Dancing To The Beat Of “B”!

Celebrating great music one letter at a time!

I’m looking at the letter “B” today – for whatever reason, this seemed like a letter for classic music from classic bands…let’s start rocking in the 70’s – with a group that blew the doors off music with their debut album:

Bad Company “Bad Company”

The self-titled title track that told the rock community that a new group was in town, kicking ass and taking names – Paul Rodgers from Free had a new group to play with, and this debut included “Can’t Get Enough”, “Feel Like Making Love”, “Seagull”, “Moving On” and of course:

“Bad company
I can’t deny
Bad company
Till the day I die
Until the day I die”

Here is the lead track from the debut album, performed live with great vocals by Paul Rodgers:

But there’s more!

The band re-formed and went on tour in 2013, and here is the result:

Bad Company “Deal With The Preacher”

“I can’t make a deal with the preacher
And I can’t make a bargain with heaven
Heaven knows me by now…”

Here they are – enjoy!

I love classic rock! Speaking of classics…

Next up is a band that could make a dozen “B” lists just on their own.

The Beatles could be included on this list in so many ways – but fifty years ago, this one album changed music forever. 50 years ago, “Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band” revolutionized music – and album covers, and here is one of the great album tracks.

The Beatles “Lovely Rita”

The story of a young man who “nearly made it” with Rita, the meter maid…until of course the ending of the song, which sounds like rock music’s first recorded orgasm.

Here is a terrific live performance by Paul from Tokyo in 2013 – with a bit of that orgasmic interlude:

Such a great song – and the 50th anniversary remastered special editions are amazing – you can read more about this landmark album here:

https://johnrieber.com/2017/06/01/the-brilliant-sgt-peppers-turns-50-the-beatles-a-lonely-hearts-club-musical-revolution/

From a classic of the 60’s to a modern classic – time to check in with Eminem:

“Business” by Eminem

I love the raucous, combative music of Eminem, with incredible beats by Dr Dre – which you can see here:

“The Eminem Show” resonates as much today as when it was released in 2002 – can you believe its been 15 years?

Next up is a performer who had an incredible career on his own, but also had a wine-quelled collaboration with one of the world’s most theatrical bands!

David Bowie with Queen “Under Pressure”

Queen could be all over this alphabetical list of great music, as could Bowie – and together they created one of the classic songs of our time.

Here is a great mashup on Youtube which mixes live performances from both artists to capture the essence of the song!

Click here to read the raucous story of how he teamed up with Queen and the madness behind the song “Under Pressure”:

https://johnrieber.com/2016/01/16/david-bowie-meets-queen-the-brilliant-wine-fuelled-madness-of-under-pressure/

Next up is a band that also survived, off and off, for fifty years – and released what appears to be their swan song:

The Beach Boys “Summer’s Gone”

Their last song as a group is from the last album “That’s Why God Made The Radio” – the hauntingly beautiful “Summer’s Gone”, here are the last lyrics sung by the band:

“Summer’s gone
It’s finally sinking in
One day begins
Another ends
I live them all and back again

Summer’s gone
I’m gonna sit and watch the waves
We laugh, we cry
We live then die
And dream about our yesterday…”

It’s a beautiful song with some distinctive vocal harmonies, shown here with great vintage stills of the band:

Read about this song, from their last and no doubt final album, here:

https://johnrieber.com/2014/10/10/god-only-knows-all-star-bbc-music-video-summers-gone-for-the-beach-boys-classic-surfs-up/

What is it about bands at fifty?

I guess it’s that music now allows bands to take our their greatest hits for whole generations of fans, like this classic band and the song that nobody names correctly:

“Baba O’ Reilly” by The Who

Yes, fans know the name, but if you hear this on classic rock stations you could think it was called “Teenage Wasteland”.

“Out here in the fields
I fight for my meals
I get my back into my living
I don’t need to fight
To prove I’m right
I don’t need to be forgiven

Don’t cry
Don’t raise your eye
It’s only teenage wasteland”

Here is the band performing it now, with the same energy and conviction as in 1971 when the song was released:

I love that song!

Finally the “B” song I’m leaving you with is this classic:

“Band On The Run” by Paul McCartney & Wings

Many consider it Paul’s greatest achievement – the third Wings album created under the worst of circumstances…here is the original promotional film for the title track:

The fact that Paul was able to complete this album at all is astounding…read about what he went through trying to record this in Africa:

https://johnrieber.com/2016/05/01/band-on-the-run-paul-mccartneys-triumph-over-adversity-classic-chaos-creation/

If you want to see who I profiled on the “A” list of music, look no further than these guys:

See all of my “A” list, including Abba, Aerosmith and Todd Rundgren too, right here:

https://johnrieber.com/2017/11/09/music-from-the-a-list-a-new-ongoing-celebration-of-music-one-letter-at-a-time/

Let me know your favorite “B” songs or Artists!

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