20 Favourite Songs
Who am I kidding? If tone deafness was an art then I'd be Picasso - a bit messy and a bit all over the place but I know what I like and in 50 years people may begin to appreciate my brilliance.
This blog article (is there a jargon word for that? - a blarticle perhaps) has been inspired by a regular contributor (there are two of them believe it or not) looking for a forum to list his 20 favourite songs. Being the blog slut that I am I'll host anything anytime and if I get a virus well then what a way to go. The fame-o-meter has nearly hit 100 and by my calculations that's gotta be worth at least 10 seconds of my 15 minutes (I'm still owed over 13 minutes).
So of course, despite only knowing about 11 songs, and three of them off the same Midnight Oil album, I have no choice but to start the listings with my own 20 favourite songs (or at least 20 that spring to mind because I was doing something memorable at the time). In no particular order, and I make no apology for getting the names wrong, here they are:
Power and the Passion - Midnight Oil
London Calling - The Clash
Highway to Hell - AC/DC
End Of The World As We Know It - REM (and a song I'd like played at my cremation)
Here We Go Again - OK Go (the other song I'd like played at my cremation)
Breakaway - Big Pig (my first gig, my first album).
Have You Ever Seen Sydney From a 767 (727? 737?747?) At Night? - Paul Kelly (I listened to this once while flying into Sydney at night - you don't forget moments like that)
LA Woman - The Doors
Seven Nation Army - The White Stripes
Beds are Burning - Midnight Oil
And your pick of any number of songs from: TISM, Nick Cave, Rocket Science, The Strokes, Machine Gun Fellatio etc etc
Told you I couldn't name 20 songs.
8 comments:
firstly, HUZZAH for CPBer for organising this blog altho it's clearly not his thang.
secondly, for some stupid reason i thought this would be an easy task. it's not. a top 500 list would still give me a headache, so i apologise for the mild cheat.
anyway, here they are in order of when i fell for them so that my musical life can be tracked from 80's power ballad through to noughties metal (if a man's life is a cycle then unfortunately i'll be listening to mix 106.5FM before i'm 50 … there’s always suicide I guess …).
Angelia - Richard Marx
A Heart In New York (live in Central Park) (and everything else off this album) – Simon & Garfunkel
Wouldn't It Be Good (and later a very cool acoustic version) - Nik Kershaw
While My Guitar Gently Weeps (live somewhere) - George Harrison w/ Eric Clapton (it'll be a cold day in hell before i affiliate The Beatles with anything i like)
Cemetary Gates - Pantera <---- little 7ducks grows up
Love Rears Its Ugly Head - Living Colour
Once (and everything off Ten) - Pearl Jam
Icicle (and most off Under the Pink) - Tori Amos
Rear View Mirror (and most off Vs) – Pearl Jam
Child In Time - Deep Purple <---- College was unsurprisingly here
Romeo and Juliet (live) - Dire Straits
Black Star (and everything off The Bends) - Radiohead
New Skin (and everything off Science) - Incubus
Emotion Sickness (and most off Neon Ballroom) - silverchair
Toxicity (and most off the album of the same name) - System of a Down
Angel's Son (and everything off Animosity) - Sevendust
This Fire Burns (and everything else they've done) - Killswitch Engage <--- these guys are the duck’s nuts
Honesty (and most off Seasons) - Sevendust
Sidewinder (and most off City of Evil) - Avenged Sevenfold
Six (and most off Fall of Ideals) - All That Remains
thanks for the 'blarticle'!
Having insulted 7ducks at a dinner party recently by making scathing comments about his list I thought it only fair that I give him the opportunity to ridicule my heavily 80's weighted list of "Favourite Songs". One thing we agree on is that once you start going through the record collection (yes, I do mean 'record' collection) it's easy to come up with lots of great music for a list like this. However, I've narrowed it down by applying my own criteria of the songs that had the most impact on me for a range of good reasons.
In no particular order....
Songs of the Siren - This Mortal Coil (recently revived but I remember being blown away by Liz Fraser's voice when it was first released)
Wide Open Road - The Triffids
Breathless - Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds (Our wedding song)
The Cutter - Echo and the Bunnymen
London Calling - The Clash (seeing them live at the Capital Theatre when I was 16 was the seminal musical experience of my life)
Love will Tear us Apart - Joy Division
Atlantic City - Bruce Springsteen (and whole Nebraska album)
Esteem - Machinations (band from the north of Sydney so I saw them quite a few times in my 'youth')
Levi Stubbs Tears - Billy Bragg (love all of Talking to the Taxman about Poetry)
From St Kilda to Kings Cross - Paul Kelly
Hongkong Garden - Siouxsie and the Banshees (she's had to answer questions about her penchant for swastika wearing but I, like many of my age, thought she was the ultimate in punk chic)
Unforgettable Fire - U2
Hymn of the Big Wheel - Massive Attack
Fight the Power - Public Enemy(love Spike Lee and I associate this song with 'Do the Right Thing')
Cactus Cat - Look Blue Go Purple (80's indie NZ band from the Flying Nun label)...girls writing about their love for other girls...
Runaways - XTC
A Place Called Home - PJ Harvey (could have chosen a Patti Smith song but went for one of her musical descendents instead)
Everything that Flies (Is not a Bird) - Laughing Clowns (another fantastic band live)
High and Dry - Radiohead (7Ducks and I intersect at last!)
Night Swimming - REM (also featured at my wedding)
Street Fighting Man - Rolling Stones (and other songs from the 1968 Olympic Studios recordings)
After haranguing Mr Crunchy to have a ‘top 20 songs’ on his blog and then not posting even a single song, I have finally managed to convince my brother’s wife to come up with a list.
To set the context of her list, she’s an 80’s born woman who has never been an astronaut. And to her taste, well, she has great taste. She married by brother after all and he’s a lot like me. As to her music taste…I’ll let you decide
1. Under the Bridge by Red Hot Chili Peppers
2. Black by Pearl Jam
3. Two Shoes by The Cat Empire
4. You Know You’re Right by Nirvana
5. While my Guitar Gently Weeps by The Beatles
6. A Day in a Life by The Beatles
7. Tiny Dancer by Elton John
8. One by U2
9. Private Universe by Crowded house
10. From Little Thing Big Things Grow by Paul Kelly
11. On the Day You Come by Powder Finger
12. Don't Forget Me by Red Hot Chili Peppers
13. Bless My Soul by Powder Finger
14. Watch Over Me by Bernard Fanning
15. Gold Dust by Hole
16. Lazy by David Byrne and
Ministry of sound
17. Vicious by Lou Reed
18. Something by The Beatles
19. Just Keep Walking by INXS
20. Magnificent Seven by The Clash
At this second they are, and thought of and completed with no referencing:
1. U-mass - the pixies
2. El-scorcho - weezer
3. Where is my mind? - the pixies
4. Hey Ladies - Beastie Boys
5. Shadaruc - Beastie Boys
6. Chic N’ stew - System of a down
7. Moonlight Mile - The Rolling Stones
8. Chop Suey - System of a down
9. How soon are now - the smiths
10. Viva Las Vegas - Dead Kennedy’s
11. Relax - Frankie G.T.H
12. Seconds- U2
13. Careful with that axe Eugene -Pink Floyd
14. Me and my monkey - the beatles
15. Feel the Pain - Dinosaur Jnr
16. Can't always get what you want - the rolling stones.
17. Run - the fiery furnaces
18. tusk - Fleetwood mac
19. up the beach - janes addiction
20. castles made of sand - jimi Hendrix
Oh Mercedes ... I love a good scathe. Not knowing half of the bands on your list (the reason for which I'm presuming is that they were hitting their straps three decades ago) I will go and do some research and get back to you with some comments. Love, The Ducks.
PS. DL, your brother's wife has great taste, however, I'm beginning to understand the lengths that you are willing to go to to avoid actually posting your own list. Does JRML have a Top 20 list you could post? Otherwise, let's go!
Btw Mercedes, a song called Cactus Cat by a lesbian girl band ... ?!? Does this maybe belong in the musical euphemism section of this blog?
Following 7ducks suggestion at how I could continue to avoid committing my 20 favourite songs to paper, I now present Jack Lonnon's 10 favourite songs. Seeing how he is only 23 months old I think 10 songs is enough, after all Mr Crunchy only came up with 10 songs and he has had considerably more years of song experience.
Lettuce Sing by The Wiggles
Head Shoulders Knees and Toes
Goodies Theme Song
Alphabet Song
Chirpy Song by The Wiggles
Grand Old Duke of York
See-Saw Margery Daw
Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
Dr Who theme Song
Hey Diddle Diddle
Emma (David's other half) told me about the blog. Coming up with 11 was easy, then I was stuck, then there were about 30 and I had to cull some. And I'm sure I've forgotten something brilliant. However, in no particular order...
How Soon Is Now - The Smiths
It Ain't All Good - De La Soul f. Chaka Khan
What's Going On - Marvin Gaye
La Haine - Asian Dub Foundation
Wide Open Road - The Triffids
Hallelujah - Happy Mondays (Jeff Buckley's is good, but not this good)
Pusher Man - Curtis Mayfield
Straight Outta Compton - NWA (album of the same name pretty amazing too)
Unfinished Sympathy - Massive Attack
Lola's Theme - The Shapeshifters
Love Will Tear Us Apart - Joy Division
In the Hood - Wu Tang Clan (not their greatest art but I listen to it all the time)
The Message - Grandmaster Flash
Can I Kick It? - A Tribe Called Quest
Fool's Gold - Stone Roses
Canonball - The Breeders
By the Time I Get To Arizona - Public Enemy
True Faith - New Order
Golden - Jill Scot (whole album of same name is brilliant)
Sign of the Times - Prince
A special mention for quite possibly my favourite album of all time - Rae and Christian's "Northern Sulphuric Soul". I'm far more into lots of bands and artists who do great albums but I can't think of a favourite song of theirs, like Jurassic 5, the Chemical Brothers, Ali Farka Toure or Erika Badu. Maybe an album challenge is what's needed after that list of (mostly)questionable taste known as Australia's favourite albums.
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