Category: Friday Night Rock-Out

Friday Night Rock-Out: “I Will Follow”

No, you are not hallucinating. I am, indeed, lapping myself in terms of Friday Night Rock-Outs. No “real” posts last week. The reason is simple: I’ve been on vacation, visiting family in Pass Christian with my son, Connor. We had a great time, and I did some work on my new novel. But no blogging. Oh, well.

So, I am going to just post another FNRO. This time, I’ve decided to feature one of the best live performances by one of the greatest bands ever. Namely, their performance at the Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Colorado. This was in 1983, when the band was on tour for their landmark album War, which is when the band began to achieve true superstardom. 

In later years (up to and including today), U2 got a lot of hate for becoming a bit pompous and self-important on certain records. But they were—and still are—a great rock band, with a new album climbing the charts.

Their performance at Red Rocks was probably their best. Already a band known for grand gestures and almost militant power, they found themselves playing their hearts out to a full stadium.

Outdoors.

In the freezing rain. 

And they rocked…

Friday Night Rock-Out: “Only the Young”

“Only the Young” is one of those great songs whose history is so complicated that even fans can’t quite keep it straight. Originally written by  Jonathan Cain, Steve Perry and Neal Schon of Journey, it was first released by the great pop-rock band Scandal in 1984, when the band was fronted by Patty Smyth. Journey then released their own recording of the song in 1985, which was featured on the soundtrack of the Matthew Modine movie Vision Quest. Taylor Swift has since done her own cover of the song, which is, naturally, the one most young people know today (if they know the song at all).

I have featured Journey on my Friday Night Rock-Out Series before with “Any Way You Want It.” In that post, I expressed the somewhat novel opinion that “Any Way You Want It” is Journey’s only “good” song. In retrospect, I see that that statement was unfair. “Only the Young” is, also, a very good song indeed. It somehow gets at the heart of the yearning and frustration that young people feel whenever the previous generation is doing its best to keep them down.

Such was the case in 1984, when young Gen-Xers like myself were in high school or college and doing their best to make it in the wake of the Baby Boomers. And it’s even more the case now, when Gen-Z is coming of age in a United States that has, almost literally, been looted by the old people who control it. They face young adulthood in a denuded world, bankrupt and barren of opportunity. I bet the song resonates for them, too.

My favorite version of the song is still the first one, by Scandal. Patty Smyth was one of the most underrated rock singers of her generation, and this song found her at the height of her powers. (Fun fact: Van Halen offered her the lead singer job after David Lee Roth left; she declined due to her pregnancy.) Her voice positively soars on this song, and whenever I hear it, I am transported back to that long-ago time—which, alas, is looking better by the day.

Rock-on…

Friday Night Rock-Out: “Every Picture Tells a Story”

You can always tell if a classic rock-song was released in the early 1970s because it goes on and on and on. I mean, Freebird? Jessica? Stairway to Heaven? Are you kidding me? The legendary D.J. Wolfman Jack one joked that if he queued up three or four of these songs, he could go out for dinner and be back before they were done.

Every Picture Tells a Story is yet another long rock song that goes on for almost six minutes. Yet, it doesn’t last long enough! The song positively flies by, in part because it…well, tells a story—the rollicking tale of the high-flying, hard-partying, womanizing narrator (who seems a lot like Rod Stewart) and his search for love around the world. With its crazy, open-form lyrics and acoustic, jam-style musicianship, the song really shouldn’t work, but it does, thanks to the combined genius of Stewart himself and his great friend Ron Wood (who was, at the time, not yet a member of The Rolling Stones).

I decided to feature Stewart on this edition of Friday Night Rock-Out because a review I wrote a few years ago of his fine autobiography is getting a lot of hits lately, perhaps because Stewart recently underwent major surgery and people are Googling him. I’m glad my review is popping up in the feed. It was heartfelt.

Get well soon, Mr. Stewart! And rock on…!

Friday Night Rock-Out: “Believe”

Cathy and I have been watching season 4 of Dark Winds on Netflix, and I was thrilled to see the fine German actress Franke Potenta playing the villain. She was Lola in Run Lola Run, one of the coolest films of the 90s. (She was also the love interest in the first Bourne movie.) Nice to see she’s still doing great work.

Run Lola Run was also notable for its amazing, propulsive soundtrack, which perfectly fits the action of the film. (You’ll have to watch it to see what I mean.) I liked the soundtrack so much I bought it–on CD, no less. (Yeah, it’s old. So am I.) And I wrote many line of software code while listening to it. Of course, it’s not really “rock.” It’s techno, or EDM, or whatever they’re calling such music these days.

Whatever it is, it rocks.

Here is the premier track, “Believe,” on which Ms. Potente’s voice can be heard speaking. Enjoy!

Friday Night Rock-Out: “Will the Wolf Survive”

“Will the Wolf Survive” by Los Lobos came out just a few years before I moved to Arizona for a few years. And so, finding myself living forty-five miles from the Mexican border, the song really resonated with me. I saw a lot of very poor immigrant people doing very hard menial jobs. I drove through countless immigration checkpoints in Texas. I saw the two Americas.

The real reason I love the song, though, is that…well…it rocks. East L.A. style. I love David Hidalgo’s soulful voice, and Cesar Rosas’s lead guitar work fires on all cylinders.

Also, the song seems particularly poignant at the moment, here in America, with all the persecution going on. Same old, same old. Just more of it.

Rock on…

Friday Night Rock-Out: “Paper in Fire”

Tomorrow is the Fourth of July, America’s birthday. So, for tonight’s Friday Night Rock-Out, I was going to share Springsteen’s “Born in the U.S.A.,” which is my favorite “patriotic” song ever. I love it because the narrator seems genuinely proud to be an American while at the same time lamenting our country’s many, many flaws.

But, at the last minute, I decided to go with another great “heartland rock” singer—and one of my favorite artists of all time, generally—John Mellencamp, and his dark ode “Paper in Fire.” The song is about Mellencamp’s heritage, tracing back to a long line of tough, angry, and sometimes violent men. Which, in a way, describes America itself. Violence and anger are woven through our nation’s history, all 250 years of it. Maybe even further back than that.

Despite the song’s heavy themes, though, there is something thrilling and fun about it. Inspiring, even. I really like the way it evokes Kentucky as much as Kansas, with its blend of rock, bluegrass, and gospel.

If you’re interested, here is a cool article about the song’s creation.

Happy Fourth! And rock on…

Friday Night Rock-Out: “Are You Gonna Go My Way”

Happy Juneteenth everyone! It’s a holiday about freedom. So, I am devoting this installment of my Friday Night Rock-Out series to one of the iconic songs of my youth, by one of my heroes, Lenny Kravitz, whose music feels like freedom.

Rock on….

Friday Night Rock-Out: “Jet”

In case you haven’t noticed, Paul McCartney is having a bit of a moment. He performed on Saturday Night Live a couple of weeks ago, as well as on the final episode of CBS’s Late Night with Steven Colbert. Somehow, the aging Beatle has re-entered the cultural zeitgeist.

He’s done it before, of course. After The Beatles broke up in 1970, he formed a new band, Wings, with his recent bride, Linda (nee Eastman), and enjoyed a huge success. I was a big fan of Wings, back in the day. I had a couple of their albums, but no record-player. I had to sneak into my parents’ bedroom in the afternoon and play them on my dad’s stereo.

In keeping with McCartney’s recent resurgence, I stumbled upon a fine oral history of the band, Wings: The Story of a Band on the Run, which he assembled with Ted Widmer. While reading the book, I discovered many things about some of their most famous songs. I was especially struck by the history of this one, “Jet”, which has always been one of my favorites.

For example, I learned that the beautiful, trippy Moog synthesizer featured on the song was played by Linda McCartney (she taught herself how to play it). And that the ending saxophone riff was actually two saxophones played in sequence—one for the high part, and then another one for the low part. And that the funky lyrics, whose meaning I and others have puzzled over for years, are absolutely meaningless. (McCartney chose them strictly for their feel; never let meaning get in the way of a good melody!)

Anyway, it’s still a great song. 

Rock on…

Friday Night Rock-Out: “Lunatic Fringe”

I’ve been thinking about this song a lot lately, and GEE, I CAN’T IMAGINE WHY.

Yes, it’s about the dark side of American culture. Conspiracy theories and paranoia and madness. Specifically, when he wrote the song, Tom Cochrane was worried about a new wave of antisemitism that was on the rise in the country. That was in 1981. FORTY-FIVE YEARS AGO.  

I still love this song. Listening to it feels like driving across the desert of Southern Arizona on a two-lane highway at 3:00 A.M. (something I’ve done, actually, although this song did not come on the radio). 

It’s also an example of how an offbeat, unusual choice can elevate an already fine work of art. In this case, it was the use of a steel guitar—an instrument normally associated with country music—played by master musician Ken Greer that gives the song its eerie, haunting sound. 

Rock on…

Friday Night Rock-Out: “Setting Sun”

If you were a software developer in the late 1990s (which I was), and if you spent many an evening working overtime (which I did), and if you needed some heavy electronic music to go along with your Nth cup coffee to get you going (which I still do), then your go-to groups were probably The Prodigy and The Chemical Brothers. 

I still love both bands (and not just when I need waking up). In fact, I love Big Beat in general. Just as the second generation of great grunge bands like Bush and Stone Temple Pilots began to taper-off, the electronic barrage of Big Beat pumped new energy into the music scene. Like, a million volts of energy. 

I’ve already devoted one Friday-Night rock out to The Prodigy, so I am overdue to do one on The Chemical Brothers. Here it is, my favorite song of theirs, “Setting Sun.”

Rock on.