1. Ian Hunter, "Once Bitten Twice Shy." After Mott the Hoople, Hunter teamed up with Mick Ronson of the Spiders from Mars. This was the first song from the first solo album ... it starts with Ian saying "Hallo." I guess you never know what will stick in people's minds ... despite four decades of fine work, Hunter is probably best-known in America for "Cleveland Rocks," which was used in the Drew Carey Show. And the Great White version of this song is likely more famous than the original.

2. Patti Smith, "Redondo Beach." Based on most of the songs on this list, you'd be hard pressed to know that punk was coming, and fast. Was here already, truth be told. The only hint comes with this song, about a place ... where ... women ... love other ... women. Horses is one of the best debut albums ever.

3. Bruce Springsteen, "It's My Life." From New Year's Eve, 1975. People who came late to Bruce shows (and by late, I only mean BitUSA) don't know what oldtimers mean when we talk about how Bruce used to tell stories. This was a famous one ... thanks to Storyteller, here it how he introduced "It's My Life": "I used to live in this, uh, this two-family house on this....like, main street in town....and uh....at night my father would always....he'd lock up the front door so that the kids, the kids had to come in through the backdoor, you know, and he'd be sitting....he'd sit all the time in the kitchen....with, uh, he'd turn out all the lights in the house and he'd just sit there....he did that for, for as long as I can remember, you know, until he moved away and....he'd just sit there and drink whatever he was drinking, you'd always see his, see his cigarette butt in the dark and....I used to be terrified to come in through the kitchen at night because the house'd be all black except for the TV....in the front room where....my Mom would sit and (?) my father sitting in the kitchen so....if you came in around, if you came in around 10, it wasn't too bad, or at 11, it wasn't too bad.....now, if you came in around 1 o'clock....after he'd been sitting there for a while....just drinking for a while, it'd be scary....so....I'd come in about....I'd come in late, you know, and I'd, I'd slick my hair back tight as I could so he couldn't tell how long it was or nothing and uh....I'd hope I could sneak by, like sneak through the kitchen before, you know, before he'd catch me ....so I'd sneak in the backdoor and just as I, just about as I got through, he'd call me and tell to come sit down for a minute, that he wanted to talk to me....first we wouldn't be talking about nothing special, just how I was doing....you know....then he'd start screaming at me and I'd start....and I'd start screaming back at him, he'd be telling me all the time what a bad world it was.... and I'd be telling him all the time how it was my life."

4. Bonnie Raitt, "I'm Blowin' Away." I know I'm in the minority, but I think Home Plate is her best album. It mostly lacks the blues that first got our attention, and it has slick production. Tough shit, it's great. The video ain't half-bad, either ... she's joined by Linda Ronstadt.

5. Earth, Wind and Fire, "Shining Star." Their first hit, although they'd been recording for five years.

6. John Lennon, "Stand By Me." You could make a better album by just pulling the covers John did with The Beatles, but this one has quiet merits of its own.

7. Led Zeppelin, "Trampled Under Foot." I don't know what people think of Led Zep at this point ... are they just bundled in with the other metal bands, or is the great variety of their work still appreciated? They did metal, of course, and hippie ballads, and straight blues, and lovely acoustic numbers. My fave Zep songs are inevitably the ones where Jimmy takes a simple riff and beats it endlessly into submission. Like "Trampled Under Foot," to be exact, which is like its album mate 'Kashmir" but doesn't have all that orchestration and extra stuff. In short, one of the all-time monster tracks from one of the all-time monster bands. OTOH , if you don't like the riff, you won't like this song :-).

8. Donna Summer, "Love to Love You Baby." Does it matter if I mention this is the 16 minute, 48 second version? While we're waiting for punk, disco is slipping into the gate. Summer was wonderful, BTW , speaking of artists that I assume are misunderstood.

9. Janis Ian, "At Seventeen." I know how important this song is to its champions, and it was nice to see her comeback so long after "Society's Child." But when she laments for "those whose names were never called when choosing sides for basketball," I can't help but recall Christgau's review: "It was one thing for society's teenager to pity herself because she didn't have the integrity to stick with her black boyfriend. It's another thing for a grown-up to pity her teenaged self because she was always picked last in basketball. I mean, face it, Ms. Ian--you're short. B-"

10. Neil Young and Crazy Horse, "Cortez the Killer." Guess it figures that a rocking Canadian would be the one to best describe my personal relationship to my Spanish heritage.

He came dancing across the water
With his galleons and guns
Looking for the new world
And the palace in the sun.
On the shore lay Montezuma
With his coca leaves and pearls
In his halls he often wandered
With the secrets of the worlds.
And his subjects gathered 'round him
Like the leaves around a tree
In their clothes of many colors
For the angry gods to see.
And the women all were beautiful
And the men stood straight and strong
They offered life in sacrifice
So that others could go on.
Hate was just a legend,
War was never known.
People worked together
And they lifted many stones.
Then they carried them to the flatlands
But they died along the way
And they built up with their bare hands
What we still can't do today.
And I know she's living there
And she loves me to this day
I still can't remember where
Or how I lost my way.
He came dancing across the water
Cortez, Cortez
What a killer.

• Video views (4) |
• Permalink
• | Write Comment

Comments

Bartleby says:

This one of my favourite random ten so far. It gives the full scale of 75. And your story telling of Brucie's anecdote is just lovely.

Posted 6 days ago | Delete

1. Carl Douglas, "Kung Fu Fighting." I don't know how many of you watch the video links, but you don't want to miss this one, which is actually even weirder than the song itself.

2. Al Green, "Take Me to the River." You need to wash in the water after that Carl Douglas video.

3. Phoebe Snow, "Poetry Man." Get ready, because shuffle play has coughed up a trio of brilliant women singers. Snow's career took a backseat to family life for several decades, but she's more than a one-hit wonder.

4. Dolly Parton, "I Will Always Love You." How it was supposed to sound, before Whitney offered up her precursor-to-American-Idol version.

5. Minnie Riperton, "Lovin' You." I'm not sure anything is supposed to sound like this, but it's pretty cool, anyway.

6. James Brown, "The Payback." Stop me if you've heard this one, because I've told it many times. I taught a course on the 1970s back in the day, and we spent some time on the music of the era. I wanted my students to understand the difference between disco and funk, but I don't have the musical vocabulary to explain it. So I brought samples. First I played a disco song ... I forget which one ... as it played, I pounded the lectern with the beat, so the students would see how regular it was. Then we talked about beats-per-minute and dancing and flow, stuff like that. Then I said that funk was not disco, and while I might not be able to put it into words, I could demonstrate. At which point I started this song. I talked over the first part, but when it hit that first break into the immortal guitar riff, I stopped. I let the students listen for a bit ... then I said, "that is funk." The students seemed to think it was funny that a middle-aged white guy knew the song at all. I've never been sure if this is 1973 or 1974, but I'm always looking for an excuse to play it. The video is at the top of the post.

7. Barry White, "You're the First, the Last, My Everything." I didn't get Barry White for a long time ... thought he was kind of a joke, with his smooth-talking intros and string-drenched music. But a weird thing happened when Ally McBeal featured a dorky lawyer whose favorite singer was White. White made the lawyer cool, and in a nice reversal, Ally McBeal made Barry White cool.

8. Blue Öyster Cult, "Dominance and Submission." This was an odd band, college kids playing at metal who cranked out music that was actually good ... they were no Spinal Tap. "Dominance and Submission" was an odd song ... it's not about what you think, or maybe it is. And then radios appear. The video is just a fan's tribute, but you get to hear the song, which is what matters.

9. Randy Newman, "Louisiana 1927." "They're tryin' to wash us away."

10. The Raspberries, "Overnight Sensation (Hit Record)." Sometimes an artist hits it big once and is then forgotten, or remembered only for their hit. Other times, an artist will carry on for a long time, produce many fine works, but one time they'll come up with something so perfect it dwarfs the rest. The Raspberries were a fine band, without whom there would be no power pop. But this was their greatest recording. "Well I know it sounds funny, but I'm not in it for the money. No, I don't need no reputation, and I'm not in it for the show. I just want a hit record, yeah! Wanna hear it on the radio. Want a big hit record, yeah, one that everybody's got to know." With this, they got their wish. Except it peaked at #18. And the band broke up. Rather than link to two fan videos, I'll go with something different ... this video link is for Raspberries lead singer Eric Carmen's solo hit, "All By Myself," as done by the immortal Bridget Jones.

• Video views (4) |
• Permalink
• | Write Comment

Comments

Cody B says:

Nice One!
I've told this one too..My friend did a talk in front of professors to finish up his history BA in '86 on the historical implications of Hip Hop! Everyone thought he would be lambasted by thet hard edged Kingsfield-esque prof and when he strutted into the room with a boom box on his shoulder blasting a loop of Sgt. Peppers Reprsie we didn't think any different. He went on to compare the rise of hip hop to that of Jazz in NOLA or Reggae in Jamaica, and it was pretty damn good. As it turns out the younger profs were skeptical, but the hard edge prof gave him an A. Seems when he was in college he was the first to play rock and roll records at the campus station, and he totally got where my friend was coming from.

Have a good 'un.

Posted 13 days ago | Delete

Bartleby says:

Another excellent random offering. I really like how JB's funk segues into Barry White more disco sound.

Posted 13 days ago | Delete

Mike the Knife says:

A fallow period on the charts, but you've found a few keepers, as usual.

Posted 13 days ago | Delete