Board 8 > CasanovaZelos's Top 250 Songs Project

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17. Courtney Barnett Pedestrian at Best (2015)
from the album Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-nr1nNC3ds

Key lyrics:
I think youre a joke, but I dont find you very funny

Avant Gardener was among the more surprising breakthrough hits of the 2010s, a piece that felt as much like a ramble as a song. Barnett made the structure adapt to her words, a bold choice that paid off. Pedestrian at Best finds her playing with a bit more structure, a genuine rock hit that could have easily been pulled from the height of the grunge movement. One might expect her unique lyricism and delivery to play a smaller part with such an urgent sound, but her familiar rambling only adds a punch.

Rock lyrics are rarely this densely packed. Picking a key line for this one was difficult how to choose one when literally every line is exceptional? She pairs the distorted guitars with anxiety-ridden self-abasement, her exhausted pleas matched perfectly with breathless delivery. This might actually be a genuine panic attack set to music. Though loaded with complex verses, the true standout is the chorus. Barnett holds back on her more intricate wordplay to get in several straightforward jabs. The payoff is contained in the final word, funny drawn out for several seconds as she oscillates up and down. Like Avant Gardener, every layer of this song flows in bizarre yet perfect harmony it just happens to feature a central riff rock fans might drool over.

An unexpected trend of the last few years involved seeing several of my favorite women in indie music burst forth with previously unseen energy. Seventeen, I Know the End, and Pedestrian at Best are only the peak. I will occasionally remark upon rock dying as a mainstream entity, but that has only given room for new voices to revitalize certain sounds with unexpected twists. Pedestrian at Best is all the fun of garage rock with rapid-fire delivery that should even impress Bob Dylan.

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16. The Smiths This Charming Man (1983)
non-album single

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJRP3LRcUFg

Key lyrics:
I would go out tonight but I havent got a stitch to wear
This man said its gruesome that someone so handsome should care

Openly queer songs in the popular sphere were uncommon until the last decade or so. This Charming Man is one of the rare early hits with only marginal room for debate over its subject matter I dont understand how anyone can read this as anything but an older man trying to convince a younger man to cancel his wedding and get with him, but people will go to great lengths to deny queer themes unless spoken in the most explicit terms. Morrissey, of course, is not one to make things straightforward. With his boyish yet elevated vocals, he sings not as if paired with a jangle pop sound but like a crooner from some non-specific era. This Charming Man captured a wide audience despite its controversial subject matter in part due to its otherworldly feel. The language on display has more in common with early 20th century literature than popular music, providing a safe distance.

The rest of the band firmly grounds this in the 80s. The rhythm section adds an infectiously danceable beat. Johnny Marrs opening guitar is a wondrous hook, and he maintains an impossibly bouncy melody throughout. The instrumentation alone would make a perfect update on The Beatles jangly sound, but Morrisseys frankly bizarre stylings add such a unique edge. Though The Smiths would release several albums after this breakthrough single, nothing quite captured the exaggerated vocals on display we might not have been able to take the band seriously if Morrissey insisted on being this extra all of the time, but it makes for one enduring classic. And as much as I cant stand Morrissey now, it would be wrong to deny the comfort I found in this song during my own coming out process.

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15. Kate Bush Wuthering Heights (1978)
from the album The Kick Inside

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mj9RNQnRqPU

Key lyrics:
Heathcliff, its me Cathy
Ive come home, Im so cold
Let me in-a-your window

Nick Drake, John Cale, Vashti Bunyan there are many artists I love for their knack to make songs which sound pulled from an alternate history. I get a similar feeling from Kate Bushs Wuthering Heights, but I realize there is no specific era it invokes. This is something completely of its time, art pop at its peak of pure openness. The instrumentation bobs along, a dense wall of sound like little before or since. An epic guitar solo near the end only adds to the strangeness what, exactly, was Bush trying to accomplish?

Nevertheless, Wuthering Heights topped the charts for four weeks in Britain. An easy explanation is it asks to be analyzed its difficult to hear this song for the first time and not want to play it back to try and figure it out. Kate Bushs piercing soprano conjures a forest spirit, but it is her unusual cadence that really lingers. Her lyrics are practically indecipherable as she pauses mid-statement and warbles through half the words. The colossal soundscape and poignant piano suggests a greater meaning even as you fail to parse her message.

Basically, the appeal of Wuthering Heights is similar to a surrealist film. You know there must be some meaning buried beneath the odd layers, and even once you cave and look up the lyrics, another mystery appears. What inspired Kate Bush to deliver these lines in such an impenetrable way? This is an eternal enigma, but the inherent intrigue of such an unusual piece has caused Wuthering Heights to grow on me even as I remain completely baffled. Whatever Bushs reasons, the end result was a work of singular beauty.

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14. The Who My Generation (1965)
from the album My Generation

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qN5zw04WxCc

Key lyrics:
I hope I die before I get old

The Rolling Stones might have been sold as the bad boys of rock, but The Who really pushed rock and roll to a place of rebellion. Youthful angst had been a theme in popular music since the beginning, but The Who played up a punk aesthetic long before the idea of punk had formed. My Generation is a middle finger to the establishment the fact Roger Daltry stutters over the f in why dont you all f-fade away does not read as coincidental. Even as The Whos generation became the very establishment they once rebelled against, My Generation has passed down as an ageless anthem.

The Who played harder than their contemporaries. My Generation is a messy track, full of sudden stops and explosive drum fills. You can hear the birth of hard rock in that chaotic finale, harsh guitar chords mixed with Keith Moons forceful drum roll. This is the connective tissue between rock as a popular form and those who would eventually rebel against soft sounds. Yet it endures beyond its cultural relevance through the sheer amount of fun on display. The stuttered lyrics make a perfect karaoke jam, and the call and response chorus form an easy crowd pleaser. The groovy bassline adds enough structure for dancing, especially through a shotgun blast of short solos in the middle.

The appeal of My Generation is simple this is proto-punk a decade out that hits harder than most acts that followed. The 1960s were a transformative era for popular art, and few songs signaled things to come as clearly as this one. The snide lyrics add just the right dose for eternal relevance.

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CasanovaZelos posted...

The Rolling Stones might have been sold as the bad boys of rock,

RIP Charlie Watts!

ChainLTTP posted...

RIP Charlie Watts!

Yeah, I just saw that and felt kind of bad - but I'll still insist The Who were key in getting everyone else to start playing to that image.

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13. Frank Ocean Pyramids (2012)
from the album Channel Orange

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMV31MWIjLE

Key lyrics:
But your love aint free no more

Contemporary R&B is rarely associated with sweeping epics, so Pyramids resonated on a new level immediately. This ten-minute journey takes us from ancient Egypt through an electronic soundscape to the dirty clubs of the modern day. Frank Ocean tells a parallel story of two women named Cleopatra, one a queen and the other a prostitute. He uses everything at his disposal to draw both parallels and distinctions, from a change in vocal delivery to the overarching sound. As much as the lyrics journey through time and space, Pyramids feels like a full tour of pop, R&B, and so much else a little bit of everything played exceptionally well. The impossible genius is that he segues so subtly that all these stray ideas truly blend together; its difficult to take Pyramids in as pieces instead of a whole.

Part of what sells this monolithic piece is Oceans chill demeanor. While tackling something truly epic, he sits back and lets the music wash over him. No matter where this song journeys, hes cool and in control. The language of the first half puts him at a distance, only for him to be drawn further into the picture by cruder lines. Ominous electronic bits suggest the crushing nature of our society does the narrator have power over his own story? At the end of the final verse, Ocean loses his cool and laments, as though he has no understanding of how he ended up here. We listeners might be at just as much of a loss once the track closes, but that is a testament to Oceans brilliant, ever-changing yet always evocative structure.

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12. The Knife Heartbeats (2002)
from the album Deep Cuts

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPD8Ja64mRU

Key lyrics:
To call for hands of above to lean on
Wouldnt be good enough for me

When I was a closeted teenager without any romantic experience, I once imagined Heartbeats was what love would feel like. After paying closer attention to the lyrics and delivery, I picked up on another layer, one of melancholy and uncertainty. I adjusted my nave expectations, realizing like so many synth-pop songs that this one must be playing with a certain level of understated irony. It was only through my years of personal experience that I realized my initial reading was closer to the truth that to fall in love is to likely set yourself up for pain, but the journey outweighs the endpoint.

The fact such a resonant song comes from The Knife is the shocking part. Their sound would increasingly evolve toward the aggressive and atmospheric, so something this serene seems impossible. The truth of their career is they knew how to manipulate the synthesizer to inspire extreme human emotions, and though they eventually specialized in panic and desperation, they knew just as well how to generate a sense of bittersweet nostalgia.

The clapping percussion breathes immediate life and the central synth-line rides that energy like a wave. Karin Dreijers delivery is filled to the brim with mixed emotions. They have to completely stretch the final syllable of the chorus to force a slant rhyme, but does it ever work. The synthesizer is nearly as dizzying as their later works in its high oscillations, but here it is used for good, a positive imitation of the intrigue that makes us fall for someone in the first place. Heartbeats is all about falling in love at first sight and then realizing something did not work out, but still celebrating it happening in the first place.

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11. LCD Soundsystem Losing My Edge (2002)
non-album single, later featured on LCD Soundsystem

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUjDMdSwefk

Key lyrics:
Im losing my edge
To better-looking people
With better ideas and more talent
And theyre actually really, really nice

LCD Soundsystems debut single feels as much a manifesto as a song. Before he was making his own music, James Murphy would like you to know he was the coolest DJ to ever rock New York City. He is here to set the record straight that he is the reason Daft Punk is cool, that he in fact played a part in Suicide and was too good for Captain Beefheart please, ignore the fact he was born after that band formed. Murphy is at the center of everything, but some other DJs came along and started playing the same songs. Murphy would not let that slide and decided to create his own musical diatribe.

Of course, this is all very tongue-in-cheek. James Murphy plays an old man shouting at the youngsters who dare to act like they get the music he grew up with, as if it somehow belonged to him. All of us music aficionados know that one person who insists their knowledge is more valuable than everyone elses because they were there, and Murphy loops it through several in-jokes. Though he begrudges the younger generation for the ease they have in connecting musical dots in the Internet era, the outro is as much an embracement if we live in a world where anyone can pirate (and now stream) any band at any time, why complain when you can convince people to check out all your favorite bands? This may sound like a snide track at first, but once you work out all the references and realize its a giant string of impossible scenarios, its a perfect work of self-deprecating humor.

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I can't believe I finally made it to the top 10 - this has been a truly exhausting journey but I am happy I made it. For a last set of hints, here are the years for each remaining song:
1967
1975
1975
1977
1983
1985
1993
1994
2007
2012

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This project has been amazing!

I think I'll take a stab at guessing each year

1967 - Aretha Franklin, "Respect"
1975 - Queen, "Bohemian Rhapsody"
1975 - Bruce Springsteen, "Born to Run"
1977 - David Bowie, "Heroes"
1983 - The Pretenders, "Back on the Chain Gang"
1985 - Dire Staits, "Money for Nothing"
1993 - Pet Shop Boys, "Go West"
1994 - Jeff Buckley, "Hallelujah"
2007 - LCD Soundsystem, "All My Friends"
2012 - Chromatics, "These Streets Will Never Look the Same"

Can't wait to see the end! I probably forgot about some hint or another along the way.

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Great work man! Excited for the finale

I know this is only tangentially related but this is some cool ass shit:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MtvpXr9O0J4

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10. New Order Blue Monday (1983)
non-album single, included on certain editions of Power, Corruption, & Lies

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FYH8DsU2WCk

Key lyrics:
But if it wasnt for your misfortune
Id be a heavenly person today

Deciding to kick a song off with another completely different song is a bold choice Blue Monday does not transition between its parts as much as it stutters and kicks over. This works because both sequences are distinctly oppressive, the first guided by a high velocity drum pattern. The connective tissue grinds everything to a halt, switching the drumbeat to a more deliberate pace. With this new beat, New Order take the initial synth-line and rework it into the bassline. Blue Monday does not abandon its distinct intro as much as it cannibalizes each element for a different purpose.

Beyond its structural ingenuity, the cohesion of ideas throughout the central sequence is mesmerizing. Bernard Sumner sounds completely unlike himself here, pointedly monotonous and with a deeper pitch. Synthetic backing vocals occasionally hum like an angelic choir. An instrumental break following the first verse ends in a chaotic flurry, first taking off like a jet plane and then a jackhammer before stuttering, as if threatening to again reset the beat. Blue Monday is as ominous as it is danceable, but not in the way Joy Division worked there is no dissonance between message and music. Part of this is the emotion on display, turning to anger instead of sadness. This is the musical equivalent of blowing off steam, which is underutilized in dance music despite being an emotion that gets people off their feet.

Blue Monday is the moment that captured New Order transitioning into the ultimate synth-pop band. There is no need for irony here, a band in complete control of their sound no matter the instrument. The dire atmosphere pulsing through this song is untouchable - accomplishing this with such high energy is truly astounding, showcasing dance music with no emotional limit.

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Ah shit that's such an obvious one now that I see it. Fantastic pick though.

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9. The Breeders Cannonball (1993)
from the album Last Splash

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxvkI9MTQw4

Key lyrics:
Ill be your whatever you want
The bong in this reggae song

After the Pixies disbanded, Kim Deal focused more attention on her side project. Cannonball is not so much a revolutionary track as it is a summation of its era. In a way, it feels like Deal trying to one-up the chaos that defined the Pixies in one song, she rotates through nearly as many ideas as Doolittle in its entirety. Yet this is in no way a retread. The Pixies had rarely sounded this summery and upbeat.

Cannonball takes a full minute to truly take off, first starting with a twenty-second distorted harmony. This is followed by a distinct drum pattern played against the cymbal stand which only loops twice. This is then followed by the bass, which similarly loops twice with no other sound present. Finally, a drum beat is added with nothing else being removed. Clearly, these false starts were not enough, so they add in a brief drum break before the wobbly guitar finally joins. And then another guitar. And then a piercing whistle. Finally, the vocals start, but that is no sign Cannonball has truly found its footing it refuses to ever truly settle. After a single verse that pretends to signal a traditional song, Deal bursts into a chorus so distorted to be unintelligible. The second verse ends in a notable pause. By the end, Cannonball has established its own internal logic, but it remains distinctly odd as a listener.

As bassist for the Pixies, Kim Deal learned how rhythm can tie together even the most eclectic sounds. No matter how freeform Cannonball gets, that signature bassline guarantees an accessible groove. The carefree chaos on display here feels so emblematically X-treme this may not be the biggest alt rock song, but it might just be the most alt rock song.

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8. Blur Girls & Boys (1994)
from the album Parklife

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-SNV1WJzjsY

Key lyrics:
Girls who are boys who like boys to be girls
Who do boys like theyre girls, who do girls like theyre boys
Always should be someone you really love

When contemplating Girls & Boys, it is hard to focus on anything other than that chorus. After all, the song eventually abandons the verse-chorus structure entirely only to repeat those words over and over until they blur into a meaningless void. Is it a cry of joyous hedonism or manic desperation? Whatever the meaning, its a hook that hits with as much force as the best house loop. As Damon Albarn churns through it, backing vocalists chime in any time he says boys or girls with the emphasis of drunken clubbers who can barely keep up. Nine simple words make up an impossible configuration, and the insistence that it always should be someone you really love only makes it more confounding. This whole song could be read as mind-numbingly vapid if it was not so pointedly disorienting Blur are absolutely playing us for fools from every possible angle.

The instrumentation feels equally indecisive. Girls & Boys shows shades of synthpop and alternative rock, disco and punk. This is the true genius that leaves the listener mesmerized enough to endure the lyrical nonsense. Girls & Boys sits at an intersection between so many ideas that it is in equal parts familiar and boundary-defying. The opening synthesizers bubble and pop, and a distorted guitar is merely added on top to transition toward the first chorus. Droning like a wind tunnel in reverse casts uncertainty over the whole affair. To keep things interesting, the final chorus section drops out all but the electronic blips for the first cycle, adding more instruments back in with each repetition. As Albarn sneers his way through the entire song, one might suspect he is only aiming to annoy us. Nevertheless, this is dance-pop perfected.

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7. Television Marquee Moon (1977)
from the album Marquee Moon

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jlbunmCbTBA

Key lyrics:
I recall
Lightning struck itself

Television was making post-punk while punk was still in its infancy. Marquee Moon starts off easily enough, not reaching far outside the traditional rock structure. But even in its simple beginning, two guitars play off each other. Both evoke a sense of contemplation, one brooding and the other urgent. With the bass joining in, a syncopated cycle kicks off. Even with four instruments and vocals, there is a persistent sense of silent space beneath it all. Marquee Moon is floating somewhere in the sky, always visible but at a distance.

The chorus truly takes off like a rocket into space, but even more effective is when Television quietly drifts away from this explosive moment. The third verse leads into the big moment after four and a half minutes of playing a familiar if complex rock track, the song transitions into a guitar solo to end all guitar solos. For five full minutes, Tom Verlaine weaves through an impossibly high space, only climbing higher when it seems he has reached a breaking point. Halfway through, the guitar slows down like it is taking a victory lap, but then the drums help kick it back toward the stars for one last hurrah. In a way, finding this track as I started getting into music ruined my appreciation for guitar-driven rock. For me, nothing has compared to this solo.

Part of what makes Marquee Moon so compelling is the pristine sound quality. Without distortion and at these high tones, Television play the electric guitar as if it is something of simple beauty. To have the epic solo go out not with a bang but a gentle gleam sets this apart from so many artists happy to settle for the exact same definition of cool.

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6. Patti Smith Gloria (1975)
from the album Horses

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPO0bTaWcFQ

Key lyrics:
Jesus died for somebodys sins but not mine

Punk became a different beast in the years that followed Patti Smiths classic album, but no single line quite captures the punk ethos like the opening line of Gloria. The iconoclasm does not stop there as Smith transforms Thems classic rock song into a lesbian anthem. Patti Smith sneers like the brattiest punk; her music just happens to play with a bit more complexity, to its benefit.

Gloria starts at a slow tempo, rolling along like a snowball until it bursts into the classic chorus. Along the way, Smith shows off her dirty poetic imagery as she falls for a girl she sees humping on a parking meter. She details her successful seduction, only to finally ask her name after Smith has already made her mine. The theme is as much sheer provocation as it is a declaration of punk as an open space for outsiders. As Smith hits upon the original tune, she has transformed it into something truly revelatory. Van Morrisons original delivery is somewhat lascivious, yet this more explicitly sexual take turns the spelling of Glorias name into a celebration.

So many artists have shied away while covering love songs about the same gender Patti Smith chose to embrace the idea and then some. Smith herself may not be queer, but I cannot overstate the impact the opening line had on me. If being gay is enough to send me straight to hell well, I might as well have as much fun as I can here on Earth. I may not actually be that hedonistic, but there is an unusual comfort in the idea. Patti Smith took a classic, made it self-affirming and queer, and then rocked even harder.

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Finally to the final five! Alas, I have a busy day tomorrow so probably won't wrap it up until Friday.

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up

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CasanovaZelos posted...

10. New Order Blue Monday (1983)
non-album single, included on certain editions of Power, Corruption, & Lies

I first heard the cover of this and it's the one I will never not think of first: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJZTfl3DmCU

CasanovaZelos posted...

9. The Breeders Cannonball (1993)
from the album Last Splash

Ugh...I don't get this one at all. Oh, from someone formerly in the Pixies you say? Well that explains it.

CasanovaZelos posted...

8. Blur Girls & Boys (1994)
from the album Parklife

This is one wildly weird, crazy, kinda awesome song.

CasanovaZelos posted...

7. Television Marquee Moon (1977)
from the album Marquee Moon

Love a good, long guitar solo.

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5. Kate Bush Cloudbusting (1985)
from the album Hounds of Love

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQ4DeDIh5c0

Key lyrics:
But just saying it could even make it happen

When starting this project, I had not planned for it to take over three months. It was intended to be a brief break while suffering from writers block while attempting to start my next novel. Luckily, in that time, a few new ideas have formed, all sharing the same world but able to stand alone from my previous manuscript. The opening line of this song oozes with orchestrated personal relevance Cloudbusting inspired me to name part of my fantasy world after Wilhelm Reichs estate.

The influence does not stop there, but I hope not to waste this space with the details of a (hopefully only currently) unpublished novel. What matters here is that some songs conjure up ideas of another time and place, and this song resonated with me to the point that I have literally created a universe around the feelings it sends me. As an aspiring author, Cloudbusting stands alone for me as a direct influence in musical form.

The central structure of Cloudbusting might be best described as a march driven by cellos and layered with other strings. A sense of urgency closes in as, in typical Bush fashion, the music continuously builds before shifting into a dizzying climax. It never quite lifts off from its steady pace, but it has no need. Bush floats above it all, her naively hopeful chorus mixing with the strings to make a wondrously bittersweet mood piece. Cloudbusting leaves me longing for some other world. The ingenuity of the track is in its inspiration, a biography by Peter Reich. Bush perfectly captures the magic of a child looking with wonder at their father as the government rips him away. Wilhelm Reich was not a good person, but Bush paints a fantastic world where his outlandish pseudoscience might have been true where just saying it could even make it happen.

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4. Grimes Oblivion (2012)
from the album Visions

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5H-YlcMSbc

Key lyrics:
Cause when youre runnin by yourself
Its hard to find someone to hold your hand

Before she got involved with the second richest man on Earth, Grimes played a convincing part as the most vulnerable pop artist in ages yet she always fought back in equal measure. Oblivion dizzyingly tackles a time she had been assaulted. Making the most of synth-pops knack for irony and dissonance, she sings as light as a feather over a whimsically aggressive synth-line. Her voice frequently doubles up on itself, creating the sense of a magical being, like a woodland nymph pondering why anyone would choose to harm something so beautiful.

The key to Oblivion is in its back half, when a second synth-line joins in and completely flips the script. What was once whimsical turns sinister, twisting into something best described as nightmarish carnival music. As much as it bubbles like a carousel tune, there is also an edge of synthesized voices humming along that can be genuinely discomforting. Throughout this back half, Grimes repeats a single line over and over, see you on a dark night. This at first reads as the lasting impact of her experience even as she sleeps safe in bed, her attacker always threatens to interrupt her dreams. But as the music fades to just that second synth-line, a new meaning takes hold. The closing section feels like an uneasy revenge tune, a burst of self-empowerment.

Despite the heavy subject matter, the whole of Oblivion is straight-up cool. This is synth-pop as an intimidation tactic, a seemingly nonsensical combination on paper. These synth-lines are as good as it gets, and the contrast with her voice creates something unlike anything else. Dancing along never feels like it is at the expense of its subject matter Oblivion is a taunt, showing Grimes could move on and grow something beautiful out of her pain.

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3. Bruce Springsteen Born to Run (1975)
from the album Born to Run

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3t9SfrfDZM

Key lyrics:
I want to know if love is wild, babe
I want to know if love is real

A friend of mine once described Born to Run as sounding like unicorns galloping through a field. I think he meant this as a putdown, that the keyboard here suggests something all too precious. I think it is an apt description but from the opposite angle few truly masculine presences in music have embraced such unabashed displays of hope. Part of this is that Springsteen paints such an intimate picture through his lyrics hope is part of the picture, so we can question the nave optimism of his narrator. Its not so much trying to convince us but rather to capture the spirit of a young man dreaming of leaving his home behind. We dont have to believe he will succeed we just need to believe he believes in himself.

Born to Run captures a young artist going all in on what makes him unique this is a song that could have broken Springsteen as much as it made him a superstar. It rockets forward with inimitable power though Springsteen returns to a similar sound throughout his career, it is never at this velocity. Clarence Clemons takes center stage with the coolest sax solo to hit the charts, while a keyboard and glockenspiel add a sense of starry-eyed wonder. Springsteen eyes a bigger picture than rock and roll while perfectly retaining the energy.

Among my generation, Springsteen seems to be treated like the epitome of dad rock cheese Born in the USA being consistently misunderstood in the popular consciousness certainly did not help matters. But where I also once saw something cloyingly sentimental, I now recognize Springsteen as a strikingly earnest figure. Born to Run is a work of unabashed wonder. My teenage self might be embarrassed to learn this now ranks as an all-time favorite, but sometimes I need a quick dose of positive energy.

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Im not much of a Springsteen fan, but Born to Run is the exception. Its such a refreshingly earnest (as you said) and cathartic work of stadium rock.

2. The Velvet Underground Heroin (1967)
from the album The Velvet Underground and Nico

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yN-EZW0Plsg

Key lyrics:
Heroin, be the death of me
Heroin, its my wife and its my life

The first time I heard Heroin, John Cales wailing electric viola literally gave me a headache. Which is to say, I immediately fell in love and never looked back, an eternal fixture of my top two songs since I made my very first list a decade back. The appeal is in no way straightforward as I claim of so many of my other favorite songs on an album full of proto-whatever, Heroin remains the one song without significant connective tissue to music at large. Every element is so committed to supporting this sole idea that nothing could be taken or expanded upon. This exists at the forefront of experimental rock while shooting past the negative implications to land safely in the art rock zone no matter how hard this song goes, it maintains a strange accessibility.

Heroin finds four instruments and the human voice in perfect discord. The two guitars generate an introspective backbone while Moe Tuckers drumming starts with a low energy pattern. At first, Cales viola joins to merely drone in the backbone, Tuckers drumming picking up speed. Heroin is marked by crescendos, in which the drums threaten to skitter off while the viola begins to sear. Lou Reed delivers a quiet certitude, musing over the chaotic state of the world and citing heroin as the easy escape. Cales viola is the drug itself, Tuckers frantic drumming the rush. By the final crescendo, things truly go off the rails Moe Tucker momentarily stops drumming, so overwhelmed by the chaos. The viola transitions into a wailing monstrosity, yet Reeds certain voice ties everything together. This is a song so ahead of its time that it only dates itself through a Vietnam reference. Heroin may not be pleasant, but it exists as a riveting experience of music without limits.

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1. LCD Soundsystem All My Friends (2007)
from the album Sound of Silver

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVEZNvqecdE

Key lyrics:
I wouldnt trade one stupid decision
For another five years of life

At the heart of All My Friends is an insistent piano loop, a single chord which occasionally breaks itself in two in a frantic oscillation. For the first thirty-five seconds, the piano plays alone, drilling through your skull like Heroin, the first time I heard this song, I ended up with a headache. The piano endures for the entire length of this epic song, perhaps picking up energy but never shifting from that loop. This is an instrument with more thematic than melodic purpose in a song longing for familiar comforts, it serves as a piece of unattainable and overwhelming nostalgia. To capture the conflicting emotions, the central representation of desire cannot itself be changed instead, LCD Soundsystem modify the space around this almost tumorous loop, shifting its meaning through contextualization instead of chord changes.

To make such repetitive cycles work is a central trick in electronic music, but LCD Soundsystem choose to otherwise play this with rock instrumentation. A drum patter and bass translate the central energy to a dance rhythm, while the guitar makes a delayed appearance and infrequently bursts forward with its own comparatively subdued longing. By the end, the elements meet on equal ground, the piano one part of a massive whole. The longing remains, but with so much more clarity.

James Murphys lyricism really drives it home. Few rock songs have painted such a convincing picture of growing up. In a genre once dominated by youth culture, Murphy takes a moment to play the old man in the room. Without missing a beat, he leaps from vowing to live a life without regret and then lamenting all the relationships he has neglected. The fact such a reflective song clicked with me when I was merely sixteen feels unlikely, but Murphy speaks to an eternal cycle is the end of high school not the dawning of these realizations, that so many of these people you once knew will soon become nothing more than distant memories? All My Friends has comforted me in my most lonely days, a lesson to never take my social circles for granted. James Murphy and company took a single discordant piano note and infused it with endless emotional resonance.

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Here is my full top 3000 in playlist form:
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5PQNpn05tfM8GlyfNeqyAj?si=dd55ad8b7a2e416f

The list:
1. LCD Soundsystem - All My Friends
2. The Velvet Underground - Heroin
3. Bruce Springsteen - Born to Run
4. Grimes - Oblivion
5. Kate Bush - Cloudbusting
6. Patti Smith - Gloria
7. Television - Marquee Moon
8. Blur - Girls and Boys
9. The Breeders - Cannonball
10. New Order - Blue Monday
11. LCD Soundsystem - Losing My Edge
12. The Knife - Heartbeats
13. Frank Ocean - Pyramids
14. The Who - My Generation
15. Kate Bush - Wuthering Heights
16. The Smiths - This Charming Man
17. Courtney Barnett - Pedestrian at Best
18. Phoebe Bridgers - I Know the End
19. Buddy Holly & The Crickets - That'll Be the Day
20. Joy Division - Love Will Tear Us Apart
21. Missy Elliott - Get Ur Freak On
22. Franz Ferdinand - Take Me Out
23. Smashing Pumpkins - 1979
24. Perfume Genius - Queen
25. David Bowie - Life on Mars?
26. Sam Cooke - A Change Is Gonna Come
27. The Stone Roses - Fools Gold
28. Primal Scream - Loaded
29. The Jam - Going Underground
30. Nina Simone - Sinnerman
31. Love - Alone Again Or
32. Beck - Loser
33. The Rapture - House of Jealous Lovers
34. OutKast - Hey Ya
35. The Smiths - There is a Light That Never Goes Out
36. Sufjan Stevens - Chicago
37. Underworld - Rez
38. Bikini Kill - Rebel Girl
39. The Smiths - How Soon is Now?
40. Pulp - Common People
41. Dirty Projectors - Stillness is the Move
42. LCD Soundsystem - Dance Yrself Clean
43. Radiohead - Let Down
44. A Tribe Called Quest - Check the Rhime
45. Foals - Spanish Sahara
46. Talking Heads - Once in a Lifetime
47. James Blake - Retrograde
48. Hercules and Love Affair - Blind
49. The Beach Boys - Surf's Up
50. LCD Soundsystem - Someone Great
51. King Crimson - 21st Century Schizoid Man
52. The Velvet Underground - Sweet Jane
53. Fela Kuti - Zombie
54. Eddie Cochran - Summertime Blues
55. Sharon Van Etten - Seventeen
56. The Notorious B.I.G. - Juicy
57. Daft Punk - Da Funk
58. Pixies - Hey
59. Radiohead - Paranoid Android
60. Joy Division - Transmission
61. FKA twigs - Two Weeks
62. Chris Isaak - Wicked Game
63. Public Enemy - Fight the Power
64. Roy Orbison - Crying
65. New Order - Temptation
66. Mitski - Nobody
67. The War on Drugs - Red Eyes
68. Primal Scream - Higher Than the Sun
69. Arctic Monkeys - I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor
70. Phoebe Bridgers - Kyoto
71. John Cale - Paris 1919
72. Elton John - Your Song
73. Fleetwood Mac - Go Your Own Way
74. David Sylvian and Ryuichi Sakamoto - Forbidden Colours
75. The Jesus and Mary Chain - Just Like Honey
76. Wilco - Jesus, Etc.
77. Bjork - Hyper-Ballad
78. Joy Division - Atmosphere
79. A Tribe Called Quest - Can I Kick It?
80. Bruce Springsteen - Atlantic City
81. Talking Heads - This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)
82. Future Islands - Seasons (Waiting on You)
83. Le Tigre - Deceptacon
84. Daft Punk - Around the World
85. Kate Bush - Running Up That Hill
86. Kendrick Lamar - King Kunta
87. Mitski - Your Best American Girl
88. Brian Eno - Needles in the Camel's Eye
89. Paul Simon - Graceland
90. TV on the Radio - Wolf Like Me
91. Stevie Wonder - Living for the City
92. Kraftwerk - The Model
93. Four Tops - Reach Out I'll Be There
94. The Flaming Lips - Do You Realize??
95. Spiritualized - Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space
96. Nick Drake - Pink Moon
97. Big Star - Thirteen
98. Orange Juice - Rip It Up
99. Pigbag - Papa's Got a Brand New Pigbag
100. The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion - Bellbottoms

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The list (continued):
101. Curtis Mayfield - Move On Up
102. FKA twigs - Cellophane
103. Sharon van Etten - Your Love is Killing Me
104. The Who - Won't Get Fooled Again
105. R.E.M. - Nightswimming
106. Johnny Cash - Hurt
107. The Beach Boys - God Only Knows
108. Aphex Twin - Windowlicker
109. Caribou - Odessa
110. Yazoo - Situation
111. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Maps
112. The Rolling Stones - Sympathy for the Devil
113. Prince - Kiss
114. The White Stripes - Seven Nation Army
115. New Order - Bizarre Love Triangle
116. OutKast - B.O.B.
117. R.E.M. - Losing My Religion
118. Nat King Cole - Nature Boy
119. The Beatles - A Day in the Life
120. SOPHIE - Immaterial
121. Jay-Z - 99 Problems
122. Kraftwerk - Trans-Europe Express
123. A Tribe Called Quest - Scenario
124. Julee Cruise and Angelo Badalamenti - Falling
125. Dead Kennedys - Holiday in Cambodia
126. Big Thief - Not
127. The Supremes - Where Did Our Love Go
128. Joni Mitchell - A Case of You
129. Dr. Dre feat. Snoop Dogg - Nuthin' But a 'G' Thang
130. Miles Davis - So What
131. Bob Dylan - Tangled Up in Blue
132. Bright Eyes - First Day of My Life
133. Robyn - Dancing On My Own
134. Billie Holiday - Strange Fruit
135. Bob Dylan - Like a Rolling Stone
136. Los Fabulosos Cadillacs - Matador
137. Bjork - Bachelorette
138. Kate Bush - Hounds of Love
139. ANOHNI - Drone Bomb Me
140. James Blake - The Wilhelm Scream
141. Elbow - One Day Like This
142. Marvin Gaye - What's Going On
143. Jefferson Airplane - White Rabbit
144. The Orb - Little Fluffy Clouds
145. Stardust - Music Sounds Better With You
146. Underworld - Born Slippy
147. Daft Punk - One More Time
148. Justice - D.A.N.C.E.
149. Nico - These Days
150. Lana Del Rey - Video Games
151. !!! - Me and Giuliani Down by the Schoolyard
152. Funkadelic/Parliament - One Nation Under a Groove
153. James Brown - Get Up (I Feel Like Being a) Sex Machine
154. The Cure - Close to Me
155. Dave Brubeck - Take Five
156. The Knife - Full of Fire
157. David Bowie - Lazarus
158. Sonic Youth - Teen Age Riot
159. The Beach Boys - Good Vibrations
160. Chico Buarque - Construcao
161. Townes Van Zandt - Pancho and Lefty
162. Fleet Foxes - White Winter Hymnal
163. Burial - Archangel
164. Big Thief - Shark Smile
165. Lou Reed - Walk on the Wild Side
166. David Bowie - Young Americans
167. Aldous Harding - The Barrel
168. Nirvana - Lithium
169. Johnny Cash - Folsom Prison Blues
170. Bob Dylan - Subterranean Homesick Blues
171. The Velvet Underground - Venus in Furs
172. Slint - Good Morning Captain
173. Depeche Mode - Never Let Me Down Again
174. Hot Chip - Over and Over
175. The Knife - Silent Shout
176. Lorde - Royals
177. Vampire Weekend - Hannah Hunt
178. Neil Young - Heart of Gold
179. Nick Cave - Into My Arms
180. Todd Terje - Inspector Norse
181. The Specials - Ghost Town
182. Solange - Cranes in the Sky
183. Smashing Pumpkins - Tonight, Tonight
184. Pixies - Debaser
185. Depeche Mode - Enjoy the Silence
186. Beck - Where It's At
187. The xx - Crystalised
188. Caribou - Can't Do Without You
189. Sufjan Stevens - Should Have Known Better
190. Roy Orbison - In Dreams
191. Nina Simone - Feeling Good
192. The National - Fake Empire
193. Lou Reed - Perfect Day
194. Bob Dylan - Hurricane
195. Buddy Holly & The Crickets - Peggy Sue
196. The Band - The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down
197. Lucy Dacus - Night Shift
198. Nick Drake - River Man
199. Bruce Springsteen - Thunder Road
200. Kendrick Lamar - i
201. Courtney Barnett - Avant Gardener
202. Nirvana - Smells Like Teen Spirit
203. Bruce Springsteen - The River
204. LCD Soundsystem - How Do You Sleep?
205. 808 State - Pacific State
206. Violent Femmes - Blister in the Sun
207. Ramones - Blitzkrieg Bop
208. Missy Elliott - Work It
209. Art Ensemble of Chicago - Theme de Yoyo
210. Johnny Cash - I Walk the Line
211. Arcade Fire - Wake Up
212. Arcade Fire - Rebellion (Lies)
213. M83 - Midnight City
214. The Beatles - Tomorrow Never Knows
215. Tim Buckley - Song to the Siren
216. Elliott Smith - Between the Bars
217. Soft Cell - Tainted Love
218. M.I.A. - Paper Planes
219. Janelle Monae - Tightrope
220. Rage Against the Machine - Killing in the Name
221. Charles Mingus - Track C - Group Dancers
222. Amy Winehouse - Rehab
223. Arcade Fire - Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)
224. Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan - Mustt Mustt
225. Elliott Smith - Waltz #2
226. The Beatles - Eleanor Rigby
227. Vashti Bunyan - Diamond Day
228. Stevie Wonder - Sir Duke
229. The Cure - Just Like Heaven
230. New Order - True Faith
231. Prince - When Doves Cry
232. The National - Bloodbuzz Ohio
233. Stereolab - Cybele's Reverie
234. Fleetwood Mac - The Chain
235. Bjork - Joga
236. Fever Ray - If I Had a Heart
237. Buffalo Springfield - For What It's Worth
238. The Clash - London Calling
239. Sigur Ros - Svefn-g-englar
240. Wu-Tang Clan - Protect Ya Neck
241. Hank Williams - I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry
242. The Walkmen - The Rat
243. The Beatles - Yesterday
244. Gil Scott-Heron - The Revolution Will Not Be Televised
245. SOPHIE - Bipp
246. Jessie Ware - Spotlight
247. Cerrone - Supernature
248. Simon and Garfunkel - Bridge Over Troubled Water
249. Goldfrapp - Lovely Head
250. The The - This is the Day


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Excellent project, I highly enjoyed reading this front to back!

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Top 100 artists (artists from the last batch of 25 bolded):
1. Bob Dylan: "Tangled Up in Blue (#131)
2. Bruce Springsteen: "Born to Run" (#3)
3. Nick Cave: "Into My Arms" (#179)
4. David Bowie: "Life on Mars" (#25)
5. Radiohead: "Let Down" (#43)
6. The Beatles: "A Day in the Life" (#119)
7. LCD Soundsystem: "All My Friends" (#1)
8. Sufjan Stevens: "Chicago" (#36)
9. R.E.M.: "Nightswimming" (#105)
10. Kraftwerk: "The Model" (#92)
11. The Rolling Stones: "Sympathy for the Devil" (#112)
12. The Velvet Underground: "Heroin" (#2)
13. Bjork: "Hyperballad" (#77)
14. Neil Young: "Heart of Gold" (#178)
15. Kendrick Lamar: "King Kunta" (#86)
16. Kanye West: "Monster" (#309)
17. Prince: "Kiss" (#113)
18. Tom Waits: "Time" (#790)
19. Talking Heads: "Once in a Lifetime" (#46)
20. Brian Eno: "Needles in the Camel's Eye" (#88)
21. The Cure: "Close to Me" (#154)
22. Blur: "Girls & Boys" (#8)
23. The Smiths: "This Charming Man" (#16)
24. Miles Davis: "So What" (#130)
25. Charles Mingus: "Track C - Group Dancer" (#221)
26. Leonard Cohen: "Suzanne" (#588)
27. New Order: "Blue Monday" (#10)
28. Nirvana: "Lithium" (#168)
29. Joy Division: "Love Will Tear Us Apart" (#20)
30. Beck: "Loser" (#32)
31. Pixies: "Hey" (#58)
32. The Who: "My Generation" (#14)
33. Smashing Pumpkins: "1979" (#23)
34. Arcade Fire: "Wake Up" (#211)
35. Stevie Wonder: "Living for the City" (#91)
36. Fiona Apple: "Heavy Balloon" (#275)
37. A Tribe Called Quest: "Check the Rhime" (#44)
38. Metallica: "Master of Puppets" (#348)
39. PJ Harvey: "Rid of Me" (#472)
40. Led Zeppelin: "Kashmir" (#619)
41. Daft Punk: "Da Funk" (#57)
42. Kate Bush: "Cloudbusting" (#5)
43. Animal Collective: "My Girls" (#307)
44. Nina Simone: "Sinnerman" (#30)
45. The National: "Fake Empire" (#192)
46. Joni Mitchell: "A Case of You" (#128)
47. St. Vincent: "Digital Witness" (#334)
48. James Blake: "Retrograde" (#47)
49. U2: "One" (#434)
50. Pink Floyd: "Wish You Were Here" (#514)
51. Vampire Weekend: "Hannah Hunt" (#177)
52. The Knife: "Heartbeats" (#12)
53. The Police: "Roxanne" (#285)
54. Beastie Boys: "Sabotage" (#261)
55. Portishead: "Sour Times" (#254)
56. The xx: "Crystalised" (#187)
57. Wilco: "Jesus, Etc." (#76)
58. The Chemical Brothers: "Hey Boy Hey Girl" (#271)
59. The Beach Boys: "Surf's Up" (#49)
60. The Kinks: "Waterloo Sunset" (#355)
61. Johnny Cash: "Hurt" (#106)
62. Creedence Clearwater Revival: "Fortunate Son" (#333)
63. Lou Reed: "Walk on the Wild Side" (#165)
64. Can: "Mother Sky" (#398)
65. Mogwai: "2 Rights Make 1 Wrong" (#399)
66. Nick Drake: "Pink Moon" (#96)
67. John Coltrane: "A Love Supreme, Part 1: Acknowledgement" (#661)
68. Aphex Twin: "Windowlicker" (#108)
69. Bob Marley: "Redemption Song" (#506)
70. Public Enemy: "Fight the Power" (#63)
71. Elton John: "Your Song" (#72)
72. Jay-Z: "99 Problems" (#121)
73. Depeche Mode: "Never Let Me Down Again" (#173)
74. OutKast: "Hey Ya" (#34)
75. Madonna: "Like a Prayer" (#336)
76. Simon and Garfunkel: "Bridge Over Troubled Water" (#248)
77. The Clash: "London Calling" (#238)
78. Buddy Holly: "That'll Be the Day" (#19)
79. Perfume Genius: "Queen" (#24)
80. Sigur Ros: "Svefn-g-englar" (#239)
81. M.I.A.: "Paper Planes" (#218)
82. Bon Iver: "Skinny Love" (#262)
83. Fela Kuti: "Zombie" (#53)
84. Caribou: "Odessa" (#109)
85. Green Day: "Basket Case" (#371)
86. Foals: "Spanish Sahara" (#45)
87. FKA twigs: "Two Weeks" (#61)
88. Fleetwood Mac: "Go Your Own Way" (#73)
89. SOPHIE: "Immaterial" (#120)
90. ANOHNI: "Drone Bomb Me" (#139)
91. Elvis Presley: "Suspicious Minds" (#387)
92. Fever Ray: "If I Had a Heart" (#236)
93. Beyonce: "Countdown" (#615)
94. Funkadelic/Parliament: "One Nation Under a Groove" (#152)
95. Paul Simon: "Graceland" (#89)
96. Grimes: "Oblivion" (#4)
97. John Cale: "Paris 1919" (#71)
98. Missy Elliot: "Get Ur Freak On" (#21)
99. Patti Smith: "Gloria" (#6)
100. Robyn: "Dancing On My Own" (#133)

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Good write-ups, and I also enjoyed this project.

Congrats for finishing!

It's been an interesting journey. I heard a lot of new stuff. Can't say I liked everything but at least a few of these will stick with me.

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Amazing top 3. I'd always go with Oh Sweet Nothing or What Goes On over Heroin for the Velvets, but can't really complain.

Nice work, man! Glad I got the Grimes and LCD predictions right! Out of curiosity, is Round and Round in your top 1000? It seems right up your alley.

ChainLTTP posted...

Amazing top 3. I'd always go with Oh Sweet Nothing or What Goes On over Heroin for the Velvets, but can't really complain.

Nice work, man! Glad I got the Grimes and LCD predictions right! Out of curiosity, is Round and Round in your top 1000? It seems right up your alley.

Ariel Pink's "Round and Round" landed at 700 in the most recent update, which is the lowest it's ever been for me. It peaked at 134 in 2017 and fell a bit the two following years before taking consecutive dives in 2020 and 2021.

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Hmm...I want an excuse to keep this bumped for a bit so my several months of work doesn't suddenly disappear. Maybe I can slowly share my top 25 for each artist (or top 10 once I get outside my top favorites...). I already did that for Bob Dylan earlier, so here's Bruce Springsteen:

1. Born to Run
2. Atlantic City
3. Thunder Road
4. The River
5. Jungleland
6. Badlands
7. Born in the U.S.A.
8. Candy's Room
9. The Promised Land
10. Dancing in the Dark
11. Darkness on the Edge of Town
12. I'm On Fire
13. Nebraska
14. State Trooper
15. Streets of Philadelphia
16. Backstreets
17. Adam Raised a Cain
18. The Ghost of Tom Joad
19. Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)
20. Glory Days
21. Bobby Jean
22. Highway Patrolman
23. Hungry Heart
24. 4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)
25. Lost in the Flood

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Looking forward to the LCD Soundsystem Top 25. I probably can't make a Top 25 for them personally, but I could easily do a Top 10 that'd I'd be super happy with.

In fact, here's a rough Top 10 from me since I don't want to consume another post

All My Friends
Dance Yrself Clean
Someone Great
All I Want
Great Release
You Wanted A Hit
Daft Punk Is Playing at My House
Tribulations
Never as Tired as When I'm Waking Up
I Can Change

(I haven't listened to Losing My Edge in a long while, but I think I like all of the above more than it)

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ZaziGuado posted...

Looking forward to the LCD Soundsystem Top 25. I probably can't make a Top 25 for them personally, but I could easily do a Top 10 that'd I'd be super happy with.

In fact, here's a rough Top 10 from me since I don't want to consume another post

All My Friends
Dance Yrself Clean
Someone Great
All I Want
Great Release
You Wanted A Hit
Daft Punk Is Playing at My House
Tribulations
Never as Tired as When I'm Waking Up
I Can Change

(I haven't listened to Losing My Edge in a long while, but I think I like all of the above more than it)

Did you not care for their most recent album?

And yeah, a top 25 is hard when they only have so many albums; they only have 19 songs in my top 3000 (which is still an average of 4.75 per album!). Anyway, since you specifically mentioned it, I'll jump ahead to my own LCD Soundsystem ranking:

1. All My Friends
2. Losing My Edge
3. Dance Yrself Clean
4. Someone Great
5. How Do You Sleep?
6. Tonite
7. I Can Change
8. Daft Punk is Playing at My House
9. New York, I Love You But You're Bringing Me Down
10. North American Scum
11. All I Want
12. Yeah
13. Call the Police
14. Tribulations
15. Oh Baby
16. Drunk Girls
17. Home
18. Get Innocuous
19. American Dream
20. Jump Into the Fire
21. Other Voices
22. Movement
23. Us V Them
24. Time to Get Away
25. You Wanted a Hit

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Y'know I've only listened to the new album once when it initially came out and nothing immediately grabbed me. I also tend to forget it exists. When they "retired" I just sort of resigned myself to only having those three albums and so that became what LCD Soundsystem is to me. With some bands it's really hard for me to step out of my comfort zone after I've become deeply familiar with a part of the discography. I'll have to give it another spin at some point.

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Nick Cave is interesting because he manages to be my #3 artist with only 19 songs in my top 3000 - which is still a lot, but he is easily outclassed by the next three artists as far as songs go. His strength is having a long and consistent career, 18 albums since 1984 and most of the them are in my top 1,000. It will be 20 songs next year once I add "White Elephant" off of Carnage.

1. Into My Arms
2. The Mercy Seat
3. Where the Wild Roses Grow
4. Red Right Hand
5. Jubilee Street
6. White Elephant (maybe? I need to re-listen but this feels about right)
7. The Weeping Song
8. There She Goes, My Beautiful World
9. Bright Horses
10. The Ship Song
11. I Need You
12. Ghosteen
13. Higgs Boson Blues
14. From Her to Eternity
15. Tupelo
16. Do You Love Me?
17. Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!
18. Straight to You
19. Jesus Alone
20. The Carny

Not sure what the next five would be; I largely engage with his music in full album form.

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David Bowie hit #1 on my artist list soon after his death but got overtaken by Springsteen who was then overtaken by Bob Dylan (and Nick Cave is an active artist who simply has more great works than he did a few years back). I believe The Beatles had been my #1 up until that point? I think I overstated my love for some of Bowie's songs back then, but I may have overcorrected; it was really weird only having three of his songs in this project. Either way, he is still #4 and has 27 songs in my top 3000, so here is my top 25 Bowie songs:

1. Life on Mars?
2. Lazarus
3. Young Americans
4. Heroes
5. The Man Who Sold the World
6. Blackstar
7. Space Oddity
8. Warszawa
9. Sound and Vision
10. Ashes to Ashes
11. Ziggy Stardust
12. Station to Station
13. Golden Years
14. Under Pressure
15. Starman
16. Modern Love
17. Let's Dance
18. Moonage Daydream
19. Always Crashing in the Same Car
20. I Can't Give Everything Away
21. Changes
22. Wild is the Wind
23. TVC15
24. Suffragette City
25. Five Years

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I noticed a distinct lack of John Legend in your top 3000. I think the man has a sensational voice, so I'm a bit surprised at least 1 song from him wouldn't crack your list.

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John Legend is a turd

I think I know one song by John Legend and it is fine enough? He's not really someone I hear anything about so I'm not sure what makes it a distinct lack.

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He's got a distinctive voice and is fairly famous and successful. So I guess I would have thought you had heard some of his stuff.

I know personally he's not someone who I thought I'D enjoy and yet I find myself going back to some of his first few albums from time to time.

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I'm rather oblivious to the popular sphere unless it also jumps over to the critical sphere

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There was a shocking lack of Radiohead in this project; they only had two in my top 250 but have 32 in the full 3,000:

1. Let Down
2. Paranoid Android
3. Fake Plastic Trees
4. Pyramid Song
5. Burn the Witch
6. Idioteque
7. The National Anthem
8. How to Disappear Completely
9. Creep
10. My Iron Lung
11. Climbing Up the Walls
12. Everything In Its Right Place
13. Reckoner
14. You and Whose Army?
15. 15 Step
16. Life in a Glasshouse
17. Karma Police
18. Daydreaming
19. Street Spirit (Fade Out)
20. True Love Waits
21. Motion Picture Soundtrack
22. Lucky
23. Just
24. There, There
25. Exit Music (For a Film)
26. All I Need
27. No Surprises
28. Videotape
29. Weird Fishes/Arpeggi
30. Lotus Flower
31. Talk Show Host
32. Jigsaw Falling Into Place

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CasanovaZelos posted...

16. The Smiths This Charming Man (1983)
non-album single

A perfect single in every way, length-wise and quality-wise. An easy answer for me for the "what song do you want to hear again for the first time?", I'll never forget that intro guitar. I've never read it as a wedding cancellation; I felt the "will nature make a man of me yet?" line always implied he was desperately waiting for the moment to be attracted to females. Also interesting how the lyrics reject any and all machismo, as it puts the protagonist in the role of being whisked away by this dashing man.

Pyramids is also one of those songs that just stunned me the first time I heard it. It truly is an epic, and the ending I truly adore.


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31 Beatles songs in my top 3000:
1. A Day in the Life
2. Tomorrow Never Knows
3. Eleanor Rigby
4. Yesterday
5. Strawberry Fields Forever
6. In My Life
7. For No One
8. Happiness is a Warm Gun
9. Blackbird
10. Something
11. Let It Be
12. I Am the Walrus
13. I Want to Hold Your Hand
14. Come Together
15. Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)
16. While My Guitar Gently Weeps
17. Helter Skelter
18. A Hard Day's Night
19. Here Comes the Sun
20. Revolution
21. Nowhere Man
22. Hey Jude
23. Golden Slumbers/Carry That Weight/The End
24. Help!
25. Across the Universe
26. Ticket to Ride
27. Can't Buy Me Love
28. Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds
29. All You Need is Love
30. Don't Let Me Down
31. Julia

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