Tagged: hitlist + beatles

Filed under: The Hit List Ben Franklin once said that two things in life are certain: death and taxes. But as long as there are taxes, you can also count on complaints about taxes. And as long [...]

Filed under: The Hit List 'Love Is the Drug,' Roxy Music sang. Yet when it comes to rock 'n' roll songs, drugs are often the drug. The creators of the following alleged dope ditties almost [...]

Filed under: The Hit List Whenever slugger Mark McGwire stepped up to the plate during Phoenix, Ariz. Cardinals home games, ' Welcome to the Jungle ' would blast from the PA, getting the fans and Big Mac [...]

Filed under: Exclusive , The Hit List When Van Morrison moved to Northern California with his new wife in the early '70s, he invoked spring as a metaphor in his feel-good song 'Starting a [...]

Filed under: The Hit List You've heard it countless times: "We wouldn't be here if it weren't for you." The fans. And it's true. Rock stars are rock stars because we [...]

Filed under: The Hit List As a member of the Beatles, George Harrison was lucky to get a couple of songs on each album. Yet, despite being overshadowed by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, Harrison wrote some of the band's most endearing tunes. Once the Beatles split, Harrison's explosion of solo hits -- many written while with the Beatles -- suggested that the two-song limit [...]

Filed under: The Hit List With the long-awaited return of 'Glee' to TV, the question looms: What are they going to sing this season? If you're a Gleek, the possibilities dangle like luscious, tempting fruit. But if you, like Sue Sylvester, think the 'Glee' treatment destroys perfectly good songs, well, you really shouldn't be reading this. Here are the top 10 theme shows 'Glee' should tackle [...]

Filed under: The Hit List By definition, a coda, or end piece, concludes a song with an idea that does not repeat an earlier one. A good coda can complement or create contrast; it can be subtle or overt; it can build gradually or start abruptly. And, let's face it, sometimes the end is the best part of the song. Here are 20 of rock's best [...]

Filed under: The Hit List According to Malcolm Gladwell's 'Outliers,' the Beatles ' astonishing success was mainly due to the group's work ethic. Unknown outside their native Liverpool, the young Beatles were first invited to play in anything-goes post-war Hamburg, Germany, in August 1960. Gladwell estimates the group practiced and improvised onstage for more than 10,000 hours - the magic number, he says, that [...]

Filed under: The Hit List 15. The Beatles, 'Twist and Shout' ('Ferris Bueller's Day Off,' 1986) On his ninth sick day of the school year, Ferris Bueller takes over a float during Chicago's Von Steuben Day parade (even though the real event actually takes place in September). His spontaneous lip-synch of the Beatles ' cover of ' Twist & Shout ' inspires an entire city to cut a rug. We especially love when "Team Thriller" turns it out! -- JP [...]

Filed under: The Hit List For many fabulous folks around the globe, June is Pride Month, when queers of all stripes celebrate being out and proud. But despite the diversity, Pride parades frequently resort to the same played-out gay anthems. There are certainly other options in the queer musical canon: They just might not be quite as obvious. Some musicians create equally powerful songs by wrapping [...]

Filed under: The Hit List Rock star feuds are so much easier these days. Back in the day, an artist with a grudge had to air out the dirty laundry with a reporter, hoping the scribe would print the verbal jabs. But today an angry musician can take to the Internet and rant unedited. Here are some of the most scathing attacks in recent memory. Van Morrison Trashes the Beatles The Diss: "The [...]

Filed under: The Hit List Even the wildest rock 'n' rollers -- with the possible exception of Courtney Love -- settle down at some point. This new maturity is often signaled by the birth of a child, which inevitably leads to a song about the birth of a child, which leads to music videos with kids, which leads to an appearance on ' Yo Gabba Gabba .' For those of you compiling a baby shower playlist, here are some of our [...]

Filed under: The Hit List Some people have a negative reaction when they hear a cover version of one of their favorite songs. On the other hand, there are other covers that are so identified with the artist, many people don't even realize someone else did it before. Here are examples of cover songs where we've discovered, recovered and uncovered the original versions. 'Hallelujah,' Jeff Buckley Buckley recorded his signature song for 1994's 'Grace,' [...]

Filed under: The Hit List Say what you will about 30-something ' Alice's Adventures in Wonderland' and 'Through the Looking-Glass' author Lewis Carroll's relationship with his prepubescent muse, Alice Liddell -- you can't deny it made for great art. And in the 140 years since, Carroll's proto-surrealist work has also inspired hundreds of other artists -- from Salvador Dalí and James Joyce to the Care Bears . With the Tim Burton -directed ' Alice in Wonderland ' movie upon us, we've donned our Mad Hatter [...]

Filed under: The Hit List Jimi Hendrix plugging in his electric guitar -- that's black power. Rock music was born from rhythm and blues; more than half of the original inductees to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame were African-American. And despite detours from soul to hip-hop, black musicians have never left rock 'n' roll. February is Black History Month in North America, but these rockers deserve celebration every day of the year. Sister Rosetta Tharpe Elvis Presley [...]

Filed under: Video , The Hit List Cynics, take note: The following videos are filled with images of tender hand-holding, insanely cute baby animals and big fat smooches. If you're a true believer in Valentine's Day, this list is for you. While not attempting to be a compendium of the most stirring odes to love ever written -- many of those don't actually have videos -- it's a collection of clips that are weak in the knees when it comes to matters of the heart. Here are 10 videos that will make [...]

Filed under: The Hit List What it is about the Super Bowl that attracts those familiar bedfellows rock 'n' roll and moral outrage? Back in 2004, Janet Jackson 's "wardrobe malfunction'" was treated as if it was tantamount to Sodom enjoying group sex with Gomorrah. This year, charity Child Abusewatch have called for the Who to be banned from the Super Bowl XLIV halftime show due to Pete Townshend 's arrest for possession of child pornography in 2003 (for which he was let off with a caution). That hasn't [...]

Filed under: The Hit List No other event in popular culture symbolizes greatness cut short like the plane crash that killed Buddy Holly , along with Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper , on Feb. 3, 1959. After all, the pioneering rocker was just 22 when he died, yet he had already amassed a catalog of hits [...]

Filed under: The Hit List , Grammy Awards It's always easy to second-guess award show winners and losers, especially in hindsight, but the Grammy Awards has earned itself a particular reputation over the past 52 years for occasionally picking the wrong horse -- or at least picking it for the wrong race. So to help avoid getting your hopes raised too high this year, we've rounded up a dirty dozen "um, seriously, WTF?" selections from awards shows past. 1965 Best Record: [...]