a moment, but first, a little ancient history.

    Like that famous postage stamp with the upside-down airplane (though worth considerably less money), my copy of  “Star” is misprinted.  The B-side label is pressed onto both sides of the disc, giving the illusion that both sides feature the same track, “What More Could You Want.”  Double-A-side 45s were common in the early ’70’s, usually pressed in limited quantity for in-store or radio play.  If one side became worn out or scratched, you could simply flip the disc and play the clean side without having to pony up the bread for a fresh copy.  Sucker that I was, I bought this fake-double-A-side platter at my neighborhood drug store thinking it was the Stealers’ new single.  For months, I played “What More Could You Want” over and over, thinking, “This song is great!  How come it’s not on the radio?  How come it’s not a smash hit?”  Then one day I accidentally flipped it over, and the opening strums of “Star” emerged from my little stereo.  Oops.

     

    A catchy shuffle of the Lennonesque variety, “Star” is 3 minutes of pure shimmering acoustic-guitar pop loveliness and honey-throated vocal harmonies, punctuated with spikes of harmonica, kazoo, woodblock, and bawdy barrelhouse piano.  It spent 3 weeks on the US singles charts, peaking at #29 in March of ’74.  The duo of Gerry Rafferty and Joe Egan went on to produce one more brilliant (but underrated and underperforming) album for A&M before sadly parting ways in ’75.

     

    And as for that B-side I played to death after mistaking it for an A-side?  Well suffice to say it rocks.  “What More Could You Want” is a ballsy, two-chord stomper, with tricky time-signature changes and stop-start verses, that could fit right between The Sweet and Badfinger on your next Roots Of Brit-Pop mixtape.  Hell, remove the squiggly synths and beef up the guitars a tad and it wouldn’t be out of place on an early KISS album.  And listen up all you overpaid computer geeks at Activision — break that slide rule out of your pocket-protector and put on your horn-rimmed glasses with tape in the middle now!  With lyrics like, “You got a brand new Telecaster / What more could you want,” this track is a must-have for the next edition of Guitar Hero. So get on it, you slack-ass fucks.

    Both Rafferty and Egan pursued solo careers.  Stateside, Rafferty ended up back in the Top 20 in 1978 with “Right Down The Line” and the sax-fueled classic, “Baker Street” from his multi-platinum United Artists LP, City To City.  The 3-LP Stealers Wheel catalog [Stealers Wheel, Ferguslie Park and Right Or Wrong] has been reissued in the UK by Cherry Red Records, and is well worth seeking out.

    NEXT WEEK: It Came (Crawling To The U.S.A.) From Liverpool!

  • What’s The Real Story Mike?

    Yesterday, there were two stories going around about the health of Michael Jackson. On one hand, he was nearly blind in one eye and was suffering from a lung condition that was diminishing his life. And on the flip side, Mike was planning a world tour and was talking with television networks for possible specials.

    What’s the story Mike?

    E!Online posted a story with quotes from biographer Ian Halperin which stated that Jackson is suffering from a possibly fatal genetic condition called alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency.

    The story quoted an In Touch magazine article.

    Jackson’s condition has worsened over the years to the point where “his quality of life is severely diminished,” Halperin tells In Touch magazine, so much so that he’s “barely able to speak” and has lost 95 percent of the vision in his left eye. “He’s had [the deficiency] for years, but it’s gotten worse,” Halperin told the magazine. “He needs a lung transplant but may be too weak to go through with it…[But] it’s the [gastrointestinal] bleeding that is the most problematic part. It could kill him.”

    Then, later in the day, E!Online was back with quotes from MJ representative Dr. Tohme Tohme.

    “Mr. Jackson is in fine health, and finalizing negotiations with a major entertainment company and television network for both a world tour and a series of specials and appearances.”

    MJ is either sick or he’s ready to moonwalk again. What’s the real story?