William's Song a Day Blog - est. September 2007

From: Watts in a Tank ; Year: 1980; Genre: Rock I remember hearing Diesel a lot back in the day, but they eventually faded only to come back into the pop culture conscience every now and then. I did not look much into the band, but with their mega hit Sausalito Summernight and its California car adventure theme, I assumed they were a U.S. band, but were actually Dutch. From wot I understand, between band member defections and not fully being able to recapture the magic they only lasted a handful of years and a total of three records, but had reunions and one other studio album since their first breakup. This track was one of the four singles from their debut, and, depending on which market you focus on, the second or third highest charting of their songs.   Hear Going Back to China on YouTube.         My song pick 1 year ago today: Camel - Rain Dances     My song pick 2 years ago today: Stone Temple Pilots - Bi-Polar Bear     My song pick 3...

From: Unleaded ; Year: 1982; Genre; Rock/Pop It has been a woefully long time, (about 14 years), since I last chose a song from this rock band from the Netherlands that is known for their hit single Sausalito Summernight here on this side of the Atlantic Ocean. I can clearly remember that song being played quite a lot back in the early 1980s, but kind of faded since. From what I can tell, Diesel released a second record, which did not fair as well and they went through subsequent breakups and reformations over the years, one of which brought about a third album in 2001 as well as another single released in 2017. Apparently they are at this time still together and doing shows, however have not repeated the success from their debut record. Anyway, this track comes off that second studio release and is definitely different from wot I knew of the band prior. To tell the truth, this song caught my attention by its novel title being a reference to the classic video game that was all the ra...

I heard this song quite a bit whilst growing up; it was a fairly large hit and had quite a bit of radio play. I think that most people can relate to the subject matter of this song: for some reason taking a broken-down car on a trip that really cannot make it. The thumping beat and the bass line in this song make it quite danceable; the guitar work is excellent as well. Here is a video with the song on YouTube. +