Holy shit, did you know that the guy who co-wrote the original Spider-Man theme song with Bob Harris was 3 time Oscar winner Paul Francis Webster? I know, WEBster, you can’t make that shit up! The original theme song to the classic 1967 cartoon, and now classic internet meme, “Spider-Man,” was a work of genius. The lyrics are phenomenal, the melody impossible to forget, and the driving bass line addictive as all can be. Thank God the Ramones knew this too and made a secret music video to celebrate their secret hidden track found on 1995 Adios Amigos! vinyl. This is a dynamic video of the Ramones in their later years and features Joey and the rocking out the tune on a NYC skyscraper. Look out for the Twin Towers, no ones editing these babies out of this movie. Amazing!
Some Girls is one of the best Rolling Stones records. It’s sleazy, dirty, punky, and country. It came out in 1978, and has just been reissued it a nice little collectors package. You should get it; I know I will. To celebrate its corporate repackaging, I present to you a thoroughly scandalous fan made music video of the title song from the record. The video features classic films such as “Easy Rider,” “Backbeat,” “Quadrophenia,” “Death Proof,” “Goodfellas,” and “Dr. No.” It also has great clips of the Sex Pistols, Blondie, and the Rolling Stones, all vamping it up for one of the Stones most booziest songs.
At last we get to see Sid Vicious performing with the band. In my last Sex Pistols post, it was Glen Matlock in the promo vid for “Anarchy in the UK.” It’s probably not Sid playing bass on the actual track, but its cool to see the icon of the group thrashing about in this historic clip. I’ve been staying in Australia for the last few weeks, and I recently got a coin in my change honoring the marriage of Prince William and Kate Middleton. It was kind of horrifying that such a thing is stamped on the official currency, so I had to put up “God Save the Queen,” in honor of such a revolting display of unearned honor. The song itself is fairly revolutionary, released in 1977, the year of Queen Elizabeth II’s Silver Jubilee. Johnny Rotten claimed the song was written out of love for the English people’s working class, deriding the monarchy as fascist, and proclaiming that England has no future. It’s actually a complex idea about class warfare presented in the awesome straightforward punk rock format. The song is filled with delicious riffs, and a perfect acid tipped vocal delivery from Rotten. A true classic, enjoy.
Now that my countdown is complete, I thought it’d be fun to look back at the whole list, organize it, link it up, and add a fresh comment or two for posterity’s sake. So, without further ado, here it is, part 1 of my youtube countdown featuring the last 25 songs to appear on the list.
#100. The Beatles, All You Need is Love – Is it my favorite Beatles song? Not technically, but I think it’s their greatest triumph. FYI, this video was originally in black and white until the art gurus at Apple colorized it based on photographs from the event.
#99. The Beatles, Nowhere Man – The song that inspired me to become a Beatle slave, and a musician myself. Fun fact, not many songs have a guitar solo after the first verse.
#97. Carl Perkins and Friends, Rockabilly School – One of the greatest TV concerts in rock and roll history. Does anyone have a magic pair of blue suede shoes so I can travel back in time and be at this show?
Part 76 of my youtube countdown closes down punk week in a hilarious fashion. It’s an old interview from the Howard Stern show featuring Joey Ramone and Marky Ramone going at each others throats with juvenile comic viciousness. Marky calls up Howard complaining that Joey called Marky a drunk the other day. Joey gets on the line and accuses Marky of having spread rumors about him on the internet. The fight intensifies and devolves from there into petty name calling, a question into who is sober and who is not, and a cutting accusation of wig wearing. It’s so funny because its a real fight and gives you an idea as to what band fights are like, the insecurity amongst members, and the fragility of their massive egos. Happily, the fight does resolve fairly amicably, but probably because both Joey and Marky started to get embarrassed. This is a great moment in punk rock history and a must listen. Oh, yea, I included, “I Wanna Be Sedated” as a bonus video to serve as a nice chaser to the hilarious antics. Enjoy.
Part 75 continues my unplanned punk week, this time with the legendary X Ray Spex performing their underground surf punk classic, “Identity.” Never heard of X Ray Spex? Well, they were an original punk group from London whose goal was to be “deliberate underachievers.” Releasing only one album, Germ Free Adolescents, X Ray Spex were like a shooting comet of high octane punk rock. They were fronted by Poly Styrene, whose voice traveled like a laser beam of effervescent power over roaring distorted guitars and awesome surfy saxophones. Sadly, she just recently died this past April due to breast cancer. This post is a tribute to Poly, her amazing band, and this amazing video. Check it out.
Part 74 roars on, as I guess its punk week here on williesimpson.com. This time I have the Ramones smashing through a blistering live performance of “Blitzkrieg Bop,” the lead off track from their debut record. The Ramones, hailing from Forest Hill, Queens, NY, are probably the world’s first original punk rockers. This video is amazing. First of all, they are performing “Blitzkrieg Bop” in Germany of all places. Second, its almost a note perfect recreation of the record, which speaks to the Ramones awesome live power. Their energy and passion just fly off the stage, and off the screen. This is one of the coolest documents in rock and roll history, and everyone who likes music needs to watch it.
I’m in a punky mood, so for part 73 of my youtube countdown, I have the Sex Pistols with their 1976 classic, “Anarchy in the UK” from their seminal LP Never Mind the Bollocks. There is not much I can say about this record that the video doesn’t give you. Oh, its Glen Matlock on bass not Sid Vicious, (he must have been MIA.) I like how Johnny Rotten is staged behind the drummer, you never see that in a band’s stage presentation. I like this song for its musicality. It’s got a sludgy almost phasered electric guitar sound, and Johnny Rotten’s vocal delivery has just the right amount of that classic English bite. Lyrically, the song is genius, with the idea of the song right up front, no metaphor, no bullshit, and its FUNNY! Most people like to associate danger and violence with the Sex Pistols, but I always associate humor. They were funny in interviews, their lyrics were clever and sharp, and they were media pranksters. Pretty cool.
Welcome to part 57 of my never ending youtube countdown. Today, I present another one of England’s best, this time, The Kinks! I start off this blog with an understatement, the Kinks are an interesting group. Led by lead singer/songwriter and all around musical genius, Ray Davies, the Kinks are the all time kings of garage rock in my opinion. The rest of the band, which originally featured Mick Avory on drums (who nearly killed lead guitarist Dave Davies (Ray’s 17 year old brother) by knocking him unconscious with his drum set in an on stage brawl), and Pete Quaife on bass. Also, Ray and Dave were constant bickering brothers who fought constantly for decades. Yea…the Kinks had a slew of problems which led to a crazy ban from US touring at the height of the British Invasion and their commerical breakthrough success with “You Really Got Me.” This ban cost the Kinks a potential army of fans, tons of money, and a greater spotlight that the likes of the Beatles, Rolling Stones, and the Who all happily lapped up. For the rest of their existence, though still managing to churn out hits because of Ray’s sheer brilliance, and still influencing the very bands listed above enormously, the Kinks never got their proper recognition and were forced to carry on throughout the years in a Spinal Tap like state, embarrassingly embracing heavy metal schlock and stage craft by the 1980s in an attempt to stay relevant. It’s one of the biggest crimes in rock and roll history because the Kinks were that good. Ray Davies basically invented garage rock with “You Really Got Me,” a song which the Who admitted to copying for their breakout single, “Can’t Explain.” Ray’s songwriting was also heavily influential on the likes of John Lennon, who considered “Wonderboy” one of his favorite songs ever, and used it years later as the inspiration for “Beautiful Boy.” Not only that, he turned into one of rock and rolls greatest lyricists and melody makers, basically as good the Beatles, sometimes even better considering he had to put the whole band on his back and never had a partner to share the load with. The most inspiring thing about Ray is the legacy of gorgeous, honest, and uncompromising music he left behind (well at least through the first half of the 70s,) and “You Really Got Me,” is his undeniable greatest splash hit. So here it is, rev it up, and toast one to Ray folks, one of the greatest ever.
Part 33 of my youtube favorites countdown continues with The Police’s excellent music video for “So Lonely.” Released in 1978 from their brilliant Outlandos d’Amour album, “So Lonely” is an example of their classic punk/reggae hybrid formula. Sting went so far to say that the chorus was ripped directly off of Bob Marley’s “No Woman No Cry.” I don’t hear it. I also can’t really hear the punk in this song so much. I mean, I’m sure in 1978, this was probably considered punk, but come on, its pop, power pop, and there is nothing wrong with that. In fact, I love the gasoline charged chorus, which is incredibly catchy and resonant. Sting was such a genius writing songs about heartbreak, anger, and breakups. Anyway, in the video, we have the Police on a Japanese subway, which is ALWAYS a great place to film a music video. I think its really rad, and I think you will too. Enjoy.
