It’s part 26 of my youtube countdown, and we’re going to the circus…the Rock and Roll Circus that is.  In 1968, the Rolling Stones produced a concert movie that was never released called the..ta daaa… Rock and Roll Circus.  The ‘Circus,’ was sadly never released for some reason, that is until the past ten years when they finally gave it a proper DVD release, which you should all get, like I did.  It features performances by the Stones, the Who, John Lennon, Eric Clapton, and a SLEW of others.  It’s fantastic, and I intend to post more videos from it in the near future.  This performance, expertly introduced by John Lennon, is the Stones playing their searing rock classic, “Jumpin’ Jack Flash.”  I love this version for several reasons.  First off, it features Brian Jones, soon to be deceased, and probably extremely high, playing with the group in full color and in awesome psychedelic clothing.  Second, I just love the way the Stones play it.  They obviously weren’t too comfortable playing it, like they would be 20 years and 10 million plays later, so they take it slow.  It comes off very sexy and sludgy, just perfect and menacing.  So enjoy ‘Jumpin’ Jack Flash for Brian Jones, the clothes, Mick Jagger not being a total douche yet, and for John Lennon being a cool motherfucker.  Go!

UPDATE 10.20.13- Google/YouTube killed the original. Here is another performance from that era. (Willie)

Stepping up to part 25 of my youtube countdown, we visit some old friends reuniting in the 1980s.  George Harrison, Elton John, Eric Clapton, Ringo Starr, Jeff Lynn from ELO, and even Phil Collins all got together to play George’s legendary White Album classic, While My Guitar Gently Weeps.  Not only does this concert take place in the 80s, the song is incredibly “80s-ified” featuring very synthy digital sounding guitars, and booming hollow drums and the like.  Also, everyone is dressed to remind you its the 80s, especially Eric, in his horrible, yet rad checkerboard jacket over his electric yellow shirt.  Plus, you can’t ignore the scumbag 80s mullets everyone has too, legendary.  Still, despite the washed-upedness of everything, this is still incredible and you should watch it over and over, especially for the awesome dueling guitar scenario between George and Eric.  Fabulous.  Also, what the hell is up with Ringo’s face in this video?   It looks like he just mugged 5 people on the way to the concert hall.

In part 24 of my youtube countdown, we’re going to look at Bob Marley’s wonderful posthumous music video, “One Love/People Get Ready.”  Why the slashed title?  Well, when Marley wrote the song in 1965, it was inspired from an old Curtis Mayfield Impressions song “People Get Ready.”  The original cut of the song from 65, was much more heavily reggaefied, but was reworked for his 1977 album Exodus into the poppier version we’re all familiar with today.  This video was cut after Marley’s tragic death and featured many pop stars including members of Bananarama, Musical Youth, and none other then Paul McCartney, providing his immortal stamp of approval as he sings and dances along.  It’s just beautiful.  One other famous guest star?  Future super model Naomi Campbell as a little girl dancing around with Bob.  I think this is one of the greatest pop anthems of all time, a simple and true tribute to love, beauty, and peace written by one of the world’s greatest heroes.  Enjoy.

PS- Why are there Spanish subtitles?  Because youtube, in its infinite wisdom, took down the original.  Oh well, its still perfectly great.

It’s kind of shame that it took 23 notches in my youtube countdown to get to Bob Dylan, one of my immortal heroes of music..and uhh..life.  The video I present to you is utterly fantastic.  It’s from the old Steve Allen Tonight Show in 1964.  Steve Allen gives Bob an lovely epic introduction to the United States, elevating him further from his cult singer status to the perennial icon that he is.  Bob is very shy, barely giving more then a one or two word answer to Steve’s easy questions.  It’s just a remarkably restrained interview on both sides with Steve eventually breaking out into Bob’s poetry, putting poor young Bob on the spot.  But it’s a beautiful moment.  Then Bob breaks into “The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll,” one of his absolute best classic “fuck you rich people” tear jerkers.  At the end of the performance, you can see there is not a dry eye in the house, with Bob having cemented himself as America’s greatest poet, songwriter, and all around genius.  If you want to see how an artist can change the world, and how revolutions of the mind and heart are really made and won, then you have to look no further then this clip.  I love this, and you should too.  Enjoy.

UPDATE 10.20.13- The original clip is gone. Enjoy this substitute. (Willie)

Part 22 of my youtube countdown features the modern legend Lucinda Williams and her miraculous Byrds-esque folk jam, Drunken Angel.  This song, about dead country singer Blaze Foley, is like the greatest song Tom Petty never wrote.  It’s one of those beautiful syncopated guitar pop gems with a gorgeous melody and wonderfully sung lyrics from Lucinda.  This is just one of those songs where I can’t help but hit the replay button over and over, and you will too, enjoy.

Part 21 of my youtube countdown continues with a special Two for Tuesday!  A few weeks ago we saw Chuck Berry rip up “Roll Over Beethoven” on a French TV show in 1958.  It was one of the most iconic moments of all time, and guess what, we’re going back to that very same show for more Berry goodness.  The first vid is Johnny B. Goode, performed with a modified intro solo and sung in a higher key.  Its rollicking.  Next is Maybellene, Chuck’s first hit.  In this performance, Chuck is giving you all his amazing dance moves, PLUS his absolutely killer guitar play.  To me it just looks like he turns his guitar into a piece of rubber, bending it to his demonic rock desires.  It’s just something about the mad look in Chuck’s eyes that makes me feel like that Devil is involved somewhere in making this little moment of awesomeness…Well, anyway, enjoy folks!

In part 20 of my youtube favorites countdown, we delve a bit into the sadder side of Beatle history with a clip of Paul McCartney reflecting on the life of his then recently deceased pal John Lennon.  Now, when most people think of Paul’s reaction to John’s death, they either think of this clip where he says rather horribly, that “Its a drag,” and nothing more.

But that’s totally unfair, as Paul was probably so stunned, that he was just rambling answers to the press in hopes to just get the fuck away from them.  For a fairer look at Paul’s feelings on the subject, we have this priceless clip.

In it, we see Paul first talk about the old days at the Cavern Club, going on about “Searchin’,” an old Coasters song.  I love his imitation of teenage John’s singing, its borderline mocking, but you could tell he really loved him.  Then the clip skips to Paul playing John’s “Beautiful Boy,” from John’s last record Double Fantasy.  Paul immediately wells up  and starts singing along.  It’s a touching moment.  I’ve read quotes about how around this era, Paul was desperate to write with John again, and it shows here.  It’s a magic bond thing Paul tried to recreate with the likes of Stevie Wonder, Elvis Costello, and Michael Jackson, but never came close to finding.  However, I have read a lot about how the ice between the two was beginning to crack around this time, and that a reunion was inevitable.  It’s not well known, but a reunion was in the works for over a decade, as they all agreed to create the “Anthology” project long before it had a name.  They were very cognizant of managing their legacy and Beatle empire in the coming years, and John was to play a big role in it.  Why?  Because what was becoming evident was, since they broke up, the Beatles popularity and myth continued to explode, and they were consistently among, if not the top sellers in the 70s, 80s, and 90s, in all commercial music.  In fact, people don’t really understand that the reason Paul, George, and Ringo united to do the “Free as a Bird” and “Real Love” singles was because they knew, had John lived, a reunion of some form or another was likely in the late 80s or early 90s.  Well, anyway, you can read more about that stuff on wikipedia’s history of the Beatles Anthology by clicking these words, but for now, enjoy this great clip, and genuine moment.

I was an 18 year old senior in high school when The Strokes burst onto the scene in the fall of 2001.  I immediately liked them, for all the cliched reasons.  I loved their style.  5 skinny guys in cool vintage clothes wearing converse.  When you’re 18 years old in 2001, you pay attention to the trends on MTV, and for what seemed like the previous formative ten years of my childhood, every musician on TV was either a snotty group of California skater punks, a slicked back collection of glittering boy band douches, or macho jewel encrusted rappers.  Even all the nerdier groups were obnoxious and “in your face.”  No one was standing up for something truly cool, that is, until the likes of The Strokes and The White Stripes came along.  At last, here were young people who understood what made rock and roll fun, and who were not massive sell outs in any obvious away.  But of course, overnight, a massive backlash was unleashed.  The Strokes became objects of ridicule and scorn.  And it was easy to see why.  Here’s a list of the top 3…

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Woohoo, another comedy video sets off part 19 of my youtube countdown.  This one, “The Liberal,” is from the height of the Reagan universe in the mid 1980s.  It starts off with one of SNL’s greatest dopey theme songs sung by what sounds a chorus of Phil Hartmans.  Anyway, the political themes and jokes expressed in this sketch are utterly timeless.  Conservatives still think poor people are lazy, liberals still believe in birth control, conservatives still accidentally shoot themselves, or their friends, hunting (see Cheney), and liberals are still on the run, abused, and shamefully hiding their core beliefs so as not to offend their conservative opposition.  This all adds up to an insanely genius sketch.  Enjoy.

If you’ve been visiting my site, you realize that a lot of my youtube favorites come from another era.  Well here’s one from a more recent time.  Part 18 of my countdown continues with the Unicorns, Tuff Ghost.  Hailing from Montreal, the now defunct Unicorns were fronted by silly pop geniuses Nick Diamonds (real name Nicholas Thorburn) and Alden Ginger (real name Alden Penner,) and backed by creative drummer J’aime Tambeur (real name Jamie Thompson.)  They had one major record release Who Will Cut Our Hair When We’re Gone, an awesome concept album about fear, death, dying, ghosts, camping, and airplanes.  I love the Unicorns because they were fronted by two incredible pop singer/songwriters who do nothing but remind me of a modern day Lennon/McCartney.  The Unicorns would sadly break up, and Diamonds, the more Lennony one went on to form the incredibly underrated group Islands, and Ginger, the McCartney one went on to form the equally interesting Clues.  I still dream of a reunion record one day, but until that happens, I’ll have to make due with videos like of Tuff Ghost.  It’s a hard bass driving pop gem with Diamonds and Ginger alternating verses about a weight lifting ghost who doesn’t sweat.  I love The Unicorn’s stage presentation, costumes, and most of all, incredible music.  So here you go, Tuff Ghost!