Friday, May 16, 2008

Back in Black

Somehow listening to loud, rude, rock always cheers me up.... For the uninitiated, Back in Black is a track by AC/DC. They also came up with Big Balls, Big Gun, Shook Me All Night Long, Hell's Bells and TNT... all awesome tracks, guaranteed to make you forget your troubles and grin at the cheeky lyrics. I would recommend listening to live rock shows rather than the studio reorded stuff, it has a lot more buzz. Listening to a guy with a scratchy voice yelling his head off with electric guitars and drums in the background, is just what's needed to snap you out of that comatose state brought on by work. A lot of people I meet can't understand why i would prefer quietly sitting in a corner immersed in my own rock rather than go to a pub, get drunk, pretend to enjoy cheap jokes and listen to some idiot whining about why his girl left him or worse listening to techno... i mean seriously, where is the fun in techno? Its just noise! Where's the beat? Where's the personality? You never get frenzied fans flinging various items of netherwear at a techno concert. Give me a good rock show any day! I'm sure that if it wasn't for Rock and Rock Shows, sales of Women's Lingerie would drop to a fraction of what they are right now.
Listen to one of AC/DC's shows. Trust me you will imagine yourself strutting your stuff across that stage belting out "Coz I'm T-N-T, I'm Dynamite, T-N-T, and i'll win the fight. T-N-T, I'm a power load, T-N-T, Watch me explode..."
It's a great feeling.
Rock is an acquired taste. I have my mother to thank for initiating me into Deep Purple with Hush and Smoke on the Water. And later my husband for initiating me into the wonders of Iron Maiden with their Phantom of the Opera. GnR, Aerosmith, Dep Leppard, AC/DC, Nickleback, Bon Jovi, Iron Maiden, Deep Purple, Ugly Kid Joe, Whitesnake, Creed, Evanescence, The Rasmus... the list goes on... Rock Stars quite unlike Pop Stars, are always hot. Is it the tattoos? The Biceps? The bald Heads? The black leather? The Chin? The Booty? Despite the age of anorexia and dimwit blonde, Rockers managed to retain their animal magnetism. I mean seriously, take away the guitar and band and some of the God's of Rock could be described as downright ugly. So what do the groupies and the women and the media chase after? Rock my dear... Rock! That forbidden sound that wakes you up like nothing else can. That destroys your inhibitions. Its like a drug. It reaches into you, past all the acquired crap and pulls out something you never knew was there.
I've noticed that the best rock comes out when times are bad. I'm not talking about unrequited love and the usual shoulda woulda coulda's, I'm talking about post war, economic depression, recession, social upheaval...That's when the best of music and art is created. When the going gets tough, the diamonds come out. That's when the Gods of Rock and their Anthems are created. Wake up and get out those Blacks....It's time for the Rock and Roll Burn.