This month the music world lost three classic rock legends – David Bowie, Glenn Frey and Paul Kantner. In commemoration of these diverse musicians’ multi-decades work here’s a list of four essential songs from each. Granted, all three could encompass the entire 12-song list themselves, but we’ve narrowed it down to four each. This should lead to much discussion, as our four songs and your four songs will likely be very different.
Glenn Frey
Frey co-wrote with Don Henley some of the most popular songs in rock and roll as members of the Eagles. Here are a few you may know by heart:
* Take it Easy – The song that essentially broke the Eagles into the mainstream was actually a Jackson Browne song that Browne was having trouble finishing. Frey and Browne, along with J. D. Souther and most of the Eagles, were all living in the same apartment complex at the time and Frey took a liking to it and helped wrap the song. It’s Frey that is credited with the phrase “It’s a girl, my lord, in a flatbed Ford, slowin’ down to take a look at me.”
* Hotel California – One of the most popular songs of all time; its album namesake won a Grammy in 1977 for Album of the Year. Much speculation has gone into what the song is actually about, much of it spread by the band itself. Guesses to the song’s origins range from the lights of Los Angeles at night, one of Henley’s ex-girlfriends and even a murder mystery.
* Desperado – The title track from one of the lesser-know albums, which is actually one of our favorites. A western-themed album about outlaws and train robbers and more. After the popularity of the first release, simply titled “Eagles,” the album didn’t garner the critical acclaim of it’s predecessor, but did reap the single “Tequila Sunrise.”
* Best of My Love – One of our favorite ballads of all time, also co-written my Don Henley and J. D. Souther, from the third album, “On the Border.” The album put the Eagles back on the map with three singles, including this one which hit #1 in 1975.
David Bowie
Where to start with this artist? So much ground-breaking musicianship, band members that went on to fame in other acts – and his flair for, well, everything. With over 20 albums to his credit, we’ll try to pick only four songs, and likely no one will agree with any of our picks, but that’s OK.
* Heroes – From the 1977 album of the same name, co-written by keyboardist Brian Eno and featuring guitarist Robert Fripp (who later went on to form “Fripp and Eno”). The song has been covered by numerous artists, including King Crimson and the Wallflowers, but our favorite is the Blondie version.
* Space Oddity – You may know it as, “Ground Control to Major Tom.” The song is about, that’s right – space. Specifically, the space program and a fictional astronaut, Major Tom.
Originally recorded in 1969, around the time of the first moon landing, it features Rick Wakeman on keyboards, who later went on to the band Yes.
* Suffragette City – From the glam-concept album “The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars” the song features Mick Ronson on guitar. Bowie first offered the song to Mott the Hoople in his hopes that it would keep the struggling band from breaking up. Instead, Mott recorded a different Bowie song, “All the Young Dudes,” which gave the legendary glam outfit its first hit.
* Let’s Dance – The title track from the album by the same name. “Let’s Dance” marked yet another new direction for Bowie, and one of the few albums that he did not play a single instrument, referring to it as “a singer’s album.” You may recognize the guitar work on the album, as it was the legendary Stevie Ray Vaughan providing the licks and tone.
Paul Kantner
The “San Francisco sound” that came out of the Summer of Love and Golden Gate Park in the ‘60s has been credited to many bands and individuals, but it was the Jefferson Airplane that were the cream of the crop. The Airplane was born in 1965 when Marty Balin approached Kantner after a show and asked him if he wanted to start a band, or so Kantner told us in a 2008 interview.
A San Francisco native until the end, Kantner never liked to leave the City. Again, trying to narrow down a career like his to four songs will be a challenge, bur here goes.
* Volunteers – Balin awoke one morning to see a truck drive by his house with the logo “Volunteers of America” emblazoned on the side. He began writing lyrics and then Kantner wrote the music. It was as simple as that. Released in 1969 as a single to help promote the bands fifth release of the same name.
* Wooden Ships – Yes, the David Crosby-Stephen Stills song was actually co-written by Kantner – but due to contractual reasons was never given credit until years later. It would be the only song played twice at Woodstock, having been played by CSN&Y and then by the Airplane.
* Ride the Tiger – From the Jefferson Starship’s second album, the band was in transition with members, but features the hot-shot lead guitar playing of a young Craig Chaquico, who Kantner is crediting with “discovering,” although he denies it.
* The Mountain Song – From one of Kantner’s only solo albums, “Planet Earth Rock and Roll Orchestra,” which came at a time when the Grateful Dead and the Airplane/Starship were not touring. Co-written by Jerry Garcia, the song debuted in 1983.
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