Pianist and/or General 80s music lovers alike ... read ...

DrewCCU · Mon 21/01/2008 11:01:17

[EDIT: way too many edits to mention - just reread the post. But basically, i just reorganized the list and added additional comments at the bottom]

I have decided to arrange a very kick ass piano arrangement full of 80s power rock songs! I'd like to get anywhere from about ~~7-10~~ 10 songs in the arrangement. I have a list of some really good songs - some i know are going to go into the arrangement, some possibly, and others i'm still unsure. Let me show you my list and you can tell me what should stay and what should go - help me get a final list of songs to use. I'm going to post the arrangement on youtube when i'm done - and post a copy of the sheet music for those who want it.

[NOTE: after all of the wonderful suggestions you guys have made i have narrowed it down to what's on this list (sorry that lots of the suggestions didn't make it on here but everything that's here - or not here - has a reason). So, from here out let's vote on songs that should go from 'Probably' or 'Maybe' to 'For Sure' to end up with 10 songs.]

FOR SURE:
Jessie's Girl - Rick Springfield
Livin' on a Prayer - Bon Jovi
You Shook Me All Night Long - AC/DC
Don't Stop Believin' - Journey
Pour Some Sugar On Me - Def leppard
Here I Go Again - Whitesnake
(Janie's Got a Gun - Aerosmith) or (What it Takes - Aerosmith)

PROBABLY:
(Don't Let Him Go - REO Speedwagon) or (is there a better REO 80s song?)
The Final Countdown - Europe
Cum On Feel The Noize - Quiet Riot
We're Not Gonna Take It - Twisted Sister

MAYBE:
Jump - Van Halen
Gimme All Your Lovin - ZZ Top
~~I Love Rock N' Roll - Joan Jett & The Blackhearts~~
~~Can't Fight This Feeling - REO Speedwagon~~

NOTE TO ALL:
Thanks for all of your suggestions! Believe me i've thought of many of the songs and artists you guys have mentioned but i wanted to stick with a reasonable number of songs as well as a few other guidelines as i mentioned earlier. As you know, the 80s were a great musical period and many great artists contributed to them not on this list such as STYX, Michael Jackson, Poison and many others that some of you mentioned. I wanted to make sure all the songs had the same sort of feel to them so i had to get right down to the heart and soul of what i like to call power rock from the 80s. However, after reviewing your posts i have some additional comments to make:

Nikolas:
You mentioned Queen. Like i said, they entered my brain initially but the only songs i could think of that would really fit in this compilation were "We are the Champions" and possibly "Bohemian Rhapsody" (even though i don't quite consider it a power ballad). But both of those were recorded in the 70s - so they were out. And Queen in the 80s was more of a synthesizer band anyway so ... no Queen unfort. :-(

Darth Mandarb:
Thanks for your comments. You said chose Janie's Got A Gun and that was my original choice but then i remembered one of my favorite songs by Aerosmith was also recorded in the 80s (What it Takes). So why Janie's Got a Gun is probably a little more popular, i think What it Takes is such a much better song! I STILL NEED MORE OPINIONS ON WHICH AEROSMITH SONG TO GO WITH!

Also, I like REO as well and i agree with you Can't Fight This Feeling is a bit slow and probably isn't the best song for this compilation - so i will scratch it ... but you mentioned Time for me To Fly and it was one of the first songs that came to mind however after review, it was recorded in the late 70s. However, Don't Let Him Go will work - it is a really good song ... but i don't know if it's the BEST 80s REO song to go with. IS THERE A BETTER REO SPEEDWAGAON 80S TUNE?

One more thing - the chronological order thing is a good idea but I don't think i'll do it. A couple reasons - 1) i have my heart set on ending the piece with Livin' On A Prayer cus i think it's one of the most popular and best songs of the 80s and plus it's on top of every "Top 80s Songs" list I've encountered. and 2) arranging in chronological order (while it can most certainly be done) i think it'd flow smoother if i figured out which song i could transition to the easiest after another ... if that makes sense. rather than if i did chronological order i would have to get creative (which i love doing .. but with this many songs, i think i'd rather take the easy route).

Renal Shutdown
I like some of your choices - especially Gimme All Your Lovin' - can't believe i didn't think of that one - i'm going to add it to the maybe section.

Pet Terry · Mon 21/01/2008 11:19:54

I love you.

Definitely include Van Halen's Jump, or alternatively Panama. Bon Jovi is a good choice too, Livin' on a Prayer or You Give Love a Bad Name should work fine. Pour Some Sugar on Me by Def Leppard is a natural choice as well. Other than that, I would pick Whitesnake's Here I Go Again, Quiet Riot's Cum on Feel the Noize and Twisted Sister's We're Not Gonna Take It.

One song missing from your list is Skid Row's Youth Gone Wild, you just have to include that one! Also, KISS have a bunch of songs that would fit in there somewhere. Heaven's on Fire would probably sit in your medley just fine.

Do let us know when you've got the whole thing up and ready, can't wait to hear it!

Nikolas · Mon 21/01/2008 11:24:14

ME WANNA PLAY PIANO! :o

Excellent idea, excellent choices! May (your page) youtube reached 60,000,000 views!

How about anything by queen? It's not 'exactly' power rock, but have plenty of 'hard rock' songs to go by, and would work very well on the piano.

Other than that I REALLY like 'here we go again' by whitesnake so put it in please, don't mind any of the 'for sure' tracks and maybe try to stick to 1 group/artist in the list, don't populate the list with.. aerosmith, for example.

Europe? Prisoners in paradise? Or Carie? Or other songs (god my memory is failing me)
Scorpion? So many songs in the 80s

Darth Mandarb · Mon 21/01/2008 16:38:11

What a cool idea!

As a [wildly fanatical] fan of 80's music I could go on an on ...

There's a lot of GREAT non-mainstream music of this era that I would suggest but won't. This list should probably stick to the main-stream stuff so it's more recognizable!

Jesse's Girl is an iconic 80s song, a bit trendy perhaps, but I think required in this compilation.

Livin' on a Prayer is one of my ALL time favorite songs so kudos on that addition.

Of course you simply cannot tribute the 80's without putting Journey on the list! I would have suggested Don't Stop Believing, Faithfully, or Separate Ways. I think Don't Stop Believing is the best choice!

Whitesnake - Here I Go Again is such a great song. But a piano rendition of Still of the Night could be interesting!

Between the Aerosmith you've chosen I'd go with Janie's Got a Gun (it has that unforgettable catchy opening).

I'm a huge REO fan ... but Can't Fight This Feeling is a bit slow. How about Time for Me To Fly or maybe Don't Let Him Go (they're a bit more upbeat!)

How about:
Night Ranger - Sister Christian (great piano intro already)
John Parr - St. Elmo's Fire
Cinderella - Nobody's Fool
Europe - Final Countdown (Nic suggested Europe, but missed this 80's classic!)
Winger - Seventeen
LA Guns - Never Enough (one of my favorites though might not be well known enough!)
Poison - Talk Dirty to Me
RATT - Round and Round
Skid Row - 18 & Life (Petteri suggested Youth Gone Wild which would also work)
The Babys - Back on My Feet Again

I'm going to stop now ... I could just keep going!

What would be neat would be to put the songs into chronological order and take a tour through the 80's in one song. I know nothing of composing music so I don't know if that's something that is possible but it sure would be cool!

Can't wait to hear this!

Pet Terry · Mon 21/01/2008 17:00:29

I second all of of Darth's suggestions, I was actually going to suggest Ratt's Round And Round and Europe's Final Countdown as well. Cinderella's Shake Me could possibly work too.

It really depends on what kind of a mood for the medley you're going for - if you're planning to include only power rock anthems (in the style of Here I Go Again, Pour Some Sugar on Me, Heaven's on Fire, Jump, Youth Gone Wild etc.) then obviously Europe's Carrie or Skid Row's 18 And Life won't work. Another song I was going to suggest was Poison's Fallen Angel, but that's not really a rock anthem either. Unskinny Bop could work, but it was released in 1990, so technically it's not an 80s song!

Of course it's really hard to select only 7 - 10 80s rock songs, so I'm not going to suggest anything else. There's enough good stuff in your original list, so you could easily pull this off with those songs already.

Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens · Mon 21/01/2008 17:02:32

I really hate Whitesnake and never thought much of Twisted Sister but I like the rest of your choices, though you're probably missing some great Foreigner and Kansas tunes (like Fight Fire With Fire) and perhaps other bands like Europe (The Final Countdown), Dokken (Dream Warriors), and of course Krokus! Also, if you like the sillier side of 80's then you have to acknowledge Cindy Lauper (The Goonies anthem) and Weird Al.

Oh, and don't forget Styx! Kilroy Was Here!

Privateer Puddin' · Mon 21/01/2008 17:11:00

Quote from: Petteri on Mon 21/01/2008 11:19:54
I love you.

Renal Shutdown · Mon 21/01/2008 18:14:35

They might not be "power rock" per se, but these were part of my unfashionably awesome 80's childhood, with links where available:

Billy Idol - Dancing with Myself
Billy Idol - White Wedding
The Primitives - Crash (One of my first "crushes").
The Bangles
The Cure
Eurythmics
Prince - Raspberry Beret
Tone Loc - Funky Cold Medina
ZZ Top - Gimme All Your Lovin'
The Knack - My Sharona (1979, but fantastic).
Aha - Take On Me
Devo - Whip It
Blondie
Various other "New wave" and or "Punk" bands.

DrewCCU · Mon 21/01/2008 22:13:53

Made a rather large edit to the original post.

Blackthorne · Tue 22/01/2008 03:56:57

As Mandarb said "Sister Christian" by Night Ranger is a classic 80's Piano Ballad.

Maybe "No One Is To Blame" by Howard Jones.

and, as far as REO goes - "Can't Fight This Feeling" is really their most famous song.

Bt

Dualnames · Tue 22/01/2008 10:59:29

Stop already i wanna go listen some music. The primitives crash is a song created on 1996 the original by beretta is around 80's.

You forgot:
EUROPE.... try putting Carrie
QUEEN. Bohemian Rhapsody
WASP. Hold on to My Heart/Sleeping with the fire
KISS. FFS KISS. I don't recall when Black Diamond was.. made. But you can put either I was made for loving you or Heaven's On Fire. I'd prefer Rock rock till you drop from def lep though. Try anothe BJ song: You give love a bad name. I like lving of course i just suggest.

Renal Shutdown · Tue 22/01/2008 11:50:37

Quote from: Dualnames on Tue 22/01/2008 10:59:29
Stop already i wanna go listen some music. The primitives crash is a song created on 1996 the original by beretta is around 80's.

You forgot:
QUEEN. Bohemian Rhapsody

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crash_(The_Primitives_song)
Written by the Primitives in 1988. The 1995 version was a remix, and Ann Baretta (who formed in '96) covered it.

And Bohemian Rhapsody was either five years too early or two years too late to be classed as 80's music. (Original and first re-release).

To Drew:

Queen did have some rocking 80's songs. Hammer to Fall, One Vision, I Want It All for example. One Vision, especially, had some of May's rockest guitar work to date.

That said, Queen were far, far better in the 70's, so I completely understand you not including them.