High drama piano bangers, please
December 6, 2022 9:29 AM Subscribe
I started this morning with No Children in my head. A great song, if a little dark in lyrical content and therefore not great to listen to on repeat. What I am really after is dramatic, high energy piano. Combined with dramatic guitar strumming is ideal but optional. Aiming more for rock than classical but all suggestions welcome. Tried some Tom Waits but it was too low-energy. Please give me your recommendations!
Warren Zevon's live version of "Werewolves of London" on Learning to Flinch has some fairly high-energy piano, and tongue-in-cheek lyrics. There's also "Piano Fighter."
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 9:40 AM on December 6, 2022
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 9:40 AM on December 6, 2022
My favorite Go Go's track - Head Over Heels. Not "dramatic" per se but Charlotte Caffey kicks some ass here.
posted by JoeZydeco at 9:42 AM on December 6, 2022
posted by JoeZydeco at 9:42 AM on December 6, 2022
I bet you'd love a lot of Dresden Dolls songs. Start with Girl Anachronism and see what you like from there.
posted by corey flood at 9:47 AM on December 6, 2022 [5 favorites]
posted by corey flood at 9:47 AM on December 6, 2022 [5 favorites]
Cat Stevens: "I Think I See the Light."
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 10:02 AM on December 6, 2022 [3 favorites]
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 10:02 AM on December 6, 2022 [3 favorites]
Billy Joel’s Ballad of Billy the Kid
Bruce Hornsby’s The Way It Is
Elton John, I’m Still Standing
posted by at at 10:04 AM on December 6, 2022
Bruce Hornsby’s The Way It Is
Elton John, I’m Still Standing
posted by at at 10:04 AM on December 6, 2022
I'm a huge fan of Jukebox the Ghost's first record Live & Let Ghosts, but really their entire discography seems like what you're looking for. Here's a track from their second album.
posted by General Malaise at 10:15 AM on December 6, 2022
posted by General Malaise at 10:15 AM on December 6, 2022
Will you also accept organ/synth/kbd?
REO Speedwagon, Roll with the Changes (youtube - I think i'll grow my hair out!)
posted by at at 10:15 AM on December 6, 2022 [2 favorites]
REO Speedwagon, Roll with the Changes (youtube - I think i'll grow my hair out!)
posted by at at 10:15 AM on December 6, 2022 [2 favorites]
Many Ben Folds or Ben Folds Five songs. First two that come to mind are ‘One Angry Dwarf and 200 Solemn Faces’ and ‘Army’
posted by hellogoodbye at 10:22 AM on December 6, 2022 [10 favorites]
posted by hellogoodbye at 10:22 AM on December 6, 2022 [10 favorites]
With a bit of patience, Martha Argerich’s performance of Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 3 will MELT YOUR FACE
You could just try the first movement, but all three are thrilling.
(I re-watch this several times a year, and inevitably jump up from my seat to claw at the air, the feelings it evokes are so strong - it is an INTENSE piece of music, and her playing is SUPREME)
posted by rrrrrrrrrt at 10:24 AM on December 6, 2022 [3 favorites]
You could just try the first movement, but all three are thrilling.
(I re-watch this several times a year, and inevitably jump up from my seat to claw at the air, the feelings it evokes are so strong - it is an INTENSE piece of music, and her playing is SUPREME)
posted by rrrrrrrrrt at 10:24 AM on December 6, 2022 [3 favorites]
John Grant's "I Hate This Fucking Town"
posted by NoThisIsPatrick at 10:30 AM on December 6, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by NoThisIsPatrick at 10:30 AM on December 6, 2022 [1 favorite]
Try John Cale's Fragments of a Rainy Season album. Darling I Need You or Guts are good examples of high energy piano banging to start with. Some of the songs have guitar instead.
Maybe you would also like God's Hotel by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds.
posted by Redstart at 10:31 AM on December 6, 2022
Maybe you would also like God's Hotel by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds.
posted by Redstart at 10:31 AM on December 6, 2022
Also my favorite band of all time, not as consistently containing piano, but many Spoon songs fit:
‘Wild’ and ‘I Just Don’t Understand’ and ‘Written in Reverse’
posted by hellogoodbye at 10:32 AM on December 6, 2022
‘Wild’ and ‘I Just Don’t Understand’ and ‘Written in Reverse’
posted by hellogoodbye at 10:32 AM on December 6, 2022
Rock the Casbah
Sharif was right to fear this song, its piano lick is bonkers.
Telegraph Road
deft piano and guitar interweave all thru the song.
Two Minutes To Late Night covers Toto's Hold the Line
The original is fine too I guess.
posted by Sauce Trough at 10:42 AM on December 6, 2022
Sharif was right to fear this song, its piano lick is bonkers.
Telegraph Road
deft piano and guitar interweave all thru the song.
Two Minutes To Late Night covers Toto's Hold the Line
The original is fine too I guess.
posted by Sauce Trough at 10:42 AM on December 6, 2022
I was gonna post If You Wanna Be a Bird but you probably don't want that stuck in your head either.
posted by credulous at 10:46 AM on December 6, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by credulous at 10:46 AM on December 6, 2022 [1 favorite]
Dramatic, high-energy piano? Sounds like Tori Amos to me.
Crucify.
Cornflake Girl.
Siren.
posted by Mchelly at 10:48 AM on December 6, 2022 [6 favorites]
Crucify.
Cornflake Girl.
Siren.
posted by Mchelly at 10:48 AM on December 6, 2022 [6 favorites]
Seconding Ben Folds Five -- try Jackson Cannery or Philosophy or pretty much anything on their self-titled debut.
posted by Clustercuss at 10:56 AM on December 6, 2022 [3 favorites]
posted by Clustercuss at 10:56 AM on December 6, 2022 [3 favorites]
Road and Sky Jackson Browne with uncredited Elton "Rockaday Johnnie" on piano
Call Me the Breeze this Lynyrd Skynnyrd cover of JJCale has a really nice piano segment at the close.
posted by effluvia at 11:30 AM on December 6, 2022
Call Me the Breeze this Lynyrd Skynnyrd cover of JJCale has a really nice piano segment at the close.
posted by effluvia at 11:30 AM on December 6, 2022
Look at Little Sister Reese Wyans plays the piano for Stevie Ray Vaughan and does a really nice job on this clip from Austin City Limits; you may enjoy.
posted by effluvia at 12:08 PM on December 6, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by effluvia at 12:08 PM on December 6, 2022 [1 favorite]
Another vote for Ben Folds here too.
Delta Spirit - Trashcan
Fiona Apple - Fast As You Can
Headlights - TV
The Hush Sound - Magnolia
Mates of State - The Re-Arranger
Spoon - The Way We Get By
Spoon- The Beast And Dragon Adored (this might be slower than you were going for but I still think this song is a banger)
Most of these bands will have other songs with piano too.
Also, there's a few Muse songs with piano throughout, such as Apocalypse Please .
posted by Quiscale at 12:35 PM on December 6, 2022 [3 favorites]
Delta Spirit - Trashcan
Fiona Apple - Fast As You Can
Headlights - TV
The Hush Sound - Magnolia
Mates of State - The Re-Arranger
Spoon - The Way We Get By
Spoon- The Beast And Dragon Adored (this might be slower than you were going for but I still think this song is a banger)
Most of these bands will have other songs with piano too.
Also, there's a few Muse songs with piano throughout, such as Apocalypse Please .
posted by Quiscale at 12:35 PM on December 6, 2022 [3 favorites]
Joanna Newsom’s Inflammatory Writ gets there for me
posted by wemayfreeze at 12:37 PM on December 6, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by wemayfreeze at 12:37 PM on December 6, 2022 [2 favorites]
Week, you asked for it...
Piano Song by Danny L Harle
...preferably played after consuming a lot of sugar.
posted by Text TK at 12:53 PM on December 6, 2022
Piano Song by Danny L Harle
...preferably played after consuming a lot of sugar.
posted by Text TK at 12:53 PM on December 6, 2022
If some instrumental jazz isn't too far afield...there's Oscar Peterson and Joe Pass really cooking on piano and guitar, respectively: "Sushi."
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 2:36 PM on December 6, 2022
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 2:36 PM on December 6, 2022
Someone already recommended Dresden Dolls/Amanda Palmer, but I wanted to drop my favorite, Astronaut.
A bunch of Tori Amos songs also enter this territory, like Precious Things and Happy Phantom.
Honorable mention for Forgiven by Alanis Morrissette which is all guitar and no piano but sits in the same dramatic singer songwriter space in my brain as Tori Amos.
posted by space snail at 3:02 PM on December 6, 2022 [3 favorites]
A bunch of Tori Amos songs also enter this territory, like Precious Things and Happy Phantom.
Honorable mention for Forgiven by Alanis Morrissette which is all guitar and no piano but sits in the same dramatic singer songwriter space in my brain as Tori Amos.
posted by space snail at 3:02 PM on December 6, 2022 [3 favorites]
James Booker, One Hell Of A Nerve
And it takes three-and-bit minutes to get there, but The Bad Plus, Life on Mars
posted by offog at 3:33 PM on December 6, 2022
And it takes three-and-bit minutes to get there, but The Bad Plus, Life on Mars
posted by offog at 3:33 PM on December 6, 2022
I can't believe I'm going to be the first person to mention Regina Spektor in this thread? Apres Moi immediately came to mind when I read the title.
posted by capricorn at 3:36 PM on December 6, 2022 [4 favorites]
posted by capricorn at 3:36 PM on December 6, 2022 [4 favorites]
Some of Destroyer's earlier stuff leapt to mind for me, especially the albums Streethawk: A Seduction [eg. "The Very Modern Dance" and "The Sublimation Hour"] and Destroyer's Rubies [eg. "European Oils" and "Your Blood"]
posted by misscleo3861 at 4:34 PM on December 6, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by misscleo3861 at 4:34 PM on December 6, 2022 [1 favorite]
Waiting for My Man - Velvet Underground
Two Fat Feet - Fiery Furnaces
Forever Changed - Lou Reed & John Cale
posted by snarfois at 4:35 PM on December 6, 2022 [1 favorite]
Two Fat Feet - Fiery Furnaces
Forever Changed - Lou Reed & John Cale
posted by snarfois at 4:35 PM on December 6, 2022 [1 favorite]
Seconding corey flood on Dresden Dolls (THEY'RE BACK BABY!), and I'm also a fan of Amanda Palmer's solo work. There Will Be No Intermission is a masterpiece album, and Do It With a Rockstar and Grown Man Cry are bangers.
posted by OhHaieThere at 6:45 PM on December 6, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by OhHaieThere at 6:45 PM on December 6, 2022 [1 favorite]
Life’s What You Make It – Talk Talk
posted by snarfois at 8:04 PM on December 6, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by snarfois at 8:04 PM on December 6, 2022 [1 favorite]
Elton John - Bennie and the Jets
Roxy Music - Virginia Plain
Thunderclap Newman - Something In The Air
NRBQ - I Got A Rocket In My Pocket
posted by hydrophonic at 9:00 PM on December 6, 2022 [1 favorite]
Roxy Music - Virginia Plain
Thunderclap Newman - Something In The Air
NRBQ - I Got A Rocket In My Pocket
posted by hydrophonic at 9:00 PM on December 6, 2022 [1 favorite]
Paul Simon - Gone At Last Gospel-ish but definitely meets your criteria. Never fails to make me feel energized.
posted by TimHare at 9:46 PM on December 6, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by TimHare at 9:46 PM on December 6, 2022 [1 favorite]
Serenad Bağcan, Fazıl Say - Sardunyaya Ağıt
Faun Fables - Carousel with Madonnas
posted by aws17576 at 10:58 PM on December 6, 2022 [1 favorite]
Faun Fables - Carousel with Madonnas
posted by aws17576 at 10:58 PM on December 6, 2022 [1 favorite]
What I am really after is dramatic, high energy piano.
....I'm floored that no one has yet mentioned the following Billy Joel songs:
Prelude/Angry Young Man (found you a live video so you can watch how much he's hammering the keys in the prelude)
Running On Ice
Miami 2017 (Seen The Lights Go Out On Broadway)
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 8:03 AM on December 7, 2022
....I'm floored that no one has yet mentioned the following Billy Joel songs:
Prelude/Angry Young Man (found you a live video so you can watch how much he's hammering the keys in the prelude)
Running On Ice
Miami 2017 (Seen The Lights Go Out On Broadway)
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 8:03 AM on December 7, 2022
Marc-André Hamelin's Circus Galop for player piano. Or not for player piano.
posted by offog at 7:23 AM on December 13, 2022
posted by offog at 7:23 AM on December 13, 2022
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posted by chesty_a_arthur at 9:39 AM on December 6, 2022