Music
You Need to Hear this Song #16
Heavy Rotation — Don’t Take Me for Granted, Social Distortion (Sex, Love and Rock n Roll, 2004)
Heavy Rotation was a music industry term for songs that one way or another got a lot of airplay. It referred to the large amount of rotation that a particular record got on turntables at radio stations. Since, until the 1980s, this was the only way to get new music into the ears and brains of listeners, heavy rotation meant increased sales. These were good for record companies and artists alike.
Today, some of us still put records on at home and give them a spin. Most of us don’t. However, the term still applies, though in a different way. Streaming services like Spotify sell subscriptions to listeners and then pay artists based on listens. At least, that’s the way we think it works.
For me, heavy rotation means a song that is in my head for some reason. Maybe for a moment, maybe for a day, maybe for longer. It’s a song that you come back to from time to time and still feels just as good.
This series of articles is dedicated to these songs.
Here, I aim to highlight a particular song by a particular band or singer. We should know a bit about the band, a bit about where the song fits into its history and where the song fits into what was happening in music at that time. Then there’s the song itself. Who’s playing on it, what are the lyrics getting at and why is it so good? How does it still occupy sonic space in our lives?
I’ll (try to) keep it short. It shouldn’t take you any longer to read than the song itself. To that end, I’ll put a Youtube clip of the original recording at the top of the article so you can listen as you read. Or not. And because a song is often much different live than in the recording studio, I’ll stick a live clip on at the end.
What song is in your head right now? Here’s one that won’t leave mine today:
#16 — Don’t Take me for Granted, Social Distortion (Sex, Love and Rocknroll, 2004)
I take a band like Social Distortion personally. I take this song personally. To me, a life long rock and roll fan, this is what rock music is supposed to sound like.
Straight ahead. No bullshit. Nothing fancy. Snarling front man with a worn in Gibson Les Paul guitar. Bass, drums, maybe a backing vocal here and there. Honest lyrics that go straight for the jugular. And the heart sometimes too.
This song, Don’t Take me for Granted, from Social Distortion’s sixth album “Sex, Love and Rock n’Roll” in 2004, has all those things.
I came to Social D (as dedicated fans call it) in the early 1990s, on the back of their 4th album, “Somewhere Between Heaven and Hell”. Or maybe Mike Ness came to me, with something that was different from what was going on at the time. Maybe he was saying, “You can have all the Pearl Jams and Nirvanas and Soundgardens and all their copycats you want…this here is the real thing”. I believed him then and I still believe him now.
Social Distortion initially emerged a decade earlier, as a product of the Orange County punk scene, which included Black Flag, Circle Jerks, Minutemen and TSOL. This wave was simultaneous to the Sunset Strip scene and the hairsprayed nonsense of Mötley Crüe, Ratt, and WASP.
Interestingly, towards the end of the decade, Guns n’ Roses arrived as an amalgamation of the two, at least at first, but that’s a story for another article.
Back to Social Distortion and this song. 2004 was light years away from 80s punk rock and glam metal. But there’s ol’ Mike Ness, hitting middle age having kicked drugs long ago, still snarling and spitting and still showing us his true rock and roll pose on stage.
By the way, if you ever have an hour and you want to find out what a badass grizzled veteran this guy is, watch this youtube video.
The song is about the recent passing of his longtime guitarist Dennis Darnell. In the lyrics, he looks back at their times and remembers to not take anything or anyone for granted. In the video clip above (there is no actual video for the song, just live performances), he tells the audience “I won’t bore you with a long speech…but you think your friends and your loved ones are going to be there forever and one minute they’re gone…forever”.
In he comes at 00:50 with a classic staccato chord that sets the scene for what is coming.
“I’m your worn in leather jacket, / I’m the volume in your fucked up teenage band / A pack of smokes and a six pack / I’m the dreams you had walking down the railroad tracks, You and me…”
That was their childhood together and off things really go at 1:20. “Guys like us, ain’t go no chance / But I’m the thing that keeps you and me alive / but not forever”. He already knew then that his friend would leave him at some point.
Chorus one at 1:47, in full throat, everybody in, including the backing vocals. Gloriously crunchy guitar chords from 2:00 to 2:09.
“I’m as strong as a thousand armies / I’m as soft as a petal on a long stemmed rose / I am love.” That last part is not something you hear on too many punk rock records, not then and not now either.
Noisy, melodic guitar bridge from 2:57 to 3:30 and here comes the best part of this song for me, right at 3:33 as the last chorus is about to begin, it all comes together in its glorious chaos with one hell of a guitar slide. At least I think that’s what it’s called — someone with more knowledge can confirm or deny.
But it gives me shivers every time I hear it. And that’s what I want music to do.
4 minutes or so of sonic glory, of past memories, of wrapping your arms around the people you love and telling them how you feel while they are still around. How punk rock is that?
Another live version, 14 years later, in 2018. Ness, a little older, a little greyer but still the same guy on stage, just as bad as he ever was.
You’ve just read #16 in this series. Thank you! Now you might find yourself thirsty for more. As you may have guessed, there are 15 others that come before this. Linked below is #15. At the end of that is linked #14 and at the end of that are #1–13. Yeah, it’s a pathway but come on along…it’ll be worth it.
I hope you like what you are reading here. If you want unlimited access to thousands of writers, consider a subscription to Medium! It will set you back $5 a month and if you use this link, then I get a slice of that. It will go towards my next in person event with ol’ Mike Ness.