Transmogrifier and Thirdmango Present: Top 100 Songs

[Thirdmango]

Here comes another list, because we all love lists right? But this one comes with a different twist, two people intermingling their lists at the same time. It's double the fun for the same price. We have both compiled our own lists of what we believe to be our own top 100 favorite songs of all time and we are going to present them to you. We have no knowledge of the other person's list and so we may find major disconnects but that is all part of the fun, some songs might even be featured twice! So here is where you shall find both Transmogrifier's top 100 songs list and Thirdmango's top 100 songs list.

[Thirdmango]

A brief intro on how I chose my songs to be presented, this list is not so much a technical list as it is just a persona favorites list. I took songs from all parts of my life including in my kid days and added them to the list as at one point they were my favorite even if it may not be now. I thought of where they could be placed in that context, so some dumb songs may appear but because I was once a dumb kid. So the top 10 will probably stay nearly the same through out my life but others will go up and down with time. New ones could jump on the ship, but this list comes from 150GB worth of music to choose from so it's pretty definite. Each discussion on the song will show when in my life it was a favorite so that should help with the confusion. Also at the end I'll probably put up a full list in this posting of all 100 in order.

I should also mention a bit about how I listen to music. I've never been able to comprehend lyrics all that well and so much of my music I have placed on the list is not due to the lyrical talent. If a song is interesting enough to keep me listening 6-7 times then I start to like the lyrics. So expect much more songs where the music is the main theme or how a song is sung instead of what is sung. Also because of this being favorites from all my life, many of what is played will be stuff you've probably heard of. Also I tried really hard to keep it to one song per artist but I didn't succeed. Some may two or three but for the most part it's just one.

Also after seeing Transmogrifier's way method for showing off his albums I think I may steal it for mine as well. Though I don't know how to have the songs available for download.

[transmogrifier]

Thanks Thirdy. I don't predict there will be too much overlap, given our respective LastFM playlists :)

I'll reserve this post for a running list of my songs. I actually have 105 songs (I just couldn't cut them down), so I'm going to do my first five, and then we'll alternate, or something.

My list has been chosen based on the one song per artist rule (because it was the easiest way to compile the list, and it prevented there being like 53 Sonic Youth songs on it). It's fairly malleable, though the Top 40 or so are pretty set.

What you should expect:

I'm not really a music buff. My music development was based almost entirely via public radio when I was growing up, so I tended to gravitate towards well-known bands, and quite frankly, I've been happy enough doing that. I find that the share volume of music made each year makes it a fool's errand to try and be "eclectic" and obscure. I LOVE talking about movies and music, and I love it when you put a song on at a party and the great majority start tapping their toes, singing along in recognition. That's a reason to live right there.

What I'm saying is that you are going to have heard of almost all of these artists, and probably most of these songs. But that's okay, I don't mean this as an education, but merely as the cyber version of a party, where I get to bogart the stereo for a while. Hopefully, it produces more than a few nods of recognition and maybe a few "Fuck yeahs!"

UPDATED LIST:
51. Try Whistling This, Neil Finn
52. Jesus of Suburbia, Green Day
53. Driver Down, Trent Reznor
54. If 6 Was 9, Jimi Hendrix
55. Tonight Tonight, The Smashing Pumpkins
56. The Rip, Portishead
57. Hoppipolla, Sigur Ros
58. Good Woman, Cat Power
59. Neighborhood #2 (Laika), Arcade Fire
60. Innocent When You Dream (Barroom), Tom Waits
61. Those Pockets are People + The Partisan, Electrelane
62. Climbing to the Moon, Eels
63. Theme de Camille, Georges Delerue
64. She Sends Kisses, The Wrens
65. I Think I'm in Love, Spiritualized
66. Do the Whirlwind, Architecture in Helsinki
67. Aenema, Tool
68. Suck My Kiss, Red Hot Chili Peppers
69. Summertime, The Sundays
70. My Weakness, Moby
71. Chaos of the Galaxy/Happy Man, Sparklehorse
72. Waiting for the Great Leap Forward, Billy Bragg
73. Secondo Coro Delle Lavandaie, Roberto de Simone
74. Nights of the Living Dead, Tilly and the Wall
75. Better Be Home Soon, Crowded House
76. Clear Island, Liars
77. The Spectacular Commodity (For Eiko and Koma), Glenn Branca
78. Maggot Brain, Funkadelic
79. Rrrrrrright, Deerhoof
80. Deathly, Aimee Mann
81. The Israelites, Desmond Dekker
82. Empty Cans, The Streets
83. Oh Comely, Neutral Milk Hotel
84. Protection, Massive Attack
85. That Boston Life, Consonant
86. Ascension Day, Talk Talk
87. Young Americans, David Bowie
88. The Great Curve, Talking Heads
89. Jump in the River, Sinead O'Connor
90. King's Lead Hat, Brian Eno
91. Ante Up Remix, M.O.P. feat. Busta Rhymes
92. Pirouette, Tall Dwarfs
93. Jed the Humanoid, Grandaddy
94. Pass the Hatchet I Think I'm Goodkind, Yo La Tengo
95. Float On, Modest Mouse
96. Seoul Blues, Jaurim
97. Shot by Both Sides, Magazine
98. Late Last Night, Split Enz
99. Dirge, Death in Vegas
100. George, Headless Chickens
101. As the World Dies, the Eyes of God Grow Bigger, Sebadoh
102. The Empty Threats of Little Lord, Sunset Rubdown
103. Brand-New-Life, Young Marble Giants
104. East Hastings, Godspeed You! Black Emperor
105. 23, Blonde Redhead

[transmogrifier]

105.

23, Blonde Redhead (5:20)




http://experimentalrock.files.wordpre ss.com/2008/11/blonde-redhead.jpg



Available on: 23 (2007), Track #1

Comments: I got into Blonde Redhead because I was informed that they sounded like Sonic Youth, at least in their formative years, so it is ironic that my favourite track of theirs is not very Youthy at all. Instead it is beautifully plaintive, over a sunny chorus.

Highlight @ 1:31, when the la-la-la-la kicks in for the first time

Key Lyric: “Your crazy heart, my crazy love, repent now”

Songs by this artist on my computer: 49

Should be on the soundtrack of: Marie Antoinette (2006)

YouTube link (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJTvqVazNGs)
Download (http://www.aolcdn.com/_media/ch_music/blonderedhead_23.mp3)

[Sxottlan]

Can we expect Funky Town here?

[transmogrifier]

Can we expect Funky Town here?

No peeking!

[transmogrifier]

104.

East Hastings, Godspeed You! Black Emperor (17:58)


http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f7/Godspeed_You_Black_Emperor%21_-_London_Nov_20003.jpg


Available on: F♯A♯∞ (1997), Track #2

Comments: Post-rock is a-okay with me, though I tend to use it more as background music, and pay little attention to individual tracks, thus putting the genre at a disadvantage in lists like this. This song is an exception though, a masterful slow build to an initial climax, before a regathering of energy for another assault at the end. It’s the guitar line that gets me.

Highlight @ 10:28-11:58 is fever pitch

Songs by this artist on my computer: 15

Listen to this: while holed up in a creaky French farmhouse in the middle of winter during World War II

YouTube Link (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9USJgkruTw)
Download (http://www.mediafire.com/?0e1zxz9nytu)

[Sxottlan]

No peeking!

My lips are sealed.

[transmogrifier]

103.

Brand-New-Life, Young Marble Giants (2:52)



http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Music/Pix/pictures/2008/11/27/ymg-copy-1.jpg


Yet another thing The Dark Knight ripped off wholesale


Available on: Colossal Youth (1980), Track #14

Comments: a whirring, clicking mournful song, one of many excellent tracks on the album Colossal Youth, the only one this intriguing band produced. It is one of those straight-forward pop songs with a great melody on the verses. The album flows together so well, originally I wasn’t going to attempt to pry one song out for this list, as it seemed to go against the whole enterprise, but it really is a standout on the album.

Highlight @ the backing vocals coming in on “I’ve been hurt before…”. Sweet.

Key lyric: “And so I make a brand-new-life, fashioned out of brand-new strife”

Songs by this artist on my computer: 25

Should be on the soundtrack of: Wes Anderson’s next film after that Fox one. Maybe to accompany a montage or something.


Other songs in contention for this list: Music for Evenings


YouTube Link (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gn5NlS7KD6g&feature=related) (live version)
Download (http://unpiano.com/music/wp-content/music/young_marble_giants/Brand-New-Life.mp3)

[transmogrifier]

102.

The Empty Threats of Little Lord, Sunset Rubdown (5:07)



http://ajisignal.com/images/86.jpg
"We are THIS much indie!"


Available on: Shut Up I am Dreaming (2006), Track #6

Comments: As most people around here who read the music forum know, I’m pretty harsh on indie rock darlings, mostly because I find overly cerebral, mannered tunes too samey and unimaginative. Spencer Krug is an exception with his two bands, Sunset Rubdown and Wolf Parade, because there is a sense of go-for-broke theatricality with hints of true rocks influences underneath, and he writes great songs. This is one of them, from the first Sunset Rubdown album. I love the way it has no real centre, but meanders through an ever-shifting rant, like a drunken middle manager howling at the moon.

Highlight @ 3:38-4:44 “You snake….” After all the threats, finally all that’s left is bald-faced accusations and sarcastic well-wishes. And then the backing singers come in….

Key lyric: “If you ever come at me, I’ll hurt you”

Songs by this artist on my computer: 30

Listen to this: the next time you really want to chew out someone, but can't because they weigh 200 pounds more than you and eat small ponies for breakfast.

YouTube Link (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYwZNRwvLP8) (live version)
Download (http://www.fileden.com/files/2007/6/26/1215117/06%20The%20Empty%20Threats%20o f%20Little%20Lord.mp3)

[transmogrifier]

101.

As the World Dies, the Eyes of God Grow Bigger, Sebadoh (6:49)



http://s3.amazonaws.com/hottopic_shockhound_production/attachments/916/Sebadoh-feature.jpg

Available on: III (1991), Track #23

Comments: I’ve barely looked at Sebadoh’s work at all beyond this song. A joke, but a schizophrenic, energizing, totally off-the-wall joke that I love to bits. I am a bit of a sucker for the call-response type song, and this is a doozy of that genre, like Ween dueting with Satan. Who can resist that? Quite a few, I’m guessing, but hey, it’s my list. I love the way the clear division between up-beat poppy and death metal vocal screaming disintegrates little by little until, by the end, it is a complete sonic assault. All family histories should be this much fun.

Highlight @ 0:09: the assault begins with the second line

Key lyrics: “Moved home to the valley where the hippies conspire, even my grandma loved to get high”

Songs by this artist on my computer: 23

Listen to this: at 3am in the morning, as loud as possible, to get a little revenge on your neighbour who won’t clear his yard of his beaten up, gutted Chevy and empty malt liquor bottles.

Download (http://rapidshare.com/files/259283302/23_As_The_World_Dies__The_Eyes _Of_Go.mp3.html)

[Thirdmango]

101.
Butthole Surfers, Pepper (4:57)



http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d185/thirdmango/Top%20100%20Songs/100%20songs/101butthole.jpg


Available on: Electric Larryland (1996), Track #3

Comments: This song is only on as an honorable mention. This song would not rank at 101, but I felt I needed to include it because of how obsessed with it I was in 8th grade. This song could have been my theme song for 8th grade. It had the right amount of weird and good to make me smile. Unfortunately I have not liked anything else by the band. As important as this song was to me back then, the only love I have for it now is the fact I loved it back then.

Songs by this artist on my computer: 1

YouTube link (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dPH-vhpEnaI)

[transmogrifier]

100.
George, Headless Chickens (4:12)

http://www.timeoutsydney.com.au/music/gigreviews/large-headless-chickens.jpg

Now with heads!


Available on: Greedy (1997), Track #13

Comments: The first (of not many, really) Kiwi songs on the list. My main recollection of the Chickens are of a poppy, kind of inconsequential band with a couple of decent songs, but nothing you’d go mental over. However, this song stands out for its bitterness and darkness, a cutting exploration of abuse (sexual, psychological), and is probable the song they are most associated with these days. Fiona McDonald sings almost as if she is in a trance, which makes lines like “Let’s make a deal, or I’ll hurt you, you know” all the more chilling.

High point @ 1:25: the lyrical bridge, starting “Beat a path to my door, why, why, why….” leading into the chorus.

Key lyrics: “You know you don’t love me, but you still wanna touch me”

Songs by this artist on my computer: 3

Should be on the soundtrack of: a female empowerment movie, maybe where some inexplicably famous actress, say, I don’t know, Jennifer Lopez? decided she was sick of being glamorously abused by some B-movie actor – say, The Rocketeer dude? – and so she got back on him somehow, and while she was beating the living shit out of him, this song could be playing from a nearby radio for emphasis. Then at least, this hypothetical movie would have at least one decent thing in it. Unless they decided to make it a Jennifer Lopez cover of this song.

YouTube Link (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPag10yN01g)
Download (http://rapidshare.com/files/259300857/George.mp3)

[Thirdmango]

100.
Roisin Murphy, Night Of The Dancing Flame (3:26)



http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d185/thirdmango/Top%20100%20Songs/100%20songs/100roisin_murphy_overloaded.jp g


Available on: Ruby Blue (2005), Track #3

Comments: This was one of the first songs I listened to when I started getting into European Dance Music and also girl singers. Before Murphy I hadn't found a female singer that I loved. She was my first love in female singers and now I like a bunch. This song perfectly mixed for me the female singer with the weird music.

Songs by this artist on my computer: 29

Caution: The first 6 seconds and last 20 seconds of this youtube clip are not a part of the song, this is the best youtube clip I could find.

YouTube link (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MIjMmsvNizE)

[transmogrifier]

99.
Dirge, Death in Vegas (5:43)


http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_jqvmaxXy9iY/SXhoObDrdOI/AAAAAAAAB6E/uw9vIP-0cDQ/s320/death_in_vegas.jpg
Runners up in the Gallagher brothers look-a-like competition for the third year straight

Available on: The Contino Sessions (1999), Track #1

Comments: A deceptively simple song, another la-la-la refrain (see #105), but the backing instruments keep piling up on each other, creating an electronic maelstrom, full of foreboding. For a few years it was the video I remembered most about this song, a simple list of various gun-related deaths with accompanying photos of the victims, a sobering match between music and material. Apparently makes an appearance in the remake of The Last House of the Left. Don’t hold that against it.

Highlight @ 2:13 where the drum kicks in and the whole thing rises another notch towards the spiral-fuzz of the end

Songs by this artist on my computer: 23

Listen to this: on repeat on your iPod, while sitting in an exam, an exam for which you haven’t studied, and exam for which your entire semester rests, but for which you don’t have a hope in hell of passing. Let the music wash over you.

YouTube Link (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXHjo826R2k)
Download (http://www.new-mp3s.com/download/4839609-Death-in-Vegas-Dirge-mp3.html)

[Thirdmango]

99.
Cut Chemist, A Peak In Time (4:52)

http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d185/thirdmango/100%20songs/099cut-chemist.jpg

Available on: The Audience's Listening (2005), Track #11

Comments: Cut Chemist's music is the kind of music I want to make myself. Spinning records and scratching as well. This song is a good representation of what I love about his music.

Songs by this artist on my computer: 14

Imeem link (http://www.imeem.com/cutchemist/music/c-HMXJPB/cut-chemist-a-peak-in-time/)

[Sven]

Awesome. Cool so far. Like the format. Trans, I cannot help but feel your inclusion of "Key Lyrics" is a bit disingenuous, given your past expressions of apathy towards lyrical content.

[D_Davis]

Props for Sebadoh and the Butthole Surfers.

I love the Surfers audacity, and Lou Barlow will forever be one of my favorite song writers, making a case that good lyrics can really make a song.

[Thirdmango]

I am going to be out of town and without internets until monday so the next will come from me then.

[Duncan]

"Brand-New-Life" and "Final Day" are probably my favourite tracks off of Colossal Youth. Great album.

[transmogrifier]

98.
Late Last Night, Split Enz (4:02)



http://www.smh.com.au/ffximage/2006/01/31/split_enz_wideweb__470x340,0.j pg

A new vision for Kiwi masculinity


Available on: Second Thoughts (1976), Track #1

Comments: Another Kiwi band. What I love about this song, is it is kind of like four different songs melded together, highlighting the diversity and eclecticism of this awesome collective. It starts off with a lengthy lounge act intro, hits the chorus, goes for a bizarre brass band interlude and then a bit of a bridge before going back to the chorus. After Enz, Kiwi music seemed to settle into the pleasant Flying Nun groove for a while (and Neil and Tim Finn sanded away their edges with their subsequent bands/solo projects), but I really do miss their go-for-broke pseudo-art rock posturing that accompanied their genuinely great song-writing skills.

High point @ 1:28 chorus comes in for the first time

Key Lyric: “I saw you standing there at the bar, your eyes were glazed with passion, a look of afar - a secret smile, I blew a few kisses, said my name is Lyle….”

Songs by this artist on my computer: 18

YouTube Link (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=24pkWfrVsbw)

[Melville]

So far, I'm a big fan of all the songs that I've heard of...which isn't many, but I'll check out the others.

[transmogrifier]

Awesome. Cool so far. Like the format. Trans, I cannot help but feel your inclusion of "Key Lyrics" is a bit disingenuous, given your past expressions of apathy towards lyrical content.

Yeah, but I'm inclusive, so I decided to offer this sop to those who value lyrics more than I. :)

[Spaceman Spiff]

I can tell already we won't see eye-to-eye with music in general, so I'm going to back out of this thread and let everyone else have a good time.

[transmogrifier]

I can tell already we won't see eye-to-eye with music in general, so I'm going to back out of this thread and let everyone else have a good time.

How so?

[Spaceman Spiff]

How so?

Bad start so far. I hate Blond Redhead and that Sunset Rubdown song. Without trying to sound like an old fogey, or a contrarian douche, indie rock has always sounded very samey to me, and I never really got into it. Cut Chemist is ok. I prefer my mixers/cutters(?) with more soul and groove than technical wizardry.

Maybe we do have some bands, though. I really don't know anything about your taste in music.

[transmogrifier]

Bad start so far. I hate Blond Redhead and that Sunset Rubdown song. Without trying to sound like an old fogey, or a contrarian douche, indie rock has always sounded very samey to me, and I never really got into it. Cut Chemist is ok. I prefer my mixers/cutters(?) with more soul and groove than technical wizardry.

Maybe we do have some bands, though. I really don't know anything about your taste in music.

Yeah, and I know little about yours, hence the question. I'm not going to lie and say my list isn't going to have any more indie rock, but I would recommend hanging around for thirdmango's list, who I think has vastly different tastes from me.

[Spaceman Spiff]

Oh, didn't see that this was a double thing. Cool beans, I guess.

I've been so busy at work that I haven't had time to think up my lists. Maybe when school starts.

[trotchky]

I strongly don't hate the three songs on this list I've heard. I'll gladly listen to 'em all if you compile them into a playlist at the end.

[transmogrifier]

97.
Shot by Both Sides, Magazine (4:04)


http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/74/Magazine_1977.jpg


Available on: Real Life (1978), Track #3

Comments: I only got this album half a year ago or so, and I was immediately taken, as predisposed as I am to spiky, punky, growling guitar-pop from this time period. No surprise really that it is the single from the album that stands out for me, the insistent verses giving way to a melodramatic chorus, a woe-is-me paranoid political rant. As relevant as ever, then.

High point @ the start, the riff just barrels in, meaning business

Key Lyric: 'Why are you so edgy, Kid ?'

Songs by this artist on my computer: 10

Words of wisdom from LastFM: "this is the best song. POWER JOY HAPPINESS FAME!" TC_and_TCS

HypeMachine Link (http://hypem.com/search/shot%20by%20both%20sides/1/) (click on Play Results)

[transmogrifier]

96.
Seoul Blues, Jaurim (5:24)


http://jaurim.darkestb4dawn.com/images/mainImage.jpg



Available on: Ashes to Ashes (2006), Track #1

Comments: One of those bands with the male musicians and the spunky riot-grrl vocalist, Jaurim are a Korean band best-known for their spiky Garbage-esque pop songs (one of the best being “I’m Sorry, I Hate You”). Their 2006 album, Ashes to Ashes, is a more introspective, downbeat affair, the sound of a band getting older, starting families, tiring of the pop grind. The opener sets the mood, almost funereal. I don't pretend to know what it means exactly, but every time I hear it, the honey voice of Kim Yun-Ah drags you into her melancholy, and it is quite the trip.

High point @ 3:52.

Key Lyric: "Everything has disappeared..."

Songs by this artist on my computer: 28

Should be on the soundtrack of: Revolutionary Road (2008), in place of around 25 minutes of redundant arguing scenes.

Stream (http://www.esnips.com/doc/7d4bdbeb-530f-4026-929e-21167a527496/JAURIM---Seoul-Blues)
Video (http://video.cyworld.com/clip/view?video_seq=77150161) (live)

[transmogrifier]

95.
Float On, Modest Mouse (3:38)


http://blog.cleveland.com/entertainment/2007/08/large_mouse.jpg

Available on: Good News for People Who Love Bad News (2004), Track #3

Comments: Stupid band name? Yes. Do I like much of anything else this band has done? No. Has this song been overplayed? Probably. Does this song make me want to sing along at the top of my lungs even though I know none of the words except for the chorus? Damn right. People, meet #95.

High point @ the vocal delivery of the verses

Key Lyrics: "A fake Jamaican took every last dime with a scam.
It was worth it just to learn some sleight-of-hand."

Songs by this artist on my computer: 17

LastFM Wisdom: "YAYAY let's just wander in and say the lyrics are not good while in fact we are so ignorant that we can't read metaphores. Meanwhile, I love the second guitar. And the lead guitar. And also drums. And vocals :3" Aquamenti

Download (http://media.collegepublisher.com/media/paper333/audio/qc2wlj18.mp3)
YouTube link (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLkC8l3nJro)

[Llopin]

Oh come on, how can you NOT like the Butthole Surfers?

[Thirdmango]

Hot dog, I gotta catch up.

[Thirdmango]

98.
The Beastie Boys, Get It Together (4:06)

http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d185/thirdmango/100%20songs/098Beastie_Boys1.jpg

Available on: Ill Communication (1994), Track #7

Comments: This was one of three or so songs in which I first started allowing myself to like songs which had swearing in it. I still sometimes feeling little bits of guilt when I hear the swearing in this song. But it is also one of the first rap songs of which I could sing along all the way to. I was really excited with this song back in the day because it wasn't a famous Beastie Boys song and yet it was my favorite of their songs at the time. I don't seek this one out as much but I don't skip it when it comes up on random.

Songs by this artist on my computer: 86

Years this song held the most power over me: 2000-2001

YouTube link (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7REpJlMfLo)

[Thirdmango]

97.
The Chemical Brothers, The Boxer (4:08)

http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d185/thirdmango/100%20songs/097chemical-brothers-22.jpg

Available on: Push The Button (2005), Track #2

Comments: I've never been big on techno, the repetitive nature of it kept me away for the most part. That is until I discovered The Chemical Brothers. For some reason the way they formed their songs just got a grasp over me. I had figured I would probably have a song off of Dig Your Own Hole, that is until The Boxer came out. This song has what it takes to get me to love techno. The cool singing mixed with the fast dance nature. I can not keep myself from dancing anytime this song comes on, especially in the car.

Songs by this artist on my computer: 22

Years this song held the most power over me: 2007-Present

YouTube link (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MIjMmsvNizE)

[Thirdmango]

96.
The Urge, Brainless (2:37)

http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d185/thirdmango/100%20songs/096urge.jpg

Available on: Receiving the Gift Of Flavor (1996), Track #1

Comments: The Urge is the band who gets the honor of being my 100th album I ever bought. This band blew me away when I first heard them, I had been familiar with some punk, and some ska, but I hadn't really heard a mix of the two with a hard edge to it. The Urge was that band for me. Even though I rarely listen to the rest of The Urge's stuff now a days, I still try and get this particular song in since it just has little to no fault for me even though I have a lot of fault with those particular genres.

Songs by this artist on my computer: 37

Years this song held the most power over me: 2000-Present

YouTube link (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mivFRmh_KaE)

[Thirdmango]

95.
Queens Of The Stoneage, Misfit Love (5:40)

http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d185/thirdmango/100%20songs/095QueensOfTheStoneAge.jpg

Available on: Era Vulgaris (2007), Track #5

Comments: QOTSA are a fairly good normal modern rock band. They don't have too much too add to the already big genre of rock, but sometimes they can hit a song or two which are a cut above the rest. This song is my favorite of theirs. It does have a very normal rock song feel but I really like it when it changes up around 4:17 of the song. This one has an epic feel to it and is an excellent song to listen to in the car. This is also from their best album which overall is a very good album.

Songs by this artist on my computer: 39

Years this song held the most power over me: 2007-Present

lastfm link (http://www.last.fm/music/Queens+of+the+Stone+Age/_/Misfit+Love)

[Thirdmango]

94.
Daft Punk, Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger (3:44)

http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d185/thirdmango/100%20songs/094daft_punk.jpg

Available on: Discovery (2001), Track #4

Comments: Daft Punk killed my first time discovering techno. After seeing the video for Around The World in 2000, I picked up the album Homework and quickly swore off techno all together. Even though this song came out in 2001, I didn't give this album a proper chance until around 2006. When I did I found this song to be the breakout song and a couple of other songs to be pretty good. But overall I still can not keep Daft Punk in my collection. This song is just too good however, they struck gold with this one.

Songs by this artist on my computer: 15

Years this song held the most power over me:2006-Present

YouTube link (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAjR4_CbPpQ)

[Thirdmango]

93.
Linkin Park, Faint (2:42)

http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d185/thirdmango/100%20songs/093LinkinPark_byJamesMinchin.j pg

Available on: Meteora (2003), Track #7

Comments: I actually feel bad when I admit how much I like this song, because I know I shouldn't. But there's something about famous crappy rock that I love. This song is so short and to the point that it doesn't go overboard. It's a nice quick scream and rap song that gets me pumped up for some strange reason.

Songs by this artist on my computer: 73

Years this song held the most power over me: 2005-Present

imeem link (http://www.imeem.com/cageweb/music/zmwcU991/linking-park-linkin-park-faint/)

[Thirdmango]

92.
Pigeon John, Deception (3:35)

http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d185/thirdmango/Pictures%20of%20Me/pigeonjohn.jpg

Available on: Pigeon John Is Dating Your Sister (2003), Track #4

Comments: I had to do one more for the day cause I didn't think I could end with Linkin Park. Also, look, that's me with Pigeon John! That was at his concert at a little place in Utah which was the best live rap show I've ever been to. The look and the way in which Pigeon John raps is such a refreshing thing to me. My favorite part comes around 2:30 in the song. I get obsessed over his songs easily and this one is no exception. I've listened to it way too many times to count.

Songs by this artist on my computer: 45

Years this song held the most power over me: 2006-Present

YouTube link (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sX_S-bZ4sLY)

[transmogrifier]

Third, you can keep going if you like, I'll be able to catch up tomorrow

[transmogrifier]

94.
Pass the Hatchet, I Think I’m Goodkind, Yo La Tengo (10:45)


http://www.athensexchange.com/img/articles/566/tengo.jpg


Sick of the poor pay and long hours, the three school teachers decided to start a rock band

Available on: I Am Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your Ass (2006), Track #1

Comments: It’s all about the groove. A simple, mainly instrumental rock jam, the groove is infectious, hooking you in initially and then holding you there as the lead guitar scribbles over the top of it, and some perfunctory vocals fade in and out on occasions. Ten minutes may seem like an awfully long time to stretch it out, but it never feels that way; instead, it is a joyous expression of the never-ending Energizer enthusiasm of a band that just keeps on trucking. (PS their new album, Popular Song, has leaked, and it features three awesome long songs at the end that could end up rivalling this one day)

Highlight: no single aspect stands out, as it is a song very much of a piece

Songs by this artist on my computer: 45

Listen to this: on your iPod while walking through a bustling crowd downtown on a mild autumn day

HypeMachine stream (http://hypem.com/track/867530/Yo+La+Tengo-Pass+the+Hatchet%2C+I+Think+I% 27m+Goodkind)
YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqtFyyJpyxI) (live):

[transmogrifier]

93.
Jed the Humanoid, Grandaddy (4:17)


http://blogs.southflorida.com/citylink_dansweeney/Grandaddy.jpg

The anticipation was palpable at the first tasting of the new batch of moonshine


Available on: The Sophtware Slump (2000), Track #3

Comments: the first, a delicate, mournful, deeply affecting song….about the death of an alcoholic robot. The Sophtware Slump is one of the great underappreciated albums of the last decade, an exceptionally cohesive work, and this song, along with Jed’s Other Poem (Beautiful Ground), is the pillar that anchor it, the songs around which rockier, probably more self-contained songs are able to find purchase. Gorgeous.

Highlight @ 2:28 in Jed the Humanoid when the acoustic guitar comes in, with the affect of any crunching riff due to the delicacy of the piano leading up to it

Key Lyrics: “Last night, something pretty bad happened….”

Songs by this artist on my computer: 53

Download (http://cowsarejustfood.files.wordpres s.com/2008/07/jed-the-humanoid.mp3) (right click-save as)
YouTube link (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9QhivyrMaeI) (live)

[Spaceman Spiff]

97.
Shot by Both Sides, Magazine (4:04)

Oh wow, and a good one the next post after.

[monolith94]

What the hey?? Brand-New-Life is better than all dese other songs. Way too low.

[transmogrifier]

92.
Pirouette, Tall Dwarfs (4:12)


http://blurt.publr.net/Asj1hOfwJAYh_m.jpg
Kiwi kink


Available on: Weeville (1990), Track #7

Comments: going Kiwi again with the Dwarfs, featuring the one of the Godfathers of the independent scene in NZ, Chris Knox. The typical Kiwi lo-fi do-it-yourself ethos fits well with their skewed melodic sensibilities and restless experimentation. This song is pretty typical – a bit of feedback at the start, a gentle guitar line, horse-hoof clip-clopping backbeat and a dual vocals, a little whiny and insistent, gradually working it’s way up to a low key kind of climax. Job done. Next.

Highlight @ 3:09, when the chorus breaks

Songs by this artist on my computer: 57

Description by someone who knows better than me: "Pirouette", off 1990's "Weeville" features a high whining guitar drone backed up by a frenetic tap-tapping rattle of (one assumes, jury-rigged) percussion and a growling rhythm guitar loop. The earnest, pained lyrics denounce conformity and banal cliché as a fever-pitch gradually builds. The violence, anger and scatological sociological assaults are part and parcel to Knox's approach to music, as is his insistence that the music, the making of it, the artists' integrity, comes before anything else. (My Ears are Bleeding (http://earswillbleed.blogspot.com/2008/05/hey-pass-me-pesticide.html))

Other possible contenders from this artist for this list: Neusyland

Download (http://beemp3.com/download.php?file=4271225&song=Pirouette)
Stream (http://myoldkyhome.blogspot.com/2005/10/tall-dwarfs.html)

[Thirdmango]

91.
The Lonely Island, I'm On A Boat (2:36)

http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d185/thirdmango/100%20songs/091onaboat.jpg

Available on: Incredibad (2009), Track #4

Comments: There was a missed track on my list I realized so I thought this would be a good placement for this one. I am obsessed with this song, it's got the humor and the catchy beats. I've seriously listened to this song way too much and it's stuck in my head constantly. I don't know how much it'll hold up, but for now it's amazing.

Songs by this artist on my computer: 35

Years this song held the most power over me: 2009

YouTube link (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7yfISlGLNU)

[Thirdmango]

90.
The Doobie Brothers, What A Fool Believes (3:45)

http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d185/thirdmango/100%20songs/091doobies.gif

Available on: Minute by Minute (2005), Track #2

Comments: I got screwed a little when it came to the Doobies, mainly because I didn't realize what anti marketing tools Best ofs were against me. I picked up their greatest hits in early high school and then never went and bought any of their other stuff. Only now do I finally have their albums but it's much further from when I was really into them. The one song however that I've never gotten tired of by them is this one. The high notes and funky nature just kept it on my rotation even when I had my brief no-classic rock era.

Songs by this artist on my computer: 12 (on my laptop, almost all on my portable hard drive)

Years this song held the most power over me: 1997-2001

imeem link (http://www.imeem.com/chokedamp/music/tVbOlbW6/the-doobie-brothers-what-a-fool-believes/)

[transmogrifier]

91.
Ante Up Remix, M.O.P. feat. Busta Rhymes (3:33)


http://www.rashaentertainment.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/mop.jpg


Original Available on: Warriorz (2000), Track #4

Comments: I have no idea when it comes to the sub-genres of rap, as I’m nowhere near a connoisseur, but I guess I’m a fan of straight ahead no messing around, anthemish rap songs with driving backing music and a genuine sense of go-for-broke anarchy (you won’t be finding much hip-hop here, and especially not any hip-hop ballads, probably my most despised genre ever). Ante Up is pretty juvenile in its guileless profanity, but boy hit hits the spot when it comes to driving along a stretch of highway, windows down, no-one for miles around to hear you shout along with the lyrics. I prefer the remix version because all the different performers try to out hype each other and it drives the song to dizzying heights

P.S. I came across this song when I was directed to this video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=21OH0wlkfbc)

Highlight @ Remy’s couplet, just the right stutter at the right time: “ANTE UP!! Yo yap that bitch, She try to spaz out then smack that bitch”

Key Lyrics: “This shit here feels like a whole entire WORLD collapsed!”

Songs by this artist on my computer: 1

Listen to this: as mentioned above, while driving, anywhere, anytime


YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EMpZmkIQ-_8&feature=fvw) link:

[transmogrifier]

90.
King’s Lead Hat, Brian Eno (3:59)


http://www.propertyinvesting.net/cgi-script/csNews/image_upload/specialreports_2edb.brian-eno.jpg



Available on: Before and After Science (1977), Track #5

Comments: It comes as no surprise that my favourite Brian Eno track is an incredibly poppy, catchy one. I haven’t really gotten into Eno all that much, because for the longest time whenever I heard his name, I associated him with long, dreary ambient pieces, and that has never really been my thing. Of course, I know realize that is totally unfair (I’m not sure where I got that impression anyway), but Eno still remains backburnered for me. Not this song, however, which is a pure delight; I love the way it fades in at the start and out at the end, like it has always been playing in the ether, and you only need to turn up the volume to hear it.

Key Lyric: “The passage of my life is measured out in shirts”

(Indeed it is. You should see what I wore at uni.)

Songs by this artist on my computer: 34

LastFM words of wisdom: “Hmmm In my opinion, is the weakest song from the album”, PabloRH

Download (http://dev.walrusmusicblog.com/mp3/110mp3_05_kings_lead_hat.mp3) (right-click save as)

[bac0n]

90.
The Doobie Brothers, What A Fool Believes (3:45)

Oh HELLS yeah. I LOVE this song. :pritch::pritch:

There have been many a family dance session in the living room to this one.

[D_Davis]

Before and After Science is an awesome album. Love it, and that's a good song. I also like the tune's anagram title.

[Thirdmango]

89.
TV On The Radio, Wolf Like Me (4:39)

http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d185/thirdmango/100%20songs/089tvontheradio-britt.jpg

Available on: Return To Cookie Mountain (2006), Track #5

Comments: I feel absoultely in love with TV on the Radio's first album. The raw power of it just floored me. So I went and bought this album opening day, and though I didn't like the album as much as the first one, this particular song I liked more then anything else. Where I loved their first album as an album, I loved their second album for this song. It properly melded the raw form of their early music with the solidness of their newer stuff. I saw these guys live and unfortunately for some reason they couldn't hook up Kyp's guitar and so he was visibly depressed over it. It was still a good show but a very weird one at the same time.

Songs by this artist on my computer: 45

Years this song held the most power over me: 2006-Present

YouTube link (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTy-e6qEWRE)

[Thirdmango]

88.
Soul Coughing, True Dreams Of Witchita (5:00)

http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d185/thirdmango/100%20songs/088soulcoughing.gif

Available on: Ruby Vroom (1994), Track #6

Comments: Ah Punch It! In high school I was obsessed with Soul Coughing. I would regularly put them in my top 3 favorite bands when anyone asked. This song in particular though had a strange hold on me, since it was slower and more serene then their other stuff but yet still found a spot to go crazy for a slight duration. It baffled me and entranced me at the same time. Anytime I hear this song I can't help but go the same amount of crazy once they "Punch It". Unfortunately for me I had the opportunity to see them live but passed it up and then broke up shortly after that.

Songs by this artist on my computer: 48

Years this song held the most power over me: 1996-2000

Blip Link (http://blip.fm/profile/ssr11/blip/14363566)

[Sven]

[CENTER]90.
The Doobie Brothers, What A Fool Believes (3:45)

I will tell you right now that nothing on trans's list will equal the awesomeness of this selection. One of my faves as well.

[transmogrifier]

I will tell you right now that nothing on trans's list will equal the awesomeness of this selection. One of my faves as well.

Yeah, I don't like that song.

[transmogrifier]

89.
Jump in the River, Sinead O’Connor (4:09)


http://i.realone.com/assets/rn/img/5/4/7/3/14453745-14453747-large.jpg



Available on: I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got (1990), Track #7

Comments: Like anyone with ears at the start of the 1990s, for me Sinead O’Connor was always intrinsically linked to her signature warble, Nothing Compares 2 U. Also, she had a shaved head, and was a girl, and how weird was that? Being young and reactive, naturally I hated her for taking up valuable TV time that could have been devoted to Guns n Roses and Bon Jovi. It wasn’t until I bought some cheap compilation CD with this song on it that I ever truly realised that she actually had other songs, and that she could be quite good, and that she wasn’t the sexless, teary diva I had assumed she was. And to think, this great song comes immediately after that weepy behemoth on the album.

Highlight @ the gunshot ratatat start

Key Lyric: “the times we did it so hard, there was blood on the wall”

Songs by this artist on my computer: 1

YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMyziDjQ26Y) (warning: may provoke seizures)

[monolith94]

You only have one Sinead song on your pc? Sorry, buddy, that just ain't right.

[transmogrifier]

You only have one Sinead song on your pc? Sorry, buddy, that just ain't right.

That is correct. Until I posted that song in this thread, I didn't even know what album it came from.

Perhaps I will download I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got one day.

[Thirdmango]

You only have one Sinead song on your pc? Sorry, buddy, that just ain't right.

I have zero.

[monolith94]

That is correct. Until I posted that song in this thread, I didn't even know what album it came from.

Perhaps I will download I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got one day.
Great album, sure, but I might like The Lion & The Cobra, her debut, even more. It's got this track on it, Mandinka, which really psyches me up.

[transmogrifier]

88.
The Great Curve, Talking Heads (6:27)


http://userserve-ak.last.fm/serve/_/24430133/Talking+Heads+th3.jpg



Available on: Remain in Light (1980), Track #3

Comments: I’m a late comer to Talking Heads, and have probably only listened to their albums all the way through 3 or 4 times, so if you have any issue with my preliminary choice as their most impressive, gut-punching song, I’m open to dissent. What I love about it is that it is there is this barely controlled jazziness to it, like the intricate overlapping lyrics and morphing rhythms could split apart at anytime, sending shards of pure geeky hipsterism goodness flying everywhere.

Highlight @ the skronky guitar “solos”, there for no other reason than to be friggin’ awesome

Key Lyric: “The world moves on a woman’s hips”

Songs by this artist on my computer: 119

Listen to this: while blending up your spirinella and banana smoothie at 10am on a sunny spring Saturday, while the naked Lisa Loeb-ish girl (or naked James Franco-ish guy) lies in bed waiting for your return.

Other possible contenders from this artist for this list: Burning Down the House, Psycho Killer

Stream (http://hypem.com/track/737359/Talking+Heads+-+The+Great+Curve)
YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2KQjy02eqOk) (live)

[transmogrifier]

87.
Young Americans, David Bowie (5:10)


http://static.guim.co.uk/Guardian/music/gallery/2009/jan/22/davidbowie-popandrock/BOWIE2_by_GeoffMacCormack-5995.jpg



Available on: Young Americans (1975), Track #1

Comments: I mostly associate this song from the end of Dogville; I was aware of it previously, of course, but I was still struck by its (I thought) inflammatory use as an outsider’s dismissal of an entire country. Still it's a great song from an artist I don't really have an opinion on one way or the other; some great songs, but nothing has really compelled me to listen in depth to any of his albums. No doubt this will change with time, but until then, I can always groove along to this.

Highlight @ Bowie ranting at the end, culminating in the “….break down and cry” falsetto

Key Lyric: “Do you remember, your President Nixon?”

Songs by this artist on my computer: 28

Download (http://beemp3.com/download.php?file=5399105&song=Young+Americans)
YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1hvOcd3B7Q) (live)

[transmogrifier]

86.
Ascension Day, Talk Talk (6:00)


http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_cLI19EXK2oU/Silw3z5LltI/AAAAAAAAAI4/PNDHrW5Z6G4/s400/Talk_Talk-Laughing_Stock-Frontal.jpg



Available on: Laughing Stock (1991), Track #2

Comments: So yeah, for the longest time, “It’s My Life” was the only song I had even heard from Talk Talk, probably from my old flatmate who was an 80s nut, meaning it just blended into the endless morass of synths and kitsch. It was only when I was wandering aimlessly through the internets and came across tributes to the band and how the drastically reinvented themselves for their final two albums that I consciously registered them as a band as such, rather than a one-hit wonder annoyance. And I don’t think one can underplay the transformation; sure, Spirit of Eden and Laughing Stock can be a little precious at times, but taken as a whole, the albums are sonic wonders, soothing explorations of pop structure and soundscapes. (Plus I think Laughing Stock is keyinblack’s favourite album, so it’s got that going for it as well). This is my favourite for know particular reason other than I think it stands out as a single track a little more than the others, plus I love all the little touches, like the horns in the background. Actually, just listening to and writing about this song almost makes me want to push it up the list; it certainly rewards continuous listens.

Highlight @ the end, where the cacophony stretches out, tumbling over itself before just stopping dead

Key Lyric: “Reckon luck sees us the same, reckon love deals us the same”

Songs by this artist on my computer: 37

Should be on the soundtrack of: a Michael Mann film. Definitely a Michael Mann film

Stream (http://hypem.com/track/832034/Talk+Talk+-+Ascension+Day)

[D_Davis]

Those last 3 choices are great, trans.

[Derek]

Those last 3 choices are great, trans.

Exactly what I was going to say. "The Great Curve" is my favorite TH song as well.

[transmogrifier]

85.
That Boston Life, Consonant (2:50)


http://www.wellroundedradio.net/images/consonant_cd_cover.jpg



Available on: Consonant (2002), Track #8

Comments: A Mission of Burma offshoot, there is nothing complicated about Consonant, and nothing complicated about this song. It is short, to the point, with a great little chorus and toned down punk energy. If I was sitting in a group of music lovers discussing the best songs ever, I doubt this song would ever cross my mind – BUT, every time it comes up on my iPod, at home, wherever, my ears prick up, and the world just seems a little bit better. And so it makes this list with room to spare.

Highlight @ the chorus

Key Lyric: “But that girl, she loved it, she loved it fierce and quick”

Songs by this artist on my computer: 13

LastFM wisdom: “Downloaded Mission of Burma...and got the first Consonant album along with the rest of the files as well...just listened to it though...twice...awesome shit...very mellow, but with an edge...” Eppu73

Download (http://www.fenwayrecordings.com/cons/downloads.html) (RealPlayer)
Download (http://beemp3.com/download.php?file=164641&song=That+Boston+Life) (live)

[transmogrifier]

Those last 3 choices are great, trans.

Cheers...and hopefully more to come :)

[Spaceman Spiff]

Not a Talk Talk fan (i wrote some thoughts on that particular album somewhere in this forum). Dig the TH and especially the Bowie, though. Bowie's great.

[transmogrifier]

84.
Protection, Massive Attack (7:51)


http://www.rtvchannel.tv/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/massive-attack1.jpg



Available on: Protection (1994), Track #1

Other possible contenders from this artist for this list: Teardrop

Comments: I resisted trip-hop for the longest time, as a rock-hound thinking it was kind of repetitive and dull. Of course, age starts to mellow deep set prejudices and suddenly you start to re-evaluate bands that you had originally written off as over-praised, under-juiced. It’s no surprise that I got into Massive Attack with Mezzanine, seeing as it is their darkest, heaviest album and then worked backwards. This is the song that resonates most with me now, strange seeing as it uses Everything But the Girl’s Tracey Thorn, a band that I never warmed to at all. A great video as well.

Highlight @ the super smooth vocals, a perfect match with the late night groove of the track behind her

Key Lyric: “Now I can't change the way you think, but I can put my arms around you”

Songs by this artist on my computer: 39

LastFM wisdom: “Falling back on a super soft bed with champagne satin sheets after a steamy bath as a floral spring breeze flows through an all white bedroom and I close my eyes and smile.....listening to this song!!...aaaahhhh!” lastgoodguy48

Stream (http://hypem.com/search/massive%20attack%20protection/1/)
YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Epgo8ixX6Wo)

[transmogrifier]

83.
Oh Comely, Neutral Milk Hotel (8:18)


http://www.porcys.com/others_images/neutral_center.jpg
Newsflash: Paris Hilton is white


Available on: In the Aeroplane over the Sea (1998), Track #8

Other possible contenders from this artist for this list: Song against Sex

Comments: In many ways quintessentially indie rock, almost to the point of parody (have they appeared on Stuff White People Like yet?), Neutral Milk Hotel rises above the rest with their commitment to tangible dramatics, skewed melodies and a unique worldview. Indeed, I almost didn’t put one of their songs on this list simply because In the Aeroplane over the Sea works so exceptionally well as an album album (you know, rather than a collection of individual songs) that it seemed foolish to try and claim one song over the others. But this is the album’s centrepiece, the type of song the inferior Decemberists have been trying to write for almost ten years now, heartfelt, ambitious, soaring, tearing itself apart at the seams.

Highlight @ the start of the verse at 5:10, when the song finally starts to crystallize into an epic

Key Lyric: “Your father made fetuses with flesh licking ladies while you and your mother were asleep in the trailer park”

Songs by this artist on my computer: 24

Listen to this: alone in your room when your 16, and the girl you like in your class has started going out with the football player with his own car, until your mother tells you to stop with the racket, upon which time you listen through headphones, lying on the bed, staring at the ceiling, wondering whether there are any Dutch girls at your school for some reason.

Stream (http://hypem.com/track/797191/Neutral+Milk+Hotel+-+Oh+Comely)

[ContinentalOp]

84.
Protection, Massive Attack (7:51)


http://www.rtvchannel.tv/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/massive-attack1.jpg



Available on: Protection (1994), Track #1

Other possible contenders from this artist for this list: Teardrop

Comments: I resisted trip-hop for the longest time, as a rock-hound thinking it was kind of repetitive and dull. Of course, age starts to mellow deep set prejudices and suddenly you start to re-evaluate bands that you had originally written off as over-praised, under-juiced. It’s no surprise that I got into Massive Attack with Mezzanine, seeing as it is their darkest, heaviest album and then worked backwards. This is the song that resonates most with me now, strange seeing as it uses Everything But the Girl’s Tracey Thorn, a band that I never warmed to at all. A great video as well.

Highlight @ the super smooth vocals, a perfect match with the late night groove of the track behind her

Key Lyric: “Now I can't change the way you think, but I can put my arms around you”

Songs by this artist on my computer: 39

LastFM wisdom: “Falling back on a super soft bed with champagne satin sheets after a steamy bath as a floral spring breeze flows through an all white bedroom and I close my eyes and smile.....listening to this song!!...aaaahhhh!” lastgoodguy48

Stream (http://hypem.com/search/massive%20attack%20protection/1/)
YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Epgo8ixX6Wo)


Great choice. It's definitely my favorite MA song. It's a beauty, what with the piano, the vocal, the sound of rain at the end.

[transmogrifier]

And now I shall pause and allow Thirdy to catch up.

[Thirdmango]

87.
Red Hot Chili Peppers, Soul To Squeeze (4:53)

http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d185/thirdmango/100%20songs/087Red-Hot-Chili-Peppers.jpg

Available on: B-Side To Under The Bridge (1993)

Comments: I fully got into Red Hot Chili Peppers only recently however this was their one song I fell in love with in high school. It was such a serene song and had such beautiful moods to it that I could not get away.

Songs by this artist on my computer: 66

Years this song held the most power over me: 1999-2001

Imeem link (http://www.imeem.com/people/p80h8wx/music/oCixZ4qo/red-hot-chili-peppers-soul-to-squeeze/)

[Thirdmango]

86.
Of Montreal, Heimdalsgate Like A Promethean Curse (3:19)

http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d185/thirdmango/100%20songs/086of-montreal.jpg

Available on: Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer? (2007), Track #4

Comments: I've had a love hate relationship with Of Montreal. I fell in love with their album Sunlandic Twins but then picked up Bedside Drama which was drivel. So I was hesitant to pick up Hissing Fauna but I was delighted when I liked it better then Sunlandic Twins. This song is one of the great songs on the album and though I like most of them about equally this one is a cut above the rest. I love songs which change during the song and this one does just that.

Songs by this artist on my computer: 31

Years this song held the most power over me: 2008-Present

YouTube link (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5VeIL7juFE0)

[Thirdmango]

85.
Busta Rhymes, Break Ya Neck (3:51)

http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d185/thirdmango/100%20songs/085busta-rhymes.jpg

Available on: Genesis (2001), Track #10

Comments: I'm not a big fan of most main stream rap. I love a lot of underground stuff but the one guy who I tend to like most of the mainstream group is Busta. His fast rapping is a delight to me. I don't care what he's saying but he could fast rap to me all day.

Songs by this artist on my computer: 4

Years this song held the most power over me: 2005-2007

YouTube link (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9mB9ajdwo4)

[transmogrifier]

82.
Empty Cans, The Streets (8:12)


http://userserve-ak.last.fm/serve/_/11949129/The+Streets+mikeskinner.jpg


Available on: A Grand Don’t Come for Free (2004), Track #11

Comments: A Grand Don’t Come for Free is probably the epitome of a concept album – single-minded, singular, totally cohesive. Of course, Mike Skinner isn’t for everyone; a modest rapper, somewhat mopeish, leaning a little too heavily on the scrappy British stereotype for his material. But here, it works exceptionally, mainly because Skinner actual stumbles across a distinct undercurrent of melancholy, of life on the margin, a mixture between hedonistic pleasures, keeping your head above water, and dreaming of something else. This throughline is crystallized in this, the final track of the album, which optimistically suggests that the nominal hero of the album is on the verge of growing up. It may not have the same impact as a standalone song to virgin ears, but it is still a great track.

Highlight @ 3:30 onwards, the unexpected intro of the piano

Key Lyric: “The end of the something I did not want to end, beginning of hard times to come. But something that was not meant to be is done, and this is the start of what was.”

Songs by this artist on my computer: 25

LastFM wisdom: “Quite likely the only song where someone is depicted having a fight with a tv repairman...awesome : D” - dartsketch

YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4VYXmNXIx5w) (fan made)

[trotchky]

Listen to this: alone in your room when your 16, and the girl you like in your class has started going out with the football player with his own car, until your mother tells you to stop with the racket, upon which time you listen through headphones, lying on the bed, staring at the ceiling, wondering whether there are any Dutch girls at your school for some reason.

perfect.

why is paris hilton promoting in the aeroplane over the sea?

[Milky Joe]

Other possible contenders from this artist for this list: Song for Sex

Not to nitpick, but it's "Song Against Sex". Quite a distinction there.

[transmogrifier]

Not to nitpick, but it's "Song Against Sex". Quite a distinction there.

Oops, brain stopped working. I've always thought of the title as "Song for Sex" for some reason, and I had finally trained myself out of that....or so I thought. I'll fix it now.

[Spaceman Spiff]

Listen to this: alone in your room when your 16, and the girl you like in your class has started going out with the football player with his own car, until your mother tells you to stop with the racket, upon which time you listen through headphones, lying on the bed, staring at the ceiling, wondering whether there are any Dutch girls at your school for some reason.

Heh. Good stuff.

[transmogrifier]

81.
The Israelites, Desmond Dekker (2:38)


http://teenageteardrops.abstractdynam ics.org/archives/desmondekker.jpg



Available on: Sweet 16 Hits (1978), Track #16

Comments: I have no interesting history with this song; I first heard it after downloading a compilation of Pitchfork’s greatest songs of something or another, liked it, listened to it a few more times and loved it. Direct and heartfelt, with a great resonant baritone backing vocal, it has been justly lauded by all and sundry, and with good reason.

Highlight @ the beginning, theatrical, foreboding

Key Lyric: “I don't want to end up like Bonnie and Clyde.”

Songs by this artist on my computer: 2

Listen to this: at your most socially aware. Maybe after you see Angelina Jolie be all humanitarian and stuff.

Stream (http://hypem.com/track/865359/Desmond+Dekker+-+The+Israelites)
YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5JHGi0awgc&feature=related)

[transmogrifier]

80.
Deathly, Aimee Mann (5:36)


http://nymag.com/images/2/daily/entertainment/07/12/17_mann_lg.jpg



Available on: Bachelor No.2 (2000), Track #6

Comments: I arrived at Aimee Mann via Magnolia, where her songs play chorus to the down-to-earth mellow-drama of the quasirealistic characters adrift in the gorgeously wrought mini-plays. A perfect match, I got me the soundtrack album and then Bachelor No. 2, and here we are with the most impressive song on a uniformly strong album, a gently rollicking woe-is-me pop-rock ballad.

Highlight @ “You’re on your honor, cos I’m a goner…” you hardly even realise the song has been building to a head until it gets there….

Key Lyric: “Cause I’m just a problem for you to solve…”

Songs by this artist on my computer: 19

Download (http://beemp3.com/download.php?file=4486765&song=Deathly)
YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_pr8rUpA064&feature=related) (live)

[Thirdmango]

84.
Sufjan Stevens, The Predatory Wasp Of The Palisades Is Out To Get Us! (5:23)

http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d185/thirdmango/100%20songs/084sufjan-stevens.jpg

Available on: Illinois (2005), Track #15

Comments: I've said before that lyrics are hard for me as I don't comprehend them until many listenings. For this reason, a lot of indie and/or singer songwriter music I just can't get into. When this album came out everyone kept telling me I had to listen to it, so I finally gave it a chance. If I hadn't promised to listen to the whole album I would have given up well before this song. I wasn't even sold on it during the first about half of the song. Not until 2:30 did my ears prick up for the first time on the album. Then from that point on to the end of the song I found myself really enjoying it. On further listens this song came to be my favorite of the genre. Mainly due to it doing more then just a normal song especially when it came to everything except the lyrics. Even looking through the Lyrics of most of his songs I'm seldom impressed, but the way he sings this song combined with the music is my favorite this genre has to offer, and I've come to really like the song itself overall.

Songs by this artist on my computer: 22

Years this song held the most power over me:2005-07

YouTube link (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRW2g2l49fk)

[Thirdmango]

83.
Violent Femmes, Kiss Off (2:55)

http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d185/thirdmango/100%20songs/083violentfemmes.jpg

Available on: Violent Femmes (1983), Track #2

Comments: I've known about this band forever but it wasn't until I heard Add It Up that I started to really like them. Kiss Off just built upon what I already loved. For some reason this band has lyrics in which I comprehend the first time every time. Maybe it's because they're so straight forward and wonderful. This is one of the songs that I'll blame the lyrics for my liking the song. Sometimes that does happen.

Songs by this artist on my computer: 25

Years this song held the most power over me: 2007-2009

YouTube link (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=05k90ts2biw)

[Thirdmango]

82.
Everclear, So Much For The Afterglow (3:54)

http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d185/thirdmango/100%20songs/090everclear_l.jpg

Available on: So Much For The Afterglow (1997), Track #1

Comments: This album was the third album I ever bought, and this was my favorite song off that album. I don't like Everclear as a whole as much as I first did, but this song has so much nostalgia to it that I love it every time I hear it.

Songs by this artist on my computer: 27

Years this song held the most power over me: 1997-2001

YouTube link (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sffiOdriH-M)

[Thirdmango]

81.
Deep Purple, Highway Star (6:10)

http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d185/thirdmango/100%20songs/081DeepPurple.jpg

Available on: Machine Head (1972), Track #1

Comments: So I like many other kids now a days was introduced to this song because of video games. However unlike most others, the video game which made me fall in love with this song was Rock N' Roll Racing for the Super Nintendo. I didn't know what the song was but as an 11 year old I was enthralled. Many years later after somehow missing the Deep Purple train when I was getting into classic rock, I finally discovered the non super nintendo version, remembered the riff instantly and fell in love all over again. This is one of the greatest crusin' songs out there. (Not the best, that's still to come.) Classic Song.

Songs by this artist on my computer: 68

Years this song held the most power over me: 1993, 2006-09

YouTube link (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IFV-ENTf-kw)

[Thirdmango]

80.
Joe Hisaishi, Summer (6:26)

http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d185/thirdmango/100%20songs/080Joe_Hisaishi.jpg

Available on: Kikujiro Soundtrack (1999)

Comments: This song is beauty. I grew up with a dislike of most classical music because of my mother being a classical violinist. However this song is the best song I've ever heard to come from any sort of classical genre. It works especially well with the movie Kikujiro and is the only movie soundtrack song to appear on my list as well. It's too beautiful not to be on the list.

Songs by this artist on my computer: 1

Years this song held the most power over me:2005-Present

YouTube link (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CjXvptz3pW8)

[D_Davis]

Sweet, Desmond Dekker.

And that Joe Hisiashi tune is great. Love that guy.

[ContinentalOp]

80.
Joe Hisaishi, Summer (6:26)

http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d185/thirdmango/100%20songs/080Joe_Hisaishi.jpg

Available on: Kikujiro Soundtrack (1999)

Comments: This song is beauty. I grew up with a dislike of most classical music because of my mother being a classical violinist. However this song is the best song I've ever heard to come from any sort of classical genre. It works especially well with the movie Kikujiro and is the only movie soundtrack song to appear on my list as well. It's too beautiful not to be on the list.

Songs by this artist on my computer: 1

Years this song held the most power over me:2005-Present

YouTube link (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CjXvptz3pW8)
Fantastic choice. But only one Hisaishi song on your computer? Check out Joe Hisaishi Meets Kitano Films if you haven't already. It includes Summer and about five or six equally great tunes.

[transmogrifier]

79.
Rrrrrrright, Deerhoof (3:57)


http://blogs.villagevoice.com/statusainthood/archives/images/deerhoof.jpg


Available on: The Runners Four (2005), Track #20

Other possible contenders from this artist for this list: My Purple Past, Twin Killers

Comments: I had a hell of a time choosing my favourite Deerhoof track; to me, their sound is so singular, spazzy and all-consuming, the idea of individual tracks seems beside the point. I’d fluctuate between wanting to put five songs on the list to wanting just leave them off, even though as a band they would easily be in my Top 10 when taken as a whole. However, a little time spent deeply immersed in their rock candyland and I finally realised that it was a song that may represent the signature Deerhoof sound that resonated the most. Rrrrrrrright starts with a few strums of weedwacker guitar, feedback bleeds in, which heralds the drums and the simple sexy bass. After 47 seconds, the song stops cold, as if to wonder which fork in the musical path to take next. As it turns out, it decides to throw Matsuzaki and her impeccably ill-fitting girly vocal stylings and mostly nonsensical lyrics. That keeps them busy until 1:50, upon which time the song suffers a mini-breakdown, starts trying to communicate in morose blips and bleeps for 20 to 30 seconds, after which the low-key drums try to bring the original tune back to life; a wall of guitars join the effort, and with 40 seconds remaining Matsuzaki is back and the whole song tumbles carefree into a joyous cacophony of a finish. Ladies and gentlemen, meet Deerhoof.

Highlight @ the fact that these guys make almost an album a year of this stuff

Key Lyric: “Ka-ka ka-ka”

Songs by this artist on my computer: 99

Listen to this: after consuming 10 pounds of confectionary.

Download (http://beemp3.com/download.php?file=2849130&song=rrrrrrright)
YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-UPYT1Ihuw&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.whatsont v.co.uk%2Fyoutube%2Fsearch%2Fr rrrrrright%2Fvideo%2Fr-UPYT1Ihuw%2F1&feature=player_embedded)(live)

[Sven]

Mooooooooooooooooore.

[Thirdmango]

Yeah, I was going to mention it's Finals Week which is why I haven't updated. Final Today, Final and Big Project tomorrow.

[transmogrifier]

Mooooooooooooooooore.

Tonight, maybe.

[transmogrifier]

78.
Maggot Brain, Funkadelic (10:20)


http://henpantha.files.wordpress.com/2008/12/funkadelic.jpg



Available on: Maggot Brain (1971), Track #1

Other possible contenders from this artist for this list: Who Says a Funk Band Can’t Play Rock?!

Comments: It’s a long-arse guitar solo, courtesy of a funk band. Soulful, groovy, the perfect background music to pretty much anything. I’ve been meaning to delve deeper into Funkadelic and Parliament more than I have, but until then, this song will always be reverberating around up inside my head, dragging me through the day, plating the mundane with flecks of sonic awesomeness.

Songs by this artist on my computer: 16

LastFM Wisdom: “Quite frankly, I can't get enough of this sh!t...” classawatts

Download (http://beemp3.com/download.php?file=503015&song=Maggot+Brain)
YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TAn0DU3qcuo&feature=related)(live)

[transmogrifier]

77.
The Spectacular Commodity (For Eiko and Koma),
Glenn Branca (12:41)


http://www.champdaction.be/media/page/4/glenn-branca-in-actie-2.jpg



Available on: The Ascension (1981), Track #2

Comments: Starts off ominously, clanging like a possessed church bell, and then builds off that into a minimalist masterpiece of squall, the whole song a headlong race upwards, upwards, a true stairway to heaven.

Highlight @ 7:21, urgent, insistent, piercing, unstoppable

Songs by this artist on my computer: 16

Description from Someone Smarter than Me: “Slabs of dissonance result as guitar piles on guitar, then matters emerge into this strange swaggering repeated figure, very menacing, heavy...and the drums start to bash. And then we're into some driving rock-noise soundtrack music for car chases, craziness...then triumphant fanfares of distorted strings!” Unsung (http://www.headheritage.co.uk/unsung/review/949)

Listen to this: on your iPod for the last 12 minutes of your first ever marathon.

Download (http://rapidshare.com/files/268258170/02_The_Spectacular_Commodity__ For_Ei.mp3)

[Boner M]

I would like to see more of this 'last.fm wisdom'.

Great list. Branca + Maggot Brain; you know your guitar shit.

[Thirdmango]

79.
David Bowie, Life On Mars (3:53)

http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d185/thirdmango/100%20songs/079david_bowie.jpg

Available on: Hunky Dory (1971), Track #4

Comments: I admit, I didn't know about this song until the movie Life Aquatic, but I fell in love with it because of that. I haven't yet gotten to the point where I'm into Bowie, but this song was definitely my first and I listen to it too much.

Songs by this artist on my laptop: 3 (Many more on my other computer.)

Years this song held the most power over me:2007

YouTube link (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v--IqqusnNQ)

[Thirdmango]

78.
Blur, Coffee & TV (5:59)

http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d185/thirdmango/100%20songs/078blur1.jpg

Available on: 13 (1999), Track #3

Comments: This is one of my favorite music videos ever. The light airy rhythm with the nice vocals is what first drew me to this song. I became a Bluraholic for a while there, but this song stayed pretty constant on my favorite of their songs. It goes a little wacky and yet still keeps the same foundation. Not my favorite album by them, but it is my second favorite song of theirs.

Songs by this artist on my computer: 27

Years this song held the most power over me:1999-2002

YouTube link (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6oqXVx3sBOk)

[Thirdmango]

77.
The Offspring, All I Want (1:54)

http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d185/thirdmango/100%20songs/077The_Offspring_Band.jpg

Available on: Ixnay On The Hombre (1997), Track #10

Comments: As a 15 year old kid this song was the shit. As one of the only songs I really knew the meaning of the lyrics to I once tried to impress a girl by taking these lyrics and using them as my own, it failed of course as it was much to angsty. Still as this was pretty much the only punk song I got into in my high school years, this one had my aggression on full.

Years this song held the most power over me: 1997-1998

YouTube link (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_jnQ73w9giY)

[Thirdmango]

76.
The Seatbelts, Bad Dog No Biscuits (4:09)

http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d185/thirdmango/100%20songs/076TheSeatbelts.jpg

Available on: Cowboy Bebop (1998), Track #4

Comments: I love super jazz music like this. This music was perfect for Cowboy Bebop and I loved this song so much that I used it in a movie I made during a fight scene. This song pumps me up quite a bit and makes me so happy that this kind of music is still made.

Songs by this artist on my computer: Very Many

Years this song held the most power over me:2000-2009

YouTube link (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EuAzPR0ACVw)
Live Version (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8KleWPGuic)

[Thirdmango]

75.
The Gorillaz, Feel Good Inc (3:42)

http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d185/thirdmango/100%20songs/075gorillaz.jpg

Available on: Demon Days (2005), Track #6

Comments: I love the concept of The Gorillaz, and I already love Damon Albern. Oh and I love when rap and rock mix, especially when it's done right like in this song. The mystery that is apparent in the music is just brilliance.

Songs by this artist on my computer: 39

Years this song held the most power over me:2005-2009

YouTube link (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6Np4yq0VJs)

[Thirdmango]

74.
Jethro Tull, Aqualung (6:37)

http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d185/thirdmango/100%20songs/074jethrotull.jpg

Available on: Aqualung (1971), Track #1

Comments: I love songs which shift and this one has it all over the place. For some reason I completely forgot this song existed when I was really getting into music, and only recently did I find it again. I know how weird it seems to forget about such a famous song, but somehow I did. This whole album is amazing, but this song is by far my favorite.

Songs by this artist on my computer: 44

Years this song held the most power over me:1996, 2009

YouTube link (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1xY7Heaqg8)

[Thirdmango]

73.
The Beatles, In My Life (2:28)

http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d185/thirdmango/100%20songs/073beatles.jpg

Available on: Rubber Soul (1965), Track #11

Comments: It was PBS that made me fall in love with this song, long before I actually liked the Beatles, PBS would play this song in between their BBC programing late saturday nights, and that's when I fell in love. I still don't love The Beatles to the extent that most do, but this song and one other later to come I just can't get over the brilliance of.

Songs by this artist on my computer: Many on the computer I don't have turned on.

Years this song held the most power over me:1991-94

YouTube link (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2d2llB4oIQ)

[Thirdmango]

72.
Led Zeppelin, Over The Hills And Far Away (4:50)

http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d185/thirdmango/100%20songs/072led_zeppelin.jpg

Available on: Houses Of The Holy (1973), Track #3

Comments: To finish off this classic rock trifecta is my sentimental favorite of Led Zeppelin's songs. I was pretty well obsessed with this song in high school. Now that I've gotten to the point where I've over done The Zep, this is one which still doesn't get old.

Songs by this artist on my computer: 25 on this one, most of their songs on the other.

Years this song held the most power over me: 1999-2000

YouTube link (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MIjMmsvNizE)

[Thirdmango]

71.
Kings of Convenience, I'd Rather Dance With You (3:29)

http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d185/thirdmango/100%20songs/071kingsofconvenience.jpg

Available on: Riot on an Empty Street (2004), Track #8

Comments: I got into a big dance phase, and I found this song during that phase. This is a nice dance song though the rest of the album isn't. However I found this album relaxes me quite well and I play amazing poker whenever I listen to it, so it's stayed in heavy rotation since I got it for that reason, so I listen to this song a lot and I haven't yet gotten sick of it.

Songs by this artist on my computer: 12

Years this song held the most power over me:2005-2007, whenever I play Poker.

YouTube link (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C9r9sQ6PHOM)

[D_Davis]

78.
Maggot Brain, Funkadelic (10:20)





79.
David Bowie, Life On Mars (3:53)






78.
Blur, Coffee & TV (5:59)





I like these choices. Blur is awesome. Bowie is incredible. And Maggot Brain is great.

[transmogrifier]

76.
Clear Island, Liars (2:38)


http://woxy.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/08/liars1.jpg



Available on: Liars (2007), Track #9

Comments: Easily Liars most poppy song, this is almost seems like three driving pop-rock songs stitched together into a Frankenstein monster approximation of what radio-friendly should sound like.

Highlight @ 2:20, song goes quiet....and you think it's all over...

Key Lyric: "Dirty clouds got rough/and they're banging back and forth throwing lightning at us"

Songs by this artist on my computer: 52

Listen to this: just before you are about to deliver a big presentation about the folly of Germany's march into Russia during WW2.

YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kut57stVmnk&feature=related) (live)
Download (http://discodiscodisco.com/files/09%20Clear%20Island.mp3)

[transmogrifier]

75.
Better Be Home Soon, Crowded House (3:10)


http://www.musictimes.com.au/userimages/user998_1169428116.jpg



Available on: Temple of Low Men (1988), Track #10

Comments: Melodic, melancholy, imminent break-up song. a gorgeous way to close the album, even if it is supremely pessimistic. Nothing complicated in the set up here - simple acoustic guitar to start, band joins the party after the first verse, and Neil Finn lets his otherwise pretty functional voice soar a little.

Highlight @ 0:24 when the lyrics below are sung for the first time

Key Lyric: "And I know I'm right/For the first time in my life..."

Songs by this artist on my computer: 94

Listen to this: 2am in the morning, lying on your back, in an empty bed, ceiling splashed in the dull yellow stain of a streetlight outside, the oppressive weight of silence smothering everything.

YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQOlwMKpmvQ)

[transmogrifier]

74.
Nights of the Living Dead, Tilly and the Wall (3:55)


http://team-love.com/home/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/till.jpg



Available on: Wild Like Children (2004), Track #2

Comments: Melodramatic, 'our generation sucks but if we act like mindless sheep and rock out together in some sort of protest against a non-specific threat, it'll be alright' chant that is a winner of sheer single-mided catchiness, with the sprinkling of profanity, which could have been a cheap shock tactic, but it is an effective summation of teenage shorthand, a scattershot approach to an ill-defined problem. And you know, sometimes, I just want to fuck it up as well.

Highlight @ 0:45 when the girls join in on the vocals

Key Lyric: "gas station parking lot prostitutes/Tried to fix their hair in our rearview mirrors"

Songs by this artist on my computer: 33

Words of Wisdom: "I say we do fuck it up with more than 40oz, a fresh pack of smokes, and a banana harmonica." - JM-huggies (LastFM)

cq7-FMEbWOo
C01_8Y_Ltzc

- caution: many white people dancing badly

[Spaceman Spiff]

Is that Ralph Fiennes at number 75?

[transmogrifier]

73.
Secondo Coro Delle Lavandaie, Roberto de Simone (6:27)


http://i.ytimg.com/vi/qcTSlSg-8_s/0.jpg

Available on: La Gatta Cenerentola (Cinderella the Cat) (2004), Track #15

Comments: This is a song from an Italian opera that "tells the story of Cinderella sung in an obscure Neopolitan dialect. [Roberto de Simone] discovered this sort of pagan culture which had not been affected by Catholicism, and still existed as a matriarchal shepherding community". I first became familiar with this song through the cover by Japanese all-girl spazz rock band OOIOO (titled "Umo"), not ever realizing that it was a cover in the first place until I stumbled across the original in the netherworld of random-click music blog surfing. Its propulsive, urgent flurry of energy is almost primal in its drama, a howl against the world. Pagan drums!

Highlight @ the way the drums interact with the mechanical distractions (horns, rattles etc) in the background

Key Lyric: Um......

Songs by this artist on my computer: 1

Listen to this: in a thunderstorm in the mid-afternoon, in your underwear, alone in your lounge

YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wah8bIvVkIY)
Mp3 Download (http://www.2hqd.net/blog/sound/Roberto_de_Simone_-_Secondo_Coro_Delle_Lavandaie. mp3)

[transmogrifier]

72.
Waiting for the Great Leap Forward, Billy Bragg (4:35)


http://thisrecording.com/storage/billy-bragg.jpg


Available on: Workers Playtime (1988), Track #11

Comments: Don't know much about Billy; I found this song on the soundtrack for the British movie Face, a soundtrack I only bought because Damon Albarn was in the film, and I was on a bit of a Blur kick at the time. I love the structure of this song, the way it rolls into the verses, slowly building up steam until the chorus and alternating lines kick in.

Highlight @ 3:00, when Billy's rollicking commentary of a society in a state of miscommunication suddenly receives backing from a chorus of plaintive youths.

Key Lyric: "The revolution is just a t-shirt away"

Songs by this artist on my computer: 12

Listen to this: as you walk into town from your flat, ready to meet your mates for a night on the town, a couple of months short of your graduation, with no job lined up on the other side.

YouTube
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFYyS-5i3y0) Mp3 Download (http://beemp3.com/download.php?file=1788654&song=Waiting+For+The+Great+Lea p+Forward)

[Winston*]

Waiting for the Great Leap Forward is so good.

"In a perfect world we'd all sing in tune, but this is reality so give me some room!"

[transmogrifier]

71.
Chaos of the Galaxy/Happy Man, Sparklehorse (4:30)


http://www.downbeast.com/sparklehorse.jpg


Available on: Good Morning Spider (1999), Track #8

Comments: A poorly tuned radio, crackling and indistinct. But whatever lies beneath that cloak of static is intriguing, magnetic. You lean forward, twiddle the dial, try to allow the notes and lyrics and emotion to bloom into full aural colour. The great thing about this song is that it takes this idea completely literally, confronting the age-old problem of balancing art with commerce head-on, explicitly and fearlessly. Mark Linkous wasn't able to fight off his demons, but here they perversely allowed him to deepen and fortify a perfectly good pop-rock tune with a shimmering dissatisfaction at the demands of the commerical rock success gods.

Highlight @ 1:55-2:30 the bottom drops out of the song, and then the song breaks through again

Key Lyric: "If I had more, more would be laid at your feet"

Songs by this artist on my computer: 29

LastFM Wisdom: "this song is genial, when finally it starts" glimvania

YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JIOeErcqW5E)

[transmogrifier]

Mooooooooooooooooore.


70.
My Weakness, Moby (3:37)


http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/photos/uncategorized/2008/03/11/moby_500.gif


Available on: Play (1999), Track #18

Comments: Before Moby became a bit of a joke, he made some great music. This is one example.

Highlight @ 1:44 starts to aim for the sky

Key Lyric: Nil.

Songs by this artist on my computer: 23

LastFM Wisdom: "This song scares my mom"malchickiwick17

6lrq5oGHdrY

[transmogrifier]

69.
Summertime, The Sundays (3:34)


http://userserve-ak.last.fm/serve/500/850310/The+Sundays.jpg


Available on: Static & Silence (1992), Track #1

Other Songs by This Artist Considered for the List: Wild Horses

Comments: Pure pop happiness, the ultimate radio tune, the eternal mood lifter. Nothing complicated going on here, just a great voice belting out a song.

Highlight @ 1:04 Impossibly sunny chorus hits for the first time

Key Lyric: "Liverpudlian lady, sophisticated man..."

Songs by this artist on my computer: 4

LastFM Wisdom: "Ah, a beautiful nostalgia." internik

RStbxOC9pyA

[Lucky]

I like The Sundays cover of "Wild Horses." Haven't heard this song before though.

EDIT: I just noticed you already mentioned this in the other songs section of your post.

[soitgoes...]

Play is such a great album. I don't listen to much Moby, but that album is so well composed.

[transmogrifier]

68.
Suck My Kiss, Red Hot Chili Peppers (3:36)



http://www.iamfan.com/%7Ered_hot_chili_peppers/images/pictures/red-hot-chilli-peppers-12.jpg
This caption was brought to you by the letter U


Available on: Blood Sugar Sex Magik (1991), Track #5

Comments: I always thought that the Chili Peppers were way overrated by my university cohort, seduced by their hedonistic LA rock-bop. And I still do think they are not nearly as good as their longeivity, albums sales, and the middle-aged nostalgia-whore love would suggest. But goddamn if this ain't a song to just bring you straight back to the visceral thrills of spazzing out to juvenile music that seems like it was made for God's ears.

Highlight @ 0:03 Well I'm sailing....BOOM

Key Lyric: "Most mutherfuckers don't give a damn...."

Songs by this artist on my computer: 3

LastFM Wisdom: "how can anyone rape a bass? he plays the fuck out of it but the bass is consenting...." elciscokid

C6jElKMMOWM

[transmogrifier]

67.
Aenema, Tool (6:39)


http://www.allgoodseats.com/images/tool.jpg


There should be a law against teenage rawk heroes being photographed after they hit 30.


Available on: Aenima (1996), Track #13

Comments: I'm an unapologetic Tool fan, despite the pretty negative light they are held in by many of the resident blogosphere music self-made arbiters of musical taste and style. I think it's because they have this image of being humourless and self-serious (mostly borne from their last two CDs - and perpetuated by humourless and self-serious fans of the group), but one thing I've always liked about them is their dark streak of irony and absurdity (I mean, the carrot holocaust?), as well as just rocking the fuck out consistently. Here we have a pretty obvious diatribe against LA peppered with enjoyably fuck-off lyrics and an apocalyptic barrage of riffs and beats and Tool being tool. Great driving music.

Highlight @ 4:17-5:02 The list of hate figures: hip gangster wannabes, retro anything, tattoos, junkies, L. Ron Hubbard, actresses, smiley gladhands...all with the backing vocals of:

Key Lyric: "Learn to swim..."

Songs by this artist on my computer: 48

LastFM Wisdom: "This song pretty much sums up my thoughts on our society today. Thanks Tool for putting it into perspective. Unfortunately, many of the "millions of dumbfounded dipshits" will never hear this...." anbisho

uCEeAn6_QJo

[transmogrifier]

66.
Do the Whirlwind, Architecture in Helsinki (4:39)


http://www.eavesdr0p.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/aihpic.jpg


Warning: these people may be associates of Boner. Proceed with caution.


Available on: In Case We Die (2005), Track #6

Comments: Another one of those great-songs-from-a-band-that-I-really-don't-like-all-that-much. I mean, I don't hate them, or anything, but I find their brand of ADHD pop kind of Deerhoof-lite (though I hear that their latest is very much different from that template) and lacking in killer songs, something Deerhoof never has a problem with. Except this one. A floor-filler dance classic. With horns!

Highlight @ 2:08, the random skipped beat, a little flutter in the chest, the pang of love at first sight

Key Lyric: "At least be confused between right and wrong."

Songs by this artist on my computer: 23

LastFM Wisdom: "At 2:08, was it meant to skip like that? I thought my copy may have been scratched or something. " misssuomi


MXIzyquw-kc

[transmogrifier]

65.
I Think I'm in Love, Spiritualized (8:09)



http://nymag.com/images/2/daily/entertainment/07/11/19_spiritualized_lg.jpg


Spiritualized concert as staged by Spielberg. Note absent father!


Available on: Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space (1997), Track #3

Comments: Beautifully pessimistic call and response song; gorgeous, jazzy and funny all at the same time.

Highlight @ 4:12, the start of the long laundry list of silver linings sullied by clouds

Key Lyric: "Think I'm in love/Probably just hungry."

Songs by this artist on my computer: 23

LastFM Wisdom: "How many lovely psychedelic evenings are connected by this song? I do not know. " TehSpiral


TUD2mcbjIE4

[transmogrifier]

64.
She Sends Kisses, The Wrens (5:57)



http://austinist.com/attachments/austinist_carly/theWrens7.21.07.JPG


The Wrens' bucket list: 1. Release an album that many people liked 2. Travel around 100 different countries taking cheesy holiday snapshots in front of famous landmarks while looking like we are visiting Russian hydroengineers on our way back to the hotel after a conference (focus optional). 3. Maybe make another album if we can be bothered.


Available on: The Meadowlands (2003), Track #3

Comments: This is a male melodrama soft-rock ballad masterpiece.

Highlight @ 2:57 the chorus crests for the first time on top of a building wave of man moans.

Key Lyric: "Past clumsy crushes beneath Thrill Pier/Hopes pinned to poses honed in men's room mirrors."

Songs by this artist on my computer: 13

LastFM Wisdom: "I seem to be always drunk and laying on the floor when I put this on to howl along to. " mattvay


aK3AMhNpg_k

[transmogrifier]

63.
Theme de Camille, Georges Delerue (2:32)
http://babayaganyc.files.wordpress.co m/2011/04/contempt31.png


A girl, but no gun.


Available on: Soundtrack of Contempt (Le Memphris) (1963)

Comments: An awesome arrangement, so evocative of a particularly cinematic type of doomed romanticism.

Key Lyric: Nil

Songs by this artist on my computer: 2

LastFM Wisdom: "Few things in this world are truly magnificent; this score sores through with an enchanting melody to take us to heights we never knew cinematic music could take us. " davisappels


S5BcdmkiuaY

[transmogrifier]

62.
Climbing to the Moon, Eels (3:39)
http://klap4music.com/images/eels.jpg


This has always been how I have pictured Sven.


Available on: Electro-Shock Blues (1998). Track #12

Comments: One of the greatest albums of the 90s, the product of the increasingly erratic Mark Everett. His debut album under the Eels moniker, Beautiful Freak, was a calculated stab at indie sarcasm, and seems realy dated now. But his follow up, the product of a string of family tragedies, strips away the manufactured ironic distance and instead marries his simple, effective songwriting to genuinely affecting subject matter. A lot of it is dark, especially in the first half, which makes Climbing to the Moon a ray of sunshine, a glimmer of hope.

Key Lyric: "Got a sky that looks like heaven, got an earth that looks like shit. "

Songs by this artist on my computer: 116

LastFM Wisdom: "man, what a great album. depressing, but great! " capmullet2008


nesZUjbXw3A

[transmogrifier]

61.

Those Pockets are People + The Partisan, Electrelane (7:35)
http://tomtommag.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/Photo-by-Louis-Decamps.jpg


Suspend your disbelief - and all-girl rawk group on trans' list!


Available on: Axes (2005) Tracks #9 & 10

Other Songs from This Artist Considered for the List: Five, Between the Wolf and the Dog

Comments: It's really just one song split in two. Punishingly beautiful and dramatic. The girls went on hiatus in 2008, but have started playing together again in 2001. Sleater-Kinney, take note!

High Point: @ 5:12, just after the changeover and the vocals come in

Key Lyric: "I took my gun and vanished "

Songs by this artist on my computer: 55

LastFM Wisdom: "Refers to the military phrase, "pockets of resistance". " dasneonlicht


mYHQbspQbd8

[Derek]

65.
I Think I'm in Love, Spiritualized (8:09)


64.
She Sends Kisses, The Wrens (5:57)


Great picks. "She Sends Kisses" is my favorite Meadowlands track as well, which says a lot since that album is full of them. I'm almost at the point where I'd be okay if their supposed follow-up doesn't happen, since it'll be hard to be anything but a disappointment.

[transmogrifier]

60.
Innocent When You Dream (Barroom)[Version], Tom Waits (4:18)
http://theselvedgeyard.files.wordpres s.com/2010/01/tom-waits_piano.jpg


No, you will never be this cool. So stop trying.


Available on: Smoke OST (1995) Track #11

Comments: The backing vocals that add a convivial drunken beauty to it, and the song itself seems barely in control, threatening to devolve into a mash of slurred syllables. (PS I don't have a copy of Franks Wild Years, so I don't know if this version is the same as the one on that album)

High Point: @ 2:45, the chorus is brought in too early by the backing vocals

Key Lyric: "I made a golden promise/that we would never part
I gave my love a locket/and then I broke her heart "

Songs by this artist on my computer: 87

LastFM Wisdom: "Tom Waits does the best drunk bar songs. " ackibear


61pp51kxvVM

[elixir]

63.
Theme de Camille

YES!

[transmogrifier]

59.
Neighborhood #2 (Laika), Arcade Fire (3:32)
http://www.billboard.com/photos/stylus/104496-arcade_fire.jpg


Canadians, eh?


Available on: Funeral (2004) Track #2

Other Songs by this Artist Considered for the List: Wake Up, In the Backseat

Comments: So, who would have thought that, upon its release, Funeral would turn out to be Arcade Fire's only good album 7 years later? Both follow ups have ramped up the melodrama and sanded down the musical edges to produced intermittedly interesting dad-rock, more or less. Their debut, in constrast, is way looser, ambitious and - most importantly - has way better songs. Like this one, the best on the album.

High Point: @ 1:46, exactly halfway through, the song starts to lose control a little

Key Lyric: "Older brother, bit by a vampire/For a year we caught his tears in a cup... "

Songs by this artist on my computer: 44

LastFM Wisdom: "This song would song awful with "death metal" vocals. Go boil your head. " apgoldenboy


siFsdInZqC0

[transmogrifier]

58.
Good Woman, Cat Power (3:59)
http://img.listal.com/image/651324/600full-cat-power.jpg


Although I'm allergic to cats, here is one I would sneeze my face inside out for


Available on: You Are Free (2003) Track #3

Comments: A mournful eulogy to the loss of a relationship, bittersweet and sad. It's the clear-eyed maturity of it all, I think, that sells it so well.
(PS I never appreciated how cute she was until I had to search for photos for this post)

High Point: @ 2:15 onwards, lovely backing vocals

Key Lyric: "I will love this love forever "

Songs by this artist on my computer: 2

LastFM Wisdom: "This made me cry a ridiculous amount, and then feel like I needed a drunken boy on my bed to cry to it WITH me. " nicsi


_lJiwKskTlE

[transmogrifier]

57.
Hoppipolla, Sigur Ros (4:29)
http://www.umstrum.com/wp-content/uploads/2005/09/Sigur-R%C3%B3s.jpg


- I engelum faap stendus engin brosi B-? - Ya, aarm sundelaar Qrazy vindurrin.


Available on: Takk (2005) Track #3

Comments: Yeah, it's probably their most famous, overplayed track now, but you know what? It's their best, and I'm not goign to complain if something so awesome is going to saturate our lives.

High Point: @ 2:25 the strings burst free

Key Lyric: Some gibberish that adds to the atmosphere.

Songs by this artist on my computer: 40

LastFM Wisdom: "i... must.... no... must... stopppp listening to itttt.... askjdcj aaaaaaaaa" lykojo


qmXMA34CeoQ

[transmogrifier]

56.
The Rip, Portishead (4:37)

http://onethirtybpm.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/Portishead.jpg


Do anteaters ever feel stereotyped? Like "Screw you guys, I enjoy poetry and beat-boxing too"


Available on: Third (2008) Track #4

Other Songs by this Artist Considered for the List: Glory Box, Roads [NYC Live Version]

Comments: I read somewhere that this song was described as the song Radiohead had been trying to write for 8 years. And it's not far off the mark - there is an effortlessness in the slow build start and electronic sheen that resonates with the mood rather than clashing with it. It really is a gorgeous effort from a band that started strong, went to sleep for several years, and then woke up and started again as if nothing happened.

High Point: @ 2:11 here come the beats

Key Lyric: "Through the glory of life/I am scattered on the floor..."

Songs by this artist on my computer: 43

LastFM Wisdom: "Oh is this the way they say the future's meant to feel? Or just 20,000 people standing in a field. And I don't quite understand just what this feeling is. And tell me when the spaceship lands cos all this has just got to mean something. " ElyEdelgase


kBOaLjtR4mw

[transmogrifier]

55.
Tonight Tonight, The Smashing Pumpkins (4:14)

http://www.inaudiowetrust.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/the_smashing_pumpkins_2.png


No matter what she did, D'Arcy couldn't stop her geeky younger brother from following her and her friends around


Available on: Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness (1995) Track #2

Comments: Worst title of an album ever? Possibly. A band that started well but fell into the pretentious orbit of their lead singer? Yes. Who couldn't sing? Definitely. But this song is a bombastic, swoony joy nonetheless.

High Point: @ 3:15 to the end, a headlong rush

Key Lyric: "Tonight/We'll crucify the insincere tonight"

Songs by this artist on my computer: 42

LastFM Wisdom: "the best fucking song from Smashing Pumpkins. LOOK AT THOSE LYRICS, THERE'S NOT A LINE THAT YOU CAN'T SAY IT'S AWFUL! my God, i just love love love this song uncountable times! " thahbianchi


UAS6daVLT5U

(PS Sorry about the live version, but apparently EMI doesn't want people in NZ to listen to any of their music on YouTube. Because, you know, fuck foreigners)

[transmogrifier]

54.
If 6 Was 9, Jimi Hendrix (5:34)

http://www.soulculture.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/jimi-hendrix.jpg


This caption would like to point out that it didn't choose to be written so GOD could you just leave me alone nothings wrong!!! UGH!


Available on: Axis: Bold as Love (1967) Track #7

Comments: I've never really thought all that much about Jimi Hendrix, but over the years, I'm starting to find his songs starting to stick and take on more of a significance. And the sonic experiments, such as this healthy slice of live-and-let-live philosophy, are simply astounding.

High Point: @ 1:10 the bemused intonation of "hippies"

Key Lyric: "If the mountains fell in the sea/Let it be, it ain't me."

Songs by this artist on my computer: 20

LastFM Wisdom: "there are three kinds of businesses...the universe's, yours, and mine. the only business that is mine is mine...so why stress about a six being a nine." letigre1974


PczW76rpTbM

[transmogrifier]

53.
Driver Down, Trent Reznor (5:18)

http://beatcrave.frsucrave.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/trent_reznor_wallpaper_by_amsk a.jpghttp://laist.com/attachments/tony/trentrezisout.jpg


A Facebook movie is still a dumb idea.


Available on: Lost Highway OST (1997) Track #22

Comments: A scary squall of a song, a fitting companion piece to the bug-fuck film that inspired it. It is stripped bare of the Nine Inch Nails of that era's preoccupation with shock, and instead just drives its industrial buzz deep inside your head as the serene piano ominously tinkles away in the background. And then the storm clouds clear, and the sparseness is even scarier.

High Point: @ 5:16 the last piano key is struck and silence.

Key Lyric: Nil.

Songs by this artist on my computer: 78 (including Nine Inch Nails)

LastFM Wisdom: "I prefer other songs on the Lost Highway soundtrack! " nicolaas1973


X5QwztNtkAM

[Kurosawa Fan]

DOjXPzEjEWY


That's definitely not "If 6 Was 9."

[transmogrifier]

That's definitely not "If 6 Was 9."

Definitely not. :) Not sure what exactly happened there.

Fixed, cheers.

[Glass Co.]

This is a fantastic list. Kudos for starting it again.

[transmogrifier]

52.
Jesus of Suburbia, Green Day (9:08)

http://www.billboard.com/photos/stylus/103451-Green_Day_617_409.jpg


Some bands just shouldn't have photos taken of them.


Available on: American Idiot (2004) Track #2

Comments: I'm not sure the world needed a socially-conscious Green Day, any more than we need, say, one of the Wiggles becoming head of the UN, but at least in the act of trying to find something meaningful to say (as if singing about masturbation isn't vitally important to the self-image of teenage boys everywhere) and thus justify in their own heads their extravagant wealth and endless supply of groupies, Green Day stumbled upon (by accident) a genuinely great song, a mish-mash of small vignettes that, yes, strive towards some big picture, but which is actually fun in its moment-to-moment head-banging and fist-waving and singing along to the silly lyrics.

High Point: @ 4:23-4:34 He really doesn't care

Key Lyric: "Am I retarded or am I just overjoyed?"

Songs by this artist on my computer: 72

LastFM Wisdom: "Pop punk declined after the release of this album, and this song. Why? Because "Jesus of Suburbia" is the answer to the pop punk equation. The musicians of the genre realized that they will never, ever be able to top this song, and they quit trying. This is the song that broke the machine. What a glorious song it is." TheMusicalVito


Pg6Oqp18M2c

[transmogrifier]

51.
Try Whistling This, Neil Finn (4:11)


http://www.throng.co.nz/files/u2/neil-finn.jpg

Another glamorous Kiwi music star. Also drives a cab.


Available on: Try Whistling This (1998) Track #4

Comments: Finn's pretty much the Godfather of the NZ music scene now, having gone through his spiky adolescent phase with Split Enz, and the settled, mature period with Crowded House. His first solo album hinted that he was going to head more towards a more eclectic art-pop, but that hasn't happened, content as he has been to go back to the Crowded House well for mixed results (too smooth, too easy). This song is probably his personal highlight, a slow burn for 3 odd minutes, before erupting into a slightly obsessive declaration of love.

High Point: @ 3:09 The final minute, an avalanche of heightened emotion

Key Lyric: "If the gods desert us now, I'll turn this chapel into flames"

Songs by this artist on my computer: 24

LastFM Wisdom: "There's a video of this that drives me mad... the camera pans up to him while he's sitting at the piano singing live. The camera goes very close to him and you see the back of his head and his profile and I can almost reach out to stroke that gorgeous hair....................." Fasstili


tqVgsL53MbM

[transmogrifier]

Halfway! This list so far:

51. Try Whistling This, Neil Finn
52. Jesus of Suburbia, Green Day
53. Driver Down, Trent Reznor
54. If 6 Was 9, Jimi Hendrix
55. Tonight Tonight, The Smashing Pumpkins
56. The Rip, Portishead
57. Hoppipolla, Sigur Ros
58. Good Woman, Cat Power
59. Neighborhood #2 (Laika), Arcade Fire
60. Innocent When You Dream (Barroom), Tom Waits
61. Those Pockets are People + The Partisan, Electrelane
62. Climbing to the Moon, Eels
63. Theme de Camille, Georges Delerue
64. She Sends Kisses, The Wrens
65. I Think I'm in Love, Spiritualized
66. Do the Whirlwind, Architecture in Helsinki
67. Aenema, Tool
68. Suck My Kiss, Red Hot Chili Peppers
69. Summertime, The Sundays
70. My Weakness, Moby
71. Chaos of the Galaxy/Happy Man, Sparklehorse
72. Waiting for the Great Leap Forward, Billy Bragg
73. Secondo Coro Delle Lavandaie, Roberto de Simone
74. Nights of the Living Dead, Tilly and the Wall
75. Better Be Home Soon, Crowded House
76. Clear Island, Liars
77. The Spectacular Commodity (For Eiko and Koma), Glenn Branca
78. Maggot Brain, Funkadelic
79. Rrrrrrright, Deerhoof
80. Deathly, Aimee Mann
81. The Israelites, Desmond Dekker
82. Empty Cans, The Streets
83. Oh Comely, Neutral Milk Hotel
84. Protection, Massive Attack
85. That Boston Life, Consonant
86. Ascension Day, Talk Talk
87. Young Americans, David Bowie
88. The Great Curve, Talking Heads
89. Jump in the River, Sinead O'Connor
90. King's Lead Hat, Brian Eno
91. Ante Up Remix, M.O.P. feat. Busta Rhymes
92. Pirouette, Tall Dwarfs
93. Jed the Humanoid, Grandaddy
94. Pass the Hatchet I Think I'm Goodkind, Yo La Tengo
95. Float On, Modest Mouse
96. Seoul Blues, Jaurim
97. Shot by Both Sides, Magazine
98. Late Last Night, Split Enz
99. Dirge, Death in Vegas
100. George, Headless Chickens
101. As the World Dies, the Eyes of God Grow Bigger, Sebadoh
102. The Empty Threats of Little Lord, Sunset Rubdown
103. Brand-New-Life, Young Marble Giants
104. East Hastings, Godspeed You! Black Emperor
105. 23, Blonde Redhead

[transmogrifier]

50.
Melody, Serge Gainsbourg (7:32)


http://www.cbc.ca/radio2/blog/musee_temp6.jpg
This man is a 9.7 on the scale of not-very-French to very, very French

Available on: Histoire de Melody Nelson (1971) Track #1

Comments: Beautifully seedy, a slinky, divey, gravel-flecked alley romance between a dodgy man and his Lolita. The spoken word lyrics, reliably French, and the bass pulsating libido-like in the background. Oh, yes.

High Point: @ 4:48-6:26 from the thud to the introduction

Key Lyric: "Melody Nelson has red hair/And it's her natural colour"

Songs by this artist on my computer: 18

LastFM Wisdom: "sexual romance" LooseProduct



Rwk1MX9wbag

[soitgoes...]

55.
Tonight Tonight, The Smashing Pumpkins I'm a big fan of the Pumpkins, their first three albums plus Pisces Iscariot all get a ton of play. I like this song, but "Mayonaise" would probably be a top 20 song if I were to ever do one of these lists. Such an awesome song.

[transmogrifier]

49.
Hurt, Johnny Cash (3:43)



http://freakshowbusiness.files.wordpr ess.com/2008/08/columbia-johnny-cash-1959.jpg


This caption feels like it's just not the right time nor place to make jokes. And it's certainly not the right time or place to do its impression of an elephant.


Available on: American IV: The Man Comes Around (2002) Track #2

Other Songs by this Artist Considered for the List: I See a Darkness, The Man Comes Around, Folsom Prison Blues

Comments: This used to be my favourite Nine Inch Nails song. But as Trent Reznor has said, it no longer belongs to him. And quite simply, it has one of the bleakest videos ever filmed. Fuck death.

High Point: @ 2:51 when the piano picks up until the end

Key Lyric: "Everyone I know goes away in the end"

Songs by this artist on my computer: 18

LastFM Wisdom: "A message of depth & weight from a Man who had experience Recovery and understood. Love this immensely. " issueman


SmVAWKfJ4Go

[transmogrifier]

48.
Yumeji's Theme, Shigeru Umebayashi (2:28)



http://www.lashorasperdidas.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/shigeru-umebayashi.jpg


I want a theme. As long as there's no accordian involved.


Available on: In The Mood For Love OST (2001) Track #1

Comments: I'm not sure there has ever been a better congruence between music and image than this song in that movie. Transcendent.

High Point: @ the part where Maggie Cheung is walking away. Oh, that's the video, not the song, you say? Well fuck, live with it.

Key Lyric: Nil

Songs by this artist on my computer: 2

Youtube Wisdom: "BELLISSIMO..UNA MUSICA CHE TI FA SOGNARE.TI FA MALINCONIRE...UNA MUSICA CHE TI FA VIAGGIARE.. " antipathitikos


23oBMOvt85o

[transmogrifier]

47.
Sometimes Always, The Jesus and Mary Chain (2:30)


http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_sJQtTze7mv0/TFsP6bvXYtI/AAAAAAAAJMQ/3tC1UWI9cro/s1600/The%2BJesus%2Band%2BMary%2BCha in.jpg

Back in the days where hair didn't so much grow as sprout.


Available on: Stoned & Dethroned (1994) Track #2

Comments: I love a good male-female duet, especially when it is as coy and playful as this. Featuring the silky tones of Hope Sandoval of Mazzy Star, it's a cute little story of an old lover slinking back into the life of his ex-, and the pseudo-fight she puts up. The genius of it is that it makes sure it doesn't outstay its welcome and let the cuteness become cloying.

High Point: @ the guitar solo leading into "Oh you're a lucky son..."

Key Lyric: "I gave you all I had/I gave you good and bad"

Songs by this artist on my computer: 18

LastFM Wisdom: "This requires daffodils. And daisies. Fields and fields of them. " SourDaisy



WdAcS4c0-Qk

tvuI911C2y8

[transmogrifier]

46.
(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay, Otis Redding (2:38)

http://www.clashmusic.com/files/imagecache/big_node_view/files/images/Otis%20Redding.jpg

"Milo and Otis" ruined the name Otis for everyone, didn't it?


Available on: The Dock of the Bay (1968) Track #1

Comments: Sometimes a song transcends its overexposure - this seems to appear on every soundtrack of every 60s set film - because it is simply too good to get sick of. This is one of those cases, a iron-cast classic of wistful melancholy elevated by the events that followed its creation.

High Point: @ 1:24 the elevation of the voice on "Looks like, nothing's gonna change"

Key Lyric: "Sitting here resting my bones/And this loneliness won't leave me alone"

Songs by this artist on my computer: 4

LastFM Wisdom: "I've listened to this song a thousand times and yet always manage to come in too soon with the whistling. " ReverendPerrigo



wzrXc68gNjQ

[transmogrifier]

45.
Superstition, Stevie Wonder (4:26)


http://www.soulculture.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/satterwhitewonder.jpg

Cybermen > Daleks


Available on: Talking Book (1972) Track #6

Comments: I Just Called to Fucking Say I Love You. I hated that song when I was a kid. Despised it. And I hate it even more now because for the longest time, it made me think that Stevie Wonder was just a purveyor of pap, shitty little love songs that infected the airwaves like a virus. But then - Stealing Beauty! A movie so many on here dislike, but which I've always appreciated for is lazy sensuousness and humor, but which also has an outstanding soundtrack. Including this song (and one more on the list!). Gotta get to know Stevie a little better now.

High Point: @ 0:09 the funky riff barges right over the drum beat.

Key Lyric: "You don't want to save me/Sad is my song"

Songs by this artist on my computer: 13

LastFM Wisdom: "I've read that he wrote this riff for Jeff Beck but he liked it so much he kept it for himself. Good move Stevie. " drewper73



wDZFf0pm0SE

[transmogrifier]

44.
Wake Up, Rage Against the Machine (6:04)



http://userserve-ak.last.fm/serve/_/16222071/Rage+Against+the+Machine+rage2 .jpg
Off to rumble Fleet Foxes

Available on: Rage Against the Machine (1992) Track #7

Comments: When I was at university, my flatmates loved these guys, but I thought they were one-note rabble-rousers. Now, I love these guys (in part because they are one-note rabble-rousers, except that the one note is head-bangingly awesome) but most people tend to look down their noses at them now, as if the point of music wasn't to make you scream and shout and punch the air. This is them at their best, a political statement that happens to build and release exquisitely.

High Point: @ 5:07 title of the song comes screaming at us for the first time

Key Lyric: "I think I heard a shot"

Songs by this artist on my computer: 50

LastFM Wisdom: "Morello's a communist. Communists suck ass. But he grinded an amazing solo in this baby, so he rocks. Damn, it rapes ears totally." Ghostiet


B1T8xgHdMEM

[transmogrifier]

43.
Slip Inside This House, The 13th Floor Elevators (7:54)


http://starling.rinet.ru/music/sleeves/zap_13th.jpg

This caption is brief. (EDIT: Not that I'm against elaboration, per se, as it helps to add depth and understanding to complex ideas and thus faciliatate a more thourough interaction between two minds, one generating an idea and the other seeing it and processing it through the medium of language. But in general captions just need to get to the fucking point as sometimes they seem to forget that it is the picture that is the focus of attention, not the - let's face it - entirely redundant act of summarizing the figurative 1000 words expressed by the picture in a mere 100-150)


Available on: Easter Everywhere (1967) Track #1

Comments: Psychedelica, kind of. Primal Scream took it and drugged it up for the early 90s, but there's a creepy kind of urgency behind what on the surface is a leisurely 8 minutes. And it has the electric jug.

High Point: It doesn't really work like that - it's one of those immersive, all-encompassing things

Key Lyric: "Four and twenty birds of Maya/Baked into an atom you/Polarized into existence"

Songs by this artist on my computer: 26

LastFM Wisdom: "if i was walking by a house and heard this music coming from it i would definetly slip inside!" spikygoose



nwSA0Tckwbk

[transmogrifier]

42.
So Long Marianne, Leonard Cohen (5:40)


http://lh5.ggpht.com/_JnYdydEJQ3g/TJaPYwtDwJI/AAAAAAAAHj8/izkQFP1FXZc/leonard%20cohen1.jpg

Nalon sirhc yb detcerid tseug noitpac siht


Available on: Songs of Leonard Cohen (1967) Track #6

Comments: As I was growing up, Leonard Cohen was shorthand for depressing, morose, suicidal. Not that I ever listened to the guy, but mu mates that were into music obvious had parents that played him, and word filtered out. But bloody hell, the chorus here is a dream, cutting against the inherently sad material, and its just weirdly uplifting in its sincerity and clarity of emotion.

High Point: @4:15 the weedy, slightly cracking on "I never said I was brave..."

Key Lyric: "You held on to me like I was a crucifix"

Songs by this artist on my computer: 15

LastFM Wisdom: "if ever i needed an inspiration to smoke. this man sounds like god. jfacto



vZ61su9H5RU

[transmogrifier]

41.
He Got Game, Public Enemy (4:42)


http://www.fatberris.com/berri.dk/wp-content/photos/public.jpg

I want a job where I can look silly in public as well. At least the Republican nomination for President is still open!


Available on: He Got Game (1998) Track #2

Comments: Great use of a sample, a successful mash-up before mash-ups became passe (PE + Buffalo Springfield!). Socially conscious but remembering to bring an actual song to carry the pointed observations. There is definitely something happening here.

High Point: @2:37 when the sample starts to wrest control

Key Lyric: "But fuck the game/If it ain't saying nuthin"

Songs by this artist on my computer: 17

LastFM Wisdom: "Really, really good. Flava Flav telling Buffalo Springfield to kick it to 'em again is insane." AgentZero


8y_VFGrGnCE

[Acapelli]

"sittin' on a cock cuz i'm gay"

can no longer hear that otis redding song without hearing this instead

[dreamdead]

Halfway! This list so far:

63. Theme de Camille, Georges Delerue


Possibly the most rapturous a film score has ever been. Just transcendent.



Yumeji's Theme, Shigeru Umebayashi (2:28)
[/CENTER]

And, as you note, the best marriage of music and image. The only other thing that comes close for is Malick's use of Wagner in The New World...

[transmogrifier]

40.
Natural's Not In It, Gang of Four (3:07)


http://rcrdlbl.com/files/rblog_images/gof%281%29.jpg


Four is an unlucky number in Korea.


Available on: Entertainment! (1980) Track #2

Comments: Pure post-punk joy; the whole song is bristles with life, an aural montage of people being ACTIVE and DOING THINGS and BEING ALIVE - you can't help but listen and imagine smash cuts and whip pans on lithe body after lithe body in the middle of enjoying the luxury of life and movement and self-determination.

High Point: @0:24 "The problem with leisure/What to do for pleasure" straight to the heart of the matter

Key Lyric: see above

Songs by this artist on my computer: 37

LastFM Wisdom: "i will go to my grave lovin this funky punk spoon-full of youth truth. " zaynzaynzayn


qZOtR85-qBY

[transmogrifier]

39.
It's Like That, Run-D.M.C. vs Jason Nevins (5:26)


http://userserve-ak.last.fm/serve/_/212659/RunDMC+vs+Jason+Nevins.jpg


The rapture is sure going to invalidate the point of this thread.


Available on: Single release (1997)

Comments: Possibly the most purely perfect dance song, at least in terms of my rather tenuous dancing sensibilities. The beat is maddeningly persuasive, daring you not to get a hip a shakin'. Don't fight it, just let it happen.

High Point: @0:00-1:13 The sparring at the start, revving you up for the dance-off to come

Key Lyric: "Next time someone's teaching/Why don't you get taught?"

Songs by this artist on my computer: 21 (just Run -D.M.C.)

Youtube Wisdom: "Why the fuck is everyone talking about fanta. if you haven't heard this before a fanta advert you're either 10 or been living in a cave for the last 15 years " mck90s2


TLGWQfK-6DY

[transmogrifier]

38.
Super Coming, Boredoms (12:20)


http://www.latenightwallflower.com/site/wp-content/uploads/2008/01/614_x600_mr_boredoms_prev.jpg


This band puts Jeffrey Wells to sleep.


Available on: Super Ae (1998) Track #4

Comments: Noise, noise, noise, but noise with a driving hook piercing the layers and layers of epic sound layers, with bits and bobs floating around popping up here and there. A sound collage for the end of the world. Get naked and dance around in a puddle.

High Point: @1:58 after the impressionistic, noodling along, the song bursts into life

Key Lyric: heh

Songs by this artist on my computer: 57

LastFM Wisdom: "I just realized that if I had to sum up this vastly diverse band and everything they're all about from their beginnings to the present into one simple track to play for one interested individual, I would play them this. Not their best, not my favorite, but Boredoms at its essence. " kindelanryan


d76RXdWd9LU

[transmogrifier]

37.
I'm Not Driving Anymore, Rob Dougan (4:34)


http://www.technodisco.net/img/tracks/r/rob-dougan/421270-rob-dougan-furious-angels.jpg


This caption contains language that may offend some viewers. Discretion is mutherfucking advised.


Available on: Furious Angels (2002) Track #5

Comments: Doom-laden cry for help, casts such a spell of despair that you almost forget the music is actually catchy as all hell. The vocals - scratchy, cracked, straining - are a perfect match to the mood, and you can't help but believe that this is a man who truly is not going to drive no more, even as his music drives its way to a stunning, immersive conclusion.

High Point: @3:32 escalation

Key Lyric: "I don't know how to play my part"

Songs by this artist on my computer: 27

LastFM Wisdom: "Last.fm drives me to yet another amazon purchase. Who knew internet radio would save the music industry? " fluxmaster


nm-kn-XG01k

[transmogrifier]

36.
Never Here, Elastica (4:27)


http://userserve-ak.last.fm/serve/500/2415481/Elastica+thing.jpg


If you are going to have three girls, you might as well make it four, that's all I can say


Available on: Elastica (1995) Track #15

Comments: Sure, they were hardly original, nor did they really hang around long enough to prove that they had the potential to carve out their own little patch of musical ground. But you know what? Elastica were awesome. They wrote catchy songs and performed the hell out of them. They were funky and funny and honest. Even The Menace, their generally ignored second and last album is bloody good. And this is them at their best.

High Point: @0:00-1:04 I've always been partial to escalating beginnings where the instruments come in at different stages

Key Lyric: "Too much TV and curry/Too much time spent on ourselves"

Songs by this artist on my computer: 52

YouTube Wisdom: "Donna was the ultimate britpop babe, fuck off lauren laverne! " bassuvia


VMXGMdqKKGQ

[transmogrifier]

35.
Child Killers, The Delgados (6:43)


http://www.chemikal.co.uk/images/delgados-biog5b.jpg


Captions are people too.


Available on: Hate (2002) Track #6

Other songs by this artist considered for this list: The Actress, Accused of Stealing, Tempered; Not Tamed, No Danger

Comments: One of the most unjustly ignored bands of the late 90s, early 2000s. Had a way with pop (both rock-ish and ballad-esque) that often times layered melody upon melody, and in many songs they play with changes in pace and structure, all within an otherwise pretty straight-forward pop context. On this album, the pop took a decidedly darker turn, not necessarily in the music, but in the lyrical content. Here the soaring strings play counter-point to the deep depression of the song's narrator.

High Point: @3:26 Into the last chorus before the smooth comedown

Key Lyric: "In truth our lives were shite"

Songs by this artist on my computer: 86

YouTube Wisdom: "Genius, brave songwriting. Woodward's a lost treasure these days, sadly. Nothing remotely like them to take their place-I mourn their passing most days. " mastiffchild


H0byzAMuYFk

[transmogrifier]

34.
Halleluhwah, Can (18:28)


http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_K2GS7Z1UqsE/TDz2MqKA5lI/AAAAAAAAAZo/kqtBfRoF8Vc/s1600/25376.jpg


This caption understands a little bit Pol Pot.


Available on: Tago Mago (1971) Track #4

Other songs by this artist considered for this list: Yoo Doo Right

Comments: I first stumbled upon Can via this song, which was included in a free album give away for a UK music magazine (Mojo, I think) entitled "Music that inspired the Sex Pistols" or something, many years ago. Playing this for the first time, I couldn't quite believe it was going to actually last 18 minutes following roughly the same groove the whole time. By halfway through, I didn't want it to ever end, and it remains my favourite Can song. What you have is a band of a thousand creative impulses all moving together, hanging out, and enjoying each other's company on tape (who knows what the background to it was, it may have been constant fighting, but I'm one of those people who doesn't really care HOW art get done, as long as it gets done) and just letting the music exist. It's strangely exhilirating, and just awesome.

High Point: @15:08-16:30 Starts to lose control just a little, before finding solid ground again

Key Lyric: "Did everybody see this snowman/Standing in the wind alone?"

Songs by this artist on my computer: 59

YouTube Wisdom: "this song is a good song to listen to on headphones while walking around in the dark. or to listen to in general. but especially then." drphibes


yNvJiIvitBQ

[transmogrifier]

33.
Requiem for a Tower, Clint Mansell (6:35)


http://new.assets.thequietus.com/images/articles/5670/Clint_Mansell_Pic1_1297253013_ crop_550x400.jpg


I forgive you for The Fountain.


Available on: Tracklisting for Corner Stone Cues Presents: "Requiem for a Tower" (2009) Track #1-3

Comments: This remix of Lux Aeterna from Mansell's soundtrack for Requiem for a Dream was created for the LOTR: The Two Towers trailer, as is to my mind still the best version of it bar none. The haunting vocals at the front and the genuinely cathartic build and release pattern - exquisite.

High Point: @3:05-3:43 High gear!

Key Lyric: nil

Songs by this artist on my computer: 5

YouTube Wisdom: "this must be the music that played when chuck norris was born " gamekingjojo


tudPfpsQm6k

[Derek]

34.
Halleluhwah, Can (18:28)

*HUGS*

[transmogrifier]

*HUGS*

Man or bear?

[transmogrifier]

32.
Where Do I Begin, The Chemical Brothers (6:57)


http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_Wj_KGIa0BjQ/TJNM_G4hAWI/AAAAAAAAAk8/FplcNZLq9a0/s1600/chemical-brothers-530.jpg


The Fucking Salmon Dance? Really?


Available on: Dig Your Own Hole (1997) Track #10

Other songs by this artist considered for this list: The Private Psychedelic Reel, Out of Control, Denmark

Comments: Had the hardest time choosing between this and the song that follows it on the album, The Private Psychedelic Reel, as the best CB song, but ended up going with this one because it may be their loveliest, and showcases their ability to meld guest vocalists seamlessly into their electronic world (or at least, that used to be the case - after the diminshing returns of Push the Button and We Are the Night, it was good to see Further focus on the instruments first and foremost). Beth Orton doesn't have much to do, really, but her mere presence colours the song, at least intially until the driving beats take over and lead us into the blissed out TPPR.

High Point: @3:12 bursts free

Key Lyric: "Where do I start/Where do I begin"

Songs by this artist on my computer: 104

One of the worst tracks ever known to man to be released by a great artist as a single: The Salmon Dance

LastFM Wisdom: "This song is great for an alarm tone. The first part is mellow and is really nice to be the first thing to hear in the morning,and if that doesn't wake you up,ending surely will. " duyyya


Ba58cWjoRqI

[transmogrifier]

31.
I'm Straight, The Modern Lovers (4:18)


http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3094/3641394974_281d826c7c.jpg


The longer you marinate the chicken, the stronger the taste will be. But remember to cover it.


Available on: The Modern Lovers (1976) Track #5

Other songs by this artist considered for this list: Pablo Picasso

Comments: No, they don't mean it like that. One of the few songs to expressly champion the clean-cut, drug-free nature of the lead character, it's mainly about yearning and wanting what you can't have and being jealous - all very much teenage stuff, but delivered in a droll, melodrama free manner. Love it.

High Point: @3:48 we're all straight!

Key Lyric: "I saw you today, you know, walk by with hippie Johnny/
Look, I had to call up and say, I want to take his place."

Songs by this artist on my computer: 21

LastFM Wisdom: "What impresses me about Jonathan Richman is his absolutely undying dedication to NOT growing his hair in the face of what must have been immense pressure. Good lad. " BennyT11


B_exvKnrK6g

[Derek]

Man or bear?

For "Halleluhwah": Bear. For "I'm Straight": Man.

[Thirdmango]

My list disappeared when my computer was stolen. I do hope to try and make another one sometime this summer but it won't be in this thread most likely. Could a mod take my name off of the title?

[transmogrifier]

30.
New York I Love You But You're Bringing Me Down, LCD Soundsystem (5:36)


http://www.booooooom.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/lcd_soundsystem_vancouver.jpg


Goodbye.


Available on: Sound of Silver (2007) Track #9

Other songs by this artist considered for this list: Dance Yrself Clean, All My Friends, Yeah (Crass Version), Beat Connection, Home

Comments: It's not really the popular choice, but to me this sums up LCD Soundsystem the best (sardonic subject matter, in-jokey and flatly presented, followed by them just rocking the fuck out for a little bit, before ending on a little pure beauty). And it's the best song to shout along with in the car. LCD, you better be back one day.

High Point: @3:21 The song cracks open

Key Lyric: "New York you're safer and you're wasting my time"

Songs by this artist on my computer: 123

LastFM Wisdom: "Buffalo, I HATE you and you're bringing me down." Pinkfloydbeck


5JkBiP7rPt0

nvHbBiAOa8s

[transmogrifier]

29.
This is a Low, Blur (5:17)


http://jp917.files.wordpress.com/2009/12/blur2b20095b15d.jpg


All those people who sided with Oasis? Jerks to a man.


Available on: Parklife (1994) Track #15

Other songs by this artist considered for this list: Entertain Me, Sing

Comments: The first Blur album I heard was The Great Escape, and I thought it was a bit naff. Then I heard Sing on the Trainspotting soundtrack, and thought - bloody hell, these guys are good. Parklife was next and then they scratched my grunge itch with their self-titled album in 97. But it is their sorrowful ballad about the weather (!) that ends (almost) Parklife that remains their highpoint - Albarn has never been more purely emotional (Tender is great but a little calculated). Makes me homesick for a country I've never been to.

High Point: @2:06 Blackpool looks blue and red

Key Lyric: "And the Queen, she's gone round the bend"

Songs by this artist on my computer: 145

LastFM Wisdom: "Nice guitar, lame vocals. ." catalony


otzdBww47XQ

[transmogrifier]

28.
Where Did You Sleep Last Night?, Nirvana (5:07)


http://visionaryartistrymag.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/Nirvana-Wallpaper-15.jpg
Foo Fighters feeder band

Available on: Unplugged in New York (1994) Track #14

Other songs by this artist considered for this list: Lounge Act, Curmudgeon, Aneurysm, Radio Friendly Unit Shifter

Comments: It's the emotion that sells it. Cobain may have ended up washed up, drained, descending into self-parody if he hadn't taken his own life. Certainly, performances like this suggest he may not have been a good fit with the irony-laden 2000s - while Nirvana were capable of being very funny, it was a bitter, cutting type of humor, and Cobain obviously not one for taking things lightly. But on the other hand, he may have matured and taken his spiky discontent with the role he had made for himself (he was no innocent victim) and been able to operate on his own terms. He was a great songwriter, but my favourite song is a cover, a desperate cry for answers and getting none back.

High Point: @3:09 My girl! my girl!

Key Lyric: "I'm going where the cold wind blows"

Songs by this artist on my computer: 76

LastFM Wisdom: "I have to admit, this song gathers more and more meaning as time passes, I wonder what we'd all me listening to about now if he was still alive. psychoZE


OVCqQmoHg8s

[transmogrifier]

27.
Psychotic Reaction, Count Five (3:05)


http://www.kctunes.com/Bios/Images/The%20Count%20Five2.jpg
18-5

Available on: Single release (1966)

Comments: One-hit wonders, but what a hit. I also discovered this song on the same compilation as Halleluhwah, and immediately loved the simplicity of an arrangement that still manages to hit all my musical buttons - layered intro with drums kicking in late, the catchy verse (love catchy verses!), a breakdown in the middle that leads to a change in tempo and a reappearance of the original strand of the song. Honed to perfection. What happened to these guys?

High Point: @1:39 Descending drums back into the verse

Key Lyric: "I can't get your love/Can't get satisfaction"

Songs by this artist on my computer: 1

LastFM Wisdom: "A real garage classic. A big hit in the US but did bugger all in the UK - kids were probably too busy listening to Herman's Hermits instead!". BeatRiot


gsLMuH82us0

[transmogrifier]

26.
99 Problems, Jay-Z (3:54)


http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/gawker/2009/07/99problems.jpg
23 P of C in the H B

Available on: The Black Album (2003), Track #9

Comments: I can't really sit down and listen to a lot of rap all of once, because the constant self-aggrandizing gets very boring very quickly. While its cool that you get a lot of pussy and make a lot of money and are tougher than the rapper down the street in their mansion, I only really need to hear your story once before I've got it. Still, I can ignore lyrical cliches if the song itself is worth a damn, and if you can create vivid images here and there in your public (but thankfully figurative) masturbation. This is one of those cases, where the sheer brutality of it, and the anger bubbling underneath - well, it never gets old.

High Point: @2:40-3:11 the short sharp lines one after the other leading to the most casual line reading of the chorus in the song

Key Lyric: "If you grew up with holes in ya zapatos/You'd be celebrating the minute you was havin' dough"

Songs by this artist on my computer: 17

YouTube Wisdom: "the only thing jay z is good at is ripping off real mc's and making himself rich through worshiping satan while being the Illuminatis' bitch" sixfeetdeep909



WwoM5fLITfk

[transmogrifier]

25.
Like Spinning Plates [Live], Radiohead (3:47)


http://www.beersteak.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/10/radiohead-tour.jpg
More OK Computers, fewer King of Limbs, cheers.

Available on: I Might Be Wrong EP (2001), Track #9

Other songs by this artist considered for this list: Myxomatosis, Life in a Glass House, Weird Fishes/Arpeggi, No Surprises, Motion Picture Soundtrack, You and Whose Army

Comments: I'm not a huge fan of the Amnesiac version of this song, which is an example of Radiohead overworking a simple, beautiful song to fit a particular mood. In this version, all the electronic garble is wiped away and what is left is an amazingly disarming cry for help, and (only just) Radiohead's most affecting song. [PS choosing the Radiohead song was by far the hardest one, because all those listed above are so similar in quality - one a different day etc]

High Point: @0:00-1:27 the delicate, sparse piano line patiently leading up the the first line......

Key Lyric: "While you make pretty speeches/I'm being cut to shreds"

Songs by this artist on my computer: 122

LastFM Wisdom: "If you think this is miles better than the studio version, you aren';t listening to the studio version properly. Both are brilliant, but for me, the studio captures even more emotion than this one. " plasticispoison



WfFtIcQlpQk

[transmogrifier]

24.
Alan is a Cowboy Killer, Mclusky (4:09)


http://userserve-ak.last.fm/serve/_/385698/mclusky.jpg
A cowboy who kills, or a guy who kills cowboys?

Available on: Mclusky Do Dallas (2002), Track #11

Other songs by this artist considered for this list: Medium is the Message, Lightsabre Cocksucking Blues

Comments: God, this band was great. Consistently hilarious, but never a joke band - just a good old fashioned rock band with a cynical, cynical outlook on life. Here, they are relatively mellow (for them), only really rarking up near the end, but it is fair indication of the type of band they were.

High Point: @0:39 chorus smashes into view

Key Lyric: "Pull up my pants/Now the camera crew has gone"

Songs by this artist on my computer: 61

LastFM Wisdom: "This track is definitely as clever as it thinks it is." Lambird



FAuGm2Djeg4

[transmogrifier]

23.
A Chance Counsel, Richard Buckner (4:50)


http://www.lineofbestfit.com/photos/uncategorized/richard_buckner.jpg
Kiwifruit are also known as Chinese gooseberries.

Available on: Dents and Shells (2004), Track #1

Comments: As close to country as this list is ever going to get, but it's not really - it's just a simple, straight-forward song with a mesmerising melody running all the way through it. I know nothing about Buckner, and I haven't got round to listening to any of his other stuff, because I'm afraid it will be country....

High Point: every time a verse somes sidling into view

Key Lyric: "Come back tomorrow/With a new excuse"

Songs by this artist on my computer: 1

LastFM Wisdom: "I like almost all of his songs. Funny thing is I'm not a folk fan at all. If he's classified as folk, then he is nothing like the rest. Something about the melodies and voice just speak to me. nick_montpetit



r1ogVMnqCBY

[transmogrifier]

22.
Cry Wolf, Lisa Germano (4:50)


http://farm1.static.flickr.com/69/192187271_cae8e6d9df_o.jpg
A woman on a chair.

Available on: Geek the Girl (1994), Track #5

Comments: Breathy and deliberately paced, this is a slow wrap of a song, cocooning you in a sense of sad forboding. The first time I heard it was in the excellent NZ film Rain, and was the perfect companion to the coming of age complications depicted within.

High Point: @2:23 the whispered line "Love is....bad"

Key Lyric: "You should have known better/You should have known it's all your fault"

Songs by this artist on my computer: 14

LastFM Wisdom: "If this doesn't break your heart, you don't have one. Simple as that." inphanta



Fn-H4af9-uQ

[transmogrifier]

21.
The Past is a Grotesque Animal, Of Montreal (11:52)


http://www.ofmontreal.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/of-montreal-press-shot-2.jpg
No, these people don't look annoying at all.

Available on: Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer? (2007), Track #7

Comments: I've said it before: I can't stand Of Montreal. I find their attempts at glam to be the most annoying fucking thing on earth, and the rest of their stuff is generally pretty dull to these ears. Even the album is amazing song comes from has long since been deleted, and I don't care to ever revisit it. So how does it happen? How does a band I can't stand produce one of the best songs I have ever heard? That's the beauty of art, isn't it - it can truly come from anywhere. I find Animal Collective insufferable, but The Purple Bottle almost made the list. It's what keeps me going to Aronofsky movies. You never know.

High Point: @4:19 the ooh-oohs come in AND NEVER GO AWAY

Key Lyric: "I'm flunking out, I'm gone, I'm just gone/But at least I author my own disaster"

Songs by this artist on my computer: 1

LastFM Wisdom: "The intro synth makes me think of the music to Jabba's Palace in Return of the Jedi when Luke turns up BUT THATS BECAUSE I AM A LOSER." gaz_



6sMqRkUME_Y

[Idioteque Stalker]

Woot! for the live Like Spinning Plates. I used to listen to that thing on repeat. Great Portishead pick as well. Your presentation is something to be admired.

[transmogrifier]

20.
A Better Son/Daughter, Rilo Kiley (4:36)


http://www.celebritysentry.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/1295309712-77.jpg
Shit, no rapture. Now I guess I better prepare for work tomorrow.


Available on: The Execution of All Things (2002), Track #6

Comments: Another one of those bands I'm not really too fussed about - they are pretty middle of the road most of the time - that has produced (by accident? by design? by alchemy?) one of the best ever songs. This one is defiantly uplifting, a furious refusal to let personal depression take over. Now, I realise that the song is probably a personal pep talk (thought the change from "I" to "you " in the lyrics confuses matters, but it works best (and the reason I place it so high) as an imagined dialogue with an infant son/daughter, projecting your hopes and dreams on to them, accepting your own flaws while hoping that your child is going to be perfectly equipped to survive in the world, more so than yourself.

High Point: @2:55 "You'll be happy.." one of the most joyously optimistic phrases in all of music

Key Lyric: "And sometimes when you're on/You're really fucking on"

Songs by this artist on my computer: 12

LastFM Wisdom: "this song was the reason I got up in the morning. worth it a million times over. " indieannalee



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19.
Promentory [Full Version], Trevor Jones (8:11)


http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2010/12/16/article-1339160-0002A757000001F4-413_468x304.jpg
All scores suck.


Not Available on: The Last of the Mohicans OST (1992), Track #6 (shortened version) - see YouTube clip below for full version

Comments: Don't know the origin of the song, but its use in this movie is burnt into my cinematic retina for life. A bargain has been made with the chief, a previously reprehensible character makes a noble sacrifice and the chase is on. It is one of the most purely visceral endings to any movie I have seen, the music making all the actions that follow seem like a freight-train on a downhill track - big, bold, unstoppable. It's an amazing piece of musical showmanship, and Mann was wise to just let it go.

High Point: @6:33 the main refrain returns after a period of idyllic respite

Key Lyric: Nil.

Songs by this artist on my computer: 15

LastFM Wisdom: "Brilliant. Excellent. Beautiful. Perfect. Outstanding. Wonderful. Incredible. Splendid. Powerful. " radko



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And because this list is taking up too much time when I should be doing other things, here is the rest of the list and the YouTube link to go with it:

18.
Maps, Yeah Yeah Yeahs (3:40)

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17.
Hold On To Yourself, Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds (5:51)

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16.
Train in Vain, The Clash (3:10)

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15.
Mulholland Drive/Love Theme, Angelo Badalamenti (5:40)

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14.
My Baby Just Cares for Me, Nina Simone (3:34)

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13.
The Origin of Love [Original Version], Hedwig and the Angry Inch (5:27)

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12.
Babelogue + Rock n' Roll Nigger, Patti Smith (1:29 + 3:27)

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11.
Fuck Tha Police, N.W.A. (5:47)

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10.
Rub 'Til It Bleeds, PJ Harvey (5:04)

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9.
Like a Rolling Stone, Bob Dylan (6:13)

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8.
This is Hardcore, Pulp (6:25)

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7.
Let's Call It Love + Night Light, Sleater-Kinney (11:00 + 3:40)

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6.
Oh! Sweet Nuthin', The Velvet Underground (7:24)

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[transmogrifier]

5.
Coma, Guns n' Roses (10:15)

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4.
Chief Inspector Blancheflower, The Fiery Furnaces (8:58)

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3.
Sympathy for the Strawberry, Sonic Youth (9:08)

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2.
Country Feedback, R.E.M. (4:10)

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1.
Song to the Siren, Tim Buckley (3:28)
Song to the Siren, This Mortal Coil (3:30)

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[Thirdmango]

I had sorta hoped for an explanation on Maps, but only because I don't understand how anyone can like the song. But considering you have vastly different tastes from me I don't suppose I would like the answer anyways. :D

[Spinal]

I had sorta hoped for an explanation on Maps, but only because I don't understand how anyone can like the song.

:evil: