General Gregory N. Pigott: Late Night Music March Madness Edition Part 161....."Into The Great Wide Open"

For the first time ever, I am bringing a blog "from the vault" out. Maybe that's a sign that I do too many of these. Anyway, the word "great" is a superlative word that surprisingly to me, is used rather sparingly in song titles. I found some good ones here, but this was actually a very difficult list to complete despite the big names on it.

In order to receive votes in this category, the SONG TITLE had to have the word "great" in some form in it. Also receiving votes in this category were "Alexander the Great" by Iron Maiden, "The Great Deception"- Promethee, and "Great Expectations" by Diggy Simmons.

"Into The Great Wide Open"- Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers. This title track to Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers 1991 album featured perhaps one of the most star studded music videos ever with a cast that included Johnny Depp, Faye Dunaway, Chyna Philliips, Trent D'Arby, Matt LeBlanc, and the always weird Gabrielle Anwar. Ironically, Petty was only able to get Depp and Dunaway because they were filming the movie Arizona Dream and it had taken a hiatus due to the director having a nervous breakdown on set. Despite the heavy push of the video on MTV and the popularity with fans, the single failed to garner the popularity other tracks on the hit album gained, peaking at just #92 on the Billboard Hot 100. Also, funny side note- the band recorded an 18 minute version of the song after the fact just to fit all the footage into this video. Johnny Depp is so freaking weird!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqmFxgEGKH0

"The Great Beyond"- R.E.M.- I have to admit, I have never been an Andy Kaufman fan. I realize he was big at the time, and this movie is actually pretty good though. This standalone single was written for the Kaufman 1999 docu-comedy Man On The Moon starring Jim Carrey. It was pretty fitting that the band did a song on Kaufman seeing how their 1992 hit "Man On The Moon" was about him. Despite this song being the band's highest ever charting single in the UK, it only peaked at #57 on the Billboard Hot 100 despite being on of R.E.M.'s better efforts in my opinion. I've been watching this video for 5 minutes now, and I can't seem to find the drummer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_JnCWT-_O8

"It's A Great Day To Be Alive"- Travis Tritt. This 2000 single from Travis Tritt's album Down The Road I Go would easily be his most well known song when it peaked at #33 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #2 on the Billboard Country Chart. I never really cared for Travis Tritt or his voice, but he hit the nail on the head with this song that is quite frankly a once in a lifetime song. Pretty good live performance here, and I'm not sure if a video was ever made for the song.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUWB2QDUDD8

"Greatest Love Of All"- Whitney Houston. This may be my favorite Whitney song (but is it really that easy to choose?). I'm sure I said this before, but this song was written in 1977 by Linda Creed about her battle with breast cancer and was originally featured in the Muhammad Ali documentary The Greatest. Whitney wanted to include it on her debut album, but Clive Davis wasn't sure it was a good fit for her. After giving in, it became the follow up single to "How Will I Know" and went to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. I always liked this video here, which features her real life mother Cissy Houston.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYzlVDlE72w

"The World's Greatest"- R. Kelly. Dang I finally broke my R. Kelly streak on here, but all things must come to an end I guess. Excuse me while I don't picture R. Kelly as a boxer, but this was a pretty good addition to the Will Smith 2001 film Ali (two Muhammad Ali songs in a row!) and was also included on Kelly's album Chocolate Factory. I would like R. Kelly so much more if he simply stuck to songs like this instead of making stuff that you listen to while you look around to make sure no one is watching. With that being said, I think he does a great job paying tribute to our country and it's heroes in this video. This single peaked at #34 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2002.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WgcovIu3k9o

"The Great Escape"- The Rifles. Great track here by British rockers The Rifles. This was the title track to their 2009 album and was released a single in mid 2009. If you didn't know this band was British, you could watch this video on mute and figure out. My question is if the kid was gonna get that people watching and following him- why did he not do something more spectacular?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nbH244wi22k

"The Great Escape"- Boys Like Girls. Here is one of those bands that is completely flying under the radar of awesomeness. This second single from their self titled debut album became the band's first hit for these rockers from Massachusetts when it peaked at #23 on the Billboard Hot 100. The sound of this song really reminds me of Sherwood. I love that pop/rock sound that's not too heavy and not too hard. BLG does a perfect mix of that on this song.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGPgxoIPY6Q

"The Great Escape"- We Are Scientists. Three dudes waking up in the same bed and showering together? Ok. This song from these Bay Area rockers was the second single off of their 2005 debut album With Love and Squalor, and despite making little noise in the United States, the single peaked at #35 on the British Singles Chart, with the album getting to #43 on the British Albums Chart. I love when videos can be retro because this video seems like I'm watching a stereotypical 80's band. They could really fool people on that one.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vK20cYuFmbM

"The Greatest Discovery"- Elton John. Man talk about a forgotten underrated classic. This amazing song from Elton John's famous major label self-titled 1970 album was written by Bernie Taupin about his experience of his parents having a baby which was his little brother. The song was an early favorite of EJ's and has rarely been performed live since. Here is a spectacular live performance from 1970 BBC Television here featuring the actual cellist for the song, Paul Buckmaster, in the first of his many many orchestral performances with Elton John, appearing on 8 albums all together. I think it shows the talent EJ had early in his career for huge arrangements like he did for this song. His Broadway arrangements would come some 25 years later.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QEw9SB8NMfs

"Great Day"- Paul McCartney. Talk about maybe the only person who could actually follow Elton John! This non-single closed out McCartney's 1997 masterpiece album Flaming Pie, which was nominated for the Album Of The Year Grammy, losing to former 1960's contemporary Bob Dylan in the category. This album was fueled hugely by the success of the recent Beatles Anthology project and is still one of his most successful solo albums, peaking at #2 on the Billboard Top 200 Albums Chart. This song was also featured in the Adam Sandler/Seth Rogen film Funny People.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UczpCIXfWic

"Fight For Greatness"- Bloom. Well, believe it or not, I have almost no info on this song other than the fact that it was featured on Rock Band. Great guitar riff and a dang good lead singer who kinda reminds me of Adam Levine.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YHuXSRRk19Y

"The Great Wall Of China"- Billy Joel. Talk about pulling an obscure one out of the bag! This rather unknown Billy Joel song was included on his 1993 smash album River Of Dreams. It's funny though, no matter how obscure you dig in the Billy Joel catalog, every song just seems to one that sticks with you. I think this was one of Billy Joel's best albums not just because of the overplaying of "River of Dreams", but just because the album was so diverse. Talk about someone who will never lose their swag. That guy will make great music until he dies.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRyIIxaphAQ

"The Great Divide"- The McClain Sisters. This girl group of sisters from L.A. added this song and video to the soundtrack of the Disney Fairies film "Secret of the Wings". The family friendly trio is expecting their first studio album this year. You may also recognize China Anne McClain of TBS's "Tyler Perry's House of Payne" fame. These girls have a spectacular blend with beautiful voices and remind me a lot of a more pop oriented SWV. But I have to say though that is very rare for girls this young to be able to blend that well.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gI9LOvppLMg

"The Great Exhale"- Great Lake Swimmers. This Toronto band added this as their last single to their latest album New Wild Everywhere. These Canadians are heavily influenced by Neil Young, and it shows in this very complex video. I was also thinking that this could be the Canadian version of the Avett Brothers just due to the heavy folk influence on this song. This band proves that Toronto is definitely a hot bed of music of all sorts, as I can now think of a band of just about every genre that calls Toronto or the Toronto area home. I really need to visit there again soon.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5k13D40sfEk

BONUS VIDEOS- "Good Life"- One Republic. Close.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZhQOvvV45w

"Good"- Better Than Ezra. Also close.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji0pyRmSnTY

"Inaction"- We Are Scientists.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUHfmme7iow

"Repeat Offender"- The Rifles.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4OzNchOy-k

"Be Your Everything"- Boys Like Girls.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOD_HFqxmkM