Your thoughts on David Essex's Rock On

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by dbz, Nov 26, 2012.

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  1. dbz

    dbz Bolinhead. Thread Starter

    Location:
    Live At Leeds (UK)
    I always enjoyed this track from 1973. I happened to hear it again on the radio a few days ago and it got me thinking.

    What amazes me now, is just how groundbreaking the production and sound was. It's minimalist with just that bass (Herbie Flowers processing with delay?) and a few almost random strings/brass effects. Seems to be a great pre-cursor a lot of alternative music, such as Peter Gabriel would ultimately do on his solo albums (think Excellent Birds, Don't Give Up and Don't Break This Rhythm).

    Were there other songs around at the time that sounded like this? I don't really remember any except for maybe, something like Rock N Roll part II by Glitter.

    Was Rock On special and groundbreaking and has it gone largely unnoticed all these years? Could the fairly un-cool Essex have influenced the uber cool Gabriel?

     
    driverdrummer and Drifter like this.
  2. Archimago

    Archimago Forum Resident

    Gotta admit it's a cool song.

    I don't think it has gone unnoticed however. Michael Damian remade it in 1989 and it went to #1 I think (this was the version I 1st heard since I was a wee lad in 1973). Also in the 90's, Def Leppard redid it on their "Yeah" album - this one had very cool use of the Q-Sound processing. The nature of the song really caters to interesting productions.
     
  3. jeffrey walsh

    jeffrey walsh Senior Member

    Location:
    Scranton, Pa. USA
    Killah Tune! This is one great sounding 45 rpm single.
     
    googlymoogly likes this.
  4. great glam take on 50's rock
    all down to slapback echo, vocals, and drums
     
    Huck Caton likes this.
  5. dbz

    dbz Bolinhead. Thread Starter

    Location:
    Live At Leeds (UK)
    I wasn't aware of either cover version, so thanks for that (perhaps Damian's version wasn't a hit in the UK, I'm not a chart watcher). Checking wiki, it seems even Michael Jackson sung it on occasion. So maybe not as "unnoticed" as I thought. Blondie, Toni Basil and The Smashing Pumpkins as well!

    Was there anything else that sounded like this in 1973?
     
  6. parkmebike

    parkmebike I'm in love with a girl...

    I really never cared for this song, I've always found it quite unusual - just a very empty sound. The slow druggy tempo just doesn't work for me with the Rock and Roll/Rock On lyrics.
     
  7. Sordel

    Sordel Forum Resident

    Location:
    Switzerland
    Great single. Essex's reputation seems to have been at a low ebb for too many years (ever since he hosted a talent competition on the BBC back in the eighties in fact). He didn't help matters by releasing some very middle-of-the-road songs. But he was actually a pretty talented guy, and there are several of his songs that I'd rate highly, including 'Stardust' and 'Imperial Wizard'.

    These days he's probably best known (on disc) for his role in Jeff Wayne's War of the Worlds and, maybe, for his Christmas hit singing Mike Batt's 'A Winter's Tale'.
     
  8. Raunchnroll

    Raunchnroll Senior Member

    Location:
    Seattle
    Love it. Its minimalist sound stuck out, and yes, it was pretty groundbreaking if for nothing else the fact that it charted well. And a good example of how varied AM radio was in 1973.
     
  9. Sneaky Pete

    Sneaky Pete Flat the 5 and That’s No Jive

    Location:
    NYC USA
    I always liked it and the sound was so different that it lept out of the radio when it was first releaased. It was ear candy.
     
  10. Ocean56

    Ocean56 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Waterford, MI USA
    I've always liked this song, a lot. Wondered what happened to him after it was a hit...now I know!...:)
     
  11. Purple Jim

    Purple Jim Senior Member

    Location:
    Bretagne
    It's a pretty good song but I never could stand David Essex' voice.
    I remember seeing him on BBC TV doing "Godspell" and he was quite charismatic. I also went to the cinema in the 70s to see the film "Stardust" which featured him and Adam Faith as his manager. I have never seen it since (perhaps it looks lowsy now).
     
  12. izgoblin

    izgoblin Forum Resident

    I never understood the love for this song. It's gotta be on my Top 10 most disliked songs of all time. Doesn't help that the delay is out of time with the tempo of the song for much of it. Sorry, just can't stand this thing.
     
  13. ampmods

    ampmods Forum Resident

    Location:
    Boston, MA, USA
    The sound is interesting but I never really cared for the song. I wouldn't turn it off immediately when it was on the radio, but I would about a minute in. It's so lifeless and repetitive to me it just becomes too dull to make it through.
     
    Huck Caton likes this.
  14. ReadySteady

    ReadySteady Custom Title

    Smashing Pumpkins did a cover of this for some reason. I always found the song to be brutally boring.
     
  15. Scott S.

    Scott S. lead singer for the best indie band on earth

    Location:
    Walmartville PA
    I love it, had the 45.
     
  16. oldsiamsir

    oldsiamsir Forum Resident

    Location:
    Toronto, Canada
    I love this track
     
  17. applebonkerz

    applebonkerz Senior Member

    My thoughts are: damn the early 70s sure were fantastic for a huge choice of well played, creative music! :edthumbs:
     
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  18. Vidiot

    Vidiot Now in 4K HDR!

    Location:
    Hollywood, USA
    I believe that was "a deliberate creative choice," as we say in the business. To me, the out-of-syncness kind of makes the song. It's a weird song, for sure, but that sound was much of what made it a #5 hit (at least in the States).
     
    Jennifer Tomkins, Drifter and keyXVII like this.
  19. Driver 8

    Driver 8 Senior Member

    R.E.M.'s "Drive" of course borrowed a few lyrics, and much of the vibe, of "Rock On."

    I do remember quite well how "Rock On" stood out on AM radio in the 70s as a different sound for the era. Lou Reed's "Walk On the Wild Side," with its prominent fretless bass lick defining its minimal arrangement, and its similar talk/singing vocal delivery to Essex's in "Rock On," was one other song on the radio at that time that had a similar vibe, as I recall.
     
  20. bare trees

    bare trees Senior Member

    It sure doesn't sound like it's from 1973. If you replaced the strings and horns with synths, it could pass for something from the early 80's.
     
    appledan likes this.
  21. BeatleJWOL

    BeatleJWOL Senior Member

    Just occurred to me that I haven't heard it on classic rock radio down here in NC at ALL; used to come on all the time on the station in Fort Wayne, IN...
     
  22. Decent song, but I prefer the manic uptempo version by The Dave Howard Singers.
     
  23. sound chaser

    sound chaser Senior Member

    Location:
    North East UK.
    In a word, brilliant, so was "Stardust".
     
  24. Jayski

    Jayski Forum Resident

    Location:
    Charlotte, NC
    Always loved this song. And it's one of the few songs I know ALL the words to!
     
  25. vjf1968

    vjf1968 Well-Known Member

    Location:
    Philadelphia, Pa
    Well there was Hotlegs with "Neanderthal Man" released June of 1970. Went to number 2 in the UK and 22 in the US. Hotlegs would acquire Graham Gouldman and become 10cc
     
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