Friday 20 July 2012

Rock 'n' Roll!

I am a fan of rock and roll or to say it in the words of my friends, I am a "rock chick". I enjoy Hard rock, progressive rock, psychedelic rock. The sixties-seventies was the era of rock and roll. The 60s saw the the rise of spectacular english rock bands.

The band that tops my list is Led Zeppelin. A combination of one of the greatest guitarists Jimmy Page and the best drummer of all time John Bonham! Songs like 'Achilles last stand', 'dazed and confused', 'Immigrant song' and 'When the levee breaks' are what rock is all about. I even enjoy listening to 'Moby Dick' where we can see Bonham for the genius he was. Not a day goes by with me not wishing that Bonham lived on. The entire face of music would have been different all because of the brilliance of Page and Bonham. Long live the memory of Bonham, the greatest drummer who ever lived! I know I've got one thing to do... "Ramble on!"

Rock and Roll is nothing without The Beatles! They defined what Rock and Roll is! I especially love the songs written by McCartney like 'Yesterday', 'Hey Jude', 'Blackbird', 'Here there everywhere'. Again, The Beatles was another band that had to break up after such a short music career. And the scene got even more gloom after Lennon's death. Even though the band had troubles, like the bitterness between McCartney and Lennon, they managed to produce some of the most memorable songs of all time. 

Wicked Crazy!...that is only thing that I can think of to describe Black Sabbath's music. 'Paranoid', 'War pigs', 'electric funeral' and not to forget 'Iron man' are truly sensational songs. It was the Tony Iommi's brilliance with the guitar that led the band to glory! Their dark lyrics and radical compositions was one of the things that led to the birth of heavy metal.

A band that made a huge contribution to rock and roll was The Rolling Stones; A band that had one of the best performer of all time Mick Jagger and a great guitarist, Keith Richards. 'Sympathy for the devil', 'No Satisfaction', 'Paint it black' and 'Wild Horses' are my favorites. The Rolling Stones left an ever-lasting image of Richards rocking his guitar and Jagger...basically just rocking it, especially with his crazy attires!

If you compare music to science, then Pink Floyd can be considered as a group of rocket scientists! They actually played around with music and some how what they did was exquisite! Songs like 'Brain damage', 'Welcome to the machine' are just astonishing! Songs like 'Echoes' just get you into the zone! I especially love the tributes made to Syd Barrett that is, 'Wish you were here' and 'Shine on you crazy diamond'. 'Shine on you crazy diamond' which has a whopping 9 parts, just shows how much of thought they put in to their songs!

Cream! A band that had members who were already superstars! A brilliant composer and singer, Jack Bruce! An ingenius guitarist and probably best, Eric Clapton! And, an iconic drummer, Ginger Baker! They are known for psychedelic songs like 'Strange brew' and lets not forget 'Toad' that has a magnificent drum solo by Baker.

When it comes to psychedelic rock, one has to mention The Who! Two of their most most popular songs were 'We won't get fooled again' and 'Baba O'Riley". That's pretty obvious since the two were used as themes songs for CSI Miami and CSI NY series. I would do anything to go back in time and attend a Who concert. They gave the most energy packed performances especially with the guitar smashing in the end(which I never really understood, but boy! its exhilarating!).

Eccentric, Hard core, Loud...words aren't enough to describe Deep Purple's music. I don't think there is any rock fan out there who hasn't played his/her air guitar along with 'Smoke on the water'. They might not be among the greatest rock bands of all time, but there is something about their songs like 'Child in time' and 'Soldier of fortune' that is truly mesmerizing.

Rock music is nothing without the glorious guitar. And, no band celebrates the guitar as much as Yardbirds! A band that had three of the most greatest guitarists ever known...Jimmy Page, Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck!!! Their songs; 'For your love', 'Shape of things', 'Over under sideways down' are truly amazing and are songs to be forever remembered!

Hysteria! No one can forget that album when it comes to rock music! Def Leppard were truly rocking it. Great songs like "Pour some suger on me", "Armageddon it" were out of this world! The most amazing part of Hysteria album is the fact Def Leppard's drummer Rick Allen performed with only one hand! He made up for his lost hand with his footwork! But for me, my favorite song will always be "Rock of ages".

The next band is going be my last because, honestly, I have ran out of adjectives to describe these amazing bands!

When speaking of performances, I can't leave out Freddie Mercury and Queen! Frankly speaking its impossible not to get a crowd riled up with songs like 'Bohemian Rhapsody', 'We are champions' and 'We will rock'. 'Bohemian Rhapsody' is by far the one of the most amusing and probably my favorite of all rock songs. The song just energizes you once the Brian May's guitar solo starts!
Every single time I listen to that song, I forget about everything around me as if "Nothing really matters to me"(No one could have sung it better than Freddie Mercury).

2 comments:

  1. Rock rocks...what about Eagles?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'll write about the Eagles when I write about American rock bands. This post was reagarding English rock bands

      Delete