The scene:

 In 1990 Operation Desert Shield began with America sending troops to Saudi Arabia after Iraq's invasion of Kuwait. The Simpsons airs on TV for the first time. The first web page is published on the World Wide Web and a hole in the Ozone layer is discovered.

The version:

The fact the Black Crows had a number one with this song in 1990 kind of amazes me. You've got to think about the rock scene of the '80s. The stadium rock dinosaurs roamed the Earth, whilst beneath their relentless album release and tours, big hair bands soloed relentlessly with some punk and metal hiding in the shadows. Large swathes of the charts were dominated by electronic and pop music. What's more, Nirvana would drop Nevermind the following year, changing the scene completely. The blues-drenched rock that The Black Crows specialized in seems out of place in the music culture environment of the time. To survive, the crows would have to come out charging, and that's what they did.

The track opens on drums just like the original, but the piano and bass take over the role of the brass section. There is a radio remix with a horn section, which I really don't like, I'll be discussing the album version. The guitar riff from the original is spread out over the fretboard, in power chords with crunchy distortion. Also, there's the organ and boogie-woogie piano playing, placing little subtle frills all around the track (which is lost a little on the horn remix). Rich Robinson tackles the vocals with more than enough swagger and does a great job on the tongue twister chorus at a faster tempo. The screaming guitar solo comes in at just the right moment and doesn't overstay its welcome, to finish on a riffing crescendo.

Conclusion:

Two classics, it's impossible for me not to love both. If you liked this please drop a comment or recommendation for a song you'd like me to write about below.