If u wondering about the title of the review, I titled it in tribute to Kurt Cobain. Picking up the Top 20 wasn’t a easy job, but then I tried my level best to do justice to all great good bands.The list is not in the order or my preference, any given day any of the below songs can figure up on top of all the others.
So here I go .
Holiday(Scorpions)
Scorpions was probably the first German band which achieved such a popularity in the whole world. For some people the visiting card of Scorpions are their beautiful ballads, like’Wind of Change’, ’Still Loving You’ and so on. But the band is not only a’ballads-maker’.They created real hard rock songs which are at par with their ballads.Listen to’Holiday’ where they play the first half of the song live and u’ll know, the first half of the song is acoustic and the second half is not, I know it would be difficult to play both parts of the song live.
Smells Like Teen Spirit(Nirvana)
is an attack on the apathy of our own generation .There is a nice story behind the song .Kurt and his friend got drunk one night and Kurt’s friend told him he smelt of a popular deodarant at that time.Kurt actually wrote a song by that which made the deodarant popular. Kurt misinterpreted his friend’s statement that he smelt of Teen spirit thinking that his friend thought he could start a teenage rebellion, and wrote a song about it. The deodarant cashed in on the song’s popularity.Although Cobain sang the song’s words nearly indecipherably, it quickly became a wake up call to a generation of young Americans who almost immediately dubbed the young singer their spokesman.
Cats In the Cradle(Ugly Kid Joe)
A high school band grows up to form a funky irreverent hard rock quintet, that is Ugly Kid Joe. Did u know that the band flirted with several names before settling on Ugly Kid Joe, a play on words with super glam band of their time’Pretty Boy Floyd’.Their smash hit’Everything About You’ was followed with the release of the Harry Chapin’s cover’Cats In The Cradle’, a song about the relationship between a father and his son. The reason Ugly Kid Joe recorded it, is because Whit did not see his father in many years. The song brought UKJ a world wide success.
Unforgiven(Metallica)
With the recent retirement of Jason Newsted from Metallica the band seems to have lost its charm.Back in the days when Black was released, it was a departure from the previous albums. The songs were shorter and the sound was fuller, deeper and less monotone. James lyrics are like poetry not just in their beauty and depth, but also in the fact that they can be interpreted in a number of ways. In’Unforgiven’, the man is a victim of suppression without knowing it for many years. Then finally he sees what has happened near the end of his life, but it is too late for him. His life has been lived, there is nothing left for him to save. He dubs the suppressor ’unforgiven’ to signify that he has realized what has happened and he is taking back any acceptance he once gave the suppressor.The video of the same gives a better picture to understand the song.
Man on the Moon(REM)
From the album’Automatic For The People’, coincidently figures on the soundtrack of the Jim Carry movie by the same name. For anyone anticipating a doomy dirge on life’s closure, ’Man In The Moon’ is a custard pie. With the late comic Andy Kaufman as his Virgil, Michael Stipe mounts a hilariously surreal tour of the hereafter, where among the personae we find Moses, Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin and Elvis Presley. I almost fell off the chair when I heard it first:-)
Stairway to Heaven(Led Zeppelin)
The story of Led Zeppelin started when The Yardbirds (Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page) split up.Critics hated them, top 100 radio ignored them, but Led Zeppelin achieved unparalleled success in the seventies. The band’s most famous album did not contain any title, nor did the name of the band appear, the only identification being four runic symbols .It contained’Stairway to Heaven, ’ which would go on to become one of the most famous rock songs of all time and always comes at or near the top of any list of people’s all-time favourite songs(i’ve seen it on Venchasa’s top 20 list too). I’m told that Robert Plant made up the lyrics on the spot the first time he heard the melody.
TIME(Pink Floyd)
If Pink Floyd had never recorded an album before’Dark Side of the Moon, ’ and never recorded another after, this classic would have been more than enough to keep the band in the record books and in the money for years to come. Dark Side of the Moon was a benchmark record. It remained on the billboard charts for 14 years, proving to be one of the greatest albums ever.’Time’, my favourite is a fine country-tinged rocker with a powerful guitar solo by David Gilmour.The non-vocal’On The Run’ is a standout with footsteps racing from side to side successfully eluding any number of odd malevolent rumbles and explosions only to be killed off by the clock’s ticking that leads into’Time’.
With Arms Wide Open(Creed)
Formed in 1995, these guys took some time to strike Gold. Balancing Creed’s hard rock sensibilities is the song’With Arms Wide Open’ which won them a Grammy for the best Rock Song of the year. Creed challenges their listeners to think without preaching. With Arms Wide Open is a deeply personal song that Stapp wrote when he learned he was going to be a father.
Creep(Radiohead)
As unthinkable as it may seem now, when it was first released’Creep’ didn’t even make the Top 100. But the band knew that eventually, people will say that’Creep’ is a classic. When Thom Yorke wrote it, he was in the middle of a really, really serious obsession.Listen to the song and u’ll understand -’But I’m a creep. I’m a weirdo.What the hell am I doing here? I don’t belong here’, Thom sings here.The reason the song sounds so powerful is because it’s completely unselfconscious.And what arguably took’Creep’ into an unforseen dimension are the moments where Jonny makes that crunching guitar noise. And once’Creep’ became a hit no Radiohead were chained to something approaching a generational anthem.
Living on the Edge(AeroSmith)
Big Ones is a greatest hits soundtrack to the comeback portion of the story of AeroSmith .The band reached outlandish stardom in the `70s and then splinters under the weight of their toxic abuse.But then members undergo detox and clean and sober band returns to a new apex of superstardom in the 90s, a classic tale of excess and success.With Tyler’s incredible vocals and Perry’s amazing guitar works’Living On The Edge’ really shines out, the band chooses to address morality in the song. Watch the video too if u havn’t, I’m told that the song earned a Viewers Choice Award for at the MTV Video Music Awards.
Viola, i’ve just written on 10 songs and have touched the max limit.I’m gonna continue the same review under the 20 Worst English songs, coz I know i’ll never be writing on that one . Pls jump to the next part of the review