I don't think this song gets played on CRR here
― macklin' rosie (crüt), Monday, 23 June 2014 19:00 (nine years ago) link
yeah in my ATL days I never heard that song
― Euler, Monday, 23 June 2014 19:00 (nine years ago) link
I heard it a few times on CR when I lived in Florida.
― Johnny Fever, Monday, 23 June 2014 19:04 (nine years ago) link
since this will be our first european song, here's a thing about doctor casino's list that i thought was worth sharing:
the original classic rock playlist proposed by some dude on the big classic rock thread had 545 songs, and their continent of origin breaks down this way:
north america: 57 percenteurope: 38 percentaustralia 2 percenthybridistan*: 3 percent
(hybridistan is the north american/european crossover nation state from which comes fleetwood mac and foreigner)
doctor casino is unfamiliar with 92 songs on that master list, and his 92 break down this way:
north america: 76 percenteurope 17 percentaustralia: 4 percenthybridistan: 2 percent
in other words, doctor casino's life experience has made him reasonably familiar with classic rock songs from england and elsewhere in europe, while leaving him with a blind spot toward classic rock from the u.s. and canada. at least compared to some dude's life experience, that is. which i assume says something about how music from the two continents is prized differently by the curators of rock and roll in different parts of the u.s. or maybe our sample size is a bit too small. but this stuff fascinates me.
(and yes, i, like styx, had too much time on my hands yesterday.)
― fact checking cuz, Monday, 23 June 2014 19:09 (nine years ago) link
clap clap
― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Monday, 23 June 2014 19:11 (nine years ago) link
The song on that list that surprises me the most is Nazareth's Love Hurts.
― MarkoP, Monday, 23 June 2014 19:17 (nine years ago) link
omg, awesome stats, love that.
This is a little tricky though because all it really takes is a few big British bands where I *do* know almost all the songs, and whammo. Another problem would be that I could have gotten to know the songs in a way other than via CR radio, for example by that convertible that pulled away from our high school parking lot one day, leaving the loose discs of Led Zeppelin Boxed Set 2 bouncing around in the dust and gravel at my feet. Presumably at least some of this is interrelated - I (and perhaps the convertible drivers) was primed to be interested in the box set based on CR radio, perhaps....
― Doctor Casino, Monday, 23 June 2014 23:02 (nine years ago) link
says something about how music from the two continents is prized differently by the curators of rock and roll in different parts of the u.s. or maybe our sample size is a bit too small.
Yeah, if you really wanted to do this, you'd probably have to actually compare station playlists.
― EveningStar (Sund4r), Monday, 23 June 2014 23:35 (nine years ago) link
Growing up on Led Zep, Sabbath, Beatles, and never abandoned it, I like to think I'm pretty well versed in this scene, and I have never ever heard that Focus song. Listening to it now though and it's pretty rad. I'm American btw
― Dreamland, Monday, 23 June 2014 23:43 (nine years ago) link
I think that Focus song is something probably most often used as a tag in commercials or station ID bumpers more than actually played.
― ©Oz Quiz© (Adam Bruneau), Tuesday, 24 June 2014 00:55 (nine years ago) link
Holy crap the whistling at ~3:40 in that live video is incredible
― ©Oz Quiz© (Adam Bruneau), Tuesday, 24 June 2014 00:58 (nine years ago) link
Hocus Pocus, by Focus (from their hit album Crocus?):
First couple seconds, I'm sold - rock on, dudes! No blowsy New Jerseyites cluttering things up here, just riff on, riff on, keep riffin' on, do some more riffin' on.
OMG the yodeling
yessssssssssssssssssssssss
this rules
hahahahahaha
Wow. You can kinda see why this didn't exactly fly in the South, we like our yodeling to come from actual backwoods mountain men and/or passable facsimiles thereof - not from effete Europeans who learned it secondhand from Slim Whitman. I'm starting to get off the boat with the tickety-tackety Popeye-chuckle faux-scatting, as much as it brilliantly sets up the return of the PUMMELING WALL OF RIFFING. The drum solos are all a little less convincing tbh, dude's kinda just filling time there. At 3:30 I'm now kinda over this alternation between yodel and guitar attack, though the guitar attacks keep getting more and more satisfying. Thank god, they changed it up with this flute thing - I like that it sounds like you can hear them desperately gasping for air in between notes.
oh ffs, gtfo with this accordion thing, this is just goofy now
oh wait BRANNA DANNA DOW BRANNA DANNA DOW, DUNG DING, BRUNG, BRUN BRANG, okay, now just - -
- - - fire the drummer oh god, this guy - dude, your band's name is called focus, try it sometime.
I wonder how many people bought this/requested it just to LOL at the yodeling, but secretly loved it? The rockin' is so good (drums aside) that they really don't need the gimmick. Did they yodel on all their songs? Did they ever have words?
Overall, thumbs up, throwing this on my playlist though I have a strong suspicion I'll often end up skipping it because I'm just not in the mood for a yodel. Holy shit, though, really glad I heard that, feels like a major missing piece of the picture.
― Doctor Casino, Tuesday, 24 June 2014 14:20 (nine years ago) link
Slim Whitman was a god.
― ©Oz Quiz© (Adam Bruneau), Tuesday, 24 June 2014 14:41 (nine years ago) link
http://img2-2.timeinc.net/ew/dynamic/imgs/Head-Explosion/mars-attacks_300.jpg
blowing my mind here
― Doctor Casino, Tuesday, 24 June 2014 14:47 (nine years ago) link
j/k, you get no argument from me, he is ace for "rose-marie" alone, though one of those cursed artists where no dollar comp you pick up is actually the hit versions of anything.
― Doctor Casino, Tuesday, 24 June 2014 14:48 (nine years ago) link
I've never heard Hocus Pocus before! It's fucking incredible.
― the joke should be over once the kid is eaten. (chap), Tuesday, 24 June 2014 14:49 (nine years ago) link
irl lol throughout your review DC. God bless this thread.
― intheblanks, Tuesday, 24 June 2014 14:50 (nine years ago) link
"Cattle Call" is cowboy shoegaze.
― ©Oz Quiz© (Adam Bruneau), Tuesday, 24 June 2014 14:58 (nine years ago) link
Maybe not shoegaze but definitely some instant dream transportation going on during the verses and that sick butter-slick lapsteel solo.
"Hocus Pocus" seems a bit like a youtube viral hit, it's all about the unexpected jump cut to someone's really well-done silliness.
― ©Oz Quiz© (Adam Bruneau), Tuesday, 24 June 2014 15:01 (nine years ago) link
OTM, could easily have done a "Harlem Shake" deal with this, maybe cross-wired with Hamster Dance.
― Doctor Casino, Tuesday, 24 June 2014 15:04 (nine years ago) link
Yodeling was invented in Europe, dudes. Bloody Americans.
― emil.y, Tuesday, 24 June 2014 15:06 (nine years ago) link
I was being just a little bit ironical...
― Doctor Casino, Tuesday, 24 June 2014 15:09 (nine years ago) link
And I wasn't actually annoyed. Humour really doesn't travel well on the internet.
― emil.y, Tuesday, 24 June 2014 15:13 (nine years ago) link
A testament to the strength of rockin' yodel instrumentals, to speak without words on both sides of the Atlantic.
― Doctor Casino, Tuesday, 24 June 2014 15:14 (nine years ago) link
^__^
― emil.y, Tuesday, 24 June 2014 15:17 (nine years ago) link
"Hocus Pocus" is amazingly crude for a prog classic.
― EveningStar (Sund4r), Tuesday, 24 June 2014 16:04 (nine years ago) link
otm. imo The drumming in the live clip almost had a proto-hardcore feeling to it
― intheblanks, Tuesday, 24 June 2014 16:11 (nine years ago) link
something about it feels like it should have run in the credits for a show like Catweazle or something...it's just so strange & awesome
― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Tuesday, 24 June 2014 18:48 (nine years ago) link
never heard it before, but Hocus Pocus not really changing my mind about majority of this list being garbage. eurololz tho.
― Οὖτις, Tuesday, 24 June 2014 18:53 (nine years ago) link
"hocus pocus" was one of the least surprising entries, to me, on dc's list. i heard it on occasion growing up without ever knowing what it was or who it was -- it was just that weird instrumental with the yodeling in it -- but i'm pretty sure i hadn't heard it in many years before this thread. otm about its youtube viral potential, though.
also, a shame that krokus never covered it.
― fact checking cuz, Tuesday, 24 June 2014 19:16 (nine years ago) link
correction: i said yesterday that "hocus pocus" was one of three dutch songs on our unheard classic rock playlist. in fact, it's the only one. all of us here at WUCR apologize for the error.
next up, the first of four songs from the great classic rock city of boston, straight outta the berklee school of music.
SONG #5: BILLY SQUIER "EVERYBODY WANTS YOU"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9mQVKsMcLk
― fact checking cuz, Tuesday, 24 June 2014 19:41 (nine years ago) link
Ha, I didn't know Squier went to Berklee. I'm curious how many artists from the big list went to (post-secondary) music school. Styx and Steely Dan are the only ones that come to mind offhand.
― EveningStar (Sund4r), Tuesday, 24 June 2014 19:49 (nine years ago) link
"The Stroke" is the high water mark of the Schillinger system iirc
― macklin' rosie (crüt), Tuesday, 24 June 2014 19:51 (nine years ago) link
lol
― EveningStar (Sund4r), Tuesday, 24 June 2014 19:52 (nine years ago) link
"Everybody Wants You" is sick! Really well mixed too.
― ©Oz Quiz© (Adam Bruneau), Tuesday, 24 June 2014 19:54 (nine years ago) link
I'm glad it's Everybody Wants You & not STROKE STROKE STROKE
― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Tuesday, 24 June 2014 19:57 (nine years ago) link
Hate this song so much. It was a constant on Chicago radio when it was new, and it only hit #32! It wasn't a big enough hit to warrant the rotation it got!
― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Tuesday, 24 June 2014 20:02 (nine years ago) link
Ha, I didn't know Squier went to Berklee. I'm curious how many artists from the big list went to (post-secondary) music school. Styx and Steely Dan are the only ones that come to mind offhand. --EveningStar (Sund4r)
Elliot Easton also a berklee guy
― resulting post (rogermexico.), Tuesday, 24 June 2014 20:03 (nine years ago) link
tarfumes u crazy - billy squier circa don't say no and emotions in motion RULES
― resulting post (rogermexico.), Tuesday, 24 June 2014 20:04 (nine years ago) link
I don't mind other Squier songs, just this horrible, horrible turd.
I like "Lonely Is The Night" enough as a faux-"Nobody's Fault But Mine," and "Rock Me Tonite" isn't bad. But this is strictly dullsville.
― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Tuesday, 24 June 2014 20:11 (nine years ago) link
Of his singles The Stroke is the one I can't defend. Agree Zep-lite Squier is the best Squier.
― resulting post (rogermexico.), Tuesday, 24 June 2014 20:13 (nine years ago) link
Everybody Wants You is the only A+ in a repertoire full of A's and B's from Squier's first few albums. Dude was a solid artist, but EWY is where everything came together, the clouds broke, and Jesus looked down and played air drums.
― Johnny Fever, Tuesday, 24 June 2014 20:18 (nine years ago) link
Looool this thread is beautiful. I was a teenager in the 70s so I've lived with these songs forever.
― Sandy, Tuesday, 24 June 2014 20:27 (nine years ago) link
This thread is gold.
― Mr. Snrub, Tuesday, 24 June 2014 20:44 (nine years ago) link
True story - I have a friend who was Billy Squier's bass player at the height of his career (1982). He was touring with Foreigner and when they did "The Stroke", they'd get some of the guys from Foreigner and crew guys and any friends of the band to come onstage and sing the "stroke me, stroke me" part and do this very exaggerated jerking off hand motion. I got recruited in Pittsburgh, Philly, and Cleveland. They were my shining moments.
― Sandy, Tuesday, 24 June 2014 21:02 (nine years ago) link
awesome!
― fact checking cuz, Tuesday, 24 June 2014 21:08 (nine years ago) link
"Everybody Wants You" is playing right now in the supermarket I'm in.
Ugh.
― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Tuesday, 24 June 2014 21:09 (nine years ago) link
Everybody Wants Yoohoo
― Incident At Spanish Harlem (C. Grisso/McCain), Tuesday, 24 June 2014 21:30 (nine years ago) link
I've never had any use at all for "The Stroke" - god is that grating. "Lonely Is The Night" at least has a kind of atmosphere and space to it, kind of a bite-size "Nobody's Fault But Mine." As for Everybody Wants You: Unfortunately, though I hate to derail a Twofer Tuesday, on reaching the chorus, I can say that I have indeed heard this, though not often. It's only the delivery of the title line that makes it familiar at all - the rest is your basic high-gloss sleaze rock thing.
Never realized how early Squier's hits are; I kinda took them for mid-80s arena rock when they're actually (along with Bon Scott, whose vocals I think Squier's kind of aping here) templates for that stuff. On another tip, I never noticed before but I think Paul McCartney nicked the "you're giving the game away" bit of "The World Tonight" from this. And speaking of the Beatles, Wiki got me excited by proclaiming that Squier has performed this song with Ringo Starr and His All-Starr Band; unfortunately, this does not mean Ringo genially chuckling out "Everybody wants you," but Squier singing with Ringo on drums. On the plus side, being a dad-rock live-for-DVD type recording, it at least has a more laid-back, less gross sound.
― Doctor Casino, Tuesday, 24 June 2014 21:47 (nine years ago) link
haha just saw tarfumes post about Nobody's Fault But Mine, and lol at Sandy's post.
Still having fun with this thread though - my only worries were that it'd pre-empt some of the discussion on some dude's results thread (though hopefully, "Everybody Wants You" won't place), and that it'd be some self-indulgent wanky thing, but if y'all are into it, I'm having fun and getting a rock education...
― Doctor Casino, Tuesday, 24 June 2014 21:50 (nine years ago) link