Track 4 - “Are You Gonna Go My Way” by Lenny Kravitz (1993)

From the album Are You Gonna Go My Way

Music by Lenny Kravitz and Craig Ross; lyrics by Lenny Kravitz

Performed by:

Lenny Kravitz – lead vocals, drums

Craig Ross – electric guitar

Tony Breit – bass

Highest chart positions - US Billboard Album Rock Tracks - #1; US Modern Rock Tracks - #2 (not eligible for the Billboard Hot 100 since it was released as an airplay only track); MTV VMA – Best Male Artist Video

I was born long ago

I am the chosen, I’m the one

I have come to save the day

And I won’t leave until I’m done

So that’s why you’ve got to try

You have to breathe and have some fun

Though I’m not paid, I play this game

And I won’t stop until I’m done

1993 was a glorious year for music, and I remember it being a pretty great year for me as well. I was gainfully employed at my first full-time job after graduating college the year before, and while it wasn’t the greatest job, I was able to afford a new car, and since I was still living at home (don’t judge 😊), I always had money in my pocket. It was a great time in my life; no responsibilities and what seemed like endless free time. I was either at work, playing hockey, hanging out with the guys, or listening to music. I had the radio tuned to alternative station WDRE all day; I had it on in the car, then turned it on immediately when I got to my desk at work. When I heard something new, I wrote it down (no Google or Shazam back then kids) and went to the record store to buy the CD. Then I would take my favorite songs and make mixtapes in case I got bored of the radio or if I wanted to put something on when it was my turn to drive everyone around during a night out. I literally had mixtapes all over my car. I would try to number them to keep them organized, but they would end up in the wrong cases with the wrong track listings, and after a while I gave up trying to keep them straight.

I’ve mentioned WDRE before, back in the Intro. WDRE was in Garden City, New York, and was borne from WLIR, the famous 80s New Wave station. WDRE played all alternative music, and in 1993, alternative and grunge music was the dominant music on the radio. It’s what I and pretty much everyone else I knew was listening to that year. Nirvana had opened the door in late 1991/early 1992 for alternative music to explode, and the list of artists who had big records in 1993 is a mixtape in itself: Stone Temple Pilots, Pearl Jam, Blind Melon, Cranberries, Radiohead, Duran Duran, New Order, Stereo MC’s, Gin Blossoms, Soul Asylum…I could go on and on. It was just awesome hearing a lot of these bands for the first time and having other bands like Nirvana and Pearl Jam releasing the follow ups to the records that made them household names. However, it was during this time that a three-and-a-half-minute song by an artist that I would hesitate to call “alternative” ended up rising to the top of that amazing musical heap for me that year; a song I first heard on WDRE in the spring of that year, and that I would seriously estimate to be the song I’ve heard the most in my life. “Are You Gonna Go My Way” by Lenny Kravitz just really knocked me out the first time I heard it and continues to do so to this day. I think I put it in on just about every mixtape I made back then, and it’s on a lot of my playlists as I write this. The track and the album of the same name truly made Lenny Kravitz a star, an artist who was originally told his music wasn’t “black enough” or “white enough.”

Leonard Albert Kravitz was born in Manhattan in 1964; his parents were NBC news producer Sy Kravitz and the actress Roxie Roker, best known for her role as Helen Willis on the sitcom The Jeffersons (Sidenote: if you’re reading this and from a younger generation, find The Jeffersons and watch a few episodes; it’s funny and groundbreaking). From a young age, Kravitz was interested in music, listening to the R&B, jazz, gospel and blues his parents were listening to and banging on pots and pans in the kitchen to use as drums. In an interview on LIVEKellyandRyan, Kravitz said that after seeing The Jacksons live when he was in first grade that he knew he wanted to be a musician. After moving to Los Angeles in 1974, Kravitz was introduced to rock music and as you can probably imagine, began listening to some of the most influential bands of the era: Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Rolling Stones, Aerosmith, Kiss and The Who. He also taught himself to play the piano and bass; he was already proficient on drums and guitar.

So, in the late 80’s with record labels telling him his music was too undefined (see above), he decided to record an album himself and the result was 1989’s Let Love Rule. Heavily influenced by 1960s funk and rock, it was a modest US success, and led to touring opportunities as an opening act. In 1990, he produced the controversial “Justify My Love” for Madonna, and then in 1991 recorded his next album, Mama Said. This album featured his biggest hit to that point, “It Ain’t Over Til It’s Over”, and the amazing “Always On The Run”, a tribute to his mother, which featured Slash on guitar. In March of 1993, he released Are You Gonna Go My Way, and released the title track as an airplay only single.

I first heard “Are You Gonna Go My Way” in the car, on the way to work. I know I was in the car because I was sitting in horrible Long Island traffic and the DJ on WDRE saying something like “Here’s the new one from Lenny Kravitz,” and suddenly not caring about the traffic anymore. As I mentioned, I was really blown away the first time I heard it. I loved the solo break, and that cascading bassline, with the crunching rhythm guitar playing along. I heard it again on my way home from work that day, and started hearing it everywhere, even on other radio stations like WBAB in Babylon and NYC’s Z100. It quickly became one of the most requested songs on WDRE, and in the third week in April, it was crowned Shreek of the Week, or best new song of the week. Of course, I quickly bought the CD and began putting “Are You Gonna Go My Way” on every mixtape I made. How could I not? It was, and still is, a perfect rock song…two verses, solo, amazing lyrics, upbeat tempo and at less than four minutes, it fit in easily if I only had a little tape to spare. Kravitz and guitarist Craig Ross came up with the riff and they recorded the whole track raw in about five minutes because another band was coming in to use the studio. Kravitz took the tape home and later said “he had no idea what he had”, and “didn’t know what to do with it.” Later he wrote the words and recorded it the next day, and the song was done. He told Rolling Stone he “had no idea that that song would become what it became...there was nothing on the radio like that.”

 Now about that video…man oh man that video. Back then, all these new alternative bands had videos that were in regular rotation, and there were a lot of good ones that year: “No Rain” by Blind Melon, “Plush” by Stone Temple Pilots, “Runaway Train” by Soul Asylum, “Mr. Wendal” by Arrested Development; it’s a good list. But the video for “Are You Gonna Go My Way” was the best video that year, by far. It features Kravitz and his band performing the song on a stage surrounded by rows of people dancing, with this giant chandelier above them. Kravitz’ dreadlocks are flying everywhere, and he’s got these big platform shoes on, and the rest of his band have this hippy 60s rock vibe going, like they just played Woodstock or the Monterey Pop festival. Sounds simple, I know, but it just works. I seriously wanted to be in that video, dancing and banging my head with those people!  

As the summer of 1993 came and went, I continued to hear the song everywhere. And as the years passed, it remained a staple on any mix CD or playlist I was making. Why do I think it’s the song I’ve heard the most in my life? Well, combined with it being on a lot of different types of radio stations in the 90s, and now on retro rock and 90s satellite radio stations, and me putting it on mixtapes and mix CD’s, workout playlists, and road trip playlists, I feel like it must be the song I’ve heard the most! If I have a short errand to run by car, this is a go to song. As I mentioned, at under four minutes, it’s perfect for a short drive or walk around the block. Of course, I’ll never actually know if “Are You Gonna Go My Way” is my most listened-to song, but it’s fun to speculate. And I haven’t thought about all those mixtapes in a long time. I miss figuring out how many songs I could fit on 45 minutes of tape. It’s just too easy now to put 100 songs in a playlist without thinking about it. However, now I bet you actually could figure out what song you’ve heard the most! I’m sure there’s an algorithm somewhere that can tell you. But you know what? I don’t want to know; it’s much more fun to guess. And too bad I didn’t know you back in ’93…I probably would have made you a tape. 😊

Thanks for stopping by! And here’s that awesome video…

Next time…An 80’s hard rock song that ended up in a 2001 animated film my boys and I couldn’t get enough of.

P.S.

Since 1993, Lenny Kravitz has released eight more studio albums, plus a greatest hits collection in 2000, which has sold 11 million copies to date. Some of his bigger hits since 1993 include “Again”, “Fly Away”, and a cover of the Guess Who’s “American Woman”, which appeared on the second Austin Powers film soundtrack. Admittedly, besides his greatest hits collection, I have not purchased another Lenny Kravitz album since Are You Gonna Go My Way, but it remains in my rotation to this day, and I listen to his greatest hits collection often, and highly recommend it.

He played “Are You Gonna Go My Way” on Saturday Night Live in 1993, and famously played it at that year’s MTV VMA’s, with Led Zeppelin’s John Paul Jones on bass. It’s a live performance you should check out and can find here. He would end up winning the award for Best Male video at the show that year. You also may have seen him in The Hunger Games films portraying Cinna, Katniss’ stylist, and playing alongside Katy Perry at the Super Bowl XLIX halftime show. In 2020 he released his memoir, Let Love Rule, and although I haven’t read it yet, he narrates the audiobook himself, so I’m sure I will give it a listen soon. You can find that on Audible here.

So, about that mixtape from 1993; here’s a playlist on Spotify to get you started. It might be over 90 minutes (45 minutes per side), but that’s OK, you’re going to put it on your phone anyway 😊 Enjoy!

See you next time….

JS

3/28/2022