Two Bowie Tracks On Rock School Cd

Hey man, my school days insane…

Friday night is Rock School night on Channel4 here in the UK. Tonight is the third episode of seven of the series in which Gene Simmons of Kiss teaches 10 classically-trained music students of England?s 450-year-old Christ’s Hospital boarding school, how to rock.

I know the series has already aired on VH-1 around the globe, and I have to admit, I wasn’t immediately drawn to it, I’m not the world’s biggest Kiss fan, or reality TV fan for that matter, and in fact I missed the first episode. But, having stumbled upon the second one, I do believe it’s pretty entertaining stuff, and, despite the bluster, Mr Gene Simmons seems a likeable chap.

I guess a pretty cool poster of a live shot of David Bowie in 1973 on the classroom wall, (along with other luminaries from the world of rock) made me think Gene has better taste than I would have given him credit for.

The release this week of the accompanying soundtrack CD confirmed my suspicions when I realised that David Bowie was represented with twice as many tracks as any other artist on the CD…In other words he has two tracks on it, Suffragette City and the album edit of “Heroes”.

Here’s the full tracklisting, and there’s not even a Kiss song in sight, surprising really, seeing as the highlight of the last episode was the congregation of Christ’s Hospital singing God Gave Rock And Roll To You along with Gene…no, honestly, it was alright!

01 Queen – We Will Rock You
02 Motörhead – Ace Of Spades
03 Deep Purple – Smoke On The Water
04 The Kinks – You Really Got Me
05 David Bowie – Suffragette City
06 T Rex – Get It On
07 Free – Alright Now
08 Steppenwolf – Born To Be Wild
09 Rainbow – Since You?ve Been Gone
10 The Darkness – I Believe In A Thing Called Love
11 Placebo – Teenage Angst
12 Faith No More – Epic
13 The Ramones – Rock & Roll High School (Live)
14 George Thorogood and The Destroyers – Bad To The Bone
15 The Troggs – Wild Thing
16 Blondie – One Way Or Another
17 David Bowie – “Heroes”
18 Ray Charles – Mess Around

Sonically, “Heroes” is a bit of a sore thumb on this compilation, in that it’s not a guitar-driven 4-minute rock song…OK the Ray Charles song is the other sore thumb…you gotta have two thumbs! But, “Heroes” does rock, as they say, and that’s the only qualification one apparently needs for this particular school.

It’s no secret that the eventual aim of the rock band that Gene creates is to support Motörhead at Hammersmith Apollo. This they do, and I’m told that a member of the audience that makes an appearance in the film is a BowieNetter who likes to get near the front at rock shows. And she certainly knows how to rock…all the way to eleven!

An amusing aside is the Rock Star Name Generator on the official Channel4 Rock School site. I tried David Bowie, and spookily enough I got Slick Insane! I also tried Total Blam Blam…