Name: Keno
E-Mail: keno@fairpoint.net
Subject: Poll Post - for the week starting Monday, Oct 18
Date: Sunday, October 17, 2021
Time: 11:44:29 PM
Remote Address: 8.41.160.9
Message ID: 321056
Parent ID: 0
Thread ID: 321056

Poll Post - for the week starting Monday, Oct 18

With this week’s Poll Post for our 4 weekly polls, we start off first talking about the Stones poll, where we are rating the band’s songs, and for this week we enter week 1,159 of voting in this long running poll and ask this question and rate this song: Rate the Stones song “Route 66”, from zero (lowest) to 10 (highest)

“Route 66” The actual route for the Stones’ cover song that MJ sings about

This was one of the Stones early cover songs that featured some wonderful electric guitar weaving between Brian Jones and Keith Richards. Written by Bobby Troup, the song's full title was "(Get Your Kicks on) Route 66", but the Stones released it as just "Route 66".

This song was first a hit for Nat King Cole way back in 1946, reaching #3 on the charts. Troup wrote the ditty after he and his wife took a road trip out west, starting out in Pennsylvania and heading on to California. They started their trip on Route 40 and then took Route 66 when they got to Chicago. Before he left on his trip, Troup had through it might be a good idea to write a song about their drive out west, and at first Troup was going to title the song "Route 40", since that was the road that they started on, but he realize the more deeper that he drove into the western landscape (which is totally different than what one would/will see in the east), that things got very different and he also saw that the main route for this trip was of course on Rt 66, and it was really in how things changed once on Rt 66, from east to west, that inspired him so, that he retitled his song long before he made it to California.

The 2,400-mile highway, named “The Mother Road” by Woody Guthrie in the ‘30s and still called that today by many, turned 95 years old this year (but officially it doesn’t exist anymore). Rt 66 starts in Chicago, and then passes through Missouri, Kansas (barely, just for about 15 miles), Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico and Arizona before ending in Los Angeles, and at first it had a gravel or graded dirt roadway (like all the other early highways of the 1920s and ‘30s). But US 66 (it's official name) would become the first highway to be completely paved, in 1938. Nowadays, over 85% of the original alignments of U.S. Route 66 are still drivable, although in 1985, Route 66 was officially decommissioned, as the country's interstate highways were all a faster and safer way to head out west (or back east) on, while Interstate 40 is the main route that replaced it. But officially, while it's road is mainly still there, US 66 is no more.

Getting to the Stones cover of this song, while we're rating the song only, the Stones never made an official video for this very popular number that they recorded, as it was an early fan favorite. But no, the Stones never released a video for this song - at least, not one that featured the original band in it. There is one decent video on YouTube that comes from out of France, that I believe a fan made years ago, but it's mainly old clips that we've all seen before in other film clips. So, since we only need to hear the song playing to rate it, for the video attached to the song, for sure made by a fan, there are no Stones shown in it at all instead we see the road Route 66 as it is today, but only in New Mexico & Arizona. California along with the mid-west, aren't shown at all, while there's also some shots of the Grand Canyon in this clip, too. It's weird that nobody, at least using the Stones cover of this song, who has put out a video of this song showing the entire route.

The lineup for this song was: Mick Jagger – Vocals; Keith Richards and Brian Jones– Electric Guitars; Bill Wyman – Bass; Charlie Watts – Drums. So, let’s rate this one now. To do that, just click on the following link: Stones Weekly Poll.

Last week at the Stones poll we answered this question: Rate the Stones song “Back to Zero”, from zero (lowest) to 10 (highest)

“Back to Zero”, was the B-side to the single, 'Winning Ugly” in the UK and in Canada

“Back to Zero” didn’t do too great, not that most of us expected it would, and it scored a 5 for its top rating (hey, that’s what I rated it!), with a "4" for second - really not too far behind, and third was a rating of 6. These 3 spots took in most of the votes as it was. But we also saw something that we rarely ever see for this kind of a question, that being that every single spot in the poll’s choices, from zero to 10, received some votes. So a lot of mixed feelings for this tune, and for a song off of Dirty Work, overall it didn’t really do that bad.

So where in the standings and how far from the bottom of the pile did this one land? To see the full final results from this poll, just click here: Stones Weekly Poll - week 1,158. Or to have that look where the song is in those standings, just click on the following link to find out: Stones Top Picks - List Page 5.

Time to now move on over to this week’s Classic Rock Poll, where we enter week 799 of voting, and for this one we always vote in 2 different Rock Polls for the week. For this week’s first poll we have a brand-new question to ask, this one: Who was the worst rock manager ever?

Colonel Tom Parker with the King While Elvis was the true King, Parker wasn’t really a Colonel at all, but he was known as a uncaring, lying, and rude asshole

We've all heard some of the horror stories about some of these guys (and yes, all 21 listed were/are all males) who managed some of the biggest rock acts. But the truth is for most of them, these guys did do some excellent work for the bands they worked for, too, and in some cases was a big reason these bands made it big in the first place. But there's 2 sides to many people and for some there's an evil side, and the men listed supposedly had an evil side to them according to either the band they worked for, or the artist’s family members, or to those who worked for the bands they managed and had to deal with them.

In asking this question, you may wonder what I mean by asking for "the worst rock manager ever". By this, well you can look at this in different ways. But mainly what we should consider before we vote is: 1) Who deep down didn't really do a great job as being a manager. 2) How some of these guys were ripping off bands as they mismanaged them, 3) A manager who favored one band member over others in the band (think of the early Stones on that note) and 4) to who was just a bad person overall (but less so on that part, unless his being a bad person overall affected the artist - if only Phil Spector was listed, but he was of course a producer and didn’t manage anybody big. Also, if you're looking ahead, if we haven't asked this question about producers yet [I know we asked it already for the best producer], perhaps we might next week).

So, are you ready to vote on this one? To make your pick for the worst rock manager ever, just click on here: Classic Rock Poll, and when you get to this page, choose “Poll 1” to vote in this poll.

For this week’s Rock Video polls, we’ll vote on and answer this question: Rate Fleetwood Mac's 1968 video for “Need Your Love So Bad”, from zero (lowest) to 10 (highest)

Fleetwood Mac, from late 1968, when the Mac was only a Blues band. John McVie, Danny Kirwan, Peter Green (center), Jeremy Spencer, Mick Fleetwood

With this week's poll, Fleetwood Mac becomes the most voted on band that I have asked this question for - if we count the solo Bob Welch video that we voted on, since it was really the Mac playing live with him (and a song that he did record with them when he was the band’s co-lead singer, too). But this band was really 3 different bands wrapped into one. Other than drummer Mick Fleetwood, who was the only member there from the beginning, since bassist John McVie wasn't there early on, nor was his wife Christine, who showed up to play as a session player on the band's second, 1968 album, but she wasn’t considered an official member until 1970.

But when the Mac was started by the group's lead singer and lead guitar player, Peter Green, in 1967, this has been one band with so many changes that has taken place throughout the years, and not only were they a totally different band(member wise) by the time that Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham joined them in 1975, when they first started out in ‘67, they were a pure Blues band that didn't really play any rock music at all, that turned into a true and one of the biggest Pop-rock acts around.

This week's song, first recorded in 1967, is a pure blues number, and a rare cover for the group, even for back in their early days, as the one thing constant with this group, was that most of their song are original numbers. But for "Need Your Love So Bad (aka "I Need Your Love So Bad")", was written by William Edward John AKA Little Willie John, and Mertis John Jr. in 1955. The Mac’s cover wasn't released in the U.S. as a single, but was in Europe, and in the UK it made it to #31 on the singles chart, while it's best showing was #7 in the Netherlands. However, the song’s second version from 1968, was released 3 years after Green had already left the band in the UK, as a B side to the Mac's "Albatross", which went to #1, while "Need Your Love So Bad" reached the Top 10 at that time too, as it peaked at #2 (which is rare for a B side single) with the second take of the song.

But if you know the story about the original Mac, it’s a very strange tale indeed. We all have overheard about Pink Floyd losing their lead singer, songwriter and lead guitarist, Syd Barret, to mental illness, which was sad indeed. But not only did the same thing happen to the early Mac with their leader, Green, when he left after taking some bad acid that he never totally recovered from, in 1970 (he did return to the fold for several months in ’71 and went on tour with the band, but then left for good after the tour ended.). A short time after that, 2 other early members would also leave for the same reason. Danny Kirwan, the rhythm guitarist turned lead guitarist and co-lead singer (after Green left), along with the band’s other original guitarist, Jeremy Spencer. Spencer was messed up early on, and signs that something was wrong with him appeared on this song’s second take, as he just refused to play on it or play on the TV show that this song/video that we are rating, comes from. For Kirwan, his problem was perhaps his becoming a big music star at too young an age (he had just turned 18 in this video we'll rate) and he ended up going totally insane by the mid-70s - destroying some of the band's equipment and his guitar one night and then started to bang his head against a wall until it blead, all of this taking place just minutes before the group was set to go onstage. He then refused to take the stage with them when the show did start. Nobody there knew what even set him off, other than he just lost it over some simple thing that the soon to be leaving the band, Spencer, had said to him. Guess I should note that some will argue that Welch, who replaced Green and saved the band in 1971, also left because of mental illness. But with all of this happening to one band, with 3 or 4 of their members going crazy(what’s the odds?) and yet after each occurrence, the band just regrouped and came back even stronger, it seemed.

The lineup for this song (and its video, taken from a TV show from 1968) was: Peter Green – Vocals and Lead Guitar; Danny Kirwan – Rhythm Guitar; John McVie – Bass; Mick Fleetwood – Drums. Guess I should note again that what we are rating this week is the second version of this song, that hit #2 on the charts. The first release, from 1967, which didn't fare as well, was made before Kirwan joined the group and did featured Spencer on the second guitar, whereas Kirwan played on the second take and was perhaps the reason why Spencer refused to play on it. But it's believed that his main problem was with Green, as he got to the point where he refused to play on any of the songs that Green wrote alone (that was most of the songs) and which was why Kirwan was hired in the first place, in '68.

To vote in this Rock Video Poll, just click on this link: Classic Rock Video Poll, and when you get to this page, choose “Poll 2” to vote on this question.

Last week in the first Rock Poll we asked this question: What is the Gloomiest Rock song? (Part 4 of 4)?.

Gloominess sucks

Overall I’d say we made some good picks for this poll’s top 10 (with 11 songs making it to that list thanks to a tie for the tenth spot). But the top 4 songs picked were: Down by the River by Neil Young tied with Patches by Clarence Carter for third place, with 5.4% of the vote, with Love Hurts by Nazareth placing with 5.5% of the vote, and the top pick for the most Gloomiest Rock song ever made, also saw 5.5% of the vote, but received one more vote than the second place Nazareth’s song, and that song was: Alone Again, Naturally by Gilbert O'Sullivan. Yes, that was one downer of a song, indeed!

To see this poll’s full, final results, just click on the following link: Classic Rock Poll, week 798, Poll 1. Or to see the Top 10 list from this poll and also from other past polls, just go here: Classic Rock Poll, List Page 16, and head all the way down to the very bottom of the page to see where this poll is listed.

In last week’s Rock Video poll, I asked and you voted on this: Rate Cyndi Lauper's official video for “Girls Just Want To Have Fun”, from zero (lowest) to 10 (highest)

“Girls Just Want To Have Fun”, single’s front cover

Well, this song might have been New Wave in nature, and New Wave songs don’t usually do good at all in our polls, but this song and its video is well loved, with its top rating being a 10, taking in 33.3% of the first place votes. You can look over the rest of the results from this Rock Video poll by clicking on the following link: Classic Rock Video Poll, week 798. Or, to see the results on the Rock Video list page, just click on here: Rock Videos List Page, List Page 12.

Time to wrap up this Poll Post with the Beatles Poll, where this week we enter week 550 of voting, and where we are still answering questions about The Beatles videos. This week’s Beatle video poll question asks: Rate The Beatles' video for “Real Love” from zero to 10 (Click here for the video)

The single front cover for “Real Love”

I was thinking 4 weeks ago that when I was getting ready to run this video for the Beatles last ever made video - for "Real Love", that it would be the last Beatle video to rate. But then I found 3 more vids and ran them all before this one, and now for this week we will finally get to this one. So, the last Beatle video ever made will be the last one that we'll rate? Well, maybe... I don't know for sure, but I will go looking this week to see if I can find anymore Fab vids once again. I bet there are some more out there, at least some more Beatle vids of then playing live that might not be official. Plus, in time you can bet some of the videos from the new Get Back release will be released as videos, too, just not at the moment. BTW, on that one, last week a promo video for this doc previewed, you can view it with the following link if you haven't seen it yet: Here. Get Back will be shown on Disney+ for 3 nights in the end of November, on Disney+? Yes.... But my kids are all grown and I don't get this station or want it, but if they force me to pay $8 for one full month of service, I'll do it, as long as they don't ask for anything else more. So, I need to place a call to them soon and find out exactly what the deal is. But why the hell is this being only shown on Disney of all stations?

I need to now talk about the song and video we're rating this week, "Real Love". It's a song written by John Lennon and it started out at first as a different song, called "Real Life". John recorded six demos of the song in 1979 and 1980 as "Real Life", and in a short time he merged the song with another song he had started and the 2 became "Real Love". He at first considered recording "Real Love" for his and Yoko's 1980 album Double Fantasy, but never did. In 1988, the sixth take was posthumously released for the documentary soundtrack Imagine: John Lennon. In 1995, his demo was then worked on by his former Beatles bandmates (Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr) as part of the Beatles Anthology project, along with the song "Free as a Bird". "Real Love" was released as the very last Beatles single in 1996 in the UK, U.S. and many other countries. It reached number 4 in the UK (where it wasn't even allowed on the BBC playlist – I see that total mindless morons work at the BBC! Had it been played on there, it may have reached #1). In the U.S. singles charts it just missed the Top 10, making it to #11. This track opened the Beatles' Anthology 2 album and it also became the last single by the Beatles to become a top 40 hit in the U.S., and the last released record of new material credited to the Beatles.

But how did this song come about? When the surviving 3 Beatles decided to record an unfinished John Lennon song, "Free as a Bird" was their first choice to go with after Yoko gave them 4 unfinished songs that John was working on when he was killed. After finishing up on "Free as a Bird", it went so well that they decided to look at perhaps doing "Real Love" next. "Free as a Bird" wasn't totally finished when the three started to work on it, as it required the addition of some lyrics that McCartney added to the song, and so it was released as a new "Lennon/McCartney" Beatle song, like all of the other Beatle songs. But "Real Love" was totally finished, with all of the lyrics and music already written, and so with its release on March 4, 1996, it became the first and only Beatle song released and credited just to "John Lennon" alone. Also, for the final take that the Beatles decided to release, whereas John played acoustic guitar on his original solo release of the song (in '88), on the Beatles take, he is only heard playing piano and Harpsichord (see below).

For the video that we will rate, it features shots of the three remaining Beatles recording at McCartney's studio in Sussex, mixed with shots of the Beatles taken during their career, along with some solo Ringo shots from 1984. Geoff Wonfor, who directed the Anthology documentary, filmed the shots from 1996 of the 3 Beatles recording the song. Two different versions of the video were made. The first version aired during the second instalment of The Beatles Anthology television mini-series on ABC, at the end of the episode. The second version is the more common of the two, and appears on the bonus disc of the Anthology DVD set. The most notable difference between the two is in the way the videos begin: the first is presented by a strawberry – possibly a reference to "Strawberry Fields Forever"? – while the second one (and the one we will rate) opens showing a piano (since the song opens with a piano chord at the beginning).

The lineup for this final release of a Beatle song was: John Lennon – Lead Vocals, Piano, Harpsichord; Paul McCartney – Backing Vocals, Acoustic Guitar, Bass, Double Bass, Harmonium, Percussion; George Harrison – Backing Vocals, Electric and Acoustic Guitars, Percussion; Ringo Starr – Backing Vocals, Drums, Percussion... with Jeff Lynne – Producer (along with Paul, George and Ringo) and Guitar. To vote in this week's Beatle Video poll and to rate the video, just click on the following link: Beatles Weekly Poll.

Looking back at last week’s Beatles poll, we asked: Rate The Beatles' video for “The Long and Winding Road” from zero to 10 (Click here for the video)

The single front cover for “The Long and Winding Road”

While as usual a 10 was its top rating, but the voting last week was close between spots 8 thru 10. To see the full, final results from this Beatle poll, just click on: Beatles Weekly Poll – week 549. To see the standings of the Beatles Videos, just go here: Beatles/John Lennon Videos and Movies, and look under the “Video Ratings” standings.

In closing out this Poll Post, I’ll keep talking about the Beatles and the Stones – or should I say, the Stones and what asshole Paul McCartney had to say about them. Really Paul, while I still love you, at times I just don’t like you at all – and it’s been that way for me since the day the Beatles broke up and you had to lie about that. I don’t always like Paul because he is a true asshole sometimes, and now he for no reason at all, had to say something very stupid about the Stones. You all heard it by now, him calling the Stones “a blues cover band”. There was flat out no reason for him to say this stupid thing, no reason at all, especially since it clearly wasn’t true, or even close to being true. Perhaps in 1962, 63, this was true, but not since. Paul has been known at times to be an asshole to his 3 mates in the Beatles, and I guess now that he’s a very old man, that he’s still an asshole and hasn’t changed, and never will. Yep, that’s Paul!

Anyway, I do hope all of you have a great and safe upcoming week!

Keno

• Poll Post - for the week starting Monday, Oct 18 by Keno on 10/17/2021 11:44:29 PM <-- You Are Here
• Poll Post - for the week starting Monday, Oct 18 by gomper on 10/22/2021 10:39:27 PM

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