Rate-O-Rama: Knockin' On Heaven's Door

Welcome to Rate-O-Rama!

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Rate-O-Rama is a reader participation game.

Every Thursday evening I will publish a Rate-O-Rama article which will feature three versions of a popular song.

The object is to listen to each of the music videos provided within the post.

After listening to each video you can rate each song in the comments section below.

(You must be a member to comment. If you are not a member you can join Vocal Media for FREE. You don’t ever have to pay for membership unless you choose to upgrade your membership)

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The rating method is easy. Simply give each song a rating of 1 to 100.

(The more you like the song the higher the rating).

If possible, please provide a brief comment to let us now what you think of each song.

After a week (Wednesday evening) I will tally the ratings and in the next Rate-O-Rama post, I will announce the average rating each song received.

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Last week we featured the Reggae classic: "One Love / People Get Ready" as recorded by Bob Marley (1977), Gipsy Kings (2001), and The Glee Cast (2010).

The following are the average ratings for each song as a result of the votes:

🥇 Bob Marley: 99.3

🥈 Glee Cast: 71.1

🥉 Gipsy Kings: 64.1

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The Twenty-Sixth Edition of Rate-O-Rama features three renditions of the Folk Rock classic: “Knockin’ On Heaven's Door."

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Bob Dylan (1973)

Bob Dylan, wrote “Knockin' On Heaven's Door” for the soundtrack of the 1973 film Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid. Released as a single two months after the film's premiere, it became a worldwide hit, reaching the Top 15 in several countries, including #12 in the US and Canada, #14 in the UK, and #10 in Australia. The song became one of Dylan's most popular and most covered songs.

Roger McGuinn, lead guitarist and one of the lead singers for the Byrd's, played guitar in Dylan's recording. Coincidentally the Byrds covered several of Dylan's songs.

In 2004 Rolling Stone magazine ranked Dylan's rendition of the song at #190, in their 500 Greatest Songs of All Time, and #192 in 2010.

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Eric Clapton (1975)

Shortly after having played guitars on a version of “Knocking on Heaven's Door” as recorded by Arthur Louis, Clapton recorded his own reggae influenced rendition. His rendition never appeared on any of his studio albums. The song was recorded between his albums There's One In Every Crowd and No Reason to Cry. But it was included on his hits compilation: Timepieces: The Best of Eric Clapton.

Clapton had lesser success with the song reaching #38 in the UK and #31 in the Netherlands. It also charted lower in Japan but failed to chart in the US.

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Guns ‘’N Roses (1990 / 1992)

GNR had the biggest success with “Knockin' On Heaven's Door.” The band began performing the song live in 1987. Subsequently they did a studio version of the song for the Days of Thunder Soundtrack.

In 1991 they slightly modified their recording of the song and included it on their studio album Use Your Illusion II. It is this rendition that ended up achieving worldwide success. While GNR failed to chart in the US with the song they did experience monumental success globally. They took the song to #1 in Belgium, Ireland, the Netherlands, and Portugal. They also placed in the Top Three in Austria, New Zealand, and the UK. They also charted in the Top Ten in Australia, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, and most notably Greece. Let's just say they generated a ton of royalties for Bob Dylan.

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My Thoughts

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Bob Dylan:

Quite a few people continuously knock Bob Dylan for his vocal style. I will agree technically he may not be a great singer. But I personally like his singing quite a bit. He has this raw sort of emotion and soul in his voice that resonates with me.

“Knockin' On Heaven's Door,” in my opinion, works well with a rootsy, folksy sort of rawness. Plus, I am a huge Bob Dylan fan. I have every one of his studio albums from 1962 to 2015 and a few live albums and compilations on CD totalling over 40 discs. Plus, I have his entire studio output from the 1960s, 1970s, and up to 1983 on vinyl. I give Dylan 100 for his original.

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Eric Clapton:

I am not much of a fan of Eric Clapton. Yes, I do like several of his songs: “Lay Down Sally,” “Wonderful Tonight,” “Promises,” “Tears in Heaven” are ones I like quite a bit. I also acknowledge his finesse as a guitarist, songwriter, and singer.

I will try and be impartial here and give Clapton a 75.

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Guns ‘’N Roses:

Another one of which I am not a fan. However, I want to be honest in that although I am not at all a fan of Axl Rose's singing style, I do recognize that he is an accomplished singer. The man has an amazing 5 octave vocal range. He began singing in the church choir at age five. In high school he participated in the school chorus and started taking piano lessons. Rose has the ability to sing in most any vocal style of any musical genre. I just happen to not care for the style he sings in on his recordings with Guns ‘’N Roses. However, I want to be fair and recognize him as an able and competent vocalist.

Lead guitarist Slash gives an extraordinary lead guitar performance on the song and his solos are of the best in rock and roll. His work is impressive. Not being a fan of Guns ‘’N Roses I am going to give them a somewhat high rating. I give them an 88.

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I will be back next week with the results of this Rate-O-Rama Edition.

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Last Week's Rate-O-Rama:

With Love, RHC ❤️