These two blogs are inspired by an Elton John setlist that was on Instagram. I saw the setlist and loved it. I think Elton John's final tour will be a worthy send off to one of the legends of music. Part 1 of this blog I included videos mainly from his 2018 farewell tour. On this part of the blog I'm going to post videos from many years ago.
13) "Funeral For a Friend/ Love Lies Bleeding":
14) "Burn Down the Mission":
15) "Believe":
16) "Daniel":
17) "Sad Songs (Say So Much)":
This is his duet with George Michael. 18) "Don't Let The Sun Go Down on Me":
These two blogs are inspired by an Elton John setlist that was on Instagram. I saw the setlist and loved it. I think Elton John's final tour will be a worthy send off to one of the legends of music. As much as I can I'm going to use clips from his "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" farewell tour.
From Variety magazine the first paragraph about Elton John's first concert on this tour in Philadelphia on September 11th of this year:
Everything has turned to Elton John lately. There are those Snickers rap battle commercials, his appearance on Nile Rodgers’ new Chic album, and the daily news of an autobiographical film for 2019. An icon of multi-platinum pop, Broadway song, LGBTQ rights and more, when a showman like John announces a goodbye tour after more than five decades in the biz — a three-year, 300-plus show “Farewell Yellow Brick Road” trek that truly kicked off Tuesday night (Sept. 11) in Philadelphia — people pay attention.
1) "Bennie and the Jets":
2) "All the Girls Love Alice":
3) "I Guess That's Why They Call It the Blues":
4) "Border Song":
5) "Tiny Dancer":
6) "Philadelphia Freedom":
7) "Indian Sunset":
8) "Rocket Man (I Think It's Going To Be a Long, Long Time)":
9) "Take Me to the Pilot":
10) "Someone Saved My Life Tonight":
11) "Levon" (featuring a snippet of "Day Tripper"):
First I was going to write a blog about the # 1 album from 10 years, but I found out it was a T.I. CD so I decided to not do that. Then I looked at CDs from 20 years ago and that was a Jay-Z CD, I had no interest in that either. Then I looked at top songs from 10 years ago, the #1 song was Flo Rida's (featuring T Pain) "Low". Other than having two lame rappers on it, I couldn't tell you anything about that song. And I didn't want to do the best songs of Halloween, there will be enough people focusing on "Monster Mash" and Oingo Boingo songs. I had no interest in pursuing a Halloween theme. I decided to focus on some of my favorite songs of 1998. The number indicates the ranking of the song at the end of the year.
44) Buckcherry "Sorry":
55) Linkin Park "Shadow Of The Day":
58) Secondhand Serenade "Fall For You":
69 "David Cook "The Time of My Life":
74) Kanye West "Love Lockdown":
78) Fergie "Big Girls Don't Cry":
81) Taylor Swift "Love Story":
87) Gavin DeGraw "In Love With A Girl":
94) Gavin Rossdale "Love Remains The Same":
95) Daughtry "Feels Like Tonight":
97) Saving Abel "Addicted":
98) Santana featuring Chad Kroeger "Into The Night":
At the start of 1994 ZZ Top released "Antenna"- the CD most known for, if anything, "Pincushion" and "Breakaway". At the end of that same year ZZ Top released "One Foot In The Blues", which is a collection of their most Bluesy songs. I don't know how much that Blues CD had to do with their next CD, 1996's "Rhythmeen", but that CD was much more Bluesy. 1990's "Recycler" is also a solid CD that I listened to this morning. After "Rhythmeen" their next CD was 1999's "XXX" a CD that arrived with poor reviews. I have no opinion as I haven't got around to listening to it as of yet.
As Planet Rock states in regards to this CD it "ought to have arrived with a sticker warning buyers that, after listening it, a good shower, would be required." Later Planet Rock refers to the sound as "swampy", "unclean and at times oppressive". I agree with the previous statement and also that Planet Rock that this CD is "An underrated gem."
When you take your shower, you can listen again to the "underrated gem".
1) Rhythmeen":
2) "Bang Bang":
3) "Black Fly":
4) "What's Up With That":
5) "Vincent Price Blues":
6) "Zipper Job":
7) "Hairdresser":
8) "She's Just Killing Me":
9) "My Mind Is Gone":
10) "Loaded":
11) "Prettyhead":
This is some dirty Blues for ya. 12) "Hummbucking, Pt. 2":
According to issue 6 of Planet Rock, these are the 10 Led Zeppelin songs we should hear more. Then I added a few of their songs that I think should be heard more.
"Good Times, Bad Times":
"We're Gonna Groove":
"Bring It On Home":
"Friends":
"Four Sticks":
From Page and Plant Unplugged "The Rain Song":
"Custard Pie":
"In The Light":
"For Your Life":
"Wearing and Tearing":
And a few more Led Zeppelin songs that I think should be played more:
"Dancing Days":
One of my all-time favorite Led Zeppelin songs "When The Levee Breaks":
I may be in a bit of a Led Zeppelin mood of late. This is the 50th anniversary of the greatest band of all-time. I've been reading about them lately and loving their music as much as I always have. I thought it would be interesting to hear some covers of Led Zeppelin songs- which vary from the sublime to what the hell? Although it's rapidly approaching the end of the year I still hope to have a series of blogs that feature Led Zeppelin's 50 best songs. The covers are suggested from lists of Paste, Yardbarker.com and my own iTunes.
Stone Temple Pilots "Dancing Days":
Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross and Karen O "Immigrant Song":
This version is amazing. Bond "Kashmir":
4 Non Blondes "Misty Mountain Hop":
The Mighty Zep "Misty Mountain Hop":
Heart "Black Dog":
Corinne Bailey Rae "Since I've Been Loving You":
The Mighty Zep "Since I've Been Loving You":
Heart "Battle of Evermore":
Page and Plant covering their own song, so incestuous "Battle of Evermore":
Santana feat. Chris Cornell "Whole Lotta Love":
I like that she puts her own spin on this song, I'm just not a big fan of this version. Tori Amos "Whole Lotta Love/ Thank You":
The Mighty Zep "Whole Lotta Love":
Laura Veirs "The Ocean":
I didn't know what to think of this cover, but I didn't expect it to be such a faithful cover. Iron Maiden "Communication Breakdown":
The "Use Your Illusion" CD was the third CD that Guns N' Roses released. Obviously the first CD was "Appetite For Destruction", which was followed three years by "G N' R Lies". Other than for the amazing "Patience" and the solid "Used To Love Her" that CD really didn't need to be released.
Sometimes I imagine a world where Axl was a bit more sane and the original band would have released more music. Sure not all the songs would have been great, but they probably would have had a few more classic songs in them. It's sad for all that great music we may have missed out on due to the band's dysfunction. But that being said, G N' R has still given us several amazing songs.
The "Use Your Illusions" are 2.5 hours of what was mostly new music. "Use Your Illusion 1" has 16 songs and is 75:56. "Use Your Illusion 2" has 14 songs and is four seconds shorter at 75:52.
The long time live staple finally gets a true studio version, I still prefer the live version. 4) "Knocking On Heaven's Door":
This isn't really a song, it's basically Axl Rose complaining. The language is both vulgar and pointless so I won't be posting this song. One of the worst songs from G N' R. 5) "Get In The Ring"
There are several bands that this would be their best song. 6) "Shotgun Blues":
Previously I've written about Classic Rock Magazine's The Real 100 Greatest Albums of the 90s, I wrote about the #1 CD on that list Metallica's so-called The Black Album. I decided to reference that list again and this time went their #7 selection Guns N' Roses "Use Your Illusion" parts 1 and 2. Today I'll be focusing on Part 1. This is the longer of the two CDs by 2 more songs.
Listening to this CDs it makes me say they didn't record more music in their career. Not counting some of their Greatest Hits/ "Spaghetti Incident", a live CD so far Guns N' Roses really only released four proper CDs. Of course one of the greatest CDs ever "Appetite For Destruction" plus both the "Use Your Illusion" CDs. Also there's 2008's disappointing, but it was never going to live up to the hype anyway, "Chinese Democracy". And of course there are rumors about new G N' R music coming, but I'll believe that when I see it.
1) "Right Next Door To Hell":
2) "Dust N' Bones":
G N' R has gone the remake route way too many times, but their cover of this song is epic.
I've been looking forward to the twenty one pilots concert in Salt Lake City on Tuesday, November 13th, 2018. Along with seeing a great headliner I always look to see who that headliner is touring with. I was excited to find out that AWOLNATION is an opener- which took some investigation to figure out. If you know who AWOLNATION is, it's likely because of their amazing song "Sail":
But I've taken a deep dive into their music as of late and they have a lot of good songs. Remember a lot of amazing songs are never played on the radio. I've cobbled this list together from their recent setlist in Milwaukee and listening to a couple of their CDs. I look forward to seeing AWOLNATION along with twenty one pilots.
On August 16th, 1991 the world was introduced to Metallica's self-titled album. It's also known as The Black Album with it's mostly black cover and a very well hidden snake. I remember I was on the fence about buying this CD as at the time as I didn't love Metallica. I was sort of meh on their previous CD "...And Justice For All", that is except for the very haunting "One". That's a great song and a great video and the song is undeniably catchy.
Needless to say The Black Album shattered every single one of my expectations. It's still one of my 100 most favorite CDs. I listened once again to The Black Album again and it still sounds amazing, every song is a classic. What brought this amazing CD to mind was a feature in the April 1, 2018 Classic Rock magazine. The cover story is "The Real 100 Greatest Albums of the 90s". They have some wonky methodology coming up with their rankings. But having The Black Album at #1 felt right. I would have been good with a few CDs at #1, but there's no doubt that The Black Album is one of the greatest rock CDs of the 90s. This album has sold 16 million copies in the US alone and is still selling 5,000 copies a week.
Metallica made this CD with producer Bob Rock, who they considered abandoning when making this CD.
Other CDs I would've been okay with as #1 on Classic Rock's rankings. 1) G N' R "Use Your Illusion 1 & 2", 2) Alice In Chains "Dirt", 3) Pearl Jam's "10" (although I think "Vs." is the better CD) and 4) Soundgarden's "Superunknown".
Hetfield isn't a big fan of "Through The Never", "Don't Tread On Me" and "Holier Than Thou". (Much of what I have written on this blog comes from that Classic Rock magazine I have referenced.)
1) "Enter Sandman":
"Do you want heavy? Do you want heavy now?" 2) "Sad But True":
Bob Rock wanted to make this the first single, for which Metallica still give him crap about. However I don't think that's so crazy as this is an amazing song. 3) "Holier Than Thou":
4) "The Unforgiven":
5) Wherever I May Roam":
Lars Ulrich doesn't like the "shuffle vibe" of this song. 6) "Don't Tread On Me":
Sorry James I think this might be my favorite song on the CD. 7) "Through The Never":
I'm continuing posting songs from the very fertile period of the amazing songs of 1985. This was a great time to be George Michael, Madonna, Micheal Jackson, Duran Duran, Dire Straits, Whitney Houston and Prince.
The top selling CD of 1985 was Bruce Springsteen's class CD "Born In The U.S.A.":
"Born In The U.S.A.":
"Darlington County":
"No Surrender":
(This text thanks to Wikipedia's Billboard entry.) The two longest running number-one singles of 1985 are
"We Are The World" by USA for Africa:
and "Say You, Say Me" by Lionel Richie which each logged four weeks at number-one: "Say You, Say Me" logged two weeks at number-one in 1985 and two more additional weeks in 1986, reaching a total of four.
The #1 song on Billboard's 1985 year end countdown was George Michael's heartbreaking "Careless Whisper":
1985 was also the year of Whitney Houston's debut CD, very cleverly her name. Just wait until her next CD, which was another creative name. But her debut CD was amazing, these are some of the best songs from it. "How Will I Know":
"You Give Good Love":
"All At Once":
"Greatest Love of All":
This song features Teddy Pendergrass "Hold Me":
From the "Vision Quest" soundtrack:
Madonna "Crazy For You":
Journey "Only The Young":
Red Rider "Lunatic Fringe":
Chaka Kahn "I Feel For You":
Tears For Fears "Everybody Wants To Rule The World":
Yesterday I started a blog about songs that the word fire in the title. As I was looking for those songs I kept on stumbling on songs about burns/ burning, flames, smoke and ashes. I thought that would make an interesting companion blog, so here goes.
Ashes:
David Bowie "Ashes To Ashes":
Burn:
Ellie Goulding "Burn":
This song doesn't have "burn" in the title, but it's featured in the lyrics. After she was burned the lesson was learned. Alicia Keys "Lesson Learned":
Blue Oyster Cult "Burnin' For You":
Taylor Swift "Picture To Burn":
Talking Heads "Burning Down The House":
Jodee Messina "Burn":
And what happens when certain things burn? Rascal Flatts answers that questions. "I Melt":
Elvis Presley "Burning Love":
Radiohead "Burn The Witch":
Phillipa Soo "Burn":
Papa Roach "Burn":
Midnight Oil "Beds Are Burning":
Linkin Park "Burn It Down":
Inferno:
The Trammps "Disco Inferno":
Flame:
Cheap Trick "The Flame":
The Bangles "Eternal Flame":
AC/Dc "Shot Down In Flames":
Sia "Flames":
In This Moment "World In Flames":
Alabama "Old Flame":
Dragonforce "Through Fire and Flame":
Smoke":
"Smoke On The Fire":
"Smoke Gets In Your Eyes":
"Smoke From A Distant Fire":
I was on my morning walk thinking about how I would start working on my B.B. King blog tonight. Then Halestrorm's "I Am The Fire" came on my iPod. And I thought maybe I should write a blog about all the songs that feature the word "fire"- in all the meanings of that word. "Fire" as a word itself or part of a bigger word.
1) Halestorm "I Am The Fire":
2) Jimi Hendrix "Fire":
3) The Doors "Light My Fire":
4) James Taylor "Fire and Rain":
5) Bruce Springsteen "I'm On Fire":
6) Johnny Cash "Ring of Fire":
7) Pink "Just Like Fire":
8) Billy Joel "We Didn't Start The Fire":
9) One of my favorite Bob Seger songs "Fire Lake":
I love, love, love Lady Gaga. She's a genius and one of the greatest musicians of our time. She's a brilliant songwriter and performer. How is she as an actor, I don't know as I haven't seen the movie. But doesn't mean I can't listen to the music and offer an opinion.
Performed by Bradley Cooper "Black Eyes":
Featuring Lady Gaga "Somewhere Over The Rainbow":
Performed by Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga. "I Don't Know What Love Is":
Performed by Lady Gaga "La Vie en rose":
Performed by Bradley Cooper "Maybe It's Time":
Performed by Bradley Cooper "Out of Time":
Performed by Bradley Cooper "Alibi":
Performed by Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper "Shallow":
Performed by Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper "Music To My Eyes":
I love the bluesy feeling of this song. Performed by Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper "Diggin' My Grave":
Performed by Lady Gaga "Always Remember Us This Way":
Performed by Lady Gaga "Look What I Found":
Performed by Lady Gaga "Heal Me":
Performed by Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper "I Don't Know What Love Is":
A king of the Blues, McKinley Morganfield, lived from April 4th, 1913 (or 1915) and he died on April 30th, 1983. Morganfield was better known by his stage name Muddy Waters. He was known as "the father of Chicago Blues". Among some of his influences included legendary Blues masters Robert Johnson and Son House. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987 and received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement award in 1992. I was almost 16 when he died and really didn't understand his legacy until many years later. R.I.P. Muddy.
This was supposed to be a different blog topic but I got on YouTube looking for a song about a bathtub and remembered 1) Bobby Darin's "Splish Splash".
I let YouTube pick the next song which is Elvis Presley's amazing take of this classic:
2) "Can't Help Falling In Love With You":
3) The Marvelettes "Please Mr. Postman":
4) The Drifters "Under The Boardwalk":
5) The Temptations "My Girl":
6) The Temptations "Papa Was A Rolling Stone":
7) Bobby Darin "More":
8) Bobby Darin "Dream Lover":
9) The Platters "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes":
10) The Platters "The Great Pretender":
11) Del Shannon "Runaway":
12) Gene Pitney "(The Man Who Shot) Liberty Valance":
13) Dion "Runaround Sue":
14) Dion and The Belmonts "A Teenager In Love":
Yes, I know one of the most overplayed songs ever. But it is also one of the most classic songs ever. 15) Don McLean "American Pie":
16) The Animals "House of the Rising Sun":
17) The Hollies "Long Cool Woman In A Black Dress":
18) Jefferson Airplane "White Rabbit":
19) Otis Redding "Sitting On The Dock of the Bay":
