Songquest 2010: Rock Box

1985. I'm sitting in a classroom in Eastern Wayne High School outside of Goldsboro, NC. I'm talking to the other kids, who, like me, are into Metal. They see the bands whose logos I've tried to draw on the back of my notebook. Metallica. Anthrax. Run DMC.

"Run DMC?"

Be reminded, this was before they did "Walk This Way" with Aerosmith. Rap seemed anti-rock, un-rock.

If you weren't paying attention.

That's Eddie Martinez, a session guy who did the guitar for Robert Palmer's "Addicted To Love", among other things. Now, tell me, if you're a kid who wants to grow up to play guitar, who just loves it when the amp goes grrr, you gonna listen to that and say that doesn't rock?

And it's not complex. Eddie goes wild on the track, which I haven't worked out, but the main riff is

E -----------------|------------
B -----------------|------------
G -----------------|------------
D -----------------|------------
A -----------------|------------
E -1----3--3----5--|--5-7-9-5---

The part on the right being A, B and C, we can proceed with this being an A minor, so I'd guess that the left part can be brought to F G and Am, but certainly root-fifth chords are safe and likely more correct to the track.

Yeah, that's slight, but I think it's important to mention this track and it's influence on me, and it's better to hit every month with a slight post than miss one.