Duke Ellington has been famously quoted as saying: “If it sounds good, it is good.”
Which brings us to Topic A of today: What’s the greatest scream in rock ‘n’ roll history?
Janis Joplin said it all — vocally, but wordlessly — at the end of “Piece of My Heart”
In my own mind, it’s a tossup which of these is No. 1 — Janis Joplin’s soul-scraping vocalization at the end of “Piece of My Heart” or John Lennon’s wordless reveille at the opening of “Revolution.” Joplin’s amazing album with Big Brother and the Holding Company, “Cheap Thrills,” has been named to the National Recording Registry for 2013 by the Librarian of Congress.
There’s a lot of other fantastic stuff on this year’s recording registry – bet you can find personal connections to a bunch of it, too. Pink Floyd’s “Dark Side of the Moon” – my college roommate played that album end-to-end daily for six months, but it was OK, because it was really good. Harking back a bit more, Artie Shaw’s “Begin the Beguine” is on my IPod – that is one hot instrumental, enduringly so. (Thanks, Mom and Dad, for putting me on to that one.) Ditto the soundtrack to “South Pacific,”played in our home again and again in the 1960s.
“Just Because” by Frank Yankovic & His Yanks is on this year’s registry; I can’t say I’m familiar with the album, but I know about Frank because a young woman I went to high school with was of Slovenian extraction, and let me know in no uncertain terms he was the man to see about polka.
And “Hoodoo Man Blues” by Junior Wells is on this year’s registry. I had the enjoyment of seeing a very talented acquaintance of mine back in Denver, the irrepressible Robin Chotzinoff, sit in on piano with Junior Wells and Buddy Guy at Herman’s Hideaway.
Care to nominate an alternate rock cri de coeur? Offer a comment below. And if you’d like to nominate sound recordings for next year’s registry, offer your suggestions here.
March 21, 2013 at 10:46 am
The Who – Baba O’Riley
March 21, 2013 at 10:52 am
James Brown, “The Big Payback” greatest scream of all time.
March 21, 2013 at 10:58 am
How about Roger Daltrey’s wail in “Won’t Get Fooled Again”?
March 21, 2013 at 11:10 am
The ones in the Beatles’ cover of “Twist and Shout”.
March 21, 2013 at 11:17 am
I second Roger Daltrey’s primal scream in “Won’t Get Fooled Again”.
March 21, 2013 at 11:41 am
Little Richard screaming “Woooo” in “Jenny, Jenny, Jenny” and other songs.
March 21, 2013 at 11:45 am
Can’t go wrong with the WDGFA, but Pink Floyd’s Be Careful With That Axe Eugene, scared the living daylights out of me first time I heard it.
March 21, 2013 at 11:52 am
Screaming Jay Hawkins “I put a spell on you”. Is always a favorite.
March 21, 2013 at 12:19 pm
I’d say the best scream is probably by Roger Daltrey from The Who, in the song “Won’t get fooled again”.
March 21, 2013 at 12:19 pm
A third for Roger Daltry’s and the Who-Won’t get fooled again!
March 21, 2013 at 12:44 pm
Thank you Jennifer. It’s great to have somebody cool doing this stuff.
March 21, 2013 at 12:45 pm
When the Music’s Over, The Doors; also Joe Cocker, With a Little Help From My Friends
March 21, 2013 at 12:57 pm
Hey, thank YOU for following the Library’s social media — we hope to get the word out that all the items in our collections (that’s more than 155 million items) are here for you and everyone to use.
March 21, 2013 at 4:05 pm
John Lennon would be one. But, Robin Zander of Cheap Trick is one of the best.
March 21, 2013 at 4:13 pm
Oh, drat! I forgot about Jim Morrison on When the Music’s Over. That’s particularly unforgivable since:
1.) The Doors are one of my favorites
and
2.) Just watched the Hollywood Bowl ’68 concert twice recently on Palladia
March 21, 2013 at 4:25 pm
Little Richard’s scream in the middle of “Good Golly Miss Molly” is the most memorable for me. As a kid I played the record over and over just waiting for it. The piano intro to the same song must be one of the best also.
March 21, 2013 at 6:42 pm
Any time Robert Plant opened his mouth.
March 21, 2013 at 10:00 pm
JANIS JOPLIN – ME AND BOBBY MCGEE
March 21, 2013 at 10:39 pm
No list would be complete without Cheap Trick’s Robin Zander: so many great songs, but Gonna Raise Hell has to be near the top.
March 22, 2013 at 8:56 am
Roger Daltry was my first thought. My second thought was the scream in Beastie Boys’ Sabotage. Nothing wrong with something a bit more modern.
March 22, 2013 at 1:54 pm
Joe Cocker, in “The Letter”, has a classic scream!
March 22, 2013 at 2:27 pm
Wilson “the wicked” Pickett – Land of 1000 Dances
April 18, 2013 at 3:04 am
Greatest real screams in rock n’ roll history are:
Robert Plant in Immigrant Song
Bruce Dickinson in Number of the Beast
Those two pretty much set the standard.
Daltrey in Won’t Get Fooled Again is pretty good, though … never mind.
More obscure: the Pagans’ “Boy Can I Dance Good”