The four hundred and thirty-fifth song: Hotel California - The Eagles
How fairly can you judge a song as famous as this? Hotel California is a song I've been anticipating for a few years at this point. It's a classic, one that has a supernatural reading, but just as much can be interpreted to be about a place in life, something political or some other type of commentary, and all those readings work on some level.The relaxed rock makes it unintrusive, giving the feeling of that feeling that'd make you happy to stay in a place, prisoners of your own device where you're happy to stay in a place like that. It's lengthy, maybe not in a way that it should always be, but it sounds good, with enough of a message to make you wonder.
The four hundred and thirty-sixth song: Roadrunner - The Modern Lovers
While I would normally associate punk with a more political message, anti establishment and aggressive, Roadrunner (which would be classed as proto punk) is a lot simpler, instead focusing on the love of driving through American suburbs. It's not that deep, musically or lyrically, but just talks about an enjoyment of driving and being on the road. It's fine, infectious in a way, but doesn't feel like it offers me that much more.
The four hundred and thirty-seventh song: American Girl - Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers
We've got a nice poppy rock song here, the fun of the song perhaps slightly betraying its lyrics about wanting more out of life. There's something exciting about it, as the song plays on, while Tom Petty's slower vocals create a contrast that adds something slower to it. It works well, staying positive while it doesn't have quite all of that in the lyrics.
The four hundred and thirty-eighth song: Detroit Rock City - Kiss
Kiss's on stage persona is a big enough part of the band that it's hard for me to separate myself from them without a deeper dive into the music. Here in the songs it shows that too: While we have a hard rock number here, the additions of the sounds of traffic and the original album setting creates something theatrical as well. It is quite an exciting number that builds here, with some triumphant moments in there that makes for a good sounding song.
The four hundred and thirty-ninth song: Young Harts Run Free - Candi Staton
It's hard for me to point at where this song is special. It's disco, but quite standard disco at that. It is nice to dance to, but while there is a message int here, this doesn't feel like the genre of music to tell it in - especially as it feels like Candi Staton doesn't need all the production this number adds to it.
The four hundred and fourtieth song: Chase The Devil - Max Romeo
There is something unsettling and different about this song. While reggae generally doesn't work that well for me, there's something about the way the music works here that adds an unearthly feeling to it. The fact that it works better when sampled in other songs is probably the most telling - there's some good qualities here, but it's missing some things to really make the song work.
The four hundred and fourty-first song: New Rose- The Damned
Apparently this might be the first punk single. The aggression in the song goes through and it's a weird combination of the aggressive, noise filled punk sound and something fun in a joy of something new in life that feels like it goes missing a bit from punk as it becomes more political. It's loud and full, but enjoys things as well.
The four hundred and fourty-second song: Anarchy in the U.K. - Sex Pistols
In contrast, while released a few weeks after New Rose, Anarchy in the U.K. feels like it defines the punk attitude far more - anarchy, destruction and anger at the world. We'll get more of that, but here the attitude from the band members come through and this is as much a statement as anything, a "wall of sound" that fits underneath the vocals quite rightly, emphasizing the call for anarchy that would continue for some time. It feels like a statement, as well as a way in which the way the landscape shifted.
The four hundred and fourty-third song: Poor Poor Pitiful Me - Warren Zevon
Sometimes you can feel the sarcasm come through in the song title. It's a song about everything going wrong - down to failed suicide attempts, but the country rock song (far better than the country I've covered for the albums list so far) is sardonic enough that it feels amusing and funny instead. From not having heard of him, I'm actually quite curious to hear what else he has done, as there's something clever in these lyrics that I really enjoy.
The four hundred and fourty-fourth song: Underground - The Upsetters
While I've dunked on reggae a bit before, a lot of that felt like it came from the repetitive nature of the lyrics and how that influenced the song. Freed from those constraints, Lee "Scratch" Perry, the record producer, creates a more interesting sound as the repetition goes and we get a far more interesting mix of sounds instead. It's a soundscape that is created, with interesting scratches and different effects that make for something slightly otherworldly. While technically reggae, the instrumentals here move away from that genre's flaws into something quite appealing.