A Self-Portrait in Song

These are a few of my favorite things

Jan 01, 2025

Occasionally on this Substack I step away from my chiselling away the wokeface to offer something of an entirely different kind. This post is one of those... and another about rock music. I realise some of my valued readers might want to give it a miss for this reason....in which case a Happy New Year to you and I’ll be back in February with my usual fare!

Why Write About Music?.....I respond to great music with a passion. So much so that often there are goose bumps and tears fall like rain! It can be Rock….it can be Classical. [I also love the best from the Swing and Crooner eras but am not steeped in them to the same degree.]

It sometimes feels like half my brain is taken up with several decades of Rock’s back catalogue. As a young man, my dream was to be a pop star in the Dylan/Leonard Cohen mold. I used to write songs….quite good ones some of them, I’m vain enough to say. A big regret is failing to learn to play a musical instrument. Few things are more sure to excite admiration (and envy) than a superb lead guitarist up on the stage….or a keyboard virtuoso or an Irish fiddle player.

Yes but Why Write About it?... Well I suppose it is something so important for me that it kind of just has to come out in my writing sometimes. Think of it as my attempt to express myself in ways beyond the confines of intellectual discourse.

So Why Just Rock Music?.... I have retained my passion for the best music of the time in which I have lived; all the way from my teens to my now approaching twilight years. In adult life I have also gradually found more and more to love from the Classical oevre….particularly the Baroque and Romantic (Handel is a particlar hero as is Beethoven). But Rock is made of short sharp bursts of song that lend themselves to a musical odyssey. Aplaylist of my favourite symphonies and operas would not hang together in the same way somehow.

Isn’t Rock Music Just Ephemeral Trash Entertainment?....Yes mostly - but crucially not entirely. The problem is that an explosion of the quantity of all kinds of media since the mid 20th c. has meant that there’s way too much of it (60+ million songs last time I checked) of which only a tiny amount has any real lasting quality. It becomes ever more difficult to spot the occasional golden nuggets bouncing past in this torrential rushing stream. I wrote about this in my Imagine There's No Musak essay last year.

Isn’t Rock Music a Bit Decadent?....Much of it Yes but by no means all. I would guess that a large proportion of my readers think of themselves as socially conservative (as indeed I am myself). And this creates a bit of a conundrum. Whatever else it is, rock music could never be described as that.....and so in order to enjoy it, a certain suspension of one’s broader philosophical perspective is necessary. I personally find this no problem at all but can appreciate that others may feel things differently.

To add to the conundrum, it is fair to say that a majority of Rock artists have always been Lefties (including a majority of those on my playlist below). And so, in order to scan the field for the best music, one has to also suspend one’s irritation at an artist’s stupid political posturing. Again I find this no problem but if you do then the inclusion of some of the artists in my self-portrait could make your hackles rise!

Isn’t it Mostly For Kids?.....Yes mostly - but again not only. I understand that rock music is of only limited interest to many mature adults. [Talking of kids…..I keep coming across journo stuff about Spotify Wrapped so I suppose I should at least show that I’m 21^st c. enough to have heard of it. Seems to me like a ‘Please tell me Big Brother what my musical tastes are’ app? Oh Brave New World.]

Isn’t Musical Taste Just Subjective?.....Not entirely in my view. Nevertheless one person’s musical greats rarely chimes very much with another’s, in my experience. Not even between those of us who retain their passion for Rock beyond the days of youth. So sharing playlists can be a hiding to nothing. And I’m not holding my breath in anticipation of your agreeing with my choices. But if my musical self-portrait does chime sufficiently with your own tastes such that you would enjoy viewing/listening to it, then please Direct Message me on Substack and I will share the playlist link with you.

Anyway here goes.......a self-portrait in 26 songs: They are all ones I love and can enjoy listening to endlessly. But they are only a snapshot of my personal ‘greatest’....the full list would have to be a much longer one. It would include, not just some megastars missed from this playlist, but also a lot more one-hit (and few-hit) wonders.

And my choice of these particular ones in preference to others has been heavily influenced by ones with resonably appealing videos. There is no significance to the order in which they are presented.