[Stu]

thirty four.
AGNELLI & NELSON//Holding On To Nothing

Youtube video

sounds like.
Hearts pounding against one another.

it's here because.
It's here because it's one of the best vocal dance tracks ever produced, that's why. Decidedly mainstream but still with an edge. It's like being chased by a rabid dog who wants to spike all your drinks and get you into a dodgy club somewhere in Brixton. Plus I have to remember to get some electronic that doesn't quite crack the top 25 out of the way before soldering on.

I haven't planned this out that well, see.

[Mrluvaluva]

No. 44 disappoints me but each to their own.

[Stu]

thirty three.
RADIOHEAD//Nice Dream

Youtube video

sounds like.
Morning walks in the park.

it's here because.
Might as well get started on Radiohead - a band I sometimes lie awake thinking about. Beyond the fanboy choice of Depeche Mode and even beyond the official answer - the importance choice of The Beatles - these five unassuming lads from Oxford probably have the best band ever to walk the earth. Go on then, whose better. They change, challenge destroy and rebuild rocknroll all at once with a wry smile as if y'know ... they're just messing about with a children's toy.

The Bends have all their first important moments and this one is a corker. It's got that Radiohead hallmark of going from a quite blissed out sound to suddenly turning on you as if you poked it too much by daring to continue listening. A ripe fruit that bears endless repeat listening and an early career highlight.

[Shaun]

pound the alarm ahead of suburbia and champagne supernova? have a word with yourself

nice dream, somewhere in my heart & the killing moon

[Stu]

The placings are somewhat hazy up until about 20 on, I'll admit. Meaning they are made on the fly. Then again I do prefer that song and have listened to it more and would put it on a desert island disc over the other two you mentioned.

A certain amount of judging songs on their own terms and spreading out the genres comes into play as well. Otherwise the bottom end of the chart would be loaded with some very good pop songs whilst the top 25 would be completely wrist cutting fodder.

[Stu]

thirty two.
TOOL//Sober

Youtube video

sounds like.
A horror ride withdrawal.

it's here because.
A lot of bands advertise themselves as downbeat and a lot more get perceived as downbeat but whereas in many cases this is frivolous to the often quite catchy, smiles-behind-the-madness sound pallet offered up, Tool actually do sound like they mean it. They're definitely not happy about something and even though I enjoy them so it does vaguely seem whilst listening like I'm being reprimanded for my choices. Chastised for my sins.

The downtuned guitars are reminiscent of grunge meeting industrial on a park bench circa 1992 but Tool really is Maynard James Keenan. A name like a suspect from a Thomas Harris book and one of rocknroll's finest vocals to boot. He manages to scream ... quietly.

Brilliantly haunting and other such superlatives.

[Stu]

thirty one
GRIMES//Oblivion

Youtube video

sounds like.
The future.

it's here because.
Reservations about putting a relatively young and unabashedly hipster tune on the chart? Fuck all, really.

Grimes floats in your ears like some sonic ghost and refuses to leave, lighting up your optimism for how good music today can sound and validating a largely post rock world where ethereal, majestic sounds can be arranged in a studio using apple macs and minikorgs.

Terrific.

[Shaun]

best song of 2012 by a mile

[Stu]

Yeah I nicked the word 'ethereal' from your summation of it. It was spot on.

thirty.
EMINEM//Stan

Youtube video

sounds like.
Every twelve year old's bedroom at the turn of the century.

it's here because.
Still hit and miss king Eminem's finest moment by a very large stretch. Even Dido is used to great effect in it and if you're still not sold on the big D well the video provides her getting driven into a lake for your amusement.

Eminem's delivery alternating between the two characters in this song is spot on from the neurotic, troubled Stan to the composed Professor Eminem answering his fan mail. The subject matter is *sigh* haunting as well and really it's just a great concept song. Concept rap.

The groove that underpins the whole thing is the real attraction though. That droning, hypnotic bass over the relaxed, trip-hop-on-ambien beat is mesmerizing all these years on.

[Stu]

Another ten down. From here on in it's a no holds barred, concentrated, calculated race to numero uno. I've loved all the songs so far and would not consider any of them bottom loading filler but from here on out it really is an elite selection. At least in my mind. You may find some of the placings funny but bear in mind this is a personal countdown, not a definitive treatise on which songs are better. Anyway speaking of elite :

HONORABLE MENTIONS
THE RASMUS//Guilty

Youtube video

Fer A.C 5 days ago
in your way, what makes a man seems masculine? a ridiculous amount of muscles? a face with a beard? c'mon he's ****ing sexy and hot!!! his voice, feelings, personality and talent makes him more man than anyone


GUILTY WOAHOOOOOOOOOWHOAWHOA. Who remembers The Rasmus? You remember In The Shadows, I know that. Forget that. You never heard it. Guilty is the lynchpin of these Finnish beasts delicious back catalogue of sexually frustrated, boundary crossing, barrier breaking smash hits.

Whilst most people were busy figuring out why the lead singer always had feathers in his hair I was preoccupied with why the drummer looked a bit like the old Mr. Muscle.



RATING : THREE OUT OF FIVE ZIGGYS

[Shaun]

aaaw the rasmus

[Z]

Really enjoyed that latest batch of songs - and for years I've had that Rasmus song rotating in my head every now and then without ever knowing who sang it, all I had was "GUILTY WHOAAAAOOOOOOOH" on repeat haha

[Shaun]

tbf that was because you were obsessed with the OJ trial more than anything else

[Stu]

twenty nine.
THE WONDER STUFF//Here Comes Everyone

Youtube video

sounds like.
Partying in a field.

it's here because.
The Wonder Stuff are the first band I ever fell in love with and the first band I ever really heard I guess. Tapes of them used to be stashed all over my aunts house like hidden treasures and I would uncover the history of my first real musical band my reading the line notes obsessively.

Though they faded out fast and ruined their reputation forevermore by doing the cancerous "Dizzy" with Vic Reeves I and about twelve other people still remember them as an amazingly fun, energetic, hippyish band from the west country.

The Hup! and Never Loved Elvis albums are more than worth looking into. Consider yourself told.

[Stu]

twenty eight.
CHICANE//No Ordinary Morning

Youtube video

sounds like.
Butterflies in your stomach.

it's here because.
No Ordinary Morning might be the most delicate, beautiful track to have come out of the nineties dance explosion and the mostly four to the floor groups that it produced.

It's something they would lay over a death scene in Skins. Emotional almost to the point of cheese but oh so very good. Listen to the warm pad sounds. You hear that? That's just superior sonic texture.

[Stu]

twenty seven.
THE BANGLES//Eternal Flame

Youtube video

sounds like.
Sounds like I could fucking CRY WITH JOY.

it's here because.
That's me trying to hit the high notes at 00:35. We were lonely in those days. Eternal Flame is genuinely one of the most stirring tracks ever though, and that's why it sits here just as the list is getting hot. Forget Atomic Kitten ... The Bangles were way better and way hotter. I'm not sure which wanky terms to dig up to describe my love for this one but here you go. It's great.

[Ammi]

Originally Posted by Stu

twenty seven.
THE BANGLES//Eternal Flame

Youtube video

sounds like.
Sounds like I could fucking CRY WITH JOY.

it's here because.
That's me trying to hit the high notes at 00:35. We were lonely in those days. Eternal Flame is genuinely one of the most stirring tracks ever though, and that's why it sits here just as the list is getting hot. Forget Atomic Kitten ... The Bangles were way better and way hotter. I'm not sure which wanky terms to dig up to describe my love for this one but here you go. It's great.

..just one of the most emotional songs ever, I adore it.....The Bangles weren't really thought of as credible artists by music critics at the time but what did they know, they produced some good songs..Eternal Flame, Manic Monday and Walk Like an Egyptian were all big hits and well deserved to be...

Originally Posted by Stu

twenty nine.
THE WONDER STUFF//Here Comes Everyone

Youtube video

sounds like.
Partying in a field.

it's here because.
The Wonder Stuff are the first band I ever fell in love with and the first band I ever really heard I guess. Tapes of them used to be stashed all over my aunts house like hidden treasures and I would uncover the history of my first real musical band my reading the line notes obsessively.

Though they faded out fast and ruined their reputation forevermore by doing the cancerous "Dizzy" with Vic Reeves I and about twelve other people still remember them as an amazingly fun, energetic, hippyish band from the west country.

The Hup! and Never Loved Elvis albums are more than worth looking into. Consider yourself told.

They're actually from the west midlands. I'd say 8 legged groove machine is definitely their best album. I saw a Miles gig last year - he did a great acoustic version of circlesquare.

[GypsyGoth]

The Bangles

[Stu]

Seriously thought the West Midlands and West Country were one and the same. Oh well. Thanks for clearing that up! I do a terrible acoustic version of Circlesquare.

This shiznit will continue tomorrow with 27-30.

[Shaun]

west country = us devon, somerset and cornwall folk. ooarr.

[Stu]

Are Feeder still big there?

[Shaun]

.... yes

[Stu]

Anyway let's get this thing out of the way, shall we?

twenty six.
MORRISSEY//Everyday Is Like Sunday

Youtube video

sounds like.
Fey, bashful and overbearing all at once. Typical Moz, then.

it's here because.
It's a shame Morrissey's awe inspiring ability to make weird, sweeping statements about pigs and stuff has detracted ever so slightly from his superb back catalog of albums like Viva Hate, Your Arsenal and return to form You Are The Quarry. Never at risk of approaching the majesty of The Smith's discography but a stellar body of work nontheless.

The most annoying thing is how bloody serious people take him. Read the article, write him off as a secluded, heartless has been and forget the tunes. He's only Morrissey for christ sake. He's an old coot. He means well when he says the genocide of babies is nothing compared to the guilty taste you get from KFC chicken or something.

Every Day Is Like Sunday stirs with it's plucky strings and quietly rousing lyrics. It pulls off the typical Moz/Smiths contradiction of having quite sweet music offset by desolate, dreary subject matter.

[Tom4784]

Adore The Smiths but I just can't take to Morrissey's solo material.