A Lifetime in Songs
1960s
“What Goes On“
The Velvet Underground – The Velvet Underground
The year of my birth. The band that proverbially sold only a handful of albums, and everyone who bought one started a band. This is probably straight up bullshit, but their influence is undeniable.
I first really got into the Velvet Underground about the time I graduated from college, strangely enough led to them by a cover of this song by The Feelies (I’m guessing more on them later.
This song perfectly encapsulates what I felt then, and it is still the first song I think of when I go to play this album.
This song perfectly encapsulates what I felt then, and it is still the first song I think of when I go to play this album.
“Let it be good, do what you should /
You know it will work all right /
“Let it be good, do what you should /
You know it will work all right“
1970s
“Immigrant Song”
Led Zeppelin – Led Zeppelin III
I was a late comer to Led Zeppelin, unlike many of the boys I grew up with, but when I found them, this album, moreso than any other of theirs spoke the most to me, and “Immigrant Song” is by far my favorite track not only on this album, but by Led Zeppelin entirely.
This song has been a constant in my life for many years, but it really came to the fore in Atlanta United’s run to MLS cup in 2018. The club played it at deafening volume at the beginning of every home match when the golden spike entered the stands—which I always thought was fitting since the fan base is incredibly diverse, probably more so than 90% of the professional teams in America.
“20th Century Man”
The Kinks – Muswell Hillbillies
The age old question: Beatles or Stones?
My answer is The Kinks because, well, I’m just that sort of contrarian (or asshole). No matter, I stand by that answer.
Thiss my favorite album of theirs, though I have a massive soft spot for the more 80s-sounding recordings, and “20th Century Man” is, perhaps the perfect opener, in addition to being an incredible song.
It opens with a bit of a country-rock vibe, which I enjoy, until Ray Davies’s voice kicks in, reminding you that this is indeed The Kinks.
“Ain’t got no ambition, I’m just disillusioned /
I’m a twentieth century man but I don’t wanna be here.”
Sounds like 2020 in a nutshell to me.
“Feel”
Big Star – #1 Record
A letter that was penned in the relative isolation of Memphis despite the presence of Alex Chilton, postmarked and mailed to the 80s, where it was discovered by a myriad of “college rock” bands such as R.E.M. and The Replacements. Their first album is a statement. I mean #1 Record for goodness sake. perhaps it should have been, but it never made it.
You’ve already heard many of these songs, whether you know it or not (Thanks! That 70s Show”!)
The opener though incorporates everything that makes everything Big Star: varied pacing, simple guitars, whip-smart vocals, and, of course, horns (it being Memphis and all).
Search and Destroy”
The Stooges – Raw Power
Punk rock before there was punk rock, and the man himself is still at it today. I could have easily picked “Loose” for my 1970 song, but sometimes narrowing it down is hard (see worksheet PDF below).
Nothing say The Stooges to me quite like this song does. All the crunchy guitars, Iggy’s wail, and dark subject matter. Want to lighten it up a bit, just hang on for for “Gimme Danger.”
“Love Hurts”
Gram Parsons – Grievous Angel
I hinted this with the Kinks, but this is truly country-rock, or as we’d call it today, alt-country. Gram is The Godfather of all this, even with Sweetheart of the Rodeo.
From the very beginning, you hear the perfect melding of Gram’s voice with that of Emmylou Harris (if someone has a better voice, please show me). The feel here is quite different than all those above, slowing things down a good bit.
“I really learned a lot
Really learned a lot
Love is like a flame
It burns you when it’s hot”
“Young Americans”
David Bowie – Young Americans
There had to be a Bowie somewhere on this list (at least one anyway), and I had to pass not only on songs from The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars and from Aladdin Sane. No matter. I’ve always loved this song on its own merits–it may be the first song on the list with a piano and saxophone, two underrated instruments for this kind of music.
And that choir!
This may be the first time that a song of his was teed up so nicely for the American market, given its swing and title.
“We live for just these twenty years /
Do we have to die for the fifty more?”
“More Than a Feeling”
Boston – Boston
Now is where things start happening mostly in real time, as I had started to listen to music on my own and have my own opinions about it. Everything that has come before became important to me after the fact.
This song, however, I remember playing in own my own “stereo”, which as technically stereo albeit an 8-track. This is the first record I actually owned on my own.
Now to the song. How can you quarrel with two guitars so perfectly in sync and rhythm with a singer whose voice perfectly is complemented by them. And I love the changing tempo, starting slow then turning it on. It truly is a song of its era–all 70s in the best ways, leaving out the worst (except to the sometimes embarrassing lyrics to the modern ear… I mean “sweet mama” really?).
“I see my Mary Anne walking away…”
“The Passenger”
Iggy Pop – Lust for Life
And with that brief diversion, we’re back to songs I only discovered later. I mean, how many eight-year olds live and die with the music of the day.
This is, perhaps, my favorite Iggy Pop/Stooges song. End of story. Every time I hear that opening, I pause and I know I in in a good place if it is heard in the wild beyond my house.
I really like how it shifts from a first person singular to the third person as the song progress. It sees the darkness–something I would have been totally unfamiliar with in 1977–but ultimately focuses on the light.
“And all of it is yours and mine
And all of it is yours and mine
So let’s ride and ride and ride and ride“
“Surrender”
Cheap Trick – Surrender
When end the first decade of this journey with first song that felt a bit dangerous to me. I remember my cousin introducing it to me at my Granny’s house one Sunday on one of those old tape recorders that they used for the belt computers in Star Trek–you know the ones, the ones from Radio Shack (which I can still smell). It was the first time that I thought about my parents as a “little weird”, which seem awfully rebellious at the time to me. And this album really set their career off.
This certainly isn’t Cheap Trick’s best song, not is it my favorite Cheap Trick song. It is however, one of the first songs that really imprinted itself on my nine-year old brain.
From here on out things start to get really tricky, as I was growing into my own musical tastes and had begun really exploring what there was out there beyond my parent’s old-school country LPs (some of which I much later came to lover).
Mommy’s alright, daddy’s alright, they just seem a little weird.
Surrender, surrender, but don’t give yourself away, ay, ay, ay.
“I Found that Essence Rare”
Gang of Four – Entertainment!
OK. Show of hands here: how many of y’all expected the Clash with something from London Calling here? If this were an album list, it would be here. But it’s not, and I’ve set a rule not to repeat artists (so the 80s in general are tough), so I’ll include something that I love and that came to open many musical doors for me, even though it I didn’t come to it until later.
This song is representative of a whole class of artists that rarely showed up in the year-end lists. I’d put Mission of Burma in that same category (though sadly this list doesn’t have room for them, so this song stands in). That said, this is a fantastic song, insofar as I can only think of covers that don’t suck.
“I found that essence rare, it’s what I looked for /
I knew I’d get what I asked for“
1980s
“Love Will Tear Us Apart”
Joy Division – Love Will Tear Us Apart
There can be no surprise that this song is on the list. I’m not sure how exactly it was released (either as a single or as part of an EP). Either way, good luck finding an original vinyl version. No, really, I’ll wait.
Now to the song itself. The song of every angst-ridden teenager ever. That association, however, does not take away from what I great song this is, and it is made all the sad by Ian Curtis’s untimely suicide. At every step of my life since the mid-80s, this song has been there in my head, and it seems that every artist worth his or her salt needs to take a crack at it, with wide-ranging success (for every Alejandro Escovedo versus, there’s one by Fall Out Boy, ugh). Nevertheless, this universal adulation and admiration means something, even if it’s that I merely on to something.
“When routine bites hard and ambitions are low /
And resentment rides high but emotions won’t grow /
And we’re changing our ways, taking different roads /
Love, love will tear us apart again /
Love, love will tear us apart again”
“Pretty in Pink”
The Psychedelic Furs – Talk Talk Talk
Now we’re getting into the 80s proper. Now, close your eyes. Think of that John Hughes movie of the same name. Now hear the song. Finally, promptly forget all those things ever existed and grab this album and play the song.
It’s the same song separated by a Hollywood mentality, that scrubbed all the rawness that I love about the original right out of it. I can’t imagine how they dumbed down Richard Butler’s voice for that version, but get off the elevator and back up to the front the audience singing aloud (think about it later):
“He’s walking around in this dress that she wore /
She is gone but the joke’s the same /
Pretty in pink, isn’t she? /
Pretty in pink, isn’t she?”
“Straight to Hell”
The Clash – Combat Rock
So, I’ve missed out on listing “Janie Jones”, “Safe European Home”, “Train in Vain”, and “Washington Bullets” as the years passed. Why? Because I knew this song was on the horizon. This is not their best album, but for me, this song ranks with the top one to three Clash songs, depending on the mood (luckily, I can take “Clampdown” out of heavy rotation for a bit).
This song captures the melding of styles and genres that the Clash embraced right up to the end of their run–I don’t really count Cut the Crap as a Clash album, even this “This is England” is a great song. You can almost see Joe picking up the guitar fifteen years after playing this song and embarking on the Mescaleros.
Bonus points: M.I.A. sampled it while keeping the spirit of the song alive within hers, which is also very good.
“Lemme tell ya ’bout your blood bamboo kid /
It ain’t Coca-Cola it’s rice“
“This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)”
The Talking Heads – Speaking in Tongues
There are so many good Talking Heads songs to choose from, but this one has spoken to me more over the years than any other. Perhaps it’s because I have such a strong feeling of home those places where I consider myself at home: in the Valley of Virginia around where I grew up and this small corner of Atlanta where I currently sit.
This has everything that a classic Talking Heads song has. That melody sort of weaving in and out of the foreground and background, and it’s kind of gentle in its touch. David Byrne’s unique intonation (don’t go changing), and lyrics to ponder in the end.
“Home, is where I want to be /
But I guess I’m already there”
“Seven Seas”
Echo & the Bunnymen – Ocean Rain
How do you pick a song from this album? It may be just about perfect from front to back. Catch me on another day, and just about any of these songs would or could make his list (heck “The Killing Moon” right before I started writing even sprang heavily to mind).
In the end though, I keep coming back again and again to this particular. It just seems the epitome of late, early iteration Echo. The psychedelia, the reminders of what a fantastic rock and roll band they could be (all the time live), and how they could meld seamlessly into the zeitgeist while maintaining the previous features against the worst 80 production.
I mean, the opening still rings as true as anything and I would class this particular turn of phrase with just about anyone who ever put pen to paper:
Stab a sorry heart /
With your favourite finger /
Paint the whole world blue /
And stop your tears from stinging /
Hear the cavemen singing /
Good news they’re bringing”
“Don’t You Forget About Me”
Simple Minds – The Breakfast Club Soundtrack
This could have easily been a selection for their Once Upon a Time album, but this song was the soundtrack for much of my high school time. (Easily both are great.) There was some things about a John Hughes movie that you could always count on (as a teenager at the time): a mostly relatable story (YMMV from film to film: e.g., loved Some Kind of Wonderful the movie, but it’s soundtrack was just ok… Pretty in Pink was the opposite).
I’d put this movie in mostly the latter camp except for this song (and like two others), but oh what a song. Probably the best soundtrack theme song of the 80s (sorry Quarterflash). With I bet most of you are singing it in your heads right now.
As you walk on by
Will you call my name?
And you walk away
Or will you walk away?
Will you walk on by?
“These Days”
R.E.M. – Life’s Rich Pageant
I could have easily picked an R.E.M. song from any of their first five albums plus Chronic Town, but abiding by the rules, this place on the list made the most sense, and this is still one of my favorite songs by them, and it comes with a very brief story.
This was the first album that I made an extra effort to buy on the day it came out. I was a rising junior in high school, and since it was the summer, I could take theTuesday and drive (or ride as the case may be) to a store I knew would have it. So, that July, I jumped into my friend Junior Sweet’s ’67 Firebird and off to Roanoke we drove, about an hour from where we lived. We both bought it on vinyl on that day, and I can speak for Junior, but I listened to this very same vinyl the other day, and when this song came on, the volume was ticked up few notches (to my dog’s chagrin). I always liked it when R.E.M. decided to be a rock ‘n roll band for a song or two (which may be why I’m one of the few people on the planet that likes Monster more than Out of Time.
Anyway, back to this song: it was one of my go to driving around town with the windows open on the weekend songs. That’s about all that usually happened on a weekend in Staunton, Virginia, anyway back in the day.
All the people gather, fly to carry each his burden /
We are young despite the years /
We are concern, we are hope despite the times /
All of a sudden, these days /
Happy throngs, take this joy wherever, wherever you go.
“Can’t Hardly Wait”
The Replacements – Pleased to Meet Me
Much as with R.E.M., a number of years would have been a natural fit for the Replacements, but this one is a perfect year to song mix. “Can’t Hardly Wait” is probably my favorite songs by them. While live, they were a totally self-sabotaging bunch a lot of the time, they managed to record two amazing versions of this song (The Tim version is much darker and a littler harder edged).
I mean this song has about everything: a great opening hook, easily to remember lyrics that are imminently sing-alongable, and the every present knowledge the band is just one more drunken train wreck live show away from maybe disappearing (to be fair, the one time I saw them sober, they were absolutely incredible).
Lights that flash in the evening, /
Through a hole in the drapes /
I’ll be home when I’m sleeping /
I can’t hardly wait.
The idea of a smoking Jesus on a road trip is a fun one too.
“Hotel Womb”
The Church – Starfish
An album most people know for one song. And this song isn’t it. While that song is indeed amazing, so is the rest of the album, and givien how much I’ve listened to “Hotel Womb” specifically over there years, there could be no other choice.
The album as a whole has varying intensities and tempos that change from song to song, and I can’t think of a better closing track on any album anywhere, just quietly putting the whole endeavor to be. I’m not one to totally focus on lyrics above all, but I think, in this case, they do merit a special recognition. I’ve returned to them again and again in varying moods and they always morph to the moment.
Aside: do yourself a favor and see these guys play live sometime… everybody plays everything at one time or another.
Down in the lair, well I met her there /
With a price for everyone. /
I paid eighty dollars for this wedding ring, /
I couldn’t take it off if I tried.
“I Am The Resurrection”
The Stone Roses – The Stone Roses
AS with 1979, you can begin to sense the tenor of the list turn a bit. I could argue that this is the first album that fully belongs to the 90s, despite it’s release date. I remember playing this on the radio in college with my friend Erik, and we both looked at each other and said “wow, just what and who is this?!”—something was definitely beginning to turn here.
And when it comes to this album, which may be one of those perfect LPs, this is its epic. You can easily imagine a whole stadium singing along with the band and you, because that actually happened until they called it a day.
I am the resurrection and I am the life /
I couldn’t ever bring myself to hate you as I’d like.
1990s
“911 is a Joke”
Public Enemy – Fear of a Black Planet
Honestly, I wouldn’t have picked this song at that time. It would probably be The Charlatans or The Pogues (who both had amazing albums that year with some amazing songs—see worksheet for more).
I was slow to grow into Hip Hop, but now I have my favorites, and see it as a vital musical genre that speaks truth to power more than anyone since the punks. Now, this isn’t nearly the beginning of Hip Hop because it certainly isn’t that old school. However, Public Enemy were my gateway to it (Chuck D. is as close as we have to Joe Strummer today—prove me wrong).
And this, along with “Bring the Noise”, is among their best in my mind, but I had to choose one, and this one fit in nicely here.
And given the events of the last few years, it’s more timely and urgent than ever.
They are the kings ’cause they swing amputation /
Lose your arms, your legs to their miscalculation /
I can prove it to you watch the rotation /
It all adds up to a funky situation /
“UMass”
Pixies – Trompe le Monde
There had to be a Pixies song here somewhere. Most people would have expect me to have chosen “Smells Like Teen Spirit” (as awesome as they were, I tired of Nirvana this particular year because everyone else sort of discovered this stuff late) or Matthew Sweet’s “Girlfriend” (which I listened to a lot more than anything else at the time I’d guess).
All that said, you can’t have Nirvana with Pixies by their own admission. This certainly isn’t their best album by any stretch, but “UMass” is one of their best songs IMHO. Joey Santiago’s crunchy guitar paired with Kim Deal’s bass that starts straight, but then get a LOT interesting as the song progresses.
We’ re not just kids /
To say the least /
We got ideas /
To us that’ s dear /
Born of Frustration”
James – Seven
This is getting really hard to pick and choose now. Two songs that I thought that absolutely had to be included overlapped, for various reasons, and there wasn’t any good places for either of them without some massive displacement. Now, I’m not apologizing because this album and this song in particular (along with “Ring the Bells”) can go toe to toe with just about any song this playlist.
This is probably the most anthemic of James’s songs. WoooWooWooWooWoooo (or something like that even though I’m listening to the song now.
The world is spinnin’ endlessly /
We’re clinging to our own beliefs /
Born of frustration /
Born of frustration /
Ed. Note: add your own “Wooooowooooowoooowooos”
“Gentlemen”
Afghan Whigs – Gentlemen
“Now.” Then that guitar kicking in. Then the song. Nothing says 1993 more to me than this songs. I remember watching MTV (remember that?) with my friend and roommate Erik when “debonair” first aired as a premier video, and we were both “just wow”. Needlessly to say, I went out and bought the album the next day, only to find I liked this song ever more.
A few years one, now in Atlanta, my neighbor was all about Hole being angry women music. She’s right. But then I played her this and a few other songs from the album, and she agreed this was the male counterpart. yeah, I realize some of the lyrics haven’t aged well unless you think of the album of a slice of a personality in time—a personality that isn’t all that nice or commendable.
I waited for the joke, it never did arrive /
And words I thought I’d smoke /
Let me in I’m cold /
All messed up but nowhere to go…
Do You Remember the First Time”
Pulp – His ‘n’ Hers
Here comes the britpop. Yes, “Common People” is better known and is a great song and certainly would merit inclusion, but things are getting tight before they open up a bit in my selection process (see the worksheet and you’ll see what I mean).
All that said, challenge anyone to listen to the version of this live in Hyde Park and not want to jump up and down singing along with the rest of the crowd.
Do you remember the first time? /
I can’t remember a worse time /
But you know that we’ve changed so much since then /
Oh yeah /
We’ve grown
“Sister Pain”
Electrafixion – Burned
I can’t tell you the amount of excitement that I met the previous year’s EP, Zephyr. I was even more excited to learn that they would be following up the EP with this full length. It was like the second coming of Echo & and Bunnymen in their most live-band, rock and roll mode. Although the intervening years since don’t seem like that many, it had felt like an age since I heard this kind of vitality. While Ian McCulloch’s fist two solo efforts were both fine efforts, they lacked the punch that Will Sarginson’s guitar and sensibility brought.
And boy, did they bring it. There are more than a few songs on this album that could have made this list, but it had to be “Zephyr” or this one for me, and since the latter had come out the year before, I went with this one, which was the soundtrack of that summer for me. I can still remember tooling through the Shenandoah Valley with some old college friends on the way to my first wedding (starter marriage), and while the marriage didn’t stand the test of time, those moments and this album certainly do.
It’s McCulloch as his front man best, howling without yelling, so to speak—all backed by the chainsaw riffs and soaring crescendo’s of Sarginson’s guitar. One could say, sadly, that this was their only full length, but in the same breath, exalt in the knowledge (now) that this presaged the return of Echo & the Bunnymen proper, whose first couple of late 90s albums followed this template closely.
Shoot
Can I be forgiven
Stay with me
Stay with me, yeah
“Where It’s At”
Beck – Odelay
No compendium of indie or alternative songs from the 90s would be complete without Beck. “Loser” made a strong push to be included earlier in this list, for example, but given my self-imposed rules for making this list, I have to balance first-blush surprise with enduring impact. This song is in the latter camp. So much so, it’s a go to joke of mine when talking to my audiophile friends: “I’ve got two turntables, and no microphones”.
Talk about a life soundtrack song, this perfectly encapsulated my feelings in 1996. The Olympics were coming to Atlanta, my job was improving, and my starter marriage hadn’t really fallen completely apart just yet. I was on top of the world, thinking I had the bull by the tail for sure. In retrospect, it seems kind of silly given all that has transpired since, for good, bad, challenging, and awesome. But, that’s the point of making these lists, at least for me. To take me back to a moment or spell of my life and remember myself at this moment. They say the sense of smell is the most tied to memory, and that is true (I can still smell the plastic packaging smell for this CD), but the sounds conjure much more vivid memories for me.
There’s a destination a little up the road
From the habitations and the towns we know
A place we saw the lights turn low
The jig-saw jazz and the get-fresh flow
Pulling out jives and jamboree handouts
Two turntables and a microphone
Bottles and cans and just clap your hands
And just clap your hands
“Karma Police”
Radiohead – OK Computer
1997 was just a ridiculous year for music. Sadly, it was the last one for a while that meet that criterion for me personally. As with Beck, no music list that includes the last 30 years would be complete without Radiohead somewhere on it. Some would argue that they were/are the best band currently making music in the world. While at the time, I would have probably disagreed (as was notoriously late to Radiohead except for “Creep” on Beavis and Butthead, which was awesome by in of itself).
To me though, this is my favorite album of theirs, and the song has to be in anyone’s top 10 Radiohead songs. It has all the orchestral highs with Thom Yorke’s plaintive complaints woven in and over the music’s ebbs and swells. I challenge anyone to not be enraptured when the orchestral set up it done and the chorus cuts through as the music reaches a crescendo after a slow piano interlude.
For a minute there
I lost myself, I lost myself
Phew, for a minute there
I lost myself, I lost myself
“Save Tonight”
Eagle-Eye Cherry – Desireless
And that was the sound of a lot of people that know me well whipping their heads around in disbelief. Like some of the songs listed from the later 70s, there are songs tied for me to a particular, important moment in time. This is one of those songs (and despite the oddity for some of its appearance still empirically a great song).
Ah 1998. That spring I took my first trip to Europe and outside the United States (thankfully many have followed), but there can only be one first time. I went over to help a friend move back to the US from Italy, where he’d been working and visited Florence, Pisa, Genoa, Novara, and Milan in Italy, and then took a long layover in the U.K. on the way home, spending a majority of my time in London there, but also visiting Oxford and Stratford-upon-Avon to pay my respects to the bard. Definitely a formative experience. (Not to mention the night spent with my friend’s girlfriend’s friend Rosie, who didn’t speak a lick of English and to which the lyrics fit the moment to a T).
This song is inextricably linked to that whole experience. Everywhere we went, there it was on the radio in cars, in shops, and in pubs and bars. The only song that came close to that kind impact on me there was “’74-’75” by the Connells, but choosing a song by the band that I’ve seen the most in concert over the years and was integral to my college experience here just seemed a bit odd (even though they lurk in the backgrund of this entire list). That said, again, this is a fantastic song, and it still conjures memories of driving the Autostrada to Florence and hanging out in pubs in London for me. (Nota bene: Pulp’s “This is Hardcore” was released in the U.K. the week I was there, so I may be among the first Americans to have had a non-promotional copy).
Save tonight and fight the break of dawn
Come tomorrow, tomorrow I’ll be gone
Save tonight and fight the break of dawn
Come tomorrow, tomorrow I’ll be gone
“A Shot in the Arm”
Wilco – Summerteeth
The song so nice, the album gives it to us twice.
The previous year, an old girlfriend introduced me to Wilco (I already knew Son Volt, but missed them along the line somehow), and I was instantly a fan (which led me to Uncle Tupelo, but that’s another write-up and list altogether). So it was with great anticipation that I greeted this release. I got it on the Tuesday it was released, but I truly took it for its paces the following weekend. I remember hanging out at my neighbors house with friends, and one of her friends heard me mention this album, and as a fan she wanted to hear it. So across the hall we traipsed to my apartment (we called that place Melrose Place for many reasons, but the frequent comings and goings were on of them).
I opened the door to the patio, put the CD on, and crackbaby (her nickname amongst us) and I sat on the deck in the spring air and listened to it back to back to back until the wee hours just sitting there listening and smoking as we let the music wash over us. I had a big time crush on this woman at the time, but she had a boyfriend, whom I also liked enough not to be an asshole, so this moment lingers for me as a what could have been but wasn’t moment that’s still pretty awesome all by itself. The ashtray said we were up all night.
The ashtray says you were up all night
When you went to bed with your darkest mind
Your pillow wept and covered your eyes
And you finally slept while the sun caught fire
You’ve changed
We fell in love in the key of C
We walked along down by the sea
You followed me down the neck to D
And we fell again into the sea
2000s
“Bohemian Like You”
The Dandy Warhols – Thirteen Tales of Urban Bohemia
This was a hard year with OutKast (The South got something to say y’all) and Idlewild (Scottish fiction) making strong cases for a song. But at the end of the day, I can’t get past this song. It’s the ultimate driving song on a nice spring day (much like today). A friend and I had a dicussion once about the Dandys, and I remarked they were the only American Brit-Pop band of any consistency, must like the Charlatans are the best Madchester Southern rock band with those shimmering organs. I stand by both comments.
Now I’m going to singing and humming this song all day.
‘Cause I like you
Yeah, I like you
And I’m feeling so bohemian like you
Yeah I like you, yeah I like you
And I feel whoa, woo!
“Johnny Appleseed”
Joe Stummer & the Mescaleros
This song could have easily have “Bhindi Bhagee” (since we named our dog based on that), but this one is still more appropriate. Oh Joe, you are so missed for so long long now. I know that the Clash have appeared here already, but I like the Mescaleros almost as much for far different reasons. For one, this music was part of the soundtrack of my early years with Kris (“Minstrel Boy” was the recessional at our wedding for example. And, I love the global beats and sound and outlook he brought to this band. Sure, sometimes it got a little sloppy without Mick’s songsmanship, but the spirit was still there.
This song (along with the later “Arms Aloft,” could also have been Clash songs as they have something particular to say and say it forcefully. This song taps into that more than any other song on this album, while sounding very different than his earlier efforts. Here, it’s a very crafty and subtle take on commerical society today. You don’t get things for free you know. Somewhere, Woody Guthrie agrees.
And most of all: The Future Is Unwritten.
Lord, there goes Martin Luther King
Notice how the door closes when the chimes of freedom ring
I hear what you’re saying, I hear what he’s saying
Is what was true now no longer so
Hey, I hear what you’re saying
Hey, I hear what he’s saying
If you’re after getting the honey, hey
Then you don’t go killing all the bees
“Hurt”
Johnny Cash – American IV: The Man Comes Around
It seems fitting to follow up Joe Strummer with Johnny Cash—in so many ways kindred spirits separated by a generation and an ocean. They care deeply about many of the same things. Johnny wore black. Joe had a Mohawk. And if you haven’t heard it, I encourage you to find the version “Redemption Song” that they covered together. Gives me chills every time.
Now to this song, which is a foray into music from an entirely different genre. It’s not often a cover song so totally eclipses to original version that the writer acknowledges that it has become his song, as Trent Reznor has stated publicly and proudly. As I age, this song becomes more and more relevant to me, looking back at all the things that I’ve done, good and bad, and where I stand today. I have lived a full life, but Johnny Cash really lived a full life, in so many ways that I was fearful to tackle, but every look back must be a bit wistful. I suppose that’s kind of the point of this entire list. I’ve tried to excise all but the most pertinent details that inform my currently life, but the impulse is the same. This rumination is at once a cold look a an interesting, if hard lived, life in many ways, and also a recognition of the coming end (something that only Johnny brings to it).
I wear this crown of thorns
Upon my liar’s chair
Full of broken thoughts
I cannot repair
“Remember Me”
British Sea Power – The Decline of British Sea Power
Now things start to get really interesting. I know that some very important albums predate this one by a few years (White Stripes, Strokes, Interpol), but this album, and specifically this song. My friend Craig floated this my way at the time and I was entranced. Other cultural factors re-engaged me with new music to a degree I hadn’t been in years (about 1997). The iPod was introduced in the early 2000s, and I purchased one around this time. With the new technology, I felt the need to fill that wonderful instrument with songs—both what I had on CD and all the great new music that was beginning to emerge.
This song is shattering in concert. When I saw them at the The Earl in East Atlanta, forest on the stage and all the loudness that I had long missed from what I’d been listening too, they rocked me down to my socks. Choosing one song from this album is incredibly difficult looking back at that time (and I still think Open Season may be the better album objectively), but it was the exact right thing I needed at the exact right time I needed. I was emerging from some personal and professional doldrums, and this shot in the arm was exactly what I needed.
We’re all part of the same old bloody regime
With someone taking it out
Whilst you were putting it in
Increment by increment
Increment by increment
Increment by increment
Oh remember me
Yeah remember me
Oh remember me
“The Rat”
The Walkmen – Bows + Arrows
This is the year everyone began to listen to music like Brooklynites. Of all the bands that began making music about this time, I think The Walkmen are my favorite of the lot. And this song has an incredibly vitality that just screams for it to be played at volume. If the previous year had opened my eyes to new music, then the music from this year cemented my interest in it. There were so many good albums and songs to come out in 2004. If you don’t believe me, checkout the worksheet that used to make my decisions below. It has started to grow numbers each year that I thought would be reserved for the 80s.
While the Walkmen went on to make much more mellow songs, including some of my favorites, this introduction to them and their sound can’t be repeated for me. We were hearing you as you pounded on the door, which is about an apt a metaphor as I can think of for this song and what this band became.
You’ve got a nerve to be asking a favor
You’ve got a nerve to be calling my number
I know we’ve been through this before
Can’t you hear me? I’m calling out your name
Can’t you see me? I’m pounding on your door
“Banquet”
Bloc Party – Silent Alarm
This seems odd to be placed here, since I had been hearing this band a full year in advance of this full-length release. Bloc Party seemingly came from nowhere, fully formed, with a sound, while reminiscent of past English rock, was distinctly their own. The song “Banquet” had been on rotation for quite a while, and while it’s a very good song, I do prefer “Helicopter” (mainly due to the lack of stalker-ish overtones).
This track definitely showcases what made Bloc Party such a revelation then. I hadn’t heard as tight a rhythm section in years (and very few since). The lead vocals from Kele Okereke cannot be understated. No one sounded exactly like that (giving me an advance notice of TV on the Radio to come). They seamlessly shift tempos and intensity in a great way, like the best Wilco. While they never quite lived up to the promise I had held out for them at the time, releasing solid albums here and there that never quite reached the heights of this debut.
And you know what, I’ll take a near perfect album anytime over a number of flawed one’s with some great songs.
Bastard child of guilt and shame
Bury your head in the sand
I’m thinking six, six, six
I’m thinking six
Are you hoping for a miracle?
Empty
“Stuck Between Stations”
The Hold Steady – Boys and Girls in America
The Hold Steady are an old school rock and roll band, straight from the heartland, via Brooklyn (as so many bands at the time were). They could have easily made this list for a song from Separation Sunday, but this album has so many great songs, one after the other, it had to take the nod.
And you have to love a band that titles an album with a beat poet reference! I love the interplay between the driving guitars and piano that drive so much of their music. I mean, any song here could have made this list.
Also, if given the chance, see them live and hold onto your socks (and earplugs). They melted the back room at the Earl here in East Atlanta in support of this album. May have been the loudest show I’ve ever heard. And the good news? They returned to form with a new album this year. Huzzah!
There are nights when I think Sal Paradise was right.
Boys and girls in America have such a sad time together.
…
he was a really cool kisser and she wasn’t all that strict of a Christian.
She was a damn good dancer but she wasn’t all that great of a girlfriend.
She likes the warm feeling but she’s tired of all the dehydration.
Most nights are crystal clear
But tonight it’s like it’s stuck between stations
On the radio.
“No Cars Go”
Arcade Fire – Neon Bible
It’s a good thing this isn’t a list of albums, but of songs, because in my mind, this may be the weakest Arcade Fire LP, sandwiched between the masterpieces of Funeral and The Suburbs. This song, however, had been around as long as the band had at the time—an early version is included on their demo EP, and it still remains on of their hand-clapping, stomping, yelping best.
Really, to me this song, more than any other, encapsulates what made Arcade Fire so exciting. That driving beat accentuated by instruments that one doesn’t normally hear in indie anthems. It’s a fantastic driving song despite it’s name, and works well at parties too. It always brings down the house in concert, because it’s one of those songs that everyone seems to know, whether they know if or not because it is so simple and easy sounding, which always takes a lot of craft.
We know a place where no planes go
We know a place where no ships go
Hey!
No cars go
Hey!
No cars go
Where we know
“Mr November”
The National – Alligator
Cheating alert. This album and this song where no released in 2008. I’m bending the heck out of my own rules for this one though because no other song encapsulates the year, especially the fall, of 2008 like this song. It seems so long ago after the Trump era to get at the level of fatigue that many had with the Bush administration and two disastrous wars. I’ve tried to keep politics out of this list as much as possible, but this is an exception that is required (even though my politics aren’t really that hidden from view anywhere really).
This song perfectly encapsulates the hope that many of us felt with the candidacy and eventual presidency of President Barack Obama. Something I never thought I’d see in my lifetime. Check Facebook around inaugurations and you’ll see a picture in memories of me crying with joy and relief as he took office.
Beyond politics though, this is a fantastic fucking song. I challenge you not to sing along, pump your fists, jump up and down, or do whatever else you may to to express pure unbridled joy and hope.
I’m the new blue blood, I’m the great white hope
I’m the new blue blood
I won’t fuck us over, I’m Mr. November
I’m Mr. November, I won’t fuck us over
“Luna”
Fanfarlo – Reservoir
This band should have been much bigger—they showed so much promise on this album, the UK’s answer to Arcade Fire in many ways. However, after this outstanding debut, they never quite got out of the blocks and carried on.
This song captures that promise very well, even if weren’t fully achieved. I really can’t say anything else other than enjoy this song and album for what it is, even if it is a singular occurrence.
Full disclosure, there are a lot of bands from this year that I’ve already placed or from whom the best is yet to come so stay tuned.
Luna, they’re coming down now
And it was always on the cards
Luna, the doors are open
And you will have to start taking sides
Luna, the doors are open
You could not burn faster if you tried
2010s
“Living in Colour”
Frightened Rabbit – The Winter of Mixed Drinks
Downhill stretch time now. I can’t think of a better song and artist to herald entering the last decade of my life to date and this list. Frightened Rabbit loom large in my consciousness for the last 15 years, and a song from every album of theirs could have slotted right into the list without me giving it a second thought.
This particular song captures them at their most boisterous, even thought they do quiet and contemplative just as easily and well. Much of this is down to Scott Hutchinson, who sadly left us too song by suicide. His remaining band mates and friends since have set up a organization dedicated to mental health awareness, named after one of his songs: TinyChanges.org, which as a concept, I’ve totally embraced for this site.
Living in colour, living in colour
I can see the paint on your toes
Living in colour, living
Even as I blackout, I know
“Learned to Surf”
Superchunk – Majesty Shredding
This albums marks the comeback of Superchunk, a band that’s been lurking in the background of this list since the early- to mid-nineties. And oh what a return to form right out of the gate. This album, and this song especially,capture them at their manic exuberant best.
The words themselves also lend themselves well to those days before the weight of the world began to weigh up all of us. Things were still hopeful, and I was jet-setting all over the country for work. Everything looked good enough that giving up your cares and learning to surf seemed very attractive.
When I learned to walk, you know humans roamed the earth
I can’t hold my breath anymore, I stopped sinking and learned to surf
When I learned to talk, I found words that weren’t worth dirt
I can’t hold my breath anymore, I stopped swimming and learned to surf
“Speak in Rounds”
Grizzly Bear – Shields
And now for something completely different from Superchunk. Grizzly Bear’s music is at once more measured and layered than many on this list. To my mind, this is a very recursive song, almost echoing the title in its approach to the music itself.
The songs slowly ratchets up the intensity from the quiet opening which draws you the listener in, slowly turning up the heat so to speak until reaches a full boil.
Step down, just once learn how to be alone
Step down, just once learn how to be alone
Come get what’s lost, what’s left before it’s gone
“Back to Middle”
Deerhunter – Monomania
There is a lot of GA in and around this list—from R.E.M. to OutKast to Childish Gambino. Here, we focus on Atlanta itself with Brandon Cox and company providing an absolute earworm of a song.
While this isn’t my favorite Deerhunter album (Halcyon Digest), it’s still very good and captures the band at their most friendly while still being raw Deerhunter, before they evolved and moved to more polished offerings with their latest.
I challenge anyone to listen to this and not be humming along with it later in the day or to not sing it old-school style while driving.
Back in the middle
Take me where I can see some stars
Take me to your cabin
Like you promised so many times
You and me
You broke free
“Happy Idiot”
TV on the Radio – Seeds
You won’t believe this, but as I was listening to the Deerhunter song above to get me in the mood for this playlist, this song came up next on the Spotify playlist.
OK, that’s a half truth. Not this song, but one from this album did indeed come up. An old colleague of mine once said of TV on the Radio: “I’m not sure if this is the future of rock and roll, but if it is, I’m very much looking forward to it.
What you don’t know won’t hurt you, yeah
Ignorance is bliss
I’m a happy idiot
Waving at cars
I’m gonna bang my head to the wall
‘Til I feel like nothing at all
“Pedestrian at Best”
Courtney Barnett – Sometimes I Sit and Think, Sometimes I Just Sit
When I look back over the last 10 years musically, Courtney Barnett was the biggest suprise and revelations. She seemingly burst out nowhere (well, Australia) fully formed and making killer music. She traverses the spaces between driving rock and roll and quiet contemplation very easily. This long is in the former camp.
She is still very hard categorize because despite the rocking tendency of some of her songs, she always tells an amazing story. My friend Damon and I have discussed this at length, looking for an analog or comparison. He posited mid- to late Lou Reed, while I countered with Warren Zevon. In both cases, masterful storytellers making the perfect accompaniment. We were both wrong. She should not need such ham-fisted comparisons, but instead keep true to her direction.
Put me on a pedestal and I’ll only disappoint you
Tell me I’m exceptional, I promise to exploit you
Give me all your money, and I’ll make some origami, honey
I think you’re a joke, but I don’t find you very funny
“The Answer”
Savages – Adore Life
As with Courtney Barnett and 2:54 (who sadly did not make this list), Savages was among a slew of female artists to take music by storm in the 2010s. I mean, add Alabama Shakes, Sharon van Etten, Lana del Rey, St. Vincent, etc., etc., to the landscape. It’s better that way.
This has been most likely oversight on my part as this list skews pretty male, but in my defense, so did a lot of music for a long time. You know what I’m ok with this more representative landscape, even it began to form way too late in my life.
After their fantastic debut, this was a sophomore-slump avoiding wonderwork. When interviewed about this album before its release, they said they took a lot of inspiration from Black Sabbath (of all bands), which was unexpected in the indie world. But I tell you what, I can think of no better comparison when thinking about how this song makes the album erupt out of the blocks. Ozzy would approve.
If you don’t love me
You don’t love anybody
If you don’t love me
You don’t love anybody
Ain’t you glad it’s you?
Ain’t you glad it’s you?
Ain’t you glad it’s you?
“North South East West”
Japandroids – Near to the Wild Heart of Life
While this songs shares a title from another album featured here (The Church’s Starfish), there the comparisons end. This album and song is memorable for me primarily as their show at the Variety Playhouse marked my return to live shows after a few years of enforced absence due to some spinal issues that precluded me from standing steadily for that long. But enough about me explicitly.
Japandroids very carefully cultivate their image, and if that shoe fits? Wear the hell out of it. Stark, straight up rock and roll played loud and at tempo. Their show did not disappoint either. This, in my mind, is the strongest song on the album, and coincidentally, this spot in the list was the hardest for me to fill in. Really, I just decided between this and a song from The Rural Alberta Advantage (more Canadians!) right before I put proverbial pen to paper.
North, east, south, west, coast to coast
Baby, the trouble that I get into
North, east, south, west, coast to coast
It ain’t shit compared to loving you
North, east, south, west, coast to coast
Baby, the trouble that I get into
North, east, south, west, coast to coast
It ain’t shit, it’s just kicks
And like the road, I’m going on and on and on
“This is America”
Childish Gambino – This is America (single)
This song captures the zeitgeist before it erupted and became all of our realities within the next few years. The fault lines have always been there, unrecognized to people like me. That is, white, male, and privileged.
I’m sure Donald Glover would have said so all along as well, and he is having a moment that I hope does’t end to soon.
This song isn’t an especially happy song, but it is a crucial one. An heir to “What’s Going On” a little before most of the rest of us in our bubbles realized it.
You just a black man in this world
You just a barcode, ayy
You just a black man in this world
Drivin’ expensive foreigns, ayy
You just a big dawg, yeah
I kenneled him in the backyard
No proper life to a dog
For a big dog
“Turn to Hate”
Orville Peck – Pony
What is it about a song sung by a masked gay cowboy doesn’t scream 2019 in all the best ways. This is another song I never knew I needed in my life, but I’m happier for it.
Despite the persona, Orville Peck does his best to channel Lloyd Cole in all the best ways on this track. It will stick in your ears and memory like glue.
Walking out towards the gate
You’ll all be stars now, just you wait
Done enough to take the bait
Don’t let my sorrow turn to hate
Turn to hate
2020s
“Ju$t (ft. Pharrell Williams & Zach de la Rocha)
Run the Jewels – Run the Jewels 4
Killer Mike and El P seem to have quite the knack for releasing albums right when they world needs them most and they are most topical. This album, coming in the midst of a national reckoning on race and in the middle of a pandemic only proves this rule. For the fourth time.
I don’t need to remind anyone what last spring and summer was like—its too fresh in the memory and we are still living it every day as we try to do better by ourselves and our society with out collective health, be it COVID or the poison of institutional racisms that has formed the seed of our nation for far far too long. I’ll just let Run the Jewels take it from here:
Mastered economics ’cause you took yourself from squalor (slave)
Mastered academics ’cause your grades say you a scholar (slave)
Mastered Instagram ’cause you can instigate a follow (shit)
Look at all these slave masters posin’ on yo’ dollar (get it, yeah)
The future is still unwritten and this year has yet to run its course, but this is where I am in my life. I will turn 52 in two months, and I think this collection is a far representation, along with all the other songs consider (as captured on the worksheet below), of who I am and where I’ve been musically. Obviously, there are omissions that will puzzle many who know me. I mean, c’mon, no Charlatans for example (one of my favorite bands easily), but I defend my choice given the strictures that I put upon myself at the outset.
And this year? It isn’t half over, but I feel like I should at least nod to what’s happening today as I don’t plan on shuffling off this mortal coil anytime soon. I’ll continue to add to the list as the years end and more music continues to fill my day.
Here are some 2021 songs to chew on, one of which may make this list in the future. Or not. Only time will tell.
- The Hold Steady already have a new album out this year that is a return to form, as have Cloud Nothings
- More Scots! Arab Strap also has already released an album this year too
- Chemtrails over the Country club demonstrates how Lana del Rey continues to grow and become more vital
- On the twangier side, we have a new album from Lucero that is very good and Steve Earle release an album of covers of his son Justin Townes Earle’s songs (which is heart wrenching to listen to at times)
The Playlist
You can download the running worksheet that lists all those great songs that didn’t make the cut below:
Images © By Source, Fair use or ©Timothy Truxell