Monday, 11 August 2014

100 songs & 50 years.....



I’m half a century old. I am not actually celebrating the event itself, other than by playing 6 a side and then attending the Northern League Division 2 game between Team Northumbria and Heaton Stannington. This isn’t because I’m a miserable old curmudgeon, which I am, but because the real celebration is on hold until my Ben gets his A Level results on Thursday 14th. However, to mark my 50th, I’ve decided to come up with a theoretical mixtape of my life so far; 50 artists, 1 song each, in no particular order. As the artists involved were selected on the basis of the order that they occurred to me, there will be many omissions, to be returned to at a later date no doubt. Suffice to say, the first song mentioned is the greatest song of all time by the greatest band of all time. After that, the list is fairly random. Anyway, hope you enjoy the list….
1.       Teenage Fanclub – Everything Flows
2.       The Wedding Present – Corduroy
3.       The Velvet Underground – What Goes On (Live 69 version)
4.       Bob Dylan – Like A Rolling Stone
5.       Fairport Convention – Who Knows Where The Time Goes?
6.       The Mekons – Where Were You?
7.       Penetration – Don’t Dictate
8.       The Buzzcocks – Boredom
9.       Snatch – IRT
10.   Planxty – Johnny Cope
11.   Christy Moore – Cliffs of Doneen
12.   The Clancy Brothers – Brennan on the  Moor
13.   Liam Clancy – In Bodentown’s Churchyard
14.   The Dubliners – The Patriot’s Game
15.   Lindisfarne – Road to Kingdom Come
16.   Sonic Youth – Kotton Krown
17.   Butthole Surfers – 22 Going On 23
18.   Rapeman – Trouser Minnow
19.   Shellac – Prayer to God
20.   Dinosaur Jr – Little Fury Things
21.   Swans – Sex God Sex
22.   The Weather Prophets – Almost Prayed
23.   Trembling Bells – Just As The Rainbow
24.   Einsturzende Neubauten – Sand
25.   Joy Division – New Dawn Fades
26.   Cornershop – 6AM Jullander Shere
27.   British Sea Power – Lately
28.   Midlake – Young Bride
29.   The Pastels – Baby Honey
30.   David Bowie – We Are The Dead
31.   The Fall – Winter
32.   Fugazi – Blueprint
33.   Swervedriver – Rave Down
34.   Band of Holy Joy – Who Snatched The Baby?
35.   That Petrol Emotion – Sweet Shiver Burn
36.   Gang of Four – To Hell With Poverty
37.   Jimi Hendrix – The Wind Cries Mary
38.   Godspeed You! Black Emperor – Mladic
39.   Neil Young – Like A Hurricane
40.   The Band – The Weight
41.   Subway Sect – Ambition
42.   The Raincoats – Fairytale in the Supermarket
43.   Wire – Former Airline
44.   Nirvana – All Apologies (MTV acoustic)
45.   Nick Drake – Black Eyed Dog
46.   Cabaret Voltaire – Do The Mussolini (Headkick)
47.   Patti Smith – Piss Factory
48.   Television – Marquee Moon
49.   The Byrds – Turn! Turn! Turn!
50.   Jonathan Richman & The Modern Lovers – Roadrunner

Of course, as soon as I completed the above lists, several other bands popped into my head. What was I to do? Simple; compose another list of 50 songs by 50 different bands. What I think is clear from both sets of 50 is that the song I’ve chosen is the one by the particular artist that means the most to me by that particular artist, however that can be defined…

51.   Orange Juice – Blue Boy
52.    Wah! – The Death of Wah!
53.   The Jesus & Mary Chain – Never Understand
54.  Rod Stewart –Maggie May
55.   Metal Urbain – Paris Marquis
56.   The Birthday Party – Deep in the Woods
57.   Eno – Here Come the Warm Jets
58.   Neu – Hallogallo
59.   Yo La Tengo – The Story of Yo La Tango
60.   A Certain Ratio – Winter Hill
61.   Richard & Linda Thompson – I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight
62.   Pere Ubu – Final Solution
63.   Captain Beefheart & The Magic Band – Moonlight on Vermont
64.   Roxy Music – In Every Dream Home A Heartache
65.   The Cure – The Figurehead
66.   Killdozer – When The Levee Breaks
67.   Led Zeppelin – Houses of the Holy
68.   The Clash – White Man in Hammersmith Palais
69.   The Pogues – The Broad, Majestic Shannon
70.   Swell Maps – Stephen Does
71.   Leonard Cohen – The Sisters of Mercy
72.   Joan Baez – The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down
73.   Alternative TV – Action Time Vision
74.   Blur – No Distance Left To Run
75.   John Cale – I Keep A Close Watch
76.   Johnny Cash – New Mexico
77.   Euros Childs – Parents’ Place
78.   Ry Cooder – Billy the Kid
79.   Pecker Dunne – Wexford
80.   The Flying Lizards – TV
81.   John the Postman – Kowalski of the Seaview
82.   The Lemonheads – It’s A Shame About Ray
83.   Mercury Rev – Car Wash Hair
84.   The Oyster Band – Rambling Irishman
85.   Gram Parsons – Wild Horses
86.   The Pop Group – We Are All Prostitutes
87.   Sebadoh – Brand New Love
88.   Throbbing Gristle – United
89.   Destroy All Monsters – Bored
90.   Robert Wyatt – Yolande
91.   Clock DVA – 4 Hours
92.   Essential Logic – Aerosol Burns
93.   The Go-Betweens – Cattle and Cane
94.   The Slits – Man Next Door
95.   Camper van Beethoven – Take the Skinheads Bowling
96.   X Ray Spex - Oh Bondage Up Yours!
97.   My Bloody Valentine – Feed Me With Your Kisses
98.   The Flowers – After Dark
99.   Nick Cave – By the Time I Get to Phoenix

100.                       Joni Mitchell – A Case of You

No comments:

Post a Comment