Sex sells!  I want to thank this “Drunken Angel” above and Tal Wilkenfeld from yesterday for drawing a few extra clicks to my humble little site.  Before anyone accuses me of perversion or lechery or something, I’d like to defend myself a bit by saying this is one of the better lists of rock and roll you are gonna find on the internet.  So, in that spirit, lets close it out right now with clips 24-1 and put this beautiful list to bed once and for all.

#24.  Bob Marley, One Love/People Get Ready – It’s Bob’s version of “All You Need is Love,” and its basically just as good.  Whatever melody making power the Beatles had, Bob had too.

#23.  Bob Dylan, The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll – I wish I had more Dylan on my list, but I couldn’t find too many choice clips of him playing my favorite Dylan songs.  This is an exception, one of the greatest Dylan videos you are gonna find on ole youtube. Read more »

We knocked off 100-50, now its time to begin rounding off the list of my 100 favorite youtube videos with part 3.  In this list you’re gonna find a lot of amazing super groups, all-star pair ups, and ultra rare collaborations!  Let’s begin the magical mystery tour right now!

#49.  John Lennon, Jealous Guy – I dig this video because of John’s ruminations on the philosophy of love right before he launches into the song.

#48.  Louie CK on Late Night With Conan O’Brien – Appropriate because Louie’s genius show Louie began its second season last week.  Don’t miss that.

#47.  Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, Mean Woman Blues/Blue Suede Shoes – They were still young, and they were still thin, and of course they could still rock.

#46.  The Beatles, Strawberry Fields Forever –  My favorite Beatles song, when I was 17 years old. Read more »

Welcome back again to my youtube favorite retrospective part 2!  You know the deal, the list is done, and we’re looking back at all the hits that made us laugh, cry, and die.  Let’s start rolling right where we left off!

#74.  The Ramones, Blitzkrieg Bop – It’s more Ramones, the greatest and most original punk ever playing the shit out of Blitzkrieg Bop, in Germany of all places.  Not bad for a bunch of Jewish guys from Queens.

#73.  The Sex Pistols, Anarchy in the UK – When I was in college, I actually had a history professor show us this video as an example of historical outliers.  That’s all well and good, but I was just fascinated with how the drummer sat at the front of the band.

#72.  Elvis Costello, Pump it Up – Declan MacManus’s punky little pop jam.  You gotta love Costello for essentially being the reincarnation of Buddy Holly in modern times, both physically, and musically. Read more »

Now that my countdown is complete, I thought it’d be fun to look back at the whole list, organize it, link it up, and add a fresh comment or two for posterity’s sake.  So, without further ado, here it is, part 1 of my youtube countdown featuring the last 25 songs to appear on the list.

#100.  The Beatles, All You Need is Love – Is it my favorite Beatles song?  Not technically, but I think it’s their greatest triumph.  FYI, this video was originally in black and white until the art gurus at Apple colorized it based on photographs from the event.

#99.  The Beatles, Nowhere Man – The song that inspired me to become a Beatle slave, and a musician myself.  Fun fact, not many songs have a guitar solo after the first verse.

#98.  Tribalistas, Ja Se Namorar – 21st century island cool Brazilian pop at its finest.

#97.  Carl Perkins and Friends, Rockabilly School – One of the greatest TV concerts in rock and roll history.  Does anyone have a magic pair of blue suede shoes so I can travel back in time and be at this show?

#96.  Simon and Garfunkel, The Sounds of Silence –  You get to see S & G in all their young nerdy early 60s glory in this vid…Amazing. Read more »

At last we’ve arrived at part 100 of my youtube favorites countdown.  This is the final part of the countdown, and boy has it been a magical journey through some of my favorite songs and videos of all time.  I had to end the countdown on the Beatles because it hurts my eyes when they don’t fall on #1 in any list predominantly about rock and roll.  “All You Need is Love,” is a mysterious song.  It was written specifically for the historic first worldwide satellite TV broadcast, “Our World,” and was watched by over 400 million people globally.  The song is a mystery because there aren’t too many quotes from John Lennon about the inspiration and writing of the song, and the other Beatles and George Martin can’t seem to remember exactly where the song came from.  The song wasn’t made for any album, and the recording of the track (save some overdubs) was mostly done in the live recording you see below.  So you don’t have a bunch of takes and jam sessions in the vault that might give further insight into its creation.  I have yet to hear a demo of John on his guitar or piano plunking out the song for the first time, which would simply be a marvelous thing if it exists somewhere.  Anyway, this song is a Masterpiece, (note the capital M.)  It’s one of the greatest slogans ever set to music and fantastic slice of artistic genius.  It’s also just further evidence of the insane alien amount of productivity the Beatles were capable of.  They had just finished Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, their timeless masterwork, and then a few weeks later, they unleash this masterstroke.  They were an unstoppable force of magic, churning out record after record, with smash #1 singles (that weren’t on the LPs) dotting those releases.  What’s further amazing is that nothing in their tumultuous personal lives slowed them down a bit.  In 1967, John was a full blown drug addict; snorting cocaine, dropping acid every weekend, smoking pot everyday, and probably drinking heavily.  His marriage was falling apart, he was having a massive identity crisis, he was jealous of Paul McCartney, and he was suffering a dark depression.  None of that seemed to stop him from writing a song like, “All You Need is Love,” and then following it up with another track like the brilliant “I am the Walrus,” a few weeks after.  No force, personal or global, could really stop the momentum the Beatles had built for themselves, and it all culminated in them being considered the greatest musicians of the 20th century.  So the countdown ends, but the website doesn’t of course.  From here on out, I’ll be focusing on writing more ambitious “proper essays” and articles on everything from music, politics, culture, and philosophy.  So keep checking back, as I intend to make this one of the best websites you’ll ever read.  Thank you so much.

We are just one tick away to glorious #100 of my youtube countdown.  Until then, you’ll have to make due with part 99 which is of course the Beatles with “Nowhere Man” from 1965’s Rubber Soul. Nowhere Man was the first Beatle song that exclusively had no references to love, girls, or romance.  Stepping out of his lyrical comfort zone, John Lennon decided that if he was going to take a commercial leap of faith with his music, he should make it one of the greatest songs of all times, you know, just to be safe.  Of course he succeeds.  The song features a deceptively simple folk rock melody, gorgeous psychedelic harmonies, a chiming diamond of a guitar solo by George, and pulsating revolutionary bass by Paul.  This song, like many Beatles songs, is absolutely timeless because it still sounds cool to this day.  It’s like the guys had this knack for transcending time and space by writing music that would always sound cutting edge, a fact that became more clear as time went by.  On a personal note, this was the song that made me an absolute Beatle maniac and changed my life forever.  I always loved the Beatles as a little boy, but my interest naturally waned because it was something I didn’t understand or appreciate fully.  When I was 12 years old and my school had an assembly about God knows what, and the song was blasted in surround sound in my school’s large theater room, just swallowing me whole.  I ran home, dug out all my sister’s Beatle records, and my obsession began.  The video is an ultra rare LIVE performance of the song in Munich, Germany in 1966.  This song was one of the reasons the Beatles had to stop playing live as their arrangements and ideas grew so complex, that they couldn’t be replicated live.  While they are a bit shaky in sections, they do an admirable job in pulling this one off, and it’s extremely unique in giving you a small glimpse into what the Beatles might have sounded like had they carried on live during their psychedelic era.  So, that’s that.  Just one more to go folks!  See you soon!

We are getting so close to the end, with part 98 of my youtube countdown.  Today, I have something a little more international, and why not?  After 97 songs, I’m running out of English songs!  Anyway, its a good one.  Its the song “Ja Sei Namorar” from the Brazilian group Tribalistas.  It’s a breezy poppy samba song with a catchy melody, driving rhythm, and a gorgeous backing vocal hook.  The song roughly translates to “I know how to be in love,” and the lyrics are about finding simple happiness.  That’s all according to my multi-lingual friend who is obsessed with Brazilian pop.  It’s worth noting that the last two sentences were basically copied from her email to me verbatim, which I appreciate because I don’t speak Portuguese, so hopefully she’s not lying.  Anyway, sadly, my own research indicates that Tribalistas broke up after this one record, despite it being a massive hit in Brazil and Europe, and despite them even winning a Latin Grammy.  Video game fans might also recognize the song from FIFA 2004.  Like I said, I am so close to the end, and I have the last two songs ready to go, so stayed tuned folks for the dramatic finish.  Until then enjoy this beautiful song.

It’s a star studded part 97 on my youtube countdown, and the stakes are getting higher, and the stars are getting hotter as we close in on 100!  This time I have the undeniably fantastic performance of Carl Perkins and his super friends from the 1985 concert Blue Suede Shoes: A Rockabilly Session.  Get this.  It’s iconic 50s guitar master Carl Perkins leading Beatles George Harrison and Ringo Starr, psychedelic Cream guitarist Eric Clapton, Johnny Cash’s daughter Rosanne, Dave Edmunds, and a SLEW of other slick stars of rock and rockabilly through a medley of joyous numbers.  Carl calls it his rock school, and boy, he is the greatest headmaster ever.  The greatest thing about this jam is that everybody, especially George Harrison, is just beaming with enthusiasm and excitement as they rock and bash their way through “It’s Alright Mama,” “Blue Moon of Kentucky,” “Night Train to Memphis,” and “Whole Lotta Shakin Going On.”  It’s just about the greatest fun in rockabilly ever caught on film, and you’ll want to replay it over and over.  So don’t let me stop you now.  Go cat go!

It’s part 96 of my youtube countdown, and we are getting so close to the end!  This time I have Simon and Garfunkel’s “The Sounds of Silence,” from the album of the same name.  When I was crafting the title of this entry, I noticed that the original version of the song was not titled, “The Sound of Silence,” as I had thought, but was pluralized.  Both the plural and singular version of the song are correct however as later releases were known as the “The Sound of Silence.”  Paul Simon originally wrote this haunting folk ballad write after John F. Kennedy’s assassination, but the song was not an immediate hit.  When the song started to become a hit in the mid 60s, Simon and Garfunkel were no longer working together, but the success of the tune, reworked by producers to give it a more pop sound, reunited the boys and launched them into the mainstream of cultural significance.  The live performance I found here reflects the original version of the song with its minimalist beatnik production.  In it, the guys are so young and dorky, Garfunkel gives a real proto-hippie moralizing speech, and of course they flawlessly play the song, achieving that perfection they always shot for.  Check it out!

Part 95 is a double dose of glorious rock and roll.  I’ve got the Beach Boys and the Ramones rocking the Bobby Freeman classic, “Do You Wanna Dance?.”  In the Beach Boys version, drummer Dennis Wilson takes the lead vocals, and man is he good.  Dennis was the only Beach Boy that actually surfed, and like his brothers and cousins, was a fantastic singer.  I love the Beach Boys version for their gorgeous harmonies and almost indie rock slacker like take on the song.  This video is also hilarious to see Mike Love just dance off on the side not contributing nothing to the song but Beach Boys vibe and attitude.  The Ramones version is just as good, if not better.  Recorded for Rocket to Russia, the Ramones are shown ripping their version of the song through the halls of Rock ‘N’ Roll High School, the 1979 Roger Corman cult classic.  The Beach Boys were always a favorite of the Ramones, and they bring all the high octane distorted punk joy they can to this number, making it one of the greatest covers of all time in my opinion.  So, in conclusion, the answer to the question is, yes, I wanna dance…RIGHT NOW!