The Song Fight Bulletin Board

So, I get in these modes where I want to learn stuff. And It occurred to me that alot of my bass playing and drumming is shaped by the covers I've had to learn and play over the years. As I'm now trying to improve my guitar playing, and I'm playing guitar in a band, it occurred to me that I would be a lot happier learning covers that I dig rather than the ones dictated by the local bar scene. I do not need to learn "Don't Rock the Jukebox" on the guitar... so I started to wonder, if I picked ONE tune by my favourite artists, to learn from, the one song I THOUGHT was there "quitessential moment", that summed up all they stand for, what would it be?

I then became curious as to what tunes people round here would claim is the ONE tune to learn by a particular artist? In some cases, I've picked artists, but not a tune, because I couldn't make up my mind...

Some random examples:

Metallica ~Master of Puppets
Northern Pikes ~ Teenland
Police ~ Roxanne
Pantera~Cemetary Gates
SOD ~ Milk
Sublime~Santeria
U2~Sunday Bloody Sunday
The Cult~She Sells Sanctuary
Judas Priest ~Screaming for Vengance
Ozzy~Crazy Train (duh.)
Led Zeppelin~ shudder.. it's got to be Stairway... hate to say it.. cause it's the cheesiest tune to learn!!
The Cure~killing an Arab
Operation Ivy~Take Warning


and then some bands whose tune I just can't decide on... but in paranthesis is the one I THINK is the one... ya know...
Red Hot Chili Peppers~ (Jungle Man)
The Clash ~(this is a toughy... and open to much debate I bet, but I think London Calling... )
Green Day (my heart says holiday...my brain says basketcase)
Sex Pistols (I think Anarchy.. but ...)
Megadeth
Bowie (I think Spiders... but .. I dunno)
Specials
pink Floyd


etc....


Anyway, lay it on me/us. Name a band, and the quitessential tune, IYO, that if you learn to play it, you could sum up, to the best intentions possible, the band's style/methods/whatever...


Yeah.

MudVaYNe - Death Blooms
Ween - The Mollusk
David Gray - Nightblindness
Tool - Schism
Pink Floyd - Dogs
Led Zeppelin - No Quarter
Elton John - Funeral For A Friend
DEVO - Gates of Steel
The Cinematic Orchestra - Flite
LL Cool J - Radio

Highway To Hell--AC/DC
And yeah, Crazy Train, but last generation's "Crazy Train" was Smoke on the Water. You know, that one riff that every guitarist could strum while warming up.

Hey Leaf,

Alternate listing for The Cure - Show.

That video completely turned off my uptothatpoint hatred of The Cure. That has to be the essence of The Cure.

Radiohead-Karma Police
The Pixies-Debaser
The Barenaked Ladies-Brian Wilson
Weezer-My Name Is Jonas

TheHipCola wrote: DEVO - Gates of Steel

I would totally agree with this. I think it's that C Bm Am G descending progression that turns up in various forms all over punk (Holidays in the Sun, In the City, the Strangler's 'Duchess' etc) that does it for me. You may have noticed i use it a lot in my songs.

I would post a link to my own cover of 'Gates of Steel' here but that would be too vain, even for me.

Also - Garageland by the Clash (although SISOSIG is also great fun to play), and 'boys don't cry' by the Cure for the reverse of the progression I was talking about ...

j$

except for the pixies quintessential moment is totally 'where is my mind'... totally

Dream Theater - Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence (parts I - VIII) -this shows the depth that Dream Theater can possess...it retains all that they love to be in their prog/metal thing, but a brilliant classical and even 'gasp' a poppy side.