Top Ten from the Boards.

[bloodystereos]

My top ten was....

1) Desolation Row
2) Revolution
3) Walk on the Wild Side
4) Spanish Castle Magic
5) Thank You
6) Purple Rain
7) Wish You Were Here
8) Sweet Virginia
9) Angel from Montgomery
10) Ziggy Stardust

[stephano]

Thanks BloodyStereos. This was great fun.

My top ten was

1. Tom Traubert’s Blues – Tom Waits
2. Jesus Built My Hotrod – Ministry
3. The KKK Took My Baby Away – The Ramones
4. Hide N’ Seekin’ – Paul Westerberg
5. Just Like Heaven – The Cure
6. Room 512, All The News That’s Fit To Print – The Wonder Stuff
7. Voodoo Chile – Jimi Hendrix
8. Sweet Emotion - Aerosmith
9. The Gauntlet – The Dropkick Murphy’s
10. Most People Are DJ’s – The Hold Steady

[delboydrums]

My 10 was:

Bruce Springsteen - Thunder Road
Bruce Springsteen - Born to Run
Bruce Springsteen - Promised Land
THS - Stay Positive
THS - Constructive Summer
THS - Stuck Between Stations
Pink Floyd - Shine on you Crazy Diamond
Led Zeppelin - Since I Been Lovin You
The Beatles - Here Comes the Sun
Cold Chisel - Flame Trees

I didn't put them in order, though Thunder Road would always be Number 1 !

With hindsight, I would've substituted Jeff Buckley's Lover You Should've Come Over for the Chisel track, and I don't know how I left out Waterloo Sunset / God Only Knows

And probably many others.

[stephano]

In these scenarios I always impose a set of One Artist One Song rules or things get a little biased. Besides some of my favourite songs are by artists I only know a tiny amount of tracks by.

dEus Little Arithmetics, Buffalo Tom Tail Lights Fade and Paul Westerberg all duked it out for the same slot in my list.

[orzelc]

My list, with explanations:

Hard to rank-order these, because it's mostly a list of songs that have been personally significant to me at some point, so this is basically reverse-chronological autobiographical order. Which is also why it's such an odd mix of stuff.

1) The Mountain Goats, "This Year." Song number three off John's Nth CD... Played a lot when I was up for tenure, and when I became department chair, and right at the moment, too...
2) THS, "How a Resurrection Really Feels." I bought the album because I heard "Hoodrat" on the radio, but this is the song that convinced me they were genius.
3) The Weakerthans, "Reconstruction Site." Fantastic imagery, catchy tune. I can never write about aesthetics without getting "Beauty's just another word I'm never certain how to spell" stuck in my head.
4) The Afghan Whigs, "Lost in the Supermarket." Off an album of Clash covers (obviously); got this off Napster when that was a thing. My wife loves it, and I surprised her with it at our wedding (found the CD in a cut-out bin, slipped it to the DJ).
5) Bob Dylan, "Mississippi." Album track of "Love and Theft," which he had previously let Sheryl Crow record. Was doing the long-distance thing my first year as faculty, while my (not-yet-)wife finished law school. Resonated really well for me.
6) The Old 97's, "Big Brown Eyes." I had a beat-up CD boombox in my lab that would only play a handful of discs, and "Too Far to Care" was one. Held up remarkably well.
7) Sam Cooke, "Bring It on Home to Me." Spent three months living in Japan as a grad student, and listened to this a lot. Not quite sure why I latched onto that specifically, but there you go.
8) The Rolling Stones, "Beast of Burden." I do a great sing-along version of this after about five hours behind the wheel. Had it on one of my essential driving mix tapes.
9) Sugar, "Hoover Dam." Copper Blue is one of the most perfect albums ever, this is the best sing-along song off it.
10) Pink Floyd, "Wish You Were Here." Because reasons.

[junobeach]

My list:

1) The Hold Steady - Cattle & The Creeping Things
2) Allo Darling - Henry Rollins Don't Dance
3) The Rapture - Woo Alright Yeah Uh Huh
4) Neutral Milk Hotel - Oh Comely
5) Against Me! - Baby I'm An Anarchist
6) Frank Turner - The Ballad of Me & My Friends
7) The Clash - Complete Control
8) Joy Division - Love Will Tear Us Apart
9) Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band - Born To Run
10) Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Stagger Lee

[chinaski]

Jan 20, 2015 9:58:31 GMT -5 stephano said:

In these scenarios I always impose a set of One Artist One Song rules or things get a little biased. 

I did the same thing. Otherwise I've no idea how I ever would've finished. 

Two of my votes hit the top ten (Tom Traubert's Blues, Resurrection) so that's satisfying for me.

I'm going to try and go right back to the start and make myself list to every song someone voted for. Some I haven't heard before and others I'm only kind of familiar with. I know this might be some kind of crime around these parts, but I'm not even particularly into Springsteen (yet?). There are a couple of songs I know I love (Adam Raised A Cain, Atlantic City), a few big hits I quite like, and then a few I find too cheesy to take seriously. Anyone want to tell me a good way into Bruce? I've got Nebraska but that seems to be a bit of an anomaly in terms of style.

I'm just relieved there was some crossover in people's votes. It would've been awful if bloodystereos had put all that effort in just to find out that everything had tied. Thanks for doing it!

[doctoracula]

I always do a one song by each artist limit. Otherwise, my list would've been entirely Dylan, REM, and Joy Division/New Order

[stephano]

Jan 20, 2015 10:01:15 GMT -5 orzelc said:

My list, with explanations:

The Afghan Whigs, "Lost in the Supermarket." Off an album of Clash covers (obviously); got this off Napster when that was a thing. My wife loves it, and I surprised her with it at our wedding (found the CD in a cut-out bin, slipped it to the DJ)

It's stuff like this that's sticks from exercises such as the "top ten from the boards". I have always loved this version of this track and now I know it's part of some 'internet' guys wedding day it has ascended to another place. You have raised The Afghan Whigs track from Burning London to a higher level and next time I hear it will sound even better for it.

I wrote an essay on why each of my picks were my picks. I deleted it before I sent the list in but it helped me solidify why my ten songs were the best ten songs ever recorded (for about an hour anyway)

[doctoracula]

my list and reasons:

REM - nightswimming. the first song that ever really hit me emotionally. i wrote about it a bunch in this thread already. it still hits me just as hard 20 years later.

bob dylan - desolation row. all of american mythology distilled and fucked with and spit back out as both nonsense and something completely devastating. dylan is a master of stringing words together that may not compute logically, but they hit all the emotional notes just right. it would be an incredible piece of songwriting for just the main verses, but then the last verse turns everything on its head and it all comes crashing home and breaks my heart.

modest mouse - third planet. god and love and life and the earth and the ocean and the sky all together in one short story. "the universe is shaped exactly like the earth, if you go straight long enough you'll end up where you were" is the kind of truth that i'd kill to stumble upon one day. the line about "three and not two" could be about losing a family member or a child or jesus and it doesn't even matter.

new order - temptation. (the original 1982 12" mix) later versions of this song got too streamlined and neat and tidy. this one is messy and all over the place structurally and a little too long but i'll never get tired of it. it's the sound of being in love and being amazed by the smallest things about someone and being so fucking excited you just can't keep it all together or coherent.

the hold steady - how a resurrection really feels. i don't need to win anyone here over with the strengths of this song, i'll just say that when i got into THS, it was through separation sunday. i skimmed through the album a few times and had some favorite standout tracks, but the first time i sat down and listened to it as a whole, this song made everything fall into place and i realized just how goddamn special the band and album really are. every thread from the record comes together and floors me every time.

radiohead - exit music (for a film). probably the best adaptation of "romeo and juliet" there's ever been. it nails the desperation and the bitterness and the fear that everyone forgets. it's all such a big part of teenage rebellion and love and this song gets that. when he hits that high note, i always get chills. also, the arrangement is just perfect. so calm and slightly tense and it builds and builds and climaxes at just the right point, never lingering too long before coming back down.

eels - p.s. you rock my world. this one might need context more than any other, but after an entire record of death and depression and despair, it's this slight bit of hope that makes all the difference. the first line has made me cry more than i may want to admit. "maybe it's time to live" is so simple but so necessary.

the beach boys - god only knows. i like love songs. that's probably obvious by now, right? this one barely even needs words, those harmonies and chords say it all. it's the kind of thing that can only be conveyed in music. no other medium could nail down what this song does in just a few minutes.

harvey danger - old hat. reminds me of being 18 and driving around the woods with no purpose and being in love. the opening distorted bassline is exhilarating. the single, droning high guitar note in the 2nd chorus is exciting and tense and then the chords come crashing back in and i get chills every time. good songs about being happy seem so hard to write and/or find, and i don't know if i've ever heard a happy feeling summed up better than the lines in the bridge "i'm so happy, how do you write about that?". and the harmonies. this song sounds, to me, like falling in love as a teenager.

i hate myself - kamikaze. literally the thoughts of a kamikaze pilot before crashing, but also potentially a metaphor for any endeavor in life. the music spirals and builds and teases the crash with the lyrics, dragging it out as long as possible before the inevitable. the last verse floors me every single time. it's a tough listen, but feeling like this and taking those risks, making those grand gestures is never easy. it all crashes in the end.

[laurenjean]

My list:

Come on up to the House/Tom Waits-The music is so beautiful, but the message of letting the shit go and living fully is even more beautiful. They could play this at my funeral.

The Woman with the Tattooed Hands/Atmosphere-theological themes, sexuality, and morality in this story. I love that the male speaker is passive, describing this magical experience he witnessed and in the end choosing to leave, but taking it with him. I was an adolescent in the midst of all the drama of my first boyfriend when Lucy Ford was released. I wore this album out. I was also super excited that this awesome album didn't come from somewhere glamorous on the East or West Coast, but from where I was from. This was hip hop from where it snows and we wear a lot of flannel.

Trailer Trash/Modest Mouse-"Taking heart ache with hard work." Another song and album that really influenced me in high school. I spent too much time in my own head as an adolescent and music was one of the ways I connected with other people. As I said previously in this thread, this song was life.

Favorite/Neko Case-It's Neko Case. It's just beautiful.

Wrecking Ball/Gillian Welch-Besides being a great song writer in general, this song is what I think county music should sound like.

Resurrection/THS-I love when Holly crashes into the Easter Mass. She claims her place in Catholicism in specific and in the world in a larger sense. She knows how a resurrection really feels not in spite of her experiences but because of them. In some ways she is much more authentic than any priest. Several summers ago, THS played this at the Basilica Block Party, a fundraiser for the Basilica of St. Mary. I almost started crying because playing the song in that setting felt both like a fuck you from every person the church ever made feel like shit and also an invitation to both the people and the institutional church to reconcile. An affirmation that if you love God, you need to love people, too.

Box of Rain/the Grateful Dead-The Grateful Dead is my dad's favorite band and this is my favorite song of theirs. My dad has had physical and mental health issues and as I've sat in hospital rooms waiting for him to wake up, waiting for doctors, waiting for answers, just waiting in general this song has comforted me a lot.

A Date with Ikea/Pavement-Another band that I listened to incessantly as an adolescent. The silly stories, the fuzzy guitars, the occasional punch in the gut sadness.

Salvation Song/Avett Brothers-"We came for salvation/we came for family/we came for all that's good/that's how well walk away/we came to break the bad/we came to cheer the sad/we came to leave behind the world a better way" is like a manifesto.

Come thou fount of every blessing/Sufjan Stevens version-This is one of my favorite hymns and this version is so beautiful and mellow. They could play this song at my funeral, too.

[doctoracula]

That is such a great interpretation of resurrection

[stephano]

Jan 20, 2015 23:35:01 GMT -5 laurenjean said:

My list:

Come on up to the House/Tom Waits-The music is so beautiful, but the message of letting the shit go and living fully is even more beautiful. They could play this at my funeral.

The times I've used 'Come down off your cross, we could use the wood' to people are so countless my Mrs thought it was a common saying. I stole it directly from this song and have never heard it used in conversation.

I'm also very fond of your Modest Mouse choice. 

[stephano]

1. Tom Traubert’s Blues – Tom Waits
It's a widescreen epic love and heartbreak story. It's technicolor skies and film noir squalor. It's total theater and it's a lie that tells the truth.

2. Jesus Built My Hotrod – Ministry
Built in a barking mad scientists filthy lab this Motorhead/Chuck Berry/White Zombie/B-Movie hybrid monster is everything great about Heavy Metal distilled into a jerry can and set on fire in the dirt.

3. The KKK Took My Baby Away – The Ramones
People don't deserve the Ramones. They were the best of what pop music had to offer for 30 years and we wasted them like plastic cutlery. Only now there are no more Ramones records to have is it clear that they gave us more than they should.

4. Hide N’ Seekin’ – Paul Westerberg
She used to go away on chemical sabbaticals. I missed her terribly while she was gone and was there to help fix things up when she got back. It went on like this for a couple of years. I remember her sitting in the old armchair one sunny morning looking like she would never get old or ever die. 18 years ago. Feels like an eternity

5. Just Like Heaven – The Cure
This is what falling for someone sounds like. The Cure have more great pop music moments than most. In a better world The Cure are top of the charts all the time and the plastic crap fronted by dancers is seen for the copy and paste waste that it is.

6. Room 512, All The News That’s Fit To Print – The Wonder Stuff
I spent a significant amount of time in 1993 working at a newspaper in Madrid. I had a mix-tape that got played more than all the others when I took trains or walks or spent hours in their darkroom studying. This track closed side one of that C-90. You can sound furious with naught but a good lyric and an acoustic guitar. Some folks should sound furious more often. Righteous Ire can be inspiring. It's to be encouraged.

7. Voodoo Chile – Jimi Hendrix
The Mightiest song imaginable. Imagine living through an era where this was a single. An eligible contender for the pop charts. No genre or sub genre or discrediting niche. This was a seven inch piece of plastic you could by for a few pennies along side Lulu and the fucking Archies. You take it home, put it on and... Wack Chakka Wack Waa DEW DINEW NEW NEW NEW NINEW DEW DINEW NEW NI NEW! Brilliant.

8. Sweet Emotion - Aerosmith
This has swagger. It has special effects. It has layers and it's got a bad-boy breakdown which very few bands could handle so nimbly. These are not the things that push Sweet Emotion above all the other Aerosmith classics (or all other wonderful 70's excess rock classics either). The wining stroke here is the guitar solo. It's staggeringly good. And it gets better as the song closes, so good in fact it doesn't end. Sweet Emotion just fades out on an ever increasing level of awesome. In my mind there is a rehearsal room trapped in time where the widdling wont ever stop

9. The Gauntlet – The Dropkick Murphy’s
The drums alone sound like a pub brawl. The vocal switch up for the second verse is one of my favourite things about American Punk music and I can't recall an instance where it has been done better than here. The lightheaded fun that can be had singing along to the "They Won't Get Me They Won't Get Me" verse is a simple pleasure to be shared among friends. It's the crisp production which makes The Gauntlet the first Dropkick record I heard that lived up to the puke ridden mess I saw play at the Garage in Highbury so many years ago. This is my fight song.

10. Most People Are DJ’s – The Hold Steady
Equal parts classic rock guitar heroics and Elvis Costello reading Palahniuk is how I first thought about THS. Most People Are DJ's is the song I love the most from the band I love the most. The lyrics come hard and fast and funny and self referential over a Thin Lizzy riff and a divebomb guitar solo that pulls of a dirty mean and nasty trick of stopping the whole song dead where ANY other band would have riffed on for another two minutes. It's so cruel to do that. I never realised I liked being exploited in such a way.

[doctoracula]

That is a super good Ministry song. I never really made a connection between that era of Ministry and White Zombie but it totally makes sense. I've gone so far down the rabbit hole of early, weird White Zombie that I sometimes forget about the later metal records haha

[stephano]

Jan 22, 2015 9:10:21 GMT -5 doctoracula said:

That is a super good Ministry song. I never really made a connection between that era of Ministry and White Zombie but it totally makes sense. I've gone so far down the rabbit hole of early, weird White Zombie that I sometimes forget about the later metal records haha

I love that Supercharger Heaven /Dragula stuff. It's like watching The Banana Splits while drinking. 

[doctoracula]

Hahaha very true. Have you ever listened to the 80s records? It's like Beefheart meets the Butthole Surfers.

[stephano]

Jan 22, 2015 14:10:17 GMT -5 doctoracula said:

Hahaha very true. Have you ever listened to the 80s records? It's like Beefheart meets the Butthole Surfers.

You know I haven't every heard anything before La Sexorcisto. 

[doctoracula]

Jan 22, 2015 14:39:27 GMT -5 stephano said:

Jan 22, 2015 14:10:17 GMT -5 doctoracula said:

Hahaha very true. Have you ever listened to the 80s records? It's like Beefheart meets the Butthole Surfers.

You know I haven't every heard anything before La Sexorcisto. 

The one right before it, Make Them Die Slowly, is kind of weak. But Soul Crusher and the EPs before that are so good. Definitely worth a listen if you like noisy stuff

[laurenjean]

Stephano, I love your description of "Just like Heaven."

[Rattlesnake Gospel]

I enjoyed everyone else's explanations for their top 10 and it's a slow day at work, so what the hell:

10. Bedford "Poison Town": Bedford is one of the first garage punk shows I ever saw, and definitely the first really good one. They wore suits and mixed in samples of robot noises with their live set and had limitless energy. Their first full-length 'Smiles are the Batteries' was damn near flawless and I was certain they'd never release a song I loved more than anything on that record, then "Poison Town" came out on a 7" a few years later. I listened to it any night I was going to a show, getting ready to get out of my own poison town for an evening.  They broke up years ago but put their entire discography online for free: Bedford.bandcamp.com.   

9. The Push Stars "Waiting Watching Wishing": Another song about getting out. After three dreadfully unhappy semesters in college I was contemplating dropping out to go on tour with the band I was in. I heard this on the student station and the lines "I don't care if I never grow up / Don't wanna shrink in the suit, don't wanna live just to suck someone's bones dry / I'd rather die" made me pull the trigger. No regrets.

8. The Ramones "Rock & Roll High School": Because it's the Ramones. I could have picked any one of their songs but "I just wanna have some kicks / I just wanna get some chicks" pretty much encapsulates everything I gave a shit about back then.   

7. The Clash "Train In Vain": It was that awkward time before you find your own style, 7th grade or so, and I was buying Meatloaf and Salt 'N Pepa CDs because that's what they played at the middle school dances. I was in Ocean City MD that summer and wandered into a skate shop, and this was playing on the sound system. The piercer chastised me when I asked who it was and demanded I buy the CD immediately. They only had 'Super Black Market Clash' in the bin and he told me "It doesn't matter, buy that one.  You should have them all." He was right.

6. Weston "The Normal Life": Another song that got me through the hell that was small town high school. I saw them more times than I can count and Dave Weston became a bit of a friend and confidant. A lot of long time fans didn't care for their later, more mature stuff after Chuck Saltern left the group but Dave's writing only got more brilliant (Doc and I have had several conversations about this band). The lines from the second verse, "You're not happy here it's plain to see / Take a chance if you wanna be free / Don't settle for a normal life / At least don't wish one on me" resonated particularly strong and should've made me realize sooner that I wanted to pursue music instead of college.

5. Peter Gabriel "In Your Eyes": Say Anything is a romantic cliché for a reason.  My wife is absolutely my Diane Court, graduating the top of her class, heart of gold without an ounce of pretention or self-involvement, even terrified of flying.  We bonded over our mutual love for this movie from the night we met and when we started planning our wedding, the first decision we made was that this would be our first dance song. The second decision was...

4. The Smiths "There Is a Light that Never Goes Out": ...that this would be the song she walked down the aisle to. It's such a morbidly beautiful love song for misfits and outsiders. When the strings kick in right before the second chorus, nothing is wrong in the world and I remember that, sappy as it sounds, I truly believe that love is the greatest force in the universe. 

3. The Pogues "Fairytale of New York": Christmas wasn't always a joyful time in our house. Unhappy parents, family drama, drinking, swearing, fighting... ahh, the holidays. The Pogues were a band I was late to the party for, not getting into them until after high school, and this was one of those songs I was almost angry about not hearing sooner. Even outside of the context of dramatic family bullshit, I never cared much for Christmas music, but this was as perfect a song as I'd ever heard. Still is.

2. Tom Waits "Long Way Home": Basically the lounge version of my #1 pick. Springsteen got me through childhood and my teen years then Waits took over in my early 20's. My son's middle name is Waits, and I don't think I've ever gone more than two days without listening to something of his. My favorite Waits song changed almost hourly until 'Orphans' came out and I heard this. laurenjean said "Come On Up to the House" could be played at her funeral, and I want this played at mine.

1. Springsteen "Born to Run": My dad raised me on this album. We rented a piano when I was a kid and he taught me to sing using the Springsteen songbook. Much as I don't care for Brian Fallon personally, I read once where he likened Springsteen songs to carnival rides you went on, and that's exactly how I felt about this album, and song in particular. I saw him in DC a few years ago and got "Thunder Road" and "Born to Run" back to back in the encore, and I openly wept without shame. I have the lyrics tattooed on my feet, and it's one of the only songs that still gives me chills every time I hear it.

[doctoracula]

Super Black Market Clash is an essential record! I sometimes forget about it and when I throw it on I get all excited all over again.

[laurenjean]

Jan 24, 2015 11:07:00 GMT -5 Rattlesnake Gospel said:

5. Peter Gabriel "In Your Eyes": Say Anything is a romantic cliché for a reason.  My wife is absolutely my Diane Court, graduating the top of her class, heart of gold without an ounce of pretention or self-involvement, even terrified of flying.  We bonded over our mutual love for this movie from the night we met and when we started planning our wedding, the first decision we made was that this would be our first dance song. The second decision was...

4. The Smiths "There Is a Light that Never Goes Out": ...that this would be the song she walked down the aisle to. It's such a morbidly beautiful love song for misfits and outsiders. When the strings kick in right before the second chorus, nothing is wrong in the world and I remember that, sappy as it sounds, I truly believe that love is the greatest force in the universe. 

I love this.

[Rattlesnake Gospel]

Jan 25, 2015 23:27:25 GMT -5 laurenjean said:

Jan 24, 2015 11:07:00 GMT -5 Rattlesnake Gospel said:

5. Peter Gabriel "In Your Eyes": Say Anything is a romantic cliché for a reason.  My wife is absolutely my Diane Court, graduating the top of her class, heart of gold without an ounce of pretention or self-involvement, even terrified of flying.  We bonded over our mutual love for this movie from the night we met and when we started planning our wedding, the first decision we made was that this would be our first dance song. The second decision was...

4. The Smiths "There Is a Light that Never Goes Out": ...that this would be the song she walked down the aisle to. It's such a morbidly beautiful love song for misfits and outsiders. When the strings kick in right before the second chorus, nothing is wrong in the world and I remember that, sappy as it sounds, I truly believe that love is the greatest force in the universe. 

I love this.

Thanks One of my favorite parts of the reception was my grandmother asking me why Rebecca walked down the aisle to a song about people getting killed by a truck. She also said our recessional song sounded pretty but didn't like that it was sung by "an illiterate drunk" (it was "Sunnyside of the Street" by the Pogues). Then the band played "Cocaine Blues" and she lost her shit complaining about "this music today." I wanted to tell her "Cocaine Blues" is 40 years old but I figured I'd better not. Grandma's kind of a stickler for opera and church hymns.

[tbob]

Jan 18, 2015 13:36:00 GMT -5 doctoracula said:

i'm just going to do my top 10 Dylan and JD songs in here. Dylan is much tougher, given how many records and eras he's got. i'll do my damndest...

TOP 10 JOY DIVISION SONGS (to me)

1. 24 hours
2. new dawn fades
3. atmosphere
4. she's lost control (LP version)
5. dead souls
6. transmission
7. warsaw
8. atrocity exhibition
9. shadowplay
10. something must break

(if a studio recording of "ceremony" existed, that would jump to #1, though)

DYLAN!

1. desolation row
2. lily, rosemary, and the jack of hearts
3. it's alright ma, i'm only bleeding
4. like a rolling stone
5. just like a woman
6. most of the time
7. idiot wind
8. one more night
9. one more cup of coffee
10. my back pages

I've only had limited internet access for the last few weeks so this is ridiculously late but just for the record this is my top ten Dylan songs:

1. If You See Her, Say Hello
2. Positively 4th Street
3. Don't Think Twice, it's All Right
4. Shelter From The Storm
5. Masters of War
6. Po' Boy
7. Motorpsycho Nitemare
8. Workingman's Blues #2
9. Just Like a Woman
10. Visions of Johanna