More Cowbell! Top Ten: Art For Art's Sake (#8)

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It seems like we'll have to listen to cowbell as a percussion instrument till the cows come home! (See what I did there?) Given the cowbell's prominence in rock and roll, it's easy to come up with a top ten list of songs that feature a cowbell. Here's today's song. #8: Art For Art's Sake - 10cc It's so common for me: I don't care for a band's "big hit," but I love a "follow-up" that bombs. You can give me Starbuck's "I Got to Know" over "Moonlight Feels Right" any day of the week. In the case of the great rock band 10cc, I wasn't overly fond of their US breakthrough hit, "I'm Not in Love." (And, of course, people keep covering this....oh, puh-leeze.) Picky Wedia says it was supposed to have a bossa nova type beat. I probably would have loved that, but it probably would have bombed. Oh, well. "Art For Art's Sake" was the follow-up to "I'm Not in Love" in 1975. it didn't get out of the 80s on the Billboard charts, quite a departure from the top five success of the previous single. That's too bad. Keeping with that sarcastic wit that is a trademark of 10cc lyrics, this song extols the joys of the root of all evil: "keep me in exile the rest of my days, burn me in hell but as long as it pays." And for you trivia buffs, half of 10cc, Lol Creme and Kevin Godley, left the band and got into video production. Among their work: "Every Breath You Take" by the Police, "Girls On Film" by Duran Duran, "Two Tribes" by Frankie Goes to Hollywood, and the award-winning "Rockit" by Herbie Hancock. Guess they got their art for art's sake, too. Art For Art's Sake Written by Eric Stewart and Graham Gouldman Recorded by 10cc From How Dare You!, 1975 Still gotta keep makin' the loot: