5 Songs to Get You Through the Week #112

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. Shine On Me, by Dan Auerbach

Black Keys front man Dan Auerbach put out the first single for his upcoming second solo album last week. It's a pretty jovial sounding tune. It has a lot of pop and bounce to it. Also features Dire Straits guitarist Mark Knopfler doing the electric rhythm guitar track (and believe me, it shows). It's not exactly what I would have expected out of Auerbach, but at the same time I should have realized that this wasn't going to be a Black Keys song. I respect him for doing something different.

2. Black Sheep of the Family, by Rainbow

This was the first song that Rainbow ever recorded. Originally it was only meant to be just this single because guitarist and band leader Ritchie Blackmore wanted to do the song in Deep Purple, but they shot it down. That's when Blackmore pulled aside frequent Deep Purple opening band Elf's singer Ronnie James Dio and asked him if he wanted to get something going. When doing this song went over so well Blackmore quit Deep Purple and Rainbow decided to cut a whole album.

3. Dream Police, by Cheap Trick

This is for sure one of my all time favorite Cheap Trick tracks. It's big, grand, but at the same time still has an honest feeling to it. You can tell that Cheap Trick were on a big stadium music kick at the time and were on top of the world because of all the fame they had in the late 70's. Still, I like that this has an honest message about Big Brother rather than just being another mindless poppy love song that could sell millions.

4. Steamrock Fever, by The Scorpions

I think a lot of the Scorpions' best work came out of the 70's before they went completely glam metal the way they did. Granted this has a bit of that big stadium anthem feel to it, but it still feels earthy in a way. Regardless, it's a shame this one isn't a lot more known because I feel like it could have gotten a lot more radio play over the past few decades. Plus, it has Uli Jon Roth on it and if you ask me he was the absolute greatest guitar player they ever had.

5. I Can't Drive 55, by Sammy Hagar

If you need more of your commercial radio hit fix though, I've still got you covered. The first time I ever heard this fist pumper was in Back to the Future Part II when Marty McFly comes back to the alternate 1985. Despite it being a chaotic part of the movie, I latched onto this song and thought it was one of the absolute coolest parts of the whole thing. It definitely gets you revved up and ready to go when you need to give yourself an energy boost.