Songs Our Friends Listened To A Lot In 2013 Part 26
- Your Name? DJ Major Taylor (@MajorTaylor)
- Where Are You? Chicago, IL
- What Do You Do? I attempt to maximize my human potential by rock and rollin and record scrolling.
- What Song Did You Listen To A Lot In 2013? REO Speedwagon "Roll With The Changes"
In late 2012 I saw that awesome horror flick Cabin In The Woods. One particularly crazy scene featured the REO Speedwagon tune "Roll With The Changes" which I had not heard since I was a little kid. I'm not generally a casual listener of classic American rock. But something about the use of that song in that movie was striking. It made me want to hear it in another context. So I put it on one of my "driving around" playlists. It kept popping up in my shuffle and eventually seduced me with its anthemic repetition. Before I knew it "Roll With The Changes" had officially solidified itself as one of my motherfuckin jams! As if I wasn't even complicit in it. As if the song just crept in my psyche and said " I am here when you are reeeeaaadayyy to roll with the chaaaa nges whoooooo yyeeeaahhhh." Through 2013 this joint was constantly on blast in my car.Â
 The big riff arena rock guitars, the catchy piano chord progression, the rippin organ solo, the gospelesque female backing vocals towards the end. It's truly a tune from another time. It's a relic of a period in popular American music when most songs, even the corniest of pop songs, was written and performed by musicians of a certain high caliber. Every time I hear Roll With The Changes I feel as if I just won something with my ears.Â
 I also made a rather geeky correlation. In the 80's I was a huge fan of a DC post punk band called Rites Of Spring. The first track from their End on End album is called Spring. The main riff of the verse in Spring is almost identical to the chorus of Roll With The Changes just played much faster and sloppier. Perhaps theres just something about that chord progression that does it for me. Regardless I will definitely  KEEP ON ROLLING!!
