Rockingest songs EVAR

[rikibeth]

auspeople wants people to nominate what they think are the five Rockingest Songs Evar.

Here were her nominations, and her definition:

* One of either Unchained or Panama (Van Halen)
* Smells Like Teen Spirit (Nirvana)
* Foreplay/Long Time (Boston)
* Young Lust (Pink Floyd)
* Closer (Nine Inch Nails)


I'll admit my perspective is colored by growing up squarely in the 80s. Somehow, in order to rock, the song must have:

* Good solid driving beat
* Unobtrusive or otherwise contributory keyboards
* Guitars, often playing some sort of solo
* Appropriately tenored vocals, usually shouted


It must also, of course, sound best when cranked.

Here's another person's definition of "rockin'," hwrnmnbsol's:

My definition of a 'rocking song' is somewhat parallel to yours but uses a different metric. For me, a song can be said to 'rock' if you can imagine yourself and several buddies, back when you were in your mid-to-late teens, drinking beer in the back of a pickup truck with a boombox cranked, and this song comes on, and you are spontaneously compelled to throw the goat with both hands and and bang your shaggy head to the beat. As an exclamation point, it would be best if when the song ends, you can realistically imagine this younger-you shouting "That RAWKED!"

auspeople also wanted to hear particularly about goth/ska/New Wave songs that Rawked, because she couldn't think of any.

So, with that, my first nomination is

This Corrosion, by the Sisters of Mercy.

hwrnmnbsol contends that anything touched by Jim Steinman can't RAWK and is irredeemably weenie. I submit that this song proves otherwise.

Ska songs just don't fit for this, sadly. There are many that I love, and plenty that I'll crank if I hear them, but "skank"!="rawk."

And New Wave is pretty much the antithesis of this. If anyone wants to give me a counter-example, I stand ready.

So my other nominees are:

Won't Get Fooled Again, the Who

Black Dog, Led Zeppelin (there are about a thousand Zeppelin songs that work)

Mother, Danzig

and, because we need to have a NEW example:

House of Wolves, My Chemical Romance. Off the new Black Parade album. That link leads to a streaming version of the album, btw, and if you have not listened yet, GO DO IT. Even if you don't think you like My Chemical Romance. It's a brilliant and powerful album and I'm thinking it joins the pantheon with "A Night At The Opera" and "Abbey Road" and "The Wall." Seriously. Go listen.

I could probabably think of plenty of rocking songs, but those came off the top of my head.

Comments

[feste-sylvain.livejournal.com]

Abso-fucking-lutely excellent nominees.

In the interest of avoiding overplay, I nominate the following:

Suffragette City, Ziggy Stardust & the Spiders from Mars

Born to Run, Bruce Springsteen & the E-Street Band [1]

Are You Gonna Be My Girl, Jet

You Shook Me All Nite Long, AC/DC

Take Me Out, Franz Ferdinand [2]

[1] Just try to keep within the speed limit while this song is playing on your car stereo. I dare ya.

[2] One of the few songs EVAR to rock harder when it slows down.

[rikibeth.livejournal.com]

I like your choices! I did, in fact consider three of the five you name, and I bet you know which ones, too. And it's not because I haven't heard the other two! I was just initially going with classics.

How do the girls like their CDs?

[pentane.livejournal.com]

Temple of Love, 1990 remix for goth songs too.

[rikibeth.livejournal.com]

1990? Or the 1992 version with Ofra Haza?

I also mentioned Shriekback's "Nemesis" on auspeople's journal.

Are you going to make any picks?

[pentane.livejournal.com]

I thought the 90 version was the one with Ofra Haza.

Rockingest?

Hm.

Hellion/Electric Eye - Judas Priest
Call Me - Blondie
Crazy Train - Ozzy Osbourne
Final Blindness - My Life with a Thrill Kill Kult
1996 - Marilyn Manson

[auspeople.livejournal.com]

I will have to check out My Chemical Romance... definitely. Next week when I'm at my computer trying to write.

I'm one of those un-American types that doesn't really get into LZ at all. However, K and I listened to Black Dog last night, and while I do find that it rocks, it kinda has speed bumps all over it. I found Rock and Roll more consistently rawkin.

[rikibeth.livejournal.com]

I confess, I thought about "Rock and Roll" for the Zeppelin pick, but went with "Black Dog" as being more likely to make teenage boys throw the goat. My other top-of-the-head choices were "Kashmir" (fantastic tune, verses maybe a little slow and lyrics a bit obscure) and "The Immigrant Song."

Of course, I really LIKE Led Zeppelin. It was fashionable to like them when I was eleven, when I first really heard them, and they've gone in and out of fashion since then, but my affection hasn't dimmed. The box set helped save my sanity, my first Christmas rush at Michaele's. And I managed to break a co-worker's brain when I was listening to Steeleye Span and the song "The Prickly Bush" came on... because that's the traditional ballad that LZ reworked into "Gallows Pole," and the co-worker didn't know about the ballad!

Good times.

[trowa-barton.livejournal.com]

Santana's "Smooth"?

[rikibeth.livejournal.com]

Not by my lights... tempo's too slow, and not enough aggression.

Great song, though.