Before Nine Inch Nails, there was Killing Joke … delivering pulverizing industrial rhythms and loud metallic guitars in equal measures. The standout track from 1981’s “…what’s THIS for !!!!” album.
A song I never get tired of when I hear it on 80s or New Wave stations. A classic in any idiom and only the tip of the iceberg as far as The Church is concerned. A terrific, underrated band.
This ballad from hell is my favorite track off Iggy’s infamously awesome “Raw Power” album. Many prefer the sturm and drang of “Search and Destroy” and the title track, but I always found this “love” song way more sinister and frightening. “There’s nothing left alive but a pair of glassy eyes … raise my fears one more time.”
Admittedly, the visuals on this YouTube clip are Hallmark card level cheesy, but this is the only place on YouTube I could find the Stones’s stellar studio cover of this O.V. Wright classic (also classically covered by Otis Redding). One of the Stones best.
A pre-“Joey” Concrete Blonde doing a very cool, more commercial version of the band X. Lots of aggressive guitars, lyrics about the sleazy side of Hollywood, and very rockin’! Just try not to hop around the room to this.
I almost posted the decent cover of this warhorse done by Nick Cave and Shane McGowan, but this version is not only better, it has taken on added poignancy since it was on Joey’s posthumously released album “Don’t Worry about Me.” RIP, Joey!
The masters of the crazy rhythms crank up the tempo on this stellar cover of the Stones classic. Recorded in 1990 and included on the A&M reissue of their 1980 album “Crazy Rhythms,” though you’d never know it based on the energy they bring to it.
From the Velvet’s 3rd, self-titled album. Love the guitar and organ work on this song.
The ending to director Robert Altman’s funny, brutal, bone-chilling satire from 1975, “Nashville,” one the greatest movies of all time. The scene starts right after the assassination of a Loretta Lynn-inspired Country singer and a wannabe singer played by Barbara Harris is given the mic to restore order and peace in the wake of a horrific tragedy. Some critics have opined that this scene is a cynical statement on celebrity, but I see it as something more profound. When tragedies happen, whether they be celebrity assassinations (i.e. John Lennon) or something substantially more catastrophic (9/11), people need hope. People need to know that things are going to be OK. It’s too easy to sneer and snicker that the world is a horrible place, that humans are horrible motherfu–ers who only look after themselves. The notion and belief that there is a better way is way ballsier, in my mind. If you feel this is a Pollyanna-esque view, I disagree and feel sorry for you. Making the decision to believe in something is not a fool’s errand. If you’ve done your homework and take a stand, it’s the most courageous thing you can do.
Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
Dave's Strange World 