In Which Doctor Casino Listens to Classic Rock Classics for the First Time

I love Hocus Pocus, but I don't think I've heard it on Classic Rock radio. That one I discovered through other means like Eminem mashups.

Doctor Casino, one of the Thorogood soba is a Bo Diddly cover and another one is a John Lee Hooker cover, if that helps at all

Songs, not soba.

and one is a hank williams cover.

People forgetting "Rock & Roll Never Forgets".

Dark days.

― Brio2, Thursday, June 19, 2014 3:23 PM (8 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Ha, I just checked my local classic rock station's recently played tracks, and this was on an hour ago.

it's possible Doctor Casino has just been subject to a string of really weird luck

hard to believe these would be unfamiliar to anyone who's been listening to CR radio for more than a minute. note: my minutes may be longer than most:

Bob Seger – Against The Wind
Bob Seger – Rock & Roll Never Forgets
Bryan Adams – Cuts Like A Knife
The Doors – Roadhouse Blues
The Eagles – Heartache Tonight
Foreigner - Urgent
Jackson Browne – The Load-Out / Stay (Live)
Jethro Tull – Locomotive Breath
Joe Walsh – Rocky Mountain Way
Journey – Lovin’, Touchin’, Squeezin’
Lynyrd Skynyrd – Call Me The Breeze
Molly Hatchet – Flirtin’ with Disaster
Nazareth – Love Hurts
Neil Young – Southern Man
Outfield – Your Love
Pete Townshend – Let My Love Open The Door
Rush – Fly By Night
The Scorpions – No One Like You
Styx – Renegade
Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers – Here Comes My Girl
Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers – You Got Lucky
Van Halen – (Oh) Pretty Woman
Yes - Roundabout
ZZ Top – I Thank You

I'm really wondering what IS on DC's classic rock station if these aren't?

DC being Doctor Casino, but maybe Washington DC has some weird regional variant of AOR too...

aaahahahah YOU GUYS

okay so just for those not in the first thread, to establish that i am not just a complete amateur phony - (1) i will freely concede that i bet a bunch of these turn out to be things i TOTALLY KNOW (2) my excuse for the rest remains "regional differences" - Atlanta classic rock radio 1990-1999 is probably really different from Akron AOR/classic rock radio 1980-1990!

the doctor is in!

ROADHOUSE BLUES: Was digging the opening, kinda sinister bump-ba-bump - someone should loop that for hours for some kinda dance classic. Kinda loses me as soon as the harmonica and piano and stuff comes in, oh lord, this is going to be the Doors trying to be really BLUESY isn't it? And it is. I'm sure I've heard the "hands upon the whee-ul" thing before - maybe in Dylan that I can't place while this is playing. I'm sure that'd be Dylan mining some of the same source material, mind.

This is probably my least favorite kind of classic rock, but this would be interesting from a historical/forensic standpoint if this recording is really ground zero for this kind of thing - I mean obviously the Animals and so on, but this seems like more the specific template for a filled-out American bar band chugging along at a country bar and insisting repeatedly that they're out on the road, doing stuff on the road, being at a road house, roading. Bad Company. This is getting better as it goes and they try to do the "laid back" thing. I can't believe it, but Jim Morrison scatting is a little better than Jim Morrison roaring and groaning. OH GOD now he's being loud again. SAVE OUR CITY... from this terrible song!

Is this the like standard version? The ending seems really flubbed, like too quiet on the final note, should be more Bra-DANNNnNGGGGGnnnnnnn--GUH!

Wikipedia confirms that a cover of this was used in the film Road House. I have seen that movie and liked it, would watch again, which is not how I feel about "Roadhouse Blues."

- Eric Clapton – Wonderful Tonight

Dude.

- Grateful Dead – Casey Jones

Dude!

- The Doors – Touch Me

DUDE!

My exact thought process, but you've gotta hear those and report back!

On the other thread, I confirmed that on further investigation, I do know (and dislike) "Wonderful Tonight." I also realized I left "Run To You" in which is just an outright mistake. I suspect other errors may crop up, if this project lasts.

just FYI Atlanta classic rock radio was definitely playing Marshall Tucker Band in the 90s

I also realized I left "Run To You" in which is just an outright mistake.

Ha, that was the one that surprised me most but I was willing to consider that there was a regional difference.

If every review is as good as the one you just did for Roadhouse Blues, this is going to be one of my favorite threads ever.

I'm curious, which station in Atlanta 1990-1999? Because the monolithic rock giant in Minnesota, KQRS, sounds much the same to me now as it did in the 80s. I mean, that Marshall Tucker track hasn't gone away in 40 years.

this is going to be the Doors trying to be really BLUESY

i'm pretty sure this is the first song i ever heard where i was aware that it was in fact a blues. i hated it, as i would come to hate all blues at that point in my young life. i have since come to understand and love the blues, but not this rendering of it. i'll generally turn the dial if this comes on, unless i'm in a very particular mood, in which case the hands upon the wheeee-ul part reminds me of high school and my wannabe dazed & confused years and then, for those exact four minutes, i will be quite happy. but that doesn't happen a lot.

Is this the like standard version? The ending seems really flubbed, like too quiet on the final note, should be more Bra-DANNNnNGGGGGnnnnnnn--GUH!

this is the standard studio version. and i agree w/you.

thank you for playing!!! this project will last as long as you keep playing.

Z93 is my reference point here - distinct from Fox 97 (friendly oldies 60-70, lot of Beatles, Motown, Four Seasons etc.) and Oldies Lake 102 (a doomed, tiny station that played absolutely wonderful 50s nuggets). The "Z" is the giveaway that it would be a tough, hard-drivin' station.

FWIW, my list is the off-the-top-of-my-head exceptions to a much larger list posted by some dude in the poll thread - I know Marshall Tucker Band! Just not that song! I think!

DC classic rock stations play "Guilty of Being White" once an hour

haha i will keep playing as long as i actually have time to goof off on ILX as much as I prefer to

lol xp

yay! xp

i'm pretty sure this is the first song i ever heard where i was aware that it was in fact a blues. i hated it, as i would come to hate all blues at that point in my young life.

Love this BTW - reminds me of Tom Ewing's "UB40, I was aware, made reggae. Therefore reggae sounded like what UB40 made. I can’t have been the only one who made this logical mis-step, and I expect I wasn’t the only one who spent a decade-plus assuming they disliked reggae because of it."

My roommate tells me that at the bar we both used to frequent in Columbus, there was once a four-hour performance of "Roadhouse Blues," with musicians and vocalists trading off over time with volunteers from the audience. I would have probably been pretty into it if that was my introduction to the song, as one of my fondest musical memories from Ohio was being involved at this same bar in an extended workout of "Oh Boy."

prob won't convince many people here, but the live version of Roadhouse Blues on American Prayer is much better than the studio version

^^^ he speaks the truth

What are you, two years old? How have you not heard these songs, on Classic Rock or anywhere else for that matter?

Get off your high horse bruh

i have heard four of these songs

I'm not even a "classic rock fan" yet I've heard 90% of those songs without even trying

Cool story

Styx – Renegade

Awww man doctor casino your life and mind will never be the same after this

Most of these are terrible tbh apart from ZZ Top.

― Οὖτις, Thursday, June 19, 2014 4:07 PM (7 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

You're high

Awww man doctor casino your life and mind will never be the same after this

― shameless pureyors of slop-on-plate (Jon Lewis), Thursday, June 19, 2014 9:05 PM (8 minutes ago)

even if you've never heard the original, you almost certainly know the main riff from nile's "masturbating the war god"

"renegade," which we will get to in time in this thread, is a song whose main riff i frequently find myself humming at random moments, but i don't ever remember anything else about the song.

recap: IT RULES

yeah it's one of those songs that always makes me want to stomp & whistle

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6iKe73N3JM

since "renegade" is on everybody's mind right now, let's make that today's listening experiment, dr. casino.

SONG #2: STYX "RENEGADE"

(audio/video in dreamland's post immediately above)

huh, I didn't know I knew this song, but I do, of course

is that a Division Bell statue earring in the still in that youtube?

The first time I tuned into a classic rock station, at the age of 11, the first song I heard was "Renegade."

huh, I didn't know I knew this song, but I do, of course

Yeah, same here.

Renegade RULES
Classic rock rules
KQ fuckin RUUUUULES

hi-five

I have never ever heard Styx in my life. ever. I think.

only heard about 25% of these songs and I can barely remember how half of them go.

I don't live in America though, so that might be why.

I enjoy the classic rock I have heard though, so Dr. Casino's experience isn't totally unique.

It's not unique: I'm sure my parents wouldn't recognize any of these songs. It is a little surprising, though, that someone could have listened to this radio format a lot in the US/Canada, and be something of a fan, without knowing any of these songs, esp most of the ones that contenderizer singles out, given that they are frequently played on the format.

Renegade: Was worried I was semi-busted, certain things did sound naggingly familiar (especially the opening intonation). The big crunchy guitar part also rings a bell - but I'm sort of convinced I'm actually thinking of something on Physical Graffiti (?). Before finishing this post I listened to it a second time and I'm now pretty sure I don't know this.

So, this is one of those songs where the guitar riff and the vocal line match each other a lot. I'm usually not that into that, but at least here it gives some oomph to the parts where they break apart are pretty sweet - the "HIGHNESS OF MY HEAD" (?) for example. Oh mannn, this air-guitar moment right around 2:00, that's sweet!

The organ player is kinda bugging me off and on, feels busy, fussy, gotta fill the space - makes me appreciate the sorta goofy and robotic blurts of same in say, the verses of "Abacab." Oooooh, the WRREREEEEEEEEE synth sounds at 2:50 are awesome.

The Queen stomp-along after that with the falsettos is also great! Shades of "Come Sail Away" obviously, I think I like these guys best when they step up into being kinda alien/fantasy-ish and lose the trudging workaday dear mama, wanted man steeze, or maybe they need that for the other moments to come into focus...this seems very much like, first half is kinda lumpy and the vocals are distractingly hysterical on top of that, but then in the second half they're all going in and it clicks. I dig "Blue Collar Man" but it'd be better if it erupted into these sci-fi fireworks more. Overall I would give this a thumbs up, mainly for the second half.

"high price on my head" iirc?

But great review!

'reacts' videos are very charming and fun, got a major soft spot for those

Yeah, I like watching dudes listen to Rush for the first time in particular.

i cherish this thread btw

'reacts' videos are very charming and fun, got a major soft spot for those

this was a "reacts" thread! not having dr. c do all his posts via video was possibly a mistake.

I love react videos because I wish I could be that enthusiastic about anything. Man, the part where the guitarists start soloing (or overdubbing, I have no idea) in unison ...

aw. miss this thread.

Xp to josh, it’s def overdubs, Allen Collins plays all the guitars during the solo

heck of a solo

this is a much shorter thread than In Which Doctor Casino Sees Old Hollywood Classics that Fall Short of 21st Century Political Acceptability for the First Time would be.

har hardy har

*crosses self*

morbius with the sweet lovin' better than a white line

revisiting Fire Down Below: i know it's like a standard blues chord progression or whatever, but today this is reminding me SO much of Dylan's "On the Road Again." knowing the Dylan affectations sprinkled in the Never Mind the Bullets material, i wonder if there's actually a direct connection. anyway it's really pointing up my recurring disappointment with Seger, where his great band and convincing performances are always let down by pretty lame first-draft lyrics.

I always get that one mixed up with The Fire Inside, which I think has more interesting lyrics.

pretty lame first-draft lyrics.

the hell you say >:(

i mean it's not Foreigner-level, but it just never adds up to much of anything... most of the lines just name people and places and the others are like "One thing for certain it ain't never gonna stop," "And it went on yesterday and it's going on tonight" etc. he may be one of Chuck's children but it's for the licks and not the lyrics. his voice takes it a long way.

Okay, before this explodes into a rockin' barroom brawl: Fire Down Below!

Yeah, this is all right. Maybe I'm predisposed to like it based on this other quality Seger, but it's sounding really good on headphones, nice solid recording of some nice solid playing. Not so into this 'list of people' kinda songwriting, adds up to a kind of bland scenario: they're different people, but they're alike! Seems like you could get to the same point with a little more interrelationships in the story, the banker could be casting shade at the poor man before he's taken over by the fire down below. What's this about again? Strippers? Or they're not all at the same place, I guess, some are in Berkeley and some are in Queens? Somewhere there's somebody ain't treatin' somebody right... wait, what's going on? I thought the fire was going to be about sex but is it actually wrath? What these guys have in common is not treating somebody right?

Wow, that was baffling. The one! two! three! into the solo has renewed my interest though. Another kinda sudden ending - my one lasting beef with Rock & Roll Never Forgets (now that I've listened to it like seven times in the last twelve hours) is how it just wanders away from the last chorus and ends without fanfare - surely if rock and roll never forgets, it'd show the 31-year-old sweet sixteen a better time than that. In this one it just seems like they ran out of energy, time or ideas - gimme a little more solo, a little more 'fire' at least.

Second listen, hoping I can follow the story a little better. The rock-n-rolling is probably strong enough to carry it just as an instrumental, with Seger's rasping as just another instrument, so in any case this isn't killing my interest in picking up the album. So, okay, there are street lights, here come these girls... what is this all about? Are they going to see a band? Why would all these lawyers and bankers be there? I feel like I'm lost in a pronoun here, the "it" that's never gonna stop. I do like that it happens in Moline, and I guess at this point I'm pretty sure this is about prostitution, an "oldest profession" kinda things... which makes the implications of bad treatment kinda grosser. At best I'd guess it's that the johns' wives aren't "treating them right" sexually but that's not very appealing as a narrative. Yeah, blame Mrs. Lockhorn... yeesh.

Thumbs up for the band, thumbs down for the lame lyric. "Fire down below" is too strong a phrase to get wasted on a lame cliche. I can't believe I'm saying this, but it really would have done well as another paean to the eternal appeal of rock: get all these horny men and women to the Bob Seger concert and let the music stoke the fires. Last verse could wrap up how the night ends up: Steve and Sally on the pinball table / Jack and Jill are in the john, etc. With a little rewrite here and there it could also have made a good Tums commercial.

I'm not sure I know this song, but from a reading of the lyrics it seems pretty clear this is about guys picking up prostitutes (and perhaps murdering them?)

a murder mystery would work well with "even the butler, he's got something to prove"

although "Honey, how come you don't MOVE?" takes on a rather grim cast

i gotta say this channel is pretty much classic rock heaven:

http://www.youtube.com/user/MainSqueezeMusic/videos

Looking back, I feel like this thread was a real turning point in my listening habits, and embracing the fact that a lot of what I most like to listen to is well-produced mainstream pop-rock from the 60s-80s. At home, it's the mellower and/or art-pop end of things, where I can just bask in the details of the recordings and the melodies. On the road, or maybe doing chores, I'm looking for the big riffs and fist-pumping hooks. I always liked all this stuff, but it's funny to think back to when a thread like this made sense for me! Thanks again, fact checking cuz, and everyone else for playing along.

Oh, and the Deacon Blues session was definitely a huge step towards me becoming a Dan fan, when previously I only really knew a few singles and the Yacht Rock show material.

thank YOU for playing along, doctor c! you taught me, and i assume plenty of others, quite a bit about songs we thought we knew. i loved this journey (your aversion to journey with a capital J notwithstanding!).

:D :D :D

"Roundabout" was another big watershed track... I bought a bunch of Yes albums in the months after that, and it helped open me up to a lot of other proggy records, like Meddle. I was also starting to explore jazz for the first time in the same years and in general my ears these days are much more interested than they used to be in specifically drinking in what the instruments are doing and how they're playing off each other as a "live" unit, even when they may not have actually been recorded that way.

Not pegging all of that to this thread... but still, something significant did happen here, amidst all my wordy and naive efforts to get ahold of these songs!

man I am so bummed that all of Sandy's amazing pix are lost to time, can anyone repost them by chance?