Dave Schwensen's Blog, page 17

#252 – What Goes On

#252 – What Goes On by The Beatles

Cowboy Beatles

– By February 1966 we were two years into Beatlemania and The British (Music) Invasion. But we weren’t just listening to pop music anymore. Things had changed.

In February 1964 we were being hooked by one great pop song after another. It started with The Beatles and the onslaught continued with The Dave Clark Five, Peter and Gordon, The Animals, Herman’s Hermits,The Rolling Stones and… well, the list goes on and on. When one British group left...

#253 – Maneater

#253 – Maneater by Hall & Oates

Hair & mustache – welcome to the 80’s!

– It was the generation gap rearing its ugly head and suddenly I was on the wrong side. Daryl Hall and John Oates were hot on college radio when I was in college with Sara Smile, but I don’t remember it being a smash hit. We slowed danced to it (or whatever we did) at frat parties and then the duo seemed to disappear. I don’t remember much more from them in the ’70s as we picked sides for disco, punk, new wave, or what bec...

Kicking & Dreaming: A Story of Heart, Soul, and Rock and Roll by Ann Wilson, Nancy Wilson and Charles R. Cross

The Inside Scoop

The Classic Rocker Featured Book Review

Rating: FIVE Classic Rock Stars

Ann and Nancy Wilsonare Heart. Yes, there were more than a few talented and influential male band members along the way, but since this is a story told by the two sisters, it’s the story of their lives and influences. That’s one of the reasons why this book is so much fun to read right from the start.

You get a real idea of the tight-knit unit of army brats who only had “The Big Five,” (as the family refer...

#254 – I Dream Of Jeannie Theme Song

#254 – I Dream Of Jeanne Theme Song

2,000 year old technology

Say what? You think The Classic Rocker grew up without a television? The Ed Sullivan Show, Shindig and Hullabaloo weren’t on every night, so we (referring to my baby boomer cohorts) had to find other technological ways to be entertained.

Let’s see… there was no Playstation, X-Box, Wi System, iPhones…

Wow – we were technologically deprived! If laptops hadn’t been invented, I’d probably be writing this on a pad of paper in cursive. B...

#255 – Voices

#255 – Voices by Cheap Trick

Voices in my head!

This is so cliché, but the opportunity is staring me in the face and I have to take it. I woke up with Voices in my head the morning of October 13th. See what I did? It was a play on the word voices, but using Voices. Too bad I didn’t use this talent to write lyrics for bubblegum songs in the late 60’s. I could be touring the oldies circuit with The 1910 Fruitgum Company right now.

Guess I’ll just have to keep dreaming…

Voices was a good tune to...

#256 – Green River

#256 – Green River by Creedence Clearwater Revival

Born on the bayou?

This was swamp music and pretty far out there in 1969, the year Creedence (CCR) was coming on the scene as an important American rock band. By this time, music from the era of psychedelic and flamboyant flower power had already evolved into two factions:

Heavy, as inJimi Hendrix, Blind Faith and the latest new kids on the block, Led Zeppelin. Laid-back and out therewith the sound and look(note this term) of Crosby, Stills...

#257 – Hooked on a Feeling

#257 – Hooked on a Feeling by Blue Swede

The Swedish Sound

This was not a drug song. But it carried enough drug references to give anyone within listening distance a contact high:

“I’m hooked on a feeling, high on believin’…”

I’m talking about the original 1968 version by B.J. Thomas, which is not the version that made our Dream Songs countdown list. By the time it was given an updated version by Sweden’s Blue Swede in 1974, the drug references were changed to love references and the hippy, d...

#258 – Strange Magic

#258 – Strange Magic by Electric Light Orchestra

This was the Fall of ’75 and into the Winter of ’76 when everything still seemed… well, electric. You don’t hear that word as much anymore. We had grown up with electric trains, electric football and electric guitars. The air was filled with electricity when we were in college and went out club-hopping on the weekends.

And one of the bands supplying our soundtrack was Electric Light Orchestra.

I’ve always thought that was a great name for what...

Rocks: My Life in and out of Aerosmith by Joe Perry

Let The Words Do The Talking

The Classic Rocker Featured Book Review

Rating: FIVE Classic Rock Stars

Instead of letting his music do the talking, the lead guitarist, songwriter and co-founder of Aerosmith has put his life story into words and takes readers on a scenic tour through the highs and lows. Of course its coming from Perrys opinionated point of view, but in whole it conveys an honest introspective into the hows and whys of a career that has lasted over four decades, a place inThe Roc...

#259 – Sunny Afternoon

#259 – Sunny Afternoon by The Kinks

A brief history of Music Hall Pop Rock

Hanging out on a sunny afternoon

Rock and roll is a blending of different styles. Music historians, musicians and dedicated fans can hear the influences of blues, rhythm & blues, gospel, country, bluegrass, jazz and others in the earliest recordings from the 1950’s – even before the term “rock and roll” was broadcast on radio airwaves by Alan Freed.

For example,Bill Haley and his Cometswas a country and western swing...