The Miracle

OK, so the greatest songs by one band list is becoming something less of a novelty, since Rolling Stone has now added Queen’s 10 Greatest Songs. 

Not that I’m arguing against it.  Monster band.  Killer songs, as the list aptly shows.

All the biggies are there:  Killer Queen, The Show Must Go On, Under Pressure, Crazy Little Thing Called Love, Somebody To Love, Fat Bottomed Girls, and of course, Bohemian Rhapsody.

Two things jump out at my about this list:

1) They had too many huge hits to cram into a top 10 list.  Missing in action, for

    example, are Radio Ga Ga, Tie Your Mother Down and everyone’s favourite

    sports arena song, We Will Rock You.  You’d add your own, no doubt.

2) The breadth of these guys was amazing.  Prog, metal, pop, rockabilly,

   Broadway…  Wow.

We still miss you, Freddie.  You were one of our best friends.

Say What?

I can’t decide if this list of 10 Misinterpreted Song Meanings is funny or frightening.

Sting’s ultimate stalker song (Every Breath You Take) is frequently misconstrued as a sweet love song?  Really?  Bohemian Rhapsody is about AIDS even though AIDS didn’t exist yet?  Huh?  Born In The USA is chest-thumpingly patriotic?

What?  Hey, are these people even listening to the words?

Maybe the scariest one, though, is Hotel California.  I mean, I’m not the sharpest pencil in the box, but I got right away that this was about material excess and the emptiness of American culture.  Sheesh!  Half the album was about that.  How did people land on devil worship?  Is this stuff just made up?

Maybe Bryan or Freddie didn’t care how you interpreted the lyrics, since they both seem to have confessed that not much thought was put into them, but I gotta think Sting, Bruce, Don and Glenn are a tad dismayed that they’re thoughtful poetry was received with less than zero thought.

Excuse me while I kiss the sky.

Disappearing Acts

Sometimes ideas for lists must seem good until you try to populate them.  Take Rolling Stone’s 13 Rock Stars Who Disappeared list, for example.

Not all rock stars burn out.  Some fade away.  Some gracefully withdraw.  And when they command our attention for so long, we do want to know what happened.  So cool idea.

Then Rolling Stone tries to add an additional twist by measuring people against the (Syd) “Barret Scale”, using him as the benchmark for rock star dropout reclusive weirdness.

Cool idea, but it weakens the argument for including many names on the list.  The article admits that Fats Domino is “more retired than reclusive.”  After making a big deal of what sounds like the mysterious departure of David Bowie, it then admits “it's hard to be a true recluse while you're posing for red carpet photos with your supermodel spouse.”  OK then.

Billy Joel, Grace Slick, The Everly Brothers  -  these people are retired.  John Deacon knew that Queen died with Freddie, so he is smart.  John Frusciante definitely registers on the “Barrett Scale,” but not many of the other names do.  If they really wanted to use this “Barrett Scale,” why didn’t they include Peter Green?  He’s been lurking in the shadows so long the scale could be named after him!

But Joni Mitchell?  She’s always done her own thing.   Sly Stone?  Maybe he sensed he had overstayed his welcome, or used up more than his fair share of public consciousness.

An interesting variation on the list might have been rock stars that walked away while on top:  Little Richard, Conway Twitty, Dave Clark, Linda Ronstadt.  Barrett, Green and Frusciante definitely belong on that list.

Postscript: since the list came out, Bowie actually released a new single and announced a new album.  Not terribly reclusive, then, is it?

Rattle and Hum

I was watching the U2 movie a while back and it occurred to me that U2 was the last great rock band.

Don’t get me wrong; there have been a ton of wonderful bands over the last 20 years or so, but U2 was the last one that was larger than life.  You know, Rolling-Stones-Led-Zeppelin-Queen larger than life.  Can-do-no-wrong larger than life.  Know-they’re-as-big-as-Elvis larger than life.  You-should-listen-up larger than life.

Terrific movie.  If you haven’t seen it, do so.  Kinda interesting insights into the band (and ourselves), and constant reminders that these guys are good.  The musicianship, the energy, the passion  …  awesome.  And, although they have had some great moments over the last 25 years, the film catches U2 at their peak, playing songs from their best period. 

U2 carried on the tradition of rock super-hugeness.  And by the time the movie was made, they were also filling a void.  Zep was done.  Freddie, well not dead yet, but …  The Stones were iffy.  U2 were the last ones standing.

Lotta great bands and fabulous music out there, but no one since has managed to achieve the larger-than-life stature.  It’s a good thing we’ve had the boys from Dublin to carry the torch.

But it’s been a while.  Who’s gonna step up?

Twisted, Sister

How do people even come up with this stuff?  Rolling Stone did a reader’s poll on 10 Artists Who Should Return As Holograms.

The poll was taken after Snoop Dogg had a hologram of Tupac Shakur during a concert, or something.  So, the morbid question is “Hey kids!  What dead people do you want to see on stage?  Cool!  Fun!  Woot!” 

And the list is: Jimi Hendrix, Kurt Cobain, John Lennon, Freddie Mercury, Jim Morrison, Jerry Garcia, Janis Joplin, Michael Jackson, Bob Marley, Notorious B.I.G..

Hey kids!  Anybody not guess who would be on the list?  OK, I guessed Keith Moon instead of Notorious.  Drummers never did get enough respect.

More than a little sick, and absolutely pointless.

Oh, and apparently there is some ongoing tour out there featuring an Elvis hologram.  Talk about the heebie-jeebies!

I liked it better when they just sold those Elvis-on-black-velvet paintings at corner gas stations.  When it comes to cheese, I’ll take low tech.

Dazed and Confused

Back on the lists. This one is The Rolling Stone Best Lead Singers Of All Time list - and it's wrong.

I mean, it's good and has most of the names I expected to find, but it's not right.

BTW, there was a previous list published by RS. That one was created by "experts." This one is a reader's poll thing.

Here's the list:
1. Robert Plant. Look. Zeppelin was great. He was fantastic. But best ever?
2. Freddie Mercury. Stronger case. Amazing singer. So powerful on stage.
3. Bono. Ditto, but not quite top 5 in my book.
4. Mick Jagger. The older I get (he gets?) the more I respect him. Definitely Top 10.
5. Jim Morrison. Aw, I dunno. Decent voice, powerful persona. Just wasn't really ever a fan.
6. Roger Daltrey. I'm an on-again-off-again Who fan. Sorry, but one scream does not a singer make.
7. Eddie Vedder. Well, the last two decades have been a bit of a wasteland, so sure.
8. John Lennon. Number 1. Hands down. Versatile, energetic, passionate, haunting, perfect.
9. Chris Cornell. Not a big Soundgarden fan so can't really comment.
10. Kurt Cobain. See Eddie Vedder. Personally, I would have Liam Gallagher as a "recent" pick.

Where in hell is Paul McCartney? Where's Elvis? Aretha? Sam Cooke?

Methinks this list is child of the corporate Classic Rock playlist.

10 Greatest Dead Rock Stars

I gotta stop reading Rolling Stone.  This Top 10 Greatest Dead Rock Stars list is kinda morbid.

It's also utterly predictable.  Like, you would have come up with the same list - and the same sequence.  It would have been, dare I say it, dead easy.

Sorry.

Here's the list:
 1. John Lennon
 2. Jimi Hendrix
 3. Kurt Cobain
 4. Jim Morrison
 5. Elvis
 6. Freddie Mercury
 7. Janis Joplin
 8. George Harrsion
 9. John Bonham
10. Keith Moon

It would be interesting to see who numbers 11, 12 and 13 were.  25 years ago Buddy Holly would have made the list, as would Duanne Allman (not sure who else).  It's not surprising that Kurt Cobain, Freddie and George pushed them off the list.  But it does beg the question:  who on this list could be pushed off?  At this point, some of them are almost more famous for being dead than for being rock stars.

Better stop.  This is definitely morbid.