One moment in the saga of huge-hearted Philly hometown hero Rocky Balboa battling the robotic Soviet killing machine Ivan Drago actually transcends the movie’s erstwhile goofiness (remember Paulie’s sexy robot maid?) All these songs are about (or heavily reference) historical events, and are listed in alphabetical order by song title.
Imagine hearing all these artists in a row: Frankie Lyman, Bobby Fuller, Mitch Ryder, Jackie Wilson, the Shangri La’s, the Young Rascals, Martha Reeves and James Brown. Why not. James Brown’s ode to the excellence of America and all its various cities is so utterly joyful and excessively 1980s that it’s impossible not to love. 10 Classic Rock Songs About America. And it will remain the standard by which others are measured. Rock music is one of the most important art forms in America. Lyrical Fireworks: “DC, San Antone and the Liberty Town, Boston and Baton Rouge / Tulsa, Austin, Oklahoma City, Seattle, San Francisco, too / Everywhere there’s music, real live music, bands with a million styles /But It’s still that some old rock and roll music / that really really, really drives ’em wild!”. As with Huey Lewis and the News’s more scene-centric than artist-specific “The Heart of Rock & Roll” from the previous summer and the Kink’s not-quite-hit “Rock ’n’ Roll Cities” from the following year, “R.O.C.K. The blazing, monster-riffed 1970 smash decries its symbolic U.S. female as a predator to be feared and avoided, even pointing out social crises via words such as “I don’t want you war machine / I don’t want your ghetto scene.”, Lyrical Fireworks: “When the jester sang for the king and queen / in a coat he borrowed from James Dean / and a voice that came from you and me/ Oh, and while the king was looking down / the jester stole his thorny crown / the courtroom was adjourned / no verdict was returned”. This has been misinterpreted by listeners. Mike McPadden is the author of the book "HEAVY METAL MOVIES: Guitar Barbarians, Mutant Bimbos, and Cult Zombies Amok in the 666 Most Ear- and Eye-Ripping Big Scream Films Ever!" It was not Jimi’s first time playing the song, but on stage in the aftermath of all that had transpired over the three previous days, this version became instantly iconic. Funnily enough, this came out well over a decade before Donald Trump assumed office. Overtly inspired by the February 3, 1959 plane crash that killed Buddy Holly, Richie Valens, and the Big Bopper, “American Pie” first sets up an idyllic, if melancholy, early-rock-era teenage milieu.