Recording artists are renowned for seeking highs and lows wherever they can get them, be it on stage in front of thousands of baying fans or at the wheel of a fast car.
However, there is one thrill that down through the annals of music history has enthralled musicians from almost all backgrounds.
That thrill is the one provided by casinos and the games housed within their garishly decorated walls.
In this article we look at some of the greatest ever rock songs that were about, or inspired by, the house and all the personalities who are trying to beat it.
Ace of Spades – Motörhead – 1980
Lemmy and co. certainly knew how to get pulses racing themselves with rapid and relentless guitar riffs combined with punchy lyrics.
That was all taken to a whole new level in ‘Ace of Spades’, as the band detailed their varied experiences at the felt gaming tables. It must have been quite a sight to see them in action in Las Vegas or Monte Carlo.
Casino Boogie – Rolling Stones – 1972
From their classic album Exile on Main Street, ‘Casino Boogie’ is a more abstract work than ‘Ace of Spades’.
However, what the Stones did manage to do with this song was to capture the cocktail of emotions that exist within a casino, the same mixture of feelings that many players now manage to find online thanks to free casino bonuses. No doubt that if online casinos had existed back in the seventies, the lyrics to this song may have been altered a fair bit.
House of the Rising Sun – The Animals – 1964
Everything from the somber lyrics to the fidgety organ made this a number one hit for The Animals, who took an old classic song from New Orleans and made it their own.
It is not exactly an advert for frequenting casinos, but it is one of the best songs ever made about them, or anything for that matter.
Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts – Bob Dylan – 1975
Bob Dylan has always specialized at capturing the zeitgeist, and he hit the nail on the head with this song that embodied what it feels like to experience all the action available in a good casino, even though the one Dylan describes in the lyrics has a distinctly Wild West feel to it.