5 Songs to Get You Through the Week #66

5 Songs to Get You Through the Week is a feature I run on Young Ears, Fresh Perspective on Sundays/early hours of Monday morning where I pick out 5 tunes that I think are notable and tell you a bit about them. The point is to give you some rocking music to help you deal with your weekday blues. You can either listen to one each day, listen to them all at once, or any other combination that you feel. As long as you can get through the week without the man getting you down, that's all I care about. Without further ado, here are the 5 tracks I've picked out for this week:

1. After Midnight, by Eric Clapton

Eric Clapton has done quite a variety of stuff in his five decade long career. This classic really cooks and kicks it into high gear. After Midnight is fun and shows how Clapton could make something that was fun to dance and kick a groove to. Definitely a lot of soul too, especially with the almost gospel-esque backing vocals. Naturally Clapton's less is more approach to guitar solos also works out quite nicely too in this context.

2. Running Wild, by Judas Priest

If you want something that will REALLY get you motivated and moving however, look no further than this Judas Priest classic ripper. It is a pure adrenaline injection (metaphorically speaking of course). If Running Wild doesn't get you to want to put your pedal to the metal when it is cranked all the way up then there is something SERIOUSLY wrong with you. Just make sure you listen to the Unleashed in the East version. It's WAY better.

3. Angel of the Morning, by Juice Newton

And now for something completely different. Nothing says tender ballad like this classic that was most famously covered by pop/country artist Juice Newton. Of course these days this version is especially popular among Marvel fans, as it was used in an amusing way during the hilarious opening credits scene in the movie Deadpool that came out about a month and a half ago. Regardless, this song is still a classic and a treasure for a reason (even though from now on people won't be able to listen to it without laughing their asses off).

4. Oh Yeah, by Chickenfoot

I remember the summer of 2009 this was the big debut single from super group Chickenfoot. It honestly has everything you could want in a good straight up rock tune: a catchy guitar riff, fun lyrics with a boastful voice, backing vocals that push to the heavens, a guitar solo that makes you think we had just received a gift from the gods of rock, and a rhythm that gets you bobbing your head all around. Even all this time later I still find myself cranking this through my stereo whenever I need some no frills rock n' roll to get me through the day.

5. Hey Hey My My, by Neil Young

I don't talk about the enormously talented Neil Young enough here on the blog. The dude is an absolute genius both lyrically and musically. This in my opinion is one of Young's finest works. When performed live, the guitar solo is especially one of the absolute greatest things in this tune aside from the really heartfelt lyrics. It really is not so difficult to believe that rock n' roll will never die when you get your jive on with this grooving tune.