Four songs from 200: Part One

In Classic Rock 200 we counted down the 200 greatest songs of the magazine's lifetime, 1998-2014. Over the next few days, our writers will tell stories about some of these these songs, and about the bands that made them.

Blackberry SmokeAin’t Much Left Of Me (2013)

There was this writer, Lee Marlow, wrote for some regional newspaper, liked the mag, would occasionally pitch ideas. One of them was about a Scottish guy called Phil Campbell, a singer-songwriter I couldn’t make my mind up about (and who, years later, ended up fronting The Temperance Movement). Another was about this band of yokels from the South, Blackberry Smoke. They were no hopers, clearly – never gonna play the UK, never gonna amount to much, far too much hair – but the music was good and we prided ourselves on Classic Rock for championing good music, regardless of the politics.

Turns out Marlow knew his shit. Blackberry Smoke have since been signed by Earache, toured the UK and played the Classic Rock Awards Aftershow. In the 80s, Marlow woulda been a rich A&R man by now, living in Laurel Canyon with a hot tub full of winsome ladies and a beard down to his knees. (Instead he still works for the Leicester Mercury and occasionally writes for CR: you might remember his last ever interview with Jon Lord, his tragicomic Pete Way feature or great Deep Purple in Dubai cover story.)

Alejandro EscovedoCastanets (2001)

Castanets is cursed, of course. When it was revealed as one of President George W. Bush favourite tracks, Escovedo sent the song to Guantanamo (well, dropped it from his set) for what remained of that little weasel’s coup. The song came through the whole ordeal unscathed, of course, but the question remains: what does it mean to like the same music as Ol’ Dubya? Is there something wrong with me that my taste overlaps that of one of modern history’s greatest shitehawks? I dunno the answer to that. Let me call Dick Cheney and get back to you.

Rival Sons — _Keep On Swinging _(2013)

I faked enthusiasm for Rival Sons at first. They had the right sound, but the songs didn’t blow me away. They were from LA but had been signed by Earache. They were an outside bet, at best. Pressure And Time upped the game, but still I was sceptical. I’m a tough crowd. When they played main stage at our very own High Voltage festival in 2011, I thought they failed to carry it off on the big stage – looked overwhelmed, with neither the songs, the experience, or the charisma. Later in the day, a band cancelled on the Metal Hammer stage (their flight had been delayed). So Rival Sons stepped in. I watched a bit of Judas Priest and then wandered over. This was a different Rival Sons. On a smaller stage, in the dark and with nothing to prove, the band stretched out. Here, their psychedelic freak outs made sense, didn’t seem indulgent. The crowd swelled – and the band seemed to grow before my eyes too. (Fresh from crossing America with The Union where I was writer and photographer I had a camera in my hands and took some pictures on the stage. This is them below.)

The Darkness — _I Believe In A Thing Called Love _(2003)

When we were putting The Darkness on the cover for the release of second album One Way Ticket… Sian, Geoff Barton and I were summoned to the penthouse suite of some swanky London hotel, plonked on a couch and blasted the record on a very expensive high-end stereo. But before we listened to it, a hyperactive young man (I think you’d call him, what’s the term, oh yeah, ‘a twat’, that’s it) banged on at us about how the company was very excited about this release, that it had great cross-market potential, about deliverables and sustainability and the need to calibrate expectations in the relevant sectorzzzzZZZZ. Thankfully he eventually fucked off, leaving us to listen in peace, but remained in plain sight, pacing the balcony the whole time, barking into his mobile phone about market penetration and the single customer view or some shit. It was a good record and I blame any negative reviews it may have gotten on this odious dick of a man, whoever he was.

The reason Warners smelled money was of course I Believe In A Thing Called Love, the single that not only put The Darkness on the map and made Permission To Land a multi-million seller, but also one of the few songs in recent history that immediately became a bona fide rock classic, leapfrogging its way on to rock radio playlists and elbowing the likes of UFO off of those Greatest-Dad-Rock-Album-In-The-World-type compilations available in service stations everywhere. Some old school rock fans sneered “novelty” or worse (“piss-take!”) and Lemmy had a go at Justin Hawkins for having a ridiculous voice (a bit rich, you could say, from a man who sings like an emphysemic badger) but they took it too seriously, the old stick-in-the-muds. Knowing, epic (three guitar solos!), silly, and deliriously infectious it deserves its status as one of the few modern rock songs you’ll ever hear played at a wedding.

**You can view the entire 200 tracks in issue 200 of Classic Rock, which can be ordered online from MyFavouriteMagazines. **

** **

**Alternatively, you can download the Classic Rock magazine app from iTunes. **

Scott Rowley
Content Director, Music

Scott is the Content Director of Music at Future plc, responsible for the editorial strategy of online and print brands like Louder, Classic Rock, Metal Hammer, Prog, Guitarist, Guitar World, Guitar Player, Total Guitar etc. He was Editor in Chief of Classic Rock magazine for 10 years and Editor of Total Guitar for 4 years and has contributed to The Big Issue, Esquire and more. Scott wrote chapters for two of legendary sleeve designer Storm Thorgerson's books (For The Love Of Vinyl, 2009, and Gathering Storm, 2015). He regularly appears on Classic Rock’s podcast, The 20 Million Club, and was the writer/researcher on 2017’s Mick Ronson documentary Beside Bowie

Latest in
Vera Farmiga in 2021
The Conjuring star Vera Farmiga announces debut album with her heavy metal band The Yagas
'Emo' Ed Sheeran busking
Watch Ed Sheeran cover Chappell Roan's Pink Pony Club on the New York subway while disguised as an emo busker
A close-up shot of the Marshall Major IV on-ear headphones on a turquoise, blue and black background.
I’ve never seen the Marshall Major IV headphones this cheap before - get them for half price in Amazon’s big spring sale
Evanescence in 2025
Evanescence release new song Afterlife from Devil May Cry TV series soundtrack, have their next album in the works
Tony Banks
“You only have to hear the opening sweep to reach for your lighter and wave it in the air”: Tony Banks' greatest Genesis moments
The Horrors
Ghouls Aloud: The Horrors come back from the dead with "a dazzling nocturnal spectacle of sombre reflections and oozing catharsis"
Latest in Features
Tony Banks
“You only have to hear the opening sweep to reach for your lighter and wave it in the air”: Tony Banks' greatest Genesis moments
Rick Astley and Rick Wakeman
“Rick Wakeman’s solo albums were just brilliant… when I heard he was doing Henry VIII at Hampton Court Palace, I bought 12 tickets”: Prog is the reason Rick Astley became a singer
Ozzy Osbourne, Paul McCartney, Robert Plant, Jim Morrison and Joe Strummer onstage
The greatest gig I've ever seen: 24 writers pick the most memorable live show of their lives
Marillion in 1984
From debauched prog revivalists to pioneers of the internet age: The Marillion albums you should definitely listen to
Mogwai
“The concept of cool and uncool is completely gone, which is good and bad… people are unashamedly listening to Rick Astley. You’ve got to draw a line somewhere!” Mogwai and the making of prog-curious album The Bad Fire
The Mars Volta
“My totalitarian rule might not be cool, but at least we’ve made interesting records. At least we polarise people”: It took The Mars Volta three years and several arguments to make Noctourniquet