Transmogrifier and Thirdmango Present: Top 100 Songs

[Thirdmango]

Here comes another list, because we all love lists right? But this one comes with a different twist, two people intermingling their lists at the same time. It's double the fun for the same price. We have both compiled our own lists of what we believe to be our own top 100 favorite songs of all time and we are going to present them to you. We have no knowledge of the other person's list and so we may find major disconnects but that is all part of the fun, some songs might even be featured twice! So here is where you shall find both Transmogrifier's top 100 songs list and Thirdmango's top 100 songs list.

[Thirdmango]

A brief intro on how I chose my songs to be presented, this list is not so much a technical list as it is just a persona favorites list. I took songs from all parts of my life including in my kid days and added them to the list as at one point they were my favorite even if it may not be now. I thought of where they could be placed in that context, so some dumb songs may appear but because I was once a dumb kid. So the top 10 will probably stay nearly the same through out my life but others will go up and down with time. New ones could jump on the ship, but this list comes from 150GB worth of music to choose from so it's pretty definite. Each discussion on the song will show when in my life it was a favorite so that should help with the confusion. Also at the end I'll probably put up a full list in this posting of all 100 in order.

I should also mention a bit about how I listen to music. I've never been able to comprehend lyrics all that well and so much of my music I have placed on the list is not due to the lyrical talent. If a song is interesting enough to keep me listening 6-7 times then I start to like the lyrics. So expect much more songs where the music is the main theme or how a song is sung instead of what is sung. Also because of this being favorites from all my life, many of what is played will be stuff you've probably heard of. Also I tried really hard to keep it to one song per artist but I didn't succeed. Some may two or three but for the most part it's just one.

Also after seeing Transmogrifier's way method for showing off his albums I think I may steal it for mine as well. Though I don't know how to have the songs available for download.

[transmogrifier]

Thanks Thirdy. I don't predict there will be too much overlap, given our respective LastFM playlists

I'll reserve this post for a running list of my songs. I actually have 105 songs (I just couldn't cut them down), so I'm going to do my first five, and then we'll alternate, or something.

My list has been chosen based on the one song per artist rule (because it was the easiest way to compile the list, and it prevented there being like 53 Sonic Youth songs on it). It's fairly malleable, though the Top 40 or so are pretty set.

What you should expect:

I'm not really a music buff. My music development was based almost entirely via public radio when I was growing up, so I tended to gravitate towards well-known bands, and quite frankly, I've been happy enough doing that. I find that the share volume of music made each year makes it a fool's errand to try and be "eclectic" and obscure. I LOVE talking about movies and music, and I love it when you put a song on at a party and the great majority start tapping their toes, singing along in recognition. That's a reason to live right there.

What I'm saying is that you are going to have heard of almost all of these artists, and probably most of these songs. But that's okay, I don't mean this as an education, but merely as the cyber version of a party, where I get to bogart the stereo for a while. Hopefully, it produces more than a few nods of recognition and maybe a few "Fuck yeahs!"

UPDATED LIST:

76. Clear Island, Liars
77. The Spectacular Commodity (For Eiko and Koma), Glenn Branca
78. Maggot Brain, Funkadelic
79. Rrrrrrright, Deerhoof
80. Deathly, Aimee Mann
81. The Israelites, Desmond Dekker
82. Empty Cans, The Streets
83. Oh Comely, Neutral Milk Hotel
84. Protection, Massive Attack
85. That Boston Life, Consonant
86. Ascension Day, Talk Talk
87. Young Americans, David Bowie
88. The Great Curve, Talking Heads
89. Jump in the River, Sinead O'Connor
90. King's Lead Hat, Brian Eno
91. Ante Up Remix, M.O.P. feat. Busta Rhymes
92. Pirouette, Tall Dwarfs
93. Jed the Humanoid, Grandaddy
94. Pass the Hatchet I Think I'm Goodkind, Yo La Tengo
95. Float On, Modest Mouse
96. Seoul Blues, Jaurim
97. Shot by Both Sides, Magazine
98. Late Last Night, Split Enz
99. Dirge, Death in Vegas
100. George, Headless Chickens
101. As the World Dies, the Eyes of God Grow Bigger, Sebadoh
102. The Empty Threats of Little Lord, Sunset Rubdown
103. Brand-New-Life, Young Marble Giants
104. East Hastings, Godspeed You! Black Emperor
105. 23, Blonde Redhead

[transmogrifier]

105.

23, Blonde Redhead (5:20)

Available on: 23 (2007), Track #1

Comments: I got into Blonde Redhead because I was informed that they sounded like Sonic Youth, at least in their formative years, so it is ironic that my favourite track of theirs is not very Youthy at all. Instead it is beautifully plaintive, over a sunny chorus.

Highlight @ 1:31, when the la-la-la-la kicks in for the first time

Key Lyric: “Your crazy heart, my crazy love, repent now”

Songs by this artist on my computer: 49

Should be on the soundtrack of: Marie Antoinette (2006)

YouTube link
Download

[Sxottlan]

Can we expect Funky Town here?

[transmogrifier]

Originally Posted by Sxottlan

Can we expect Funky Town here?

No peeking!

[transmogrifier]

104.

East Hastings, Godspeed You! Black Emperor (17:58)

Available on: F♯A♯∞ (1997), Track #2

Comments: Post-rock is a-okay with me, though I tend to use it more as background music, and pay little attention to individual tracks, thus putting the genre at a disadvantage in lists like this. This song is an exception though, a masterful slow build to an initial climax, before a regathering of energy for another assault at the end. It’s the guitar line that gets me.

Highlight @ 10:28-11:58 is fever pitch

Songs by this artist on my computer: 15

Listen to this: while holed up in a creaky French farmhouse in the middle of winter during World War II

YouTube Link
Download

[Sxottlan]

Originally Posted by transmogrifier

No peeking!

My lips are sealed.

[transmogrifier]

103.

Brand-New-Life, Young Marble Giants (2:52)

Yet another thing The Dark Knight ripped off wholesale

Available on: Colossal Youth (1980), Track #14

Comments: a whirring, clicking mournful song, one of many excellent tracks on the album Colossal Youth, the only one this intriguing band produced. It is one of those straight-forward pop songs with a great melody on the verses. The album flows together so well, originally I wasn’t going to attempt to pry one song out for this list, as it seemed to go against the whole enterprise, but it really is a standout on the album.

Highlight @ the backing vocals coming in on “I’ve been hurt before…”. Sweet.

Key lyric: “And so I make a brand-new-life, fashioned out of brand-new strife”

Songs by this artist on my computer: 25

Should be on the soundtrack of: Wes Anderson’s next film after that Fox one. Maybe to accompany a montage or something.


Other songs in contention for this list: Music for Evenings


YouTube Link (live version)
Download

[transmogrifier]

102.

The Empty Threats of Little Lord, Sunset Rubdown (5:07)

"We are THIS much indie!"

Available on: Shut Up I am Dreaming (2006), Track #6

Comments: As most people around here who read the music forum know, I’m pretty harsh on indie rock darlings, mostly because I find overly cerebral, mannered tunes too samey and unimaginative. Spencer Krug is an exception with his two bands, Sunset Rubdown and Wolf Parade, because there is a sense of go-for-broke theatricality with hints of true rocks influences underneath, and he writes great songs. This is one of them, from the first Sunset Rubdown album. I love the way it has no real centre, but meanders through an ever-shifting rant, like a drunken middle manager howling at the moon.

Highlight @ 3:38-4:44 “You snake….” After all the threats, finally all that’s left is bald-faced accusations and sarcastic well-wishes. And then the backing singers come in….

Key lyric: “If you ever come at me, I’ll hurt you”

Songs by this artist on my computer: 30

Listen to this: the next time you really want to chew out someone, but can't because they weigh 200 pounds more than you and eat small ponies for breakfast.

YouTube Link (live version)
Download

[transmogrifier]

101.

As the World Dies, the Eyes of God Grow Bigger, Sebadoh (6:49)

Available on: III (1991), Track #23

Comments: I’ve barely looked at Sebadoh’s work at all beyond this song. A joke, but a schizophrenic, energizing, totally off-the-wall joke that I love to bits. I am a bit of a sucker for the call-response type song, and this is a doozy of that genre, like Ween dueting with Satan. Who can resist that? Quite a few, I’m guessing, but hey, it’s my list. I love the way the clear division between up-beat poppy and death metal vocal screaming disintegrates little by little until, by the end, it is a complete sonic assault. All family histories should be this much fun.

Highlight @ 0:09: the assault begins with the second line

Key lyrics: “Moved home to the valley where the hippies conspire, even my grandma loved to get high”

Songs by this artist on my computer: 23

Listen to this: at 3am in the morning, as loud as possible, to get a little revenge on your neighbour who won’t clear his yard of his beaten up, gutted Chevy and empty malt liquor bottles.

Download

[Thirdmango]

101.
Butthole Surfers, Pepper (4:57)

Available on: Electric Larryland (1996), Track #3

Comments: This song is only on as an honorable mention. This song would not rank at 101, but I felt I needed to include it because of how obsessed with it I was in 8th grade. This song could have been my theme song for 8th grade. It had the right amount of weird and good to make me smile. Unfortunately I have not liked anything else by the band. As important as this song was to me back then, the only love I have for it now is the fact I loved it back then.

Songs by this artist on my computer: 1

YouTube link

[transmogrifier]

100.
George, Headless Chickens (4:12)

Now with heads!

Available on: Greedy (1997), Track #13

Comments: The first (of not many, really) Kiwi songs on the list. My main recollection of the Chickens are of a poppy, kind of inconsequential band with a couple of decent songs, but nothing you’d go mental over. However, this song stands out for its bitterness and darkness, a cutting exploration of abuse (sexual, psychological), and is probable the song they are most associated with these days. Fiona McDonald sings almost as if she is in a trance, which makes lines like “Let’s make a deal, or I’ll hurt you, you know” all the more chilling.

High point @ 1:25: the lyrical bridge, starting “Beat a path to my door, why, why, why….” leading into the chorus.

Key lyrics: “You know you don’t love me, but you still wanna touch me”

Songs by this artist on my computer: 3

Should be on the soundtrack of: a female empowerment movie, maybe where some inexplicably famous actress, say, I don’t know, Jennifer Lopez? decided she was sick of being glamorously abused by some B-movie actor – say, The Rocketeer dude? – and so she got back on him somehow, and while she was beating the living shit out of him, this song could be playing from a nearby radio for emphasis. Then at least, this hypothetical movie would have at least one decent thing in it. Unless they decided to make it a Jennifer Lopez cover of this song.

YouTube Link
Download

[Thirdmango]

100.
Roisin Murphy, Night Of The Dancing Flame (3:26)

Available on: Ruby Blue (2005), Track #3

Comments: This was one of the first songs I listened to when I started getting into European Dance Music and also girl singers. Before Murphy I hadn't found a female singer that I loved. She was my first love in female singers and now I like a bunch. This song perfectly mixed for me the female singer with the weird music.

Songs by this artist on my computer: 29

Caution: The first 6 seconds and last 20 seconds of this youtube clip are not a part of the song, this is the best youtube clip I could find.

YouTube link

[transmogrifier]

99.
Dirge, Death in Vegas (5:43)

Runners up in the Gallagher brothers look-a-like competition for the third year straight

Available on: The Contino Sessions (1999), Track #1

Comments: A deceptively simple song, another la-la-la refrain (see #105), but the backing instruments keep piling up on each other, creating an electronic maelstrom, full of foreboding. For a few years it was the video I remembered most about this song, a simple list of various gun-related deaths with accompanying photos of the victims, a sobering match between music and material. Apparently makes an appearance in the remake of The Last House of the Left. Don’t hold that against it.

Highlight @ 2:13 where the drum kicks in and the whole thing rises another notch towards the spiral-fuzz of the end

Songs by this artist on my computer: 23

Listen to this: on repeat on your iPod, while sitting in an exam, an exam for which you haven’t studied, and exam for which your entire semester rests, but for which you don’t have a hope in hell of passing. Let the music wash over you.

YouTube Link
Download

[Thirdmango]

99.
Cut Chemist, A Peak In Time (4:52)

Available on: The Audience's Listening (2005), Track #11

Comments: Cut Chemist's music is the kind of music I want to make myself. Spinning records and scratching as well. This song is a good representation of what I love about his music.

Songs by this artist on my computer: 14

Imeem link

[Sven]

Awesome. Cool so far. Like the format. Trans, I cannot help but feel your inclusion of "Key Lyrics" is a bit disingenuous, given your past expressions of apathy towards lyrical content.

[D_Davis]

Props for Sebadoh and the Butthole Surfers.

I love the Surfers audacity, and Lou Barlow will forever be one of my favorite song writers, making a case that good lyrics can really make a song.

[Thirdmango]

I am going to be out of town and without internets until monday so the next will come from me then.

[Duncan]

"Brand-New-Life" and "Final Day" are probably my favourite tracks off of Colossal Youth. Great album.

[transmogrifier]

98.
Late Last Night, Split Enz (4:02)

A new vision for Kiwi masculinity

Available on: Second Thoughts (1976), Track #1

Comments: Another Kiwi band. What I love about this song, is it is kind of like four different songs melded together, highlighting the diversity and eclecticism of this awesome collective. It starts off with a lengthy lounge act intro, hits the chorus, goes for a bizarre brass band interlude and then a bit of a bridge before going back to the chorus. After Enz, Kiwi music seemed to settle into the pleasant Flying Nun groove for a while (and Neil and Tim Finn sanded away their edges with their subsequent bands/solo projects), but I really do miss their go-for-broke pseudo-art rock posturing that accompanied their genuinely great song-writing skills.

High point @ 1:28 chorus comes in for the first time

Key Lyric: “I saw you standing there at the bar, your eyes were glazed with passion, a look of afar - a secret smile, I blew a few kisses, said my name is Lyle….”

Songs by this artist on my computer: 18

YouTube Link

[Melville]

So far, I'm a big fan of all the songs that I've heard of...which isn't many, but I'll check out the others.

[transmogrifier]

Originally Posted by Sven

Awesome. Cool so far. Like the format. Trans, I cannot help but feel your inclusion of "Key Lyrics" is a bit disingenuous, given your past expressions of apathy towards lyrical content.

Yeah, but I'm inclusive, so I decided to offer this sop to those who value lyrics more than I.

[Spaceman Spiff]

I can tell already we won't see eye-to-eye with music in general, so I'm going to back out of this thread and let everyone else have a good time.

[transmogrifier]

Originally Posted by Spaceman Spiff

I can tell already we won't see eye-to-eye with music in general, so I'm going to back out of this thread and let everyone else have a good time.

How so?

[Spaceman Spiff]

Originally Posted by transmogrifier

How so?

Bad start so far. I hate Blond Redhead and that Sunset Rubdown song. Without trying to sound like an old fogey, or a contrarian douche, indie rock has always sounded very samey to me, and I never really got into it. Cut Chemist is ok. I prefer my mixers/cutters(?) with more soul and groove than technical wizardry.

Maybe we do have some bands, though. I really don't know anything about your taste in music.

[transmogrifier]

Originally Posted by Spaceman Spiff

Bad start so far. I hate Blond Redhead and that Sunset Rubdown song. Without trying to sound like an old fogey, or a contrarian douche, indie rock has always sounded very samey to me, and I never really got into it. Cut Chemist is ok. I prefer my mixers/cutters(?) with more soul and groove than technical wizardry.

Maybe we do have some bands, though. I really don't know anything about your taste in music.

Yeah, and I know little about yours, hence the question. I'm not going to lie and say my list isn't going to have any more indie rock, but I would recommend hanging around for thirdmango's list, who I think has vastly different tastes from me.

[Spaceman Spiff]

Oh, didn't see that this was a double thing. Cool beans, I guess.

I've been so busy at work that I haven't had time to think up my lists. Maybe when school starts.

[trotchky]

I strongly don't hate the three songs on this list I've heard. I'll gladly listen to 'em all if you compile them into a playlist at the end.

[transmogrifier]

97.
Shot by Both Sides, Magazine (4:04)

Available on: Real Life (1978), Track #3

Comments: I only got this album half a year ago or so, and I was immediately taken, as predisposed as I am to spiky, punky, growling guitar-pop from this time period. No surprise really that it is the single from the album that stands out for me, the insistent verses giving way to a melodramatic chorus, a woe-is-me paranoid political rant. As relevant as ever, then.

High point @ the start, the riff just barrels in, meaning business

Key Lyric: 'Why are you so edgy, Kid ?'

Songs by this artist on my computer: 10

Words of wisdom from LastFM: "this is the best song. POWER JOY HAPPINESS FAME!" TC_and_TCS

HypeMachine Link (click on Play Results)