100 Rock Songs (81 To 90)

The penultimate bundle …

(81) Arena – The Butterfly Man

The great thing about “The Butterfly Man” is the idea of a being wandering around collecting the souls of people and leaving them in timeless oblivion. That aside, the song is a superb piece of progressive rock, the kind I love. Well done Arena – scary. The link below plays only half of the song but hopefully it will give you some idea of just how good the song is.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fgO_UYvGO5k

(82) Black Sabbath – Spiral Architect

Slightly out of order (because I forgot about it) is “Spiral Architect” an enigmatic song by the classic Black Sabbath line up. It is different from most of their offerings and has the most bizarre lyrics by the band. When I first heard the song I was unsure who the band was until Ozzy’s unique voice joined in. A great, if not strange song from the brilliant “Sabbath Bloody Sabbath” album.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCgoE_eAW0I

(83) Silver Ginger 5 – Take It All Why Don’tcha?

In one of his many breaks from the Wildhearts, one of Ginger’s side projects was a one off album called “Black Leather Mojo” released under the name “Silver Ginger 5”, an album of pure brilliance, better in fact than a lot of Wildhearts albums. There is not a single bad song on the album – all of them are almost perfect. All of them are infectious and leave you wanting more. I almost wore out the CD. The best song is “Take It All Why Don’tcha?”, a real stomping rock song that is pure brilliance. I can’t say more than that.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDeKvKjEgAE

(84) Silver Ginger 5 – More Is The Law

“Black Leather Mojo” contains a bonus CD with live tracks and three demos. One of those demos is a song called “More Is The Law”, a belter of a song that is raw and a true fist-pounder. To be honest if Ginger ever decides to polish it and pop it onto a Wildhearts album it will be a classic. Sadly you’ll just have to take my word for it.

(85) Ten – Thunder In Heaven

One of Ten’s greatest albums is a concept album called “Babylon” featuring the legendary Don Airey on keyboards who was a guest for that one release. It is a highly polished offering full of fantastic songs, culminating in a climax with “Thunder In Heaven”, a great storming rock song with superb guitars augmented by Airey’s keyboard wizardry. Unbeatable. Sadly once more, you will have to take my word for it but, trust me, if you get your hands on “Babylon” you will love it.

(86) Queens Of The Stone Age – No One Knows

Although the band had been around for ages, “No One Knows” was the first song I heard from the album, played all the time on rock music channels and rock radio. On the strength of this one song, I bought the album “Songs For The Deaf” and saw the band live. Wonderful.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YnyRUzgqj7k

(87) Rammstein – Links 2 3 4

“Mutter” is my favourite album by the magnificent Rammstein and the strongest song on that record is “Links 2 3 4” a total chunk of metal ecstasy. I don’t headbang but this song certainly tempts me to stomp around the room bellowing in a deep guttural German voice. It doesn’t get much better than this. Wunderbar!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6XrKN16cuc

(88) Terrorvision – D’Ya Wanna Go Faster

Just when I thought Terrorvision were no more, I heard this highly infectious explosion of rock from the boys from Bradford. When I saw the badn recently on yet another reunion tour, this song was the one that had the crowd jumping up and down most – myself included (sadly). Top tune.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zIGVjeRtZI

(89) Foo Fighters – All My Life

“All My Life” is without doubt my favourite song by the Foo Fighters. It is a diamond amongst gems and has resulted in me howling in glee in my car, much to the amusement of fellow drivers. If you haven’t been lucky enough to see Dave Grohl’s boys live, believe me when I say the crowd erupt into a frenzy of ecstasy when the distinctive guitars introduce the song. Done, done and I’m on to the next one …

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXlF6waTUKE

(90) Rush – Secret Touch

After the slightly disappointing album “Test For Echo”, Rush had an enforced hiatus due to a double personal tragedy for the drummer and lyricist Neil Peart. For a few years I thought that my favourite band were no more. Imagine my delight when they finally got back together in 2002 and released a glorious album called “Vapour Trails”. It was a true return to form and is one of my favourite albums. The best song is “Secret Touch”, a wonderful rock song that borders on being a headbanger – unusual for Rush. And the good news is that the band are still going strong! Splendid!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MxL7x2AHgs0

91 to 100 to follow …