SJ.com Memorial Day 300 rock songs TOP SONG ON PAGE 10

Re: SportsJournalists.com Memorial Day 300 rock songs COUNTIN' DOWN TO No. 1

More love for 1990s rock:

No. 95: TIMES LIKE THESE -- Foo Fighters
No. 94: DOWN IN A HOLE -- Alice in Chains
No. 93: MAN IN A BOX -- Alice in Chains
No. 92: ROOSTER -- Alice in Chains

A shout-out on this last song to one of the board's veterans, three_bags_full, who voted for "Rooster" and noted, "Special meaning, here. It's how I started most of my days in Afghanistan."

 

Re: SportsJournalists.com Memorial Day 300 rock songs COUNTIN' DOWN TO No. 1

There were votes for 10 Rolling Stones songs in our countdown. As far as I know, this is the only to have a Christmas shopping ad campaign built around it:

No. 91: YOU CAN'T ALWAYS GET WHAT YOU WANT -- The Rolling Stones

Before it became an ad campaign from hell, it was the closing track on the Stones' classic 1969 album, "Let It Bleed."

 

Re: SportsJournalists.com Memorial Day 300 rock songs COUNTIN' DOWN TO No. 1

No. 90: ELDERLY WOMAN BEHIND THE COUNTER IN A SMALL TOWN -- Pearl Jam

Pearl Jam received the most votes of any artist in our coundown (12).

This song, from Vs., was a preview of future mellow tunes to come from Eddie Vedder.

 

Re: SportsJournalists.com Memorial Day 300 rock songs COUNTIN' DOWN TO No. 1

This is an "honorable mention" that I'm jamming into the countdown. It's a shout-out to the Midwest's premier AM radio hits station of the 1970s and 80s. I'm speaking, of course, about:



WLS (aka "The Big 89") played top 40 hits, "Animal Stories," goofy countdowns such as this one on Memorial Day and New Year's Eve, and in general gave me my first taste of rock and pop music.

It was a station you could hear a long distance away from Chicago, especially at night.

And for whatever reason -- even long after it was a hit -- WLS loved to play this song:

No. 89: YOU'RE MY BEST FRIEND -- Queen

It's been a while since that happened, of course, since WLS and most AM music stations around the country switched their format to talk radio. But to this day, I hear this song and a spot in my brain filled with such useless trivia will kick in the station jingle:

"AM 89, W-L-S ... Chicago"

 

Re: SportsJournalists.com Memorial Day 300 rock songs COUNTIN' DOWN TO No. 1

And then we'd dial Bob Sirott 4000 times in a minute hoping to win beach Boys/Chicago tickets. 8)

 

Re: SportsJournalists.com Memorial Day 300 rock songs COUNTIN' DOWN TO No. 1

Speaking of Chicago, they've got quite the following on SportsJournalists.com, as evidenced by these votes:

No. 88: COLOUR MY WORLD -- Chicago

No. 87: BEGINNINGS -- Chicago (Transit Authority)

For those who are fans, there's tons of great Chicago footage on YouTube, including a half-hour NBC News special on the band -- in 1970!!!

Here's the link to the first part of that series:

Highly, highly recommended viewing for fans.

 

Re: SportsJournalists.com Memorial Day 300 rock songs COUNTIN' DOWN TO No. 1

No. 86: RIGHT NOW -- Van "Hagar"

Before they became feuding authors/interview subjects, Eddie Van Halen and Sammy Hagar made some great songs together, including this one.

 

Re: SportsJournalists.com Memorial Day 300 rock songs COUNTIN' DOWN TO No. 1

No. 85: TRAIN IN VAIN -- The Clash

Here's a great live clip of the song.

 

Re: SportsJournalists.com Memorial Day 300 rock songs COUNTIN' DOWN TO No. 1

A "Distant Early Warning" for Rush haters. You knew this was coming ... it's time to let Canada's favourite power trio rock the countdown:

No. 84: LA VILLA STRANGIATO -- Rush
No. 83: SPIRIT OF RADIO -- Rush

Because all us Rush fans are computer geeks, there were plenty of cool montages to choose from. Here's one of 'em:

These songs are two of their all-time best, from the era (roughly 1978-82) when they soared in popularity.

I'm hoping to hear both when they play at The Gorge in central Washington on July 2.

I'll be the guy with the "WLS" T-shirt

 

Re: SportsJournalists.com Memorial Day 300 rock songs COUNTIN' DOWN TO No. 1

No. 82: TRIP THROUGH YOUR WIRES -- U2

Which U2 album is their best? Unforgettable Fire, Joshua Tree, Achtung Baby? The debate rages, but you can't go wrong with any of them.

This is a track off "Joshua Tree," of course.

There's several more tracks from this band coming up in the countdown.

Including now:

No. 81: GOD PART II -- U2

 

Re: SportsJournalists.com Memorial Day 300 rock songs COUNTIN' DOWN TO No. 1

The SportsJournalists.com Memorial Day 300 is NOT Y2K compliant:

No. 80: 1999 -- Prince

 

Re: SportsJournalists.com Memorial Day 300 rock songs COUNTIN' DOWN TO No. 1

The Rolling Stones discover disco:

No. 79: SHATTERED -- Rolling Stones
No. 78: SHE'S SO COLD -- Rolling Stones