Top 40 at 40 #36

# 36 Aerosmith- Sick as a Dog 1976

I'm a classic rock guy at the foundation. I like my guitars loud, I like my vocals melodic. I like my lyrics to tell a story. I like the story to be hidden in the lyrics. And after loving this song for as long as I have, I decided to research the story. Apparently, the song is about Steven Tyler meeting Mick Jagger for the first time, and it didn't go too well. Maybe it was the blow they were both doing at the time...or Mick's jealousy of someone on this side of the pond having lips as big as his,we'll never know.

Listen to the lyrics....Please, I've just got to talk to you..Please, well get your head out of the loo. Please, we're a long long way from home. Please, you'd turn a young man's face to stone. The "loo" line is Mick..The "turn a young man's face to stone is Mick,too I'm guessing. Was Mr. Tyler nodding out in a bathroom stall while trying to talk shop with Jagger? And Jagger being the egotistical wanker that he is takes a look at Mr. Tyler in the shape he's in and basically calls his mug medusa-like? Sod off, Mick!

I love rock! And I love ROCKS. The best album from Aerosmith,released in 1976 at the height of their toxicity. So many songs to choose from, Rats in the Cellar, Last Child, Lick and a Promise and Back in the Saddle. The album reeks of jugs of wine ,smoky scarves, alligator boots and backstage booty. But this song is so unclean.This song is so sleazy. What a thumping groove, what a greasy grimy guitar riff. What a one of a kind voice. Mix that all up, throw in some lost weekends, dimebags, track marks and ashtrays and you've got what the heavy 70s was all about. And Joe Perry! Never listed among the great guitarists..WHY? Everything he does sounds like nobody else!

Believe it or not, I walked backwards into Aerosmith, came late and stayed for the afterparty. My sister Meaghan has loved Aerosmith since around 86-87. She loved Permanent Vacation and Pump and has had a thing for Steven Tyler since the LAST time he went to rehab. Back at Farmview Lane, her room always smelled like hairspray and spandex and she had all the posters. Although I was not allowed in her room, I did peek in there from time to time to see was hair bands I was missing out on that were plastered to her walls..along with her jewelry and pointy boots .As for Aerosmith.. I was familiar with Toys in the Attic, but was not a big fan. Since Meaghan loved these guys so much I decided to trust her judgement, buy the albums she didn't have and discovered how awesome their 70s stuff was. The first 4 albums: Aerosmith(73) Get Your Wings(74) Toys in the Attic(75) and Rocks (76) rival ANY band in their prime. And I just love the output..That only 4 YEARS. No wonder they snorted anything within 5 feet of them. Times have changed, though and they've actually been MORE successful from '87 on, with movie soundtracks, songwriting teams and ballads. But I still love the toxic years...

Thanks Meaghan for introducing me properly to the boys from Boston! Meaghan and I had the night of our lived almost two years ago when we got to meet Joe Perry and Steven Tyler and then went to Steven Tyler's dressing room and hung out alone with him for almost an hour. He was a fantastic guy who sat and talked with her with a huge heart and we will never forget that night. It was Meaghan's ultimate rock fantasy! We were 3 rows from the front and sang along to every word. he picked her out in the crowd and referenced her on the mic, too! Priceless.... I don't think I will ever not think of my little sister when I hear any Aerosmith .Love You, MEAN IT, Meaghan! NUFF SAID!

Top 5 Aerosmith songs 1) Sick as a Dog 2) Seasons of Wither 3) Uncle Salty 4) Make It 5)Last Child

Top 40 at 40 #37

# 37 RUSH - 2112 1976

I never played dungeons and dragons, never read any Tolkien or Arthur C. Clarke, don't have any Magic: The Gathering cards.. I dropped out of Chemistry after my High School guidance counselor told me I had fulfilled my science requirements to graduate......I left my room on a regular basis as an adolescent....and I still consider myself a Rush fan. Rush have long been a running joke in rock journalist circles , and have been made fun of by countless others. Here's a newsflash...Those who cannot do, usually end up teaching or writing about what they cannot do. Fools! All of them. Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson and Neil Peart(pronounced PEERT), just happen to be great songwriters, masters of their instruments...and oh yeah, have sold over 40 million albums worldwide. How is it that Grandmaster Flash and Madonna are in the ROCK and ROLL hall of fame and Rush is not? Blasphemy! Sacriledge! Bullshit!

People say Geddy Lee's voice is ridiculous, a wailing banshee who's tighty whities are a size too small. Newsflash #2: When you hear that voice, you instantly know its Geddy Lee. This is what separates lead singers in the upper eschelon like Mr. Lee, from Death Cab For Cutie or that tool from The Killers. INSTANT RECOGNITION. Like Sting, Robert Plant, Fred Mercury, Gordon Lightfoot(kidding), even Morrissey. If you hear one word sung from one lyrical line, you know its them.

People say Neil Peart has too many drums, still does solos in concert, writes wacky science fiction lyrics, etc. Yes and he's also one of the TOP 5 DRUMMERS OF ALL TIME, and decided for himself long ago that rock lyrics could be more than just fast women and fast cars(MUST exclude Red Barchetta here). He's more capable of telling a story with lyrics than any Plain White T or Jay-Z, so there. I will not hold it against him that he still plays the occasional octoban.

Alex Lifeson gets accused of ripping off Jimmy Page early in his career and occasionally gets arrested along with other family members soon after starting barroom brawls but has influenced everyone from Billy Corgan to Omar Rodriguez Lopez and uses all four extremities as a live musician.

This band can do more with three guys than the Polyphonic Spree can with 25, than Dream Theater can on their best most pretentious wanky day. And they've been together for over 30 years .....can you say that David Byrne, David Coverdale, David Davies??

The Song 2112(really 5 songs but appears as one track) of of the album of the same name tells the story of a post apocalyptic earth circa 2112 where day to day activities are controlled by these bad dudes called the Priests(of the Temples of Syrinx) who control art, music, literature and reality television. A man discovers an ancient instrument (a guitar) in a cave and is overjoyed with the sounds that come out of it and decides to share his finding with the priests. The priests destroy the guitar. The man gets depressed and returns to the cave to brood. He falls asleep and an "Oracle" shows him a land of intense beauty while he sleeps. He wakes and cannot believe it was a dream. He gets more depressed and decides to take his own life, assuming he'll never be able to go on without music and beauty. A battle ensues and the victor tells the planets of the solar federation that they have assumed control.But who is they? The Priests or some other ominous entity that could send the Borg to their room without any dinner! Who cares! It rocks BALLS!

Brilliant. All jokes aside....the story is about opression,dictadorships, freedom of speech, Ayn Rand's Anthem and the FCC all rolled into one. 20 minutes of genius.
I know Rush is an acquired taste for the arena rock fan who just wants to bang their head and do beer bongs. I know Rush is considered laughingly bombastic and bad fantasy for the hipper than me crowd. But I guarantee they have more than just a handful of songs for the ages, and this is one of them.

Top 5 Rush songs 1) 2112 2) Red Barchetta 3)Spirit of Radio 4) Bad Boy 5) Subdivisions

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Top 40 at 40 # 38

# 38 Smashing Pumpkins Cherub Rock 1993

So many Smashing Pumpkins songs, so little time for explanation. The year was 1993 and Cherub Rock just blasted its way out of the starting gate..otherwise known as the Siamese Dream album, track #1. In a grunge flavored era, the Pumpkins were different..Hipsters unite, come alive for the big fight! Just rock solid WALLS of guitars, a spaceboy on the vocals named Billy Corgan at the helm. And those drums...clanging and banging like cell doors closing in on sonically depraved prisoners...thank You Mr. Jimmy Chamberlin for that. And who could forget the GUITAR SOLOS. Corgan was by far the best guitarist of that era
I had never heard anything like the pumpkins, so pretty...so fucking loud...so alienated...so layered. I was living in Atlanta, GA. at the time, ensconced in the first wave of the glory of grunge, when I took the first plunge into pumpkindom. It felt good. What a fantastic album....Geek USA, SOMA, Today, Mayonaise, Spaceboy, Silverfuck. So many instances where a softer side of emotional turmoil floats on a layer of fuzz and feedback.Cuddle then stab...repeat. The combination was perfect for me. It was perfect for all of the shit I went through in Atlanta...... I guess I picked Cherub Rock because it was the first bullet that hit me. It slapped me upright out of the bad posture of the early 90s. Little did I know it was recorded with Butch Vig IN Atlanta that same year.

I got to see the Pumpkins live fairly early in Rochester NY of all places. I was familiar with Gish, their first full length album. which they toured behind in 1991, opening for The Red Hot Chili Peppers and Pearl Jam at the Auditorium Theatre on 10/27/91. What a show. Pearl Jam weren't even advertised. Nobody knew who they were.I cannot remember who I went with...maybe Mr. Savarese and Mr. Warner. I also saw them in Atlanta at a small club called the Point in late Nov 1992, and on their exclusive-only in 2 cities residence tour 2007 in San Fran at the Fillmore.2x.

Smashing Pumpkins Top 5 1) Cherub Rock 2) Obscured 3) Silverfuck 4) X.Y.U. 5)SOMA

Top 40 at 40 #39

#39 The Doors Shaman's Blues 1969

I can't tell you how many times back in the day people would come up to me and tell me I looked like Jim Morrison. Right now on the cusp of 40, I've got 13 living years on him, but I can tell you that I look more like the bloated bearded lizard king who escaped to Paris to hide away from the tight grip of fame and maybe lose a chin or two while he was at it.I'm not going to be fitting in any leather trousers any time soon... But I always loved the Doors' music and still do. The Doors were never critical darlings, but there will never be another band that sound like them. The combination of one of the best front men of all time( the bad ass beer soaked bard Mr. Mojo Risin'), clashing brilliantly with the fingerpicking flamenco freak styles of Guitarist Robbie Krieger and the Jazz beat backbone of Ray Manzarek on the keys and bass keys and John Densmore on drums was a mix that makes their music as timeless as ever.

My first encounter with the Doors was their greatest hits cassette bought in a mall in Ft. Lauderdale FLA in 1981. Boy did I wear that sucker out. I could not get enough of Light My Fire or LA Woman.I bought one of those little pins with the doors logo on it and wore it proudly on my WCMF baseball Jersey. About 6 months later I bought a double cassette of the very hard to find Doors release called Weird Scenes Inside the Gold Mine(1972). This spooky, driving song called Shaman's Blues was on there... with swirling keyboards and shrieking guitars and Jim's ominous poetry....most real poets hate Jim's poetry. I loved it. There are a few lines in this song I still love, especially "The whole world's a savior, who could ever ever ask for more?" I bought his two books of poetry (Wilderness,1988 and The American Night, 1990) and really fell in love with the poetry album An American Prayer. My leather jacket obsession of the early 90's sprung from my fascination with Jim and he was my first "stage presence" influence. I used to fall around alot in my early cover band days, wore alot of necklaces and used that morrisonesque thing as well as I could.....it got me nowhere, fast with the ladies even after singing Love me 2X for the 756th time. I did get to make out with some girl in a suburban yard somewhere after singing Not To Touch the Earth lyrics into her ear. But for the most part, NADA.

Ok back to the music. Shaman's Blues was originally released on the Soft Parade album (their 4th) in 1969 and was no hit. In fact, Touch Me was the big hit from the album and fans were divided because of all of the horns prevalent on the LP. It never gets any radio love either, so to everyone else its a "deep cut". I love the mysticism, the weirdness and the shamanistic solace that the Doors bring me. I do not believe that Jim faked us out and is living in New Orleans as a bar owner, though. I think he got hold of some bad smack, took a bath and that was it.... I miss him...there are no rock stars anymore, not many who cared as much about the written word as did Jim.

And now the only thing I really have in common with him is a wife named Pamela.

The Doors Top 5 1) Shaman's Blues 2) Waiting For the Sun 3) Riders on the Storm 4)Blue Sunday 5)You're Lost Little Girl

03 Shaman's Blues.mp3

Top 40 at 40

# 40 Joni Mitchell- My Old Man 1971


I can remember well the first time I ever heard Joni Mitchell's voice. I was 14 vacationing on Cape Cod with my family in August of 1983. We were visiting our friends the Radells in a town called Quincy and as my parents and the Radells were making breakfast in the kitchen, I wandered over to their turntable where they had stacks of LPs leaning against the stereo. There was this album staring me in the face named simply, Blue. The cover had this mysterious woman slightly leaned over,eyes closed, awash a blue hue. I was intrigued. I actually forgot about The Police's Synchronicity album for several minutes. That cassette had been in my walkman non stop since the day of its release and I was getting tired of "There's a little black spot on the sun today" sticking to my grey matter as long as it had. I dropped the needle down and was amazed..... this woman's warm voice with such range and control, soaring and soothing...it just took my breath away.
Ralph Radell came over and gave me a little background on Joni and I never looked back. To say Joni Mitchell is the most talented female artist of Modern Times is an understatement. And its the wrong thing to say in the first place. She is quite simply one of the most influential artists of all time.She just happens to be female. The song "Going to California" by Led Zeppelin was written about her and Prince is a huge fan. The song My Old Man from the Blue album is my favorite Joni song. Sort of a downer of a tune, but playful as well.., she longs for her old man who is out on the road and notices that her and "those lonesome blues collide, the bed's too big, the frying pan's too wide." I always think of Cape Cod when I hear Joni and looking out of the Radell's back window on to the bay. Her lyrics are pure genius, right up there with Dylan. Her guitar playing is incredibly impressive with a wide array of really weird tunings not often used in pop music. She has painted the artwork for most of her album covers as well.

I actually got to see her live once, on tour with Bob Dylan at the Rochester War Memorial in '96 or '97 It was a night I'll never forget. She never tours, pretty much gave up on the music business long ago and releases songs on her terms. The only thing I don't understand about Joni is her fascination or almost obsession with smoking. I have never seen a picture of her from the last 15 years where she is sans cigarrette. It has ruined her voice. She sounds like Kathleen Turner when she sings now.I picture her in a smoked out church basement playing BINGO, yelling out just missed letters and coughing while she curses out David Geffen behind her charred breath. She couldn't even come close to hitting the notes or vibrato that she did in 1971, and she doesn't care. Ah well, thats why I love nostalgia. You can just go back and enjoy things like they should be, not how they are now. seano

Joni Top 5. 1) My Old Man 2) The Hissing of Summer Lawns 3) Down to You 4) For Free 5) A Case of You