I've never been a big fan of rock and roll songs about rock and roll. I know marketing experts will disagree with me, but there are some things in this world that sell themselves. Sex never goes out of style. I've never read The Kama Sutra but that book is ancient and people continue to study it. Sex doesn't need marketing. It doesn't even need two people anymore (or so I hear). Rock and roll feels like one of those things that doesn't need marketing, either. Bands need marketing. Bands need someone to tell the world "Hey, look over here would you ever on account of this here band what you should listen to right this second!" Rock and roll? That sells itself, right?
Even if it doesn't, I don't need a rock and roll singer to sing me a song about how great rock and roll is. Dude, I bought the record. I don't need you to tell me how good it is. That's what I hate about most essays in most box sets, too. It reminds me of Jimmy (Quentin Tarantino) talking about his coffee in Pulp Fiction. I said all that to say I cringed a bit when I saw that AC/DC's first single off their first album in eight years was called "Rock 'N' Roll Train."
I don't know what a "Rock 'N' Roll Train" is and I don't think I need one, but there's something undeniable and catchy about it so I guess I'm going to have to have one.
People can knock them for being derivative and dumb all they want. I say it takes a hell of a lot of talent to make the same old thing sound catchy, and that's exactly what they've done here.
Article comments
1 - Borrowed Time
Might as well tell Chuck Berry not to put the words Rock n Roll in his lyrics too. Or B.B. King to not say the word blues in a song at all. Just a silly and completely pointless argument. One of the best subjects to write a song about in the history of Rock n Roll is Rock n Roll itself. FACT.
2 - Josh Hathaway
Blues is a completely different concept. They are rarely singing about the blues as music or a genre and singing about it as a state of being; Chuck Berry's catalog is deeper than just the songs about rock and roll.
An argument does get pointless when all someone does is assert their opinion as fact.
3 - Borrowed Time
Rock n Roll can be a state of being for many people. Me being one of them. Rock n Roll is a noun, verb, pronoun, adjective, and pretty much every other describing word under the sun. So, its pointless to assert an opinion when you know nothing about the subject. Thanks for playing though... SERVED.
4 - Josh Hathaway
It is pointless to assert an opinion when you know nothing about the subject, something you prove further with every comment. Feel free to keep talking.
5 - Borrowed Time
Yes, I prove on you... ya wank. That was a cute try. If you feel like none of those points are valid then you have no business even trying to listen to Rock n Roll. To you Rock n Roll is just a genre, but to many its a way of life. So anyways, go back to listening to Coldplay.