Saturday Morning Soundtrack -- "Gasoline" by Sheryl Crow

By now you know the deal--once a week, I'm taking some time to enjoy great music and offering up my thoughts on some of my favorite songs. I'm no critic--just a guy who likes rock music in all its forms. This week in the Saturday Morning Soundtrack series I'm looking at a song that, for whatever reason, just screams "summer" to me.

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"Gasoline" -- Sheryl Crow (2008)

When I listen to this song, I am brought back to the early 90s--Grunge was taking the rock world by storm, but a number of pop-infused roots rock acts had started gaining popularity, as well. Among this movement, no one was bigger than Sheryl Crow. Maybe it was the avant garde lyrics that invited us all to listen a little closer. Or maybe it was the catchy choruses of songs like "All I Wanna Do" that had us singing along. Or maybe it was that all the guys on my block thought Sheryl Crow was hot.* Whatever the case, we all put aside Nirvana and Alice in Chains long enough to take notice whenever Sheryl Crow hit the airwaves.

In the years since, we've all grown up. (A little. I suppose.) Crow, now Top 40 royalty, has played around with her style some--first going poppier, then moving over toward the country end of the spectrum--and she's continued to make good music, but this song sounds like the classic Tuesday Night Music Club-Sheryl Crow, and that's the Sheryl Crow I liked best. What's different is that Crow seems to be exploring more political themes in her music now. Set in the year 2017, "Gasoline" depicts a dystopian version of the world where petrol has become a rare resource and the human race resorts to rioting, war, and political assassinations over the precious "black gold." (Think: Mad Max rendered in paper-cut animation.) It's a humorous video with a very serious subtext, but the best part of the song is its chorus/rallying cry, Gasoline will be free / will be free! (Blast that going 80 down the interstate--hypocrisy, thy name is . . . .)

If you like the track, you don't want to miss Crow's live mash-up of this song and The Stones' classic protest anthem "Gimme Shelter."



* Sidenote: When I was a kid, the only person who didn't think Sheryl Crow was hot was my friend Nick, and that's only because his mom looked a lot like Sheryl Crow. It goes without saying, we all thought Nick's mom was hot, too, and we squandered no opportunities when it came to telling him so. We were adolescent boys, what do you want?

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Love the song? Hate it? Have thoughts to share? Please, feel free to leave a message in the comments below. And, if you would like to write a Guest Entry for the "Saturday Morning Soundtrack" series where you creatively respond to one of your favorite rock songs, don't hesitate to contact me with queries.