Posted June 23, 2011 at 1:21 am | No comments
“Times Like These” is a song by the Foo Fighters, appearing on their 2003 album, One by One. Released as the second single from that record after the abrasive hard rocker “All My Life,” expresses how people come together during and after a crisis with hopeful lyrics like “It’s times like these you learn to love again.” The song begins in 7/4 time, and the chorus is grouped in 3’s, but the Foo Fighters do it a way that is so natural the odd time signature and grouping don’t feel awkward. Capitalizing on the ambiguous nature of the lyrics, George W. Bush used “Times Like These” for his 2004 re-election campaign without permission, prompting the Foo Fighters to become much more politically active.
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Posted June 22, 2011 at 4:21 am | No comments
“The Pretender” is one of the Foo Fighters hardest-rocking singles. Also one of their most successful, it is their third-highest charting song, after “Best of You” and “Learn to Fly.” Released in 2007 as a single from Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace, “The Pretender” won three Grammy’s in 2008, Best Rock Song, Record of the Year, and Best Hard Rock Performance. While Dave Grohl never cites specifics, he has said that the lyrics deal with the feeling at the time of political dissatisfaction. He says of the lyrics, “Everyone’s been fucked over before and I think a lot of people feel fucked over right now and they’re not getting what they were promised.”
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Posted June 21, 2011 at 4:21 am | No comments
The Foo Fighters’ boisterous 1997 hit “Monkey Wrench” features driving guitars and power chords that jump all over the neck, all recorded by Dave Grohl. The drum part, while played by Taylor Hawkins in the music video, was also played by Grohl on the recording. The song, while not sounding the part, is actually very bitter, with lyrics like “I’d rather leave than suffer this” and the hook “Don’t wanna be your monkey wrench.” Dave Grohl wrote it about his turbulent marriage with Jennifer Youngblood.
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Posted June 20, 2011 at 8:35 am | No comments
“Learn to Fly” is the first single off of the Foo Fighter’s 1999 album, There is Nothing Left to Lose. It was their first-ever No. 1 on the Billboard Modern Rock chart, and coming from a band that has come to have a long history of rock radio hits, “Learn to Fly” is still one of favorites. Set in E Major, the song has lyrics conveying optimism for the future in the face of hard times at the present. The key changes dramatically at the bridge, right when singer/guitarist Dave Grohl sings, “Fly along with me, I can’t quite make it alone,” and the song goes back to the E Major before ending on a hopeful
three chord chime.
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Posted June 19, 2011 at 8:35 am | No comments
Grinding rock n roll classic, “Slow Ride,” was British rockers Foghat’s, top single, topping out at No. 20 on the Billboard Hot 100. Released as a single from their album Fool for the City in 1975, the single version had over half the material cut out, as the album cut was over 8 minutes. Featuring both distorted electric and fuzzed-out slide guitars, an interesting effect is achieved when they both play the same lines, one in each speaker. “Slow Ride” has been featured in many movies and TV shows over the years, including “Seinfeld,” “House,” and Dazed and Confused.
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Posted June 18, 2011 at 8:35 am | No comments
Written by Stevie Nicks, “Landslide” was a single off of her band’s self-titled album, Fleetwood Mac. She wrote it while visiting Aspen, Colorado and she was thinking about how things were crashing in around her like a landslide. “Landslide” features a wonderful melody over beautiful fingerpicked guitar chords, and has proven a great cover song for many other artists, including the Smashing Pumpkins, the Dixie Chicks, and the cast of Glee.
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Posted June 17, 2011 at 8:35 am | No comments
“Tears in Heaven” is a tender ballad written by Eric Clapton and Will Jennings, appearing on Clapton’s record Rush, which was the soundtrack to the identically-titled movie, and later on Unplugged. Written after his 4-year-old son fell to his death out of an apartment building window, “Tears in Heaven” is about the pain he felt and as a way to shape grief into something beautiful. The song, which went on to win three Grammy’s (Song of the Year, Record of the Year, and Best Male Pop Vocal Performance), features appropriately melancholy chords to go along with the heartfelt lyrics. Clapton stopped playing “Tears in Heaven” in 2004 because he didn’t feel the grief from his son’s passing anymore, and that was such a huge part of playing that song.
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Posted June 16, 2011 at 8:35 am | No comments
Originally written and performed by JJ Cale in 1976, “Cocaine” was made famous by Eric Clapton, who recorded and released it on his ’77 album Slowhand. The JJ Cale version was popular in Europe and New Zealand, and Clapton’s version brought it to North America.
Although at first listen, the song sounds like it’s pro-cocaine, but a closer look reveals that “Cocaine” is actually cleverly anti-coke, with several telling lines, including “If you wanna get down, down on the ground, cocaine.” Clapton wouldn’t play this song very often at concerts because he didn’t want people thinking he was a promoting cocaine use, but later in his career he would add in “the dirty cocaine” to the lyrics to make the message clear.
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Posted June 15, 2011 at 6:56 am | No comments
The lumbering, monstrous beat of Edgar Winter Group’s “Frankenstein” seems like it should be the reason for the title of this 1970’s rock instrumental, but the real reason is much more interesting. Because the band often deviated from their written songs into free-form jams, the original recording of “Frankenstein” had to be pieced together from many different sections of the jam. This led to Chuck Ruff, the drummer of the group to remark on the tape’s resemblance to the fictional monster. The main riff of the song contains only three notes, but it’s heaviness is what really counts. It came at a time where bands like Black Sabbath were becoming popular, and this heaviness fit right in. “Frankenstein” also helped popularize the synthesizer as a rock n roll instrument, because Edgar Winter, the albino leader of the band, is supposedly the first person to ever strap a synthesizer on his neck and play standing up.
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Posted June 14, 2011 at 4:56 pm | No comments
From the Eagles’ Hotel California, “Life In The Fast Lane” couldn’t be any more different from the album’s title track, which was also a hit single for the Eagles. The song idea came to singer Glenn Frey when he was driving on the highway with a drug dealer who refused to drive more slowly. Living up to its title, “Life In The Fast Lane” is perfect driving music. The song kicks of proper with a driving blues-rock guitar riff that is soon joined by bouncing bass and drums. This guitar riff, written by lead guitarist Joe Walsh, can be heard throughout the song, but it constantly changes, never getting old.
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