5 Songs to Get You Through the Week #176

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. Driving Rain, by Slash feat. Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators

Guns N' Roses hot-shot six string god Slash just came out with a new solo career song last week that will be on his upcoming record. It's not too shabby. Sounds a lot like a lot of the other stuff Slash has done in his solo career so far, but that isn't necessarily a bad thing. Definitely worth cranking and giving a fair listen to once or twice. It's pure, straight-up, unadulterated rock n' roll and that is all it needs to be.

2. I'll See You in My Dreams, by Django Reinhardt

While certainly not rock n' roll by any stretch of the imagination, the world of rock and metal owes a great deal to this jazz guitar genius. Despite missing parts of his fingers, he went on to create some of the most intricate and fast played guitar jazz the world has ever known. He was the direct inspiration for Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi to keep playing and try new things after he had his own fingers related accident before Black Sabbath got started.

3. Black Math, by The White Stripes

This is one of the tracks that got me into checking out The White Stripes outside of their hit "Seven Nation Army". I wasn't sure what to expect from the rest of the Elephant album, but this definitely had me hooked. It's loud, pulsing, raw, and is completely in your face without being overly preachy or political in any way. Plus, the way it shifts gears so drastically in ways that still make sense is absolutely astonishing.

4. Burn, by Deep Purple

When Deep Purple got rid of Ian Gillan and Roger Glover in 1973, no one knew what would be next for the band, or if there would even be a next. The arrival of David Coverdale and Glenn Hughes proved that not only would they survive, but they would flourish. This track was a big "FUCK YOU" to Gillan and Glover, showing that Deep Purple could rattle out groundbreaking material without them that was arguably even better than what they had done before.

5. Rock or Bust, by AC/DC

This is one of AC/DC's more solid recent efforts. It's from their latest album Rock or Bust, which is already a few years old at this point. Still, despite having no Malcolm Young this song in particular still manages to crank out that AC/DC fire that we have all come to know and love over the years. You can definitely tell they are missing a key component of the band, but it doesn't stop them from rocking it out anyway.