I Need You To Listen To…

75.Song:Superstition

Artist:Stevie Wonder

Album:Talking Book 

The lesson that you glean from listening to Stevie Wonder’s prodigious output is how pristine his soundscapes are. From his most trite pop ditties, through to his sophisticated masterworks, there is never a moment where some musical element is unclear in the mix. This is what makes his discography one of the most immensely listenable in the canon of twentieth century music. With “Superstition” we get his whole thesis of sound laid out before the listener. It can be hard to walk away from this lesson with anything but an air of awed respect. Listen to the way his synth leads collide against each other, to how the drums and bass play with a firecracker intensity throughout. Or you could just bask in Stevie’s vocals, as smooth as honey, as they soar through the dense mixture with aplomb . It’s all so very joyful sounding that you can find yourself easily forgetting that this is meant to be a dour reading of the material. “Superstition Ain’t the way”. Magical.

74.Song:Fast Car

Artist:Tracy Chapman

Album:Tracy Chapman 

As far as modern folk rock performances go, you would be hard pressed to find one as soul shattering, as impactful as this one. Tracy Chapman’s wounded inflections offer up a narrative of love, of heartbreak, of hope on the edges of existence. It is almost country in its form, indeed one could probably find this song as quietly influential on later artists like Taylor Swift and Garth Brooks, on his more introspective days. Chapman’s talent for narrative brilliance is topped only by her ear for a strong hook, which the absolutely devastating opening riff is. Its slides and acoustic intimacy are what keep all the immediacy, all of the beautiful noise grounded as Chapman sings “maybe we’ll make something/ me, myself, i’ve got nothing to prove”. It’s quietly insistent all the way through, much like how hope drives us forward through life’s miseries. “I had a feeling I could be someone/ be someone/ be someone”.

73.Song:Paint It, Black

Artist:The Rolling Stones

Album:Aftermath 

There’s an atmosphere of lingering dread that haunts every second of this record, like something bad is on the horizon, worse than what was already experienced. Keith Richards’ instinct to mimic a sitar provides all the fuel needed for the dark flames to flare off from, as Charlie Watt’s booming drums and Bill Wyman’s looming basslines thunder along in the distance. That an actual sitar, played by tragic figure Brian Jones, joins in is just another shining facet of this dark gem. Then Mick Jagger’s vocal comes in, delivering moody lines like “I have to turn my head until my darkness goes”, never rising above his dour prospects with any showboat vocals, just raw, instinctual, darkness. Eventually, he devolves into a demonic humming, as maracas and intensely strummed guitars froth the listener up. Released in the midst of the calamitous Vietnam War, “Paint It, Black” shines a camera negative light onto civilizational morality.

72.Song:Hallelujah

Artist:Jeff Buckley/ Leonard Cohen

Album:Grace/ Various Positions 

Jeff Buckley was one of those shining talents whose star rises ever higher the more time passes, as if we have all been robbed of the bountiful output he would have managed if his life hadn’t been tragically cut short. So we are forced into reckoning with his sparse output, but he left us with an album packed with material that fulfills the ambitions of its title, Grace. “Hallelujah”, a cover of the Leonard Cohen song, succeeds at grabbing onto the delicate threads of emotional intensity merely hinted at in the original. Where Cohen’s version reckons with heavenly material via a clumsy piano and weirdly inert synths, Buckley engages his electric guitar with lines of immense beauty. Hearing the reverb drip off of the notes, like morning dew off of leaves, is breathtaking. Then Buckley starts singing, I’m not gonna mince words here, this is one of the most gorgeous vocal performances ever. Like a falling star, “Hallelujah” shines brightly in the night.

71.Song:Somebody That I Used To Know

Artist:Gotye Feat. Kimbra

Album:Making Mirrors 

My pet theory as to why this song struck the chord that it did with the general public is that it is a direct sonic mirror to a generational hit from pop-music’s past. Consider: pair a listen of this song with Marvin Gaye’s “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough”. Listen to the parallels of the lo-fi guitars, the chiming bells versus the xylophone notes, the central hook focusing on a powerhouse duet performance with a female co-singer, how the drums are pinned to one side of the stereo field. Even the lyrics are an almost perfect dark mirror of each other. “Somebody That I Used To Know” speaks of a relationship beyond repair, one half actively ghosting the other, “Ain’t No Mountain” is about as direct as a love song can get. It’s spooky how well these two songs play off of and imitate each other. Don’t let what I just wrote sell this song short for you, it struck a chord because it is a great song, written and performed with sincerity and palpable grief.“

70.Song:Sweet Emotion

Artist:Aerosmith

Album:Toys In The Attic 

“Sweet Emotion” is one of those hurricanes of sound that can take awhile to reckon with, where it seems that everything and the kitchen sink was involved in its creation. Almost literally too, as Steven Tyler revealed that he used sugar packets in the place of maracas [1]. That intro, with that bass line as snake-like and amorphous as any I’ve ever heard, is primed for cinematic montages in your head. With those vocal harmonies soaring above, it puts you into the mood of those oil rig boys about to start learning to fly in the movie Armageddon, until the guitar interludes start hitting with those tape-reverse hits, then you feel like you just got out of the fighter jets, a little woozy. This is a song that lives for those moments, where the sheer thrills of life cannonball into reality, but urging you to keep moving forward nonetheless. After all, these sweet emotions of tension and release aren’t going to feel themselves now are they?

69. Song:Baby I Need Your Loving

Artist:Four Tops

Album:Four Tops 

Lamont Dozier, Eddie Holland  and Brian Holland (Holland-Dozier-Holland when credited) had a knack for composing songs of ecstatic longing  and this may be their masterpiece. It has tangible joy jumping off of every note sung, every beat played. The Motown sound these two producers/songwriters perfected has still found few equals in the generations since; Not quite a wall of sound so much as a platform for forceful declarations. Listen to the warm bed of drums and percussion, how indistinct the kick and bass guitar are when paired together. Listen to the whirling strings, the pianos that strike the keys as hard as possible and sparkle like a diamond. All of this as if to force the singers to rise above it all. And rise they do, with Levi Stubbs lead vocal careening through the material with an unheeded longing, “This emptiness won’t let me live without you”, his fellow singers joining in on the choruses to ascend the group to the heavens.

68.Song:Best Of You

Artist:Foo Fighters

Album:In Your Honor 

“I’ve got another confession to make/ I’m your fool” Dave Grohl sings, screaming the notes like they are the last lines he will ever sing. You can clearly tell how loudly he was singing in the studio, being mixed low and dry in the final cut. The guitars that accompany him start out with much of their low end EQ’d out, as if they are allowing Grohl to wallow in a pit of his own despair. Finally, some lush harmonies accompany him on “Are you gone and on to someone new?” before the rest of the band kicks in explosively. Taylor Hawkins’ drums seems constantly on the verge of cutting loose, but always held back near the peak of the MC’s awareness, as if they are imploring some sort of resolution. Under no circumstances does the song let you off the hook, Grohl’s unrelenting screaming teeters on the edge of good taste, and yet we find ourselves pumping our fists along to the chorus “Is someone getting the best, the best, the best of you?/ Oooh”.

67.Song:Before I Forget

Artist:Slipknot

Album:Volume 3:The Subliminal Verse 

There are many ways to produce a metal record; you could maneuver the mix in such a way as to have every element clear. You could throw oodles of effects and tracking to get a deliberately sludgy mess. Or you could, very simply, just turn up the volume, max those compressor settings and leave the results for the listener to sort out. Rick Rubin opted for the latter on this one. From the opening notes to the last pummeling beat, the entire song bristles with distortion laced muscularity. You get the sense that the guitars could burst out of the speakers at any moment. Given their grimy sound, like a field of worms turned into guitar strings, that may not be an outcome you wish for. Corey Taylor’s vocals jump out of the dense mixture shivering with barely concealed contempt, for himself, for the world. At times it seems that all he has is his inner rage. “I was a creature before I could stand/ I will remember before I forget”.

66.Song:Just Look What You’ve Done

Artist:Brenda Holloway

Album:The Complete Motown Singles Vol.7

If you consider yourself an audiophile in any way, I may be about to speak blasphemy; I heavily recommend that you stick to the Mono, heavily compressed version found on The Complete Motown Singles Vol.7. Not only does it bring the show stopping talent of Brenda Holloway to the forefront, but it raises the backing track’s floor to match her energy beat for beat. This is in direct contrast to the stereo mix offered up on her album The Artistry of Brenda Holloway, which somehow sucks the life out of the mix while offering little clarity in return; or the bafflingly ever-so-slightly lowered tempo of The Very Best Of Brenda Holloway’s mono mix. The version on this playlist comes definitively recommended. While Brenda was never a prolific album artist, perhaps explaining her complete absence from discussions of Motown’s golden years, songs like this, frothing with energy, prove that she had the star power to shine above it all.

65.Song:Every Breath You Take

Artist:The Police

Album:Synchronicity 

The trick that this song has played on the music listening public is how deftly it has created the impression that it is an earnest, unproblematic, love song. Certainly the song has many traits that would endear itself to romantic hearts, the big dramatic chorus, “I feel so cold and I long for your embrace”, the synth strings, even the pianos that crash in every now and then. Listen closely to what Sting is singing so seductively in rhythm to that dark delayed guitar intro. The big dark secret in every human heart is our capability of allowing darkness to seep in as long as everything else checks out, and “Every Breath You Take” checks all the right boxes. “Every move you make/ Every step you take/ I’ll be watching you”. Really, people who play this at their weddings have their future divorces coming to them. That it remains an essential listen despite this is proof at how deviously well crafted it all is.

64.Song:Mr. Brightside

Artist:The Killers

Album:Hot Fuss

“It started out with a kiss/ How did it end up like this?” “Mr. Brightside” is a song that burst like a fireworks display onto the music scene, and it has essentially never left the music charts in the two decades since its release. The glittering guitar riff, cascading down the strings like a flame trail in the wake of an explosion, the drums that bristle with intensity, Brandon Flowers singing like he is on the verge of a heart attack, this is the musical equivalent of a gala affair. Just try not to stutter and halt to lines like “But she’s touching his chest now/ He takes off her dress now/ Let me go…” The Killers are a band that seems terminally addicted to the flash and dash of the bright lights, desperately chasing a contact high that society also wants to attain. With this song, this glittering anthem, they found something more sustainable in the long run, a life affirming outburst. “Open up my eager eyes/ ‘Cause I’m Mr.Brightside”.

63.Song:Will You?

Artist:Emilie Kahn

Album:Outro 

“My hand’s don’t work so well no more/ My mind ain’t so sharp either”. Emilie Kahn’s distant vocals guide us through an intro that is both stark and intimate, volume levels cutting in and out, a symphony of stereoscopic emotions. “Slowly slipping off the edge of this world” is the moment where she can finally release us from the tension, diving into a more familiar, but well earned, synth chorus. Even then, the song still finds its ways to surprise us, detuned chords, unconventional rhythms and a cautious use of reverb to call back to that intro. With the kind of jagged instrumentation from the cutting edge of modern music leading us in, electric harps and scattershot drums, etc., it feels like an encapsulation of The Caretaker’s Everywhere At The End Of Time in miniature. As an introduction to the final year of the 2010’s, it is one masterful exhibition of the sonic pleasures and possibilities available to the modern musician.

62.Song:Be My Baby

Artist:The Ronettes

Album:Presenting The Fabulous Ronettes Featuring Veronica 

When talking about the Ronettes, you cannot escape the spectre of Phil Spector, his wall of sound just overwhelms the senses when listening to their output under his supervision. In the book Kill Your Idols, writer David Sprague said that he “layered his productions with gossamer-like sonic leaf spun so intricately that Byzantine gold-spinners would no doubt nod their heads in approval”. He wrote this as a disparaging comparison to Bruce Springsteen, but the sonic size comparison hits harder every year as we become separated from the realities of studio production in the 60’s. Without any of the benefits of our convenient digital age, Phil Spector wrangled together a soundscape that rivalled the stadium-sized titans of rock. Listening to how every detail just has room for itself, how the background singers collapse around Ronnie Spector in luscious harmony. Like no other soundscape ever recorded onto analog tape, before or since.

61.Song:Just Another Day

Artist:Queen Latifah

Album:Black Reign

Rap samples are an earned resilience function, a reminder of what the artist used to hear throughout their lives filtered through layers of gritty existence. By taking Herb Alpert’s “Making Love In The Rain” and slowing it down, then layering in vocals of a younger version of herself (from the song “Princess Of The Posse”), Queen Latifah successfully guides us through her life before a word is even said.Then she starts singing, soulfully, which  sets up an oddly hopeful, inspirational, walkthrough of her chaotic neighborhood. Rapping in an aggressive, hard stop, fashion, we are told of everyday traumas inflicted on her people, cop stops and seven year old girls catching stray bullets. Weaker people would have been worn down long ago, but her “Hood” remains steadfast, with earned resilience. “A beautiful day in the neighborhood/ can’t go wrong, I feel strong/ and the flavor’s good/ I’m with whatever comes my way/ Hip-hop-hooray”.

60.Song:Black Hole Sun

Artist:Soundgarden

Album:Superunknown 

“Black Hole Sun” sneaks up on you. It starts off slow and moody, the guitars chorused precisely, as if rippling against the walls of reality, the drums jazzily syncopating along. Chris Cornell’s vocals are direct and clear, keeping us centered throughout the insane imagery of the verses “In my eyes, indisposed/ In disguises no one knows”. It’s like he cannot get a clear handle on what is happening around him, like the entire world is going to hell “Call my name through the cream/ And I’ll hear you scream again. The choruses seem like cold relief in light of the apocalyptic imagery. “Black hole sun, won’t you come/ And wash away the rain?”. The structures of the song almost can’t bear it, with Kim Thayil’s lead guitar finding itself being drained of its lifeblood in the solo, sputtering and staggering around. When Cornell’s voice starts splitting up into separate parts, joining erratically in his harmonies, you know you are done for.

59.Song:Angel Of Death

Artist:Slayer

Album:Reign In Blood 

When listening to “Angel Of Death”, one thing that can astonish the listener is the realization at how clear almost every element is in the mix. The guitars are bruising and chunky, but they don’t overpower everything else, reportedly Rick Rubin intentionally left them as dry as possible to avoid that fate. The result is that you can clearly discern every note, an apparently impossible ask for the great majority of metal records, even as Kerry King and Jeff Hanneman take turns seemingly disemboweling their guitars in the solo. The clarity also allows for the drumming by Dave Lombardo to stand out, which is one of the most dynamic performances ever recorded, cycling through blast beats and fills like a man possessed. Finally we have Tom Arava on the Bass guitar and vocals, the lyrics are about as grim as you can possibly write them, but Tom’s rolling bass and direct vocals give us an appropriate outlet for one of humanity’s darkest chapters.

58.Song:Immaterial

Artist:SOPHIE

Album:Oil Of Every Pearl’s Un-Insides 

“Immaterial girls, immaterial boys” Cecile Believe and SOPHIE chant in the beginning, a celebratory aura of pumping synths and propulsive handclaps accompanying them, another one of Cecil’s voices joining in above it all, wailing joyfully. If this strikes you as excessive, then this song deserves to be, to hold its head up high as an anthem for those amorphous individuals living among us. “I could be anything I want” goes the mantra before the verse literally spells it all out “You could be me and I could be you” with a stark hyperpop bassline underpinning the point. SOPHIE as a producer naturally gravitated towards the hyper aspect of hyperpop, with every aspect of this song seemingly stuck in vibration, working itself into a friction induced contact high. From the auto tuned vocals that never seem to settle on any stable ground, to the soundscape that can’t help but be as loud and frenetic as possible. It earns its volume.

57.Song:Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout Love

Artist:Van Halen

Album:Van Halen 

Writer Bruno Macdonald, writing for the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die, said of Van Halen’s eponymous debut “Once hard rock lumbered; now it leaped”. Listening to “Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout Love”, fifty years after its release, it is astonishing how fresh and vibrant it still sounds. As if each note off of Eddie Van Halen’s guitar could leap out of the speakers to set your room alight. Diamond Dave is at his sassiest, most domineering, here. “You know you’re semi-good looking/ And on the streets again” he snarks, not in any mood but the darkest when it comes to his physical needs “My love is rotten to the core”, Michael Anthony’s high harmonies and pummeling basslines careening around him. Eventually, as if the “girl” hasn’t gotten the point Dave devolves into a primal snarl “Just like I told you before/ before, before”. Eddie Van Halen’s guitar histrionics are the only comfort in this atmosphere of toxic masculinity.

56.Song:Paranoid Android

Artist:Radiohead

Album:OK Computer 

Having embraced a knowing darkness that only the true cynic appreciates about humanity, Thom Yorke and co. endeavored to create the ultimate sing along for depressed lunatics. This whole song plays as “Like A Rolling Stone’s” camera negative, a suitably dystopian teardown, absent any of the joyous highs, of “The dullest fucking people on earth”. Where clanking guitar riffs ricochet off of tumbling drum patterns. Enmeshed within this coldly calculated, schizophrenic meter spasming,  mixture of snakey guitar lines, spacey reverbs and Thom Yorke’s uncanny ability to send people running for air raid shelters while itching at the bugs under their skin, is a darkly beautiful coda to a dying era of materialistic optimism. That “Screaming Gucci Little Piggy” would, somehow, never have it better than this.  Thom and his ilk gleefully say: Good riddance! “Rain down/ From a great height”.

55.Song:Purple Haze

Artist:The Jimi Hendrix Experience

Album:Are You Experienced? 

What I just wrote about Van Halen’s “Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout Love” can very easily still be applied here, as the lessons learned from Jimi Hendrix’s phenomenal output seemingly skipped the majority of hard rockers up until the time of Van Halen’s eponymous debut;“Hard Rock lumbered; Now it leaped”. What makes “Purple Haze” such an astonishing listen almost sixty years after its release is how much Jimi Hendrix’s artistic ambitions are fulfilled. There is nothing but a lean and mean recording, all pumped up with an impeccable sense of energy and urgency, like it had to be captured on tape now and then or wither away into the ether. Mitch Mitchell on the drums sounds like a collapsing building, Noel Redding on bass’s roiling lines seemingly swirling around a zone of catastrophe. All while Hendrix’s guitars offer up a beguiling potency, that main riff dragging us further towards his vocal epicentre “‘Scuse me while I kiss the sky”.

54.Song:Chop Suey

Artist:System Of A Down

Album:Toxicity 

The tragedy of suicide doesn’t so much lie in the death of the singular person, but in the thoughts of how it can affect the people around you. That very act of self-reflection can be as morally devastating as the intended eventual result. This is why “Chop Suey” works so well, it captures that crushing melancholia measured against the chaos you are about to cause as you plan your exit. The selfishness of the act measured against the relief it would hypothetically bring. “I cry/ As angels deserve to die”. I guess this is why the band left in “We’re rolling ‘suicide’” in the beginning, a recording mistake that leads into the thrashing guitars and staccato vocals that contrast so hauntingly with the coda. “Father, into your hands/ Why have you forsaken me?/ In your eyes, forsaken me?” Serj Tankian sings, Daron Malakian joining in in harmony on “Trust in my self-righteous suicide”, a gorgeous lead out to an unanswered prayer. 

53.Song:Testify

Artist:Rage Against The Machine

Album:The Battle Of Los Angeles 

Tom Morello’s guitar wizardry is on full display here, using a variety of technical tricks to achieve a sound comparable to the shifting revolutionary tides. Listen as his playing around with the guitar’s tuning results in that iconic “washing” sound that wavers back and forth on the knife’s edge, only subsiding when more muscular riffage is needed in the chorus and solos. About that solo, he achieved the distinctive ringing wah sound by touching the end of his guitar cable against his pickguard and aggressively engaging his wah-pedal[1]. The result is a maelstrom that Zach De La Rocha can pin his incendiary verse to, heedless of the powers that be “We found your weakness/ And it’s right outside your door/ Now testify”. Brad Wilk’s drums provide all the rhythmic kindling while Tim Commerford’s bass seems to be wrestling with everything around it. All the fire needed for revolution, contained in this muscular epic.

52.Song:I Wanna Be Sedated

Artist:The Ramones

Album:Road To Ruin 

The best thing the Ramones ever did was clean up their sound. You could definitely hear improvements from their first album when compared to its successor Rocket To Russia, but the clearer guitar tones on evidence here fully unlock their melodious appeal. The chugging guitars alongside the doo-wop vocals by Joey Ramone can’t help but be pleasing to the ear. The music video has more pronounced drums, cracking like a bursting light bulb, and shows the band sitting still while the whole world seems to pass around them. But the album cut is superior because it allows the melody to shine through. As if the whole world desperately wants to shift the Ramones off away from their lethargy, the band stands defiantly and declares that they would rather be sedated than partake in the expectations of society. See, this is punk rock I can get behind, clear, to the point, and absolutely a banger of epic proportions.

51.Song:Bohemian Rhapsody

Artist:Queen

Album:A Night At The Opera 

The thing about opera is that you are always aware of how ridiculous things could seem to an objective observer, you just can’t take your attention away from the best of it. Queen, more specifically Freddie Mercury, understood the assignment here more astutely than any other band could have done. Writing a song where he sings lines like “I don’t wanna die/ I sometimes wish i’d never been born at all”, getting you to empathize with a man who just committed murder, running him through a gauntlet of a trial before the gods and then into a thrilling hard rock kiss-off against those who would judge him, is something few songs have equalled, let alone bettered. Mercury’s performance here, one of the most luminous leaps imaginable, is one of those perfect things that shouldn’t be emulated.“Too late, my time has come/Sends shivers down my spine”. Is it ridiculous? Yes. Does that matter? No, not one bit.