Where in the world are the middle-aged dummies? Worldwide top 31 song countdown. (1 Viewer)

[Pip's Invitation]

How Can You Mend A Broken Heart

gotta catch up with this one, as it is one of my top 5 BG tunes.

dad took us to the Jersey shore for 2 glorious weeks every summer, without fail ... all the way up to the last summer he were alive ('77).

he rented a bungalow from one of his Canarsie buddies - cool lil' jernt, 1 block to the beach & 4 blocks to the boardwalk (Lucky Leos!), had low ceiling, plastic wrapped furniture, and a ton of Sanitas - even had the old school Corning stove top perc for coffee.

pure vintage 70s.

the first 2 songs i ever remember hearing were HCYMaBH and Admiral Halsey/Uncle Albert ... they played back to back as i white knuckled my first ever "big kid" (by that i mean 5-ish) ride - some farkakte Spider mini roller coaster ... even had some hair (which was likely painted shag carpet) on it's arms or legs or whatever the eff.

those tunes were a blaring, and greatly assisted me not hurling and/or pissing meself.

love affair, still.

Seaside Heights?

 

[krista4]

How Can You Mend A Broken Heart

Love the story.

Didn't have time to write this up at all when I selected it. My selection was originally "New York Mining Disaster 1941," and then bounced around a few songs before settling here. What I love about the song (other than the harmonies, of course) is its deceptive simplicity. Ask any musician who's tried to cover it, and they'll tell you it's near-impossible. The Brothers Gibb were underrated for their skill at complex melodies and harmonies.

Thanks to AAABatteries for taking my original selection so that it got covered, too.

 

[otb_lifer]

How Can You Mend A Broken Heart

gotta catch up with this one, as it is one of my top 5 BG tunes.

dad took us to the Jersey shore for 2 glorious weeks every summer, without fail ... all the way up to the last summer he were alive ('77).

he rented a bungalow from one of his Canarsie buddies - cool lil' jernt, 1 block to the beach & 4 blocks to the boardwalk (Lucky Leos!), had low ceiling, plastic wrapped furniture, and a ton of Sanitas - even had the old school Corning stove top perc for coffee.

pure vintage 70s.

the first 2 songs i ever remember hearing were HCYMaBH and Admiral Halsey/Uncle Albert ... they played back to back as i white knuckled my first ever "big kid" (by that i mean 5-ish) ride - some farkakte Spider mini roller coaster ... even had some hair (which was likely painted shag carpet) on it's arms or legs or whatever the eff.

those tunes were a blaring, and greatly assisted me not hurling and/or pissing meself.

love affair, still.

Seaside Heights?

yep.

we did Atlantic Highlands one year ... big fail.

as were Lake Hopatcong, which we would go to on day trips ... and really shoulda been called "Lake oil slick reserve from the boatniks in the slip/marina" in the 70s.

 

[scorchy]

The 19s

Known Favorites

L.A. Girl - The Distillers (Mister CIA) - More Brody Dalle please.
Your Woman - White Town (titusbramble) - Definitely in my top 5 (maybe top 3) of 1990s one-hit wonders.
Gouge Away - The Pixies (Raging weasel)
For Whom The Bell Tolls - Metallica (jwb)
North American Scum - LCD Soundsystem (Hov34)
Rock Me Amadeus (Gold Mix) - Falco (Doug B) - Every time I hear this I think of Adventureland. James : "JFC! They play this song like 20 times a day!" Joel: "F***ing sadists. F***ing sadists!"
One Way Or Another - Blondie (AAA Batteries)

New to Me Songs I Really Liked

Dance Me To The End Of Love - Leonard Cohen (shuke)
Falling Slowly - Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova (The Dreaded Marco)
An Irish Pub Song - The Rumjacks (otb_lifer)
Got No Sense - Teenage Head (rockaction) - Not sure how I haven't heard this but it's right in my sweetspot.
54-46 Was My Number - Toots and the Maytals (landryshat)

 

[zamboni]

How Can You Mend A Broken Heart

Love the story.

Didn't have time to write this up at all when I selected it. My selection was originally "New York Mining Disaster 1941," and then bounced around a few songs before settling here. What I love about the song (other than the harmonies, of course) is its deceptive simplicity. Ask any musician who's tried to cover it, and they'll tell you it's near-impossible. The Brothers Gibb were underrated for their skill at complex melodies and harmonies.

Thanks to AAABatteries for taking my original selection so that it got covered, too.

I'm sure we discussed the Bee Gees' documentary HCYMABH in more than one of these threads, but it was fantastic.

 

[scorchy]

The 20s

Known Favorites

Crazy - Icehouse (Sullie) - I don't think I've heard this since the summer of '87. Great pull.
Lateralus - Tool (Raging weasel)
Fade To Black - Metallica (Mt. Man) - One of the benefits of falling behind, management can't yell at me for yelling "Oh no, this one belongs to me." Unless of course it shows up even higher (lower) over the final 10 days.
Bandages - Hot Hot Heat (rockaction) - I swear rock and I were listening to the same bands during the first few years of the aughts.
Reptilia - The Strokes (Eephus)
Holy Wars....The Punishment Due - Megadeth (Manster)
Sheena Is A Punk Rocker - Ramones (westerberg)
My Michelle - Guns N' Roses (KarmaPolice)
Master Of Puppets - Metallica (Oliver Humanzee)

New to Me Songs I Really Liked

Killing The Blues - Robert Plant and Alison Krauss (Dr. Octopus)
In Your Bright Ray - Grant McLennan (The Dreaded Marco)
Propane Nightmares - Pendulum (titusbramble)
The Afterlight - Robyn Hitchcock & the Venus 3 (worrierking)

 

[Pip's Invitation]

Don Quixote:

Once In A Lifetime - Talking Heads (US-Scotland: David Byrne, Scotland; others US)
(duplicate, third vote)

Fascinating that as ubiquitous as this song is now, it did not chart when first released as a single. It didn't really get embedded into public consciousness until a year later when MTV debuted and played its insane video all the time. Later on, the live version from Stop Making Sense did chart.

 

[Pip's Invitation]

How Can You Mend A Broken Heart

gotta catch up with this one, as it is one of my top 5 BG tunes.

dad took us to the Jersey shore for 2 glorious weeks every summer, without fail ... all the way up to the last summer he were alive ('77).

he rented a bungalow from one of his Canarsie buddies - cool lil' jernt, 1 block to the beach & 4 blocks to the boardwalk (Lucky Leos!), had low ceiling, plastic wrapped furniture, and a ton of Sanitas - even had the old school Corning stove top perc for coffee.

pure vintage 70s.

the first 2 songs i ever remember hearing were HCYMaBH and Admiral Halsey/Uncle Albert ... they played back to back as i white knuckled my first ever "big kid" (by that i mean 5-ish) ride - some farkakte Spider mini roller coaster ... even had some hair (which was likely painted shag carpet) on it's arms or legs or whatever the eff.

those tunes were a blaring, and greatly assisted me not hurling and/or pissing meself.

love affair, still.

Seaside Heights?

yep.

we did Atlantic Highlands one year ... big fail.

as were Lake Hopatcong, which we would go to on day trips ... and really shoulda been called "Lake oil slick reserve from the boatniks in the slip/marina" in the 70s.

I figured. What you described really only exists in two places on the Jersey Shore -- Seaside Heights, which attracts New Yorkers, and Wildwood, which attracts Philadelphians.

 

[scorchy]

My 18-20 selections

scorchy:

Queen Of Hearts - ****ed Up

As a skater kid in my teens, I was really into hardcore for a few years, then I completely lost interest. F####ed Up brought me back into the fold. David Comes to Life (the album on which Queen of Hearts resides) probably represents the largest delta between me and Mrs. Scorchy's opinion on a record.

scorchy:

So What? - Ministry

So many different possibilities for a Ministry pick - something from the slightly ridiculous synthpop era (where Al puts on a totally affected British accent), the pure industrial era of Twitch and The Land of Rape and Honey, or the brutalist era of The Mind is a Terrible Thing to Taste and Psalm 69? (I pretty much ignored everything they did after that as it sounds too much like bad metal.) I went with So What? because more than any other song in existence, it makes me want to smash other people in the head. Good thing I mainly listen to it while I'm alone.

scorchy:

Welcome to Paradise - Front 242

"Jesus is here!" I should have re-arranged the order of my picks so this one showed up on Easter. Welcome to Paradise was the b-side to Front 242's biggest hit (the A-side has been named the best industrial single of all time and even garnered an Anton Corbjin-directed video). The A-side was kind of overplayed in my circles, so it was always a lot more fun when the DJ spun Welcome to Paradise instead. Instead of lyrics, it's just samples of Jimmy Swaggart and other evangelists preaching the word.

 

[Pip's Invitation]

KarmaPolice:

This Must Be The Place (Naive Melody) - Talking Heads
(new song)

I think I've told this story in the FFA before -- maybe even in this thread before -- but likely most of you didn't read it. I saw Arcade Fire at Irving Plaza in NYC not long after Funeral came out. They were covering this song on that tour. At this show, they did that for their encore -- and David Byrne came out to sing it with them. It was glorious. As my friends and I were retrieving our coats from the coat check, Byrne walked by, and we all yelled "Thank you!"

The next day I told one of my high school buddies from Philly about this and he said "New York ALWAYS gets the special shows!"

 

[Ilov80s]

Not - Big Thief	Ilove80s	nice - never heard of these guys …giving me a R.E.M. vibe

For my money, Big Thief is the best rock group today. I think they have 5 albums from the last 7ish years. All are borderline modern classics.

 

[scorchy]

New-to-me favorites from #13:

So What? -- Ministry (Scorchy). No idea what's going on with the vocal, but the beat is a grabber.

The vocals themselves or the samples warning of youth violence taken from an amazingly awful 1956 teensploitation film?

The Violent Years

A newspaper publisher's daughter suffers from neglect by her parents. She and her friends turn to crime by dressing up like men, holding up gas stations, raping young men at gunpoint, and having makeout parties when her parents are away. Their "fence" gets them to trash the school on request of sinister un-American clients, and they run afoul of the law, apple pie, and God himself.

 

[Pip's Invitation]

It's a running joke in our office that the American Heart Association sends out a media alert within hours of anything heart-related happening to a famous person (example: when Mick Jagger had transcatheter aortic valve replacement, the same operation that Rock's dad had.) Today they sent an alert about A FICTIONAL CHARACTER.

Spoiler

the patriarch from Succession

 

[Pip's Invitation]

New-to-me favorites from #13:

So What? -- Ministry (Scorchy). No idea what's going on with the vocal, but the beat is a grabber.

The vocals themselves or the samples warning of youth violence taken from an amazingly awful 1956 teensploitation film?

The Violent Years

A newspaper publisher's daughter suffers from neglect by her parents. She and her friends turn to crime by dressing up like men, holding up gas stations, raping young men at gunpoint, and having makeout parties when her parents are away. Their "fence" gets them to trash the school on request of sinister un-American clients, and they run afoul of the law, apple pie, and God himself.

All of it. (That description is ... something.)

 

[otb_lifer]

It's a running joke in our office that the American Heart Association sends out a media alert within hours of anything heart-related happening to a famous person (example: when Mick Jagger had transcatheter aortic valve replacement, the same operation that Rock's dad had.) Today they sent an alert about A FICTIONAL CHARACTER.

Spoiler

the patriarch from Succession

Aqualung?

 

[Pip's Invitation]

I knew 28 songs today not including my own but counting repeats. That's the most so far -- and it may be the strongest list so far in terms of my tastes.

Known-to-me favorites from #10, not counting my own or Gold Dust Woman, which is known to be on my list:

Down by the River -- Neil Young (Shuke)
This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody) -- Talking Heads (KarmaPolice)
All Along the Watchtower -- The Jimi Hendrix Experience (Doc Oc)
Mr. Soul -- Buffalo Springfield (Tim)
Southern Cross -- Crosby, Stills and Nash (jwb)
Sign of the Gypsy Queen -- April Wine (Zamboni)
Once in a Lifetime -- Talking Heads (Don Quixote)
It's A Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock 'N Roll) -- AC/DC (Sullie)
California -- Joni Mitchell (Westerberg)
Gangsters -- The Specials (Eephus)
Fade to Black -- Metallica (Scorchy)
One -- Metallica (Chaos34)
Galaxy -- War (John Maddens Lunchbox)
So Lonely -- The Police (Mt. Man)
Suzanne -- Leonard Cohen (OTB)
Jamie's Cryin' -- Van Halen (Hawks64)
Israelites -- Desmond Dekker (OH)

 

[falguy]

simey:

Misguided Angel - Cowboy Junkies (Canada)
(new song)

 

[Pip's Invitation]

Only 3 of my top 10 have been taken by someone else so far, and one of those is Invisible Sun, which was revealed to be my #10 today. So we have only seen 2 of my top 9 so far.

 

[Pip's Invitation]

Here's an indicator of whose tastes might be most similar to mine so far. I'll do this when we get to a number that ends in 0 or 5.

Participants with songs on my list or in the top 10 of songs not on my list:

Spoiler

jwb: 4
Binky: 3
Doug B: 3
Shuke: 3
Val Rannous: 3
DrIanMalcolm: 2
Krista4: 2
Zegras11: 2
AAABatteries: 1
Higgins: 1
Hov34: 1
KarmaPolice: 1
Landryshat: 1
MAC 32: 1
Mrs. Rannous: 1
Raging Weasel: 1
Scorchy: 1
Simey: 1
Worrierking: 1

Participants with songs on my list or in the top 25 of songs not on my list:

Spoiler

jwb: 7
Doug B: 4
Val Rannous: 4
Worrierking: 4
AAABatteries: 3
Binky: 3
Krista4: 3
Shuke: 3
Zegras11: 3
Doc Oc: 2
DrIanMalcolm: 2
KarmaPolice: 2
Andy: 1
Hawks64: 1
Higgins: 1
Hov34: 1
Landryshat: 1
MAC 32: 1
Manster: 1
Mrs. Rannous: 1
Mt. Man: 1
OH: 1
OTB: 1
Raging Weasel: 1
Scorchy: 1
Simey: 1
Tim: 1
Titusbramble: 1

Participants with songs on my list or in the top 50 of songs not on my list:

Spoiler

jwb: 9
Zegras11: 9
Binky: 5
Doug B: 5
Val Rannous: 5
DrIanMalcolm: 4
Krista4: 4
Shuke: 4
Worrierking: 4
AAABatteries: 3
Simey: 3
Doc Oc: 2
Higgins: 2
Just Win Baby: 2
KarmaPolice: 2
Mrs. Rannous: 2
Raging Weasel: 2
Sullie: 2
Tim: 2
Andy: 1
Don Quixote: 1
Eephus: 1
Hawks64: 1
Hov34: 1
Ilov80s: 1
Landryshat: 1
MAC 32: 1
Manster: 1
Mt. Man: 1
OH: 1
OTB: 1
Scorchy: 1
Simsarge: 1
Titusbramble: 1
Westerberg: 1
Zamboni: 1

Participants with songs on my list or in the top 75 of songs not on my list:

Spoiler

Zegras11: 11
jwb: 9
Shuke: 7
Worrierking: 7
AAABatteries: 6
Doug B: 6
Binky: 5
DrIanMalcolm: 5
Val Rannous: 5
Doc Oc: 4
Krista4: 4
Simey: 4
Andy: 3
Don Quixote: 3
Higgins: 3
Just Win Baby: 3
Simsarge: 3
Tim: 3
Zamboni: 3
Chaos34: 2
Eephus: 2
Hov34: 2
KarmaPolice: 2
Manster: 2
Mrs. Rannous: 2
Mt. Man: 2
OH: 2
Raging Weasel: 2
Scorchy: 2
Sullie: 2
Titusbramble: 2
Westerberg: 2
Ditkaburgers: 1
Hawks64: 1
Ilov80s: 1
Landryshat: 1
MAC 32: 1
OTB: 1

Participants with songs on my list or in the top 100 of songs not on my list:

Spoiler

Zegras11: 13
jwb: 9
Shuke: 9
Doug B: 8
Worrierking: 8
AAABatteries: 6
Binky: 6
DrIanMalcolm: 6
Simey: 6
Simsarge: 6
Val Rannous: 6
Zamboni: 5
Andy: 4
Doc Oc: 4
Higgins: 4
Krista4: 4
Sullie: 4
Tim: 4
Westerberg: 4
Don Quixote: 3
Just Win Baby: 3
KarmaPolice: 3
Mrs. Rannous: 3
Mt. Man: 3
Raging Weasel: 3
Titusbramble: 3
Chaos34: 2
Eephus: 2
Hov34: 2
Manster: 2
Marco: 2
OH: 2
Scorchy: 2
Ditkaburgers: 1
Hawks64: 1
Ilov80s: 1
Landryshat: 1
MAC 32: 1
OTB: 1

So far there are 20 cases of someone taking a song on my list. Three are Could You Be Loved. Two are Fight the Good Fight. Two are Gold Dust Woman. Two are Low Rider. Two are Voodoo Child (Slight Return). One is Band on the Run. One is Chest Fever. One is Feels Like We Only Go Backwards. One is Fencewalk. One is Invisible Sun. One is Rebellion (Lies). One is Uptown Funk. The other two have not been revealed yet.

 

[John Maddens Lunchbox]

Twenty-Point Selections:


scorchy:

1-Welcome To Paradise - Front 242 (Belgium)
(new artist)
Sullie:

2-Crazy - Icehouse (Wait, Ozzie was allowed last time but Auzzies weren't allowed right? I'm confused.)
(new artist)

The Dreaded Marco:

3-In Your Bright Ray - Grant McLennan
(new song)

Mister CIA:

4-2541 - Robert Forster (Australia)
(new artist)
Ilov80s:

5-Senegal Fast Food - Amadou and Mariam (feat. Manu Chao)
(Amadou and Marium, new artist; Manu Chao, new song)


JMLs secret identity:
6-
Sodade - Cesaria Evora (Cape Verde)
(duplicate, second vote)


landryshat:

7-The Dawn - Osibisa (Ghana)
(new song)


John Maddens Lunchbox:

8-Send Me An Angel - Real Life (Australia)
(duplicate, second vote)
Eephus:
9-
Reptilia - The Strokes
(new song)


Hov34:

10-Fantastic Man - William Onyeabor
(duplicate, second vote)


KarmaPolice:

11-My Michelle - Guns N' Roses
(new song)
AAABatteries:

12-Con Te Partirò - Andrea Bocelli
(new artist)

The roaring 20s and the attempt not to spoil.

1- Saw Belgium and got curious. Listened first before research. Sounds like a lot of Euro dance music from the 90s. On research predates that considerably at late 80s. Wasnt a single and seems to have been an extra track on a CD. Is this a deep cut or more to the story? Since answered lol

2- Icehouse are in the running for one of my fave australian bands. First 3-4 albums anyway. By the time they hit in the US with Crazy and Electric Blue (cowritten by John Oates of Hall and Oates), he (icehouse has always been front man Iva Davies and others) was chasing and finding commercial success. First 2/3 albums were as much as most commercial australian bands got into electronica. They had to back it up with guitars though. Crazy is a fun track. Surprised to see that No Promises and a real early one in We Can Get Together charted in the lower reaches of the US as well.

3- I know our GB Marco is a big fan of Grant McLennan so gave him the deference to listen to this track. Quiet beautiful. I noticed that after his death that his home state “established the Grant McLennan Lifetime Achievement Award, presented at the Queensland Music Awards.”

4- Another Go Between. I havent heard this much Go Betweens or related since the 80s lol. When they were a fringe/indie aussie act that all the cool kids listened to. I wasnt cool, but wanted to be. Every indie record shop seemed to be playing them.

5- i have an eye on what is coming out of senegal here. This was not what i was expecting. Quite catchy. Bit hard to sing a long too, but we will get there. Interesting that it made the top 30 in both France and Belgium

6- I was thankful for the assist on this track from Cape Verde. Haunting and beautiful. Gorgeous vocals. With Cape Verde being a Portugese colony, curious that Portugese is still their official language, but Cape Verdean Creole is the most spoken language. Sodade is such a treat to listen to. So simple, but a feast for the ears. Love it.

7- interesting that i wasnt the only one to find Osibisa independently. I just chose the song that charted in the UK and not one of their deep album cuts from the early 70s, like this one, that charted so well in Australia and the UK on the LP charts. Even top 60 on Billboard. I still dont understand how that happened.

8- Beaten to the the punch with Send me some Hair Gel, as it was less than affectionately known with the pub rock crowd. I had so much to choose from on my Australian pick and spent so much time trying to find out where these guys were born, to no avail, that i just ended picking them anyway. I had a lot of internal pressure on my aussie pick and was gonna second guess myself no matter what.

9- The weight of the world was on the Strokes on their second album. 1251 took the heat as the lead single, but the best track was clearly reptilia. I was always more partial the the third single, the end has no end.

10- Good to see artists like William onyeabor get a run in this. I hadnt heard of him before the 1977 thread. Fun artist.

11- As was mentioned in the Beatles thread, im always partial to a Michelle song. I once found a Guns N Roses pinball machine in Melbourne that played this song when you did a certain move. My fave track off Appetite for Destruction
12-Great choice. I prefer the duet with Sarah Brightman. Something about a male and female voice doing operatic stuff.

 

[rockaction]

Oliver Humanzee:

Israelites - Desmond Dekker
(duplicate, second vote)

Huh. Nice track.

I was going to pick "It Mek" or "Shanty Town" so then nobody would be owning it before me, but it looks like irony came to town.

 

[landrys hat]

7- interesting that i wasnt the only one to find Osibisa independently. I just chose the song that charted in the UK and not one of their deep album cuts from the early 70s, like this one, that charted so well in Australia and the UK on the LP charts. Even top 60 on Billboard. I still dont understand how that happened.

Osibisa's first two records are pretty good. I bought s/t because I liked the cover, had no idea what it sounded like.

 

[Eephus]

ditkaburgers:

LUCID - Rina Sawayama
(new artist)

Catching up from Saturday. @ditkaburgers is 1/4 Japanese descent and this is the only artist from Japan that either of us selected. Sawayama was born in Japan but emigrated to London as a young girl. ditkaburgers' became a fan of Sawayama's self-titled second album during the very strange year of 2020. "LUCID" was released as a single at the end of the year; its lyrics about a fantasy girl make it sound like it could be a pandemic anthem but it was apparently written prior to the album.

Eephus:

Reptilia - The Strokes
(new song)

I was already in my 40s when The Strokes came out so they don't signify the same to me as they do to younger people for whom they were their Nirvana or their Clash. Nevertheless, I do dig this song a lot and would probably pick Room On Fire over This Is it if forced to choose.

 

[simey]

Here are a few known favorites from this round that aren't repeats.

Mr. Soul - I like everything on this album.
Cool Change - My sister had this 45.
Down By the River - One of my favorite Neil songs. I have a friend who wakes up to this song on his alarm clock every morning.
Jamie's Cryin' - Fun song.
Take On Me - This unplugged version is great.
So Lonely - This was in my 5 out.
Suzanne - Great song and lyrics.
Gangsters -
Hooked On A Feeling - Reminds me of college when we would play the Reservoir Dogs soundtrack.
This Must Be The Place (Naive Melody) - I like to drive to this one. I always have it on road trip playlists.
Sign of the Gypsy Queen - Reminds me of high school.
Galaxy - Reminds me of Jr. High
The Unforgiven - Reminds me of seeing them and Guns n Roses at the Citrus Bowl in Orlando in '92. That was a weird night.
California -



Here are a few unknown new favorites

Am I In Heaven
We Used to Wait - I don't remember this one
Foot of the Mountain
Not
Bamboleo
La Mar
Gooey
Terra

 

[scorchy]

One playlist away from being all caught up...

Known Favorites

Top Of The World - Shonen Knife (timscochet)
One With The Freaks - The Notwist (The Dreaded Marco)
Turning Green - Courtney Barnett (Mister CIA)
Somebody To Love - Queen (Mrs. Rannous)
T.N.T. - AC/DC (Raging weasel)
Neighborhood #3 - Arcade Fire (Ilov80s)
Guns Of Navarone (live) - The Specials (otb_lifer)
Slippery People - Talking Heads (simey)
Israelites - Desmond Dekker (rockaction)

New to Me Songs I Really Liked

Young Folks - Peter, Bjorn and John (titusbramble) - it's possible that I've heard this before but I think I just read about the Swedish whistling song without ever experiencing it.
Sufficiently Breathless - Captain Beyond (worrierking)
Do You Love Me? - Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds (Mt. Man)
Battle Scars - Guy Sebastian (JML’s secret identity)
Reality Fades - Weedpecker (Manster) - wow. love this.
Somebody's Out There - Triumph (simsarge) - this countdown has totally turned me into a Triumph fan.

 

[Eephus]

ditkaburgers:

Lay It All On Me - Rudimental (feat. Ed Sheeran)
(new song for both artists)

Happy belated Easter. This is the second time @ditkaburgers picked Sheeran and Rudimental although the previous picks were both collaborations with other artists. Her story of this song was hearing it everywhere when she was living in Paris in 2015. Those were the days before music search tools that made it easy to find out the same of the song. She knew it was Sheeran but couldn't place the song or primary artist. It drove her nuts for a few weeks before she was able to figure it out.

ephus:

Rosalie / (Cowgirls' Song) (Live and Dangerous Version) - Thin Lizzy
(new song)

Thin Lizzy's Live and Dangerous is notorious among live albums for having so many overdubs that it's like a studio album with crowd noise piped in. I still love this version more than either of the original studio recordings of these songs. The band is in fantastic form and Phil's banter with the crowd sounds authentic even though it may have happened months later.

 

[krista4]

One playlist away from being all caught up...

You're ahead of me!

Busy, sleepy, unable to post any previews for tomorrow. Sorry. Hope to catch up then!

 

[Mister CIA]

One playlist away from being all caught up...

You're ahead of me!

Busy, sleepy, unable to post any previews for tomorrow. Sorry. Hope to catch up then!

But are you drinking? That's what we're most interested in.

 

[Pip's Invitation]

7- interesting that i wasnt the only one to find Osibisa independently. I just chose the song that charted in the UK and not one of their deep album cuts from the early 70s, like this one, that charted so well in Australia and the UK on the LP charts. Even top 60 on Billboard. I still dont understand how that happened.

Osibisa's first two records are pretty good. I bought s/t because I liked the cover, had no idea what it sounded like.

The flying elephants are awesome. The covers of those two albums were done by Roger Dean, who did many covers for Yes in the '70s.

 

[Pip's Invitation]

ditkaburgers:

LUCID - Rina Sawayama
(new artist)

Catching up from Saturday. @ditkaburgers is 1/4 Japanese descent and this is the only artist from Japan that either of us selected. Sawayama was born in Japan but emigrated to London as a young girl. ditkaburgers' became a fan of Sawayama's self-titled second album during the very strange year of 2020. "LUCID" was released as a single at the end of the year; its lyrics about a fantasy girl make it sound like it could be a pandemic anthem but it was apparently written prior to the album.

Eephus:

Reptilia - The Strokes
(new song)

I was already in my 40s when The Strokes came out so they don't signify the same to me as they do to younger people for whom they were their Nirvana or their Clash. Nevertheless, I do dig this song a lot and would probably pick Room On Fire over This Is it if forced to choose.

I don't know a whole lot of the Strokes' catalog (though I did meet Albert Hammond Jr. while bar hopping one night in NYC), but of the songs I have heard, I think the two best are Reptilia and The End Has No End, both of which are from Room on Fire.

 

[Pip's Invitation]

Somebody's Out There - Triumph (simsarge) - this countdown has totally turned me into a Triumph fan.

One of us! One of us!

(Just a Game, Allied Forces and Thunder Seven are the albums to start with if you want to explore further.)

 

[Mister CIA]

Courtney Barnett, more cowbell. She's a dead-ringer for a lady I dated 20 years ago, but way cooler.

 

[Tau837]

My top 5 from the 22 point round, excluding my own selection and prior to listening to the songs new to me:

1. Dr. Octopus: All Along The Watchtower - The Jimi Hendrix Experience
2. scorchy: Fade To Black - Metallica
3. Don Quixote: Once In A Lifetime - Talking Heads
4. Raging weasel: Gold Dust Woman - Fleetwood Mac
5. Doug B: Don't Change - INXS
6. Hawks64: Jamie's Cryin - Van Halen
7. Val Rannous: Are You Gonna Be My Girl - Jet
8. Sullie: It's A Long Way To The Top (If You Wanna Rock ‘N’ Roll) - AC/DC
9. KarmaPolice: This Must Be The Place (Naive Melody) - Talking Heads
10. jwb: Southern Cross - Crosby, Stills & Nash

Easily the best round yet for me.

 

[Tau837]

Don Quixote:

Once In A Lifetime - Talking Heads (US-Scotland: David Byrne, Scotland; others US)
(duplicate, third vote)

Fascinating that as ubiquitous as this song is now, it did not chart when first released as a single. It didn't really get embedded into public consciousness until a year later when MTV debuted and played its insane video all the time. Later on, the live version from Stop Making Sense did chart.

My last year of high school and the summer before I went to college (1985-86), I worked in a video store. We played videos all of the time when the store was open, but of course had to play G-rated stuff. We played Stop Making Sense more than anything else. I never got tired of it and love it to this day.

 

[shuke]

Newly posted known favorites:
timschochet: Mr. Soul - Buffalo Springfield
Hawks64: Jamie's Cryin - Van Halen
worrierking: We Used To Wait - Arcade Fire
Val Rannous: Are You Gonna Be My Girl - Jet
krista4: Take On Me - A-ha
otb_lifer: Suzanne - Leonard Cohen
westerberg: California - Joni Mitchell
KarmaPolice: This Must Be The Place (Naive Melody) - Talking Heads
Chaos34: One - Metallica

 

[Mister CIA]

Mister CIA:

When It Goes Badly - Headstones (Canada)
(new song)

Love bump.

 

[Mummy4]

My last year of high school and the summer before I went to college (1985-86), I worked in a video store. We played videos all of the time when the store was open, but of course had to play G-rated stuff. We played Stop Making Sense more than anything else. I never got tired of it and love it to this day.

have you seen the "Documentary Now" episode that is a take-off of "Stop Making Sense" - it's brilliant.

"Final Transmission"

 

[Eephus]

ditkaburgers:

Gotta Get Thru This (D'N'D Radio Edit) - Daniel Bedingfield; D'N'D Productions
(both new artists)

@ditkaburgers wanted to pick this for the British Isles countdown but Bedingfield was born in South Africa--his younger sister Natasha was born in England but only made db's shortlist.

"Gotta Get Thru This" is another ditkaburgers selection with the rhythms of UK Garage. I don't remember if she was participating in Genrepalooza when the Mantra category was rolled but this would have been a good mantra pick for her.

Gangsters - The Specials
(new song)

"Gangsters" was The Specials first single and doesn't appear on the UK version of their self-titled debut. Chrysalis added it for the US version of the album. Jerry Dammers stole the beat from a Prince Buster song but made it their own with lyrics about the band's misadventures while playing a gig in France.

I could have picked a number of other Specials songs here and maybe should have but "Gangsters" got stuck in my head when making my list.

 

[krista4]

otb_lifer:

Suzanne - Leonard Cohen (Canada)
(new song)

By the way, and in a surprise to no one,

 

[Mister CIA]

otb_lifer:

Suzanne - Leonard Cohen (Canada)
(new song)

By the way, and in a surprise to no one,

Never heard of the guy. Jottin'down the name.

 

[Pip's Invitation]

New-to-me favorites from #10:

Am I in Heaven? -- King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard (Mister CIA). Another monstrously good track from them. I need to investigate further.
Babe, I'm On Fire -- Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds (Titusbramble). This is completely unhinged -- and brilliant.
We Used to Wait -- Arcade Fire (Worrierking). The Suburbs came out when we had a baby on the way so I was a little distracted and never got around to checking it out. I like the pacing on it.
Misguided Angel -- Cowboy Junkies (Simey). Amazing lyrics.

 

[Mt. Man]

As simey mentioned, this was the other song chosen by me that’s (so far) only appeared in a Last Five out. The Police naturally have a lot of songs that spark emotions and memories. This one’s a bit more about the melody and vibe than the lyrics. I'm probably just a sucker for the dissonance in a high-tempo energetic song about loneliness.

#10s
Recognized by title alone: 22
Sounded familiar: 3
Knew from this countdown: 2
Didn't know: 16

Special Shout-Out: Guantanamera (rockaction) - I’ve certainly heard the song this is based on, but also certainly not this version (interpretation?) of it.

Selected Favorites:
Are You Gonna Be My Girl (Val Rannous)
Take On Me (krista4)
Don’t Speak (Binky) - Was in heavy consideration for my list, but fell a bit short
Hooked On A Feeling (simsarge)
Sign of the Gypsy Queen (zamboni)

Some songs I didn't know that I ended up liking:
Not (ilov80s)
We Used To Wait (worrierking)
Misguided Angel (simey)
La Mar (landrys hat)
Gooey (Hov34)

Dig The Vibe: Now We Are Free (Andy Dufresne) - This is cheating a bit, as I’ve watched Gladiator a good number of times. Still, it fits this category well enough.

 

[krista4]

I dug up my treatise on The Traveling Wilburys from my post-Beatles thread, since they've been chosen a couple of times now, most recently by me. This is what I wrote at the time:

---INTERLUDE – The Traveling Wilburys---

As mentioned in the interlude for Cloud Nine, the Traveling Wilburys were born out of the sessions for that record. While recording, George and Jeff Lynne often talked about how they’d love to put together a full band together. George dreamt of adding Bob Dylan, with whom he’d been close for years, drawing even closer after Dylan contributed songs to All Things Must Pass and performed at the Concert for Bangladesh. Lynne named Roy Orbison, for whom he was then producing an album, as his dream participant, and George had known and been a fan of Orbison’s since the Beatles opened for him on tour in 1963. Both Lynne and George were close to Tom Petty, with George having frequent ukulele jam sessions at Petty’s house, and Lynne in the midst of producing Petty’s first solo album. George even mentioned his dream of a band of “me and some of my mates” called the Traveling Wilburys in an interview in February 1988, but the band’s formation ended up happening largely by accident.

With very little notice, Warner Brothers had informed George in April 1988 that he needed a non-album b-side for his “This Is Love” single out of Cloud Nine. While having dinner with Lynne and Orbison, George asked Lynne to help with the recording the next day, and Orbison decided to come along for it. But they needed a place to record on short notice, so George arranged with Dylan to use his garage studio in Malibu. On the way to record, George stopped by Tom Petty’s house to pick up a guitar, and Petty decided to come over for the recording, too.

The five of them gathered with George’s half-finished song. George wrote a little vocal part in it for Orbison, because IF YOU HAVE ROY ORBISON IN YOUR RECORDING STUDIO YOU DAMN WELL WRITE A VOCAL PART FOR HIM. All of the group participated in finishing the song, then recorded it the same night, all of this accomplished in about five hours.

When he brought it to Warner Brothers, they predictably said it was too good to be a mere b-side. In fact, they wondered, could they get a whole album of this? Dylan was due back on his Never-Ending Tour in June, the band gathered in early May and dedicated ten days to putting the album together. They would sit around with their acoustic guitars, each member of the group throwing out musical ideas from which they’d lay down an initial track. Then at dinner, they’d sit at a communal table and pass the lyrics around and work on those during the meal. They’d draw straws to see who would sing the initial version, and then George would generally decide whose vocal fit which parts the best. By the end of ten days, they had all of the songs written, with the basic parts and rough vocals recorded. During the summer, George and Lynne then worked on the refining of the recordings, adding Jim Keltner on drums and Jim Horn on sax, and having Petty and Orbison come over for re-recordings where necessary.

This was a particularly joyous time for George, and indeed for all of the Wilburys. George’s first and most important rule in putting the band together was that he would only admit as members people that he liked to hang out with. By all accounts, the sessions were relaxed and free of ego, and the group laughed as much as recorded and shared a similar sense of humor (and a love for Monty Python). While certain songs came from ideas from one or another Wilbury, the writing was truly collaborative, the vocal parts were equally shared, and each member was participating from a pure love of making music with people whom they respected and considered friends. Preserving those friendships was most important to each of them; they were beyond a point where they needed to prove anything.

Despite this “community of equals,” it was clear that George was the driving force and ultimately in charge, and he set the tone for the sessions. He had put the band together and organized all the sessions, he did by far the most promotion for the album, and he and Lynne co-produced the album together. George is the one who had, two months before that first recording session occurred, mentioned “The Traveling Wilburys,” the name coming from the Cloud Nine sessions during which, upon numerous issues with faulty equipment, George had repeatedly joked to Lynne, “We’ll bury ‘em in the mix.” He and Lynne started using the word “Wilbury” to refer to any mishaps in the recordings. George had then suggested “The Trembling Wilburys” for their dream band, which Lynne adapted to “Traveling Wilburys.”

Traveling Wilburys Vol. 1 was released in October 1988 to huge critical acclaim and commercial success. It went platinum quickly and eventually sold over five million copies, and it won the Grammy for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group. In the liner notes, each of the band members adopted a fictitious Wilbury first name, and Michael Palin (under a fake name) put together a whole history of how this group of half-brothers had traveled the land for many years. That part was kinda dumb to me, but hey, they seemed to be enjoying themselves, and this “half-brother” notion had enhanced their camaraderie.

About six weeks after the release, however, tragedy struck when Orbison died suddenly of a heart attack at age 52. All of the Wilburys were shocked, but Lynne remembers being devastated for years. The video for their second single from the album, “End of the Line,” was shot to show the surviving Wilburys singing to a chair holding Orbison’s guitar. Be forewarned if you watch this now: it is not an easy viewing given that three of the Wilburys have now passed.

The other four Wilburys gathered two years later to record a second album, which George the little scamp insisted be called Traveling Wilburys Vol. 3. They had considered adding a new member to the group to fill Orbison’s spot – both Del Shannon and Roger McGuinn had been mentioned – but in the end remained a quartet. This second album features more vocals from Dylan and Petty, with George taking a backseat on vocals but featuring more prominently on lead guitar. The songs for the album were more fully developed rather than being put together in the kitchen sitting around a table. The songs sound good, but to me, this album is missing something. I suspect that it’s not just Orbison’s unmatched vocal, but some of the magic that he naturally brought. While there was mutual respect among all the Wilburys, Orbison was the one they all idolized the most, and I think the glee that they all evidenced in the first record was down a notch in the second one. This album still did well, going platinum, but was not the enormous success of the first.

George over the course of the rest of his life would occasionally talk about recording another album, or going on tour as the Wilburys. Lynne remembers that George would say, “We’re going to get an aircraft career and follow the sunshine” for their Wilbury tour. Of course, it never happened, but it shows just how much pleasure this endeavor continued to give George, as he stated that from this time on he always considered himself “a Wilbury.”

 

[krista4]

And I meant to look this up with the Fela Kuti picks, but I love this story of Paul and Fela, borne from the "Band on the Run" sessions:

Continuing to make our way down the list, we also have Fela Kuti publicly accusing Paul of having come to Africa “to steal the black man’s music.” Paul invited Kuti to the studio to listen to the songs and prove that it was not their intention, a meeting that went so well that Ginger Baker, who was recording with Kuti at the time, invited the Wings gang to record at his much more modern studio (which they did, recording “Picasso’s Last Words” there). It also went well in another respect for Paul. Let’s hear him tell it: “"[Fela] came over with his 30 wives and a studio full of ganja. He was one wild cat, he used to have a bottle of whiskey in which was marinating a pound of pot... in the whiskey. We turned out to be real good friends, he got it, he said 'no you're not doing that.’ Ginger Baker was there, he was his big friend. So, Fela invites us to his club which was outside Lagos, the Afrika Shrine. This was a few of us, little white people, me and a couple of friends. So we go out there and I say, '"let's not smoke any pot." Cause it's pretty crazy, we're out in the jungle and it's pitch black. So we're sitting there with Fela [at The Shrine] and one of Fela's guys comes up, he's crouching and he's got a packet of Rothmans cigarettes. They're all joints. He goes, '"You want one of these?" I say, "no thanks," so he carries around and gets to Ginger Baker who says "Yeah man! Sure!'" Then Fela shouts, "Ginger Baker! The only man I know never refuse a smoke!" So I go, "A-ha! Ok, I'll have one of those." Man. I tripped out. It was so strong. It was stronger than anything I've ever had, I don't know if there was something in it. But in the end it was a good night.”

 

[John Maddens Lunchbox]

Twenty-One-Point Selections:


timschochet:

1- Top Of The World - Shonen Knife
(new artist)



JMLs secret identity:

2- Battle Scars - Guy Sebastian (feat. Lupe Fiasco) (Malaysia)
(both new artists)


otb_lifer:

3- Guns Of Navarone (live) - The Specials (Jamaica - various members)
(new song)


rockaction:

4- Israelites - Desmond Dekker (jamaica)
(new artist)

John Maddens Lunchbox:

5- No Woman, No Cry - Bob Marley (Jamaica)
(new song)


Hov34:

6- High And Low - Empire Of The Sun
(new artist)

21 reasons to not spoil.
Still playing catch up so trying to keep it brief. Some good songs im passing over today

1- BRILLIANT !!! Otb lifer and I were talking in the 1977 thread about this very song when Calling Occupants was listed. On the fantastic If I Were a Carptenter compilation, starring artists like Sonic Youth with their interpretation of Superstar. This track, the Shonen Knife one is my second fave. All the wonderful elements of female asian music are here, plus the grinding 90s guitar sounds, plus the Carpenters material. Cannot recommend this track highly enough.

2- Guy Sebastien is a superstar in Australia. He won the initial Australian Idol competition and is blessed with charisma and a voice to die for. This was his best selling overseas song, but 7 #1 songs in austalia and 7 top 10 songs. He is now a judge on the same competition.

3- Love uptempo ska and this is one of the better ones. For some reason a lot of ska is quiet low beat and not as much fun. Add some tempo, energy and brass and its a hoot.

4- Get up in the morning, slaving for bread, sir
So that every mouth can be fed
Poor me Israelites Aah


Such a great, great song. Such a unique song. Ive taken it many times in music drafts here.

5- Reason I couldnt take Israelites is cause Bob Marley is the obvious Jamaican artist, so not a choice to think hard about it. Then came the song and it was obvious to me that No Woman, No Cry be the choice. Reading up on it is fascinating. Because of label, manager and all kinds of vultures wanting a piece of Marleys pie, he gave songwriting credits to friends and people who helped through his life. The songwriting credit for this one went to the man who ran the soup kitchen in Marleys slum, Vincent Ford. A man who looked after him when he was dirt poor and had nothing. By allocating songwriting credits to Ford it helped him maintain and run his soup kitchen and piss off the music vultures who continually chased him beyond his grave.

6- I hadnt heard this one from Empire of the Sun. Loved their first two albums, so I was interested. Always curious on aussie bands who are different. I know the environments these poor bastards who start their music careers in and the human filth that attended them. It was rough. Maybe they missed this era. Good song

 

[John Maddens Lunchbox]

before I drop my favs - a special shout out to @John Maddens Lunchbox for his rando A-Ha song pick and destroying the hopes and dreams of those who picked "Take On Me" as the Ace Award.

A-Ha has such a rich and beautiful catalog. Of course they only have 2 top 20 songs in the US, yes 2.
In the UK they had 9 top 10 songs and 7others reach the top 25.
Obviously continually successful throughout Europe.
They still write and tour together, but i think they hate each others guts as they are always breaking up and getting back together

Now, i stumbled upon a double cd with 40 of their best songs. Not a dud on it. Was pleasantly surprised. Foot of the Mountain blew me away. Turns out it is their second highest charting song in Germany behind only Take on Me. Obviously their 00 stuff is more mature, but they are in full control of their craft. Mature pop to die for.

 

[shuke]

When I saw that Krista was taking a different version of Take On Me I was hoping it was this.

 

[MAC_32]

LLLOOOVE this Headhunter song by Krokus (yes, that's how far behind I am )

 

[jwb]

Here's an indicator of whose tastes might be most similar to mine so far. I'll do this when we get to a number that ends in 0 or 5.

Participants with songs on my list or in the top 10 of songs not on my list:

Based on our mutual admiration for a certain Canuck (and likely all his friends) this is no surprise to me. I've noticed in these drafts that save for my metal side, we generally have pretty similar taste.

 

[jwb]

LLLOOOVE this Headhunter song by Krokus (yes, that's how far behind I am )

I liked all the early Krokus love, and did not expect it one bit. I liked them a lot in the early 80's when they seemed like the next big thing, then generally forgot about them until 3 weeks ago.