 |
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
|
|
Join Date: May 2007
Posts: 107,414
Favourites (more):
BB2025: Teja The Traitors: Sir Stephen Fry
|
|
|
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Join Date: May 2007
Posts: 107,414
Favourites (more):
BB2025: Teja The Traitors: Sir Stephen Fry
|
i am happy to provide a public service. Saph is at the back handing out pamphlets on how to join the church of taste x
40-31:
Spoiler: #40 - "Pyramid Song" by Radiohead
It took me a long, long time to get into Radiohead. Their two best albums were released prior to the cut-off point of this thread, so that didn't help, considering I was ten years old and not really likely to bounce away to No Surprises or Everything In Its Right Place. Hindsight is a wonderful thing, though, and they've continued to throw out great albums well into the 21st century. 2001's Amnesiac was not one of the best, but it contained this - the best musical depiction of what I'd imagine it is like to see mirages in the desert. Those piano chords jab at you from all different angles, giving an incredibly alienating experience, but at the same time it's all so... serene.
#39 - "We Are the People" by Empire of the Sun
2009's Walking on a Dream album was one of the weirdest and most visually and sonically appealing things I'd ever heard at the time. The Australians surfed in on the end of that wave of indie disco with an incredible eye for aesthetics and a handful of phenomenal singles. I was close to choosing the title track, which is also worth a listen, but in the end I had fonder memories of swaying along to this; its "I know everything about youuuuu" bridge is burnt into my subconscious.
#38 - "Frontier Psychiatrist" by The Avalanches
Speaking of eccentric Australian duos, the Avalanches dropped one album in 2000 and its impact was so severe that it took sixteen years to follow it up. There've been two since 2016, and both are wonderful, but I would be lying if their biggest cultural impact - both on me and the world - wasn't... this. This song is almost unable to be described. The band received a lot of praise for innovating the way producers use samples, and along with DJ Shadow over in the US really created a new genre. I remember discovering this music video when I was about 14 or 15, so a good five years after it was released, and my friends thinking it was the coolest/funniest thing we'd ever seen. It is truly unique, and yet... SO incredible.
#37 - "The Fear" by Lily Allen
One of the most divisive figures in music, Lily Allen has been releasing thought-provoking pop since 2005 and, unlike the majority of this list, I was at an age able to appreciate and digest it from the get-go. Her career's been fun to follow; whether she played it safe with the John Lewis Christmas advert or got called a racist for, um, having some dancers twerking on the video for Hard Out Here. It's her two first albums that I hold dearest to my heart, though, and in 2009 she hit the top of the singles chart with this clever, poignant reflection on the invasiveness of celebrity culture (it took me so long to realise "I'll look at the Sun, then I'll look in the Mirror... I'm on the right track, yeah I'm on to a winner" was referring to the tabloid newspapers and not just sungazing or looking at herself  queen of wordplay!) She's released many brilliant songs, but this'll always be my favourite.
#36 - "American Boy" by Estelle and Kanye West
That a song can almost be ruined not once but twice - first by the cringe scene in Gavin and Stacey between Sheridan Smith and James Corden, and later, now, with that ****ing Fortnite parody of the song - and STILL stand the test of time as... probably the greatest pop/rap collaboration of the century, is a miracle. The song is a wonderful time capsule of when Kanye West was still on the rise, and not above hosting Channel 4's The Friday Night Project... rather than... whatever he's become today. Estelle deserved more hits; her voice is gorgeous and her style is impeccable.
#35 - "Wake Up" by Arcade Fire
You can't really mention this song on TiBB without reminding everyone of the incredible "Channel 4 Big Brother Best Bits" video put together by former moderator Rory on YouTube, so the song already has the home advantage on here... but I loved this song, and Arcade Fire, long before Big Brother's demise. The band are one of my all-time favourites... and there's no song more embedded in the fans hearts than Wake Up... that chanting chorus is one of the most comforting things in the world.
#34 - "I Still Remember" by Bloc Party
One of the 2000s more interesting bands were Bloc Party, fronted by Kele Okereke and his eye (aka he's gay x) for something subversive. The band had this string of weird, chaotic singles that were a shock to the system... but I'm going to wimp out and pick one of their gentler songs. I was torn between So Here We Are and this... but I think the lyric for this just tipped it over the edge. It's such a romantic, beautiful song and the way mundane experiences are given such weight and personality is remarkable. "Every park bench screams your name" is such a silly lyric unless you're in the throes of a whirlwind romance.
#33 - "By the Way" by Red Hot Chili Peppers
Another band more famous for dicks-out nonsense music than anything with much heart were the Chili Peppers... making the older generation tut since the late 1980s. Whether singing about ****ing in California, asking girls to "suck my kiss", or the very public heroin addiction plaguing Anthony Kiedis, they were always on the outskirts of what was acceptable to show on MTV... but by 2002, they'd calmed somewhat but still put out gorgeous songs. 'By the Way' is one that has this calming effect on me; something that makes you close your eyes and sing along as though an incantation. The track was sadly beaten to the #1 spot by Elvis vs. JXL's take on "A Little Less Conversation"... but I'm not going to let the UK's fixation with making Elvis still top the singles chart in the early 2000s bother me. I'm just not.
#32 - "Sea of Love" by Cat Power
There was a fair bit of competition in terms of the cover song I could've placed highest... Scissor Sisters did a remarkable job reworking Pink Floyd's Comfortably Numb, Utah Saints did something good indeed with Kate Bush's Cloudbusting, and Eric Prydz sent shockwaves through the music video channels with his take on Steve Winwood's Valerie... but in the end I put away all of the dance hits and gave the title to this track from 2007's wonderful soundtrack for the movie Juno. On it is Cat Power's take on a 1950s crooner by Phil Phillips (who sadly passed away last year, RIP  ) and both versions of the song are beautiful... but the twangs and ache in Power's voice on this 2000 version are just something else entirely. She took this love-song-by-numbers and gave it such a dark, eerie feeling... as though it could be from a siren, luring us to the rocks.
#31 - "Biology" by Girls Aloud
One of the greatest pop songs of all time, period. I've already put in Something Kinda Ooooh and truth be told, I could've easily thrown in The Loving Kind, The Show, Sound of the Underground and Call the Shots too... no girl group will ever come close to their legacy, and whilst you can certainly worship the ones that preceded them... I am comfortable when I say that Girls Aloud were better than the Spice Girls, better than the Supremes, and better than... well who else is there? Biology is one of those rare songs where every. single. section. of. the. song. sounds like the chorus, such an incredible individual component, forming to create this monster of a song. Ignore the choreography.
__________________
Cad is gá dom a dhéanamh mura bhfuil mé ag bualadh leat?
Tá ceann folamh agam, yah, agus pearsantacht nua
Eirím níos dofheicthe, is tú imithe, ó mo shaol
Níl aon rud fágtha sa scátháin
An mbeidh mé álainn mhaol? Yeah
Quote:
Originally Posted by arista
PISS OFF TESCO
|
BBUK Faves: Richard, Feyisola, Teja, Farida & Nancy
Traitors S4 Faves: Fiona, Ross, Rachel, Stephen, Judy, Roxy & Amanda
Celeb Traitors Faves: Stephen, Alan, Joe W, Clare & Lucy
|