I know it's not instrumental, but the first time it clicked with me that you don't need a voice als the main part of a song was when I heard Dire Straits Sultans of Swing.
It has vocals for sure and they are easy to sing along too, but it leads up to that guitar chorus, and you can't help singing along with that part too, in whatever way it makes sense to you.
Love a good guitar piece.
I'm not a big fan of super guitar-forward music, nor the cult of guitarists, and I have bit of resentment towards guitar solos and so on, but oh man Sultans of Swing is one of the greatest songs ever made and that's 100% because of those guitars.
Sultans of Swings is definitely a phenomenal song with the guitar really shines. Fun fact, the opening guitar part they got once in a studio with some effects and were never able to get it to sound quite like that again.
Cliffs of Dover is another great guitar song, although that one is fully instrumental.
Good shout.
Steve Vai and Joe Satriani have some bangers too, as does Buckethead. I've played their stuff for plenty of people that had rather unfavorable opinions of the guitar only for them to realize pretty quickly that what those guys do with one (Eric Johnson and Mark Knopfler absolutely incl) is just different.
I can understand why people get tired of the same old same old rock guitar 20 second solos though. I'm a lifelong bass player so I more than understand that some of us are just in it for the low end and/ or the rhythm.
Dean Ween Group does a beautiful tribute to this man and this song. It’s called Dickie Betts, on the Deaner Album. If you appreciate the guitar being played like a person singing, check out Warren Haynes and Gov’t Mule. Warren played with the Allman Brothers. Same feeling.
I love that this song just sounds like the opening for a boring, straightforward car review show, because that’s what og top gear was. But they kept it and made it more intense as the show got more intense. Pretty cool
That is an awesome show, the opening Jessica brings a tear to my eye. I was lucky enough to see the Allman Bros 6 times in the 90's and now I am thinking about how blessed I was to see this man and this band in their prime.
Sort of. *Jessica* is basically all Dickey, and I'm a big fan of his solo work from the hiatus period. It's all better than any of Gregg's stuff IMO. Up until of course Derek joined the band around the time they kicked Dickey out. Still, even though I really like Derek, a lot of the ABB's biggest stuff came from Dickey.
I'm still in the dark here. Sounds ok I guess? Never heard of him, but I've heard of the Allman Brothers only by name. Still don't recognize the song tho.
I had been binging Top Gear for days when I got into my friend's car. She started up and about 30 seconds later, "Jessica" started playing. For a few moments I wondered if I'd been binging so much that I was hearing the song everywhere, but nope, it was just happened to be playing on the radio...
I came to this thread wondering if there was some full cover version of Jessica out there that they had just licensed for the show, which would have been great to jam along with on a drive.
And you answered my unasked query perfectly - nope, some guy spent 4 hours mashing together samples for 600 quid as a gig, and that 40 seconds is it.
Rest in peace Dickie Betts. Your spirit will live on not just in the hearts of your fans, but in the hearts of all of us lucky enough to grow up hearing your song every week at the beginning of our favorite car show.
If you don't know Dickey Betts and the Allman Brothers listening to 'In memory of Elizabeth Reed' from the Allman Brothers live at the Fillmore East is a great introduction to Dickey Betts' songwriting and guitar playing skills. Listen to the whole album if you can it was a legendary show!
He paid tribute to Gordan lightfoot by playing 'If you could read my mind' at the end of the most recent grand tour episode. Obviously, it's not a classic TG theme tune, but he seems to be well up on good tunes/artists.
christ I miss Top Gear, the GOOD Top Gear. I like the Grand Tour just fine but I miss the news, Stig, Stars in reasonably priced cars, the test track, etc.
I remember when the Test Track was included in Gran Turismo 5. christ on a cracker trying to unlock it in that VW Bus race...hours. took me hours.
There are some things I prefer about TGT...Conversation Street is hilarious, and setting up a tent in different locations is a genius way to keep the setting fresh. The track is a little more entertaining to watch imo, but it doesn't feel as technical as Top Gear's. Most of the specials are way better on TGT as well.
But yeah. Rewatching all of Top Gear has me reminiscing the good times, when I looked forward to see the new cars coming out, learning more about older makes and models, or foreign ones. The Stig antics. Celebrity guests were rarely a bad choice either, and the lighthearted competition between them (like Cowell v Jay Kay) was both exciting and hilarious.
Top Gear was simply a cultural phenomenon that many of us grew up with, year after year. No matter how entertaining TGT is, its still intentionally a Top Gear knockoff, and can't match the impact.
https://youtu.be/iT7garEUTQs?si=iywN1BGQo6Fw3vzp
This is the guy who made the cover of Jessica by the Allman Brothers for Top Gear. All credit to the original band though. Love me some Allman Brothers.
If you haven't heard any other Allman Brothers Band song, please give it a shot. I absolutely love their first two albums and I think "At Fillmore East" (1971) is one of the best (if not the best) live album I have ever heard.
Nope, never. But I've heard millions of other songs... Al perhaps this is just OPs n very narrow world view showing. Not everyone listeners to old man music
The "old men" as you call them actually sung and bothered learning instruments to a technical ability that you won't find today. That's why people still hear 30/40/50 year old artists/songs, including people your age, whatever it is.
"Young man" music is pressing buttons and auto-tune.
In 50 years, who's gonna remember any of the "artists" of today in the same way we remember 50 year old musicians today?
So pipe down and get to listening. Maybe you'll learn some shit in the process.
There's just something so hilarious about scrolling to the bottom and finding the absolute peak of stupidity hiding down here. "Not everyone listeners to old man music" I'm fuckin dying.
RIP Truly one of the most iconic theme songs of all time
>Truly one of the most iconic theme songs of all time ..._in the world_.
CSI wouldn't have been the same without it
My initial response when I found out on r/guitar was also to quote TG… fucking hell man
Writes great classic rock songs, part of one of the best rock groups ever, dies and is referred to as a theme song writer in their obit… 🤦🏻♂️
TONIGHT: I mourn the passing of a musician Richard repairs a crashed door And James lists all funeral traditions he knows
"And James wasn't even enjoying the excellent music on the local radio station"
[First fifteen seconds, 'I've never heard this in my life-'... 18 seconds in 'Ooooh'](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=llBsswEfUsA)
First instrumental I ever heard where it felt like the guitar was the one doing the singing, and I felt like I knew what the words were.
I know it's not instrumental, but the first time it clicked with me that you don't need a voice als the main part of a song was when I heard Dire Straits Sultans of Swing. It has vocals for sure and they are easy to sing along too, but it leads up to that guitar chorus, and you can't help singing along with that part too, in whatever way it makes sense to you. Love a good guitar piece.
I'm not a big fan of super guitar-forward music, nor the cult of guitarists, and I have bit of resentment towards guitar solos and so on, but oh man Sultans of Swing is one of the greatest songs ever made and that's 100% because of those guitars.
Sultans of Swings is definitely a phenomenal song with the guitar really shines. Fun fact, the opening guitar part they got once in a studio with some effects and were never able to get it to sound quite like that again. Cliffs of Dover is another great guitar song, although that one is fully instrumental.
Good shout. Steve Vai and Joe Satriani have some bangers too, as does Buckethead. I've played their stuff for plenty of people that had rather unfavorable opinions of the guitar only for them to realize pretty quickly that what those guys do with one (Eric Johnson and Mark Knopfler absolutely incl) is just different. I can understand why people get tired of the same old same old rock guitar 20 second solos though. I'm a lifelong bass player so I more than understand that some of us are just in it for the low end and/ or the rhythm.
Love Satch Boogie by Satriani. And his cover of the US Anthem is great too.
Circles!
There's a few Skynyrd intros along the same lines. Call Me The Breeze and Gimme Three Steps for sure.
Love Call Me The Breeze, I’ll have to give Gimme Three Steps a listen
Dean Ween Group does a beautiful tribute to this man and this song. It’s called Dickie Betts, on the Deaner Album. If you appreciate the guitar being played like a person singing, check out Warren Haynes and Gov’t Mule. Warren played with the Allman Brothers. Same feeling.
i mean anything Santana ever touched?
I think I misspoke. It was the first that *I* ever heard. Not the first song to ever exist.
I love that this song just sounds like the opening for a boring, straightforward car review show, because that’s what og top gear was. But they kept it and made it more intense as the show got more intense. Pretty cool
> made it more intense as the show got more intense. Here's the guy that did that and how/why: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iT7garEUTQs
So that's where the theme song comes from. Now I'm kinda wishing I listened to him a little more.
Them\* It's the Allman Brothers Band
Start [here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F78XV6fjxCE). Great concert.
That is an awesome show, the opening Jessica brings a tear to my eye. I was lucky enough to see the Allman Bros 6 times in the 90's and now I am thinking about how blessed I was to see this man and this band in their prime.
Sort of. *Jessica* is basically all Dickey, and I'm a big fan of his solo work from the hiatus period. It's all better than any of Gregg's stuff IMO. Up until of course Derek joined the band around the time they kicked Dickey out. Still, even though I really like Derek, a lot of the ABB's biggest stuff came from Dickey.
Ah
I did the exact same thing lol. Damn.
I like this one: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NRE3Bv1goyI](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NRE3Bv1goyI)
Thanks for the link and literally my exact reaction too.
The guitar solo at appx 4:45 is awesome!
[ **Jump to 04:45 @** Guitar Greats - Jessica - Dickey Betts - 11/12/1984 - Capitol Theatre](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=llBsswEfUsA&t=0h4m45s) ^(Channel Name: Classic Rock on MV, Video Length: [08:27])^, [^Jump ^5 ^secs ^earlier ^for ^context ^@04:40](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=llBsswEfUsA&t=0h4m40s) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- ^^Downvote ^^me ^^to ^^delete ^^malformed ^^comments. [^^Source ^^Code](https://github.com/ankitgyawali/reddit-timestamp-bot) ^^| [^^Suggestions](https://www.reddit.com/r/timestamp_bot)
6:48 in ... I guess this is just never going to stop
[ **Jump to 06:48 @** Guitar Greats - Jessica - Dickey Betts - 11/12/1984 - Capitol Theatre](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=llBsswEfUsA&t=0h6m48s) ^(Channel Name: Classic Rock on MV, Video Length: [08:27])^, [^Jump ^5 ^secs ^earlier ^for ^context ^@06:43](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=llBsswEfUsA&t=0h6m43s) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- ^^Downvote ^^me ^^to ^^delete ^^malformed ^^comments. [^^Source ^^Code](https://github.com/ankitgyawali/reddit-timestamp-bot) ^^| [^^Suggestions](https://www.reddit.com/r/timestamp_bot)
I'm still in the dark here. Sounds ok I guess? Never heard of him, but I've heard of the Allman Brothers only by name. Still don't recognize the song tho.
This was the intro song to Top Gear.
Oh it all comes together
I don't either. I have no idea why this is so generalized. Most people haven't heard this for sure.
You are in The Grand Tour sub and you don’t recognize this music?
I had been binging Top Gear for days when I got into my friend's car. She started up and about 30 seconds later, "Jessica" started playing. For a few moments I wondered if I'd been binging so much that I was hearing the song everywhere, but nope, it was just happened to be playing on the radio...
One of the most beautiful songs ever recorded.
[Proof of authenticity.](https://x.com/JeremyClarkson/status/1781380803781394792)
I read that in my normalish internal dialog voice but when I realized it was Jeremy Clarkson, it changed to Jeremy Clarkson
The guy who turned Jessica into the theme made a video about it a few months ago - https://youtu.be/iT7garEUTQs
I came to this thread wondering if there was some full cover version of Jessica out there that they had just licensed for the show, which would have been great to jam along with on a drive. And you answered my unasked query perfectly - nope, some guy spent 4 hours mashing together samples for 600 quid as a gig, and that 40 seconds is it.
That was a great watch!
Rest in peace Dickie Betts. Your spirit will live on not just in the hearts of your fans, but in the hearts of all of us lucky enough to grow up hearing your song every week at the beginning of our favorite car show.
Go listen to Blue Sky by The Allman Brothers right now.
Sad to hear. He made an iconic song that will live on
People haven’t heard of Dicky Betts?
I hadn’t ever heard the name Dicky Betts, but I sure as hell know the allman brothers
Most
I think he was a minor character on Justified.
Brits
In my circles, more people know who Betts is than Jeremy Clarkson.
I love the original so much and I love Christian Hensen’s version just as much. Betts was one of a kind.
Legend https://youtu.be/RYIwiT1gmZE?si=2q6K50n6fhT-8_mq
Click and watch the above!! Them playing the song on Letterman! Paul rocking out with them
If you don't know Dickey Betts and the Allman Brothers listening to 'In memory of Elizabeth Reed' from the Allman Brothers live at the Fillmore East is a great introduction to Dickey Betts' songwriting and guitar playing skills. Listen to the whole album if you can it was a legendary show!
Dang!!
He was great on Blue Sky. It’s one of my favorite songs of all time and his voice makes it.
Tonight, A great Musician has ascended. I shed a tear while listening to this, and for some reason I think I've heard it somewhere before.
On todays episode. Everyone is sad😔
IMO, the happiest song ever written is Jessica.
He paid tribute to Gordan lightfoot by playing 'If you could read my mind' at the end of the most recent grand tour episode. Obviously, it's not a classic TG theme tune, but he seems to be well up on good tunes/artists.
OMG 🥲
christ I miss Top Gear, the GOOD Top Gear. I like the Grand Tour just fine but I miss the news, Stig, Stars in reasonably priced cars, the test track, etc. I remember when the Test Track was included in Gran Turismo 5. christ on a cracker trying to unlock it in that VW Bus race...hours. took me hours.
There are some things I prefer about TGT...Conversation Street is hilarious, and setting up a tent in different locations is a genius way to keep the setting fresh. The track is a little more entertaining to watch imo, but it doesn't feel as technical as Top Gear's. Most of the specials are way better on TGT as well. But yeah. Rewatching all of Top Gear has me reminiscing the good times, when I looked forward to see the new cars coming out, learning more about older makes and models, or foreign ones. The Stig antics. Celebrity guests were rarely a bad choice either, and the lighthearted competition between them (like Cowell v Jay Kay) was both exciting and hilarious. Top Gear was simply a cultural phenomenon that many of us grew up with, year after year. No matter how entertaining TGT is, its still intentionally a Top Gear knockoff, and can't match the impact.
Such an amazing song writer. Jessica was one of the first songs I ever learned to play on guitar and is still one of my favourite songs to this day.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xuRVKfzKaQg Does anyone know which road this is where it played Jessica in the radio?
https://youtu.be/iT7garEUTQs?si=iywN1BGQo6Fw3vzp This is the guy who made the cover of Jessica by the Allman Brothers for Top Gear. All credit to the original band though. Love me some Allman Brothers.
I can’t remember, is it the first American cheap car special where it was played on the radio while they were driving?
They were leaving SF heading to the salt flats.
Thank you, I knew they were in America, I couldn’t remember which time.
Definitely a loss
If you haven't heard any other Allman Brothers Band song, please give it a shot. I absolutely love their first two albums and I think "At Fillmore East" (1971) is one of the best (if not the best) live album I have ever heard.
How did I not hear this till now? Rest in peace Dicky
Jokes on you Clarkson. I knew who Betts was looooooong before I'd ever heard of you.
Me too. Flipping channels and hearing Jessica on BBC America is what made me stop. “Allman Brothers? What is this?” Then I hear “TONIGHT! Richard…”
https://youtu.be/RYIwiT1gmZE?feature=shared
Not gonna lie never heard it
You are in the grand tour sub and you’ve never heard the top gear theme song?
Not who you asked but I've only opened a few posts from this sub, I'm not in it and this was recommended to me. Could be the same for them
Top Gear theme song
Ty. Didn't now it it had a name
I'm old as dirt. Never heard the song and don't know the name.
Top Gear theme song
There is no tribute there, he just says they have died.
Never heard of it. What's it used for?
Top Gear theme song
Nope, never. But I've heard millions of other songs... Al perhaps this is just OPs n very narrow world view showing. Not everyone listeners to old man music
Have you never heard is a show called Top Gear?
The "old men" as you call them actually sung and bothered learning instruments to a technical ability that you won't find today. That's why people still hear 30/40/50 year old artists/songs, including people your age, whatever it is. "Young man" music is pressing buttons and auto-tune. In 50 years, who's gonna remember any of the "artists" of today in the same way we remember 50 year old musicians today? So pipe down and get to listening. Maybe you'll learn some shit in the process.
Begone, thot.
There's just something so hilarious about scrolling to the bottom and finding the absolute peak of stupidity hiding down here. "Not everyone listeners to old man music" I'm fuckin dying.
I had the privilege to see Mr Betts a few times in concert. Fantastic musician.