Rod Stewart on his favourite song of the 21st century
Despite spending his entire career looking like a drag queen serving scarecrow realness, Rod Stewart has always been a man of the people. In Faces, he was arguably fronting the proto-Oasis. A stadium-slaying rock ‘n’ roll band who, despite their fame and fortune, never felt above their audience. The footballs he’d kick into the audience from onstage probably helped that image.
This continued into his solo career, but not quite in the same way. Faces were a rowdy, rough and ready bunch, with Stewart, in particular, being one of the boys. When he started releasing records under his own name, though, he broadened his appeal somewhat. Gone was the macho posturing and, in its place, were hooks for absolute days.
You can say what you want about songs like ‘Tonight’s the Night (Gonna Be Alright)’, ‘Sailing’, ‘Maggie Mae’, and (yes), ‘Do Ya Think I’m Sexy?’, but the songwriting is there. They are catchier than typhus and twice as memorable when they sashay into your life, for better and worse. Basically, the only thing those songs have in common with his work in Faces is that they may not be cool, but my god, are they effective.
This puts him in the lineage of a great many pop stars. Those artists who aim for sheer pop glory, flying in the face of being cool and succeeding, despite, or perhaps a little bit because of, being slightly naff. It’s a lineage that includes everyone from Slade and Rick Astley to Katy Perry and Pitbull. However, there’s one of these modern stars that I think connects to ‘Rod The Mod’s’ work better than anyone would expect, and y’know who agrees with me? Rod Stewart himself.
Which modern artist does Rod Stewart love?
When he created a list of his ten favourite songs for BBC Radio 2’s Tracks Of My Years, the most modern song on the list was one of the most undeniable pop hits of the past two decades. Love it or hate it, you had to recognise the sheer craft and power that went into it, so it’s no surprise that Stewart picked it as one of his favourites. Such is the power of ‘Uptown Funk’.
In the interview, Stewart said of Bruno Mars and Mark Ronson’s unavoidable banger, “Bruno Mars for me, I don’t wanna say he is a new Michael Jackson, I think he is a man on his own. He is doing something totally brilliant. This song, I believe, is one of the best records ever made in our world. I love it so much. The production, Mark Ronson, it just goes without saying, it’s just a different class. The actual brass riff that goes around, it’s been around, it’s a James Brown thing. But that is what makes it appeal to you and me.”
That last part is the bit that stands out to me—“That is what makes it appeal to you and me.” In a way, you can boil down both the careers of Stewart and Mars into that very statement. It doesn’t have to be cool, it doesn’t have to be edgy, it just has to work. Give ‘Uptown Funk’ a listen if you haven’t in a while because sweet baby James, does it still work like gangbusters. Don’t believe me? Just watch!
