Hidden Gems of Popular Bands

Everyone has heard songs like “Sympathy for the Devil”, “Bohemian Rhapsody”, “Come Together”, and many other major hits hundreds of times.  Everyone knows of them, songs from some of the most popular bands ever; The Rolling Stones, Queen and the Beatles among many others.

For every radio staple from a great band, they have at least 2 or 3 other songs that are just as good,  if not better.  Some bands like Queen and Bruce Springsteen, I think their best songs are the ones that typically get no radio play time.

I have compiled a list of hidden gems, songs that traditionally do not show up on compilations or get radio air play by some of my favorite bands.  They aren’t listed in any particular order.  For The Beatles and Bruce Springsteen, I know I undersold their gems on here because I’m such a big fan and I feel like all their songs are hits!

The Beatles (easily the hardest for me to compile as there are so many of them and some may be more well known than I realize)

1. Oh! Darling – Abbey Road
2. If I Feel – A Hard Day’s Night
3. It’s Only Love – Help
4. Old Brown Shoe – Single/Hey Jude LP
5. Don’t Let Me Down – Let it Be…Naked
6. Baby You’re a Rich Man – Magical Mystery Tour
7. And Your Bird Can Sing – Revolver
8. I’m Only Sleeping – Revolver
9. You Won’t See Me – Rubber Soul
10. I’m Looking Through You – Rubber Soul
11. Good Morning Good Morning – Sgt Peppers
12. I’m So Tired – White Album
13. Don’t Pass Me By – White Album
14. Long, Long, Long – White Album
15. Cry Baby Cry – White Album

Billy Joel

1. A Matter of Trust – Bridge
2. Leave a Tender Moment Alone – An Innocent Man
3. Great Wall of China – River of Dreams
4. No Man’s Land – River of Dreams
5. Vienna – The Stranger

Bruce Springsteen

1. Downbound Train – Born in the USA
2. Bobby Jean – Born in the USA
3. Tenth Avenue Freeze Out – Born to Run
4. Back Streets – Born to Run
5. She’s the One – Born to Run
6. Something in the Night – Darkness on the Edge of Town
7. Candy’s Room – Darkness on the Edge of Town
8. For You – Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J.
9. Kitty’s Back – The Wild, the Innocent and the E Street Shuffle
10. Seaside Bar Song – 18 Tracks

David Bowie

1. Beauty and the Beast – Heroes
2. The Secret Life of Arabia – Heroes
3. Seven – Hours
4. Oh! You Pretty Things – Hunky Dory
5. Quicksand – Hunky Dory
6. Fantastic Voyage – Lodger
7. Always Crashing In The Same Car – Low
8. Black Country Rock – The Man Who Sold the World
9. Hang On To Yourself – The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust
10. Somebody up there Likes Me – Young Americans

 

The Eagles

1. Out of Control – Desperado
2. Nightingale – Eagles
3. Wasted Time – Hotel California
4. Pretty Maids All In A Row – Hotel California
5. I Can’t Tell You Why – The Long Run

Elton John

1. Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy – Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy
2. Tower of Babel – Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy
3. Have Mercy On the Criminal – Don’t Shoot Me I’m Only the Piano Player
4. Funeral for a Friend (Love Lies Bleeding) – Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
5. Gray Seal – Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
6. Levon – Madman Across the Water
7. Madman Across the Water – Madman Across the Water
8. Ballad of a Well Known Gun – Tumbleweed Connection
9. Country Comfort – Tumbleweed Connection
10. My Father’s Gun – Tumbleweed Connection

John Lennon

1. Watching the Wheels – Double Fantasy
2. Gimme Some Truth – Imagine
3. Move Over Ms. L – Single
4. Intuition – Mind Games
5. Out the Blue – Mind Games
6. Only People – Mind Games
7. I Found Out – Plastic Ono Band
8. Isolation – Plastic Ono Band
9. Remember – Plastic Ono Band
10. What You Got –Walls and Bridges

Paul McCartney

1. Mrs. Vanderbilt – Band on the Run
2. Let Me Roll it – Band on the Run
3. Nineteen Hundred and Eighty Five
4. Magneto and Titanium Man – Venus and Mars
5. Beware My Love – Wings at the Speed of Sound

Queen

1. Need Your Loving Tonight – The Game
2. Rock It (Prime Jive) – The Game
3. Sail Away Sweet Sister – The Game
4. Ride the Wild Wind – Innuendo
5. These Are the Days of Our Lives – Innuendo
6. Show Must Go On – Innuendo
7. Friends Will Be Friends – A Kind of Magic
8. Rain Must Fall – The Miracle
9. Spread Your Wings – News of the World
10. Fight From the Inside – News of the World
11. Get Down, Make Love
12. Sleeping on the Sidewalk – News of the World
13. It’s Late – News of the World
14. I’m in Love With My Car – A Night at the Opera
15. Seaside Rendezvous – A Night at the Opera
16. Father to Son – Queen II
17. White Queen (As it Begins) Queen II
18. The Loser in the End – Queen II
19. Ogre Battle – Queen II
20. In the Lap of the Gods (Revisited) – Sheer Heart Attack

The Rolling Stones

1. Think – Aftermath
2. I Am Waiting – Aftermath
3. Salt of the Earth – Beggars Banquet
4. Rocks Off – Exile On Main Street
5. Loving Cup – Exile on Main Street
6. Time Waits For No One – It’s Only Rock N Roll
7. Last Time – Out of Our Heads
8. That’s How Strong My Love Is – Out of Our Heads
9. Sway – Sticky Fingers
10. Dead Flowers- Sticky Fingers

Top 30 John Lennon Songs

I’m just a bit obsessed with this guy.  No one’s music, lyrics, or just message has spoke to me quite like this man’s and its a shame that his talent was taken away from us 30 years ago, long before he should have gone.  A top 30 was not easy as many greats were left off…some of these had input from McCartney (like A Day in the Life), but are mostly Lennon works (* denotes solo songs)

1.      Strawberry Fields Forever

2.      A Day in the Life

3.      In My Life

4.      (Just Like) Starting Over*

5.      Watching the Wheels*

6.      Jealous Guy*

7.      Don’t Let me Down

8.      Instant Karma*

9.      She Loves You

10.  Imagine*

11.  Real Love

12.  Hey Bulldog

13.  Ticket to Ride

14.  Across the Universe

15.  Dear Prudence

16.  One after the 909

17.  Day Tripper

18.  Revolution

19.  Please Please me

20.  I’m So Tired

21.  All You Need Is Love

22.  Out the Blue*

23.  It Won’t Be Long

24.  Happiness Is  A Warm Gun

25.  Nobody Told Me*

26.  What Ever Gets You Thru the Night*

27.  Mother*

28.  #9 Dream*

29.  Help

30.  Rain

My 30 Favorite Paul McCartney Songs

With me finally seeing Paul McCartney live (and that he probably doesn’t have too many years left on earth) I figured I’d feed my unhealthy obsession of everything Beatles (and while I wait for the furnace man) and do a list of my top 30 Paul McCartney Songs.   A top 30 list was not easy and many great songs had to be left off; some of these were collaborations with Lennon (like A Day in the Life), but most of them are McCartney’s work (*denotes solo songs).

 

 

1. Hey Jude
2. Maybe I’m Amazed*
3. A Day in the Life
4. Got to Get You Into My Life
5. Golden Slumbers/Carry that Weight/The End
6. My Love*
7. Oh Darling
8. Let it Be
9. I Saw Her Standing There
10. I’m Looking Through You
11. Mother Nature’s Son
12. I’ve Got a Feeling
13. Here Today*
14. Eleanor Rigby
15. For No One
16. Listen to What the Man Said*
17. We Can Work it Out
18. Nineteen Hundred and Eight Five*
19. Band on the Run*
20. The Long and Winding Road
21. Jet*
22. Lady Madonna
23. Back in the USSR
24. Good Day Sunshine
25. All My Loving
26. Helter Skelter
27. You Won’t See Me
28. Get Back
29. You Never Give Me Your Money
30. Venus And Mars/Rock Show*

Paul McCartney…In Concert!

Anyone who knows me knows I have an obsession with the Beatles; is it an unhealthy one?  I like to think not.  I am going to see Paul McCartney live in Cincinnati and I could not be more pumped, I feel like a little girl on Christmas who runs down stairs to see a pony next to the tree.  While he is not my favorite Beatle, he is still in my opinion the second greatest song writer of all time (only behind his companion John Lennon).  Though I easily prefer Lennon, that does not mean McCartney does not have his moments over Lennon.  Both of them have a distinct style.  Lennon’s typically being more personal, deep and grounded in reality while McCartney’s being more happy and springy.  It will always sadden me that I never had a chance to see Lennon live, or Harrison (who died before I got into music), I can at least say I saw McCartney live.  Sir Paul is a god of music, and a lyrical genius.  I cannot wait to share this concert experience with a stadium full of Beatles and Paul McCartney fans.