Monday's Music Moves Me: Roctober 80s Edition

Roctober edition. Today is Monday October 12, 2020.  It is time for Monday's Music Moves Me! Today's theme is pick a decade and celebrate Rocktober. I am picking the 80's so crank up your Walkmans and Boomboxes it is time to rock!

I am Mike and I will be counting down the top Rock songs from 1980-1989, my source playback.fm.

                                            1980 "Keep on Loving You" REO Speedwagon

1981 "Start Me Up" The Rolling Stones

1982 and 1983 The Police "Every Breathe You Take"

1984 Foreigner "I  Want to Know What Love Is"

1985 Dire Straits "Money For Nothing"

1986 Bon Jovi "Livin' on a Prayer"

1987 U2 "With or Without You"

1988 R.E.M "Orange Crush"

1989 Alannah Myles "Black Velvet"

 

Did any of these surprise you? Well I will see you soon with a new post!

Monday's Music Moves Me: Christmas, New Years, Winter

December's 4M Theme was Christmas for the whole month. It fits since it is still the 12 Days of Christmas.



                                              Straight No Chaser "12 Days of Christmas"

Eric Clapton "Christmas in my Home Town"

                                           
                                          But maybe we should give "Winter" a nod..

Sometimes it about longing to get back to someone. "Six Feet of Snow" Little Feat

U2's "New Year's Day"

Happy Winter, Merry Christmas, Happy New Year's!

Monday's Music Moves Me: Unconventional Duets

Welcome to another episode of Monday's Music Moves Me. This a bloghop. If you want to see who else is playing or sign up to join the fun you can visit this site. I hope your minds are open to let your feet dance in this genre bending and swapping event. Today's theme is unconventional duets. The theme was Stacy's idea.

Robert Plant and Alison Krauss

Robert Plant will always be known as the singer from the legendary rock group Led Zeppelin. Alison Krauss is gifted with a beautiful voice whose music falls in somewhere in the contemporary bluegrass, country, category. The two musicians came together for a platinum selling, multi-Grammy Award winning album.

"GONE, GONE, GONE"

U2 AND BB KING

U2, the Irish Rock Band who fills stadiums with their tours, is quite different from blues legend BB King. However, they got together for a few songs and had some success.

"When Love Comes to Town"

Michael Jackson and Paul McCartney

A Beatle and the King of Pop together.

"Say, Say, Say"

Is Paul McCartney and the surviving members of Nirvana more unconventional?

Paul and Nirvana

"Cut Me Some Slack"

Taylor Swift and Def Leppard

Taylor Swift went from a Country Artist to become a Pop Empire. Somewhere along the way she teamed up with these rockers...

"Pour Some Sugar on Me"

I could go on and on but I think I will leave you with these five.

Battle of the Bands: The Fall of U2

The results of my Christmas battle of the Band are in a few days before Christmas like an early Christmas gift. In reality this one was decided early and often. Marry Burris was the only one to vote for U2. The next nine went to Vertical Horizon.

Some truly liked Vertical Horizons and some just did not like U2.

Here is another Christmas song from Vertical Horizon "The Man Who Would be Santa"

                                              "Everything You Want"

I figured I wouldn't go all Christmas on this post as the above video shows.

Now how do I make U2 better...maybe add Robert Plant and have them do Led Zeppelin songs?

Oh well, I am sure I will post something in here before the New Year's and I will be back on New Year's Day for a New Battle of the Bands. Hope you have wonderful Holidays!

Battle of the Bands: I Believe in Father Christmas

You know I couldn't let the Holidays go without at least one themed Battle of the Band. My first Christmas season I did "Run, Rudolph, Run" and "Happy Xmas The War is Over."  Last year it was The Grinch and "Christmas Cookies".  What will it be this year?



Earlier this month Greg Lake passed away. I paid tribute to him here. His song "I Believe in Father Christmas" feels like it would  fit tonight.

I will pick to covers of the song, You my readers decide the winner by voting in the comments and sometime around the Winter Solstice I will count up the votes and declare the winner in another post. If you like this battle check out the other ones. Stephen has the best list of participants at his site.

Contestant One: U2

Contestant Two:  Vertical Horizon

U2 or Vertical Horizon? Who gets your vote? Vote in the comments and we will have a winner soon! Happy Holidays!

Happy Birthday to The Edge

David Howell Evans more commonly known as The Edge turns 53 today. The Edge is the guitarist for U2.
Of course you know I am going to celebrate his birthday with some videos. Since he is a guitarist let me start with a mix of some of his solos..

Here is a bit about his guitar rig for any guitar geeks out there...

Here is the song "Numb" which The Edge sings...

Here he performs "The Weight" with Jack White and Jimmy Page..

Here is U2 "With or Without You"

Thanks for dropping in and happpy birthday to The Edge!

A to Z Challenge: King of the Blues and a look at how it is Hard to Be King: B.B. King's Recent Struggles

B.B. King is a living legend. A rock and roll hall of fame member, a blues hall of fame member, Kennedy Center Honoree, awarded a National Medal of Honor, a Presidential Medal of Freedom, 17 Grammy Awards, and he even has a Mississippi Blues Trail Marker. An impressive resume that holds up well against anyone.

Recording with U2 also helped to spread B.B, King's popularity beyond blues...

Eric Clapton helped B.B. King's career grow as well...

Of course B.B. King became  King due to his own music..

Over the years I was fortunate to see B.B. King perform life several times in venues like Wolf Trap and Constitution Hall. I even got to see him perform with John Hiatt, Jeff Beck, and Kenny Wayne Shepherd.

I always thought he was a brilliant storyteller. Now at 88 some of his shows have been getting less than glowing reviews. Age and ailments taking bigger tolls. When I saw him I saw how he would sit more during the show. Now reports of lost lyrics, lost musical places, and his guitar playing reduced to brief moments of brilliance. I would take a brief moment of brilliance on Lucille anyday.

This is a review from his performance last Friday from Saint Louis that was a buzz last week. This story reports of more. Sad reports to hear about this musical icon and sad reports to hear about  the blues.

Hopefully it was just a bad show. Hopefully he has a little bit more left in him. Maybe he just needs a little help. However, age is a tough thing to over come.

A to Z: U2

Why not get back to the music with U2? No reason but to continue on with the challenge.

My favorite album by the band is "Joshua Tree"




This might be my favorite song, but then again I am partial to B.B. King, "When Love Comes to Town"

My favorite one without a guest is "One"

But it was their early stuff that grabbed me like "New Year's Day"

and this song is simply beautiful..The Sweetest Thing..

Like any great band they have a bunch of song out there. What are your favorites? Thanks for checking out the blog and I will have a new post soon. (like in hours)

The Birthday of Johnny Cash

Yes today was George Harrison's birthday as well. However, today Johnny Cash wins out. Perhaps, it is because I have blogged enough on the Beatles. Perhaps, I am more in a country frame of mind. Having attended Darrell Scott's show in December and seeing Ryan Adams in January. More simply put it could have been because of Cash's appeal to more than the country crowd and his talented songwriting ability. He would have been 80 today. So, we celebrate his life and legacy with some fun covers from perhaps the unexpected.

Here is Roger Daltrey the legendary vocalist of The Who covering Ring of Fire via YouTube:

Here is Johnny Cash covering a Nine Inch Nails song, and making the song his from YouTube..

Here is Pearl Jam covering the Johnny Cash song "25 Minutes to Go" from YouTube..

Here is Johnny Cash covering U2's "One" via YouTube...

Hope you enjoy...

In Regards to Elvis

34 years today Elvis Presley died. Tonight my blog is kind of a tribute to Elvis. Sadly, I don't have any memories of his death. I knew of him as a child ,but I was only 6. So, probably my biggest Elvis memory was watching U2 covering "Can't Help Falling in Love." Here is a version of  them playing Elvis:

Here is Robert Plant sharing a story on the David Letterman Show of meeting the King/;

Here is a vintage video of Robert covering Elvis with Rockpile.

Anyone want to share their Elvis memories?