The Hottest 100 Votes I didn’t get to…

Ok, so, I didn’t quite get to finishing my 10 votes for the Hottest 100, and then Michael Jackson died and then I went to Melbourne and then everything is about to change…but I will get to that.

Where did I get up to?

Oh yes, I have 3 more songs to reveal, which if you’d seen my facebook you’ve already found out.

Song 8 – Lovesong – The Cure

Out of all the dozens of Cure songs it is hard to pick a favourite. I love the ‘Wish’ album, but of course ‘Disintegration’ is amazing, which is where this song comes from.

It has achingly beautiful lyrics, a mad bass line and a soulful melody. Just the perfect Cure song.

Whenever I’m alone with you
You make me feel like I am home again
You make me feel like I am whole again
You make me feel like I am young again
You make me feel like I am fun again

However far away
However long I stay
Whatever words I say
I will always love you

Whenever I’m alone with you
You make me feel like I am free again
You make me feel like I am clean again

I will always love you

Song 9 – One – Metallica

Metallica are a band that I didn’t quite ‘get’ until the ‘Black ‘ album in 1991. You could call me one of those ‘mainstream’ fans that only jumped onto the bandwagon once they became popular. The only thing is that instead of following Metallica forwards, I went backwards. I listened to ‘…and Justice For All’, ‘Master of Puppets’, right back to ‘Kill ’em All’ and loved them all.

Then they went and brought out ‘Load’, ‘Reload’ and they turned to shit. I’m sorry, but the 3 albums after the ‘Black’ album were pretty much crap. Last years ‘Death Magnetic’ was a slight return to form but honestly nothing beats the ‘Master of Puppets’ album for pure Metallica gold.

Ironically this song doesn’t come off my favourite album, but instead off the epic ‘…and Justice For All’ album.

This song is like a novel. It starts out slowly, introducing the guitar and lyrics, slowly building up to a slowish drum beat. Then it starts to get heavy. The whaling guitar of Kirk Hammett together with Lars’ pelting drum beat build up to the blazing triplet beat of double-kick and guitars.

Hold my breath as I wish for death
Oh please god,wake me
Now the world is gone Im just one
Oh god,help me hold my breath as I wish for death
Oh please God help me

The finishing guitar solo with the underlying rhythms of Jason and Lars are just amazing to hear. Seriously, this song is like an aural orgasm to me. My heart races. I get sweaty. It just DOES it for me.

Now, combine the amazing song with the scary, yet captivating film clip and you have the complete package.

Listen to the song, but then watch the video clip. You will learn to love it. Trust me

Just the song

The Video Clip.

Song 10 – Wicked Game – Chris Isaak

Now to something completely different. You can’t change styles much more than from Metallica to Chris Isaak, but I think that this proves that I enjoy a wide range of musical genres.

This song is almost a gimme. I mean, who doesn’t love the deep, sexy melancholy of Isaak’s voice along with the sexiness of how he looks. I mean seriously, he was damn hot back in the day.

Throw a topless Helena Christensen into the film clip and you have a complete song that just screams SEX.

I have loudly sung along to this song many many times in the car (or at karaoke!) and I just the pitch change in the chorus. “No…I…iiiiiiii….don’t wanna fall in love”.

Watch and try not to squirm….

———————

So that’s it. My Top 10 songs that I voted for in the Hottest 100 Of All Time

It was not easy, and it seriously took me a month to work out.

So many good songs missed out, but I feel pretty confident that I have picked a great representation of my favourite songs.

Songs that nearly made it:

AC/DC – You Shook Me All Night Long
Air – All I Need
Alice in Chains – Rooster
Arrested Development – Mr. Wendal
Audioslave – Cochise
Beastie Boys – Sabotage
Ben Harper – Faded
Billy Idol – Hot In The City
Bob Marley – No Woman No Cry
Bomb The Bass – Bug Powder Dust
Bon Jovi – Bad Medicine
Crowded House – Don’t Dream It’s Over
The Doors – Light My Fire
Faith No More – Epic
Foo Fighters – Monkey Wrench
Green Day – Welcome To Paradise
Guns n’ Roses – November Rain
Hoodoo Gurus – Thousand Miles Away
Icehouse – Man of Colours
Jamiroquai – When You Gonna Learn
John Butler Trio – Betterman
John Denver – Take Me Home, Country Road
Josh Pyke – Lines on Palms
Lenny Kravitz – Always On The Run
Living Colour – Cult of Personality
Midnight Oil – Power & The Passion
Muse – Stockholm Syndrome
New Order – Bizarre Love Triangle
Nick Cave & Bad Seeds – Ship Song
Nirvana – Lounge Act
Outkast – Hey Ya!
PJ Harvey – This Mess We’re In
Placebo – Special K
The Police – Message In A Bottle
Prince – Sign O’ The Times
R.E.M. – Drive
Ratcat – Don’t Go Now
Red Hot Chili Peppers – Suck My Kiss
Redgum – I Was Only 19
The Screaming Jets – Better
The Shins – New Slang
Skunkhour – Sunstone
Smashing Pumpkins – Soma
Soundgarden – Jesus Christ Pose
Stevie Ray Vaughn – Little Wing
Stevie Wonder – Superstition
Sting – Fields of Gold
Stone Temple Pilots – Interstate Love Song
System Of A Down – BYOB
They Might Be Giants – Birdhouse In Your Soul
Tool – 46 and 2
Tricky – Black Steel
U2 – Pride (in the Name of Love)
Urge Overkill  – Sister Havana
Vanilla Ice – Ice Ice Baby (really!)
Violent Femmes – Blister In The Sun
Wolfmother – Joker and the Thief
Young MC – Bust a Move

————————

The countdown starts tomorrow!

From 10am tomorrow and then at 4pm all weekend songs from 100 to 21 will be counted down.

Then on Saturday 100 – 51 from midday and then 50 – 1 on Sunday from midday.

I can’t wait to find out who makes it and intend to have the radio blasting all weekend!

My tips?

Smells Like Teen Spirit will win.

Love Will Tear Us Apart will be up there, along with Boys Don’t Cry and Throw Your Arms Around Me.

Alive, One and Stairway to Heaven will probably make it. I think a roughie might be Muse or Kings of Leon.

Love Rears Your Songs. (Part 6 & 7)

When asked who my favourite band is, I am pretty quick to answer.

Although I have dozens of ‘favourites’, when it comes down to it, there are 2 bands that have always  had a massive effect on me.

Back in high school, I joined the school band. Sure, I was playing the dorky trumpet, and then tuba, but the point was that music was a constant in my life. Even way back to primary school when my mum encouraged us (me and my sister)to play piano, music has always been around me. And although those piano lessons didn’t get me much further than the Toccata and Fugue in D Minor, it did teach me to read music and appreciate that music comes in many forms.

In the school band I was surrounded by young, but talented musicians. Through them I discovered music that I probably would not have otherwise. One album that fell into my lap in 1989 was from a relatively unknown band called Living Colour. The first song on that album was a little gem called ‘Cult of Personality’. What stood out for me initially was the musicianship in this song. You see, I don’t hear lyrics generally, I hear the music behind them. If someone asked me to recite the lyrics to a song I’d heard a dozen times I’d probably struggle, but get me to hum a few bars and I’d be fine.

Vernon Reid on Guitar, Will Calhoun on Drums, Muzz Skillings on Bass and the enigmatic Corey Glover on vocals. They are all massively talented, including Doug Wimbish, who replaced Skillings from the Stain album. Each album they’ve released has progressed on from what they were on the previous. I love listening to soulful songs on their first album, Vivid, and then banging the head to ‘Go Away’ on Stain. They are anything but predictable.

It’s one of their more chilled and probably most popular songs from their 2nd album, Time’s Up, that always does it for me. Love Rears Its Ugly Head ranks as one of my favourite songs, from my favourite band of all time. Now, please don’t confuse the original version of this song with the ‘Soul Power Remix’. I actually dislike the remix version. It does not do the song justice at all.

If you haven’t heard it, do yourself a favour right now.

Check out the original film clip (can’t embed) or the live version below.

The 2nd part of the answer to my favourite band, is this band. My favourite Australian band. Regurgitator.

Again, it may be an unusual choice, but bear with me. I have a lot of bands I enjoy listening to, but it’s those bands that continue to re-invent, evolve and release material that isn’t necessarily in your Top 40 that really leave their mark with me. Regurgitator have evolved from being a thrashy rock outfit from Brisbane to a newage/electro/funk/rock/pop band. How did that happen? And which category do they fit in?

Me & Quan from The Gurge

The biggest thing to happen to Regurgitator was the making of their 2nd album, Unit. This album should be remembered as one of the best Aussie albums of all time. Not only did it define the direction that Regurgitator were going, it went on to show what was possible for Aussie bands in using a mixture of electronics, rock and funk. And it’s so goddamn fun.

I really don’t know how to describe my love for Regurgitator, but it grew even more after their ‘Band in a Bubble‘ concept which saw them locked inside a glass house in the middle of Melbourne for 3 weeks. I addictively watched that shit on Channel 802 of Fox as much as I could. Quan, Ben and Pete are just so damn real. Not rock star, not ego-maniacs and not fussed at their own fame, or lack of. They just do what they do and they love it.

So, which song of theirs did I pick? It was not an easy job.  I was going to go for the first big hit, Blubber Boy, I was thinking about Everyday Formula. Even their thrasy Track 1 was a contender for pure bouncing rocky goodness.

But, no I went with a song that really has no name other than ! or The Song Formally Known As. It’s the song that epitomises Regurgitator. Quan’s quirky lyrics. Modded Bass Lines from Ben. Synthesised Poppy Rocky Perfection.

So, that’s 7 down. Only 3 to go, and only a few days to vote.

I think I’m gonna make it!

I Spoke in Class Today. Time to VOTE! (Part 5)

Ok, I’ve gotta hurry this up.

Voting for the Hottest 100 of All Time finishes on Sunday, which means I have 7 days to reveal my last 6 songs.

I still haven’t actually finalised the list and in fact I’ve been doubting my last pick. Was I too hasty to pick that one? I think I prefer ‘Beat It’ or maybe even ‘Smooth Criminal’.

But there’ll be time to debate Wacko Jacko later.

It’s time to get back to grunge.

Yes, back to my roots. Back to the music that shaped my musical tastes forever.

This song had a couple of big impacts on me. For one, it was the anthem of my 10th grade at school. You know how school years have songs that seem to represent their class? You get ‘Time of Your Life’ or ‘Another One Bites the Dust’ or ‘Beautiful Day’ or something. Our grade at Ginninderra High was suitably represented by the bleak grungey outlook that this song portrays.

The song is ‘Jeremy’ by Pearl Jam. And you can’t tell me that most people who love Pearl Jam can’t say this isn’t one of their best ever songs. Sure; it’s not as rocking as ‘Even Flow’, as popular as ‘Alive’ or as driving as ‘Corduroy’ or ‘rearviewmirror’, but for pure grungey 1991 goodness, you can’t go past this downbeat sad song.

This song, and video clip, were so damn powerful and was met with so much controversy that Pearl Jam decided not to record another video clip for any of their songs for 10 years.

It may surprise you to know however, that the Pearl Jam clip we know and love was not the original clip. A little known director funded and filmed his own clip first, which can be seen here. It was ultimately rejected by the record label.

The ironic thing is that I love this song for the song, but I also love the clip. However, once Pearl Jam decided to boycott videos and effectively boycott MTV, I took on a similar view. I made a conscious effort for a long time to either not watch video clips, and not be influenced into liking or disliking a song because of the clip. I think that there was a time where so much effort went into making a fancy, over the top clip that the actual music became secondary and this, whilst healthy for the mainstream TV watching public, was to the detriment of music lovers everywhere.

That’s not to say that I don’t love a good video clip, or that a video clip can’t enhance a song. I am just against a song becoming famous because of its video clip.

Case in point; OK Go’s ‘Here it Goes Again’. Yeah, ingenius and original film clip, but the song is not really anything to write home about.

Ok, I am warbling on a lot here. I don’t mean for each of these votes to be such a marathon effort, but once I get going on something I am passionate about, I find it hard to stop (Just ask LaLa :))

The bottom line is. It’s a top song. It’s in my Top 10. So there.

Go check out the video clip again. Just look at how intense Eddie Vedder is in the clip. I can’t find the unedited version anywhere and I can’t embed it, but you get the idea.

I’m only halfway there, but I haven’t picked Rick Astley yet….guess I’ve only got 4 left..

Wanna be Startin’ to Vote for the Hottest 100 of All Time (Part 4)

So. Rock and/or Roll has dominated my list so far.   It’s obvious to say that it is my favourite genre, but that’s not to say that I don’t like a wide range of music.

Lately I have definitely been getting in the synth electro goodness of bands like MGMT, Empire of the Sun and Pendulum. I really just love anything with a good beat and good hook.

In the last part of the Hottest 100 of All Time compilation, I discussed the importance of a good opening to a song. Now we’re going to take that one step further. To the opening song of an album.

Personally, I am all about the album, as opposed to the single. I am of the school that if I hear a good couple of songs from an artist, I will get the whole album. It is ultimately the way that artists mean for their music to be heard.

It must be a tricky task for bands to decide which song is going to be No.1 on the album. Do you pick the first single? The title track? Your f avourite tune? I think it’s pretty damn important that the first track be something that really sucks the audience in, because if you’re just listening to the album to decide whether you want to buy it or not, that first track could be make or break.

Let’s look at some of the better opening tracks.

Drive – R.E.M. – Automatic for the People – A current contender for my top 10 list. Love this song. Moody, dark and R.E.M’s best.

Welcome to the Jungle – GnR – Appetite for Destruction – What a way to introduce a band, let alone an album.

Cochise – Audioslave – Audioslave – Such a big opening track. It gets you in the mood for rest of the rocking album

Hells Bells – AC/DC – Back in Black – As soon as you hear those bells. Baby, you know who it is. Big track for a massive album

Testify – Rage Against The Machine – The Battle of Los Angeles – They don’t get much bigger and gruntier.

Faded – Ben Harper – The Will to Live – Another contender for my Top 10 list. Such amazing guitar work in this song. Love.

Don’t Panic – Coldplay – Parachutes – Heard this after I heard Yellow and love it from the Garden State soundtrack. Chilled and cool.

Open – The Cure – Wish – Such an amazing opening song. Sets the scene for my favourite Cure album.

Stinkfist – Tool – Ænima – Powerful and loud. The best way to play this killer opening track.

Battery – Metallica – Master of Puppets – Speaking of powerful. Killer track!

Beds Are Burning – Midnight Oil – Diesel and Dust – Stands as one of the greatest Oils tunes written and kicks this great Australian album off well.

Which brings me to my No.4 pick for the Hottest 100 and it again takes me back to my childhood.

I don’t think my parents owned the Michael Jackson Thriller album on record, but I had a copy of it on tape and a photocopy of the lyrics sleeve. I remember putting that tape into one of those little old tape players (see right) and listening to that album over and over again.

Obviously, because it was on tape, I would listen to the opening tracks a lot more than the later tracks.

I guess this is why whenever I hear the start of  Wanna Be Startin’ Something, it still takes me back and gets me moving. Such a funky song.

And how about the ‘mama se mama sa mama koo sa’ What the hell is that? Who cares. It fits!

Ok. It’s actually an African chant, according to Wikipedia.  “taken directly from the music of Cameroonian saxophonist Manu Dibango” Interesting.

I used to also think it was funny how Jacko was talking about vegetables. I mean, why is he saying ‘You’re a vegetable’ anyway?

Never quite got that.

What are your favourite opening tracks? Discuss.

I’ve been trying to find the video somewhere, but I guess Jacko’s lawyers are pretty vigilant. All I could find were fan vids, live versions and the Akon remix (blech)

But here’s a live version to check out

http://vodpod.com/watch/1601894-michael-jackson-wanna-be-startin-somethin