The decade in which I was born has given me a strange perspective on its music. I discovered pretty much all of the 70’s sounds – from prog rock to punk to disco – well after they came into the world. It wasn’t until the late 80’s that I discovered what I was missing. I would characterize the decade as one where budding genres leaped off their inspiration pads and came to fruition. For the month of February, Mental Jukebox will feature some of these gems with a different 70’s song each day. #28DaysOf70sSongs
Producer Brian Eno famously said this: “The Velvet Underground didn’t sell many records, but everyone who bought one went out and started a band.” The quote speaks to the pure love of the music that the band had. Lou Reed himself once said this about music: “If I hadn't heard rock and roll on the radio, I would have had no idea there was life on this planet. Which would have been devastating - to think that everything, everywhere was like it was where I come from. That would have been profoundly discouraging. Movies didn't do it for me. TV didn't do it for me. It was the radio that did it." It’s the sentiment behind “Rock and Roll”. That song was about him.
“Rock and Roll” is Lou Reed wearing his rabid love for music on his sleeve. A passion I’ve always identified with – that undying obsession to music. No other creative expression or pursuit compares. This was the b-side to “Sweet Jane”, which is a spectacular song in itself. But I think those two songs could’ve easily swapped sides with each other without anyone blinking an eye. “Rock and Roll” was on that level. It had this unexpected chord progression to it which was driving the song from the start, while Reed’s howling falsetto turned in one of the band’s finest vocal moments. It’s one of my all-time favorite Velvet Underground songs.
“There was nothin' goin' down at all, not at all. Then one fine morning, she puts on a New York station. You know, she don't believe what she heard at all. She started shaking to that fine, fine music. You know, her life was saved by rock and roll.”