Every once in a while you have just got to rock the fuck out. A great list to turn up to 11 in your car. But be mindful of the traffic! Everything’s on the Spotify list. LIstentto the whole thing or cherry-pick as you will. 

Nazareth (pictured) goes all the way back to 1968 and Dunfermline, Scotland. Nazareth took their name from Nazareth, Pennsylvania, which is cited in the first line of The Band’s classic song “The Weight,” a band that I covered in my last post. Interestingly, I can’t think of two bands that have less in common.

I don’t recall “Hair of the Dog” getting much airplay here in the States when it was released in 1975. In fact, I didn’t even really know the song till Guns ‘n Roses released a cover almost twenty years later. What’s funny about this song is the expression “hair of the dog” is about drinking off a hangover and this song is about a guy telling a women she’s met her match.

Not much to say about Van Halen other than that it’s been about a year and a half since Eddie died. Eddie, we miss you. I did “Hot for Teacher” before but not only is it –  IMHO- their greatest song but also one of the greatest hard rock numbers ever. How awesome are brother Alex’s drums on this?

The band Jet roared out of Australia in 2003 with their debut album Get Born. They got their name from the Paul McCartney song from Band on The Run. They managed to put out exactly three albums, broke up, reformed. I”m not quite sure what they’re up to these days but “Are You Gonna Be My Girl?” still holds up as an exquisite piece of garage rock.

I had said not too long ago that the early to mid-90s were the last great era of mainstream rock. I may have to rethink that because the turn of the century brought us White Stripes, Jet, Black Keys, Vines – and the Hives.

The Hives are a Swedish band that released an album called Veni Vidi Vicious in 2000 Another garage band, they are an antidote to all that Swedish overproduced Max Martin crap. The song is “Hate to Say I Told You So.”

Another band that needs no introduction are the Bad Boys from Boston (actually Sunapee, New Hampshire), Aerosmith. A few years back we saw them along with J.Geils at Fenway Park. My daughter was attending Boston University and her marching band played along with “Centerfold.” The only way it could have been more Boston is if they served clam chowder. “Mama Kin” is one of their greatest tunes. They used to have a club named that in Boston but it is history.

Are AC/DC touring? Another bucket list band for me. The boys get right to the point on “Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap.” Wikipedia: “The phrase ‘Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap’ is an homage to the cartoon Beany and Cecil, which Angus Young watched when he was a child. One of the cartoon’s characters was named Dishonest John, who carried a business card that read: “Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap. Holidays, Sundays, and Special Rates.”

When d did something on “Radar Love,” a few years back, a Dutch reader informed me that Golden Earring were very much still alive and touring. Alas, it was announced just about a year ago that guitarist George Kooymans had ALS and so they disbanded. George wrote the great “Twilight Zone,” AND co-wrote “Radar Love,” one of the greatest rock songs in the history of the earth. Here’s “Twilight Zone” for you, George.

When I went out to LA a couple of years ago to do my Homer Simpson thing as part of a rock and roll camp, one of the songs on our list of potential Deep Purple tunes was “Burn.” We did it in rehearsal a couple of times but it never made the stage. Great fucking riff.

I like Bob Seger but I am not a heavy-duty fan. But i tell you what. I wish to God I’d been in the audience (right here in Beantown) when they did “Let It Rock.” E Street band’s got nothing on this one. This is one the best things I’ve ever heard.

Lastly, The Cult are a British band who are not only very much alive but also touring with Alice Cooper. Looks like they’re touring mostly out West here in the States and then onto the UK. The days of bands from that era touring endlessly are, alas, over. I remember “Love Removal Machine” well from the 80s’. Big radio hit here.