5 Songs to Get You Through the Week #131

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. Big Jack, by AC/DC

I always felt that ever since Black Ice came out in 2008 this particular track wasn't played or talked about enough. It's definitely one of the stronger ones on the album and could and should have gotten more attention than it did. Regardless, it's never too late to give high voltage rock n' roll goodness like this another look and keep it blaring through your speakers for years to come. You'll definitely wonder why you didn't know about this sooner.

2. Polar Trench, by Buckethead

This tune has a nice blend of funky, hard rock, and a bit of modern edge. Buckethead no matter what he does is one hell of a creative human being, even if it's a song meant for just getting your funky rocks off to. He always knows just the right moment to kick a groove, go hogwild on a guitar solo, and then slide back into the groove. If I were to try to describe it further, I'd say this is a blend of Hendrix, Slash, Trower, and any number of modern alt rock/metal bands.

3. Rocket Queen, by Guns N' Roses

If that last track got you in the mood for some Slash, don't fret. I've got you covered with a tune that features some of his best guitar work. I've always loved the sexy, hypnotic, slithery hip movements of this song (not counting the sex sounds in the interlude). It's one of my favorites to this day to crank through a stereo and I definitely feel it was one hell of a way for GN'R to give their first album a strong ending that makes things go out with a bang.

4. Big Bad Moon, by Joe Satriani

While Satch has always been known for his more exploratory style of playing, I've always loved it when he goes blues based hard rock. The riff in this song is just so big, beefy, and powerful. The fact that Satch sings in this tune (and about lycanthropy no less) makes it even more interesting to listen to. One of the most under rated tunes from the Flying in a Blue Dream album for sure (among countless others). It really makes you want to howl at the moon.

5. Am I Evil, by Diamond Head

The New Wave of British Heavy Metal movement in the late 70's/early 80's put out a hell of a lot of good bands and music that sadly don't get much attention any more due to them getting glazed over by the more commercially friendly bands. Diamond Head is definitely among the cream of the crop and this song will immediately tell you why. It starts off big, slow, and doom-like and then kicks things up into high gear; not leaving you much time to breathe. It seduces you slowly, then grabs you by the balls and takes you for the ride of your life.