Exploring unheralded rock songs from many genres including classic rock, hard rock, psych, garage, metal, proto-punk, punk, post-punk, and the occasional blues tune...
For years, my only association with Joy Division was "Love Will Tear Us Apart" and the subsequent New Order sound that I didn't care for at the time. Years go by and I start seeing a lot of people wearing Joy Division t-shirts. Eventually, I go back and sample some songs from their first album, An Ideal for Living. This whole album has got a grittier, punkier feel to it than their work just a couple of years later.
Whether they knew it or not, Manfred Mann nailed the typical popular music fan on the head with this ditty. Not much has changed in the last fifty years...
It still amazes me that a bunch of teenagers from Southern California could pull off this powerful arena rock. Sure, they got some help putting it all together from Kim Fowley, America's version of Malcolm McLaren. But, Joan Jett, Lita Ford, and the gang were the ones out there making the music. The live version, from Live in Tokyo, captures this band at their peak.
Members of the Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame (well, the Iowa Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame anyway), this power trio was seemingly lost in the shuffle of heavy 70's rock bands. Their live album, Erupts!, was recorded in 1976 at the height of guitarist BillyLee Janey's powers. It wasn't released until 2001, though. I could easily see this band getting more credit during their day if this live album was released in a more timely fashion. Enjoy.
As a 6-year old, I think I have some vague recollections of this song when it was released. It must have been simple enough for my 1st grade ears to enjoy. However, this tune seemed to be mostly skipped when the classic rock radio craze of the 80's began. In my teenage years, if I was forced to name all of the Kink's songs that I knew, it would be something like this:
You Really Got Me
All Day and All of the Night
Lola
Ape Man
Low Budget
Destroyer(maybe)
Over the years, as I explore more of the Kinks' music, it always amazes me how underrated this band is. When I was first getting into classic rock, I compared them to the Beatles, Stones, and the Who because they were from England and came up during the British Invasion. In retrospect, that probably wasn't fair. The Kinks released 24 studio albums over a thirty-year period. Quite frankly, I'm still working my way through their rich catalog.
I gave this song from the Sleepwalker album a new listen a couple of months ago, and I had this song in my head for two days.
Slaughter & the Dogs came up with the Sex Pistols in the mid-70's Manchester/London punk scene. This band seems a fair bit more musically talented than the Pistols, though. Also, I'm not really sure I would classify their music as "punk". Regardless of classification, their 1978 album, Do It Dog Style, is a solid rocker and not to be forgotten.
The Troggs had provided the world the first hit with "Wild Thing" in 1966 and it became the definitive rendition. In addition to their version, Jimi Hendrix and X also would go on to having notable versions. For many years, I was convinced that the Troggs were nothing more than a one-hit wonder. I was wrong. They had a lot of intense garage band style tunes. This song, was released a few years after Wild Thing as a B side to "Lover".
