#81 Master of Puppets

#81 - Master of Puppets
Metalica


Metallica has had many classic songs during their nearly 30 year reign as Heavy Metal Gods, but none more awesome than 1986's Master of Puppets.

MOP from the album also called Master of Puppets is hard hitting and intense. It is the prototype for late 80's speed metal but it still sounds fresh and relevant nearly a quarter century later.

The song starts with some grinding riffs by guitar virtuoso Kirk Hammett. That beginning is iconic, you know exactly what it is when you hear it in a movie (Old School) honestly it pumps me up when I hear it during the Nationwide car racing commercials on ESPN. It almost gets me to watch car racing. Almost.

I love the idea of the puppet master. A wicked Gephetto running things from behind a dark curtain. Though Lead singer James Hetfield says its about the grip drugs can have on you. I like to think its about "Wicked Gephetto."

This song was on the last album original bassist Cliff Burton played on before his tragic death while on tour in Europe. It was raw and brash. In the years since MOP Metallica has become more refined musically and commercially successful. But in the hearts and minds of metal fans MOP was Metallica's greatest achievement.

"Family" Laurie Berkner Band

This song has been stuck in my head all day!!! Thank you Laurie Berkner.

Yo Gabba Gabba Live - Party in Your City - October 2nd

This past weekend we blew Olivia's mind as we took her to the Yo Gabba Gabba live show at Radio City Music Hall.

For her the excitement started when we took the escalator up at the 53rd street train station. But in earnest when we were waiting in line and she saw the poster for the show. She was pointing at it and wouldn't move away. We told her, there was something better to see really soon. We walked into the theatre and she was amazed by the scope of the place, they gave her a pair of DJ Lance Rock glasses, she noticed the logo on a giant screen on the stage, and the noticed the thousands of balloons on the celling. She was in a state of pure bliss. The last time I saw her in that much gleeful awe was when we were on the Its a Small World ride at Disneyland.

Soon the house lights dimmed and the familiar sound of DJ Lance Rock filled the hall, the squeals of preschoolers delight was deafening. He introduced the gang, Muno, Toodee, FooFa, Brobee and Plex. Parents and kids alike were going nuts.

I felt a kinship with the other parents who were singing along to the songs like Eat, The Name Game and Differences. I was clearly not the only one with a YGG cd in his car CD player.

Ani and I got a good workout holding Olivia during the songs when they said "Stand up!" Which was most of them. Olivia got the chance to dance in our arms and on the seat back of the row in front of us.

There were three musical guests and honestly two were kind of disappointing.

Urge Overkill - they were the band for the Super Music Friend show. They were good, but they were so irrelevant for the crowd. At least they didn't play Girl You'll" be a Woman, that would have been creepy. They couldn't get The Roots, who work across the street?

Moby - he was the Dancey Dance guy. And he couldn't care less, and he seemed distracted. I know he's in New York ... But they couldn't get someone else?

Biz Markie - Hew did Biz's Beat of the Day and blew the roof off of the place. He was funny and intense, and as Ani said "he's more than just a friend."

The crowd was good, everyone played nice and I didn't have to throw any elbows to get Olivia a balloon. I'm pretty sure I haven't been to a concert that intense since we saw U2 a few years ago.

#82 Dus Bahane

#82 Dus Bahane
Zayed Khan and Abhishek Bachchan



Several years ago I was flipping through the channels and then I ran across a show called Namaste America which features the best of Bollywood music. And I saw the video for a song called Dus Bahane. It was really cool, kind of looked like an action movie. So, the next week I caught it again and saw that it was from a sound track to a movie called Dus.

I looked up the movie and soon it was on the top of my Netflix queue. As an American you don’t expect much from non-American action movies, but DUS delivers in every way. Now back to the song, sung by the two stars of the movie Zayed Khan and Abhishek Bachchan. It is traditional for Bollywood stars to sing in their movies and Khan and Bachchan really deliver. Much like their characters their styles are very different, Khan is more hi-pitched and poppish while Bachchan is a cool baritone. I don’t think Bachchan is much of a singer (but he is a better actor). The song is sung half in Hindi and half in English, so I really have no idea what the song is about, but the beat is great and I want to dance to it. And dance to it in a room of other people all dancing in sync with me.

I thought of this song when we were watching the new NBC show Outsourced and during the opening sequence there was a Bollywood style song and Olivia started dancing.

#83 In Bloom

#83 In Bloom
Nirvana



I'll say it Smells Like Teen Spirit is kind of overrated. I'm not saying it’s a bad song, but it would have made a better name for an album. Personally I prefer In Bloom also from Nevermind.

In In Bloom Nirvana spreads its musical wings, its not all mumbling, snarling and screaming. You can actually discern a few words in there. Its funny the song was on an album that would make the band huge rock stars and it was a shot at a part of their fan base. They were smart enough to know that their loud aggressive punk music (which would be called Grunge) would attract meatheads and jocks who would be into something because it was popular and they could mosh to it. But as Kurt says "he's the one he likes all our pretty songs, but he don't know what it means."

Though they would hit their peak as musicians in their In Utero album a few years later, In Bloom is Nirvana at their snarky-punk-rockiest.

Awesome

We just got our Yo Gabba Gabba tickets in the mail. Olivia is going to flip out when she realizes that she is in the same room as DJ Lance and the gang.

#84 - painkiller

Years ago when I was a metal neophyte I was introduced by buddy Mike to the Judas Priest song Painkiller.

From their last album (for a while) with original lead singer Rob Halford The song starts out with those pounding drums and then that screaming guitar attack. Painkiller is about a metal messiah sent to earth to set us free by way of Armageddon. Honestly I always thought it was about drug addiction, while others contend it was about some guy Halford was into.

"Faster than a lazer bullet
Louder than an atom bomb"

Those lyrics from the song describe the band to a tee. No one in the New Wave of British Heavy Metal was faster or louder. People always talk about the double guitars but for me Judas Priest is about the voice. Halford's voice is the voice of Heavy Metal. Unrelenting, intense and honest.

As the years have gone by there are other Judas Priest songs I like better but Painkiller was that first taste that has stuck with me all these years later.

Back from a break

I've been a bit negligent with this blog. Here are a few reasons:

• new baby
• broken thumb
• general laziness
• trying to understand the appeal of the music of Hannah Montana and the Jonas Brothers

So I'll be back with new songs starting tomorrow.

The Suzi Shelton Band

With a new little brother having been born the day before, Olivia needed to cool off with some toe-tapping rock-n-roll music. So we headed off to Madison Square Park to check out The Suzi Shelton Band.

The park was filled with pre-schoolers who like olivia were jumping and bopping all around. The band was good and we ended up doing a circle dance with two other kids and their nannies. I think our favorite song was "Honey My Love", Olivia liked it when i swung her around, carefully avoiding other swinging children. Since the concert was very playground accessible, Olivia wanted to swing and slide. So we ran around the playground and Olivia splashed around under the sprinklers all while the music filled the air. A good time was had by all.

Star FIsh

I was looking in Time Out New York's kids section for fun things to do with Olivia and we found a cool free concert at Bryant Park by a band called Starfish.

So we packed up the car and heading into manhattan. 9 month pregant women hate walking up and down subway strairs in 90 plus degree heat. Who knew.

We arrived at the park just before the band from New Jersey was about to start their set. On the nice shady part of the park there were seats set up and a row of mini chairs were set up for pint sized rockers. Sitting in the front row with the kids was a bald guy named Stingray. He was the lead singer and he had tons of energy and enthusiasm as he, Ant Farm, Dr Yes, Moose, and Grateful Dave rocked out with an hours worth of awesome music. My favorite song was the kind of Primus sounding "My name is No!"

The preschoolers were bopping around as were all their adults. They intertwined lots of references to everyone from ACDC to The Clash to Cream. It was our first taste of Kindie rock but not our last.

Check out Starfish for yourself at their website

#85 Golden Years

#85 - Golden Years
David Bowie



A few years ago my iPod was broken and ti took it to this place where they repair them. The guy loaded a bunch of test music to make sure the device was still working and as I took the seven train home that day I was treated with the best of David Bowie and that is where i discovered Golden Years.

It is a really cool song, in sort of a Taking Heads kind of way, especially the backing vocals. Musically its fun and light with a really funky beat. I like the idea of golden years and made a really great slide show with this song as its soundtrack.

#86 – We Will Rock You/We Are the Champions

#86 – We Will Rock You/We Are the Champions
Queen



Its an anthem at sporting event around the world, its been parodied by Gymboree teachers and despite being two separate songs they are always played together, Queen’s classics We Will Rock You and We Are the Champions .

The two songs couldn’t be any more different. From the bombast and anger of We Will Rock You, to the elegancy and regality of We Are The Champions, but they are like Yin and Yang, perfect together. As I write this all I can hear is the sound of We Will Rock You “BOOM BOOM CLAP BOOM BOOM CLAP”. And guess what its in your head right now too.

While We Will Rock You is the war cry, We are the Champions is the “hey guess what, we won, second place is is just the first loser, get off our field as we enjoy the spoils of war,” cry. So its both high class and bratty all at the same time. And when the Mets win the World Series next time, I will be driving all around town blaring this song. It will be very obnoxious, people will be very embarrassed.

Queen had so many great songs , but these two are among the best.

Happy Father's day

Father of Mine
Everclear



I know this song is more about a son of divorce. But this song still hits very close to home for me, and it makes me sad. But it also makes me want to be there for Olivia and her soon to be born sibling. When you think about the song it is pretty good for the band Everclear, classic 1997, not too heavy and a song that doesn't sound dated when you are driving on a hot and sunny summer day.

Here are some other "classic" dad songs in honor of father's day.

Big Poppa -Notorious B.I.G.

Daddy Sand Bass - Johnny Cash

Gone Daddy Gone - Violent Femmes

#87 American Jesus

#87 - American Jesus
Bad Religion




I think when you first get into a band your knowledge really starts from that point going forwrad. You listen to the older stuff but you miss hidden gems. That is what happened to me with American Jesus by Bad Religion.

It was when we saw Bad Religion in New Jersey a few years ago they played American Jesus and I was like what album is this from and I looked back and checked out the song further. It is just as good on the album as it was live. Intense. Thought provoking. Sinister.

The song is a very commercial and could have been another hit for Bad Religion in the vein of 21st Century Digital Boy . But don't take that to mean, not genuine and very punk rock. Honestly it is the anthem of the dystopian future that Bad Religion has been singing about for years.

Is Olivia a lefty guitar player?

Here is Olivia jamming out on her Yo Gabba Gabba guitar left handed. Is she a lefty? Hmmm.

She wouldn't be the first left-handed guitarist here are a few other notables.

Kurt Cobain

JImi Hendrix

Tom Iommi

Paul McCartney

#88 - Man on a Silver Mountain

#88
Man on a Silver Mountain
Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow



I was driving to work this morning and couldn't bare listening to talk radio any more so I started playing one of my metal mixed CDs on random and seven songs in a row by the recently departed Ronnie James Dio. I kind of wanted to put a so-called "New Wave of British Heavy Metal" song and I despite the fact that this song is a few years earlier than the era of NWOBHM (and the fact that Dio was American) its close enough. And hence we have Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow's Man on a Silver Mountain.

It is a great song for strutting and tossing up devil horns. The song is about rock stars being everything to their fans, but they need their fans to make them worshiped. Basically the same relationship that the star and paparazzo have in Lady Gaga's Papparazzi. I think this was Dio's first "big" song before his career took off with Black Sabbath and then as a solo artist.

Top Live Albums

(PLEASE NOTE THIS WAS WRITTEN BEFORE THE SUDDEN DEATH OF RONNIE JAMES DIO)


I was on the train and I'm rocking out to The Guns of Brixton by the
Clash and made me think about live albums. So here are some of my
favorites.

"I heard they suck live" - NOFX

The answer to that statement is no, they don't suck live and of the
albums I'm listing they are the only band I actually saw live. Six or
seven times. But the album has a lot of their classics from their
earlier albums (punk in drublic, longest line, ribbed). They really
enjoy their live show and it shows on the album, there is crowd
interaction. Its fun just like a NOFX show but without all the 13 year
olds.

"Black Sabbath Live at the Hammerstein Odeon" - Black Sabbath

This live album features the Ronnie James Dio led Sabbath and what is
really cool they play most of the songs from the Dio years but play
Ozzy era songs like "Iron Man" which is totally different when Dio
sings it. Honestly there are words you couldn't understand when Ozzy
sings it that are now perfectly clear.

"Live at Shea Stadium" - The Clash

I'll be the first to admit it that I bought this on ITunes because it
was a concert recorded at Shea stadium. But it is so much more than
that. The Clash were so great and tight live, they played some
favorites "London calling" and "Rock the Cassbah". It was 1982 and the
Clash were the only things rocking Shea Stadium that summer.

Other great live albums:
Unplugged in New York - Nirvana
Live at Folsom Prison - Johnny Cash
Under Great White Northern Lights - The White Stripes
Unplugged - Eric Claypton

#89

#89
Immagrant Song
Led Zeppelin

Led Zeppelin has mad a lot of really good music but for my money nothing is better than Immagrant Song. Seriously name one other serious song about vikings. You can't.

When the song begins you can imagine viking long-boats approaching an unsuspecting coastal village on a moon less night. And then from out of no where they attack. Just thinking about the song makes my blood boil.

Then you hear the war cry. Robert Plant may have looked like a efeminant flower child but he was every bit the viking warrior he sang about.

#90

#90
Love Song
The Cure




I'll say it now, this should have been mama and my wedding song.
Unfortunately I heard it for the first time after the wedding. But
nonetheless it is a great song.

I never listened to the cure, growing up. Honestly Robert Smith in a
bunny suit during the "Friday I'm in Love" video was the extent of my
knowledge of the band and their work. But this song really turned me
onto their music (well their old music).

The song is about missing your soul mate, particularly while on tour.
But it make being apart sound so horrible and dreadful "You make me
feel fun again". This is one of those songs that I begin to tear up
when I listen to it. Because I really understand that kind of love.

Musically it is typical Cure fare but, the juxtaposition of anguish
and joy in Smith's voice are what truly make this song remarkable.

#91

#91
CE LA LUNA
Lou Monte

I can’t imagine hearing the song Take Me Out to the Ball Game without it being immediately followed by Lou Monte’s Ce La Luna (Lazy Mary). Honestly it is so ingrained in my mind, when we saw the Mets in Toronto a few years ago and when the TMOTHBG ended it seemed wrong that there was nothing after it.

The song which is in Italian and English (or British as Lou Monte says) is kind of dirty, but its such a great song. The music makes you want to bounce around and clap your hands. And yes the beginning is the same as Dominic the Italian Christmas Donkey, which Monte also recorded.

With baseball returning on Monday I couldn’t think of a better song to think about. Go Mets!

#92

#92

Jolene
Dolly Parton
The White Stripes

Several years ago I downloaded a live performance of the White Stripes from a British TV show (actually it may have been a Japanese TV show) and they played their hits of the time and some B-sides. The only song I remember from that performance was a cover of Dolly Parton's Jolene.

The song which is about an enchantress who the singer thinks is going to steal her man. From the description in the song I'm pretty sure Dolly was talking about Reba Macentire.

What is great about the song is the desperation in the singers words "you could have your choice of men / but I will never love again". Its so rare to see such vulnerabilty in a song. Its refreshing.

As for Jack White it seems he is in hysterics as he pleds to Jolene. "Jolene / Jolene / Please don't take my man / Even though you can". The White Stripes have such a distinctive sound they can really make any song there own. And they have done this with Jolene.

Ummm

Its been crazy. So next week there will be two new songs posted.

#93

#93
Catholic Block
Sonic Youth
Sister



I think most of Sonic Youth’s music is ostentatious and art for the sake of art. Which I find obnoxious, but through all the feedback and mumbling I found a gem. It is listenable which for Sonic Youth and me is a plus.

Musically it is passionate and turbulent. And is the first song on this list with a curse word in it. But I’m not one to censor a song. It’s just a word. The song makes me think of someone who is religious finds a world outside of the church he’s been raised in and is now at odds with everything he has ever known. And yes that interpretation is ostentatious in itself, but it is a really good song.

#94

#94
I Don’t Wanna Hear It
Minor Threat
The Suicide Machines









The best thing about live performances is that you hear bands do cover songs and sometimes you can discover a band you end up liking more than the band you are into at the moment.

That happened when I went to see the punk/ska outfit The Suicide Machines. I loved their first album Destruction by Definition. I was a real neophyte when it came to older Punk Rock music. But I had gone to see the Suicide Machines, perhaps with the Might Mighty Bostones at New York City’s Webster Hall. The Machines were the opening act and for my money, despite the Bostones efforts, they stole the show. They finished the show with a blistering short song called “I don’t wanna hear it”. It was a rawkus, and intense expression of frustration and angst. It was only later on did I learn that this song (which is a hidden track on their album) was originally by US punk pioneers Minor Threat.

Minor Threat, is the American Sex Pistols. They built the sound that American styled punk bands emulated. It makes sense that Brian Baker one of the original members of Minor Threat now plays with Threat disciples Bad Religion.

It’s a simple song. Someone has been lied to too much. Too many empty promises to count. Pushed to hard. For too long. And they had it up to here with it. Just thinking of this song, and its cool bass line and then frenetic guitars, makes me want to jump into a mosh pit. Which admittedly is not my favorite place to be at a punk show.

I think there is a special place in my heart for bands with a short but meaningful shelf life. Minor Threat recorded less than an hours worth of music. Its fast they have a lot of short songs, this one is no more than minute and a half. Its all complied on their complete discography CD. This song is like their career, fast, smart, driven and completely unrelenting.

#95

#95
Plateau/Lake of Fire
Nirvana
The Meat Puppets



I first heard Plateau and Lake of Fire when I saw Nirvana Unplugged on MTV. It came out near the time that Kurt Cobain committed suicide. When MTV was doing these ”unplugged” shows, bands would put away their electric guitars and plays an intimate acoustic set.

When listened to in its entirety, ”Nirvana Unplugged in New York” seems like the most natural fit, they seemed as comfortable in sitting around in a small theatre playing their guitars as they did tearing up arenas and traditional rock venues. I don’t know perhaps even more. During these shows the bands expanded their play lists by doing cover songs and slowed down versions of their hits. Nirvana brought up the Kirkwood brothers who were better known as the Meat Puppets. Well they really were unknown until that point. They played three songs from their album Meat Puppets II, including the unremarkable Oh Me. But surrounding it were these two haunting songs.

Being included on the album gave the Meat Puppets a short-lived surge, but now they are only referenced as a footnote when talking about this concert.

These two songs are such standouts because they are so different lyrically to the rest of Nirvana’s repertoire. Most of Nirvana’s lyrics were very straight forward, but the Puppets words have a lot of layers to peel through. If you listen to the instrumental portions of Lake of Fire you could swear they were about to jump into a mellower Doors tune.

Kurt Cobain killed himself a few months after these recordings, how eerie is it that he is singing a song that asks, “Where do bad folks go when they die.” It gives me chills.

This sounds weird but when I listen to these songs, I imagine the cozy orange glow of a nice campfire. What is also great is that the recordings of these songs were in a live setting and you could hear the warm swell of applause at the end. Which makes it feel just right.

... I probably could list 25 Doors songs ...

1. Five to 1
2. Not to touch the earth
3. Peace Frog
4. Wintertime Love
5. People are strange
6. Riders on the storm
7. Stange days
8. LA Woman
9. Break on Through
10. The End
11. When the Music's Over
12. Touch me
13. Roadhouse Blues
14. Backdoor Man
15. Light My Fire

Ok so maybe 15 songs of the top of my head, but that is a lot of quality music from a band that only released 7 albums. And like all of my lists this is in no particular order.

#96

The Doors
LA Woman
LA Woman (1971)



I was listening to the best of The Doors the other day and realized that I probably have 25 Doors songs that could be put on this list. I think I will only put two or three on, just so I can spread out the net of knowledge further out.

On a blog I read they made reference to the new Doors documentary narrated by Johnny Depp. They said everyone goes through a Doors stage. I know for myself that s true. I discovered the Doors around the time the Oliver Stone movie came out. Me and one of my buddies from scouts got into at the same time, I remember the two of us scouring the record sellers at the Scout Flea market for any Doors records, but alas there were none. I think the first Doors record I owned was the sound track for the movie. Which is a nice beginners course on the Doors. From there I went on to buy most of their albums. All these years later, and I am still rocking’ out to the Doors in the car.

The first morning when we were in Los Angeles, I was driving along the high way going towards the office. And the song LA WOMAN popped into my head. The sunshine, the mountains, and the traffic everything seemed right. It stayed with my as we drove around Hollywood that night. I don’t think you can understand someone’s words until you can really picture where they are setting those words. Seattle was like that for the music of Nirvana, and Los Angeles is like that for The Doors.

Back to LA Woman, the song is a love song to a city. Personified as a lover. The music was made for riving around on the high way, it rambles on like smooth asphalt never getting in the way of Jim Morrison’s words. All the while never giving up any ground to the vocals.

Like most of the Doors music there is a heavy blues influence on the music. I could imagine a song like this being played at a rock club jam-packed with the beautiful people or some small out of the way blues club with the local drunks. On a slight tangent the "MR MOJO RISIN" portion of the song became a rallying cry for the 1999 Mets team that made a run into the playoffs as a wild card.

#97

Vanilla Ice

Ice, Ice Baby

To The Extreme (1990)





Much like my pick from last week, this week’s is pick is very polarizing. I’ll admit it love the song Ice Ice Baby, even though most people hate it and the performer that performs it. From the moment I first heard this song it captured something within me.

Ice Ice Baby is very appropriate, as it popped in my head while I took Olivia out to the park on President’s day and we broke out the sled. And more snow was in the forecast. Perhaps this pick should have been Informer by Snow. Anyways.

Ding Ding Ding Dee Dee Ding Ding. Every time I hear that opening tune, I hope its Ice Ice Baby, but it’s usually Under Pressure by Queen, where the beat was stolen from and is a pretty great song in its own right. I don’t buy that there is an extra ding somewhere in there to make it different. But I digress.

During an era when rap was about being hard and dangerous, this song is about being a Guido in Miami, which in itself was welcoming. “Rolling in my five point oh, with the roof put down so my hair can blow” Ok the worst thing that this song did was give a terrible haircut to Guido’s everywhere. The song was about having a good time, not shooting up some guys wearing a different color hat than you are wearing.

Seriously how can you not love a song that has this lone “cooking MCs like a pound of bacon”.

I remember buying the tape of To The Extreme at Sears while in high school. It somehow lasted though college, where I used to play it in a radio that we had in the newspaper office. The tape was stolen, because some people were not ready for a return of Vanilla Ice. Even today 20 years later when I hear Ice Ice Baby, I smile. And sing along.

“Yo word to your mother!”

#98

Gotta Serve Somebody
Bob Dylan



I'll admit it I don't like a lot of things that other people like. On
of those things is Bob Dylan.

I never found him to be a genius or whatever, he just outlived his
contemporaries. He doesn't really do anything for me. Seriously, this
great songwriter sings in a way that you can't understand his lyrics.
That being said one of his songs is on this list.

I first heard Gotta Serve Somebody on an episode of the Sopranos. Its
true no matter who you are or where you are in the pecking order there
is someone (or something) above you. In terms of the Sopranos, "the
Boss" Tony has to answer to the boss in New York, to his wife and to
his own conscience.

But I digress, the musically the song flows along like a walk in the
park. A real cool bass line. The lyrics are so great, he knows that
even though he is a huge rock star that he has to listen to the record
company executives. Its a good lesson to learn.

Songs that are not on the list but are stuck in my head while I'm making the list - Part 1

Tik Tok - Ke$ha
Tubthumping - Chumbawumba

#99

You Know You're Right
Nirvana
Nirvana (2002)

\

You never know how much you love something until its gone. Done. Finished. Dead and bloated (as Stone Temple Pilots might say). This is how I feel about Nirvana. They may not have created Grunge Rock, they would probably say they were more of a heavy punk band anyway, but they brought it to the masses. More on that in a future posting.

But for a few years in the early 1990s the biggest and most relevant band in the world was Nirvana. And in thew spring of 1994 it all ended. When lead singer Kurt Cobain shot himself in a back room in his Seattle home. I remember being stunned. Though they would release a few more live albums. It was over. There was nothing more to hear.

Until almost 10 years after the angry voice of my generation silenced himself, they released a Best of Album simply called Nirvana. It is a really great mix of pre-mega stardom, and peak. On the album was one new song. You Know You're Right. When I first heard it on the radio I was blown away. I practically wore out my copy of the cd.

Even though it was written and recorded in the 90s it was fresh, innovative and relevant nearly a decade later. That made me happy.

The lyrics much like many of Nirvana's lyrics bring two opposite emotions together. On one hand Kurt is singing about giving up and being ok with it. Then in his guttural yells he exclaims that "things have never been so swell!" The chorus reeks of being fed up, with being a rock star, being a big business and everything else Kurt was going through. I know when I'm frustrated and don't want to argue a point anymore I'll just concede that the other person is right just to end it.

Musically it was way ahead of its time. It probably wouldn't have been a hit when it was originally recorded. But compared to everything else that was flooding the market when this gem was finally released, it was probably one of the best songs released that year.

I'm sure you don't remember this Olivia when we played it on the stereo you were dancing around. You have good taste.

Really Olivia?

I heard something really disturbing from your mama this week. You love the theme song for the show Hannah Montana. Egads! that isn't good music. This list is coming right in time. I guess there are some catchy parts "we'll chill and take real slow/then rock out the show", but you are only 19-months old. There are lots of flashing lights and the song is very upbeat. I can garuntee that The Best of Both Worlds will not appear on this list.

#100

Welcome to the Jungle
Guns N Roses
Appetite for Destruction (1987)



Olivia and I were in the car coming back from Babik and Maimau's (Grandpa and Grandma in Armenian) house and Welcome to the Jungle by Guns N Roses came on. And this is where the idea came from. I could list a hundred or so songs that I think she needs to hear. Both because they are great songs and second because she will get to know me a little it better.

Admittedly the seed for this is the new Rosanne Cash album "The List" which as the story goes, her father Johnny Cash gave her a list of 100 country songs that he felt she needed to know. She recorded several of them for her album. My list is not in any particular order, so song #100 Welcome to the Jungle is no more or less relevant to song #37 whatever that may be. I'll post a new song on Tuesdays, since that is when new albums drop.

So Welcome to the Jungle.

I first heard Welcome to the Jungle in 1988. I was a freshman in high school and the first "metal chick" I ever knew Veronica Varconi (or something like that) was in my music class and she brought in a cassette single of Welcome to the Jungle to play during one of our classes. Our Music teacher, who had played back ground keyboards for Bon Jovi at one point, let us bring in music to play for the class. I had never heard anything like it before. Later that week I went over to the TSS store next to school and bought the cassette single. Which we wore out, until eventually buying Appetite for Destruction on tape.

GNR was at its raw creative peak. It was harder and angrier than anything else that was on the radio. It is the song that basically killed Glam Rock and opened the door for metal and heavier hard rock to become a mainstream style of music.

Musically it is a car with no breaks speeding towards a brick wall, though the chaos is contained as the instruments and vocals blend perfectly together. So basically 23 years later this song really holds up, its not nostalgia it is just a great great song.