Still Crazy After All These Years

This is one of those songs that takes me back.

I moved to Seattle for college in 1975, the same year that Mushroom Records released "Dreamboat Annie". If ever I owned an album that suffered from worn out grooves, it was this one. I also blew out a couple of speakers over the years, playing this at top volume. "Magic Man" and this tune were the big hits from that first effort, both charting in 1976.

Given that the girls were locals, their success was one of those things Seattlites latched onto. They were "our" girls, their success was "our" success. We owned them. (We also "owned" the Supersonics in 1979. We still own Starbucks but I don't take any credit for chai lattes or frappacinos).

This has always been one of my very favorite Heart songs. The intro is classic Nancy. Man, that woman and her axe. Un. Believable. The way she effortlessly goes from intricate picking to harmonics and back and then starts wailing, on an acoustic guitar no less? Genius. And Ann, well, Annie was never better than on this song. There aren't many women who can scream like Ann Wilson. Janis comes to mind. The power of Annie's voice, the way she goes from soft, lyrical crooning to a full on anthemic assault is a marvel to me.

I tried singing this at karaoke once. It was embarrassing. I'm still ashamed. Some things are better left untouched.

Their Led Zepplin influences are totally obvious here, too, which is NOT a bad thing.

(And yes, JP, I know they aren't hair metal. But you can't deny that they are fierce).

Heart "Crazy on You"