I've been wanting to do a follow-up to my blog's original top 10 songs list for a while, and, well, there's no time quite like the present.
Of course, a songs removal or change in rank doesn't mean I think a song sucks- it's just changed by necessity. I still love all the songs on the list, this just happened to be how they ranked.
Click the above picture for a playlist with all the songs.
Anyway:
10: 21st Century Schizoid Man (King Crimson) [7:23]
In my original list, Starless narrowly beat out 21CSM, but that was mostly me being a contrarian. The hindsight gained in the space of nearly 2 years has let me admit that yeh, maybe their most well known song is actually their best. 21CSM is a song that blew people away in 1969 and continues to blow people away more than 50 years later; myself included. Every single member of the band is firing on all cylinders here. The song still persists in live settings now, performed arguably better. It would not surprise me if this was still just as influential another 50 years from now.
9: The Glow Pt.2 (The Microphones) [4:59]
My respect for Phil Elverum of The Microphones has grown exponentially in the last year and a half or so- and among his many musical achievements, this sits at the top of a big pile of enviable songs, projects and albums. The title track from 2001's The Glow Pt.2 remains as one of Elverum's most quoted and revered tunes, by both his fans and himself. The song is unbelievably, almost apocalyptically dramatic for what Phil has himself described as "getting his feelings hurt". It's incredible that with just 3 chords, in change, he manages to create a feeling that's almost impossible to describe with words.
8: Narrator (Squid) [8:29]
I was first across Squid in early 2020 after hearing their Town Centre EP and got the feeling that they had the potential to release something absolutely seismic, and despite their debut Bright Green Field not quite living up to the impossible standards I had set for it, this song absolutely did. The combination of dance grooves, dissonant chords, endlessly repeated vocal phrases and Martha Skye Murphy's otherwordly whispered vocals make this song almost punishing to listen to. The song's second half builds almost for almost impossibly long until it's this absolutely horrifying scream riddled cacophany, and only then does it break and spill over into absolute hell. And despite the unappealing descriptors I've used here, the song is truly a magnum opus.
7: I Watched the film The Song Remains the Same (Sun Kil Moon) [10:31]
A long song title for an equally long piece of music, but god is it worth every second. Since my (probably quite dramatic) review of SKM's Benji that this album lives within, there are so many lines in this song that jump out and punch me in the gut every single time I hear the song. Most of the song is just Kozelek's slightly reverbed voice and some guitar, but the way he sings the words is just pure magic. The last line of all the verses after the first are what jump out most; but mostly:
"I'll go to my grave with my melancholy
And my ghost will echo my sentiments for all eternity"
It's just Mark singing about things that've happened in his life, but it's one of the most beautiful pieces of music ever recorded and released.
6: Styrofoam Plates (Death Cab For Cutie) [5:25]
Possibly one of the most miserable pieces of music of all time, Styrofoam Plates is a song that makes me cry almost every single time I hear it. I don't really have much to say about this one, it's so tragic and miserable that it's easier to just play it than try to explain it.
5: Keep it Clean (Camera Obscura) [3:17]
Maybe the most beautiful pop song, if not song of all time, bafflingly not indie-mainstream Camera Obscura deliver 3 verses+chorus of perfect pop, which might be strange to see after 10 minute prog rock and art punk songs, but the song really just is that good. Tracyanne Campbell's vocals are hurt but quietly confident and the rest if the band are just tiptoeing around her vocal lines to create a piece of music so vulnerable and delicate that it makes most other twee bands look hardened and gruff.
4: Cocoon (Bjork) [4:29]
Carried over from last time, I'm still totally under this song's spell. So totally intimate and cerebral. My appreciation for the production has gone wayyyy up too; but of course, Bjork still just steals it with the vocal performance.
3: New York I love you, but you're bring me down (LCD Soundsystem) [5:36]
Even though my music taste has expanded a whole lot since I discovered this at 16, and despite accepting James Murphy's willingness to just rip people off, this song's power is absolutely undeniable. The Long Goodbye's final show version of this only serves to further it's almost unreasonable ability to destroy me. The fake ending almost sends me to sleep before the song violently wakes me up again for another go around. I'll probably be listening to this when I'm 50 and hopefully I'll never even go to New York.
2: Ball and Biscuit (The White Stripes) [7:20]
This was my #1 song last time and I still adore this piece of music. Jack White is still one of, if not my favourite rock and roller of all time. Like I said before 3 absolutely incendiary guitar solos over 7 minutes, authoritative drums, fantastic vocal delivery, the song really has it all. Begging, on it's hands and knees to be played as loud as your flatmates wiil let you.
1: Sunglasses (Black Country, New Road) [9:51]
Yeh, really. But for seriously, there's a reason that this band has got all the praise they've gotten: they're really, really good, and in this song they accomplish more than some entire countries do in terms of cultural impact in a little under ten minutes. I'm being dramatic, but the ride the song takes you on really does feel like that. Every single band member has their own plan they intend to execute, until they all come together as a whole 7 piece band to show that they could just kill you if they wanted to. Isaac's half spoken/sung lyrics are totally unhinged for the most part, flipping between crippling anxiety and pisstaking self confidence. It's not often you get 7 people in a room with a singular vision to create a piece of music like this, but they did, and it sounds like this.
Comments