The one Johnny Thunders song most people know and would agree is a classic. Covered by everyone from Guns ‘n’ Roses to Ronnie Spector. Put to great use not only in Martin Scorsese’s “Bringing out the Dead” but also on “The Sopranos.”
More great pseudo-Bowie from Love and Rockets, circa 1987. It does sound a little overproduced (as most music does from the 1980s) but it also sounds great under headphones. From the stellar “Earth, Sun, Moon” album.
Most people these days know the very good Tom Petty cover, but the original is terrific in its own right. My favorite Byrds song.
With the controversy over “Cop Killer,” often overlooked was the stellar playing of the band assembled for Ice-T’s metal band Body Count. “C Note” is a fine update of early Funkadelic, this time courtesy of Ernie C., Body Count’s severely underrated lead guitarist.
An early reggae classic that would not have been out of place on the Stax-Volt labels back in the late 1960s. As Toots himself sang later in his career, “Reggae got soul.”
Aside from Kurt Cobain and Nirvana, PJ Harvey was arguably the most influential “alternative” artist of the 1990s. While not as commercially successful as Alanis Morissette or Courtney Love, Harvey kept it frighteningly real for most of her career and unlike a certain critically acclaimed alternative sister who will go unnamed, never compromised to get a commercial “hit” she would regret later. Harvey’s music still has the power to unnerve even to this day.
I’m not a huge fan of U2, but “One” from 1992’s “Achtung Baby” is one for the ages. An almost perfect song / performance. Except Johnny Cash’s cover tops it. Breathtaking, emotional, brilliant stuff.
An alternate, Phil Spectorish-take on the Stones classic from 1966. As much as I love the original from “Aftermath,” this alternate mix is heavenly and available on “Metamorphosis” and “The Singles Collection.”
Seriously, aside from Martin Scorsese and Wes Anderson, Quentin Tarantino has the best taste in pop music of any living director. Who else but QT would remember (and use) this stellar rocker that was first heard in director William Friedkin’s notorious (and underrated) gay slasher film “Cruising”? Anyway, the song was impossible to find for years, but is now easily available on the “Death Proof” soundtrack. Thanks, Quentin for not only your great taste in music, but for making so much of it available on your soundtracks.
If you need further proof that the Top 40 is sometimes the safe haven for terrific songs that don’t fit in anywhere else, here we go again. Before Bob Marley … before Jimmy Cliff … this reggae song hit the U.S. Billboard Top Ten back in 1969. A great, classic song. Effectively used in Gus Van Sant’s 1989 film “Drugstore Cowboy.”
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