Coppock's Topics

Dear Kent - 

I haven't weighed in since Mark Rubio and Chris Christie were presidential timbre, so here we go. May the bar stools remain secure. The views expressed here do not reflect those of the management of Forgotten Hits.  

You heard it here first: By 2025, En Vogue's "Don’t Let Go (Love)" will be looked upon as a lock on any and all oldies lists. The vocal reminds me a helluva lot of "Love on a Two Way Street" the masterpiece by The Moments back in 1970.

Book it: the two greatest songs in the CSN catalogue are "Long Time Gone" and "Dark Star." Dark Star had the misfortune of getting lost in the shuffle during the disco era. "Gone" resonated as much today as it did during the Woodstock era. David Crosby was never better.

The Safaris' "Image of a Girl" is the most underappreciated song from rock's first golden era.

If you don't dig Dick Biondi's radio genius just listen to 15 minutes of the moronic musings of Cousin Brucie on Sirius-XM.

Beach Boys fans admit it: in concert "Sail On Sailor", with the majestic lead vocal of Blondie Chaplin, gets a bigger crowd response than "Good Vibrations' and "God Only Knows."

Any time I hear Coolio's classic "Gangsta's Paradise" it’s a music treat. 

Stevie Wonder's "Black Man", the wrap up cut on "Songs in the Key of Life", Stevie's 1970's 4-sided masterpiece, should be required listening in every public school in Chicago.

Some group has to be the most overrated rock group of all time. My nominee is Toto, a band that put the list in listless. Toto ranks a notch above Freddie and the Dreamers - on a good day.

Sting is a genius. His range is overwhelming, but he was at his best signing "Russians", a song that spoke volumes about the cold war. 

I love Randy Bachman, a full blown jukebox hero, but when he appears without the vocal thunder of his tag team partner Fred Turner it's like watching Mick without Keith or Maris without Mantle.

The greatest rock concert in Chicago history is undoubtedly the Rolling Stones at the International Amphitheater in 1973. The pulsating thunder of the band's "Gimme Shelter" left a full house drenched with sweat and emotion. It didn’t hurt that Stevie Wonder was the opening act, much to the chagrin of WVON jocks Pervis Spann and E. Rodney Jones who chastised Steveland for settling for the warm up role.

1990's songs that I can listen to all day: New Radicals' "You get what you give" and Seal's "Kiss from a rose (on a grave)."

Whatever happened to Jewel? "Who Will Save Your Soul" should have made her a new age Carole King or Celine Dion.

Chet Coppock  

Author: Buffone - Monster if the Midway
Host: Notre Dame football on WLS Radio