Considering it’s Friday, and that I saw his guest appearance on the Muppet Show last night, I believe it’s high time for some classic rock! Time and its appearance in stuff like American Idol may have dulled it’s rebellious impact, but it’s still a punchy, crunchy hoot of a song.

Now that a bit of the fuss around the XX has died down, I can now swoop in and… pretend I was in on the group the entire time, and that I’d known of them for ages. Yeah! The XX! Capital group! I really like that song of theirs! You know the one! Yeah!

I can, of course, be accused of being a filthy wretched liar, because truth be told, I really wasn’t aware of their existence. Just because I write for a music blog doesn’t mean I have any knowledge of music! Just like how most newspaper writers don’t know anything about news. But enough about that – this is a smooth cocktail of downtempo tones and alternative beats that I most certainly dig. So I may not have known about them before, but I certainly know now!

Ah, Bob Dylan. We have somehow skirted around him by mentioning stuff like the Traveling Wilburys and other artists that sound like him, but never a dedicated post. Why? Well, because I’m woefully ignorant about his music! So, let’s fix that little issue, shall we?

Here is Hurricane, a song that generated it’s fair share of controversy upon its release in 1975. It was written in protest against the jailing of American boxer, Rubin “Hurricane” Carter, who at the time was accused of murder and subject to a great deal of racial profiling. Dylan met with Hurricane while he was incarcerated and wrote the song in support. And boy, did Dylan write one hell of a song! A nearly 9 minute opus, it’s toe-tappingly brilliant, chock full of Dylan-isms like that syncopated singing style, lyrics that tell a story, and compulsively catchy chorus hook. So, welcome to either/or, Mr. Dylan!

Harold Ramis, probably best known for his role as Dr. Egon Spengler in the Ghostbusters film series (some of my favourite films ever) passed away earlier today. In honour of his memory, I bring you the most quintessentially 80s theme song ever, from the aforementioned film series.

I don’t know a single person who doesn’t know the Ghostbusters theme song. It’s one of the most iconic film themes ever created, and so very obviously a product of its time. Yet, 30 years later (!), its synthesised sound effects, funk guitar, the call and response vocals and lyrics are as indelible as ever. It captures the perfect middle ground between spooky and absurd fun that the films nailed.

Sometimes, just sometimes, you need a song to slap you in the face, tell you ‘that was a warm-up’, then proceed to pummel your face in, while you sit there, completely blown away in awe of the experience. Funnily enough, that happens to describe this very tune!

Kings of Lowertown and their dirty blues/roots style have featured here before, and for good reason: they’re brilliant. Mississippi Flood feels very much like a ZZ Top tune (there’s more than a passing resemblance to La Grange in the guitar riff), and it should be a very good reminder of what real rock sounds like, not the namby, mincing crap that gets played today!

Holy crap, either/or got redesigned! Also, holy crap, there’s a new post! But enough of that, let’s talk about one of America’s (the band, not the country) most famous songs.

The group seem to have the market on classic, road tripping Americana music cornered, which is perfectly encapsulated by this tune. It’s so darn iconic, much like their other, equally iconic tunes.