Jimi Hendrix, "Rock Me Baby"

B.B. King was not a metal musician by anyone's standard, even if he was badass enough to earn an obituary on MetalSucks. But his music is timeless and influential enough to help shape metal into what it is today, as heard in "Rock Me Baby", one of King's reworkings of several standard blues lyrics and progressions. As with many of King's songs, components of it can be heard in numerous other tunes, but it's King's genre-bridging version which reached the headbangers, as heard in covers by Blue Cheer, Deep Purple and best of all Jimi Hendrix, whose version at the Monterey Pop Festival was the first I ever heard. The blues had a baby, Muddy Waters noted, but the grandkid was metal.

Jimi Hendrix, "Angel"

Naming "Angel" as your favorite Hendrix song is a little like saying that Paul McCartney is your favorite Beatle. It's not as popular as John or "Purple Haze," nor is it as cool as George or "1983... (A Merman I Should Turn to Be)." But judging on songcraft alone, it stands above the rest.



Why is that? There's nothing particularly flashy about it, which might be why Jimi never released it in his lifetime. But for an artist whose songs are pretty much universally loved, Hendrix never seems to get enough credit as a composer. Sure, everyone admirers the guitar playing, but he also had an impeccable sense of melody, knowing when to use a good, subtle progression and give it breathing room, the way that he does here. Jeff Beck would have probably gussied it up until it was lost in a nine-minute jam, and Clapton would need outside songwriting help to come up with anything like it. If I believed in angels, I'd thank them that Jimi gave this song the structure and lyrics that it deserves.

Something about this magic little song transcends arrangements and performances. I love the orchestrated version, performed here by Gil Evans' band in the 70s.



Fiona Apple's rendition on MTV Unplugged is as lovely as anything I can think of (starts around 10:43).



Even Rod Stewart and the Faces could stop being silly on Top of the Pops long enough to show some reverence.



Songs usually don't get covered this often unless a) Everyone likes them, and/or b) People assume they can sing it better than the original performer (see "Blowin' in the Wind" or "Hallelujah.") With "Angel," I wonder if it's a little of both--people like it, and most people think of Jimi as the Guitar God and leave it at that. But most likely, Hendrix just created a mood that everyone wants to be a part of. Fly on, my sweet angel.

Kanye West and Axl Rose

"(West) seems to have insinuated in a recent New York Times interview that My Beautiful Dark, Twisted Fantasy was to make up for stupid shit he'd done. And now, with this album, it's 'Now that you like me, I'm going to make you unlike me.' It's a dare. It's braggadoccio. Axl Rose has done that too, lots of people have. 'I Am a God' — I mean, with a song title like that, he's just begging people to attack him."
                                --Lou Reed

"The softest song at the end of the hardest album – like GN'R putting 'Rocket Queen' at the end of Appetite for Destruction. Without it, Yeezus would be a totally different album, maybe one-third as powerful as it is. After all that techno-testosterone rage, Kanye finally releases all the girlie emotions he keeps hidden in his soul, and it all comes down to that "uh huh, honey."
                                --Rob Sheffield

"Nobody can tell me where I can and can’t go. Man, I’m the number one living and breathing rock star. I am Axl Rose; I am Jim Morrison; I am Jimi Hendrix. You can’t say that you love music and then say that Kanye West can’t come to your show! To even think they could tell me where I could and couldn’t go is just ludicrous. It’s blasphemous—to rock ’n’ roll, and to music.”
                                --Kanye West

The Three Best Metal Songs About Native Americans

I'm glad that the movement for the Washington Redskins to change their name is picking up. Owner Dan Snyder might be sure that his own childhood nostalgia matters more than the dignity of an entire race of people, and I know he speaks for a lot of folks who are attached to the name without meaning any harm. Still, I doubt Snyder will call the name "a badge of honor" to any of the Oneida Indian Nation spokesmen he's been dodging meetings with.

The Redskins should change their name, and the fans will get over it, just like they got over the changed lyrics to their theme song ("Scalp 'em, swamp 'um/We will take 'um big score") and the team's integration (original owner/virulent racist George Preston Marshall held out until 1962, when Bobby Kennedy threatened to take away their stadium.)

In honor of a group of people getting disrespected by a billion-dollar industry and this weekend's federal holiday (not to mention John Boehner's shutdown cutting off their healthcare and education funds), here are three songs to play loud this weekend.

1. Iron Maiden, "Run to the Hills"



Easily the best metal song written about American Indians, and probably the best over all song about their tribulations at the hands of the Europeans. Informative without being heavy-handed, "Run to the Hills" is carried by Iron Maiden's most recognizable intro and that eternally rousing chorus, ripping centuries of colonialism out of the history books and writing in the parts about murder, rape and enslavement. Maiden would go on to make more great albums, and still be the best live metal band in the world 30 years later, but by "Run to the Hills," they'd already cemented their place as a cultural force.

2. Anthrax, "Indians"



This used to be the only song that I would ever skip on Among the Living, Anthrax's 1987 classic that's often nominated as the best New York City metal album ever. Listening again, I'm remembering that the music and verses rock pretty hard--it's just the irksome chorus ("Cry for the Indians! Die for the Indians!") that makes one wish that Anthrax had stuck to writing about comic books and Stephen King. Still, "Indians" means well and gets by on the riffs and drumming. Half-Iroquois singer Joey Belladonna was not the cause's most articulate spokesman, but as dreadful songs like the Cult's "American Horse" and Rebel Meets Rebel's "Cherokee Cry" prove, he didn't have an easy task.

3. Testament, "Native Blood"



Testament have always been a small cut below the Big Four, both artistically and commercially, but they were arguably the most consistent, an honor that was upheld on 2012's excellent Dark Roots of Earth. If anything, they've gotten heavier over the past 25 years, and not due to compression. Lead singer Chuck Billy had addressed his native heritage before ("Trail of Tears," "Allegiance,") but never as searingly as on "Native Blood," which won the band a music video award  at the American Indian Film Festival. Also, unless we're counting proto-metalhead Jimi Hendrix, Billy is metal's most accomplished American Indian.

Motörhead, "(We Are) The Road Crew"

A guitar teacher friend of mine was telling me about a student who brought in "The Load-Out," Jackson Browne's interminable ode to his roadies that's best-known for the live version that works in Maurice Williams' doo-wop staple "Stay."

I can't tell why anyone likes this song. Its melody and arrangement are the worst of dad rock sap, making the Eagles sound like Alice Cooper. The lyrics are even worse, coming across like a third-rate, unintentionally funny "Turn the Page" (Jackson's noble roadies are "working for that minimum wage"--well, who's paying them that?) One can imagine Richard Pryor, whom Browne proudly claims to have "on the video," gagging in earshot of this tripe.



Thankfully, it took just a few years for someone else to give roadies the tribute that they deserve.



"(We Are) The Road Crew" was written in the studio in ten minutes and recorded almost as hastily. Guitarist "Fast" Eddie Clarke accidentally crashes into feedback halfway through the solo, but the band kept it in the studio version. Lemmy, a roadie for Jimi Hendrix and Syd Barrett-era Pink Floyd before he'd earned his metal god status, sounds like he's been itching to scream this one since his days of unpacking Hendrix's Fender. His restless delivery is perfect for the stories of Another Town, Another Place, Another Girl, Another Face, Another Truck, Another Race. As Mr. Kilmister remembers in his autobiography:

"One of our road crew cried when we first played that song for them. I'm not going to say who it was. We took the lot of them up to the studio one day and played them the track. And this one guy cracked and broke down right then and there. He was weeping, 'Oh, that's a great one. That's great.' It was really nice that it affected somebody that deeply. Bands as a rule don't treat their crews too well. I try to."

Patterns

Patterns

1. The Replacements, "I Will Dare"
2. Big Star, "The Ballad of El Goodo"
3. Guided by Voices, "Game of Pricks"
4. The Kinks, "David Watts"
5. Nico, "These Days"
6. Sam Cooke, "A Change is Gonna Come"
7. The White Stripes, "Hotel Yorba"
8. Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, "There She Goes, My Beautiful World"
9. Jimi Hendrix, "Crosstown Traffic"
10. Nirvana, "Lake of Fire"
11. The Cure, "In Between Days"
12. The Who, "Pure and Easy"
13. Ben Folds Five, "Boxing"
14. Pulp, "Common People"
15. The Coasters, "Along Came Jones"
16. The Rolling Stones, "Mixed Emotions"
17. Nina Simone, "Pirate Jenny"
18. Cream, "I Feel Free"
19. Roy Orbison, "You Got It"
20. Stevie Wonder, "Don't You Worry 'bout a Thing"

For my dad's birthday.

Best of the Cars

"As I'm buying a car this week (!) you should each make me a playlist about cars," my sister texted her music nerd friends a few days ago. So much for all the other work I was supposed to do this week.



Best of the Cars

1. AC/DC, "Highway to Hell"
2. Public Enemy, "You're Gonna Get Yours"
3. The Clash, "Brand New Cadillac"
4. Gary Numan, "Cars"
5. Arcade Fire, "Keep the Car Running"
6. Guided By Voices, "Motor Away"
7. Tom Waits, "Ol' 55"
8. Robert Johnson, "Terraplane Blues"
9. Tom Petty, "Runnin' Down a Dream"
10. The Jimi Hendrix Experience, "Crosstown Traffic"
11. Wilson Pickett, "Mustang Sally"
12. T-Rex, "Jeepster"
13. Van Halen, "Panama"
14. The Dead Milkmen, "Bitchin' Camaro"
15. Prince, "Little Red Corvette"
16. The Who, "Going Mobile"
17. War, "Low Rider"
18. Howlin' Wolf, "Cadillac Daddy (Mr. Highway Man)"
19. Alice Cooper, "Under My Wheels"
20. The Beach Boys, "I Get Around"
21. The Beatles, "Drive My Car"
22. Chuck Berry, "No Particular Place to Go"
23. Big Star, "Back of a Car"
24. Janis Joplin, "Mercedes Benz"
25. Neil Young, "Long May You Run"

Let the good times roll.

The car song is one of the most celebrated rock traditions, a move that made careers for Chuck Berry, the Beach Boys and Bruce Springsteen, among others.  To help cut this down to 80 minutes, I enforced the one-song-per artist rule. Thus we get "No Particular Place to Go" and "I Get Around," plus the Springsteen quota filled by singer-songwriters who wrote better car songs (Waits, Petty, Young.)

The first track that sprung to mind was "Cars," by honorable one hit wonder Gary Numan, and the obvious Prince, War and Wilson Pickett choices were also too awesome to resist. Of course I also had to include "Highway to Hell" and "Panama," both deservedly canonized yet unappreciated as car jams, as well as the amazing "Your Gonna Get Yours," Chuck D's uncharacteristically materialistic hymn to his 98 Oldsmobile. Maybe Flavor Flav got into his head.

At the risk of alienating both of my readers, I think that blues songs are best heard on mix CDs. Robert Johnson and Howlin' Wolf's talents stand out more next to Tom Petty and Alice Cooper than they do next to shoddily-recorded alternate version demos of the same song three times in a row. I also like the Arcade Fire and Dead Milkmen songs better out of their original context.

I still love the Who and Jimi Hendrix contributions, almost unreasonably, and "Back of a Car," like everything else from the original Big Star records, makes me swoon. #1 Record/Radio City is one of those things that probably gets an advantage if it finds you when you're still young enough to enjoy shaving.

Enjoy the tunes, Sis! Drive safe.