RECORD STORE TALES MkII: Getting More Tale
#422: Sausagefest 2015 – The Complete Countdown
The annual trek to Sausagefest is centred upon the always epic Countdown. There were many misadventures on the way to the Countdown, and after. While I am sworn to abide by the credo “What happens at Sausagefest stays at Sausagefest,” I am also bound by my own nature as a storyteller. Therefore, I can share with you a number of brief tidbits, hints, and insinuations.
Yes founder Chris Squire died only days before the Sausagefest countdown. It was too late to include a tribute a Squire tribute into the countdown itself, so Tom and Uncle Meat sequenced about an hour of Squire’s best music to precede the actual countdown. This was a promising hour, but upon hitting “play” on the laptop, it was immediately obvious that something was wrong. We were only getting one channel. Yes music, with its layers and wide stereo panning, turned out to be great music to test the four speakers. Unfortunately it took almost all of the Squire-allotted time, seventeen men* and one record producer to figure out that all the muss was being caused by an RCA adapter somewhere. We got two Squire songs, excellent as they were.
The Countdown this year was informally dubbed “The Greatest Songs of All Time”, because for the first time in years, the slate had been cleared and any and all songs were open for voting. Because of this anything goes approach and some younger blood, we got to hear a lot of classic tunes that often are either overlooked or just not up for grabs. I’m sure this was the first ever appearance of Boston on the countdown. I can probably say the same for Foreigner. These top ten hits are offset by more obscure favourites by Ian Thomas and UFO.
Now below, please analyse and enjoy the one and only OFFICIAL 2015 Sausagefest Countdown. Every track was a winner. I’ve highlighted songs I voted for (only two this year).
1 | Battle Scar | Max Webster/Rush |
2 | Shine on You Crazy Diamond^ | Pink Floyd |
3 | Hallowed be Thy Name | Iron Maiden |
4 | Working Man | Rush |
5 | Sultans of Swing | Dire Straits |
6 | La Villa Strangiato | Rush |
7 | Eulogy for the Damned | Orange Goblin |
8 | When the Levee Breaks | Led Zeppelin |
9 | Natural Science | Rush |
10 | A Day in the Life | The Beatles/War mashup |
^ The whole thing…parts I-IX.
Look at that majesty. FOUR RUSH SONGS IN THE TOP TEN!
11 | Fatso Forgetso | Kyuss |
12 | Heaven and Hell | Black Sabbath |
13 | Toronto Tontos | Max Webster |
14 | Wish You Were Here | Pink Floyd |
15 | Superstition | Stevie Wonder |
16 | Rime of the Ancient Mariner | Iron Maiden |
17 | Master of Puppets | Metallica |
18 | End of my Daze | Trouble |
19 | Papa Was a Rolling Stone | The Temptations |
20 | The Trooper | Iron Maiden |
21 | Ramble Tamble | Creedence Clearwater Revival |
22 | War Pigs | Black Sabbath |
23 | Penis Ground | Groove Daddys |
24 | The Ocean | Led Zeppelin |
25 | Stranglehold | Ted Nugent |
26 | Sympathy for the Devil | The Rolling Stones |
27 | Muffin Man | Frank Zappa |
28 | Smokin’ | Boston |
29 | Child in Time (Live ’72) | Deep Purple |
30 | Aces High | Iron Maiden |
31 | Into the Void | Black Sabbath |
32 | 25 or 6 to 4 | Chicago |
33 | Machine Gun | Jimi Hendrix/Band of Gypsies |
34 | Doctor Doctor | UFO |
35 | Kashmir | Led Zeppelin |
36 | Old Man | Neil Young |
37 | Suite: Judy Blue Eyes | CSNY |
38 | Illegal Smile | John Prine |
39 | Testify | Rage Against the Machine |
40 | Get Up Offa That Thing | James Brown |
41 | Belzelboss | Tenacious D |
42 | Emerald | Thin Lizzy |
43 | Sweatleaf | Black Sabbath |
44 | Tribute | Tenacious D |
45 | Tres Brujas | The Sword |
46 | I | Black Sabbath |
47 | The Temples of Syrinx | Rush |
48 | Space Oddity | David Bowie |
49 | 46 & 2 | Tool |
“Then I fuckin’ diddle-riddle-dee-doo.”
50 | Monkberry Moon Delight | Paul McCartney & Wings |
51 | 39 | Tenacious D |
52 | What is Hip? | Tower of Power |
53 | Over the Hills and Far Away | Led Zeppelin |
54 | The Mob Goes Wild | Clutch |
55 | Better Living Through Chemistry | Queens of the Stone Age |
56 | Mongoose | Fu Manchu |
57 | Roadhouse Blues | The Doors |
58 | Inside Looking Out | Grand Funk Railroad |
59 | Hurt | Johnny Cash |
60 | Don’t Stop Me Now | Queen |
61 | Careful with that Axe Eugene | Pink Floyd |
62 | The Chain | Fleetwood Mac |
63 | Ophelia | The Band |
64 | Jukebox Hero | Foreigner |
65 | Fairies Wear Boots | Black Sabbath |
66 | Where the Devil Don’t Stay | Drive By Truckers |
67 | Fat Bottomed Girls | Queen |
68 | Under Pressure | Queen |
69 | Fools Overture | Supertramp |
70 | The Pot | Tool |
71 | Tempus Fugit | Yes |
72 | Thunderstruck | AC/DC |
73 | Green Eyed Lady | Sugarloaf |
74 | Duke’s Travels | Genesis |
75 | Red Hot Mama | Funkadelic |
76 | Painted Ladies | Ian Thomas |
77 | Down by the River | Neil Young |
Please note that double-shot of Queen, above!
Also note the presence of “Penis Ground” by the Groove Daddys (not to be confused with the Groove Daddies, or Groove Daddy). This was a local trio fronted by guitarist and singer extraordinaire Rob Szabo. I certainly didn’t expect anything that obscure making the list, considering the diversity of folks that attend. To rank all the way up at #23? That’s proof of the sheer quality of the music. Indi enough for ya?
Once again, a huge thanks to Tom, Meat and everyone else for working so hard for us. Thanks Craig Fee and Jeff Woods for your much-appreciated willingness to go above and beyond the call of duty. And lastly thanks to Uncle Meat for being such a delightful travel-mate this year. Enjoy some of these pictures from the weekend, official video still to follow!
The Setup:
The Live Bands:
The Fest:
The Aftermath:
* I didn’t take a head-count, but I swear if it wasn’t seventeen guys trying to fix the thing, it was close. It doesn’t really matter because more wouldn’t have helped!
Looks like it was a blast!
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Incredible. I hope even more people turn out next year.
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I hope there were no Lenny Kravitz type accidents on stage. Sausagefest indeed. ;)
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No barenaked Sausage on stage!
There was one technical issue with the bands. The drum kit was a rental and they forgot to provide a snare drum. Seb improvised by taping some linguini noodles to a tom tom, which worked.
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I lovr the soundtrack. I just bought an Ian Thomas book yesterday. I can’t wait to read it.
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Remember him on SCTV with his bro?
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I think so. It was so long ago. I think he was on Red Green as well.
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You are correct. And via Ian, Dave did an appearance or two.
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Looks like it was fun. Cool pics. That’s quite a soundtrack, well done.
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The soundtrack was amazing. Definitely one of the best I’ve experienced. There was a “fake” number one tune, which was Van Halen, and I forgot which one. But that was only there to distract from the surprise of the real number one!
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I just had monkberry moon delight on this afternoon – great tune!
Sausagefest, I really like that idea for a tradition, enjoyed the no rules countdown!
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I’m sure next year there will be rules for the countdown. We won’t be allowed to vote for these 77 tunes. But that’s OK — there are a lot more great Rush tunes with which to flood the top 10.
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Great pics, Mike … great tunes too!
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Thanks buddy! It’s the kind of thing where I’d say, I wish we lived in the same country, because you’d probably love to drop by.
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Might need to arrange a trip some day! ;)
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