Long Live Rock & Roll

Album: Baptized (2013)
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Songfacts®:

  • This acoustic anthem is a humorously nostalgic ode to the good ole days. Chris Daughtry penned the song with Boys Like Girls frontman Martin Johnson and songwriter-producer Sam Hollander (aka, S*A*M), who is best known for his work with One Direction, Cobra Starship and Gym Class Heroes. It was one of five tracks that the trio penned for Baptized. Daughtry told The Hollywood Reporter: "I would have never picked up a guitar and wrote this song. I never would have gone the folk route. I just thought the irony of it was hilarious. Long live rock and roll and big guitars, and it doesn't have any loud guitars. It's all like this folky, country vibe, and very rootsy. I loved that."
  • The track looks at some age-old rock debates such as the Beatles vs. the Rolling Stones, and Van Halen vs. Van Hagar. Daughtry told Rolling Stone the story of the song: "Martin Johnson and Sam Hollander approached me with this idea, and it was something I've never done before," he said. "Sam had this lyric: 'We used to wonder about who's better, Elton John or Billy Joel. And we still wonder if Kurt really wrote the songs she sang in Hole.' I was like, 'Wow, I've never done anything where I've referenced anyone in a song, especially…not in a negative light, necessarily, but something that's kind of a jab.' But it was funny, and I was like, 'Hopefully they won't come looking for me after this!'"

    "I've never written anything like that," Daughtry continued. "People are so used to seeing this hard-ass face, everything is so serious, and if anybody hung out with this band they'd realize that is the last thing we are is serious! So this is a good thing, because no one's ever seen this side of me as a person and especially as a songwriter. My favorite line in the whole song is the Van Halen/Van Hagar thing. That's one of my favorite lyrical moments on this whole record."

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