Apparently it is Old Rock Day. So post some old rock.
My submission in the comments. Obviously there are many candidates!
Pointless genre definitional arguments welcome!
Old Rock Day
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Ok, I’ll bite – isn’t that ⬆️ old pop?
THIS ⬇️ is old rock…
Ah well I hoped for a definition debate just for fun. I don’t think it’s pop as it’s riff based, big in the rhythm section, no jangly guitars, bit of a ‘tude. Proto rock in my book.
I’m all about the fun, me…
I didn’t hear the Stooges until after bands like the Pistols and the Damned covering their songs piqued my interest. I didn’t think their albums sounded very good. When I hear them now, I think they sound great. I don’t know if it’s remastering or my changing taste.
Covering many bases… Apollo 440 – Can’t Stop The Rock
Yes! Love this track. Used to have it on one of those 7in flexi discs that were given away with Disc or some similarly loon-panted paper. It was a promo for the (now very collectable) Pegasus label. In those pre-Shazam days, if you heard a track, especially an instrumental one, and wanted to know who it was and what record it came from, all you could do was ask yer mates. Took about a year before I discovered it was ‘ver Rooster. Once I had the LP, I sold the flexi for a tenner.
Rock me.
Another good one from Abba, this from 1977’s ‘The Movie’. I don’t think this song made it on to any album and the only footage has been lifted from the Australian film.
Yes, only ever released on a Japanese 4DVD+BluRay box set.
Oh go on then.
It’s all the same to me.
The best drum intro in rock?
Rainbow were my favourite rock band when I was 14. I played this and the live album to death. I knew a girl who ran a The Sweet fan club (she took me to meet them at the recording studio where one of them asked who I was before they went into another room and I didn’t see them again – my only visit to a proper recording studio) and she told me that Brian Connoly had this track on continuous replay on his Walkman.
I might suggest Fireball has a better drum intro but it’s great anyway. Not very old though. There are older…
This is a thing I’ve never known before, its called …
Great track
From a brilliant album
Let’s get modern (at the Rainbow, circa March 1974)
Fluff, every Saturday. Awesomeness and most excellent.
..and a secret joy to hear a little bit of it again on Weekend World before Peter Jay or Brian Walden gave us the run-down on America’s latest foreign policy shit-show.
Great choice. This is one of my ‘I remember where I was when I first heard it’ songs
Tommy Vance every Friday
Fluff’s Saturday programme was the first (possibly only) time I heard VdGG on the radio. Out in the middle of nowhere, taking part in some kind of competitive orienteering thing in the 1970s – one of our trio brought a wireless to try to catch the football scores, so of course we had Fluff on until 5pm. This was the very tune – a bit of old rock, indeed!
Rock like they used to make
That is a serious banger.
That’s tremendous. Made me want to listen to this too
Featuring a Rebel Rouser, a couple of future Uriah Heep-ers, and a couple who passed through the Tull ranks
(and a slightly terrible/brilliant (delete as applicable) album cover)
Toe Fat – Bad Side Of The Moon
*deletes brilliant*
*goes back and also deletes slightly*
Can @dai or someone please help me, What is this clip? It’s not available here in Sweden-
Stray Cats – Rock This Town
Can you see this one KFD?
That one not available for me!
This is the Afterword. Surely every day is Old Rock Day?
Oh good.
Riding the Rock Machine … what colour is it?
could always go for this version, with added Children Of The Revolution & Schools Out
What a brilliant video that is. And song.
Two tracks of old Canadian rock, both of which made quite an impact in the UK.
An acquaintance of mine is going to be playing guitar for The Guess Who on their reunion tour later this year
@Kaisfatdad
You beat me to it. BTO and YASNY was the first thing that came to mind when I saw “post some old rock”.
And now, that superb live band, PATTO
Maybe more the arty side of Rock, and even in a Dinner Suit they still rock along finely
I think this is pretty definitive:
Though a rough bit of Motor City madness also hits the spot:
And I’d go out of my way to catch this band at their peak:
Nice call on Cipollina and the kads.
Great choice, @salwarpe. That Quicksilver Messenger Service clip is quite wonderful. It really captures the atmosphere of the times.
Let’s have one more from them.
I can imagine Deke watching that admiringly and grinning to himself in a kind of South Wales, slightly stoned fashion.
Somebody mention Deke?
Thanks a lot @fitterstoke. That version of Mona is an absolute treat. It’ got a fabulous groove about it.
As @kaisfatdad got there first with Bachman Turner Overdrive, here’s something that I seem to be coming back to more and more.
Status Quo and Down Down
I am with you here, it’s one of the best rock songs for me. The breakdowns and builds are just dumb fun. I think Quo are way better than they get credit for.
Completely agree. I have never heard a covers band get the feel of this right. Did superficially easy but is anything but.
Paul Simon, Stevie Wonder and The Dixie Hummingbirds – “Love Me like A Rock”. You have to wait a minute and a half before Stevie comes in but it’s worth the wait…
From Detroit, the rather wonderful MC5.
The Motor City was far more than TAMLA MOTOWN.
YOUTUBE just suggested that I post this clip. I am glad they did.
What a preposterously exciting live band they were,
From the MC5 it’s a very obvious step to Patti Smith who was on fire back in the 70s.
I saw her at the Rainbow Theatre. Just as we all were leaving she suddenly came back and did a cover of My Generation. The audience went batshit bonkers.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJTFP2HVnWo&list=RDNJTFP2HVnWo&start_radio=1 feat
My very first real rock concert was Johnny Winter, along with the wonderful Rick Derringer, at the Royal Albert Hall.
A gig fit for a king,
That’s a coupla top shelf gigs KFD.
Very true @junior-wélls.
But of course at the time, you don’t realise how lucky you are to be there.
I saw an interview with Josh out of Queens of the Stone Age effusing about ACDC. He was talking about the minimalist rhythm section and how hard it is to keep it so simple.
Anyhoo
Man – C’mon.
Welsh rockers
I was just about to post that this thread cannot possibly exist without at least one Man track on it 😂
Yes, indeed! Let’s have another!
@fitterstoke, I think I’ve a got a dozen live versions but this was the first and is still the best. From start to finish the jousting between Deke and Mickey is alchemy, with Martin and Terry driving the runaway train. I saw them so many times and, on their night, there wasn’t a better live band, anywhere.
My favourite version too! Arguably, their segment of the Greasy Truckers Party album remains my favourite “live” Man of all time (although I retain a soft spot for Maximum Darkness…)
I like Live at the Padgett Rooms too. My parents had their wedding reception there.
That is fascinating @Twang.
i wanted to know more and discovered that Man fans have been mis-pelling the name for years.
It’s the Paget Rooms..
https://bethanjvevans.wordpress.com/2010/12/17/the-paget-rooms-of-penarth/
Here is what it looks like..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zkoY0ivM1k&list=RD-zkoY0ivM1k&start_radio=1
Yes I’ve been to a family do there too.
Is this “old rock” or reconstituted stone?
What an enjoyable thread.
And rather topical, as a band who were very popular during my 6th form days, are playing the Debaser rock club in Stockholm this month. Wishbone Ash,
A few more blasts from the past.
Rod and the Faces were phenomenally popular.
Ed Sullivan’s introduction for Steppenwolf is wonderfully dry.
The wonderfully versatile Taj Mahal could rock with the best of them..
4 excellent choices!
Thanks, @Twang, Glad you like them.
I’m really having fun.
A few more that we must not neglect..
The Small Faces
The Troggs
Canned Heat
George Thorogood
A shame the piano on Six Days On The Road is an electric. Nine points, could have been ten ..
Let’s not forget Tina.
One more…
You are a bad man @pencilsqueezer.
I’ll take that.
This is a lot of fun! For no apparent reason, these three came to my mind
Here’s the Bob track we used to play (at 11 obviously) just before going to the pub of a Saturday…
If anyone asks me about Seger, this is the track I play them.
I have understood this correctly:
TWO MORE FOR THE ROAD, FROM TWO VERY DIFFERENT ARTISTS
JONATHAN RICHMAN
THE DOORS
One or two unavailable vids above — so I hope this isn’t a duplicate…
Giddy-up a Ding-Dong! Those guys were scarily good. In fact, just scary.
A few more for the playlist I’m planning to make…
Fleetwood Mac’s eponymous album was the first blues album I ever heard.
Their stupendous cover of Robert Johnson’s DUST MY BROOM was a turning point in my love of music.
It was sung by the band’s extrovert showman, Jeremy Spencer, who was a perfect foil for Peter Green.
Burlesque was a rather untypical song for Family, but was a real floorfiller at the student discos.
Who remembers this number by the Iron Butterfly?
It took up one whole side of an LP. Heavy stuff, Man.
And then along came the LIVE DEAD double album and DARK STAR which also took one whole side of an album.
I haven’t listened to it for decades but it does sound rather wonderful now in 2026.
jazz fans would not have had their minds blown by these long tracks. The tite TRACK of John Coltrane’s MY FAVOURITE THINGS from 1961 was 13 minutes long.
Burlesque – superb! Although, I’m tempted to suggest The Weaver’s Answer as a “rockier” alternative…
I wont argue with that @fitterstoke.
Weaver’s was certainly always the grand finale of the set on all of the many occasions I saw them-.
A fabulous live band.
One thing I hadn’t expected today was to be having a chat about Family Planning..
I never heard that sleazy moog on Burlesque until I got the digital version. I never noticed it on my single.
Feel we’re at that point in the thread where the lazy amongst us (ie me) ask the less lazy to put together a Spotify playlist.
I’ve just for started, @moseleymoles…
More 60s please. The Animals version of this is great but this version rocks.
Two from Jimi
And
More ‘60s, eh?
From before they started building cities on sausage rolls
Very glad that you mentioned the Airplane @rigid-digit. I was a hard-core fan.
Their live album, BLESS ITS POINTED LITTLE HEAD, was one of the first LPs I ever bought.
To a bored, Pinner, suburban teenager like me they, and the other San Francisco bands were indescribably exotic and exciting.
When you watch this clip, don’t miss David Crosby on second tambourine.
When I did finally get to San Francisco, several years later, Haight Ashbury was a very sad place, full of burnt out hippies.
What a bummer. Where were all the girls with flowers in their hair?
Never mind all the girls with flowers in their hair. None of them could hold a candle to Grace.
Double Dutch …
Shocking Blue – Send Me A Postcard
Golden Earring – Radar Love
60s ya say.
A few tracks which were some of my first steps into the murky world of rock…
After seeing Arthur on the telly, I went over to the Dark Side.
this is going to end up as the longest thread ever
Want some ROCK – have this!!!!
WONDERFUL CHOICE @Feedback. File.
I am not much of a one for nostalgia but revisiting all these old favourites has been a real hootl
.
Here’s CURVED AIR
Before they went prog etc they rocked:
An amazing thread, What a long, strange trip it’s been.
Time to fill in a few more gaps. Let’s start with this gem from the Dead,
And a brief commercial for one of the year’s most entertaining films.. It is so DEADHEAD.
A few artists we really ought to mention.
John Mayall – THE GODFATHER OF THE WHOLE BRITISH BLUES SCENE
Birmingham’s CHICKEN SHACK. Christine Perfect’s original band.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fezL8VKh_ps&list=RDfezL8VKh_ps&start_radio=1
And of course CREAM…
Learning the riff for SUNSHINE OF YOUR LOVE was the first step for every budding young guitarist
Always loved this. Beck on fire, Ronnie Wood demonstrates that he was a much better bass player than a guitarist, Rod on vocals and HRH Nicky Hopkins on piano. What a band.
I am glad to see that you are having as much fun as the rest of us @Twang.
I’m discovering that an unexpected detour via MEMORY LANE is really great fun.
The perils of not ROCKin’ fast enough.
801 Live – T.N.K.
.
The Tubes – Turn Me On
Two slightly more low-profile musicians I really want to have on our playlist from this thread are Ry Cooder and pianist Nicky Hopkins.
Ry has done many magnificent soundtracks along with his own albums.
Nicky played with the STONES, JEFFERSON AIRPLANE and many others. Here he is on WE LOVE YOU..
See my Beck-Ola post rightly mentioning HRH Nicky H.
Stumbled across this interesting piece about Nicky, @Twang.
Yes I’ve seen that. I’d love to read his autobiography but it’s very hard to find. If anyone has a spare copy…
For rock Ry Cooder I’d have him on Sister Morphine.
Erm … have we had the Mighty Zep yet? No?
Here’s a clip you’ve all seen before, but hey! it’s still great …
Surprised (shocked, TBH) to get all the way down here without seeing this one.
Steely Dan – Reelin’ In The Years
Shocked? Why?
Wonder if anybody plays all these videos
The group has a good few Danophiles. They appear to have been asleep..
People generally only play the ones they already know they like.
And perhaps a few more that they are curious about.
There are quite a few in the thread that I can see really do belong here as “old rock” but that I personally will not be playing.
Au contraire, I play the ones I don’t know. I know how Reelin’ In The Years goes. I’m looking forward to the playlist on random play in the car though.
I don’t look at all the videos @Dai and I’m probably most interested in the songs I don’t know.
Then again I can really enjoy a video or a live performance of a favourite song that I’ve not seen before.
It is remarkable how things have changed. Back in my youth, if you missed your favourite bands on TOTP ör OGWT then that was it,
My teenage self would have loved SPOTIFY and YOUTUBE.
Wait for me!
Vintage Chicago with Terry Kath on fire.
see also …
Turn it up!
Clem Clempson at his finest.
Go on, Danny.
A classic from the Welsh Wizards
then there’s this
Walshy
That fantastic Chicago cover made me think of the Spencer Davis Group…..
I’m surprised that none of us have mentioned Mott the Hoople, Graham Parker and the Rumour, Spirit and The Velvet Underground…
Even FRANK ZAPPA could deliver some raw urban blues.
..
You’d have thought someone would have mentioned the Stones. So many great rock songs, I don’t know where tp start.
And the Kinks,
You really got me and All day and All of the Night must not be forgotten
Where do we stand on Geno Washington and the Ram Jam Band?
I’ve just added HOCUS POCUS by FOCUS to the playlist.
What a thoroughly remarkable piece of music.
Oh Danny boy, why the feck are you not on the idiot box these days?
What was this, @vulpes-vulpes?
Sadly, it’s not available in Sweden.
@kaisfatdad
It was a recording of a TV programme called “Danny Baker’s Great Album Showdown – File Under : Rock.” where a bunch of pundits (Jeremy Clarkson, the Smiths’ producer Stephen Street and Word writer Kate Mossman) discuss the LPs they consider to be absolute classics in the ‘rock’ idiom.
Hackneyed but quite good fun – check your Messages.