speed of dark

This is perhaps the final installment in a series of Time Travel Tuesdays that continue on the cover article of Issue 1054 (June 12) of Rolling Stone, 100 Greatest Guitar Songs of All Time compiled by writers David Fricke, Brian Hiatt, Evan Serpick, and Douglas Wolk.

Today I'm listing a few of my own favorite guitar songs that were not on the RS list. As someone who likes almost any sound a guitar can make, I have some definite opinions. Way back before the CD became the main method of transferring music, I used to make mixes for myself on my tape deck that had titles like "Sucker For an Ax," "Son of the Sucker For an Ax," and "Return of the Son of Sucker For an Ax." I'll have to hunt for the spiral notebook where I kept notes on what songs were on these tapes.

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If you're going to drag out hoary oldies-rock from the 70's, how can you possibly leave out "Don't Fear the Reaper," which has one of the most memorable guitar riffs of rock? Penned and played by lead singer Buck Dharma, this dark classic has been covered the alternative rock likes of Elliott Smith, Belle and Sebastian, Wilco, and the unlikely pairing of Enya and Nick Cave, to mention only a few. Stand and wave your lighters.


Blue Oyster Cult: Don't Fear the Reaperfrom Agents of Fortune (1976)
Buck Dharma Website


I previously bitched about the baffling exclusion of Jeff "Skunk" Baxter from the 100 Greatest list, and this song is my best example of why. From those first whip-like chords, I'm hooked. Baxter also provided the magic fingers on Steely Dan's first radio hit, "Reelin' In the Years" from Can't Buy a Thrill (1972) and on my favorite Doobie Brothers album (yes, I am not ashamed to have a favorite Doobie Brothers album), Living On the Fault Line (1977).

Steely Dan: Show Biz Kids from Countdown To Ecstasy (1973)
Countdown To Ecstasy reviewed on Time Travel Tuesday


From those first high-pitched whacking sounds that signal menace as clearly as the theme from "Jaws," the guitar parts in "Jack the Ripper" compete tirelessly with attention-whore Morrissey for the listener's attention. One of my most favorite songs ever, I once paid $22 for an import CD to get it before it had been included on any U.S. release--I think the highest amount I've ever paid for a single song.

Boz Boorer, Morrissey's guitarist for the live album Beethoven Was Deaf, where "Jack the Ripper" first appeared, got his first co-writer credit with this song.

Morrissey: Jack the Ripper, originally on Beethoven Was Deaf (1993)
Website | tabs


Guitar masters Richard Lloyd and the late Robert Quine made Matthew Sweet's third album Girlfriend a guitar-lover's wet dream. The squeals Quine tortures from his instrument in the solo midway through "Don't Go" make me scream.
Photo: Robert Quine, at CBGB's with Richard Hell and the Voidoids

Matthew Sweet: Don't Go from Girlfriend (1991)
Robert Quine Website



Guitarist, songwriter, and Grammy-winning music producer Daniel Lanois is one of those guitarists I was thinking of last week who has a signature sound and uses the spaces between the notes to play into that sound. His gorgeous 1993 solo album For the Beauty of Winona is one of my favorite guitar albums ever. It was difficult for me to choose one song from it as an example, but I finally settled on "Brother L.A."


Daniel Lanois: Brother L.A. from For the Beauty of Winona (1993)
Red Floor Records | Daniel Lanois on Time Travel Tuesday