Grime and hardship, coupled with a few musical instruments, make for great works of art. We call them Rust Belt songs.
Sadly, the words of the artists, like the subjects of which they sing, are often ignored—by non-Rust Belt bloggers, that is.
In other words, it’s time for another ranking, as determined by a committee of one wearing a sweatshirt in possible need of a cleanse.
Here are the 10 best Rust Belt songs of all time.
“North Country Blues” by Bob Dylan (1964)
Dylan, it could be said, hailed from the Rust Belt Extended. The Duluth, Minnesota, native knew all about the local iron ore that fed the steel mills on the lower Great Lakes—he also knew the good times weren’t meant to last forever.
Come gather ’round friends and I’ll tell you a tale
Of when the red iron ore pits ran plenty
But the cardboard filled windows and old men on the benches
Tell you now that the whole town is empty
“What’s Going On” by Marvin Gaye (1971)
Along with other hot-button issues of the time, Motown’s Gaye was lamenting the concentrated poverty in black neighborhoods, an issue that plagues the Rust Belt to this day.
Don’t punish me with brutality
Come on talk to me
So you can see
What’s going on
“Working Man” by Rush (1974)
Yes, Rush hailed from the Canadian side of the Great Lakes, but when you’re anywhere near Hamilton (Ontario), that’s Rust Belt as hell. In fact, it was only after a disc jockey in Cleveland—Donna Halper—played this song on air that Rush landed a record deal, explaining the band’s dedication of its first two albums to her.
They call me the workin’ man
I guess that’s what I am
“My City Was Gone” by The Pretenders (1982)
Akron’s Chrissie Hynde went off to England to front the Pretenders. On a visit home, she discovered a reality she captured here—you might recognize the introductory bass line from The Rush Limbaugh Show.
I went back to Ohio
But my city was gone
There was no train station
There was no downtown
“Pink Houses” by John Mellencamp (1983)
Mellencamp, an Indiana man, sang about what he saw. And when he asked Ain’t that America? it wasn’t the fancy high-rises he was looking at.
And there’s winners and there’s losers
But they ain’t no big deal
‘Cause the simple man, baby, pays for the thrills, the bills
The pills that kill
“Born in the U.S.A.” by Bruce Springsteen (1984)
Don’t tell anyone from New Jersey, but The Boss knew the Rust Belt. Springsteen’s shout out to the US, like Mellencamp’s jam, wasn’t necessarily about the glamorous part.
Down in the shadow of the penitentiary
Out by the gas fires of the refinery
I’m ten years burnin’ down the road
Nowhere to run, ain’t got nowhere to go
“Like a Rock” by Bob Seger & the Silver Bullet Band (1986)
Seger, born in Detroit, might have been singing about the fleeting nature of youth, but when a track becomes the anthem for Chevy trucks, it’s making the list of Rust Belt songs.
High above it all
I still believed in my dreams
—
Like a rock
“If I Had” by Eminem (1999)
The Detroit of the late 90s might not have been the most uplifting place, and Eminem—never one to mince words—let us know about it.
Life is like a big obstacle in front of your optical
To slow you down
And every time you think you’ve gotten past it
It’s gonna come back around to tackle you to the damn ground
“Hotel Yorba” by The White Stripes (2001)
Yet another Detroit guy, Jack White, sang about Hotel Yorba, a decidedly low-end rooming house later shut down by the city.
Well, it’s one, two, three, four
Take the elevator at the Hotel Yorba
I’ll be glad to see you later
All they got inside is vacancy
“Coal” by Tyler Childers (2011)
And finally, there’s Childers, whose home in Eastern Kentucky—aka coal country—qualifies as the other end of Rust Belt Extended. As this haunting tune points out, there was little glory in powering the nation.
Now let me tell you something about the gospel
And make sure that you mark it down
When God spoke out Let there be light
He put the first of us in the ground
Title image courtesy Tama66 (Pixabay)
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