Thursday, May 29, 2008

Which Do You Want First...

the good or the bad news?

Let’s save the good for the end.

You’ve all heard Hillary Clinton say we should elect her because she’d be ready to make the hard decisions “from day one.” Turns out the President would have been lying to us had he made the same statement.

We’ve had “mission accomplished,” “stay the course,” “surges,” making nice with the Sunni tribal leaders and other pronouncements by the Bush administration about “success” in Iraq. Now we learn that the President’s administration is “learning as we go.” He also has the gall to say that he can’t define the word success:

"In the past, that was relatively easy to do," he said. "There were public surrenders, a signing ceremony on the deck of a battleship, victory parades in American cities. Today, when the war continues after the regime has fallen, the definition of success is more complicated." WashingtonPost.com.

So, with six months and change to go, the President admits that he’s in the middle of a trial and error process on his way to a result that he can’t identify “He described the effort as a "battle of wills" and said loss will come only "if we defeat ourselves."

“Georgie, facing that bully on the playground is a test of your will, are you stronger than Tommy or not?

“Dad, I don’t know, he’s tough.”

“Son, the only way you’re going to lose is if you defeat yourself. The bullies of the world always back down if you stare them in the face.”

“Gosh Dad, you’re right, I’m just going to march up to Tommy and watch him turn tail and run! Who’ll be laughing then?”

Enough of that. For good news we have Rolling Stone’s list of the 100 Greatest Guitar Songs of all Time at

http://www.rollingstone.com/news/coverstory/20947527.

I don’t know that I’d have given “Teen Spirit” its high position.

8 comments:

Keith said...

Any guitarist list that does not list the master, Joe Satriani, is not a guitar list my friend. The fact that they don't even mention him in the top 100 is unbelievable. I would put him at #1 on my list.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=jGNgcRwKW4Q&feature=related

Posol'stvo the Medved said...

#14. Born To Run. I love the Boss, but that whole album was a guitar album played mainly on a piano. A master songwriter, he is. A master of guitar rock, he ain't.

And Keith, I like Satriani too, but the list is top 100 guitar songs. He's a great gguitarist, but he doesn't really have any great guitar rock songs. What song would you include of his? Only Flying in a Blue Dream comes close to offering something in that category up. (Mind you, if all you're offering up is virtuostic performances, you can't leave out Steve Vai's "For the Love of God")

Keith said...

Pos...you're point is well taken. I guess I should have read the list better before I commented. You are absolutely correct that it says guitar songs and not guitarists.

Anonymous said...

They don't clearly define what a "guitar song" is, but I enjoy reading lists like this.

If I were only going to have one AC/DC song, it would have been "Whole Lotta Rosie," not "Back in Black."

I would have put "Voodoo Child" ahead of "Purple Haze," but I was happy to see it made the list at all. I might even replace "Purple Haze" with "All along the watchtower" (assuming that it's really the guitars that make the difference on this list).

"Teen Spirit" gets too much credit (IMHO) because it was the first grunge song to really hit it big. I would have put Nirvana on the list, but for "All Apologies."

dr sardonicus said...

I have no serious quibbles with the Rolling Stone list. The opening riff of "Smells Like Teen Spirit" is a lot more complicated to play than it sounds.

Pos, go back and dig up your copy of Darkness On The Edge Of Town. There's your proof that Springsteen is at least a very, very good guitarist, if not a great one. "Born To Run" is an odd choice for a list of great guitar songs, though. The song and LP were Springsteen's attempt to channel Phil Spector, and the guitars on Born To Run mostly just meld into the overall drama. "Badlands" is a much better example of a Springsteen guitar song, but I guess not as many people know that one these days.

SonjaB said...

Umm, it took me 30 seconds to define success in encarta. Seriously, nobody in the government can define the word success?

suc·cess [ sək séss ] (plural suc·cess·es)

noun
Definition:

1. achievement of intention: the achievement of something planned or attempted

2. attainment of fame, wealth, or power: impressive achievement, especially the attainment of fame, wealth, or power

3. something that turns out well: something that turns out as planned or intended

4. somebody successful: somebody who is wealthy, famous, or powerful because of a record of achievement

[Mid-16th century. < Latin successus< past participle of succedere (see succeed)]

Posol'stvo the Medved said...

Dr. S -- I'll listen to DOTEOT again. Badlands is actually my favorite Springsteen song, but more for the vocals than the the guitar work -- particularly in the part where he sings

"For the ones who had a notion, a notion deep inside / That it ain't no sin to be glad you're alive. / I wanna find one face that ain't looking through me / I wanna find one place, I wanna spit in the face of these BADLANDS"

Sonja's Mom said...

In order to have success you must first have a goal and an executable plan to achieve that goal. All Bush had was a goal - no way to really achieve it.