We are a society that loves a top ten,...from Casey Kasem to David Letterman,...America is obsessed with prioritizing our likes and dislikes,....and I am no exception.
I have always wanted to to do a top 10 of my most inspirational songs... the songs that get me excited,..or angry,...or sexual...Songs that me think and feel... or all the above at the same time!....In other words,...songs that give me chills.
I could probably do top 100 easy,...Music.... (actually songs more specifically) have been the most important thing to me my whole life...
One of the best album openers ever,....always makes my heart beat harder....I remember when this album came out it received 2 stars (out of 5) in a famous magazine....and 10 years later the same mag called this a classic.....and so it goes.
Back in 1977,...I had read about the Sex Pistols,...so the expectations were in place...but when I finally heard it...I wasn't disappointed...me and a friend listened to it probably 100 times before her mom told me to take my record and go home.
Almost 40 years later,...still one of my favorite songs of all time.
I had heard the hype,.....but when it came blasting out of my friend's mom's car radio,....it blew me away,....The power,...the rawness,...the ridiculousness of how short and perfect it was....I washed cars all weekend so I could buy the album....and I truly have never been the same.
Even to this day, music people will ask you if you are a Beatles fan or a Stones fan....I always thought it was a silly question.....how could you not be both? The Stones have way too many great (not just good) songs that bring the chills. This song is like slow magic.
This song is pure sex.....I grew up in a housing project,...and I learned to slow dance and make out to this song...When this song came on at a house party,...the lights went down,...and everybody got busy.....Last time I threw a party,...the DJ threw this song on,...and all my middle age friends lost their minds...Some things never change....
I had just moved to San Francisco; we weren't even unpacked yet but we had just had our cable installed that day....I was up in the middle of the night watching videos (because I couldn't sleep) when the video for 'Fast Car' came on,... It was like I couldn't see anything,...the song itself just reached inside of me and twisted my heart to the point i could barely breathe....I cried myself to sleep, and bought the album the next day.....moody, dark, unique,...and beautiful.
In my opinion,...one of the most perfect examples of a rock song that communicates on different levels at the same time,....Intelligence, pure emotion, storytelling,.....one of the first and still one of the best.....and it still give me chills...
Legend has it that this [is] the first song Otis recorded,...his voice is raw and silk at the same time....The urgency and intensity makes me stop in my tracks every time i hear it.
Trying to pick one Beatles song is kinda silly....I can think of 20 off the top of my head that give me chills,....just thinking about them!!!!....this song is a prime example of why the Beatles are what they are to our culture....It makes me shut down when I hear it....even before I had experienced heartbreak....I knew what it felt like....because of this song....talk about power.
1. Sidenote:
You can download a brand new FREE Everclear track at http://everclear.culturejam.com
Posted at 7:27PM on Sep 25th 2009 by Daniel S. Crittenden