jack's top 10 2007

1. Eleni Mandell - Miracle of Five (Zedtone)
This is my favorite record of 2007. The label, Zedtone, appears to exist solely to distribute her stuff. There are no other artists mentioned on the site.
Sounds like: Peggy Lee, Mama Cass, Leonard Cohen
Best track: Girls

2. Carolina Chocolate Drops - Dona Got a Ramblin' Mind (Music Maker Relief Foundation)
A traditional string band. This is the closest thing to Harry Smith's folk anthology that I've heard even though all 3 band members are in their 20s.
Sounds like: Etta Baker, Joe & Odell Thompson, The Carter Family
Best track: Little Sadie

3. Suzanne Vega - Beauty & Crime (Blue Note Records/EMI)
This one threw me. I've been effortlessly avoiding this woman's records for over 20 years. I asked some people about this one, and it turns out that I was the only person in America who didn't realize that she's been good for over 20 years.
Sounds like: Apparently, it sounds like her.
Best track: Frank & Ava

4. Les Savy Fav - Let's Stay Friends (French Kiss)
I wanted to hate this one. I typically don't like RISD Rock, and the song titles suggested that I was about to hear "Gargantua and Pantagruel" in CD format.
Sounds like: Not sure. Possibly New Order, Kiss and Cat Stevens.
Best track: Raging in the Plague Age

5. Marissa Nadler - Songs III: Bird on the Water (Kemado Records/Peacefrog Records)
More RISD. This record is spooky and precious, but you can get away with a lot if your voice is this good.
Sounds like: Mary Hopkin, Mazzy Star, Lys Guillorn, Sandy Denny
Best track: Diamond Heart

6. Black Lips - Good Bad Not Evil (Vice Records)
An allusion to a song by The Shangri-las and my favorite regular rock 'n' roll record of the year. They are significantly more varied than most other garage bands of late.
Sounds like: Roky Erickson or a strange mixture of The Standells and They Might Be Giants. I guess that would mean that they sound like a more ornery Fleshtones.
Best track: O Katrina!

7. Future Clouds & Radar - (s/t) (Star Apple Kingdom)
The label appears to reference a poem that is as long as this 26 or 27 song double CD. This record is at least as good as Daydream Nation.
Sounds like: It's long so it sounds like a lot of stuff. I hear Karate, Robyn Hitchcock, John Lennon, ELO and a number of Elephant 6 bands.
Best track: Hurricane Judy

8. Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings - 100 Days, 100 Nights (Daptone Records)
She's 51 and sounds significantly healthier (and more soulful) than Amy Winehouse.
Sounds like: Otis Redding, Bettye LaVette
Best track: Tell Me

9. The Busy Signals - (s/t) (Dirtnap Records)
Great Illinois power pop - even the record cover looks like it was released in 1979. Like the Buzzcocks, the songs are very interchangeable.
Sounds like: The Buzzcocks, early Blondie, The Undertones, Nikki and the Corvettes
Best track: So Pointless

10. Caribou - Andorra (Merge)
Arty and pretty - it's hard to imagine that Handsome Dick from The Dictators could sue them (or even give a shit who they are), but allegedly that happened.
Sounds like: Damon & Naomi, A.C. Marias, Sparklehorse
Best track: Melody Day

this just in

you gotta love the RIAA. every chance they get to estrange themselves from their base, they grab with the fervor of a crackhead findin white powder in they shag carpet. not content to bust the downloadin malcontents, now they're claiming copying legally purchased cds onto your pc is against the law.

"In legal documents in its federal case against Jeffrey Howell, a Scottsdale, Ariz., man who kept a collection of about 2,000 music recordings on his personal computer, the industry maintains that it is illegal for someone who has legally purchased a CD to transfer that music into his computer.

The industry's lawyer in the case, Ira Schwartz, argues in a brief filed earlier this month that the MP3 files Howell made on his computer from legally bought CDs are "unauthorized copies" of copyrighted recordings."

however, the RIAA's own website explains:

- It’s okay to copy music onto an analog cassette, but not for commercial purposes.
- It’s also okay to copy music onto special Audio CD-R’s, mini-discs, and digital tapes (because royalties have been paid on them) – but, again, not for commercial purposes.
- Beyond that, there’s no legal "right" to copy the copyrighted music on a CD onto a CD-R. However, burning a copy of CD onto a CD-R, or transferring a copy onto your computer hard drive or your portable music player, won’t usually raise concerns so long as:

* The copy is made from an authorized original CD that you legitimately own
* The copy is just for your personal use. It’s not a personal use – in fact, it’s illegal – to give away the copy or lend it to others for copying.

who's settin policy here? turns out that Jeffrey Howell has finally done what the RIAA didn't see coming, turned the table and sued them. this is purely speculation, but it seems as though, realizing Howell had done nothing illegal, they didn't want to back down and brought out the pc charge (kinda like gettin Capone on tax evasion charges, right???).

this got GIHYB thinking ... by extension, anyone with an ipod (er, walkman?), would be breakin same law? maybe the RIAA could contact local law enforcement to ticket offenders on a daily basis? even split fines with municipalities? tax coffers could explode. think about it. godblessamerica.

happy '08!

godweluvyourband

but jeezus, could there be a dumber photo? "hey, wear yr perty shirts and tape lead weights on yr hands, copy? ... kudos for gettin th buttons right."

take some notes from yr idols ... pockets, er crotch. (all apologies to the non-fans of airbrushed photo of skynyrd ... i have non-airbrushed LP so FU)

45 du jour

the hold steady "can i please crawl out your window" (bonus track) from the "i'm not there" soundtrack

the bruce can only take you so far. "boys and girls +" was a 1st or 2nd fave from last year (dependin on the ever changin take on 'big doe rehab'-- more later). we really do love this band, but their version of "can i please crawl out your window" (a dylan fave of gihyb) is nuthin more than karaoke. sadly, it exposes master finn's limited vocal range. he treats it as an early bruce excercise-- ok, that had its own dylan riff goin-- but that can't save bar band/LOOK AT ME treatment here. stick to yr gunz ... and don't accept th charges nxt time.

143

beyond lame

realized recently that i hadn't gone record shopping for real in a long while. decided the boy and i would make it a saturday ritual. let ms. gihyb sleep in after a hard week of fighting crime (i know, husband of the year). where the fuck was i?

we're up and rollin hard by 8am. i realize it's a little early for the twee hipster (though it would be easier to appear indignant with less sleep) and figure on a more reasonable time of 10:30. we've got some other errands to run, so we're in no rush. we finally roll up to bedford ave. at 11. desolate. you could literally shoot buckshot both ways and only hit tommy from the nest (doable at any hour). i had an inkling before i eyed the big chain on soundfix's gate that it would be closed, but it still sucked. boy, wrapped up in his bundle-me, wide-eyed, sniffin for vinyl. me, card in hand, itchin to spend $$$ on anything REMOTELY interesting. ended up strolling him around the block feigning lost keys just to pretend i had business to attend to.

en route home we passed all the other options. shuttered, shuttered, shuttered. 11:30. WTF? strollin the cd section at best buy ain't exactly what i had in mind.

mailbox

several questions posed by xmastime

-"The 80s was a surprisingly good decade for Christmas music."

GIHYB doesn't give a shit about xmas music. we don't mind hearing it around the holidays, and while there's the occasional good tune ("war is over", "marshmallow world"), there's always maroon 5 or some studio full of douchebags completely ruining it 30 years later. is there anything worse than a various artists rock xmas comp? ok, maybe a new ryan adams ep, but you get the drift.

- "Appetite for Destruction is completely overrated; to hear people talk about it now you'd think it was Revolver times Highway 61. It's a pretty good album, but that's it. Hey, you were better than Poison. Congratulations."

GIHYB doesn't give a shit about GnR. we're much more interested in the headlines surrounding axl's replacement scott weiland. and thank you jesus, this week there was another doozy!

- "200 words on why I should give 2 shits if Wilco's tour bus falls off a mountain and explodes in a ball of fire. No survivors."

GIHYB doesn't give a shit about Wilco. we give TWO shits! one shit for three really good records (being there, teeth, ghost) and one classic (ok foxtrot). and one shit cuz nels cline is a BEAST! ... and think about it dickhead, if their bus did fall over a cliff they'd be twice as big as they are now. are you willing to let jeff tweedy become the new buddy holly, and the little elf that plays bass richie havens?

- "Did rap peak with Public Enemy and has it spent the last 17 years basically saying the same stupid shit over and over? Yes, you're rich. I get it."

GIHYB doesn't give a shit about answering questions by "bloggers" who obviously have never listened to tony starks.

- "Who's the next band nobody cares about today but will break up and come back in 20 years somehow bigger than the Beatles, a la the Pixies?"

the yoko

- "Am I a bad American for thinking Gram Parsons is WAAAAAAAAY overrated, his "genius" only created by mythology and great timing of his own death?"

GIHYB has a confession to make. while we do agree there are some great songs, and that his whole marriage of muzak was a great idea, gp generally gets the "NEXT" button on the ole zune. his weak-ass voice don't help. that bein sed, sweethearts is badass.

-" Why aren't Pete Doherty and Amy Winehouse married?"

why don't you work at mcdonalds?

- "Lenny Kravitz is a current day version of TheDoors: he completely sucks but every female on the planet would stab you in the neck for saying so."

did we just see "lenny kravitz" in that last paragraph? angel heart ... denise!

- "Will Dave Grohl ever be able to write another song that mentions a person, place or thing without everyone wondering if it's about Kurt Cobain? And does it even matter since he's in the most boring band in ther world anyway?"

we're getting stoned

- "If Robin Givens and Tyra Banks ever exchange bicycle seats can I be there?"

(scrapped title 'deadskins')

following yesterday's redskins loss i could not stop thinking of the scene in jaws where mrs. kintner approaches brody. her son has been killed by the shark. she finds out following the death that it had killed before, brody knew about it, and kept the beaches open anyway. i always envisioned the late/great jt walsh playing joe g (wit an oscar nod in the works for gibb's private maniacal side-- a la grifters), but scheider will do just fine. infer what ya want re: the lady in black.

45 du jour

"unpredictable", wu tang (featuring dexter wiggle) from the forthcoming 8 diagram.

l have no idea who dexter wiggle is, but this track damn near sounds like tv on the radio at times (wouldn't surprise me). loopy bass, sampled psycho strings and psych gtr. album drops 12/11, one week after the new ghostface. december lookin all good.

update/the yoko

we have a photo! portends to breaking news ...

the whaler

some of my friends are aware of my predilection towards the seafood side of the fast food world. i rarely eat the crap, but when i do venture into an abm (anything but mcd's), generally trailed by a beaming xmastime, i head straight for that lone choice all the way at the bottom of the right side of the menu (fish nibblers!). i've always chalked it up to my 100% anglo blood. fish n chips from birth (my namesake knows no such boundaries, already reaching for pierogies 'n guinness from his added lineage). such is my lot in life. this afternoon, as i walked past the vending machine at work, i noticed a strange new entry. nestled between the faux 7/11 bean burrito and the triangle of chicken salad surrounded by wet, white bread was a "fish and cheese sandwich. microwave 3 minutes". developing ...

fourth blood

these poster's are all over bklyn. gihyb hasn't been this pumped since single white female ii. anthony kiedis as rambo? righteous!

growin up

i grew up in a small town. maybe a thousand and change in the whole county. everyone was someone's dad, someone's cousin, somebody's kid, somebody's teacher, someone's connection for venison or corn, or somebody who knew a spot where you could cut a cord of wood gratis. all the space and time in the world, but at the same time, lot of eyes on you, & most times you had to make your own fun. junior or senior year, our buddy jonathan bought a junked police car at auction. at that time, you could spot a virginia state police cruiser a mile away. some weekend nights we'd pass the time sittin in the median a few miles out of town watchin cars frantically slow down when they saw us.

somewhere along the way jonathan got the nickname bulldog. can't remember why. it just fit. definitely wasn't for his personality. obviously a low-key guy. all was good until he got his first girlfriend. she had to deal with bein called bulldette.

i have seen the future of rock and roll ...

xmastime n i stumbled into spike hill late night. band settin up. figured, what the hell. all sudden band setting up was gettin pelted w/ the plethora of pbr cans around room. vibe i haven't witnessed in WAY TOO LONG. they rolled w/ it, hidin behind each other while each tuned.

lineup:

dude that looks like axl ... secret weapon= never seemed to know when a song's startin. beauteeful. added bonus, he can almost on command stand on bass drum and ROCK (almost, cuz he fell twice). number of times during set i actually heard his guitar (not counting between songs) = one. money quote at end of show "we'd like to thank the make a wish foundation" and a strange shout out to steve young after every song. "the rawk"

bass player ... prince william lookalike with a striped b&w collared shirt that only a mom could buy (bonus points for the white collar & wristcuffs). "the dude with the access to the record collection"

sean lennon replicant on other mostly heard gtr. "the dude with the record collection"

dude playing keyboard who referred to hisself after show as a "hired gun" (nice deadwood reference without actually knowing what deadwood is). "the dude in 12 bands that has a great solo album in the works"

drummer. well he drummed his ass off. nuf sed. "the pro" or "the nice guy" aka "the dude who could kick my ass"

sounds like= "SONICTALLICA!" (their description)

set starts. most under-rehearsed thing that sounded like bliss in months. drunken distort sabbath/syouth/malkamus/cheer w/ faux pop hooks was the norm w/ nada hit of the introspect. said can throwers jumped on providin the right off key b/ups to send choruses into overdrive (missing grace was UG to be there and nod approval). my faith in bedford avenue and indie rock in general has been temporarily restored. ironic that me n ms. gihyb lived upstairs from (what was) spike hill in the 90s and had not a clue, oh yeah, they were in diapers.

i'm going to follow this band all year, i know nothing about them save this myspace page (http://www.myspace.com/theyoko13). it's my reality show-- and a way to stand tall with the striking writers. tina, all ya gotta do is PM me.

ps- any info on sed band is greatly appreciated.

my so called ipod (aka, he's a whore)

by my count, i'm now on ipod 7. that's an average of a little over 2 per year. couple days ago, i disconnected my latest (and favorite) while running out door and vaguely saw some sync error nonsense. once outside, i hit shuffle and realize several minutes later that nothing's happening (ed - insert john cage joke here). the damn thing had erased itself. after several "restore settings" attempts, i can read the contents on my computer, but it contains no tunes once unplugged. fuck me over once mr. jobs, your fault ... fuck me 7 times, at least buy me dinner or introduce me to your friends

alright, this blog's gettin a little to whiney. until further notice, we're joinin the writers strike. tina fey is HOT

don't look back

i've gotta say, i'm gettin tired of the reunion tours. in the past few years i've seen a few amazing (x, television, burma, dino jr., ny dolls), some decent (big star, stooges), and a snoozer (springsteen-- i blame the awful giants stadium xperience more than bruce). last wknd i saw a great show. the goddamn sonics. a band i've revered since, well forever, a band that i fuckin quoted lyrics on my first record (where we also stole the chord sequence! -- not the smartest idea i s'pose). also on the bill the lyres and the fleshtones, who were both pretty great also.

but enough. seems they make the bulk of my excursions. sometimes they're hard to turn down. c'mon, some were the formative bands of my growin up. i never had the chance to see alot of em, but fuck it, it ends now.

shee-it ... i caught wind of the big dipper shows in '08

alas, i do have one redeeming star on my card. i didn't buy into the pixies return. love em as i do, they sucked both times i saw em when they were still together.

hanna montana

did i miss a memo or somethin? mrs. gihyb threw on scarface tonight. neither of us had ever seen it. you know, every athlete's favorite flick. on every third t-shirt in brooklyn ... pacino's tan, ricardo accent, and the general amount of italians posin as latinos notwithstanding, this might be the worst movie i've ever seen. i'm halfway through ... dunno if i can make it. just suffered through a wedding montage that makes flashdance watchable. dunno if an alan partridge cameo could make this work. has pacino ever looked shorter? hahaha!!!!

...

startin to get the springsteen/hipster band connection now. was just listening to arcade fire's great cut "keep the car running" and suddenly realized it's "on the darkside" by john cafferty or eddie wilson/wordman depending on yer allegiance (ed- the latter ... wordman [chest] [chest] [point to sky])

wu tang's new take on "while my guitar gently weeps" (first-ever sanctioned Beatles sample) is pretty rote. about as inspired musically as puffy's police song. but must admit ghostface's epic fight in the pathmark and changin the line "i don't know why" to "that bitch is crazy" is pretty funny.

you're a creep

people are giving radiohead shit because their manager admitted their name yr price to download our record was just a promotional tool for the sale of their physical cds. wow, u could knock me over with a coldplay 5". GIHYB is as much of a cynic as tom hohn, but gimme a fuckin break people. are they the red cross?

it's a different era people. r'head is just the next in what's to be a long line of reinventin the horse. while it's always good to read a headline announcing the demise of the major labels, it's not exactly new. goin back to '01, wilco's been streaming their records way ahead of release (in YHF's case, before signing a deal). indie bands have run rampant with the process. sometimes it's the only way a band without backing can bridge that gap to making actual money. if you can separate yourself from the need to press actual cds (which cost $$), and embrace yer pc, you got yrself yr own virtual record company (wow, what a GREAT idea!). there's also the "leaked" tracks. mebbe i'm spoiled, swimming in the gilded waters of the music biz, but i can't remember the last cd i wanted whose tracks i couldn't get my hands on a good few weeks/sometimes months ahead of release date. you need the buzz to build, and who better to start it than muzak-junkies online 24/7? got pals who collect mp3s like gas in mad max. be forewarned, sometimes this approach can backfire. found this nugget from the village voice to be pretty hysterical.

that said, the 160 kbps files, are sub-quality for a band of r'head's stature, and the fact that no announcement of the file size was mentioned was lame, but i'd venture to guess TH-om would send your $0.37 back (not that I paid that amount or anything).

mickey you're so fine pt 2

just got the first drabs fom mick jones new record from his band with tony james, carbon silicon. not that i was lookin for somethin great, but sumthin tuneful would be nice. instead the stuff i've heard off the album is beyond bad ...hope i can do it justice (my words) "i'm gunnah follow the geetar pawt ... hope it's whitten on yah hawt"

i have a great mick story ... mebbbe later. yuck.

oh mickey you're so fine

we've enjoyed the perverse pleasure of following mick jagger's solo career
for some time now. watching the most famous rock star in the world branch out on his own and continually fall flat on his face gave us a feeling mostly associated w/ watching stumbling ponies after birth, or the marchers on free michael vick vids on youtube. the drive and compulsion for said most famous man to prove he's no billy corgan circa thefutureembrace, but instead phil collins in his 80s glory flying the concorde to gigs, playin with clapton & plant, n' sellin out msg under his own name is too appetizing for us to resist.

with word of the release of his new "best of" (editors note: ... stop right here and ATTEMPT to name a song on it ... we didn't think so!), we're pleased to relive the glories and highlights of "she's the boss", "primitive cool", "wandering spirit", and "goddess in the doorway" (note to sufjan stevens, THOSE are album titles son) ... oh mick, we missed you.

his website, which trumpets his "distinguished solo career", offers the tracklisting, and its a stunner. title after title of songs you've never heard of. in fairness, his first solo tune "memo from turner" was pretty awesome. yeah, awesome enough to be included on the rolling stones' "metamorphasis" and the "singles collection: the london years", awesome enough for mick taylor to play on it, and whattya know, the song is credited to jagger/richards (though mick alone wrote it)! and, as far as the rest of the album goes, does everyone get as giddy as we do when we read "(with lenny kravitz)"?

of course everyone remembers the FIVE STAR review rolling stone gave his last solo joint ... oh, just us? well, it's a great story, and if our top 100 wasn't already so lamely sixties-centric, we use a few more paragraphs to honor jann wenner.

we were going to conclude with the vid of he and bowie's horrendous version of "dancing in the street", but we stumbled onto this little gem. jagger & joe satriani on an ill-fated solo tour in '88 might be the best hookup since GIHYB and that chick in raleigh waaaaaaaayback that the bandmates swore was a dude.

east wmsbgggggggggg

weirdest bklyn encounter i’ve had in a while tonight.. buddy of mine and I were talking bout risin crime around my studio. mostly kids holdin up people. typical shit, lots of new blood (read hipster/white) in a nabe that’s been hispanic/black/poor for a good many years. i’ve been in wmsbg since ’92 and have seen the whole rise and or fall (dependin on who you speak to). went thru the same in dc/mt. pleasant in late 80s/early 90s. this is a shadier neighborhood than the normal wmsbg. anyway, in conversation, he mentioned a latin king newly sprung from jail who’d been hittin him up for money. He guessed the dude had been incarcerated for a while.

after studio we split for a drink at a newish local/hipster/white bar we’re buds with. leaving the bar, we’re met by a smallish spanish dude, askin for money. not an out of the ordinary situation in the neighborhood. buddy and I are aren’t lookin at each other. suddenly the dude says, “I got $22.50, need to go see my girl, i need some money!” my bud says he’s spent til the first of the month, i spill the obligatory “i got nuthin on me”. he offers, “yo. I’m a latin king!” and I realize this is the guy. I give him another good look, ballcap wearin maybe 5’5”, NUTHIN inspirin fear in me (nod to 2 fellow free swingin bloggerz …. that must mean sumthin!!!). he pseudo-angrily sez “what is it with the white guys around here? i’m a latin king. i’m king dito!” he starts to trail behind.

all sudden, i feel bad. when he left, it was his place. should he have kicked my ass and grabbed the $60 outta my pocket? or has time has left this dude behind? i’m guessin maybe his time in the joint was longer than my tenure in the nabe? look on his face was priceless. It’s like cousin tony getting outta the joint with his miami vice suit or maybe the dude from ”i’m gonna get you sucka.” is it sorry dude, i got a kid to feed and shit to do. i’m the white dude … who’s lived here for 15 years?

GODIHATEYOURBLOG

we at GIHYB are excited to announce our newest venture. GODIHATEYOURBLOG will launch Thursday, September 20. we'll be chronicling the highlights, witticisms, rants and grunts of our friends and neighbors along the blogosphere. who did it this week? who didn't? and more importantly, who caught that little gem of a moment whilst backing out of the parking spot at Hardees?

you can think of it as a drudgereport for those who don't have time for the drudgereport or you can just sit back with can of cheesewhiz, hum "the ballad of the green beret", and enjoy.

we'll chart posting statistics, site hits (which we call "touches"!), response counts, but more importantly QUALITY response counts. who has time to wade through pondering misty mountain crapola. NOT US!!!!

remember, if a blog falls in the forest and no one reads it, then it's potentially TP (thanks to jonsquarepants74 for that one!), so log on to GODIHATEYOURBLOG and figure some shit out!

we'll see you soon!

GODBLESSAMERICA!!!!!!

Full disclosure

We are releasing the vote breakdown for all of the songs that made the list. Hopefully, this will help cease the rumours of fraud. Possibly, Jacob Marley may now rest his weary head.

The total # of votes is in parentheses followed by the points allotted for each vote.

When there were ties, song that had more votes were listed first.

1) “Like a Rolling Stone” (10) 50, 50, 49, 49, 46, 41, 40, 40, 36, 33
2) “I Want to Hold Your Hand” (8) 49, 48, 46, 46, 45, 45, 42, 17
3) “Satisfaction” (7) 50, 49, 46, 46, 45, 43, 15
4) “Tangled Up In Blue” (6) 50, 50, 48, 35, 35, 29
5) “Thunder Road” (7) 43, 40, 39, 36, 30, 28, 13
6) “Waterloo Sunset” (8) 50, 48, 38, 34, 24, 22, 9, 3
7) “Walk Away Rene” (5) 50, 48, 47, 41, 30
8) “Smells Like Teen Spirit” (5) 50, 48, 44, 42, 20
9) “A Day in the Life” (5) 49, 44, 40, 38, 23
10) “God Only Knows” (6) 48, 44, 33, 33, 19, 10
11) “Fortunate Son” (7) 43, 43, 36, 24, 12, 12, 8
12) “Sympathy for the Devil” (5) 47, 47, 36, 25, 23
13) “Good Vibrations” (4) 50, 48, 45, 33
14) “Atlantic City” (4) 49, 46, 39, 21
15) “Louie Louie” (5) 50, 49, 30, 13, 12
16) “Train in Vain” (4) 43, 37, 34, 32
17) “What’s Going On” (6) 47, 40, 29, 11, 10, 7
18) “Layla” (3) 49, 47, 39
19) “California Dreamin’” (4) 44, 32, 29, 26
20) “Born to Run” (5) 47, 41, 18, 14, 10
21) “The Weight” (5) 46, 37, 29, 15, 3
22) “Sweet Jane” (4) 47, 32, 29, 18
23) “Yesterday” (4) 44, 27, 26, 24
24) “The Tracks of My Tears” (5) 46, 26, 20, 18, 7
25) “In My Life” (3) 43, 41, 33
26) “You Really Got Me” (3) 50, 46, 19
27) “Heroes” (3) 48, 44, 23
28) “In the Still of the Night” (3) 48, 47, 15
29) “Baba “O’Riley” (3) 50, 38, 22
30) “I Saw Her Standing There” (3) 44, 33, 32
31) “Summer Wind” (3) 50, 42, 14
32) “Jolene” (3) 44, 43, 19
33) “How Soon is Now” (4) 39, 31, 28, 6
34) “The Harder They Come” (3) 36, 36, 32
35) “Then He Kissed Me” (3) 44, 36, 22
36) “Let’s Stay Together” (4) 42, 35, 16, 8
37) “Don’t Worry Baby” (3) 40, 39, 20
38) “Complete Control” (3) 37, 31, 31
39) “Crying” (4) 50, 25, 19, 4
40) “She Said She Said” (3) 50, 28, 17
41) “Jumping Jack Flash” (2) 50, 45
42) “Positively 4th Street” (2) 49, 46
43) “It Makes No Difference” (4) 49, 25, 16, 4
44) “Mack the Knife” (3) 48, 37, 9
45) “When Doves Cry” (3) 42, 35, 17
46) “I Fought the Law” (3) 36, 31, 27
47) “Summertime Blues” (4) 43, 24, 22, 4
48) “Gimme Shelter” (3) 43, 31, 19
49) “Paint it Black” (2) 49, 44
50) “The Girl from Ipanema” (2) 47, 45
51) “Will You Love Me Tomorrow” (3) 41, 31, 19
52) “Georgia on My Mind” (3) 36, 35, 20
53) “Maybellene” (2) 46, 45
54) “Crazy” (2) 46, 45
55) “All Along the Watchtower” (3) 49, 35, 6
56) “Superstition” (3) 37, 34, 19
57) “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You” (3) 33, 30, 27
58) “Your Cheatin’ Heart” (3) 39, 28, 22
59) “What’d I Say Parts I & II (3) 42, 27, 19
60) “I Want You Back” (3) 45, 22, 20
61) “Who Knows Where the Time Goes” (3) 34, 34, 18
62) “River Deep, Mountain High” (2) 49, 37
63) “Mr. Tambourine Man” (3) 40, 36, 8
64) “You Send Me” (3) 36, 31, 17
65) “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On (2) 47, 37
66) “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes” (3) 38, 33, 12
67) “1952 Vincent Black Lightning” (2) 46, 37
68) “Pale Blue Eyes” (4) 34, 23, 13, 11
69) “Fairytale of New York” (4) 24, 21, 19, 17
70) “Eleanor Rigby” (2) 40, 39
71) “Feel a Whole Lot Better” (2) 47, 31
72) “Ticket to Ride” (2) 48, 29
73) “Neither One of Us (wants to be the first to say goodbye)” (2) 43, 33
74) “Sultans of Swing” (2) 41, 35
75) “It’s the Same Old Song” (2) 46, 29
76) “Fight the Power” (2) 41, 34
77) “Just What I Needed” (2) 49, 25
78) “Desolation Row” (2) 49, 25
79) “Be My Baby” (2) 43, 31
80) “Stairway to Heaven” (2) 47, 26
81) “This Must Be the Place (naïve melody)” (2) 41, 31
82) “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down” (2) 40, 32
83) “America” (2) 38, 34
84) “Can’t Hardly Wait” (2) 48, 23
85) “Under My Thumb” (2) 45, 26
86) “Papa was a Rollin’ Stone” (2) 43, 28
87) “Bohemian Rhapsody” (3) 47, 20, 3
88) “Goodbye” (3) 44, 14, 12
89) “(Sittin’ on) the Dock of the Bay (2) 48, 22
90) “Eight Miles High” (2) 42, 27
91) “Society’s Child” (2) 41, 28
92) “A Case of You” (3) 27, 21, 20
93) “Bridge Over Troubled Water” (4) 36, 16, 9, 6
94) “Me and Bobby McGee” (2) 41, 26
95) “I Fall to Pieces” (2) 34, 33
96) “Won’t Get Fooled Again” (2) 34, 33
97) “The Witch” (2) 42, 24
98) “Beast of Burden” (2) 38, 28
99) “Powderfinger” (2) 36, 30
100) “Space Oddity” (3) 49, 11, 5
101) “You Shook Me All Night Long” (3) 37, 21, 7
102) “Do You Remember Rock ‘n’ Roll Radio?” (2) 44, 21

Jack's Thoughts on Top 100

The Meat Puppets shirt is gone (probably stolen), but during the time it took me to tally these, they released their "get out of jail" record to much hoopla. I was just waiting to see if the new release would alter our list dramatically.

While expected to dominate, the fact that the 60s had more selections than all of the other decades combined is annoying. The Beatles alone had more selections than the 50s.

As godihateyourband noted, punk was largely ignored, and Buzzcocks, a singles band if there ever were one, did not receive one vote out of 22 lists and 1100 picks.

It took a technicality to get The Ramones, America's most exciting rock band, on this list, and it consequently got America's most lethal producer on for the fourth time.

The lack of SST, Touch & Go, Homestead, etc. was probably inevitable. Dinosaur Jr. had a chance. "In a Jar", "Little Fury Things" (one of the best songs of the late 80s) and "Freak Scene" got votes, but not enough to chart. Black Flag's "Rise Above" only got 2 votes.

Even Sub Pop did poorly, but I was glad to see that I wasn't the only person who felt that Mudhoney's "Touch Me, I'm Sick" deserved a spot.

Sire era Replacements charted, and several Twin/Tone era songs got votes. Oddly, "I Will Dare", a song that on any other day might have been on several of the lists, did not receive one vote.

Hüsker Dü had some votes from Zen Arcade and Will had their cover of The Byrds' "Eight Miles High" at #5. On a different list, one that emphasized favorites, the Hüskers may have fared as well as Dylan. I suspect that "Girl Who Lives on Heaven Hill" would have been on several top tens.

Higher profile 80s bands such as Pixies and REM also failed to chart. Several Pixies songs were nominated but none of them twice. The lack of REM was surprising; even "Radio Free Europe" garnered only 1 vote.

The absence of Sonic Youth may have had something to do with the fact that it's a list of songs.

Hip Hop went nowhere with only PE charting at #76. Neither "The Message" nor "Straight Outta Compton", were on any lists.

Elvis Presley did not make the list. That fact will probably elicit some hate mail.

On the whole, the individual lists were well thought out and eclectic. Songs that I didn't choose but was hoping would make the final list included Boston's "More Than a Feeling", ZZ Top's "Tush" and America's "Sister Golden Hair".

Shaq received no votes.

Thoughts on top 100, Pt. 1

Are we preoccupied with 60s rock, or is it the best we got? Am I pissed off looking at it, or do I sigh, and say ‘it’s what I expected’? Hey, I listed as many ’60 tunes as the next. It doesn’t make me happy, but … as a self-proclaimed believer that ‘punk rock saved the friggin world’, does it invalidate most of the music that informed my adolescence/early adulthood (nyc school of 77/dc hardcore/English punk/indie rock from ‘82- to hell, most of the ‘90s, and some lately), or does it show that music as merely as reflection or refraction of a template that had already been so ensconced in our collective heads? I’ll admit as readily as anyone I think has a brain that The Ramones were nowhere without Spector and the like, that many of my initial fave 2nd generation punk tunes were funny takes on classic rock idioms, or the first time I heard Dinosaur Jr. I thought ‘this is Crazy Horse, but it speaks to me’, or when I heard the Replacements I thought ‘they grew up listening to the same 45s I did!’. Does that diminish the inherent songwriting talents of Dee Dee/Joey, Mascis or Westerberg? Why is "I'm Never Talking to You Again" not rated in the same list as "At 17"? Well, popularity has the biggest hand, but I must admit I was surprised at the results.

Interesting findings:

As previously mentioned, amerindie/college rock (music anyone 40 or near listened to in the ‘80s) was almost completely shut out … and the peeps who contributed to this list are overwhelmingly in that category. No R.E.M, no SY, no Pups, no Huskers, a total SST/Homestead/Touch and Go/Dischord/Twin-Tone no-fer. ‘60s rock is an omnipresent force in our lives, but I gotta admit, I’m flummoxed by the ‘80s. Over the last decade, it’s become the “soundtrack of our lives” as well. I guess there is a difference between Neil Young and the Pixies, Neil friggin charted in the top 40.

Female presence. An alarmingly weak (and I’m being liberal here) 15 songs. The most recent selection is from 1987, The Pogues “Fairytale of New York” featuring vocals from the late Kirsty Maccoll.

Beatles songs= 8

Solo Beatle cuts= zero

39 cuts in our list appeared in the Rolling Stone top 100.

Brits and Yanks split the top 10.

Punk (orig class) . Again being VERY liberal, 4 cuts.

Hip Hop. 1 white people.

Breakdown (thankfully not on the list)

50s 7
60s 56
70s 27
80s 9
90s 3
00s 0

apparently there aren’t any killers fans out there

The most recent song is from 1995. It is, however, the amazing Steve Earle song “Goodbye”.

Top dawgs:

Beatles 8
Rolling Stones 7
Dylan 4

3 each:
Bruce Springsteen, The Beach Boys, The Byrds, The Band

2 each:
The Kinks, The Clash, David Bowie, Ray Charles, The Velvet Underground, The Who, Patsy Cline, Simon and Garfunkel

The GIHYB TOP 100

Here it is kids!

First of all, nice work Jack compiling the numbers. The top 100 (well, 102 with the tie for 100). We had to disqualify “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry” cause it was released in 1949 (you’re welcome Mr. Townshend). And thanks to all who participated. An overview will be posted tomorrow. Please feel free to discuss.

1) “Like a Rolling Stone” Bob Dylan
2) “I Want to Hold Your Hand” The Beatles
3) “Satisfaction” The Rolling Stones
4) “Tangled Up In Blue” Bob Dylan
5) “Thunder Road” Bruce Springsteen
6) “Waterloo Sunset” The Kinks
7) “Walk Away Rene” The Left Banke
8) “Smells Like Teen Spirit” Nirvana
9) “A Day in the Life” The Beatles
10) “God Only Knows” The Beach Boys
11) “Fortunate Son” Creedence Clearwater Revival
12) “Sympathy for the Devil” The Rolling Stones
13) “Good Vibrations” The Beach Boys
14) “Atlantic City” Bruce Springsteen
15) “Louie Louie” The Kingsmen
16) “Train in Vain” The Clash
17) “What’s Going On” Marvin Gaye
18) “Layla” Derek & the Dominos
19) “California Dreamin’” The Mamas & the Papas
20) “Born to Run” Bruce Springsteen
21) “The Weight” The Band
22) “Sweet Jane” The Velvet Underground
23) “Yesterday” The Beatles
24) “The Tracks of My Tears” Smokey Robinson & the Miracles
25) “In My Life” The Beatles
26) “You Really Got Me” The Kinks
27) “Heroes” David Bowie
28) “In the Still of the Night” The Five Satins
29) “Baba “O’Riley” The Who
30) “I Saw Her Standing There” The Beatles
31) “Summer Wind” Frank Sinatra
32) “Jolene” Dolly Parton
33) “How Soon is Now” The Smiths
34) “The Harder They Come” Jimmy Cliff
35) “Then He Kissed Me” The Crystals
36) “Let’s Stay Together” Al Green
37) “Don’t Worry Baby” The Beach Boys
38) “Complete Control” The Clash
39) “Crying” Roy Orbison
40) “She Said She Said” The Beatles
41) “Jumping Jack Flash” The Rolling Stones
42) “Positively 4th Street” Bob Dylan
43) “It Makes No Difference” The Band
44) “Mack the Knife” Bobby Darin
45) “When Doves Cry” Prince
46) “I Fought the Law” The Bobby Fuller Four
47) “Summertime Blues” Eddie Cochran
48) “Gimme Shelter” The Rolling Stones
49) “Paint it Black” The Rolling Stones
50) “The Girl from Ipanema” Getz/Gilberto
51) “Will You Love Me Tomorrow” The Shirelles
52) “Georgia on My Mind” Ray Charles
53) “Maybellene” Chuck Berry
54) “Crazy” Patsy Cline
55) “All Along the Watchtower” Jimi Hendrix
56) “Superstition” Stevie Wonder
57) “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You” Frankie Valli
58) “Your Cheatin’ Heart” Hank Williams
59) “What’d I Say Parts I & II Ray Charles
60) “I Want You Back” The Jackson 5
61) “Who Knows Where the Time Goes” Fairport Convention
62) “River Deep, Mountain High” Ike & Tina Turner
63) “Mr. Tambourine Man” The Byrds
64) “You Send Me” Sam Cooke
65) “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On Jerry Lee Lewis
66) “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes” Crosby, Stills & Nash
67) “1952 Vincent Black Lightning” Richard Thompson
68) “Pale Blue Eyes” The Velvet Underground
69) “Fairytale of New York” The Pogues
70) “Eleanor Rigby” The Beatles
71) “Feel a Whole Lot Better” The Byrds
72) “Ticket to Ride” The Beatles
73) “Neither One of Us (wants to be the first to say goodbye)” Gladys Knight & the Pips
74) “Sultans of Swing” Dire Straits
75) “It’s the Same Old Song” The Four Tops
76) “Fight the Power” Public Enemy
77) “Just What I Needed” The Cars
78) “Desolation Row” Bob Dylan
79) “Be My Baby” The Ronettes
80) “Stairway to Heaven” Led Zeppelin
81) “This Must Be the Place (naïve melody)” Talking Heads
82) “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down” The Band
83) “America” Simon & Garfunkel
84) “Can’t Hardly Wait” The Replacements
85) “Under My Thumb” The Rolling Stones
86) “Papa was a Rollin’ Stone” The Temptations
87) “Bohemian Rhapsody” Queen
88) “Goodbye” Steve Earle
89) “(Sittin’ on) the Dock of the Bay Otis Redding
90) “Eight Miles High” The Byrds
91) “Society’s Child” Janis Ian
92) “A Case of You” Joni Mitchell
93) “Bridge Over Troubled Water” Simon & Garfunkel
94) “Me and Bobby McGee” Janis Joplin
95) “I Fall to Pieces” Patsy Cline
96) “Won’t Get Fooled Again” The Who
97) “The Witch” The Sonics
98) “Beast of Burden” The Rolling Stones
99) “Powderfinger” Neil Young
100) (tie) “You Shook Me All Night Long” AC/DC, “Do You Remember Rock ‘n’ Roll Radio” The Ramones, “Space Oddity” David Bowie

I-95

might hafta rename blog godihate1-95. bklyn to raleigh/durham should take 8 hrs. meanwhile i'm sittin in overpriced shitty hotel in south hill, va. left at 11:15am, checked in at 11:15pm, with hour and a half drive in morn. lucky ms. gihyb and baby gihyb are flying in to r/d.

savin grace: pulling into hotel, the i-shuffle hit "aftermath usa" by dbt. really hit home when i noticed vibe of hotel. if vacation week's supply of baby's diapers are still in car when i get down there tomorrow mornin, i will be surprised*. i'm fully expecting my dive in pool at 8am (nullifyin need for shower) will be one where i try to avoid floatin body.

honorable mention: i-95 namechecks on the ride via i-shuffle by jay-z, damian marley and ghostface

wtf?

*When I crawled out of bed this morning
I could tell something wasn't right
There were cigarettes in the ashtrays
They weren't your menthol lights

Jimmy Eight Cat's Top 50

Before opening Jack's Top 50, i felt intimidated. Prior to Drew's, I felt like the puny schoolkid about to take his first punch in the gut.

There are a few friends of mine that I believe have a great book in them (almost all of them bloggers ... see my list). Drew could write 20. Drew has on occasion, made me believe: Grant Hart is the only singer alive worthy of uttering a syllable (a noble argument); i understood jazz from hearing him talk about it (which I don't); and that maybe "More Than a Feeling" (okay Jack and Larroca too) is worth more than the diaper stain i give it credit for (if it's brown and stinks ...).

Only once, in memory, have I made him change his opinion (and I hope I'm not making this up). He proclaimed his ambivalence to Brian Wilson and the Boys. I played him "You Still Believe in Me". He said, as I recall, "that's nice". That started a run culminating in my turning him onto the Drive by Truckers. Well, those are 2 things in 14 years.

Full disclosure, he wrote the liner notes for my band's latest record. Fuller disclosure, he's a hell of a writer. I look forward to all 20.

ps- Jack, that means you too.

Enjoy.

1) “Louie, Louie”-The Kingsmen
It might not be about pussy and beer, but it sure sounds it.
2) “I Want to Hold Your Hand”-The Beatles
No other song has captured the excitement of teen romance as well as this.
3) “Waterloo Sunset”-The Kinks
When Ray Davies was at the height of his songwriting powers he captured regular people’s lives like no other songwriter could or wanted to.
4) “In the Still of the Night”-The 5 Satins
Doo-wop’s greatest, achingly romantic, filled with emotion and more than a touch of sadness
5) “You Really Got Me”-The Kinks
This just explodes out of the speaker like nothing that came before it.
6) “Maybelline”-Chuck Berry
Without this, most of the other songs here wouldn’t exist. This wins out over other Berry songs for coining the word “motorvating”.
7) “And Then He Kissed Me”-The Ronettes
The “best wall of sound” single, and a story song to boot.
8) “Fortunate Sun”-CCR
Know anybody in Iraq ? I didn’t think so. It might be the only timeless Viet Nam song.
9) “This Is My Country”-The Impressions
Four words that dismiss racism as powerfully as any MLK speech. Surely the only charting song that contains the phrase “welts on my back”.
10) "Walk Away Renee"-The Left Banke
Baroque pop genius, and on AM radio too. Damn you Will.
11) “A Day in the Life”-The Beatles
Sit down and listen to it for the first time again. There’s a whole world in there.
12) “Peggy Sue”-The Crickets
For those drums alone, but also one of the first great white rock songs.
13) “I’ll Be Around”-The Spinners
Heartbreak incarnate, with strings.
14) “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On”-Jerry Lee Lewis
Is it really all that surprising he married his 13 year old cousin? The epitome of wild man rock and roll.
15) “The Harder They Come”-Jimmy Cliff
Dismissing religion and yet profoundly spiritual, it’s “Imagine” without the high fructose corn syrup.
16) “Something Else”-Eddie Cochran
There are nights when I stand in my driveway and stare at my ’66 Bel Air and wish there was a woman with me.
17) “Bummer in the Summer”-Love
Timeless and haunting, like capturing summer’s end in a bottle.
18) “In My Life”-The Beatles
Maybe the greatest love song ever, and that’s only the half of it.
19) “Sweet Jane (full version with bridge”-The Velvet Underground
Yearning, hopeful and desperately romantic(with the bridge restored), the fact that’s it’s about drag queen doesn’t make it’s expression of those feelings any less universal.
20) “Feel a Whole Lot Better”-The Byrds
The word “probably” changes the whole meaning. Few songwriters captured ambiguity like Clark did.
21) “There Goes My Baby”-The Drifters
Not just the first R&B record with strings, it’s “Needles and Pins” with soul.
22) “The Same Old Song”-The Four Tops
Motown truth and wisdom at it’s finest.
23) “Jailhouse Rock”-Elvis Presley
It’s been around so long, it doesn’t seem dangerous anymore. It is.
24) “I Only Have Eyes For You”-The Flamingos
The fifties as another country.
25) “Omaha”-Moby Grape
Frenetic, psychedelic pop , with one of the greatest intros ever. And you could have caught it blasting out of the AM radio in your Dodge Coronet in 1967.
26) “Desolation Row”-Bob Dylan
Ten minutes where Bob Dylan really does sound like a poet.
27)”Riding in My Car”-NRBQ
The greatest song to catch on the radio, guaranteed to make you think of someone for the first time in years.
28) “Pale Blue Eyes”-The Velvet Underground
For a guy with his reputation, Lou Reed can be devastatingly vulnerable.
28) “I Want You Back”-The Jackson 5
The greatest bubblegum soul single, with enough hooks for two songs.
29) “Rock and Roll”-The Velvet Underground
I never thought Lou was being metaphorical when he talked about being “saved by rock and roll”.
30) “Tumbling Dice”-The Rolling Stones
For once Mick Jagger sounds like he cares, and from the album where Keith Richards finds the real white blues.
31) “Maybe the People Would Be the Times or Between Clark and Hilldale"-Love
It’s simply beautiful, with the trick of having the last word of each verse dropped only to become the first word of the next.
32) “Blitzkrieg Bop”-The Ramones.
How do you pick one Ramones song? Easy, chose the first song on their first album.
33) “Blue Train”-John Coltrane
The opening riff feels like a New York street scene from 1958.
34) “Box of Rain”-The Grateful Dead
Robert Hunter’s most direct lyrics are especially moving coupled with a gorgeous Phil Lesh tune. Resigned and hopeful at the same time.
35) “The Boys are Back in Town”-Thin Lizzy
It makes me want to get drunk with my friends from college. And only “Summer in the City” comes close as a Summer song.
36) “More Than A Feeling”- Boston
If you could distill being 15, high and hanging at your friend’s house after school into music, it would sound like this.
37) “Wang Dang Doodle”-Howlin’ Wolf
Pure raunchiness, and the Wolf doesn’t curse once.
38) “Sing Me Back Home”-Merle Haggard
I don’t care what he did, I want him pardoned.
39) “Is She Really Going Out With Him?”-Joe Jackson
Admit it, you’ve lived it.
40) “Peter Gunn Theme”-Henry Mancini
The personification of cool.
41) “In My Room”-The Beach Boys
Emotionally, it’s everything Pet Sounds needed to be. I’d like to think it prevented a suicide or two. It also came out the month of Kennedy’s assassination, too.
42 “Walk On By”-Dionne Warwick
Heartbreak for adults from pop’s greatest singer/songwriter team.
43) “Rise Above”-Black Flag
The only hardcore song you’ll ever need, the “We Shall Overcome” of its scene.
44) Tutti Frutti-Little Richard
Imagine what this must have sounded like in 1955. It’s outrageous now.
45) “Irene Wilde”-Ian Hunter
It’s a true story, and that’s really her name. Hunter might be the most sensitive hard rocker ever.
46) “Monday, Monday”-The Mamas and Papas
Changes the world you’re living in while you’re hearing it.
47) “Saturday Night”-The Bay City Rollers
Exciting as sex before you knew what it was.
48) Sweet Home Alabama- Lynyrd Skynyrd
“Southern Man” is shrill and whiny but this makes its point and rocks as hard as any Stones song. The most misunderstood band of the seventies.
49) “Just Like Me”-Paul Revere and the Raiders
Punk rock before there was punk rock, and on daytime TV no less.
50) “It Never Entered My Mind”-Sarah Vaughn
The sound of knowing you blew it. And the way Vaughn sings the line “uneasy in my easy chair” just hurts.

Jack's Top 50

The Top 100 came about after a late night conversation between my good friend Jack and I. I see or talk to Jack from time to time. Sometimes often, sometimes never (we live in different cities). One thing never changes, we'll immediately start discussing nonsense ... like this. Jack is also the funniest guy i've ever met (all apologies to Xmastime).

I met Jack in 1992 a week after I moved to NYC. It was one of those set-ups that record geeks are always getting. “You gotta meet this guy”. “Hey, this is Jack” turned into a 3 hour conversation. Maybe it was the Meat Puppets t-shirt. Jack has the most ridiculously amazing music collection I have ever seen (all apologies to Drew—I was pretty drunk the only time I saw yours, and I kinda pretend I was dreaming). I’ll put it this way, he has every record worth owning on the planet (with the exception of "The White Album", which he hates and I love, but makes me like him even more). There's always an amazing moment at any party Jack throws when someone asks, 'you've got 4 billion records, but you don't have ____' (drag from a smoke and blank stare from Jack). He also has the complete Shaq discography, as well as the best reason for having it—“he’s the only rapper who can back up what he raps about”. Nuf sed.

Here's his list and notes. Enjoy.

1) Walk Away Renee (The Left Banke)
2) Louie Louie (The Kingsmen)
3) I Want to Hold Your Hand (The Beatles)
4) Sweet Jane (full length version) (Velvet Underground)
5) Maybellene (Chuck Berry)
6) I Want You Back (Jackson 5)
7) So Long, Marianne (Leonard Cohen)
8) Summertime Blues (Eddie Cochran)
9) Rise Above (Black Flag)
10) Society’s Child (Janis Ian)
11) Meet on the Ledge (Fairport Convention)
12) White Riot (The Clash)
13) The Stars of Track and Field (Belle and Sebastian)
14) O-o-h Child (The 5 Stairsteps)
15) Fortunate Son (CCR)
16) I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend (Ramones)
17) Fight the Power (soundtrack version) (Public Enemy)
18) Good Vibrations (Beach Boys)
19) No Sleep Till Brooklyn (Beastie Boys)
20) Till the End of the Day (The Kinks)
21) Cigarette (The Smithereens)
22) Reach out in the Darkness (Friend and Lover)
23) Carnival of Sorts (Boxcars) (REM)
24) I Know a Place (Petula Clark)
25) The Good Humor Man He Sees Everything Like This (Love)
26) He War (Cat Power)
27) The Witch (The Sonics)
28) The Girl Can’t Help It (Little Richard)
29) She Loves You (Beatles)
30) I Feel Love (Donna Summer)
31) Caribou (The Pixies)
32) Gimme Shelter (Rolling Stones)
33) Greetings to the New Brunette (Billy Bragg)
34) I Can’t Explain (The Who)
35) Deceptacon (Le Tigre)
36) In the Still of the Night (The Five Satins)
37) Sunday Morning (Velvet Underground)
38) Thunder Road (Bruce Springsteen)
39) Touch Me, I’m Sick (Mudhoney)
40) No Matter What (Badfinger)
41) I Found that Essence Rare (Gang of Four)
42) Teenager in Love (Dion and the Belmonts)
43) Banned in D.C. (Bad Brains)
44) Room with a View (Let's Active)
45) Johnny B. Goode (Chuck Berry)
46) Checkin’ it Out (The Donnas)
47) Bo Diddley (Bo Diddley)
48) Right Back Where We Started From (Maxine Nightingale)
49) Friday On My Mind (The Easybeats)
50) She’s Lost Control (Joy Division)

Last 10 songs to be cut from rough list of several hundred songs:

“Lady Marmalade” (Labelle)
“In My Life” (The Beatles)
“Love Cats” (The Cure)
“Lost Johnny” (the Motorhead version)
“Kerosene” (Big Black)
“Mystery Train” (Elvis Presley)
“Why” (Dirty Wurds)
“Let’s Have a War” (Fear)
“Be-Bop-A-Lula” (Gene Vincent)
“Let’s Have a Party” (Wanda Jackson)


Bands/Musicians with most songs on rough list:
The Beatles with 9 (2 got in)
The Kinks with 5 (1 got in)
Bob Dylan with 4 (0 got in)
The Replacements with 4 (0 got in)

Number of bands/musicians on my final list of 50 that Peter Zaremba
mentions in “American Beat ‘84” - 7

Number that John Cougar Mellencamp mentions in “R.O.C.K. in the
U.S.A. (A Salute to ‘60s Rock)” - 0

Number that Le Tigre mention in “Hot Topic” - 0

Thoughts on Songs:

“Walk Away Renee”
My choice for the best song of the pop era. My friend Will pointed out to me one of the more significant aspects of this song (aside from the fact that it was written by a minor). He said that the song starts in what would appear to be its middle and that the first word is “and”. It is almost as if the song need not be introduced to the listener. Once it’s on, it’s on, and everything that you were doing prior is instantly unimportant.

The not-quite-conventional beginning becomes an abrupt ending in under 3 short and not wholly satisfying minutes, leaving the listener with the same covetous nature which inspired the song.

“Louie Louie”
My favorite version of the Richard Berry song is the popular one. Years ago, I vowed never to purchase it on CD, tape or even vinyl. I felt that to intentionally play the song on a stereo would be to ruin it; it had to be happened upon via the radio in order for it to work.

Around 1997 I bought a Kingsmen compilation from a bargain bin, thus breaking my rule. (I had the Sceptre box set, but that was a gift so it didn’t count). I went home to put on my new Kingsmen CD, unenthusiastically anticipating track 1 (of course it’s going to be Louie Louie). However, I heard something else! In an amazing act of providence, the wrong music had been pressed on the disc. Instead of 10 Kingsmen songs on the Kingsmen comp., there were 10 Willie Nelson songs. I had been granted a reprieve! A year later, the Nuggets box came out and that was that.

“Society’s Child”
Broadside has another version of this song called “Baby, I’ve Been Thinking”. It’s credited to Blind Girl Grunt. While Janis Ian didn’t have Blind Boy Grunt’s staying power or influence, she did have a more appealing voice. In addition, I don’t think Bob Dylan could ever cause as much hoopla. Ian received numerous death threats for this song and a radio station was allegedly burnt to the ground for playing it. I don’t think that was ever confirmed, however.

What I find most impressive in this song is the teenager’s knowledge of her own complicity. The pronouns used to identify those not ready for the possibility of miscegenation shift from “She” to “They” to “I”. At the end of the song, the singer is the person saying that this is not going to happen.

“O-o-h Child”
Occasionally I run into someone who has seen Over the Edge. They invariably mention Cheap Trick’s “Surrender”. Then I say something along the lines of “and there’s also a cover of ‘o-o-h child’ at the end”. That’s usually when the conversation switches to something else.

“Fight the Power”
The first time I saw Rosie Perez was in the summer of 1989. I left work early to see the new Spike Lee movie at The Nickelodeon in Boston. When the opening credits started, I was simultaneously asking myself “who is that?” and “what is this?”. I had heard PE before, but only from a roommate’s tape. He was somebody whom I never bothered to borrow records from so I probably didn’t pay much attention. Later, I got back to my apartment and rounded up friends to see the movie again the next day. I must have seen it 4 or 5 times that summer with different people. After each viewing, the person I was with would always ask me what I thought of the ending, while I would always ask them what they thought of the beginning.

“Cigarette”
About a year ago, a couple of friends asked me if I would share the expenses to book Pat DiNizio to play at a private home. It was roughly $500 each, but I agreed to it because of this song. The whole show was very good, but I would break it down as follows: Seeing Pat DiNizio play a good show is probably worth about $25. Seeing Pat DiNizio play a good show that includes “Cigarette” is definitely worth $500.

“The Good Humor Man He Sees Everything Like This”
A while back, I had a discussion with my friend Drew about what was the best song on Forever Changes, which is possibly his favorite LP. I chose the conventional pick, “Alone Again Or” and he chose the one with the long title that starts “Maybe the People…” and keeps going.

The next day I played the record in its entirety, something I hadn’t done in years. I decided that we’re both wrong. After the record was over, I played this one again several times. I got to see Love in the fall of 2004 during Game 2 of the series that would eventually become the greatest comeback in the history of sports. I left a few times to check the score. Eventually, The Zombies/Argent came on so I could properly watch the rest of the game.

“Sunday Morning”
I can’t think of an opening track that prepares the listener for the rest of the album less than this one does. While the majority of the remaining tracks are vile and sordid, “Sunday Morning” could easily fit on a Sesame Street soundtrack or any record by The Gentle Waves. This makes Belle and Sebastian sound like Chavo-era Black Flag.

“Touch Me, I’m Sick”
Sweaty, cheesy and wholly inappropriate, this was one of the few singles from that label/era that actually sounded dirty. This song is the aural equivalent of being on a crowded subway when you really don’t want to be. The opening riff sounds like amplified farts.

“Banned in D.C.”
One of the ways that Minor Threat, Black Flag and Bad Brains differentiated themselves from most hardcore (aside from musicianship, songwriting ability and/or work ethic) was their ability to change tempo within a song. This was made all the more difficult by the fact that most of these songs were over in a minute or so. Usually, after several seconds, there would be a return to the previous breakneck pace. This one, however, remains at the slower tempo for its remainder and that last 30 or 40 seconds is probably the best 30 or 40 seconds of East Coast hardcore.

“Room with a View”
In the last handful of years, I’ve gotten old and therefore have ended up at several reunion shows ranging from The Soft Boys to The Stooges to Camper Van Beethoven. The shows were all good, but the reunion I want to see is not The Replacements, Screaming Trees or even Husker Du. I want to see the original Let’s Active trio reform. Ignored by many avid pop fans (even by a lot of Big Star And Badfinger fans), their 1984 release, Cypress, was one of the best LPs of the 1980s. This song was from the EP that preceded it.

“Checkin’ it Out”
Possibly the best teen trash/jailbait anthem ever, it’s essentially a 3-minute version of Linklater’s Dazed and Confused, or the song that The Runaways forgot to write.

“She’s Lost Control”
My friend James had Unknown Pleasures and we would listen to it in these tiny 12’ by 15’ dorm rooms with concrete walls. The rooms were ideal as they gave the impression that you were in the hospital, or more specifically, in quarantine. Joy Division always sounded like a virus to me, or a slightly more melodic Emergency Broadcast System transmission. Upon hearing them, my first thoughts were “how do I get to safety?”

This song, like all their others, makes me seal the apartment. I then prepare for the inevitable. Do I have enough cigarettes? Do I have enough food? What if someone decides to come over? Do I dare let them in?

You never hear Joy Division at parties because there are people at parties and they are usually hoping to have a good time. And I’ve never in my life heard them when I was outdoors. They need to be listened to while indoors even more so than early 60s Beach Boys need to be listened to while outdoors. This is because when you’re listening to Joy Division, you’re not really listening to music so much as you are hiding.

GIHYB Top 50

Stop yr bitchin peons, the final list will be posted Monday, August 20th (summer vacatin & all). Until then, you'll live with this. GIHYB's top 50.

Making my own list was tough. I literally waited until the night before deadline to do it. Disseminating a lifetimes’ worth of something so life changing and so fucking trivial is not an easy task– not to mention geek cred was a bitch. I started with a premise of 25 rockers and 25, well, non-rockers, but I tossed it aside. Didn't end up being much of an issue. But I still get angry every time I look at this list.

1. Waterloo Sunset- The Kinks
2. That's All Right Mama- Elvis Presley
3. Walk Away Renee- Left Banke
(you’ve seen jack’s comments … this song always sounds brand new)
4. Rockaway Beach- The Ramones
(tough call, coulda been one of 20 … or 100)
5. Eight Miles High- Husker Du
(#5? alright. Get over it. My fave single ever (and the b-side SUCKS!!!!!) A cover of The Byrds that shoulda made the 50. Passionate, irate, top of their game. And the thing that throws me, this drug doused ode mighta been fueled by poppers! And I feel like shit for not putting any of their amazing originals.)
6. Satisfaction- The Rolling Stones
(1.000,000 other great songs, … but th riff)
7. Goodbye- Steve Earle
8. Moon River- Henry Mancini
9. The Witch- The Sonics
10. Fight the Power- Public Enemy
11. Like a Rolling Stone- Bob Dylan
(boring, whatever … shoulda been “You’re a Big Girl Now”)
12. The Needle and the Damage Done- Neil Young
13. A Day in the Life- The Beatles
14. Smokestack Lightnin- Howlin Wolf
15. I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry- Hank Williams
16. Georgia On My Mind- Ray Charles
17. I Fall to Pieces- Patsy Cline
18. God Only Knows- Beach Boys
19. Summer Babe- Pavement
20. Sitting in the Back of a Car- Big Star
(tough un, but this epitomizes Big Star for me)
21. Left of the Dial- The Replacements
22. Jak- Volcano Suns
23. How Soon Is Now- The Smiths
24. A Quick One (While He's Away)- The Who
(I'll say this again and again, if The Who had broken up pre-Tommy, they might be the greatest band ever ... then the 2 to 6 decent songs after that would've made a great bonus cd on the Rhino retrospective ... no, not the CSI package)
25. Tracks of My Tears- The Miracles
26. If I Should Fall from Grace with God- The Pogues
27. Memphis- Chuck Berry
28. Heroes- David Bowie
29. Drunken Angel- Lucinda Williams
30. Atlantic City- Bruce Springsteen
(a dude I don’t get (too rock n rolly fer me), all respect due, amazing talent, he honestly perplexes me, send all hell mail to “robbinthompson@steelmill.com”. Fer a moment in time he hit it. Nebraska is a desert island instant. I reluctantly left off ‘dancin in the dark’—some of the greatest lyrics ever, and the worst sounding album that's decent ever-- all apologies to the Mats "Tim")
31. Days- The Kinks
32. The Boxer- Simon and Garfunkel
(Paul Simon still gives me the creeps)
33. Behind Closed Doors- Charlie Rich
34. Love Comes in Spurts- Richard Hell and the Voidoids
35. I Stopped Loving Her Today- George Jones
36. Galveston- Glen Campbell
(Wichita Lineman maybe? Fuckit, Glen’s vocals are undeniable))
37. Summer Wind- Frank Sinatra
38. My Funny Valentine- Chet Baker
39. These Days- Nico
40. This Is England- The Clash
(if you don’t know this, you’re missing out. One of Strummer’s greatest from an AMAZINGLY bad album thanks to Bernie Rhodes.)
41. Stardust Memories- Willie Nelson
42. Windfall- Son Volt
43. Blue- Jayhawks
44. What's Goin On- Marvin Gaye
45. The Have Nots- X
46. Between the Bars- Elliott Smith
47. I'm Always in Love- Wilco
48. Mercy Seat- Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds
49. Ballad of Dorothy Parker- Prince
50. Jealous Again- Black Flag

the best 100 songs from 1950 to now

we've been working on this for a while. it's both promising and pissing us off. results and such forthcoming. prob next week ... maybe then i can get a link on xmastime (click-click "there's no place like home")????

this just in ... mike love!!! MIKE LOVE!!!!!!

keepin tha summer alive!

mikey! call us. i'm with ya kid. i heard an lcd cut that might be sue-able. murray wuz right!

worst covers pt. 2

dear godihateyourband,

You know what the biggest difference between Pearl Jam and Bad Company is? Sincerity. I don’t find Eddie Vedder too credible when he’s singing about being an abused child, but I certainly believe Paul Rodgers when he talking about how much he loves pussy.

Pearl Jam played aren’t the Beatles to Nirvana’s Rolling Stones, they’re Herman’s Hermits. (Following this logic Mudhoney were the Pretty Things, Tad were the Downliners Sect and absolutely nobody were the Kinks.)

Kurt Cobain hits it big and like a good record geek he pushes the bands he loves that never got their due, giving a hunk of his MTV unplugged set over to the Meat Puppets and reforming the Raincoats. I repeat, the fucking Raincoats. What’s Vedder do? He jams with the Who and the Doors, two of the most overrated “classic” rock bands ever., who are so creatively desiccated they may as well be screaming “BRAINS” as they hobble onstage.

Roadhouse Blues
Admittedly Vedder sang this with the surviving members of the Doors, but Pearl Jam has covered this “classic” live on at least one occasion. Moreover if you were fronting the Rolling Stones, would you choose “Mixed Emotions” over “Satisfaction”? Covering “Roadhouse Blues” in any context is akin to going through the Blues section of your favorite record store and passing over Skip James, Charley Patton and Howlin’ Wolf to get a Johnny Lang CD. In a way it’s perfect symmetry, a meeting of two generations of bands that’s seemed “heavy” when you discussed them in sixth period study hall. Break on through, Jeremy.

Last Kiss
Eddie Vedder must be the least gay man alive if he thinks this was a good idea. It’s a camp song, a testosterone Shangri-Las, a concept that Mr. I-care-about-environment and your orgasm simply can’t fathom. He manages to miss both the strength of the song and the (limited) strength of his voice by confusing the teen angst of 1960s Top 40 death rock with the whine of 1990s “Alt” mope rock.
Er, grunge, I mean. God only knows what he would do with “Judy’s Turn to Cry”.

Baba O’Reilly
Why cover this? It’s second only to “Stairway to Heaven” in the Songs You Need Never Hear Again category. I call this stuff “Play Me Some” rock. Shit-heads call the radio station and ask the DJ “Can you play me some Stones/Zep/Skynyrd/Floyd?” when what they are really asking for is to hear one of the four songs they actually know by these bands. Six if it’s Led Zeppelin.

Leaving Here.
Covering the Who covering Eddie Holland? Have these guys ever heard any black music first hand?

jimmy eight cats

________________

dear jimmy eight cats,

i must admit something up front … I saw eddie play guitar w/ mike watt on that “popeye’s greatest hits” tour—or whatever that album he did with 200 lead singers in the mid-90s … and he did a credible job playin d. boon gtr. then again, i was standin next to winona ryder, and prob wasn’t listenin that closely … yes, it’s hard to open funny when you add “abused child” in yr first paragraph ... then again, we could start a whole new thread on Paulie Rodgers and his stint w/ queen. I still love thinking bout that moment when may & co. said “WTF!!! OF COURSE!”

by yr logic, would stone temple pilots be lulu or marianne faithfull (anita pallenberg??? Sure there’s a lost demo)? foo fighters be argent or the law? (to bring shit full circle!)

re: baba. ex-landlord who plays in a dead cover band constantly tried to woo me to his side. gave me a tape of dead covering classique hits. one was baba. prob my favorite cover ever. hearin that panty waist rhythm section bounce round the power chords put lovin tears in me eyes.

fuck, I’m loaded w/ anecdotes tonight. went to a wedding a few years back. shitty band opened w/ “i will dare” which was even funnier watching peeps dance to it, but a buddy requested stones and they played “mixed emotions". brilliance on the finger lakes that eve.

dammit. way too happy to sleep now.

stickin head in oven,
godihateyourband

worst covers pt. 1

dear jimmy eight cats,

... if we're on the topic of worst covers, i'd be remiss without beginning with a band i don't like, the monolith GnR. if metallica has better covers than you, you've got a problem (and they've done some covers i like).

'knockin on heaven's door'
outta the gate they "rose" the bar (damn he's a shitty singer). and it's become a classic rock staple (go figger ... 'hey! gilmour's new cd sounds LIKE FLOYD!!!!). possibly the worst vocal ever ... but if there was a grammy for bootylicious (damn! there was). how bout robbie z's 'joey' next time mr. brownstone? that'll take up 1/8 of a cd.

'live and let die'
a horrible tune to begin with (let's take song by a dude who's way
past his prime ... at what like 32? doin a hollywood tune, that's
originally as over-blown as ron jeremy at a wrap party- (a dud, i
know). wow, rock new money duz ... uhm, rock ole money. i dunno, fast
eddie sells fats' tees at every local pool hall? stupid band doing
stupid about as good as it gets. i think axl & gang's about as much
of a hack as there is, but somebody put money behind this? why not
elton's princess di song? at least there's the charity angle? and you
could add rage/and a kilt?

suggested covers for GnR:

henry gross- shannon
anything off that last replacements album with the lost and
presumably dead dog on the cover (some indie cred?)? (psych ... your bass player knows it!)
if you're feelin hurtful while waiting for the pressing of yr magnum
opus 'chinese checkers' axl, maybe 'kill the dj' by the smithers?

i don't even wanna start with the spaghetti incident.

ah, that didn't feel so bad ... new bloggin knees & all.

hugz,
godihateyourband

____________

dear godihateyourband,

And you've got the math wrong on GNR covering "Joey". Dylan's "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" is 2:32, GNR's is 5:36 which means it's 2.21 times the length of the original, therefore GNR's version of the 11:05 "Joey" would be 24:42.If they cover "Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands" and "Desolation Row"(total time-50:11), they could just about fit all three songs on one CD. I just hope Axl has never heard "Tales From Topographic Oceans".

jimmy eight cats

____________

dear jimmy eight cats,

was it just a rumour ryan adams covered the post-shatter flipper record?

who cares about imus?

i've been an imus listener for a while now. i've always hated the times when he tried to do his "jive act" (his words, not mine). in those instances, he's generally an old dude trying to get a laugh off something he tangentially understands. generally riffin off something bernie started. the uproar started off of that. i'm pissed at what he said, though it WAS a fucking joke, and a dummass one, but there wasn't malice. if nothing else, the dude knows NOTHING about sports (and that's what this was supposedly about). most times, his "thing" is he relies on "experts" to tell him the frontrunner and he goes with em (he's THAT kind of sports fan, say no more). it's stupid. the cardinal egan stuff-- STOOPID (and i'm not catholic nor care). i generally change the station when they get into bits. the upside of the show is the sometime intellectual discussion that happens. for what it's worth, that's as far as i go with him and the uproar. i've got too much to think about in general than worry about a fuckin multi-millionaire who'll still have his bank account tomorrow and next year.

but

i'm wondering if this whole episode might provide a generational shift? i detest the word "ho" and all its connotations (this is much more of a sexist outrage as i see it). i have baby son, if i had a daughter it would resonate a whole lot more. i'm a huge hip-hop fan. i think rap has been the most influential and exciting music genre of the last 20 years. and i've spent the last 20+ years mired in white-boy indie rock, makin it, listening to it, whatever, but hip-hop/rap has been ground zero in innovation production-wise, excitement/genre-blasting, etc. i don't blame hip-hop on the word "ho", it's been a societal problem since time began, but alot of rap's been pervasive in setting stereotypes. so has heavy metal-- but i don't care about heavy metal. i've been generally most excited about some great rap artists who've made great political statements-- PE was the most mindblowing group i'd ever heard. lately Nas' latest cd comes to mind.

but

can we take this whole episode and think about something? i want to put this i terms i can deal with. what happens the next time a hip-hop/heavy metal/rock/country or whatever music peep comes out on record or onstage and makes a comment much like imus made in song? how bout a deafening silence? time for this shit to stop once and for all. it's in everybody's hands (beyond radio and music as well), and i'd like to think that our "compartmental leaders" on all sides get with the program (& i give all props to rev. al and his previous attempts to get the hip-hop community to get it together). fuck imus. get with the real issue.

obama, might wanna give it a shot, i'm rootin for ya ... politico fuck, but most of all, ghostface, save our country.

godihateyourband will return at some point in th late future.

don't hold yr breath.

signed,

bruce wayne/tony stark/hal jordan