Everyone in my age group has seen Pee Wee's Big Adventure
at least a hundred times right? Well then each and every one of you
has also heard "Burn In Hell". At least the chorus of it. I am all
about the Dee Snider. Dude's hilarious, doesn't take himself the least
bit seriously, (cause how could you?), he wrote every song on Stay Hungry,
and he's as ass-whoopingly awesome of a heavy metal vocalist as the
universe has ever been given. And "Burn In Hell"? C'mon. This song
rocks more balls than Mount Rushmore kung-fu fighting the Himalayan
mountains, (get it, cause they're both made out of rocks?). When it
comes to heavy metal jams, I think I'd have to go as far as to say that
this has the greatest chorus in the genre's history. Plus there's that
opening Sabbath riff, killer lead, and again, Dee Snider wailing like
he's preaching to the brethren of the rock and roll dammed. So throw up
dem horns and fist pump like a drag queen!
And
here be another of my favorite bands making it's debut on this list.
There can't possibly be a Dream Theater fan alive or dead who doesn't
think that "Metropolis Pt. 1" isn't as ballsmazing of a song as has ever
been conceived. Fuck "Pull Me Under, (which is still better than most
things any other crop of musicians could come up with mind you), but
"Metropolis" is probably the signature DT tune. This was the first of
their songs I ever heard, a buddy of mine playing it for me and my
brother one afternoon with a warning that our heads were gonna fall off
our necks. He lied not. The instrumental section is what instantly
blows the mind of anyone who's listening, with some quintessential feats
of virtuosity that DT has always been unfathomably proficient at. John
Myung's bass solo is so jaw-dropping it's silly. After a couple
hundred times listening to Images and Words, possibly the best
album ever made that's not a Beatles album, I've since grown to adore
the whole rest of "Metropolis" besides the instrument masturbation
section and to top it off, this is the best vocal performance James
LaBrie ever gave.
Once
again, I have to specify a live version here as superior to the studio
one. It's the Woodstock rendition of "I Want To Take You Higher" that
ranks as the first anything I ever heard from the utterly influential
and lauded funk pioneers Sly and the Family Stone. And as it's always
remained, it's the best Sly jam of all time. The Woodstock version is adrenaline-drivenly faster, and a whole lot longer due to drugs and
Sly's hilariously groovy rant and build up at the end. And more drugs.
Four Stone members trade off and duo the lead vocals, Sly of course, as
well as guitarist Freddie Stone, bass god Larry Graham, and female
vocalist Rose Stone. And they are all funktastic. As are the
ultra-hooky yet brief bass, guitar, and harmonica solos and that inward
breathing one note sax solo. It's impossible not to lose yourself in
the drug fueled, good time funk party happiness that's on loud-ass
display here. Everything the Family Stone and Sir Sly were phenomenal
at, done to the nines.
Did somebody say drugs? I honestly have to say right off the bat that Bobby Gillespie probably has the absolute worst voice in any otherwise good band. It often comes very close to distracting one from how completely awesome everything else that's going on is on Screamadelica. Almost. Cause ultimately, smack dab in the middle of one of the best album's to emerge in the entire decade of the 90s is "Come Together", definitely one of the best song's to emerge from any decade. Not to be confused with the iconic Beatles "Come Together", which Scream's version shares zero similarities with besides those words appearing and both band's being British, this song sums up the entire Screamadelica experience. Meaning ecstasy. Lots and lots of ecstasy. The opening and very, very long closing chorus of just the song's title sung over and over again is one of my favorite things in any song ever. And the fact that more than half of "Come Together's" eight minute running time is dedicated just to that is a stroke of genius. I very often say that my favorite part of any song I only wish would go on infinitely. In the case here, it comes about as close as ever to doing just that.
46. "These Are the Days of Our Lives" - Queen
Sadly there is an easy choice for well, the saddest Queen song. That title belongs to "These Are the Days of Our Lives" the biggest single from Innuendo. In 1991 it was released on Freddie Mercury's birthday in the U.S. and then nine months later in the native U.K. after his death along with "Bohemian Rhapsody" once again, where it remained for five weeks and ultimately won a slew of awards for that year. The lyrics for "Days" were penned by Roger Taylor about his own musings on moving up in age and the music video was the last that Freddie ever shot. Watching said video and hearing Mercury's routinely flawless and gorgeous vocal throughout is what makes the song hit just so, so much harder. I've yet to meet anyone who doesn't love this one and I've also yet to listen to this song without getting a little or a lot emotional myself. Queen was a band with zero equals and Freddie's was a voice that will never, ever be bettered. And this is a shinning testament amongst many other examples of these two things being undeniable.
45. "Fake Plastic Trees" - Radiohead
To be clear, I love that Radiohead turned weird. From the very first time I heard Kid A on the day it came out, I immediately proclaimed it as the best album they ever made and I stand by that statement ever as much today. Really every album in their discography is exceptional save maybe Pablo Honey. Which brings us to their sophomore effort The Bends and therefor "Fake Plastic Trees". This has been a signature song for the band since pretty much always and even doodling away with electronica flavored prog-pop brilliance as they've been doing for years now, there is still no escaping the fact that it remains their very best song. This is one of the first songs I ever learned how to play on guitar, (cause it's easy, I suck at guitar, and it's this great), and for a number of years it was probably my favorite song of all time. Over ten plus more years of continuously listening to and checking out more music, "Trees" has slipped a few dozen spots maybe, but to say it's less great would be undeserving indeed. All acoustic ballads should sound like this.
44. "Always On the Run" - Lenny Kravitz
Lenny Kravitz had about a three and three quarters run of excellent albums. Let Love Rule kinda blows except maybe a song or two, Mama Said through Circus are sexy beasts, and 5 is solid except for one of the very worst songs in the history of mankind in "Fly Away". So bad was said shartfest that it permanently took Kravitz right the fuck off my radar, where he's perhaps unfairly remained ever since. But going back to the man's second and by far best album Mama Said again, "Always On the Run" is what awesome would sound like if awesome were a song. It's one thing that the riff in this song could kill Godzilla fucking King Kong, then it's another thing that the OTHER riff going on simultaneously with it could carry the song to greatness all on it's funky lonesome. Then you have a Slash guitar solo which is a thing that's impossible not to suck. And finally, the horns at the end of this song are the best thing that any horns in any song have ever played. So yeah, Sir Leonard knocked it out of the stratosphere with this one.
43. "Two of Us" - The Beatles
"Two of Us" kickstarts the original Let It Be album and true to the era in Beatles history, it was penned solely by but one in the John Lennon/Paul McCartney duo, (the later in this case), though credited to both. Out of the four Beatles jams I have on this list, every last one of them were written and recorded during the band's final year and a half together, which basically goes to show that the greatest band in history just kept getting better and better up until the very end. And even written during the band's most turbulent time, meaning the Get Back sessions, "Two of Us" still can't help but to be a brilliant and simple piece of work, the Beatles at their folky best.
42. "Love You To Death" - Type O Negative
Peter Steele was easily one of the best songwriters in metal history and no band before or since has sounded anything like Type O Negative. Steele's outstanding and unique, vampiric vocals, that intentionally cheap guitar tone, those Beatlesy background vocals, and those church keyboards are all thrown together and make their very best collective sound on the first "real" track on October Rust, "Love You To Death". I don't think I've had a different favorite Type O song since I've acquired all of their albums and I doubt I ever will. This just represents everything that was fantastic about this band and Pete Steele. Arranged in a linear fashion, another Steele trademark, "Love" rolls along equally creepy and gorgeous and eventually gets to that spellbinding "Am I good enough...for you?" section at the end. I get goosebumps every time I hear it. If only every other Goth-flavored band was even half as good as Type O was, then such misery fueled music would be so much more joyous to hear.
41. "Racing In the Street" - Bruce Springsteen
Some more of the Boss for dat ass. The long and incredibly tedious sessions for Darkness On the Edge of Town produced an enormous crop of material, apparently seventy songs written and ONLY fifty-two recorded. Most eventually found their home on future Springsteen albums and compilations, and more still were given to other artists, "Because the Night" most famously for Miss Patti Smith. But amongst the boatload of gems floating around during this period, the one that towered over them all I'd say is one of the lucky ones that actually made it onto the Darkness album, "Racing In the Streets". The "one about a girl" as Little Steven had said, "Streets" is nearly seven minutes of just about one chord progression played over and over again and slowly boiling to an eyes closed, swaying finish that just moves you to a bigger house. I'd certainly go as far as to say that this is the most gorgeous song Springsteen ever wrote. Of course it's a piano ballad so it had a head start for my liking already, but this is really a beauty that you have to just sit in total concentration for and just get lost in along the ride.
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