That being the case, and since things will be mostly quiet around here for the time being, here's a fun little project to help us all through the hours when you're out of ammo and there's nobody you hate in the immediate vicinity:
Best or Worst Pop or Rock Song or Album About Starting the Show or Just Shows In General!!!.
And my totally top of my head Top Five is/are:
5. Nick Lowe -- Rollers Show
This seemed pertinent after our discussion of the other day, obviously.
4. Emerson Lake and Palmer -- Welcome Back My Friends, to the Show That Never Ends
I dislike this crap so profoundly I refuse to post any audio or video from it. And may I simply say that the title of this bloated live double album always sounded kind of like a threat to me.
3. Wings -- Rock Show
You know, these Wings guys were pretty good. I wonder if any of them ever did anything else?
2. Grand Funk -- We're an American Band
This may count simultaneously as best AND worst, but that's just me, probably.
And the number one Hello-Cleveland!!!! song of them all simply has to be....
1. Warren Zevon -- When Johnny Strikes Up the Band
Nothing else even comes close, IMHO. Seriously -- if I ever find myself performing live rock-and-roll again, this is the song I want to open with.*
Alrighty then -- what would YOUR choices be?
*Don't worry -- not gonna happen.
"Talent Show" - Replacements
ReplyDelete"Hello There" - Cheap Trick
"Make It" - Aerosmith
Cheap trick also sometimes starts shows with Just Got Back which while technically is about getting out of prison I think prison can easily be a metaphor for a rock show and/or rock band.
ReplyDeleteSo once accepted as a metaphor for starting a show is now number 1.
There. I've run rings around you logically.
I'm surprised nobody has mentioned the obvious choice, "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band."
ReplyDeleteAnd, in spite of what I said earlier this week about Nick Lowe, I love the #5 choice.
Hello There is a brilliant opener forged out of necessity. It's a sound check made into a song.
ReplyDeleteHere's a great one that's fairly obscure: "Come And See The Show" by Tir Na Nog. Amazingly, it can be found on youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnJKGQxgMPY
Here's another:
Slim Dunlap's "Not Yet/Ain't No Fair In A rock N Roll Love Affair" from TIMES LIKE THIS, not available on Youtube, but worth tracking down.
Ooh -- I'd forgotten the Dunlap. Love that EP....
ReplyDeleteyour mileage will definitely vary, but the awesome live Royal Crescent Mob opened their third record with a song about a well known tv show
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_yKAxeb_go
Ramones: Danny Says and I Wanna Be Sedated
ReplyDeleteCostello: Clubland
T-Bone Burnett: Euromad
"Hello Hooray" by The Alice Cooper Group -- how could you have forgotten that one?
ReplyDeleteand add another vote for "Talent Show".
And, who could forget "Brother Love's Traveling Salvation Show"?
"Just Another Town" by Flo & Eddie is a terrible depressing song about shows.
And, I lurve "Rollers Show". Always have. Always will...
Feel Like A Stranger:
ReplyDeleteWell the musics thunderin, restless and hot
You keep firin me glances across the room
And I cant stop wonderin just what you got
Get the feeling Im going to find out real soon
But I feel like a stranger (feel like a stranger)
So lets get on with the show, lets go
Yes, and the wheels its smokin round midnight
You show me a look that says lets go
Yes, and it feels about like running a red light
Now there aint no point in looking behind us, no!
Still I feel like a stranger (feel like a stranger)
You know its gonna get stranger, lets get on with the show
Always knew it was gonna be a hot show when the Dead opened with this one.
Ray Davies says it all:
ReplyDeleteHey, hey, hey...
Give the people what they want
Well, it's been said before, the world is a stage
A different performance with every age.
Open the history book to any old page
Bring on the lions and open the cage.
Give the people what they want
You gotta give the people what they want
The more they get, the more they need
And every time they get harder and harder to please
The Roman promoters really did things right.
They needed a show that would clearly excite.
The attendance was sparse so they put on a fight
Threw the Christians to the lions, sold out every night
Give the people what they want
You gotta give the people what they want
The more they get, the more they need
And every time they get harder and harder to please
Give 'em lots of sex, perversion and rape
Give 'em lots of violence, and plenty to hate
Give the people what they want
Give the people what they want
When Olswald shot Kennedy, he was insane
But still we watch the re-runs again and again
We all sit glued while the killer takes aim
"Hey Mom, there goes a piece of the president's brain!"
Give the people what they want
You gotta give the people what they want
Blow out your brains, and do it right
Make sure it's prime time and on a Saturday night.
You gotta give the people what they want
You gotta give the people what they want
Give the people what they want
Give the people what they want
Give the people what they want
"Turn the Page" by Bob Seger has always been a kind of guilty pleasure... also the "Travelin' Man/Beautiful Loser" combo he did live.
ReplyDeleteHokey smokes! No one's mentioned "Travelin' Band" by Creedence???
ReplyDelete...or "Just A Singer (in A Rock 'N' Roll Band)" by The Moody Blues or The Byrds, "So You Want To Be A Rock 'N' Roll Star."
ReplyDeletePersonally, I'd go with The Rugburns, "The Ballad of Tommy & Marla, but oddly enough, The Rugburns opened many shows with "The National Anthem," their way.
I'm Just a Singer in a Rock in Roll Band - Moody Blues
ReplyDeleteTake it to the Stage - Pfunk
Tour Spiel - the Minutemen
Trey
Patti Smith used to do a kickass take-no-prisoners version of So You Want to Be a Rock'n'Roll Star live. Her studio version pales by comparison.
ReplyDeleteIt's a bit metaphorical, but Paul McCartney often opens concerts with Magical Mystery Tour, which is kind of a "let's start the show!" song.
Be Bop Deluxe, "Axe Victim".
ReplyDelete"You know, these Wings guys were pretty good. I wonder if any of them ever did anything else?"
ReplyDeleteYep. The keyboardist and her husband created a range of vegetarian foods.
"4. Emerson Lake and Palmer -- Welcome Back My Friends, to the Show That Never Ends
ReplyDeleteI dislike this crap so profoundly I refuse to post any audio or video from it. And may I simply say that the title of this bloated live double album always sounded kind of like a threat to me."
Sort of like the Eagles saying "You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave."
I'd like to second that vote for Cheap Trick's "Hello There". Actually, I'd like to third, fourth, and fifth it as well. I think it's the ideal song to open a rock concert.
ReplyDeleteLet's not forget some of that Chicago progressive pop/ rock
ReplyDeleteStyx - The Grand Illusion
I could have sworn the ELP set was three discs. It's interminable either way.
ReplyDeleteThe Stones' "I Know It's Only Rock & Roll"
ReplyDeleteIf I could stick my pen in my heart
I'd spill it all over the stage
Would it satisfy ya or would it slide on by ya?
Or would you think this boy is strange?
Of all the entries on Todd Rundgren's resume, the most impressive has to be making Grand Funk sound real.
ReplyDeleteSteve - you may know this already, but that entire, amazing Zevon at the Record Plant show is available here, free:
ReplyDeletehttp://archive.org/details/wz1978-07-27.sbeok.flac16
And BTW, is there any live show that has not been greatly enhanced by the presence of Waddy Wachtel?
Worst: Jackson Browne, "The Load-Out/Stay."
ReplyDeleteRelated to above, but nearly so bad: Bread, "Guitar Man" Cake's version too.
Maybe not the best, but good: Wilco, "Heavy Metal Drummer"
Maybe not the best, but really good: David Bowie, "Lady Stardust"
Ha ha: Billy Joel, "Piano Man"
No-longer-guilty pleasure since Hugh Grant performed it: "Killing Me Softly"
Haik -- actually I didn't know about the availability of the Zevon broadcast at the Internet Archive.
ReplyDeleteI just downloaded it, and thanks.
Those Darn Accordions do a version of that Grand Funk song that totally redeems it. Yep, "We're An Accordion Band".
ReplyDeleteFor those who want their "Rock Show" unadulterated, may I recommend this little YouTube experience:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GOJ4CoH7YoY&sns=em
A decent little combo, that Wings.
If you can look past the three tons of stagecraft for the Over America bit, o' course. . . .