This was a lot harder, but you know, once I got started, I couldn’t stop myself.
70. Mescalero (ZZ Top) Argue amongst your selves, the Top’s been putting it out there for a long, long time. From back rooms to arena’s, and back again. Can’t mess with the ZZ Tops.
71. Concrete and Steel (ZZ Top) Recycler was recycled, but this one was like the old days. Don’t like it? Tough.
72. Tush (ZZ Top)
73. Jesus Just Left Chicago (ZZ Top)
74. Just Got Paid (ZZ Top) and no, I won’t get tired of typing “ZZ Top.” I colud go all night, just on this.
75. La Grange (ZZ Top) need to fish there again, I hope.
76. Fearless Boogie (ZZ Top)
77. Sinpusher (ZZ Top)
78. Just got Paid Today (ZZ Top)
79. Heard it on the X (ZZ Top) This is the last Top song, but, to me, it’s most important. I put it back to back with Mexican Radio, as the two are related, and then, it’s particularly evocative of a fall afternoon, in rent car, headed coastal. There was warm wind on my shoulder….
80. Hear those engines wind (Brendon Jenkins) happy, inadvertent discovery, thanks to Gulf Coast rebel radio. Rod dog music.
81. Rapture (Blondie)
82. The Everclear Song (Roger Creager)
83. Green Haze (Elvis Hitler) The album’s called Disgraceland, the name’s real, and the song is Green Acres to Purple Haze.
84. Jessica (Allman Brothers) In all its, what, 8-minute glory?
85. We’re Through Being cool (Devo)
86. “The Politics of Dancing” (Re-Flex) It was a difficult song to find, B-side from an 80’s “new wave” set. Haunted me for years, quite literally. The video, and whatever unbidden message contained in that short? Finally located it, more than 20 years, after the fact.
87. 5 Pound Bass (REK) #2 Live Dinner by Robert Earl Keen is a singular album, from location to ambiance to song-writing. Musical work. Story-telling. Truly a classic. My intriduction was the simple, “Dude, you’ve heard the song about the 5 pound bass, right?”
88. Measure for Measure (Toni Price) Pretty much a local girl, now. I recall seeing her, at one time, and there was a real reason I was listening to the blues. Song covers it all.
89. Pipeline (Dick Dale with Stevie Ray Vaughn)
90. Raspberry Beret (The Derailers) They’re hard-working band, local, sort of “Austin does Bakersfield” sound. Seen them many times.
91. Java Jive (Manhattan Transfer) It was the first of their songs that caught my attention.
92. Birdland (Manhattan Transfer)
93. Ooh Las Vegas (Gram Parsons) I know I listened to this stuff, from long ago, but it recycled into my listings a few years ago. The history is fascinating, and it’s another part of the root system in the growth of true “American” music.
94. Sweet Home Chicago (Foghat) The “Fool for the City” Album, I think that was the one, the guy fishing in a manhole? There’s several cuts, but an old blues number?
95. My Guitar wants to Kill Your Mother (Frank Zappa) Such an odd duck. Musically gifted. Always using humor, too. I’m sure this is a B-side kind of song, but it’s good because it’s not the more often heard material.
96. Okie from Muskogee (Merle Haggard) and if you don’t get it? I recall, taking a picture of a buddy, outside Muskogee, at the city’s sign. It was a long-lost weekend trip on scooters. Back when “scooters” were large and noisy.
97. Hit me with your best shot (Pat Benetar)
98. We Will Rock You (Queen) Where were you when you heard this for the first time? Working on a motorcycle, up on a lift.
99. Stranglehold (Ted Nugent) I listened to all 11 minutes of this live version, and sure, there are other cuts that might show up, but catch just one?
100. Crossfire (SRV) Around Austin? SRV is akin to a patron saint. Or something. We have a statue, in the park. I pass it most near daily, headed downtown. I can’t help but think about the Rome Inn. What was it the Dead Milkmen said?
101. The Great Hank (REK) He’s been criticized for lacking serious vocal talent, and as a self-deprecating Capricorn, he’s acknowledged that shortcoming. Foibles notwithstanding, REK just gets better all the time. Only seen him do this song once, but it was worth it.
102. It’s My Life (Talk Talk) this is one of the songs wherein the way I remember the video has a bigger part of the tune’s impact. Along with:
103. Talk Talk (Talk Talk) Eponymous song. Whatever.
104. Beer, Bait & Ammo (Kevin Fowler) The first time I saw that CD in the store, all I could do was laugh. And pass on it. Took a while before I got around to a Kevin Fowler appreciation. He’s nothing more than a rowdy, beer-drinking old redneck punk who is a good showman. Maybe not great, but it’s pure Texas.
105. Burning Down the House (Talking Heads) which could easily be a whole subsection, but this one song? A fine spring morning in Austin. Afternoon. TV set where I was living, the TV was on. Something was burning in Waco. A compound. “Burning down the House” was on the radio, at the moment.
106. Smells like Teen Spirit (Nirvana)
107. Words (Missing Persons) don’t know if it’s still there, but at one bookstore, South Austin, there’s a collection of album covers up over the wainscoting in the men’s room. Including this one, with its slash of pink. Really, what are words for, when no one listens?
108. Phat Planet (Leftfield) Another hat tip to a Gemini.
109. Bad Motor Scooter (Montrose) I should watch more TV so I can see the “whatever happened to …” series.
110. The bluegrass widow (REK) The live album was rough around the edges, hence its endearing quality. Still a favorite cut.
111. Blue Monday (New Order) Bonus points: figure out that connection.
112. Dallas (Joe Ely) While this is a staple of the Flatlanders, which include Joe Ely, seeing him, hearing him, alone is worth the trip. From Lubbock. Lives in Austin. His whole canon is quite good.
113. This city has no heart (Faster Pussycat) What’s life without a little hair metal? It’s - truth be told - a solid album. Maybe not the best, but several cuts are good. And this B-side is stuck in my mind, right behind the Flatlanders singing about Dallas.
114. Me and Billy the Kid (Joe Ely) While it’s known as a Pat Green song, it was written by Joe Ely. Lots of cross fertilization in these parts. The story behind the song, summarized with on-stage banter is equally impressive.
115. Star 69 (Fatboy Slim) and for this? I can easily blame Bubba. Live, Austin Music Hall. Sometime in the last few years.
116. Right here, right now (Fatboy Slim) I used this song, still do, a lot, as background noise when I’m working on scopes. Right here, right now, no time like the present, than I’ll go off on some astrology tangent. But it’s a definite influence.
117. One thing leads to another (The Fixx)
118. U.S. Blues (Grateful Dead) Live from the Mars Hotel is one of the underrated albums in the last half century. Two tunes have haunted me, in particular, “U.S. Blues,” and
119. The Pride of Cucamonga (Grateful Dead) It’s a weird road song for me.
120. Scarlet Begonias (Jimmy Buffett) Touring bands, the Dead blazed the trail, then there’s Buffett, the same, only different. Which was why I liked his version of “Scarlet Begonias” so much. Lovingly covered.
121. Welcome to the Jungle (G’n’R) rock on. You can’t deny you like it.
122. Slash dot (Fatboy Slim) odd, how certain website picked up the song. Coincidence?
123. Sweet Child of Mine (G’n’R) Yeah, so what?
124. Glendale Train (New Riders of the Purple Sage) NRPS hold a special little spot in my aural histories. Saw them live, whilom.
125. 21 Days (Cory Morrow) I heard this, Texas radio, hunted down the album, and found more music that matters. Besides this song is all about life on the road. Way it really is. Except I don’t have a girl in Selma.
126. Renegade (Styx)
127. Jailbreak (Thin Lizzy) See, when I lived in AZ, going to thew university, I had this cold water walk-up flat, and every Tuesday night, the doors would be open to this one rock and roll place, and I cold hear the band covering this very song. Every Tuesday, for several years, around 1 to 1:30 AM. Like clockwork.
128. Crazy Frog (Axel F) ah, crap, how did that get in here?
129. This must be the place (Talking Heads) subtitle: naive melody. The lyrical response when I landed where I live.
130. Subterranean Homesick Blues (Bib Dylan)
131. Take this job and shove it (David Allan Coe) the guy who penned the ultimate country song, too.
132. Sleeper Coach Driver (Rev. Horton heat)
133. Detroit Rock City (KISS)
134. China Grove (The Doobie Brothers) “…down around San Antone…”
135. Toccata (ELP) More prog rock, and here’s one thast the radio will never, ever play. However, it was ground breaking in its fusion of rock and “classical” which is now all classic rock. The more things change? The more they remain the same.
136. “Adventures in Success” (Will Powers) I’m not sure it’s been re-issued. But the video is up on iTunes.
137. Walk This Way (Run-DMC)
138. Alice’s Restaurant (Arlo Gutherie) some radio station used to play it every Thanksgiving, the long version. Stuck. A must have.
139. Boom Boom ((Pat Travers Band)
140. Sunday Morning Coming Down (Johnny Cash)
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