MAD's ROUND 2!! # 1's have been posted!! (5 Viewers)

[kupcho1]

With each Prince song that appears I become more confident/hopeful (hopefident?) that scoob and I are on the same page for #1.

Although I guess it's possible my #1 didn't make the cut.
Nah, it'll be fine.

Everyone's been knocking it out of the park on picks. I'm really enjoying the variety.

 

[Dr. Octopus]

5.

• Song: ******* Lonely Love
• Album: The Dirty South
• Released: 2004
• Lead Vocals: Jason Isbell

The folklore/mystical The Dirty South album ends with a melancholy love song. It’s dominated by guitar hooks and an organ (played by Isbell). The song drifts along as if the narrator drifts along from bar to bar trying to find some one to listen to his story. It’s sung with a world-weariness by the youngest member of the band.


I got green and I got blues
And every day there's a little less difference between the two
I belly-up and disappear
Well, I ain't really drowning 'cause I see the beach from here

And I could take a Greyhound home
When I got there it'd be gone
Along with everything a home is made up of
So I'll take two of what you're having
And I'll take all of what you got
To kill this ******* lonely, ******* lonely love

Sister, listen to what your daddy says
Don't be ashamed of things that hide behind your dress
Belly-up and arch your back
Well, I ain't really falling asleep, I'm fading to black

And you could come to me by plane
But that wouldn't be the same
As that old motel room in Texarkana was
So I'll take two of what you're having
And I'll take all of what you got
To kill this ******* lonely, ******* lonely love

Stop me if you've heard this one before
A man walks into a bar and leaves before his ashes hit the floor
Stop me if I ever get that far
The sun's a desperate star that burns like every single one before

And I could find another dream
One that keeps me warm and clean
But I ain't dreaming anymore, girl, I'm waking up
So I'll take two of what you're having
And I'll take everything you got
To kill this ******* lonely, ******* lonely love

All I got is this ******* lonely, good lonely love
All I got is this ******* lonely, good lonely love
All I got is this ******* lonely, good lonely love

 

[Dr. Octopus]

You'll have to listen to the song to see what kind of lonely love, Jason experiences, with the language filter hard at work.

 

[Don Quixote]

5. Nina Simone, My Sweet Lord / Today is a Killer (from Emergency Ward!, 1972)

Sorry, not sorry, for the length of this song. It is an epic.

I had Nina Simone’s cover of “Isn’t It a Pity” at #17 on my list, but that is not the only song from All Things Must Pass on her Emergency Ward! album (tagging @krista4 for the George Harrison). Again, Nina Simone subverts the original. She turns it into a gospel (in form), accompanied in the performance by the Bethany Baptist Junior Choir — another song where you can see the influence of Nina Simone’s upbringing with her Methodist minister mother.

But this is not a straight gospel. The performance was just outside Fort Dix, NJ, at an event organized by Jane Fonda. The unmentioned subtext throughout is the Vietnam War.

The urgency with which Nina Simone pleads that she really wants to see the Lord grows with each refrain. The “it takes so long, my Lord” gets held for longer notes. Nina Simone interpolates the song with the David Nelson* poem “Today is a Killer” — pleading that everything today is a killer and only the Lord can save us, but hoping it’s not too late. Her requests to see him become less of a request and more of a dare; his failure to appear turns into an accusation of holy indifference, culminating in the dagger: “Today, where are you, Lord? YOU ARE A KILLER!” If the Lord heard Nina Simone’s entreaties that she wanted to see him and showed up standing in the back of the auditorium, you feel like he would have quietly slid out the back door during the final “Hallelujah!” Before the lights turned on.

If you want to know a song that could inspire a deep dive on Nina Simone, it’s the fact that songs like this exist that would/will never get radio airplay.

Another MAD artist in Round 2 referred to this one as Nina Simone’s “greatest musical achievement”: Nick Cave (tagging @Salteriffic ). You can see what Nick Cave wrote about this song here.

In 1972 Nina Simone released a live album entitled Emergency Ward! that was, by her own admission, her oppositional response to the Vietnam War. This record begins with an eighteen-minute rendition of ‘My Sweet Lord’, that could well be her greatest musical achievement. Nina Simone’s interpretation of George Harrison’s gentle cosmic entreaty ends up, in her hands, as a howl of spiritual abandonment and accusation….

The great Nina Simone was a living grievance machine — her race, her gender, her misused talents (she wanted to be a classical pianist) — and this rage infused all her work, and is what makes it so multi-layered. Even her most beautiful love songs, which I count as some of the most incandescent works of art ever recorded, were marinated in a sense of resentment and contempt for the workings of the world. It is this exhilarating collision of opposing forces — love and scorn — that makes Nina Simone’s existential and political protestations so compelling.

In this extraordinarily bold statement, Nina Simone stands defiant in the face of spiritual oblivion, and a world (and God) that so readily allows war and senseless carnage to occur. It is a protest song par excellence that serves as a form of transport, a vehicle that takes us on a complex and nuanced journey into transcendent rage. The song itself becomes a forge of fury, where Nina Simone stands conflicted and defiant and, in the final lines, pulls the heavens crashing down around our ears.

Perhaps, this is the voice of protest we need right now — intelligent, questing, transcendent, raging and thrillingly complex —

We want Nina!

We want Nina!

Indeed.

*David Nelson is also the poet who wrote the “Are You Ready?” Poem that Nina Simone read in the Summer of Soul documentary.

 

[-OZ-]

Jimmy Buffet

-OZ-

Changes in Latitudes Changes In Latitudes, Changes In Attitudes Jimmy Buffett · Changes In Latitudes, Changes In Attitudes · Song · 1977 open.spotify.com

took off for a weekend last month just to try and recall the whole year
All of the faces and all of the places wonderin' where they all disappeared
I didn't ponder the question too long, I was hungry and went out for a bite
Ran into a chum with a bottle of rum and we wound up drinkin' all night
It's those changes in latitudes, changes in attitudes
Nothing remains quite the same
With all of our running and all of our cunning
If we couldn't laugh we would all go insane

1977, his 7th and best album. It’s the album that turned Jimmy Buffett from underrated country outlaw to tropical pop star. It’s also epically misunderstood

“Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes” is Buffett’s worldview in a nutshell. It comes from a sort of hedonist’s Zen space, where the good times and bad times even out if you drink enough and don’t take any of it too seriously. The chorus’s tag line, “If we couldn’t laugh we would all go insane,” isn’t just a statement of bemusement, it’s a life philosophy.

️️

 

[tuffnutt]

5.
Hurts so Good- John Mellencamp
from American Fool Album
Our 2nd of 3 songs from American Fool, Hurts so Good was one of Mellencamp's biggest hits, reaching #2 in 1983.It was kept out of the #1 spot by Survivor's Eye of the Tiger.

The song was also a critical success with Mellencamp, winning the Grammy for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance. Mellencamp claims he wrote this song as "a goof." In a 1982 interview with The L.A. Herald Examiner, he explained: "My friend George said, why didn't I write a song with the title 'Hurt So Good'? We thought of it as like a Shel Silverstein thing. I wrote it in three minutes, scrawled the first line in soap on the glass door in the shower. It was really just a joke. I think all good things probably started as jokes. Wasn't God having a laugh when he made this whole place?"

It is a classic rock song. The riff is great and completely makes the song, really catchy. The singing, great lyrics, and the chorus is great to sing along to... is a real ear worm.

 

[-OZ-]

5.
Hurts so Good- John Mellencamp
from American Fool Album
Our 2nd of 3 songs from American Fool, Hurts so Good was one of Mellencamp's biggest hits, reaching #2 in 1983.It was kept out of the #1 spot by Survivor's Eye of the Tiger.

The song was also a critical success with Mellencamp, winning the Grammy for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance. Mellencamp claims he wrote this song as "a goof." In a 1982 interview with The L.A. Herald Examiner, he explained: "My friend George said, why didn't I write a song with the title 'Hurt So Good'? We thought of it as like a Shel Silverstein thing. I wrote it in three minutes, scrawled the first line in soap on the glass door in the shower. It was really just a joke. I think all good things probably started as jokes. Wasn't God having a laugh when he made this whole place?"

It is a classic rock song. The riff is great and completely makes the song, really catchy. The singing, great lyrics, and the chorus is great to sing along to... is a real ear worm.

I was wondering if / expecting this to be #1.
Once again proving soooo many of his songs could be #1.

 

[falguy]

5.
Hurts so Good- John Mellencamp
from American Fool Album
Our 2nd of 3 songs from American Fool, Hurts so Good was one of Mellencamp's biggest hits, reaching #2 in 1983.It was kept out of the #1 spot by Survivor's Eye of the Tiger.

The song was also a critical success with Mellencamp, winning the Grammy for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance. Mellencamp claims he wrote this song as "a goof." In a 1982 interview with The L.A. Herald Examiner, he explained: "My friend George said, why didn't I write a song with the title 'Hurt So Good'? We thought of it as like a Shel Silverstein thing. I wrote it in three minutes, scrawled the first line in soap on the glass door in the shower. It was really just a joke. I think all good things probably started as jokes. Wasn't God having a laugh when he made this whole place?"

It is a classic rock song. The riff is great and completely makes the song, really catchy. The singing, great lyrics, and the chorus is great to sing along to... is a real ear worm.

I was wondering if / expecting this to be #1.
Once again proving soooo many of his songs could be #1.

I am looking forward to the full playlist at the end of this. For my money it'll be the best playlist of all of them. Hurts So Good is another gem.

I remember being at an Adult Entertainment establishment many years ago when they played this song and the entire place was singing it outloud. Was pretty funny.

 

[Mt. Man]

–
#5 Sin Nombre (off The Bottle and Fresh Horses, 1997)

Rode hard, come down tired, stripped from the saddle when the rifle fired
Deep in dreams of women and clean water
Well I did before what I'll do again
So forgive me Father if I have sinned
But the old wood cracks before it bends

(Youtube Version) Sin Nombre
(Live Version) "Sin Nombre" performed by Roger Clyne and the Peacemakers at Lion Den - Pinetop, AZ

I won’t pretend to teach you a little Spanish. But for those curious, “Sin Nombre” translates to “Without (a) Name”. Or in the context of a song or movie, perhaps “Untitled”. This is also the song I referred to way back at “Ashes of San Miguel” that talked about going “down laughing when you fell”. This one instead says (to be) “laughin’ when we finally hit the ground”. Though with "Ashes" being about a friend's death, "hitting the ground" could hold a darker meaning here.

Why I chose this:
This is #5, so obviously what I enjoy at this point is basically “everything”. Really has been for a few songs now.

That said, the guitar and vocals work together excellently for me here, with the intro softly leading into things.It’s got the feel of the song from a Western. Perhaps not out of place for one of the “Man With No Name” movies? It’s a slower, thoughtful song with an intriguing part of a story. There will be a pretty major theme of that in the top 5, though not really with consecutive songs. More on that later, obviously.

 

[Zegras11]

took off for a weekend last month just to try and recall the whole year
All of the faces and all of the places wonderin' where they all disappeared
I didn't ponder the question too long, I was hungry and went out for a bite
Ran into a chum with a bottle of rum and we wound up drinkin' all nigh

Hadn't heard this song in forever, but always liked it.


Tomorrow, I'm signing on selling old home and buying new home. Then off to a toe surgery I've put off six months. It's been a long damn year dealing with too much life stuff, but this is the end of it.

They want me off my foot for a week, so got approved at work for all next week off. and of course, I booked a Vegas trip "to heal" for Sat nite to Thur am.

I've been definitely reflecting on , "
took off for a weekend last month just to try and recall the whole year
All of the faces and all of the places wonderin' where they all disappeared."

And I have no doubt when I wake up Sunday morning in Vegas, it will be , "
I didn't ponder the question too long, I was hungry and went out for a bite
Ran into a chum with a bottle of rum and we wound up drinkin' all night."



Really enjoyed all the #5's!!!

 

[falguy]

Sia Furler

Scoresman

Cheap Thrills Cheap Thrills Sia · This Is Acting (Deluxe Version) · Song · 2016 open.spotify.com

I like this one. Listened to it a ton back when it was new. Was aining a friends apartment over the span of a few days. A number of late nights and this was one of the songs we heard over and over.

 

[falguy]

Tom Petty

Zegras11

Runnin' Down a Dream

my #1 Petty tune. #23 in my US artists Top 31 list

 

[Zegras11]

Tom Petty

Zegras11

Runnin' Down a Dream

my #1 Petty tune. #23 in my US artists Top 31 list

It can be my #1 on any given day also

 

[John Maddens Lunchbox]

Röyksopp
5 - Remind Me feat Erlend Øye

Röyksopp - Remind Me (someone else's radio remix) (HD)

The highly detailed isometric art music video for "Remind Me" performed by "Röyksopp" (someone else's radio remix)

m.youtube.com

Year - 2001
Appears on - Melody A.M.
Vocalist - Erlend Øye
Key Lyric - Brave men tell the truth
A wise man's tools are analogies and puzzles
A woman holds her tongue
Knowing silence will speak for her

Notes
1- This is the song that converted me into a Röyksopp fan. I had heard So Easy and Eple by now and enjoyed them, but this is the one that made me buy the album and become a fan

2- Erlend Øye is a singer from the same home town as Röyksopp. His group, Kings of Convenience is an indie folk-pop duo from Bergen, Norway who have charted several times in the UK

3- Øye lent his vocals to two tracks on Melody A.M., this and Poor Leno. We will not see Poor Leno, well not in its original form. It should be included, but I cant include both versions I want

4- "Remind Me" was used in a 2006 U.S. advertisement for GEICO insurance. "Remind Me" has become somewhat famous in the United States due to its association with GEICO insurance. In the fourth GEICO caveman-themed advertisement, a caveman dressed in contemporary attire and carrying a tennis racket is on a moving walkway at an airport. He spots a billboard for GEICO featuring an overly silly representation of a caveman, along with the insulting phrase, "So easy, a caveman could do it." The album version of "Remind Me" plays in the background throughout.

5- "Remind Me" is a cheery easy listening song with instruments of wavy, acid house-style bass notes, mellow synthesizers and jazz-influenced percussion backing a 1960s-esque dreamy vocal line.

6- The music video for "Remind Me" was directed by Ludovic Houplan and Hervé de Crécy of the French motion graphics studio H5. It shows a day in the life of a woman working in London's Square Mile solely through infographics; this includes labelled close-ups of everyday objects, product lifecycles, schematic diagrams, charts, and is generally illustrated in a simple isometric visual style. The video won the award for Best Video at the 2002 MTV Europe Music Awards.

Running Vocal Count
Röyksopp - 8
Robyn - 5
Susanne Sundfør - 4
Karin Dreijer - 2
Maurissa Rose - 1
Gunhild Ramsay Kovacs - 1
Alison Goldfrapp - 1
Jamie Irrepressible - 1
Karen Harding - 1
Kate Havnevik - 1
Erlend Øye - 1
Sample - 1
Instrumental - 3

Where to find
Melody A.M - 2
The Understanding - 2
Röyksopp’s Night Out - 1
Back to Mine Series - 1
Junior - 3
Senior - 1
Late Night Tales Series - 2
Do It Again EP - 3
The Inevitable End - 2
Profound Mysteries I - 0
Profound Mysteries II - 2
Profound Mysteries III - 5
Other/Non Album Songs - 3

Year
1999 - 1
2001 - 1
2002 - 1
2005 - 2
2006 - 1
2007 - 1
2009 - 3
2010 - 1
2013 - 2
2014 - 4
2016 - 2
2022 - 8

Next up probably a song that not many will dig, but its a remix of one of their more well known songs that takes it in a totally different direction

 

[John Maddens Lunchbox]

Tears for Fears
#5 - Everybody Wants to Rule The World

- YouTube

Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.

m.youtube.com

Appears - Songs from the Big Chair
Year - 1985
UK Highest Chart Position - #2
US Highest Chart Position - #1
Key Lyric - I can't stand this indecision
Married with a lack of vision
Everybody wants to rule the world
Say that you'll never never never never need it
One headline why believe it?
Everybody wants to rule the world

Notes
1- "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" was written by Roland Orzabal, Ian Stanley and Chris Hughes, and produced by Hughes. The song was a "last-minute" addition during recording sessions of Songs from the Big Chair (1985). It was recorded in two weeks and added as the final track on the album. According to Orzabal, the final line in the song's chorus, originally written as "Everybody wants to go to war", contributed to his indifference towards the track

2- In an interview with Mix magazine, Hughes said that "as a piece of recording history, [the song is] bland as hell". Orzabal's unimpressed reaction to the track during their songwriting sessions prompted Hughes to convince him to record it, in a calculated effort to garner American chart success.

3- According to Joe Strummer (of The Clash) in a 1988 interview, he was in a restaurant and saw Orzabal, whereupon he told him that "you owe me a fiver", explaining that the title of "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" was an exact lift of the first line of the middle eight in "Charlie Don't Surf". According to Strummer, Orzabal simply reached into his pocket and gave him a five pound note, confirming that this had been the case.

4- In 2022 and 2023 the song re-entered the UK singles chart for a lengthy chart run and was reported to be the 12th most streamed song from the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s by UK artists in the UK. The song has been covered extensively since its release, most notably by New Zealand singer Lorde for the soundtrack to the movie adaptation of The Hunger Games: Catching Fire.

5- This song may have been written and dismissed by Orzabal, but it’s Curt Smith that turns it into the monster hit. He is the one that recognises a songs hooks and knows how to drive the song with his vocal.

Where to find
The Hurting - 5
Songs from the Big Chair - 4
The Seeds of Love - 1
Elemental - 1
Raoul and the Kings of Spain - 1
Everybody Loves a Happy Ending - 5
Ready Boy and Girls - 1
The Tipping Point - 4
Greatest Hits only - 1
B- Sides - Other/Non Album Songs - 4

Year
1981 - 2
1982 - 1
1983 - 5
1984 - 0
1985 - 3
1986 - 1
1989 - 1
1993 - 1
1995 - 2
2004 - 5
2014 - 1
2017 - 1
2021 - 1
2022 - 3

Next up, the big hits keep flooding in. I think we all know it. Or you’re deaf. Ubiquitous. I think I said that last time

 

[Leroy Hoard]

Favorites from the 5/6 files

David Bowie - Life On Mars
Pointer Sisters - Fire
Tom Petty - Runnin' Down A Dream
Prince - Delirious
Talking Heads - The Big Country
The Jam - That's Entertainment
David Bowie - Ziggy Stardust
Thin Lizzy - Waiting For An Alibi
Cheap Trick - Dream Police

 

[Pip's Invitation]

Known-to-me favorites from #5:

Kiss
Once in a Lifetime -- Not close to the best song on the album it comes from, but still an amazing work
Sure Shot
Life on Mars? -- If one song encapsulates Bowie's eccentric genius, it may be this one
Fire
Hurts So Good
Call Me a Dog
Heavy
Everybody Wants to Rule the World
Hello in There
Philosophy
Runnin' Down a Dream -- very high in my Petty rankings
Slow Descent into Alcoholism -- A really fun song live
Stargazer -- "I refuse to believe Ronnie James Dio died of stomach cancer. He was killed by a dragon." Songs like this were the inspiration for that meme upon his death.

You can go to the Deja Vu entry in Tim's classic rock thread if you really want to know what I think about Our House.

 

[Pip's Invitation]

5. Set the House Ablaze
Album: Sound Affects (1980)
Released as a single? No

This song, pardon the pun, is simply incendiary. It builds up momentum in a way that few others do in The Jam's catalog, and every note is perfectly placed, even the whistling. On the surface it's a post-punk rager (and the Sound Affects song that would be most at home on Setting Sons or even the earlier albums), but Bruce Foxton's bass and Rick Buckler's drums are more nimble than what we usually get in this type of song. The final 1:30, where all Paul Weller says is "la la la, la la la, la la la la" but you can tell he means serious business, may be the best coda in the band's catalog.

The song rages against the fascist movement that was resurging in the UK at the time, and addresses an acquaintance of the narrator's who has bought into such rubbish.

You was so open minded
But by someone blinded
And now your sign says closed

Promises, promises
They offer real solutions
But hatred has never won for long

I think we've lost our perception
I think we've lost sight of the goals we should
Be working for
I think we've lost our reason
We stumble blindly and that vision must be restored

The song occupies a pivotal place in my own history with the band. As a middle schooler, all I knew were the four videos that MTV played. In high school, a friend played me the Snap! compilation, featuring their best-known songs from across their career, and I wanted to learn more. The Rolling Stone Record Guide said Sound Affects was their best album, so I bought it, and was hooked by this track immediately. It made we want to delve deeper, and eventually I got the rest of them (and Snap! and the Extras compilation for the key non-album A-sides and B-sides).

Dig the New Breed version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPthj8hiutE
Fire and Skill 1980 disc: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vzCqOxbNcb4
Fire and Skill 1981 disc: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qdmjdSYi0ek
Demo version that appears on the deluxe edition of Sound Affects (not much different from the official version until the coda): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5Sr8KVWGgs

Cover #5: So Sad About Us

- YouTube

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www.youtube.com

B-side of Down in the Tube Station at Midnight (1978)
Writer: Pete Townshend
Original or best known version: The Who

Down in the Tube Station at Midnight was The Jam's first single released after the death of The Who's Keith Moon. As a tribute to him, they recorded The Who song So Sad About Us, from their second album A Quick One, for the B-side and ran a photo of Moon on the single's back cover. The cover was also included on the Extras compilation and the Direction Reaction Creation box set. The Jam's version shows why they were so sympatico with the early Who; the breezy melody and the crunch of the arrangement are both right at home in The Jam's hands. Wiki calls the song an early example of power pop, and it is not wrong. Despite not being released as a single or featured on classic rock radio, it is one of The Who's most-covered songs, and for good reason.

Why this cover to honor Keith Moon? Watch him in this performance from 1967: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5PRafGhVRR4

At #4, the song that propelled the Jam from highly successful act to superstars.

 

[jwb]

Our House

Our House

Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young · Deja Vu · Song · 1970

open.spotify.com

You can go to the Deja Vu entry in Tim's classic rock thread if you really want to know what I think about Our House.

I forgot what you wrote there, but your thoughts are probably similar to mine, Pip. This is not my favorite CSNY song, but it's one of those you really can't leave off. It's just a little too syrupy for my tastes. But I'll give Graham a break - he wrote this smack in the middle of his relationship with Joni Mitchell, so he was feeling pretty syrupy himself I'm sure. This is #5 only because my list is 95% random. I think I "placed" the first and last songs, but everything else was "whatever"

Even though it's not on my playlists, I did verymuch enjoy hearing Nash sing it live when I saw him in Durham last year. He sounded fantastic, and I was a fan of the song for that five minutes. Live music can do that.

 

[Pip's Invitation]

Our House

Our House

Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young · Deja Vu · Song · 1970

open.spotify.com

You can go to the Deja Vu entry in Tim's classic rock thread if you really want to know what I think about Our House.

I forgot what you wrote there, but your thoughts are probably similar to mine, Pip. This is not my favorite CSNY song, but it's one of those you really can't leave off. It's just a little too syrupy for my tastes. But I'll give Graham a break - he wrote this smack in the middle of his relationship with Joni Mitchell, so he was feeling pretty syrupy himself I'm sure. This is #5 only because my list is 95% random. I think I "placed" the first and last songs, but everything else was "whatever"

Even though it's not on my playlists, I did verymuch enjoy hearing Nash sing it live when I saw him in Durham last year. He sounded fantastic, and I was a fan of the song for that five minutes. Live music can do that.

When I've seen CSN/CSNY/Crosby and Nash live, it has been my bathroom break song.

 

[Tau837]

Mike Shinoda

Just Win Baby

Blackout - YouTube Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube. www.youtube.com

I've really fallen behind this week, super busy at work. I'm sure you guys have really been missing my writeups.

This is the 4th song I have chosen in my top 31 from Linkin Park's A Thousand Suns album. (Pretty good album, eh?) It didn't chart, which surprises me.

Mike has said these things about the song:

The band had particular trouble on the lyrics and vocal with this track, so they went to Rick Rubin for ideas. Mike explained that the track originally started as nothing but "Chester... screaming gibberish over the crazy dance-style track, and there were no words. And every time we tried to put words to it, the lyrics felt like too left-brained, we were thinking too hard and it didn’t feel like a gut spill to use Rick’s words." He told them to try automatic writing, a "technique he used with Johnny Cash and Neil Young, which basically means you get up on the mic and let the words flow. Going in there and actually doing it was terrifying at first but then the words just started coming out of nowhere, it was really surreal. It added a certain soul to the record and without that, I think it would have been really rigid and digital."

"I think Blackout was tough and eluded us for a little bit. The hardest part about Blackout was the vocal was a scat vocal that sounded like what the vocal sounds like now. Here's what we were doing at the time. We were still doing a lot of songs where the lead vocal was a scat lead vocal with no words, a lot of 'da da da' and 'na na na.' On the original vocal, I kept pushing Chester to get weirder and weirder. We both did this but it was easier for me to go in the booth to do that, but I think it was because he was doing it and I was recording it, he felt self-conscious a little bit. So he'd always fall back into 'na na na' and 'la la la.' I was like, 'No dude, really really pretend you’re making words.' So what we tried to do is the screaming thing with that and he really had to let loose. But once he got there, that whole song… imagine someone singing that whole song in gibberish. And then when it was time to make it into lyrics, it always felt like you were going from something so dope and so visceral, every time we tried to write words to it, it got too logical. And we wanted it to be illogical. So then we started listening to the gibberish and saying, 'What words sound like those words?' And that's why the lyrics on that song are so ****ing weird, they are super weird just because that's what the grunts and gibberish sounded like to us. We were just trying to make sense of the gibberish. That's a writing technique that Rick Rubin has used on everyone from Red Hot Chili Peppers to Neil Young and Tom Petty. He wasn't the pioneer of that thing, he was just the one who taught us how to do it."

In 2017, Billboard ranked the top 15 Linkin Park songs of all time and ranked Blackout at #8. Here is an excerpt about the song from that ranking:

“Blackout” is one of Linkin Park’s most fascinating compositions: a big-tent synth hook with a shockingly discofied strut — kept only from potential dance-floor deployment by one of Chester’s all-time most unhinged vocals, shouting and vamping as if he wants to ensure the thing never gets played on Z100. It’s still pretty irresistible, though, even when it gets swallowed by static at the midway point and resumes with another ahead-of-its-time dubstep breakdown. Linkin Park’s subsequent club excursions have never totally convinced, but “Blackout” shows how they could’ve been far more effective leading the EDM pack than following it.

This is another one to turn up the volume on.

 

[Mt. Man]

Selected favorites from the #5s. There’s not too much that’s different to say here. The music was very strong once again, and even with 6 per category, I ended up feeling like I shunned a number of excellent songs for the sake of the selected. Ah, well. Back to shuffled, as threatened/promised.

–
Familiar songs:
Life on Mars? - David Bowie
Sure Shot - Beastie Boys
Everybody Wants to Rule the World - Tears for Fears. I have this odd sense of deja vu!
Fire - The Pointer Sisters. The definitive version, of course, is by Robin Williams
Midlife Crisis - Faith No More
Once in a Lifetime - Talking Heads

New discoveries:
Los Angeles, Be Kind - Owl John/Scott Hutchison. I think I’ve heard it before (probably through M-AD), but I’ll put it here just in case.
God Am Lonely Love - Drive-By Truckers
Welcome to Hell - black midi
Remind Me - Royksopp
In the Stars Tonight - Kim Mitchell
True Trans Soul Rebel - Against Me!

Shuffle Adventures:
There were a couple of intriguing combos in shuffle, though thinking about it I favored The New Pornographers stuffed between Tom Petty and Temple of the Dog (/Chris Cornell). Full of guitar and powerful voices!

 

[Eephus]

I thought about rating the drummers but didn't get very far before realizing how much work it would be. The drummers from Mastodon and black midi would have been top tier for sure.

 

[Mrs. Rannous]

Fire - The Pointer Sisters. The definitive version, of course, is by Robin Williams

I had forgotten about this.

Now my Pointer SIsters playlist is messed up.

 

[Juxtatarot]

I thought about rating the drummers but didn't get very far before realizing how much work it would be. The drummers from Mastodon and black midi would have been top tier for sure.

Morgan Simpson (black midi) at age 15:

- YouTube

Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.

m.youtube.com

 

[zamboni]

Rainbow

Sam Quentin

Stargazer Stargazer Rainbow · Rising · Song · 1976 open.spotify.com

This song is all kinds of awesome - really turned me on to the great Rising album.

 

[zamboni]

Thin Lizzy

zamboni

The Rocker - YouTube Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube. www.youtube.com

Haven't been commenting much on my selections, but wanted to point out this one early, yes, rocker from Lizzy. Widely cited as containing one of their very best guitar solos, this one by the long forgotten Eric Bell.

 

[KarmaPolice]

I thought about rating the drummers but didn't get very far before realizing how much work it would be. The drummers from Mastodon and black midi would have been top tier for sure.

Morgan Simpson (black midi) at age 15:

- YouTube

Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.

m.youtube.com

Awesome, thank you.

I haven't been talking much about the songs because I'm not keeping up fully with playlists as I wait until the individual artist playlists. Black Midi turned from one I feared in the playlist to one I am looking forward to a dedicated listen to when this is done. This video highlights why - underneath the chaos and vocals that make it an abrupt transition in the mix is some amazing musicianship. They are one of the many artists this round that I have only to appreciate and like, I just don't vibe with them being on a playlist together.

 

[Tau837]

Mike Shinoda

Just Win Baby

Faint - YouTube Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube. www.youtube.com

This is the 3rd song I have included in my top 31 from Linkin Park's Meteora album, their 2nd studio album. It reached #1 on the Billboard US Modern Rock Tracks chart, becoming LP's 3rd #1 hit on the chart. In September 2023, for the 35th anniversary of that Modern Rock Tracks chart, since renamed to Alternative Airplay, Billboard ranked Faint at #92 on its list of the 100 most successful songs in the chart's history.

Mike said this about the song:

"With Faint, there's an urgency. I think most people go through a version of it when they're growing up: “"I'm not being heard. Why doesn't anybody hear me? Why doesn't anybody see me?" At that time, what we were feeling more than anything was, "I keep telling people my story and how sincere I feel about this thing, and they don't hear me."

This theme resonates with everyone at some point in their lives.

In 2020, Metal Hammer ranked the top 25 Linkin Park songs of all time and ranked Faint at #5. Here is an excerpt from their writeup on the song:

One of their most high-tempo tracks, the song layers a string section (featuring a real life orchestra) over a pacey beat washed in electronics and warm riffs.

Drownedinsound said of the song that it proves Linkin Park “know all the knobs and levers to pull, know when to go slow, and when to put their foot down,”while the BBC described it as the first song on the album “to really break sweat and get your head shaking.”

The video, now at over 190 million views on YouTube, shows the band backlit in front of an ecstatic crowd, and was directed by Mark Romanek. Chester Bennington said in an interview with O Globo in 2012 that Faint is one of the Linkin Park songs “that we can not stop playing,” with the track listed as the band’s most-played live outside of Hybrid Theory material.

In 2021, Kerrang ranked the top 20 Linkin Park songs of all time and ranked Faint at #3. Here is their writeup on the song from that ranking:

The second single from Meteora saw Linkin Park changing things up significantly. Hitting the ground running with a pulse-pounding beat almost reminiscent of drum’n’bass and layering up both the electronics and live orchestral input, it felt like a maturation and daring swerve as the band began to really unpack what might’ve been a ‘difficult’ second album. Rather than shrinking from the challenge, they streamlined their sound, delivering a sub-three-minute pop-rock masterpiece slick enough for mainstream radio yet – at it’s fiery peak – harsh enough to strip flesh from bone. The iconic Mark Romanek-directed video – featuring the band performing to a roomful of punters with arms aloft and backlit by a wall of lights – only built the sense of crossover cool as they continued to slip free from the nu-metal pigeonhole. ‘I WON’T BE IGNORED!’ they promised. Indeed they wouldn’t.

In 2017, Billboard ranked the top 15 Linkin Park songs of all time and ranked Faint at #2. Here is an excerpt about the song from that ranking:

Before abandoning their shiny reupholstered version of grunge’s loud-quiet formula, Linkin Park perfected it on “Faint,” 2:43 of the most pulse-raising rock music of the ’00s. It’s Shinoda and Bennington’s most efficient relay race, the former captivating with each perfectly paced syllable on the verses before passing the baton to the latter for his spine-chilling, throat-shredding caterwaul: “Don’t turn your back on me/ I WON’T BE IGNORED!!” It’s a defining moment for both vocalists, but it’s still that sweeping, tantalizing string riff that steals the show, hooking you before your preconceived notions about Linkin Park even have a chance to prejudice you against it.

In 2023, Loudwire ranked all of the Linkin Park singles to that point and ranked Faint at #4. Here is their writeup on the song from that ranking:

Some issues won’t just go away by ignoring them. That’s the idea at the heart of Linkin Park’s “Faint” as Mike Shinoda paints the picture of a figure “a little bit insecure, a little unconfident” who is trying to convey an issue that is getting glossed over by a partner who doesn’t want to see or deal with it. Then Bennington comes in with the sledgehammer cautionary warning, “I won’t be ignored.”

Aside from the lyrical heft, the track immediately stands out with the distinctive string arrangements, keyboards and sampling work done by Shindoa and Joe Hahn, along with Delson’s gritty riff.

The success of this single and Linkin Park's mashups with Jay-Z led MTV to produce a mashup of this song with Toxic by Britney Spears. Here is a link to that unexpected mashup.

 

[Juxtatarot]

I thought about rating the drummers but didn't get very far before realizing how much work it would be. The drummers from Mastodon and black midi would have been top tier for sure.

Morgan Simpson (black midi) at age 15:

- YouTube

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m.youtube.com

Awesome, thank you.

I haven't been talking much about the songs because I'm not keeping up fully with playlists as I wait until the individual artist playlists. Black Midi turned from one I feared in the playlist to one I am looking forward to a dedicated listen to when this is done. This video highlights why - underneath the chaos and vocals that make it an abrupt transition in the mix is some amazing musicianship. They are one of the many artists this round that I have only to appreciate and like, I just don't vibe with them being on a playlist together.

Cool! I think you’re right. They can be a bit much in a format like this and it’s easy for me to see how people can be quickly turned off. I was worried about that. I hope you do give them a thorough listen at some point and let me know what you think!

 

[KarmaPolice]

I thought about rating the drummers but didn't get very far before realizing how much work it would be. The drummers from Mastodon and black midi would have been top tier for sure.

Morgan Simpson (black midi) at age 15:

- YouTube

Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.

m.youtube.com

Awesome, thank you.

I haven't been talking much about the songs because I'm not keeping up fully with playlists as I wait until the individual artist playlists. Black Midi turned from one I feared in the playlist to one I am looking forward to a dedicated listen to when this is done. This video highlights why - underneath the chaos and vocals that make it an abrupt transition in the mix is some amazing musicianship. They are one of the many artists this round that I have only to appreciate and like, I just don't vibe with them being on a playlist together.

Cool! I think you’re right. They can be a bit much in a format like this and it’s easy for me to see how people can be quickly turned off. I was worried about that. I hope you do give them a thorough listen at some point and let me know what you think!

It's weird. On their own I seem to be more interested in these artists, but I like the playlist mix less and how it flows when the artists are together. I wouldn't change anything about the MAD31s or the how/why people are deciding who they want to feature, just giving a reason I haven't been as vocal or up to date this time around. Either way we are all getting introduced to a ton of stuff we wouldn't have otherwise, and that's a good thing.

 

[Dr. Octopus]

They can be a bit much in a format like this and it’s easy for me to see how people can be quickly turned off.

I'm a big fan of Tom Waits so I've liked them, as they remind me of his string of the albums run of Swordfishtrombones - Rain Dogs - Frank's Wild Years with baritone spoken word type vocals and wild bombastic music supporting it.

 

[Dr. Octopus]

This list’s “known to me” bands had some huge ones scratched off:

Kiss
Once in a Lifetime
Our House
Life on Mars
Hurts so Good
Heavy
…Rule The World
Runnin Down a Dream
Hello In There
Stargazer

That’s some heavy hitters.

 

[scorchy]

Somehow I went completely MIA - just checked and it's been 7 whole weeks since I posted in the FFA and have really only occasionally hate-read the Eagles thread during my absence. Sticking my head back in here to share the video for my #5 (True Trans Soul Rebel) because it really captures the essence of Against Me's (or really LJG's) stage presence and the love of their fans.

My first Against Me show was in Philly during the way early days and, even though I liked the music, I absolutely hated the scene. Philly was crawling with crust punks at the time (or gutter punks, as we called them) and the flophouse where I saw Against Me seemed to be ground zero. I despised those gross, lazy, panhandling ####ers almost as much they hated upwardly mobile sellouts like myself. Once AM signed to Sire and they got abandoned by their early fans, I found the whole thing much more enjoyable (at least once the protesters stopped showing up just to turn their backs or spit on the band). Once LJG came out as trans, Against Me's shows were totally re-energized, both by a new generation of fans who had finally found someone who spoke to them and the old guard who re-embraced the band. LJG just totally owns the stage and her role. The crowd shots at around the 2:15 mark still give me goosebumps at the amazing mix of folks finding joy in the music. The best part - barely a cell phone in site - just everyone living in the moment.

True Trans Soul Rebel (Live in Toronto)

 

[-OZ-]

The success of this single and Linkin Park's mashups with Jay-Z led MTV to produce a mashup of this song with Toxic by Britney Spears. Here is a link to that unexpected mashup.

I used to really like the mashups, for a while I had a great workout playlist on my Zune (not really, but it feels like it was that era).

 

[Pip's Invitation]

(at least once the protesters stopped showing up just to turn their backs or spit on the band).

Some people clearly don't have enough to do in their lives.

 

[Pip's Invitation]

I'm making top 31 lists for a few of the MAD 2 artists that I'm familiar enough with to rank somewhat confidently, to post after we're done.

My #31 Petty song is something that most of you probably haven't heard.

 

[Mrs. Rannous]

I'm making top 31 lists for a few of the MAD 2 artists that I'm familiar enough with to rank somewhat confidently, to post after we're done.

My #31 Petty song is something that most of you probably haven't heard.

WIth this crowd, I'm not taking that bet.

 

[Pip's Invitation]

I'm making top 31 lists for a few of the MAD 2 artists that I'm familiar enough with to rank somewhat confidently, to post after we're done.

My #31 Petty song is something that most of you probably haven't heard.

WIth this crowd, I'm not taking that bet.

This is why I said "most" and not "all".

 

[Zegras11]

#4's PLAYLIST

		#4
Prince	Ramsay Hunt Experience	Adore Adore - 2020 Remaster Prince · Song · 1987 open.spotify.com Prince - Adore (Live at Paisley Park, 12/31/1987) youtu.be
Tanya Donelly	plinko	Dusted Star, 1993 Dusted Belly · Song · 1993 open.spotify.com
Talking Heads	kupcho1	Psycho Killer Psycho Killer Talking Heads · Song · 1977 open.spotify.com
Sia Furler	Scoresman	Alive Alive Sia · Song · 2016 open.spotify.com
Los Lobos	eephus	Kiko and the Lavender Moon Kiko and the Lavender Moon Los Lobos · Song · 1992 open.spotify.com
The Seldom Scene	Charlie Steiner	House of the Rising Sun/Walk Don't Run The Seldom Scene - House of the Rising Sun and Walk Don't Run Bluegrass blues. How great is that? From the masters of Seldom Scene. This version of "House of the Rising Sun/Walk Don't Run" is from their 1993 album, "20... www.youtube.com
Kid Rock	snellman	Drunk in the Morning (NSFW) Drunk in the Morning Kid Rock · Song · 2001 open.spotify.com
Against Me!	scorchy	White Crosses White Crosses Against Me! · Song · 2011 open.spotify.com
Mastodon	KarmaPolice	Scorpion Breath Scorpion Breath Mastodon · Song · 2017 open.spotify.com Scorpion Breath Provided to YouTube by RepriseScorpion Breath · MastodonEmperor of Sand℗ 2017 Reprise RecordsGuitar: Bill KelliherUnknown: Billy Joe BowersEditing Engineer:... www.youtube.com
Neko Case	Mister CIA	Man Neko Case - "Man" "Man" by Neko Case from the new album 'The Worse Things Get, The Harder I Fight, The Harder I Fight, The More I Love You,' out now!Get the album on iTunes: h... www.youtube.com
Faith No More	JBBreakfastClub	Cone of Shame Cone of Shame Faith No More · Song · 2015 open.spotify.com
black midi	Juxtatarot	Near DT, MI Near DT, MI black midi · Song · 2019 open.spotify.com
Nina Simone	Don Quixote	Mississippi ****** (Live at Carnegie Hall, New York 1964), from Nina Simone in Concert Nina Simone - Mississippi Goddam (Live At Carnegie Hall, New York, 1964 / Audio) "Mississippi ******" by Nina Simone from the album “Nina Simone In Concert.” Subscribe and ring the bell to never miss an update: https://NinaSimone.lnk.to/N... youtu.be Mississippi Goddam - Live At Carnegie Hall, New York, 1964 Nina Simone · Song · 1964 open.spotify.com
Beastie Boys	Yo Mama	Intergalactic Intergalactic - Remastered 2009 Beastie Boys · Song · 1998 open.spotify.com
Drive-By Truckers	Dr. Octopus	Women Without Whiskey Women Without Whiskey Drive-By Truckers · Song · 2001 open.spotify.com
Jimmy Buffet	-OZ-	A Pirate looks at 40 A Pirate Looks At Forty Jimmy Buffett · A-1-A · Song · 1974 open.spotify.com - YouTube Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube. www.youtube.com
The Jam	Pip's Invitation	The Eton Rifles The Eton Rifles The Jam · Song · 2015 open.spotify.com
Röyksopp	JMLs secret identity	4- Istanbul Forever (Poor Leno - Istanbul Forever Mix) - Instrumental Royksopp: Poor Leno (Istanbul forever mix) So rusty. But I couldn't find a version of this song on Youtube other than the live performance, so here it is. m.youtube.com
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds	salteriffic	The Carny The Carny - 2009 Remastered Version Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds · Song · 1986 open.spotify.com
CSNY	jwb	Southern Cross Southern Cross - 2005 Remaster Crosby, Stills & Nash · Daylight Again (Deluxe Edition) · Song · 1982 open.spotify.com
Roger Clyne	Mt. Man	State of the Art State of the Art Roger Clyne & The Peacemakers · Song · 2008 open.spotify.com
David Berman	The Dreaded Marco	Snow Is Falling In Manhattan Snow is Falling in Manhattan Provided to YouTube by Drag City RecordsSnow is Falling in Manhattan · Purple MountainsPurple Mountains℗ Drag City Inc.Released on: 2019-07-12Auto-generated ... www.youtube.com
David Bowie	Binky the Doormat	The Man Who Sold The World David Bowie - The Man Who Sold The World [2020 Mix] [Official Lyric Video] The official lyric video for David Bowie - The Man Who Sold The World [2020 Mix]Order Metrobolist on CD and LP now: https://lnk.to/DBMetrobolistSubscribe to ... www.youtube.com
Pointer Sisters	Mrs. Rannous	How Long (Betcha' Got A Chick On The Side) How Long (Betcha' Got A Chick On The Side) Provided to YouTube by Universal Music GroupHow Long (Betcha' Got A Chick On The Side) · The Pointer SistersSteppin'℗ 1975 UMG Recordings, Inc.Released on: 1... www.youtube.com How Long (Betcha' Got A Chick On The Side) The Pointer Sisters · Song · 1975 open.spotify.com
Incubus	MAC_32	Just A Phase Just a Phase Incubus · Song · 2001 open.spotify.com
John Mellencamp	tuffnutt	Cherry Bomb John Mellencamp - Cherry Bomb Music video by John Mellencamp performing Cherry Bomb. (C) 1987 John Mellencamp under exclusive license to The Island Def Jam Music Group www.youtube.com
Sufjan Stevens	Ilov80s	Agathon Agathon Sufjan Stevens, Lowell Brams · Song · 2020 open.spotify.com
Mike Shinoda	Just Win Baby	What I've Done - YouTube Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube. www.youtube.com
Chris Cornell	Raging Weasel	Like A Stone Like a Stone Audioslave · Song · 2002 open.spotify.com
Josh Homme	titusbramble	Little Sister Little Sister Queens of the Stone Age · Song · 2005 open.spotify.com
Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats	AAABatteries	Don't Get Too Close Don't Get Too Close Nathaniel Rateliff · Falling Faster Than You Can Run · Song · 2013 open.spotify.com Nathaniel Rateliff - Don't Get Too Close - Audiotree Live Nathaniel Rateliff performs "Don't Get Too Close" on Audiotree Live, May 1, 2014. YouTube playlist: http://bit.ly/29EyV07Subscribe to Audiotreetv: http://bit... youtu.be
Kim Mitchell	Sullie	That's the Hold That's The Hold Provided to YouTube by Universal Music GroupThat's The Hold · Kim MitchellGreatest Hits℗ 1986 Alert MusicReleased on: 1995-01-01Composer Lyricist: Kim Mitch... www.youtube.com
Thin Lizzy	zamboni	Rosin Dubh (Black Rose): A Rock Legend - YouTube Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube. www.youtube.com
Collective Soul	falguy	She Said She Said Collective Soul · Song · 2001 open.spotify.com
Tears for Fears	John Maddens Lunchbox	Shout (Vocals Roland) Tears For Fears - Shout (Official Music Video) REMASTERED IN HD!Listen to more from Tears For Fears: https://TearsForFears.lnk.to/EssentialsVote for your favourite 80s hit of all time: https://lnk.to/80Be... m.youtube.com
Cheap Trick	FairWarning	Voices Voices Cheap Trick · Dream Police · Song · 1979 open.spotify.com
John Prine	landrys hat	Spanish Pipedream Spanish Pipedream John Prine · Song · 1971 open.spotify.com
Ben Folds	Hov34	Zak and Sara Zak and Sara Ben Folds · Song · 2001 open.spotify.com
Tom Petty	Zegras11	Here Comes My Girl Here Comes My Girl Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers · Song · 1979 open.spotify.com
Scott Hutchison	sneveneleven	Poke Poke Provided to YouTube by PIASPoke · Frightened RabbitThe Midnight Organ Fight℗ FatCat RecordsReleased on: 2008-04-13Composer: Scott HutchisonComposer: Grant Hu... www.youtube.com
The New Pornographers	Northern Voice	Mass Romantic Mass Romantic The New Pornographers · Song · 2000 open.spotify.com
John Lee Hooker	DrIan Malcolm	Boom Boom Boom Boom John Lee Hooker · Song · 1962 open.spotify.com This is probably his best known track for good reason - it's a fun one!
Rainbow	Sam Quentin	Temple of the King The Temple Of The King Rainbow · Song · 1975 open.spotify.com
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky	zazale	Symphony No. 5 In E Minor, Op. 64, TH.29: 2. Andante cantabile, con alcuna licenza - Moderato con anima Symphony No. 5 In E Minor, Op. 64, TH.29: 2. Andante cantabile, con alcuna licenza - Moderato con anima Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Russian National Orchestra, Mikhail Pletnev · Song · 2022 open.spotify.com

 

[Scoresman]

I've been slacking on the Sia writeups. Alive was originally written by Sia with Adele in mind, but eventually recorded by Sia herself. I could definitely picture Adele singing this just as much as Sia. Another powerful vocal performance.

This is the last of Sia's solo album work in chronological order. Up next are two collaborations she has done fairly recently, and my favorite Sia song that I saved for number one.

Updated personal rankings:

31 Dressed In Black
30 Paranoid Android
29 You've changed
28 Clap Your Hands
27 Kiss Me Once
26
25
24 Sunday
23 The Bully
22 Oh Father
21 Fire Meets Gasoline
20 The Greatest
19 Elastic Heart
18 California Dreamin'
17 Cheap Thrills
16 Distractions
15 Speed Dial 2
14 Unstoppable
13 Bird Set Free
12 Pretty Hurts
11 Somersault
10 Titanium
9 Diamonds
8 Alive
7 Electric Bird
6 I Go To Sleep
5 The Girl You Lost to Cocaine
4 Soon Well be found
3 Destiny
2 Breathe Me
1

 

[John Maddens Lunchbox]

Tears for Fears
#4 - Shout

- YouTube

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Appears - Songs from the Big Chair
Year - 1984
UK Highest Chart Position - #4
US Highest Chart Position - #1
Key Lyric -
Short
Short
Let it all out
These are the things I can do without
Come or
I'm talking to you
Come on

Notes
1- The song was written in my front room on just a small synthesizer and a drum machine. Initially I only had the chorus, which was very repetitive, like a mantra. I played it to Ian Stanley, our keyboardist, and Chris Hughes, the producer. I saw it as a good album track, but they were convinced it would be a hit around the world.

2- Cash Box said that it has "an anthemic chorus and a booming production sound". John Leland at Spin called it, " the simple, mindless pop song Depeche Mode has been trying to write for years. The vocals sound like they're coming from a porcelain bathroom at the foot of the Alps. Other than that, its got a singsong melody that numbs all critical faculties, portentious lyrics that signify nothing, and a happy lack of synth doodles or Bowie-isms

3- This is the first single to perform well with Roland on lead vocals. Suffer the Children, their debut single didnt chart and The Way You Are released after The Hurting, was terrible and charted accordingly. Mothers Talk was released six months before the album in the UK to moderate success, but was the 4th single in the US

Where to find
The Hurting - 5
Songs from the Big Chair - 5
The Seeds of Love - 1
Elemental - 1
Raoul and the Kings of Spain - 1
Everybody Loves a Happy Ending - 5
Ready Boy and Girls - 1
The Tipping Point - 4
Greatest Hits only - 1
B- Sides - Other/Non Album Songs - 4

Year
1981 - 2
1982 - 1
1983 - 5
1984 - 1
1985 - 3
1986 - 1
1989 - 1
1993 - 1
1995 - 2
2004 - 5
2014 - 1
2017 - 1
2021 - 1
2022 - 3

Next up, ok….the hits may have dried up with this one, but the quality is incredibly high. I understand why it wasn’t a monster hit, but it should have been.

 

[Charlie Steiner]

4. House of the Rising Sun/Run Don't Walk

This fun mini-medley is the second of three selections from the 20th Anniversary Album.

Once again, the band's prowess and love of playing to an audience are captured for posterity.

 

[Leroy Hoard]

John Leland at Spin called it, " the simple, mindless pop song Depeche Mode has been trying to write for years. The vocals sound like they're coming from a porcelain bathroom at the foot of the Alps. Other than that, its got a singsong melody that numbs all critical faculties, portentious lyrics that signify nothing, and a happy lack of synth doodles or Bowie-isms

Sorry to interject this into the thread but "John Leland" (if that's his real name) sounds like a total d bag.

 

[Ramsay Hunt Experience]

I've also been remiss in stopping write-ups, but I figured I'd talk briefly about numbers six through four.

At this stage, the ranking means very little. I don't know if I like Adore more than Kiss. Or even more than Delirious. I think Adore is Prince's best panty-dropper, so I thought it deserved a high-spot. It's so playful. Like the instant backtracking on the invitation to "smash up my ride." I also like how while the song is ostensibly focused on the object of Prince's affection, he inevitably gets hung up on himself, asking "Was I the first? Was I your every fantasy?"

Kiss is probably number two all-time on Scooby's Karaoke jams (sometimes I commit to the whole song in falsetto, sometimes I slip into some Tom Jones shenanigans). What can you say about that irresistible, spare funk guitar groove? It's perfection.

Delirious is my second -favorite song off my favorite Prince album. "Just too much to take. I can't stop I ain't got no brakes. Girl you gotta let me take you on a little ride up and down, in and out, around your lake!" is just a great exuberant lyric.

 

[Mrs. Rannous]

Who is doing the playlists? Is it KP?

 

[kupcho1]

Talking Heads
#4 Psycho Killer

I love the bassline opening of the song. It really sets the tone.

From Pitchfork:

For New York, 1977 was a difficult year—economic freefall, neighborhoods ravaged by arson fires, a blackout that threw the city briefly into anarchy, the shadow of a serial killer who stalked the outer boroughs the summer before—and Talking Heads 77 occasionally embodies that darkness. “Psycho Killer,” the catchiest song ever written about a sociopathic murderer, is more disquieting in footage of an early CBGB performance than it is on record, where it evolved into a campy performance of violence, turning the killer’s chilling laughter into a goofy refrain.

and from Songfacts:

This was the first Talking Heads song. It was written in 1973 at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), where David Byrne and drummer Chris Frantz had a band called The Artistics. When Byrne presented the song, he explained that he wanted a Japanese section in the bridge, but when he asked a girl who spoke the language to come up with some murderous words, she understandably freaked out. Frantz' girlfriend, Tina Weymouth, spoke French, so they had her write a French part for the bridge instead. She drew inspiration from the Norman Bates character in the 1960 Alfred Hitchcock thriller Psycho, which influenced the next verse:

You start a conversation you can't even finish it
You're talking a lot, but you're not saying anything
When I have nothing to say, my lips are sealed
Say something once, why say it again?

Byrne incorporated a French line into the chorus: "Qu'est-ce que c'est?" (meaning "What is this?") and followed it with a stuttering warning:

Fa-fa-fa-fa-fa-fa-fa-fa-fa-far better
Run, run, run, run, run, run, run away

 

[Don Quixote]

4. Nina Simone, Mississippi ****** (Live at Carnegie Hall, New York 1964) (from Nina Simone in Concert, 1964)

Alabama's gotten me so upset
Tennessee made me lose my rest
And everybody knows about Mississippi, *******

Nina Simone debuted this song at the Village Gate, and shortly thereafter performed it in front of a mostly white audience at Carnegie Hall. So, this is the first that the crowd had heard it. You can hear the audience laugh when Nina Simone introduces the name of the tune. While she improvises a bit to play with the audience’s reaction (“you thought I was kidding, didn’t you?” And “this is a show tune, but the show hasn’t been written for it yet”), there was no humor here — as she told the audience, she truly meant every word of it.

After the assassination of Medgar Evers and the horrific death of four little girls in the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing in Birmingham, Nina Simone told her husband that she wanted to go down to the south with a gun. Her husband told her that she did not know anything about guns — she knew music. In her autobiography, Nina Simone wrote: “Andy was right: I knew nothing about killing and I did know about music. I sat down at my piano. An hour later I came out of my apartment with the sheet music for ‘Mississippi ******’ in my hand. It was my first civil rights song, and it erupted out of me quicker than I could write it down. I knew then that I would dedicate myself to the struggle for black justice, freedom and equality under the law for as long as it took, until all our battles were won.”

This song was a departure from the style of protest songs up to that time: this is raw anger transformed into music. She told Martin Luther King, Jr. that she was “not non-violent,” and you can see that here: fed up with non-violent boycotts and picket lines and being told to “go slow,” with nothing changing and just bringing more violence. While the opening lines are the most iconic, it’s the lead-up to the end that is really the most powerful lyrically to me.

…Picket lines, school boycotts
They try to say it's a communist plot
All I want is equality
For my sister, my brother, my people, and me

Yes, you lied to me all these years
You told me to wash and clean my ears
And talk real fine just like a lady
And you'd stop calling me Sister Sadie

Oh but this whole country is full of lies
You're all gonna die and die like flies
I don't trust you any more
You keep on saying "Go slow!"
"Go slow!"

But that's just the trouble (Too slow)
Desegregation (Too slow)
Mass participation (Too slow)
Reunification (Too slow)
Do things gradually (Too slow)
But bring more tragedy
(Too slow)
Why don't you see it, why don't you feel it
I don't know, I don't know

You don't have to live next to me
Just give me my equality
Everybody knows about Mississippi
Everybody knows about Alabama
Everybody knows about Mississippi, *******

ETA: Nina Simone was also upset that many store owners would not carry it due to the profanity (or may have replaced it with ***** type stuff), and were more bothered by that than the death of innocent girls. Profanity apparently similarly upsets the board software too.

 

[Mrs. Rannous]

@KarmaPolice my #3 selection is not available on Spotify. Could you put this in its place, please? It's "Little Red Hen Blues" by Taj Mahal featuring the Ssters.

I'm just not willing to give up my #3 tune.

 

[John Maddens Lunchbox]

Anyone want to take a guess at the top 3 Tears for Fears songs?
One of them is a layup