Hey, Man, Is That The Freedom Rock Poll? Well, TURN IT UP!

hey, you! yes, you! dude who were getting ready to vote against "Smoke on the Water"? don't even try it. Get right, homie. Click the radio button next to "Smoke on the Water." Are we clear? "Smoke on the" fucking "Water," OK? "Smoke on the Water." You know it's the right thing to do. Thank you.

B-but "White Room"...

IN A WHITE ROOOM,
WITH JACK KIRBY.
PETER PARKER.

i voted for canned heat.

I'm voting for "United We Stand" because it's one of the worst songs of all time.

Some rapper should sample the beginning to "Reach Out in the Darkness" right before the "I think it's so groovy now" line comes in.

Eazy, in response to your concerns I would say, with much love in my heart: Smoke on the Water, God damn you. By Deep fucking Purple. Smoke on the Water. I don't ask you people for much but you better do right this time OK thank you.

and for those of you who are joining us late: SMOKE ON THE WATER

My dad loved this commercial so much that he actually bought the album. It's actually not that bad if you're a child of the 60s.

Just about my favorite moment of the past two years that I've spent on here was when, on the Chicago ILE thread, Jaymc was describing a Girl Talk concert and Amanda said that it sounded no different in concept from the Freedom Rock commercial.

Awesome poll idea. But I thought this one was more hard rock than hippy dippy. What's the archetypal hard rock cheese comp called?

And speaking of archetypes, I'll take "Eighteen" please. But J0hn, you should know that "Smoke on the Water" is one of the very few songs I know how to play on the guitar (e.g. I don't know how to play "Eighteen").

Fire & Rain - James Taylor
^^ this is the most memorable part of the commercial imo

J0hn's dispassionate, reasoned analysis has swayed me.

(Smoke On The Water is the best song in the poll. Lucky for it that Xanadu isn't a Freedom Rock song, tho.)

Ramblin' Man, obv.

oh lord do I hate the White Room part of this commercial

Man, I love Locomotive Breath even if I'm not sure what he's saying half the time.

This isn't about "best" or "coolest" or "most undeniably classic," right? It's about Freedom Rock and the correct answer is "Get Together."

SKYNYRD 4eva

hi some of you seem to have misheard me, I said "smoke on the water"

i'm voting for spirit

lol this commercial is older than I am

lol this commercial is older than I am

Stop killing my buzz, sonny.

i remember watching this when i was in 5th grade : )

The Story In Your Eyes. That is a doozy of a song right there.

To read the press of the day, Alice & the boys were perceived as a dark, paranoid bummer driving a flaming sword of cheap sensationalism through the heart of the Freedom Rock concept even as it was being codified. So, in the absence of Sabbath and with apologies to Purple, Nilsson and Spirit: it's 18, bitches.

Ha! Here's the thread I remembered from 2005 when we were all totally jonesing to see this commercial again. It was so frustrating! We were trying so hard to put together bits and pieces of it that we fuzzily remembered. I'm glad it finally made it to You Tube!

Free Bird!

Yeah - I'm with briania on this one - Eighteen friggin' rules.

This commercial was most definitely my favorite of my college years:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=jKDk-mg1J9Q

Smoke on the Water is great, but I'll take the Yank pseudo-punks wallowing in cornpone shock tactics. I remember when I was a snotty little tweener, me and my friends really believed kids were offing themselves all across America because of Alice. Even better, the legit media believed it too. It's no wonder that when punk came along I fell for it hard. Alice was my gateway drug.

My favourite part of the commercial is when the guy on the right is nodding his head and smiling at the end when the camera zooms in.

To read the press of the day, Alice & the boys were perceived as a dark, paranoid bummer driving a flaming sword of cheap sensationalism through the heart of the Freedom Rock concept even as it was being codified.

Yeah I don't know what the song 18 sounds like, but I believe you. One of my earliest memories as a child was catching an Alice Cooper concert on TV where he was waving crutches around. Scared the bejesus out of me.

What's the archetypal hard rock cheese comp called?

I think the one you're after is named Guitar Rock - another classic 80's TV record which, sadly, I was unable to find on YouTube

my tp 5:

The Beat Goes On - Sonny & Cher
I'd Love To Change The World - Ten Years After
Both Sides Now - Judy Collins
Somebody To Love - Jefferson Airplane
War - Edwin Starr

I voted for the one where the red queen is on her head. Sorry J0hn D :(

Tougher than I thought it'd be. I went with Hush since I figure Smoke is gonna steal the D.P votes

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCP1si4X4aQ

Here's a longer version of the Freedom Rock commercial that has one of the hippies going "Turn it DOWN, man!!" and the following exchange:

Hippie #!: "Hey man, remember the good old days? You know, war. Protests."
Hippie #2: "Goin' to JAIL!!"

Awesome.

Does anybody here actually OWN Freedom Rock? Four records, three cassettes or two CDs -- what, no 8-track? I've seen the cassettes & the discs, but only the vinyl would be groovy enough to consider acquiring these beaten-to-death warhorses. Bet there's a classic rock station somewhere pimping its playlist as "Freedom Rock Radio".

the freakout he does when he says "HERE'S MORE!" is awesome

I voted for the black dude.

my college roommates and i did an answering message parodying this ad. which tells you both how old i am and what passed for entertainment at our crappy apartment.

"ramblin' man"

Edwin? Otis? O'Jays? xpost

Otis

Jaimoe?

"I Got a Line on You."

They tried to give me advice
Down at the record shop
I said sit down boys
This may come as a shock
What's all I listen to?
It's all FREEDOM ROCK!!!

-Chas. Thompson IV

BTW...

How can you free me?
How can you free me?
How can you free me?
How can you free me?
When Im free?
I am free.

-ibid.

Eighteen, easy.

Other songs I definitely prefer to the third (or more likely fourth or fifth) best song on Machine Head:

Somebody To Love - Jefferson Airplane
Ramblin' Man - Allman Bros. Band
White Rabbit - Jefferson Airplane
Share The Land - Guess Who
Hush - Deep Purple
I Got A Line On You - Spirit
Me And You And A Dog Named Boo - Lobo
One Tin Soldier - Coven

Other songs I MIGHT prefer on some days to the third (or more likely fourth or fifth) best song on Machine Head:

I'd Love To Change The World - Ten Years After
Locomotive Breath - Jethro Tull
War - Edwin Starr
Black Magic Woman - Santana
Jump Into The Fire - Nilsson
(Sittin' On) The Dock Of The Bay - Otis Redding
Going Up The Country - Canned Heat
Free Bird - Lynyrd Skynyrd
Layla - Derek & Dominos
White Room - Cream
We May Never Pass This Way Again - Seals & Crofts
In The Year 2525 - Zager & Evans
Get Together - Youngbloods
The Beat Goes On - Sonny & Cher
Fire & Rain - James Taylor

what song is it you wanna hear?

1) JUMP INTO THE FUCKING FIRE

2) Sittin' On the Dock of the Bay
3) Eighteen
4) I Got a Line On You
5) White Rabbit
7) Free Bird
9) White Room

10) Smoke On the Water

...
Turn Turn Turn
In the Year 2525
The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down
Locomotive Breath
One Tin Soldier

It was a tough call between Otis and DP but I voted for Otis.

and I guess that makes me some kind of a pussy.

Nah, Dock of the Bay is totally the best song on here. But I still wanna JUMP INTO THE FUCKING FIRE.

"jump into the fire" is great. i ruled it out on the grounds that i've never heard it on the radio so it can't really be freedom ROCK!

Oh yeah, Jump Into The Fire is the shit. I didn't know that song until I heard the LCD Soundsystem cover some months back but the original is just as good! I think I'll vote for that one.

I like Hush better than Smoke On The Water.

My vote is currently split between Jump Into The Fire, The Story In Your Eyes and I Got A Line On You.

LCD did a cover?!? Huh. First heard it myself through the Lithum X-Mas cover, so I shouldn't be surprised. But I am.

OH SHIT! O_O

Well there you go. Anyway, it's weird all this talk about Smoke On the Water and the 3rd-5th best song on Machine Head. It's weird because: SPACE TRUCKING (you can take off the 'G' yourself, if you want). Jesus fucking christ. How do you go around talking about Smoke on the water when there is jesus fucking SPACE TRUCKING? I know it's not "Freedom Rock", but the fuck with that. What I'm saying is SPACE TRUCKING.

Yes, I had a bloody mary. It was good.

Bet there's a classic rock station somewhere pimping its playlist as "Freedom Rock Radio".

we should be so lucky. at the time, it didn't seem the least bit strange the the o'jays would be on a comp with cream and deep purple. today you will never ever hear any "classic rock" station in the u.s. playing the o'jays. or otis redding. or edwin starr.

i'm curious how the following songs, some of which i love and some of which i don't, made it onto this album.

Jump Into The Fire - Nilsson
Friends - Elton John
The Story In Your Eyes - Moody Blues
Sunshine - Jonathan Edwards
We May Never Pass This Way Again - Seals & Crofts
The Beat Goes On - Sonny & Cher

i mean, was anyone listening to nilsson's "jump into the fire" in 1987 or programming it on their classic-rock radio station? was "friends" really their first choice for an elton john song? did they actually have a first choice for an elton john song? i get how the melanie jam makes it in there with skynyrd and the allmans, but sonny & cher? THAT seals & crofts song? what IS that seals & crofts song?

at the time, it didn't seem the least bit strange the the o'jays would be on a comp with cream and deep purple. today you will never ever hear any "classic rock" station in the u.s. playing the o'jays. or otis redding. or edwin starr.

I was very cognizant at the time and listened to many hours of Chicago's class rock station WCKG. And I never recall hearing The O'Jays or anything remotely like that. And if you told me you HAD heard The O'Jays on CKG at the time, I would have found it very strange. Hell, I'd be willing to bet that even in the 1970s, you wouldn't have heard The O'Jays on the same radio station as Cream and DP. A small bet, anyway.

i get how the melanie jam makes it in there with skynyrd and the allmans, but sonny & cher? THAT seals & crofts song? what IS that seals & crofts song?

The Otis Redding tune buries all others on the set.

i mean, was anyone listening to nilsson's "jump into the fire" in 1987 or programming it on their classic-rock radio station? was "friends" really their first choice for an elton john song?

See, I thought maybe I was the only one thinking along these lines! I mean WTF there is some weird shit on this compilation.

Hey here's a clip of Alice Cooper doing Eighteen on TV in 1972. This is a cool song, I've never heard it before. I really don't know Alice Cooper's music at all, I admit, except for "School's Out" I guess.

no matter the poll, dock of the bay wins

Sitting on the dock of the Bay and wasting time is kind of a hippie concept.

hahaahahahahah

Sitting on the dock of the Bay and wasting time is kind of a hippie concept.

um...contemplating suicide is a hippie concept?

I'm giving props to Ocean's "Put Your Hand..." because I doubt anyone else will: If any other Toronto-bred band of folkies ever produced a finer "Can You Get To That"-style acoustic-funk number praising J.C. Himself and eventually turning up on Paul's Boutique, I'd sure like to hear it.

Elvis' version of "Put Your Hand" is one of the funkiest fuzzed-out things he ever recorded.

What's "Smoke On The Water" got to do with "freedom"?

Also, where is Richie Havens band?

Drugs = freedom

No - drugs are DEATH.

Remember the controversial yet still timely message conveyed to the world in 1986 by the cast of Grange Hill:

"JUST - SAY NO!"

(anyway "SOTW"'s got nothing to do with drugs either, it's about rich Tory cunts messing about on the river in Montreux watching the stage burn down when they should have been at home PAYING THEIR TAXES and SUBSIDISING VITAL PUBLIC SERVICES)

If Freedom Rock is about some apathetic and befuddled good ol' boys for whom life peaked at Woodstock, than "I'd Love To Change The World" is the one to turn up.

what the hell?!

going up country is one of the happiest songs known to anyone...how is it only ian and i agree?

at the time, it didn't seem the least bit strange the the o'jays would be on a comp with cream and deep purple. today you will never ever hear any "classic rock" station in the u.s. playing the o'jays. or otis redding. or edwin starr.

Don't kid yourself -- you probably wouldn't have heard them on a classic rock station in the '80s, either. Or an AOR station in the '70s, for that matter -- at least post-disco-sucks, and probably before. (I think the AOR stations in Detroit may have played War and Stevie and Sly occasionally, up through 1978 or thereabouts. I'd love to see playlists confirming or disproving this, though.)

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

AOR stations in Detroit may have played War and Stevie and Sly occasionally

And maybe Stanley Clarke? (Is that possible? My older brother, who listened mostly to AOR stations, was somehow real into Stanley Clarke in high school. But he also had at least one album by Kool & the Gang and one by KC & the Sunshine Band, so maybe he found out about Stanley somewhere else.)

I really really really really really really CANNOT STAND that guy's voice in Canned Heat. I will do whatever is necessary to TURN THAT SHIT OFF if it is played in my presence. I'm serious. If I hear that in a grocery store, I am walking out and going somewhere else.

And maybe Stanley Clarke? (Is that possible? My older brother, who listened mostly to AOR stations, was somehow real into Stanley Clarke in high school. But he also had at least one album by Kool & the Gang and one by KC & the Sunshine Band, so maybe he found out about Stanley somewhere else.)

stanley clarke was kinda big back then! see also: weather report, steely dan, michael mcdonald-era doobie brothers, chuck mangione, earth wind & fire.

(and steely dan and the doobie brothers both provided crossover points. whether or not stanley was getting PLAYED on aor stations, he was almost certainly getting name-dropped and otherwise mentioned.)

sorry about that affliction, bimble

the vocals on that Canned Heat song always sounded like Kermit the Frog to me.

so maybe he found out about Stanley somewhere else.

Stanley Clarke was on a big deal Jeff Beck album. And Beck guested on one of his. Both were played decently on FM radio in the mid-Seventies, a time when Jeff Beck's instrumental albums afforded an opp for some jazz fusion to get played in almost the same slot as classic rock acts. Chick Corea, Al Di Meola and Return to Forever also received their fair share. And Clarke was in that band, too.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Black Magic Woman - Santana 0

robbed

I voted based solely on the song within the context of the commercial, and my memories associated with the commercial. Three Dog Night's "Black and White" is the song that's always stood out the most for me, and I'm pretty sure this is where I heard it originally.

If this was just a random poll of these songs stripped of context, 15 or 20 others would've been ahead of it.

re: Stanley Clarke, etc., above: if I remember right, George Benson's "On Broadway" was on classic rock stations.

re: poll results: sorry j0hn

I would like "Layla" if not for the lame coda

If you think the Lalya coda is lame, then wait 'til you hear the coda to Billy Joel's "Movin' Out".

Well, TUUUUUUUUUUUUUUURN IT UP, MAN!

That commercial is the meaning of life, man.

fillin out yr goddamn cards

Mrlsnie wuz robbed, man!

canned heat is that sheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeit

this is just to say
canned heat is that sheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeit
they were juicy
and
delicious

Approximately when does that commercial date from, anyways? I swear I never saw it more than 3-4 times tops, and not since the mid-90s. Obviously I was watching the wrong stations or wrong time-slots or something.

It's one of those things where even if you only saw it once, every, you swear it was on every day for most of your childhood, because once you see it, it eats your brain.

I saw this commercial on an almost daily basis in the late 80s - they ran it on Channel 56 in Los Angeles during "Request Video". (I did not have MTV).

The commercial is from 1987.