LAZY, APATHETIC, LIFELESS PIECES OF SHIT

[naughty boy]

Picked a song for me, JC?

How about you go for any AC/DC song of your choice, Ange?

[fange]

Ok, will do.

[naughty boy]

Excellent!

[naughty boy]

Really looking forward to this!

[fange]

Are we gonna follow the order on the list, or is it a free-for-all post whenever you're ready deal?

[naughty boy]

Free for all!

[Penk!]

Let's roll with it (I nominate that song for Penk btw

Eh? Why me? I think it's rubbish!

[The Modernist]

Picked a song for me, JC?

How about you go for any AC/DC song of your choice, Ange?

Oh ffs.
You've ruined it already.
Ange has some of the best music taste on BCB and you've managed to find the one chink in his armour.

[The Modernist]

Let's roll with it (I nominate that song for Penk btw

Eh? Why me? I think it's rubbish!

I know.

[fange]

Oh ffs.
You've ruined it already.
Ange has some of the best music taste on BCB and you've managed to find the one chink in his armour.

We can do more than 1, right? Just choose another song or artist you think i'm into and i'll do it later, G.

[Minnie the Minx]

What's this thread all about then?

[fange]

Here's the mission statement, Min...

Just an idea...

I was thinking that, a little like the old 'BCB 100' threads where several members chose to talk about favourite artists, we could have a series of threads on favourite songs.

All you have to do at this stage is put your name down here alongside a song, or songs, you love - as obvious or as obscure as you like. At a later date, you start a thread on the song with some personal thoughts - and maybe some facts and figures - and people can contribute.

The only thing I think we need to avoid is going for something really well-known and not saying anything much about it. It'd be cool if someone talks about a time 'Strawberry Fields Forever' was playing as they got high on Albert Docks in 1968, or something. But this could also be a good opportunity to introduce people to good stuff.

Does that sound like a good idea? If we don't get much response over the next 24 hours or so, then it's probably a non-starter. But I think it might liven things up here a bit. If and when we get to 100 songs, I'll close the thread and we can maybe start on the tunes next week.

[naughty boy]

I'll kick off with a post later then John if that's okay with you.

Just choose another song or artist you think i'm into and i'll do it later, G.

[The Modernist]

There are other posters who have signed up you know.
You should be hassling Ray for his essay on Alma Coogan!

[naughty boy]

Cogan!

[Rayge]

There are other posters who have signed up you know.
You should be hassling Ray!

I'm ill, and halfway through something quite long.
Meanwhile, you still haven't picked up the PM I sent or set up the sub-forum for Beyond the 130.
Get a grip.

[fange]

BCB's 100 songs

AC/DC - 'Whole Lotta Rosie'



Where do you start with a song that is a landmark hard rock recording, that probably has just as many sneering critics as adoring fans? In the case of 'Whole Lotta Rosie', you should just start with the subject of fucking. Because the song isn't just about fucking literally - it's about fucking on several other levels as well.

In late '76 and early '77, when AC/DC learned that their US record label, Atlantic, wasn't going to release their Dirty Deeds... LP and was in fact thinking of dropping them, the band's immediate reaction was very simple - fuck you, Atlantic. The record bosses wanted them to be more punk, more glammy, more AOR, more something that the band wasn't. And the answer they got back was a very emphatic "no" in the shape of the Let There Be Rock LP; as dirty, raw, vicious, uncompromising and downright glorious a hard rock record as has ever been produced. The band knew they had the goods to be one of the greatest rock and roll bands to ever hit a stage, and they decided to put that down on record, slamming it right into the execs and all their critics' faces.

And 'Rosie' is one of the album's high-water marks - 5 minutes and 24 seconds of pure rock and roll energy from go to whoa. You can hear it in the first few seconds of that thundering, Bo Diddley inspired intro. When the band pause, you can still hear the electric hum of the guitars, and the echoes of the pounding the drums just got are still dying as the sound waves finish bouncing around the recording studio. It's like you are standing there, right there in the room with them. This was a band that was already road-hardened by years of playing the grueling Aussie pubs and clubs circuits, where you played hard, and with real feeling, or you got eaten alive. Thankfully, playing unadulterated rock and roll hard and with feeling was AC/DC whole reason for being. And on 'Rosie', they were in the mood to show off.

Most people know the story of the real Rosie now, the 19-stone carnal heroine of the song, and if you don't all you need to do is google it. The song is a paean to sex and lust and letting it all hang out, in every sense. The topic isn't subtle, but then that was never rock and roll's purpose. Here for a good time, not a long time - that was/is rock and roll's credo, and the band let loose with everything they had in their armoury. The call-and-response section at 2:52, that shows just how tight they could be; Malcolm's tremendous execution of that riff over and over again in the background, as Angus goes crazy in the section from the 4:00 mark; the white-hot electric feel of the entire song, with absolutely no production polish and varnishing, as every string squeal, feedback hum, equipment tap, is captured live and for posterity. It's saying "This is us. We play rock and roll, and were fucking great at it. If you don't like it, fuck off."

Even if i didn't love the song, i could respect that mightily.

[naughty boy]

Great stuff, Ange!

You should put it in a separate thread of its own...

[fange]

Separate threads? ok.

[Darkness_Fish]

C'mon, there have been three threads, where's the rest?