Head Bangers Unite: Rock Music to Fuel Your Inner Rock God

I may be an 80's pop queen in my heart but my soul belongs to rock n roll. Hard rock, classic rock, blues rock, I'm there in all my head banging, foot tapping glory.

Of course it wasn't always that way.

In the late 70's and the early 80's I was a disco dancing pop queen. First with the Bee Gees and Abba,  then onto the likes of  Duran Duran, Tears for Fears, Spandau Ballet and all the rest. Pop for me was it.  Then again I was only 10 so what did I know.

Secretly though rock music had an almost dangerous allure for me.

This was the music after all that the black t-shirt brigade listened to.  The bad boys who wore faded jeans, black t-shirt's (often with a band's logo on them), drove beat up cars and were the kind of guys your mother warned you about.  Mates who hanged around together drinking, smoking and listening to rock music while girlfriends came and went.

I admired them from afar until I became one of those girlfriends and my first love and I bonded over music. I introduced him to The Cure, The Clash and The Jam while he introduced me to AC/DC, Def Leppard and the ultimate rock legends - Led Zeppelin.

From the moment I heard the first few bars of Friends, The Immigrant Song and Kashmir I was hooked and my love of rock music has stayed with me ever since.  After all who can resist those moments when you can get in touch with your inner Rock God.

Led Zeppelin Head banging rock just wouldn't be the same without these guys.

They are the ultimate in rock gods and deservedly so.  My only regret is that I was too young to see them at their finest during the early 70's and that I had to make do to listening to their music on vinyl and admiring Jimmy Page on the posters on my wall.

Yeah that bad boy rock guitarist did it for me again.

Jethro Tull Aqualung is considered one of the best albums... ever.  It certainly is a must have album for any dire hard music fan and my own copy was frequently played when I brought it back in 1985.

An unlikely rock band Jethro Tull managed to combine rock, folk and even a touch of classical music to produce a unique sound that was all their own.

And all fronted by the amazing Ian Anderson and his flute.  Who knew that a flute could rock music the way it could.

Cheap Trick Not as well known here as they are in their native America Cheap Trick had the reputation for being one of the best rock bands to see live and their album Live at Budokan is considered another must have album for any music fan.

I discovered them courtesy of  American Top 40 which I listened to religiously every Sunday morning as a teenager.

Guns N' Roses Tattooed, drug taking, model dating hard rock gurus Guns N' Roses burst onto the music scene in 1987 with their album Appetite for Destruction and a rock legend was born.

Sadly 6 years later the magic was gone and the band fell apart but the legacy of their music lives on in such head banging classics as Welcome to the Jungle and Paradise City.

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers One of my all time favourite bands Tom Petty and the Hearbreakers are my go to music for starting any road trip.

Their songs are the songs I can bop my head along to while singing loudly to the words.

American  heartland rock at it's best I'm just surprised that they've never played a song of theirs on my favourite show Supernatural.  Because they so need to.

Rock On Supernaturally

"Driver picks the music.  Shotgun shuts his cakehole."  Dean Winchester from Supernatural.

You just knew that I would get around to doing this eventually, a post dedicated to Supernatural or least one aspect of Supernatural. 

If you've read any of my previous posts then you know that I am a HUGE fan and one of the reasons (and there's alot of reasons...) is that it features some of the best classic rock music around. 

I have gotten almost every song from the show loaded onto my MP3 player.  From foot-tapping, head banging rock songs to power ballads to good old fashioned blues, it's all there.

Don't you just love shows like this.  Shows that have great music that you just have to have and listen to again and again.

With Supernatural, every fan (of course) has their favourites.  My current top 5 (in no particular order) are

• Thunderstuck by AC/DC
• Carry On Wayward Son by Kansas
• Wanted Dead Or Alive by Bon Jovi
• Shambala by Three Dog Night
• Locomotive Breath by Jethro Tull

Though if you were to ask me tomorrow this list would probably change, it's just so hard to pick just 5 as they are all so good. 

Strangely enough no one yet has thought to bring out an CD featuring music from the show.  I'm crossing my fingers that someday someone will.  After all if they can do soundtracks for Glee and Twilight surely a Supernatural soundtrack is a must.

Until that day comes why not try some of the following CD's to put you in that Supernaturally frame of mind and rock on.

Greatest hits / Journey

Never really that big here, in the US Journey along with lead singer Steve Perry were mega popular, despite the fact that they never had a No. 1 single.

Their popularity, even today, can be shown in the fact that Don't Stop Believin' was the greatest selling song in itunes history.

My personal favourite is Who's Crying Now

Iron Man 2 / AC/DC

Even though most of the band are nearing retirement age AC/DC are still considered one of the bands to see live. 

Hugely popular with rock fans around the world, their album Back in Black is the 2nd biggest selling album in music history, being beaten only by Michael Jackson's Thriller. 

Not bad for a group of Aussie boys.

Foreigner: the definitive collection

I've been a Foreigner fan for a long time and it's no wonder with such great rock songs as Juke Box Hero, Double Vision and Cold As Ice as part of their discography. 

Again like Journey they were never really that big here, yet in the US they had 9 songs that reached the top 10 on the Billboard charts.

The platinum collection / Deep Purple

Who hasn't heard of Smoke on the Water.

Considered one of the greatest rock songs of all time and a song that pretty much every wanna-be guitarist learns, this classic rock song is familiar to many, even those that aren't rock fans, which is pretty amazing for a song that never even got into the top 20 let alone the top 10 on the Billboard charts.

Rock of Ages: the definitive collection / Def Leppard

I mentioned my love of this band in my very first post which goes to show how much I enjoy their music.

Still performing and producing albums, they have lasted more than 30 years in the business, continuing on after the tragic death of their lead guitarist as well as surviving alcohol addiction and a drummer who had to adapt his drum kit so he could continue playing after he lost an arm in a car accident.

The essential Heart

Women can rock too and Heart have done this for almost 40 years.

The core of the band are sisters Ann and Nancy Wilson, Ann's the voice and Nancy the guitarist and together they have had 7 albums reach the top 10 on the Billboard charts and even had a No.1 hit song with These Dreams in 1985.

Music from the Sound FM

The Sound are one of the newest radio stations around.  

Dedicated to playing rock music from the 60's, 70's and 80's this compilation CD features such great rock songs as Don't Fear The Reaper by The Blue Oyster Cult, Dream Police by Cheap Trick and Keep On Loving You by REO Speedwagon.

Pure Hard Rock

Looking for some head banging rock?  Then look no further.  Pure Hard Rock is the CD for you.

Featuring classic rock and heavy metal songs by Alice Cooper, Judas Priest, Motorhead, Ted Nugent and many more there is something here for every fan.

The greatest hits of mullet rock has never looked so good.

Double shot blues

Blues is the grand daddy of rock.  Pretty much every rock artist and band have gained their inspiration and style from blues music.

Its changed and adapted over the years but blues still rocks on and this CD has features the likes of Janis Joplin, George Thorogood and the Destroyers, Robert Cray, The Allman Brothers and so many other great blues exponents.

If you've like some of the above you might also want to check out some (if not all) of the following bands: Black Sabbath, Aerosmith, Cheap Trick, Bad Company, ZZ Top, Jethro Tull, Kansas, Styx. Joe Walsh, The Allman Brothers, Led Zeppelin.