440Led Zeppelin, 'Ramble On'
Writers:Jimmy Page, Robert PlantProducer:PageReleased:Oct. '69,
AtlanticNon-SingleGroupies andThe Lord of the Ringsinspired "Ramble
On," recorded in New York onLed Zeppelin's first U.S. tour.
OverPage's acoustic guitars,Plantwails, "In the darkest depths of
Mordor/I met a girl so fair." Middle Earth influenced more than the
music: "After reading Tolkien," Page said, "I knew I had to move to
the country." According to legend, John Bonham is banging on a
plastic garbage can.Appears on:Led Zeppelin II(Atlantic)RELATED:100
Greatest Artists of All Time: Led Zeppelin500 Greatest Albums of
All Time: Led Zeppelin'sLed Zeppelin II100 Greatest Guitarists of
All Time: Jimmy Page100 Greatest Singers of All Time: Robert Plant
439Gladys Knight and the Pips, 'Midnight Train to Georgia'
Writer:Jim WeatherlyProducer:Tony CamilloReleased:Sept. '73,
Buddah19 weeks; No. 1Originally titled "Midnight Plane to Houston,"
the ode to long-distance romance from Mississippi songwriter
Weatherly (who also wrote Knight's "Neither One of Us") became the
biggest hit ever for Gladys Knight and the Pips. Cissy Houston had
an R&B hit with it first, before Knight rode it to the top of
the pop charts.Appears on:Essential Collection(Hip-O)RELATED:100
Greatest Singers of All Time: Gladys Knight 438Fats Domino, 'Ain't
It a Shame'
Writers:Dave Bartholomew,
DominoProducer:BartholomewReleased:July '55, Imperial13 weeks; No.
10In the summer of 1955, "Ain't It a Shame" becameDomino's first
pop smash, after a string of R&B hits. Pat Boone's whitebread
cover (retitled "Ain't That a Shame" though Boone allegedly wanted
it to be "Isn't That a Shame") reached Number One, but as Jerry
Wexler put it, "Fats Domino is still the thing. Who cares about
what's his name with the white buck shoes?"Appears on:The Fats
Domino Jukebox: 20 Greatest Hits(Capitol)RELATED:100 Greatest
Artists of All Time: Fats Domino 437The Clash, '(White Man) In
Hammersmith Palais'
Writers:Mick Jones, Joe StrummerProducers:The ClashReleased:July
'79, EpicDid Not Chart"We can't play reggae,"Strummersaid in 1977.
But theClashinvented a skank of their own, toasting the solidarity
they saw between punks and Rastas. The anti-racist fusion of
"Hammersmith Palais" also skewered sellouts in both scenes. "I was
trying to talk about revolution and how we weren't ever gonna have
one," he said.Appears on:The Clash(Epic)RELATED:100 Greatest
Artists of All Time: The Clash500 Greatest Albums of All Time: The
Clash'sThe Clash 436Solomon Burke, 'Everybody Needs Somebody to
Love'
Writers:Burke, Bert Berns, Jerry
WexlerProducer:BernsReleased:July '64, Atlantic8 weeks; No.
58Philadelphia-bornBurkestarted preaching at the age of seven and
often recorded his vocals from behind a pulpit. He attacks this
song in the style of a fire-and-brimstone Southern preacher,
calling out for a witness and testifying to the power of love. In
the congregation: theRolling Stones, who covered it in 1965.Appears
on:The Very Best of Solomon Burke(Rhino)RELATED:100 Greatest
Singers of All Time: Solomon Burke 435U2, 'New Year's Day'
Writers:Bono, the Edge, Adam Clayton, Larry Mullen
Jr.Producer:Steve LillywhiteReleased:April '83, Island12 weeks; No.
53"New Year's Day" liftedU2out of the rock underground for good. As
he often did,Bonomade up his lyrics on the spot. "We improvise, and
the things that came out, I let them come out," he said. "I must
have been thinking about Lech Walesa being interned. Then, when
we'd recorded the song, they announced that martial law would be
lifted in Poland on New Year's Day. Incredible."Appears
on:War(Island)RELATED:500 Greatest Albums of All Time: U2'sWar100
Best Albums of the Eighties: U2'sWar100 Greatest Singers of All
Time: Bono100 Greatest Artists of All Time: U2 434Deep Purple,
'Smoke on the Water'
Writers:Ritchie Blackmore, Ian Gillian, Roger Glover, Jon Lord,
Ian PaiceProducers:Deep PurpleReleased:May '73, Warner Bros.16
weeks; No. 4Keyboardist Lord claimed that the working title for
this song was "Durh Durh Durh" a transliteration of the riff that
some beginner guitarist is probably trying out for the first time
right now. The lyrics tell the story of a fan shooting a flare gun
during a 1971Frank Zappashow at the Casino in Montreux,
Switzerland, setting the venue ablaze.Appears on:Machine
Head(Rhino)RELATED:100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time: Richie
Blackmore 433Rolling Stones, 'Tumbling Dice'
Writers:Mick Jagger, Keith RichardsProducer:Jimmy
MillerReleased:April '72, Rolling Stones10 weeks; No. 7Originally
titled "Good Time Women" (an early take is on the recentExile on
Main Streetreissue), "Tumbling Dice" had numerous faster
incarnations before it was recorded atRichards' villa, Nellcte. "I
remember writing the riff upstairs in the very elegant front room,"
said Richards, "and we took it downstairs the same evening, and we
cut it." Since Bill Wyman wasn't around, Mick Taylor played
bass.Appears on:Exile on Main Street(Virgin)RELATED:500 Greatest
Albums of All Time: The Rolling Stones'Exile on Main Street100
Greatest Artists of All Time: The Rolling Stones100 Greatest
Singers of All Time: Mick Jagger100 Greatest Guitarists of All
Time: Keith Richards 432Green Day, 'American Idiot'
Writers:Green DayProducers:Rob Cavallo, Green DayReleased:Oct.
'04, Reprise20 weeks; No. 61No song captured the rancid zeitgeist
of the Bush era like thisClash-style rave-up, which bashed the
USA's "redneck agenda." The starting point forGreen Day's punk
opera, later a Broadway musical, "Idiot" signaled the band's
evolution into righteously angry political rockers. "We did
everything we could to piss people off," said Billie Joe Armstrong,
who often performed the song in a George W. Bush mask.Appears
on:American Idiot(Reprise) 431The Smiths, 'William, It Was Really
Nothing'
Writers:Johnny Marr, MorrisseyProducer:John PorterReleased:Aug.
'84, SireDid Not ChartAsked in 1984 who was the last person to see
him naked,Morrisseyreplied, "Almost certainly the doctor who
brought me into this cruel world." But like many of theSmiths'
early singles, "William" is a tale of traumatic teen sex, in this
case a tragic love triangle in a humdrum town.OutKast's Andr 3000,
a huge Smiths fan, once named "William" as his absolute
favorite.
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