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Songs that "stopped you dead in your tracks"


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yngwie malmsteen - marching out

heart - crazy on you

hawthorne heights - niki fm, ohio is for lovers, and where can i stab myself in the ears

coheed & cambria - welcome home, ten speed (of god's blood & burial)

beatles - day tripper

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I had to stop the car the first time

I heard "Motorcycle Emptiness"

by the Manic Street Preachers.

That guitar riff is one of the greatest

ever, so is the song. It's up there

with Bowie's "Life on Mars"

which by the way also is one of those

songs that made me stop dead on

the spot just to listen the first time

I heard it.

Edit: As a horny testosterone filled

teenager I heard the song "If I was

your girlfriend" by Prince for the

first time on radio. It got my complete

attention. I was wondering what the

f*ck that was all about. He singing

in falcetto and tape pitched etc.

I had never cared about Prince

before, but from that moment

on I was a complete fan. It

was the coolest thing I've heard

ever & it was about getting girls

and getting laid, so much I understood.

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Eric Johnson's- Cliff of Dover . It was that soundpage that came with a Guirar Player Mag.

Satriani's - "Always with you Always with me"

Gary Moore's "Still got the blues" I had to pull the car off the road the first time I heard that on the Radio.

I the past few years I would have to say it Satriani "If I could fly" If I could get to the point I could play that I think I could lay down the guitar & die happy.

Three very melodic songs that I can listen to over & over. They still push me to be a better player.

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Only Tongue Can Tell-Trashcan Sinatras

Don't Let's Start- They Might Be Giants

Just Like Heaven-The Cure

Driver 8- REM

Thieves-Ministry

Head Like A Hole-Nine Inch Nails

--just a few right off the top..

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Guest hectorp2

Cream: Sunshine of Your Love...Spoonful, I Feel Free, Toad, most of Goodbye

Jack Bruce: The Clearout, Rope Ladder to the Moon

Jimi Hendrix: Purpe Haze, Third Stone from the Sun, Voodoo Chile, All along the Watchtower

Argent: Hold your Head Up

Johnny Winter: Memory Pain

Leslie West: Dreams of Milk and Honey, Mississippi Queen, Sittin on a Rainbow, Travellin' in the Dark

Jeff Beck: Superstitious, Rock me, What Momma Said

Tony Williams Lifetime (Holdsworth): Fred

Small Faces: Itchycoo Park

Blodwyn Pig: Walk on Water

Savoy Brown: Louisiana Blues (if the river was whiskey, I'd be a diving duck...)

Beatles: She Loves You, Day Tripper, Ticket to Ride, Lady Madonna, Rubber Soul (American album)

XTC:Senses Working Overtime, Earn Enough for Us; Garden of Earthly Delights, Merely a Man

Marshall Crenshaw: This is Easy

Squeeze: The cigarette of a single man...all of Babylon and on

STP: Vaseline

Devo: Jocko Homo

Verve Pipe: My Cup of Tea

Focus: Hocus Pocus

Seal: The song he sang on David Letterman...it was his hit before that Kiss from a Rose song

Kate Bush: Rolling the Ball

Gentle Giant: Peel the Paint, The Power and the Glory, So Sincere

Fleetwood Mac: Long Grey Mare, Oh Well, Tell me (all the things you do)

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There have been a ton of songs that turned my head around, but those that just blew me away to the point that I remember exactly where I was and what I was doing at the time were

Crazy Train by Ozzy

Snortin' Whiskey by Pat Travers

I Want You To Want Me by CT

Highway to Hell by AC/DC

Eruption by VH

and Shock Me by Kiss.

All of those were within a period of a few years ('77-80/'81), but particularly the first three. "Eruption" was mind bending, but I wouldn't want to say it was mind blowing, because there was a lot of hype going on about it before I heard it, so I was a little bit more prepared to be blown away.

Crazy Train literally stopped me in my tracks.

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Crap! I forgot about the first time I heard "Crazy Train". I can remember exactly where I was (on a camping trip w/Serial and our 'rents) and the crappy AM/FM radio and even the radio station (WSEA) that played it.

Of course, I can't remember what I had this morning for breakfast...

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Van Halen's "Outta Love Again" riff. WABX radio in Detroit used it in their TV commercials. Every time that ad came on it was a "WTF is THAT?" moment for me. Also the intro to "Mean Street." The day it came out I gave a copy of Fair Warning to my friend for his birthday. We put it on and hearing that tapping section fade in amid the crackles and pops on the vinyl was so cool. Of course that open G chord just floored both of us.

Another time I was already stopped in my tracks (specifically, face down on the floor after my very first hits of marijuana with my head right next to a stereo speaker) when Hendrix' "Manic Depression" came on. I will never forget how that solo swirled through my brain. I haven't heard it the same way since.

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Guest Buck Dharma

Wow lots of them:

Edgar Winter = Frankinstein

Argent = Hold your head up

Hendrix = If 6 was 9

Sabbath = War Pigs

Trower = Bridge of Sighs

Floyd = Echo's

Floyd = Dogs

Thin Lizzy = The Emerald

Zeppelin = Moby Dick

Blue Oyster Cult = The Vigil

Neil Young = Cortez The Killer

The Allman Brothers = In Memory of Elizabeth Reid

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Tony Williams Lifetime (Holdsworth): Fred

+1 on fred.

also, seeing king crimson perform "elephant talk" on fridays (ABC's short lived answer to SNL).

hearing sco's "a go go" for the 1st time,

as well as pantera's "revolution is my name".

i used to play "a national acrobat" on sabbath bloody sabbath over & over on my 8 track tape player in 6th grade, talk about spooky.

SABBLDYSAB.jpg

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Xanadu by Rush.

By '77, I was well aware of who Rush was. But this was their first real foray into Synths. I was fortunate enough to see them on the "Farewell To Kings" tour in a small theatre. The first half of the show, Geddy had a mini moog on a stand, and they played a lot of this album. Then, the synth was taken offstage by a roadie, and they basically performed "All The World's A Stage"

To this day, I can still listen to all 11:08 of Xanadu, and not lose interest.

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On a cold February morning I was working with my Dad at the workbench in the basement after Sunday morning Mass. The radio was on. A sharp drum introduction was followed by "She Loves You , yeah, yeah, yeah." The Ed Sullivan Show followed a few hours later, and my life was changed, forever. Up unitil then, in my house, there was only The Lawrence Welk Show on Saturday and Polka Varieties opn Sundays. Thank you, baby Jesus.

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Rush - Subdivisions: I was already a big fan by that time but that song has had an effect on me from the very first time I heard it.

Dream Theater - Pull Me Under: I first heard it on the radio and just remember being shocked that such a crappy station (I-95 in CT) was playing such a cool song. Had the same reaction when I first hear Teen Spirit by Nirvana.

Robert Plant - Buring Down One Side: Zep is my favorite band and Plant is my favorite singer but I always thought of them very much as a whole so I didn't know what to expect. Hearing it the first itme I knew right away that Plant "still had it".

As far as TV goes:

In the 80's there was a short lived show on one of the major networks that would come on later in the night and show a decent amount of a concert by one band/artist. The band of the night was Mr. Big. I haved like Billy Sheehan's playing since I first heard Talas years before and I had the first Racer X album so I knew Paul Gilbert was a monster but Mr. Big had never clicked for me. It seemed like each album has one or two cool heavy tunes and the rest was just too mellow for me. There was nothing else on so I put this on figuring what the heck, maybe they would get in a solo or two. At some point they play Baba O Riley and Paul is playing the opening arpeggiated organ part on guitar. My jaw dropped. I have since heard a version of Karl Evil 9 by Mr. Big that is equally amazing.

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RE the Rush references: I may have put this on another thread in times past, but "Countdown", on SIGNALS, the same album that has "Subdivisions", was another that stopped me stone cold, and was a big factor in me taking up music again six years after my divorce. The lyrics were banal but this was an upbeat prog-rocker, and the Space Shuttle mission control announcements were cool (I was a "child of the Mercury Program"; was in Miss Rogers' fifth grade class when Alan Shepard went into space on May 5, 1961). Rush was at that first shuttle launch, BTW.

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Jason Becker - Higher (one of most beautiful vocal pieces I have ever heard)

Ok....here is a link to Jason Beckers "Higher" cause you guys gotta hear this....don't fall asleep!

Jason Becker - Higher

He composed this on guitar (while he could still play) and then had Bobby McFerrin's Voicestra record it for his Perspective album after he got sick.

Jason Becker was amazing on the guitar and to this day, using side to side head movements is still writing stuff. He is an amazing musician and person in so many ways. Jack.

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Jason Becker was amazing on the guitar and to this day, using side to side head movements is still writing stuff. He is an amazing musician and person in so many ways. Jack.

+ 10 - An opportunity came up last year and I actually got to hang out with him at his house for a half day....way cool guy.

I'm the one on the left :lol:

DaveJasonRob.JPG

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EXCELLENT topic, one worthy of a total messageboard flood...

I remember back in 1985, when I started visiting my biological father again after 8 years of absolutely no contact. (Haven't seen him since I lived with him in Seattle in 1991-1992, and haven't talked to hime since 1998....long story - BIG "issues")

We were driving along in his 1984 Chevy Monte Carlo, leaqving my Mom's house on the 25-minute drive back to his house in the Belmont district of Dayton, OH. He had just acquired the latest Rush album, "Grace Under Pressure", and had made a compilation tape (as was one of his particular pleasures in life) and had included the classic "Distant Early Warning" on said cassette.

Scared the SHEEEEIIIT out of me!!!!!

The music was SO intense, that voice SO piercing, aqnd by the time that Geddy got to the "Absalom, Absalom, Absalom" lyric....

I. Was. Hooked.

Eternally.

From that point, Rush became to me the kind of music that not only could I *NEVER* ignore, but *MUST, MUST, MUST* consume en masse. The effect? Well, not only have I spent countless capital on Rush merchandise, but - in my younger years - spent innumerable hours studying/absorbing/practicing the bass and vocal stylings of Geddy Lee, leading me directly to an on-and-off 4-year stint in a Rush cover band that played various other classic rock covers (Zep, Triumph, Journey, et al) as well as a few select covers.

The grand part of the story is...

I recently dusted off my copy of "2112", plugged in my 4-string of choice (sorry gang, NOT my Hamer - 'tis an Ibanez Soundgear with the pencil-like neck) and jammed/wailed/sang my ass off, just to see if I "still had it." The result? You'd better believe that I can still do it - every friggen' note, and my throat didn't even flinch.

And yep, the "Christ, what have you done?" lyric in Presto's "The Pass" STILL gives me shivers every time I listen to it. :-)

-Bri

P.S. - Any fellow Rush-philes in the SW Ohio area wanna get together and "flake" our way thru some tunes, just for shits & giggles?

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1982, driving to MSAC junior college in Walnut. The DJ mentioned something about, "Ronnie Montrose's new band", and played "Voyager" off of "Gamma 2". I was so floored I had to pull over, it was really powerful. The tone and the groove on that song, sheeeit. Hard to explain, it's like you almost leave your body?

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