Emerging Appreciation

The past year so I've been driving a lot and running a little again. In both activities I play music. And no matter how nobly I start (Brubeck, Mozart, Kitaro), I always end up playing rock. Loud.

It's been an interesting experience. The i-Pod lets you take everything with you. If you don't like something, you switch to something you like better. And this process it has forced a reassessment of what rocks and what doesn't. No amount of replay can ever make, say, Thin Lizzy outrock The Presidents of the United States of America. But when you're out there alone and you wanna rock, you find yourself reaching for some options and skipping others.

Moving down:

• The Rolling Stones. First of all, never a favorite. Second, they've always been a girl's band. But they've practically dropped off my playlist because they're just too decorative. A Rolling Stones song is almost never about rock, it's about the Rolling Stones. For every true rock song ('Gimme Shelter') there's some aimless showcase piece with a blues riff in it. Fine if that's all you have. But I keep finding better.
• Aerosmith. Painful to admit this because I do think they're great. And some of the songs ('Dude Looks Like a Lady') hit a balance of power, musicality, and humor. Just not often enough.
• Metallica. A nice little band with good intentions. But if you start at 11 and stay at 11 you really haven't gone anywhere, have you?
  

Moving up:

• AC/DC. Ahem. Let me just say, I never liked them. I always believed that 'Back in Black' was a freaky travesty, not that there's anything wrong with that. But some of the songs, especially the early ones, are masterworks - rocking, musical romps that are the perfect accompaniment for traffic felonies and jogging in the park. If you haven't listened lately, here are three songs that are credits to the genre: 'Girls Got Rhythm', 'It's a Long Way to the Top (If you Wanna Rock and Roll)', and (just so you don't imagine me a Bon Scott partisan), 'Hell's Bells'.

The Laird had a guitar teacher who dissed Angus Young's fretwork. This may be true, but I submit 'Girls Got Rhythm' as Exhibit A for the Defense. Whomever is playing the riff (Angus? Malcolm?) on that tune is not technically deficient. I invite everyone over to my place where we can run 'Girls Got Rhythm' through the tower speakers at full volume to develop a deeper mutual appreciation of the song.

For those of you still on the fence, Bon Scott was a bagpiping champion as a child.