Name a song you think is a perfect and entire piece of rock music

I'll start: "Murder", by David Gilmour.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2D9TUhIKDbw

:sarcasm:

And I was riding in her Van through Virginia listening to it the other day....:D

while sipping some Franzia on my way to bunco night. :evilgrin:

Sympathies. :scared:

And yeah, that would be worse than Rush. Just to get the obvious out of the way. :)

This is a tribute John Popper wrote for bass player Bobby Sheehan upon his death- some say it was alcohol poisoning and some say it was a drug overdose. It's a great song. Listen carefully to the background harmonies. My favorite part is the keyboards.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmmYZxk2q54

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WqxUeLf01Z0

I know it's dated and I'm bored as hell with most classic rock, but that opening guitar is the closest thing I can get to gospel.

there are several Allman Brothers songs I'd pick before Skynyrd. Blue Sky. One Way Out.

They have one lifeless sound. If Duane had lived, maybe they'd have become great. Give me Wet Willie or Marshall Tucker or Le Roux or even Black Oak Arkansas any day.

Lynyrd Skynyrd was the gospel, though. Sweet Home Alabama ("Now we all did what we could do..."), Simple Man, Free Bird, The Ballad of Curtis Lowe, Tuesday's Gone... It was only under them that southern rock became something distinct. Before then you didn't even have to be southern to be called southern rock--it wasn't about geography, just about the non-British sound. Even Canadians like The Band could be considered "Southern Rock," because it was a style defined by what it wasn't. With Skynyrd it became a sound defined by what it was.

First of all, Southern Rock started at Sun Studios in the 50's. All Skynyrd did was bastardize it enough for Top 40 radio and throw in some jingoistic Southern pride. They were the forerunners of modern Nashville pop-country that's nothing but classic rock remakes with a contrived twang.

Rock was southern in the 50s. You didn't call it "southern rock," you just called it rock (Greg Allman even said "Southern Rock" was like saying "Rock Rock.") In the 60s the urban rock sound developed with the Brits and the American bands influenced by them. To distinguish old style rock from the new style stuff, people started calling it southern rock. That's the type of "southern rock" the Allman Brothers were--just rock with more of a blues sound and a less of the Hendrix style guitar work. Creedance, The Band, the Allmans, they were all called "Southern Rock" because they didn't play like the new British bands. It was even called country rock, or sometimes just country blues. It was more about what it wasn't than what it was.

With Skynyrd, Southern Rock started to mean rock from the South that had a distinctive sound of its own, not just any music that didn't sound like the Beatles. The Southern pride was a big part of it, but it was as much about the blues-rock sound, the triple guitar lineup, the rhythms. It even had a touch of the Outlaw Movement of country music about it--a more visceral style that cut away some of the bland overproduction (like the Allman Brothers) to get at the heart of the music. The Top 40 success came because people liked it. The fact that later country artists used the over-imitated, watered-down style that dragged on too long afterwards with bands like Blackfoot and Molly Hatchet and .38 Special isn't Skynyrd's fault.

The Allman Brothers were not that kind of southern rock. They were just rock that wasn't the Beatles. Rather bland rock, too, once Duane was gone. Listen to Jessica and Blue Sky and Ramblin Man all in a row, and you can't tell one from the other if you don't listen to the lyrics (well, not in Jessica, obviously). I can't listen past about a minute of any of it without getting drowsy. It isn't even bad, it's just bland. Now if you limit it to before Duane's death--say Whipping Post--I can listen to that. It doesn't have that candy guitar, and you can feel something with it. It's not enough to make them true Southern Rock, and it doesn't rival Free Bird, but it's good sixties style rock. After that, though, they were just a candy band with one guitar sound, one rhythm, and no soul.

I know rock was southern in the 50's. That was the point of bringing up Sun Studio. Southern Rock had been around for a long time, even if it didn't have that label in the 50's.

There was nothing new or groundbreaking about anything Skynyrd did. They didn't create a new Southern Rock sound. They were trying to be a Southern version of Led Zeppelin stadium rock. They missed Zeppelin and hit closer to being a southern Cheap Trick or Boston. Everything about it was a derivative imitation of something better. Like when they imitated the Allman Brothers double lead guitar sound.
The Allman Brothers were creative originals. They didn't need to resort to cheap applause lines about Southern locales to win over fans.

There's no doubt that Allman Brothers weren't as good after Duane and they had a long slump after Brothers and Sisters. But do you really want to bring up modern incarnations of the two bands? Are you going to even attempt comparing the current Allman Brothers lineup with virtuosos like Warren Haynes and Derek Trucks to the pathetic tribute band that's playing free shows at county fairs under the name of Lynyrd Skynyrd?

I saw Skynyrd at a free outdoor concert a few years ago. People still pay to see the Allman Brothers on tour. It's worth the price in both cases.

And let's not forget that Free Bird was often dedicated to his acknowledged superior, Duane Allman.

well said.

:)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGL4btEIoTo


Brings back memories. I was in college

black oak arkansas
jim dandy rocks it live

I can see how the loss of Duane changed things and I love some early Skynard...if you had said Give Me Three Steps

but Free Bird was SO over played and exploited.

Has anyone even listened the Allman Brothers? I swear they can't have. After Duane died, they had that one pop guitar sound, and everything they played sounded the same. Skynyrd was getting better and better until the crash.

sums up Lynyrd Skynyrd. Comparing them to the Allman Brothers is like saying Lawrence Welk was better than Beethoven.

listen to it again; there is no "we" in that line. And, of course, the background "Boo Boo Boo" underscores the point.
Ronnie Van Zant was a very accomplished, subtle, and careful writer.
He was following in the fine southern literary tradition of Faulkner, Capote, Williams, Welty,and quite a few others.
It's amazing that crackers can do that,isn't it?

by a lot of people.

once you notice that Ronnie Van Zant is wearing a Neil Young T-shirt on the cover of their final album.

And "... Curtis Loew" may be a bit patronizing, but it's also pretty clearly anti-racist in its intent. I doubt they were big fans of Wallace.

that some barefoot cracker from FLA is capable of irony.
Obviously, they are wrong.

They also overlook the fact that LS was just as much a product of the changes of the 60s
as they were a product of the south.
As I always said, it took a hell of a lot more nerve to walk around Jacksonville with long hair in 1969
than to do so in Berkeley, Cambridge, and many other places...

even Midnight Rider before Free Bird.


Stairway to the Hotel Free Bird :puke:

All three of those songs were good. Hotel California, I'll give you, was overrated, and all three were overplayed, but the fact that everyone wanted to hear them over and over doesn't make them bad. That's deciding what you like based on what other people liked. That's something I refuse to do.

we will never see eye to eye about this. Free Bird is perfect. Allman Brothers is elevator music. I bow to your superior judgement.

honestly, I prefer Stairway and Hotel California to Free Bird.

I didn't realize I wasn't allowed to have a different opinion and construct an argument to support it. My bad. :P

:P

I notice that you have no reply to my comment about Melissa topping Free Bird in the top 100 Ballads ;)

:puke:

Next you'll tell me you like Rush and hated Titanic. :cry: This used to be such a nice place. :rofl:

Perfect songs. And Heroin, except for the ahistorical reference to sea travel which always grates on me for some dumb reason.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VH_NvYPBDY0


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1hsFz34oiDo (pt.1)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4mwjXjJsen8 (pt 2)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hf61K6ZKu_4

Of course, with a nickname like "e streeter" you were obligated to pick it.

although if I thought about it more, there are dozens of non-Bruce songs I'd say were pretty close to perfect too. Just not sure they're necessarily "rock"...Stuff by the Temptations , 4 Tops... and I think Surfer Girl (and Surf's Up; mentioned by someone else in this thread) are pretty much perfection . Be Bop a Lula, and Johnny B. Goode too...
But yeah, I once saw the "nearly-famous" songwriters tour ; the Albuquerque stop had James McMurtry, David Halley, Don Dixon, Jules Shear and Marshall Crenshaw (Some Day Some Way is pretty damn perfect too come to think of it). They'd perform and talk about songwriting etc too... At one point the moderator asked each one to name a song they wish they'd written. Two of em named Townes Van Zant songs. I thought about it and decided that for me it had to be Thunder Road.

and the inspiration...


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRH7FtAAbJE

as mixed as my feelings are about Springsteen, this is his masterpiece.

The 1973 "YesSongs" version:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Jhk5MEugJY

Steve Howe's "Wurm" coda slays me every time.

:toast:

:toast:

:patriot:

Well, someone already mentioned an AC/DC song.

Sheer perfection.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TmL7CP5rSHA

My sister's friend gave it me. Although I am not much of an AC/DC fan anymore, I loved that tape when I was a kid.

Boston's first album is one of the greatest rock albums ever.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQifd7O_N5k

Fucking Clooney.

entire song in my book is "Surf's Up" by the Beach Boys. It's a work of art.

It's in the rulebook.

Look it up!

Sure as shit. Page 44, paragragh 3, subsection A,; No stealing from Willie Dixon or Professor Longhair and certainly especially not this guy...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSbbWFZXOsU

....Had the album memorized.

Along with countless other songs he did.

Love it!

For me all the music I've listened to over the years, some that was on my favourite list from time to time, Dark Side always came back to the top.
To me, it's as perfect as any album can be from beginning to end.

ballad, driving rock, harmonies, nonsense words

I think it's the best pop song ever.

They didn't do much else that was awesome, but what the heck.

Live in 1958: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ofD9t_sULM

Berry's recording of the song was included on the Voyager Golden Record, attached to the Voyager spacecraft as representing rock and roll, one of four American songs included among many cultural achievements of humanity.

It's the song

Johnny B. Goode
Chuck Berry
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_Bd5-APPBw

Melancholy Blues
Louis Armstrong
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xiN4UJ_uINo

Navajo Night Chant
Willard Rhodes
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1fJEqsBN9iM

Dark Was the Night, Cold Was the Ground
Blind Willie Johnson
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNj2BXW852g

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contents_of_the_Voyager_Golden_Record

And Johnny B. Goode was the first song that came to my mind.

In the same way the first four notes of Beethoven's Fifth represents an entire genus of music, the intro to Johnny B. Goode does so for rock.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rp6-wG5LLqE

Every few months I just have to play it at the appropriate level.







The appropriate level is ear splitting for those who don't know.

Goes to a lot of musical spaces...

I love Bowie from that whole period, the lyrics to Diamond Dogs can stand alone as mordant brilliance and scathing satire. Reminds me of when I lived in England, and they played that album on Capital Radio's top 40 shows.

:headbang:

it is this one.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFZifOWumH0&feature=related

Del Fuegos - Backseat Nothing

It will be something different in about 15 minutes.

BRB...I gotta get my ass out of this chair and shake my groove thang.

It is hard to argue against that

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8yRdDnrB5kM

check him out at about 38 seconds

Can't beleiive this cat is still around playing shows. He must be the Devil.

"Jitterbop Baby" by Hal Harris

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSbbWFZXOsU

and EVERY time
I find myself
jacked up
and
slack-mouthed.
Genius.

Love their first 3 or 4 LPs, especially "Fair Warning". That Van Hagar shit never did anything for me...not to mention Sammy is a freakin' huge Republican butthole. He even raised campaign money for 666 in California back in the late 70's.

Although I thought about a dozen Led Zeppelin songs before settling on Hendrix.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WoAXW30mMAg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=toHlMD50eYY

plus won :)

:hi:

Tubular Bells live - Part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t9A60e16SvM

Tubular Bells live - Part 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OwctZz6wwT0

Tubular Bells live - Part 3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MaygITgll80

:D

(or Chuck Berry for that matter)

Good song, and I actually heard it on the radio not long ago.

Edited to add: I didn't reply to this thread with a song because too many were coming to mind and I couldn't pick just one.

and I'm almost positive it's nothing more than a loose connection somewhere in its innards...
Was awfully hard to pick just one and I cheated with about 9, I think, if you count the ones I replied to Lady President with ( she had seconded Thunder Road) besides these last two, and the BRUUUCE songs, but if I had to pick just one, it's gotta be Thunder Road...
My original idea was that the OP meant by saying perfect and "entire" was a real self contained piece that stood on its own as a complete composition rather than a 2 and a half minute bit o' rocknroll so I put those longer Springsteen ones there. But I started thinking that there were some perfect and self contained 2 and half minute rockers too, and Double Shot is THE one I think....

P.S. Check this out: speaking of perfection....The E Street band WITH the Swingin' Medallions.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVzk-aVUjw0

Second year in a row.

Obviously not the original lineup, but they always lead with Double Shot and everyone goes wild.

my extreme envy at your last two 4th of July's:

#
HOTLANTAG
10 months ago

As a former member of The Swingin Medallions I just got to say that this makes me Very Proud ! Tim Goldman


#
nmcityrocker
6 months ago

As someone who would have done anything short of selling his soul to the devil to be a member of the Swingin Medallions, you have every right to be proud.






I'm assuming there were at least some original members(?) at the 4th of July shows you saw...in the video with Bruce in Greenville S.C. those old boys sure look old enough to be originals.
Hope they still do She Drives Me Out of My Mind too....

Just perfect.

by the Byrds

and I do not like Clapton.

I enjoy his guitar playing far more than Clapton's.

On another board, a hard-rocking friend told everyone that he had been rocking out to a song by a surprising artist - Elton John.

I replied: "Let me guess: Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding."

He said: "Whoa. How did you know?"

I said: "Because it is one of the finest, most amazing rock recordings ever etched on vinyl."

I still think it is one of the finest, most amazing rock recordings ever etched on vinyl, however, I also think that Queen's Somebody to Love is one of the greatest, most perfect rock songs of all time. I feel this way about the entire second side of Abby Road.

Currently, I am digging on the greatness & perfection that is Once in a Lifetime by Talking Heads:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-io-kZKl_BI

"Funeral For A Friend/Love Lies Bleeding" and "Somebody to Love" are two of the most amazing rock songs, ever!

From the opening organ salvo to the guitar-and-harmonica tear at the end, there is no wrong or unnecessary note in the entire track.

wasn't even supposed to be playing that session, but wormed his way into being on it, and is a split second behind the beat so he could be sure he was playing the right chord. I didn't list this or any Dylan on my several nominations for "perfect piece of rock music" but overall, I still consider Highway 61 to be the greatest rock album ever... EVER.


And speaking of Al Kooper, it brings up the musical question: Who wears short-shorts? (of course correct pronunciation would be : shawt-shawts)

he "couldn't play"
The french horn at the beginning of "You Can't Always Get What You Want"

"Into the Mystic" by Van Morrison

Classic Jam!

"And the man in the back said everyone attack
And it turned into a ballroom blitz
And the girl in the corner said boy I want to warn you
It'll turn into a ballroom blitz"

You've started out in the best possible way!

:headbang: :toast:

EDIT: except for not linking to a vid!


The Sweet glam it up: Ballroom Blitz!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qswKeWhjaUc

gives me goosebumps to this day

Springsteen, Thunder Road.

While it may not be may favorite rock and roll set, it certainly epitomizes to me everything that riock and roll is.

:fistbump:

:fistbump:

Many of my other choices are already mentioned here.

Jungleland and Thunder Road...sure.

No Sugar Tonight/New Mother Nature by the Guess Who...yeah.

Brown Sugar and Gimme Shelter by the Stones...hell yeah and so many more by them.

Get Back by The Beatles...uh, huh.

The one that always really brings back a distinct memory is Rock and Roll by Led Zeppellin. I was only about 20 and was picking up a new (to me) little car that had an 8-track deck in it. I brought along Led Zeppelin to stick in there when I drove it away. My folks took me to pick it up. I was used to driving a 1968 Austin America, not a high performance vehicle, and the new car was a Chevy Monza with a V-8, much more power than I was used to. I put in my tape and took off with my folks behind me, hit the entrance ramp to the freeway jamming to Rock and Roll and before I knew it I was going 75 miles an hour. Whoa! What a ride! :wow: :rofl:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FeJkDewhTEw&feature=av2n

I do have to add Born to Be Wild by Steppenwolf, though, if I had to choose only one. :D

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJS8j9YYB9w

Queen, Pink Floyd, and Green Day, respectively. :headbang:

Who'll Be The Next In Line

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7lhMDrxEZU

the james gang with joe walsh

great guitarist

by Spirit

great simple riff and it just really rocks hard. This version is live from around '74, looks like maybe from CBGB's:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGA-vYgbAkk

"Hangin' out all by myself
I don't wanna be with anybody else
I just wanna be with you
I just wanna have somethin' to do..."

Rock n Roll.

mark

Live in concert at the Greek in 1983.

You had to be there.
Jonathan Demme was, and decided to make a movie.

The concert was better. The song went on and on and on and fulfilled all the tension, angst, and determination of really good rock. Everyone in the theater was dancing on top of their seats, and it seemed like it would never end.

Grace Slick's voice gives me shivers every time I hear it.

Ace - Found Out The Hard Way
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Ol5JNd5SzM

The Dictators - The Savage Beat Actually, the whole 'D.F.F.D.'CD is bloody amazing!

Alice Cooper - You Drive Me Nervous

The Easybeats - Friday On My Mind

I saw them play live in Charleston, WV in the mid 90's. The TIGHTEST outfit i ever saw!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0eZwpHtcK4

The Frampton Comes Alive version...it's magnificent

Fucking epic.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2KanzSuaPsM

Love's Secret Domain is also fucking epic.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ZhpIDs_VQ4

because I'm listing to it right now.
a Perfect 60's blues rock tune
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYCH3Ias__g