Best Songs Ever

[FlaSoxxJim]

Another song that I just heard again for the first time in a long time is Baker Street by Gerry Rafferty, I really like that song.

Quick: 2 cool points for the name of the band Rafferty fronted, and 2 more for their signature song. . .

[The Critic]

Quick: 2 cool points for the name of the band Rafferty fronted, and 2 more for their signature song. . .

I'm actually DEDUCTING cool points from myself for knowing this, but:

Stealers Wheel

"Stuck In The Middle With You"

 

[Texsox]

Quick: 2 cool points for the name of the band Rafferty fronted, and 2 more for their signature song. . .

 

Stuck in the Middle with You. Stealers Wheel

 

Am I crazy or does his vocals sound a bit like Paul's?

[The Critic]

Stuck in the Middle with You. Stealers Wheel

 

Am I crazy or does his vocals sound a bit like Paul's?

Not on "Baker Street" it doesn't, IMO.

He may have been going for a Paulish sound in Stealers Wheel.

Worked for Badfinger, although Paul wrote that song, IIRC.

[bmags]

well, best in this title should be substituted for "favorite" because thats what this is...

 

My List:

 

King of Carrot Flowers pt. 1 - this is my fav. song on the album, particularly because of mangums drawl on each word...it was beautiful...sorry, this is Neutral milk hotel song from ITAOTS

 

For Real - Okkervil River i love this song. Really morbid lyrics but the slide guitar and slamming i just love...

 

This is just a modern rock song - Belle and Sebastian i love belle and sebastian and this is a particular highlight

 

Black Frank - Brian Eno i love the tongue in cheek way this song is written plus any eno song has some great guitar work

 

Where is My Mind - The Pixies it was between this and debaser, but i love the eeiriness of this song...the distorted voice to make it sound like a dolphin, it's just a perfect song

 

The Classical - The fall just a personal favorite of mine

 

The Endless Plain of Fortune - John Cale, i love the piano, the strange way of singing, the tempo, i love Paris in 1919

 

When You Sleep - My Bloody Valentine the crazy synths (i think, hard to know what instrument is ever actually playing in a MBV song, the two voices singing...wonderful

 

How to Dissappear COmpletely - Radiohead the climax of the amazing first four tracks to Kid A...haunting in how it makes you feel claustrophobic before breaking out of the box

 

I want her she wants me - The zombies wonderful melodies

 

God Only Knows - the beach boys

[easyw]

Ted Leo & the Pharmacists - "Little Dawn"

[Kid Gleason]

First things first, I forgot one:

 

Last Great Day - Hardcore Superstar. No other song was written with so many hooks, or meant to be played REAL loud in the summer, while driving down the road with your windows open or the top down. Easily one of the 5 greatest songs ever. I dare you to play it and NOT get your foot tapping.

 

This is not meant as a slam, and I'm not looking to fight , but...everytime I see a list of songs that someone has on their iPod it looks like this.  A bunch of songs by a bunch of bands that I've never heard.  What, nobody listens to U2?  Nobody likes to throw in the Rolling Stones Greatest Hits?  Ever heard of Willie Nelson?  Wasn't "Appetite for Destruction" as important to anyone else as it was to me?

 

That said, I wish I had the pc knowledge and power to download the songs on your list.  I'd like to give them a spin.

 

Oh, and "What's Goin' On?" is an awesome song.  It will remain pertinent for eternity.

 

Now to this.

 

No, I don't listen to U2, especially nowdays. Pompous, arrogant, and full of bulls*** anymore, and leading me to believe that they always were. If I had to pick songs from them though, I would have to go with "I Will Follow" or their first, Boy, but even that is just a good song. For my overly preachy rock band songs, I will rank "Read About It" by Midnight Oil much, much, much higher than anything U2 ever did. And from their own country, I will take The Alarm from the first EP and their first two albums Declaration and Strength long before I would take U2. But that is just me.

 

I'm not trying to be a snooty kind of guy, and if you look at my list you will realize that. IMO, the people that pepper their lists with either the old standards such as Hendrix, Zep, Beatles, etc. are the "annoying" ones to a degree. When I see lists such as those, and you see nothing "obscure", it tells me that the people really haven't given very many bands a chance unless they first heard them in the car on their way to work, or at a college/high school party. There is so much music out there that to believe that anything you hear on the radio is the "greatest" is crazy. To believe that the songs I have listed are "the greatest" is silly. I have thousands of CD's/tapes/records/MP3 files around my house, so you better believe I will find something better than friggin' "Help!", which I do love, BTW.

 

The other thing about that list I have there, is that not always is a favorite song done by a favorite band. Heck, some of the bands I love the most (The Damned, The Replacements, Hanoi Rocks, The Lords Of The New Church, Dead Boys, to name a few) are not on that list. If I were to add them I would have to go:

 

Noise, Noise, Noise, Sick Of Being Sick (from The Peel Sessions), There Ain't No Sanity Clause, Rabid (Over You), Video Nasty (single edition), Is It A Dream?, I Think I'm Wonderful, plus many more... - The Damned

 

And each band would end up like that. It's hard to pick a fave. It's all personal preferance, there truely is no "Greatest Song Ever". If you believe that U2 has the greatest songs ever, then they do. If you believe that The Rolling Stones were (you can't count them anymore) the greatest RnR band ever, then they were.

 

Part of my reason for participating in these lists is so that somebody like you might see a song title, a band name, read that description I gave, and actually go "hmmm, Hardcore Superstar eh? That sounds interesting..." and then maybe take the time to track something down of theirs. Do I think the song I list of theirs smokes everything The Beatles did? You betcha. Doesn't mean you will, but you might.

 

Also, not all of the bands on my list do I think are "Gods". Yes, many of them. But I also believe The Clash are one of the most overrated bands in the history of music. I like them, but think they turned out a ton of crap. Plus, the album my song from them appears on, London Calling is, IMO, one of the (if not THE) most overrated albums in music. But again, this is all my opinion.

 

No, I'm not arguing with you. But you do have a "discussion" now, which I think is the intended purpose of this thread.

[Rex Kickass]

God Only Knows - the beach boys

 

Mmmm. Delicious. Brian Wilson pre crackup was pure genius. Even some of the stuff he didn't finish producing until the early 70s were just beautiful. God Only Knows is pop perfection, but the best song that he'd ever done IMHO is "Surf's Up." What was supposed to be one of the centerpieces of Smile, the song is really the high water mark of the Brian Wilson/Van Dyke Parks collaboration.

[Texsox]

Star Spangled Banner

God Bless America

America the Beautiful

Brandy

[FlaSoxxJim]

Mmmm. Delicious. Brian Wilson pre crackup was pure genius. Even some of the stuff he didn't finish producing until the early 70s were just beautiful. God Only Knows is pop perfection, but the best song that he'd ever done IMHO is "Surf's Up." What was supposed to be one of the centerpieces of Smile, the song is really the high water mark of the Brian Wilson/Van Dyke Parks collaboration.

 

God Only Knows from and In My Room have been my favorite Brian Wilson Beach Boys compositions for years. Pre-meltdown he was a genius.

[The Critic]

blahblahyapyapyaddayaddablahblahhhhh   

Here's my opinion on Kid's opinion:

I think U2 has written and performed some great songs, even recently ( I think Beautiful Day is a very good little pop song ), but I would also take Read About It by Midnight Oil over anything U2's ever done. That song would make my all-time favorite song list for sure.

As for adding "obscure" bands, if that's what someone listens to then of course they'd have them on their list. No one's trying to be more "indie" than anyone else. I personally can't stand the Rolling Stones. Waiting For A Friend is the only song I've ever liked by them ( You Don't Move Me from Keith Richards' solo disc is a great song, by the way ), so any list of favorite songs would be Stoneless, unless you include the Stone Roses ( I Don't Know Why I Love You is a great song ).

I'd reiterate what Kid said - if you see a band name or song title that catches your eye and you search them out and like what you hear, is there anything better? That's half the reason I check out music message boards. Unfortunately, radio rarely breaks new bands anymore, they just rehash yesterday's leftovers again and again.

But Kid and I could not disagree more about the Clash! The Clash was the 4th band I ever considered a "favorite band", and I could listen to them every day and never get sick of them. Sure, they made some bad moves ( 90% of Sandanista! and 97% of Cut The Crap - they should have followed their own advice on that one ), but they wrote a TON of excellent songs, and were very influential on the next wave of punks. Tim Armstrong has made a nice little living off the Clash's influence...( ducking from Kalapse )

 

I could never name ONE song as the greatest song ever written, that is something that changes every day for me.

[hammerhead johnson]

Jazz Fusion:

 

Bobbi Humphrey- Harlem River Drive

S.O.U.L.- Burning Spear

Gene Harris- Takin' It Easy

Billy Cobham- Heather

Ernest Ranglin- Love And Happiness

Kool And The Gang- Summer Madness

Galt MacDermot- Bedroom Scene

Dennis Coffey- Hey Jude

Horace Silver- Song For My Father

Bobby Hutcherson- Montara

Crusaders- Pass The Plate

Cal Tjader- Gary's Theme

Wade Marcus- Something

Fourth Way- Every Man's Your Brother

Overton Berry Trio- Hey Jude

Quincy Jones- Summer In The City

Living Jazz- Walk On By

Jack McDuff- Electric Surfboard

Francis Coppieters- Sales Talk

Sven Libaek- Misty Canyon

Dorothy Ashby- Come Live With Me

Francois D Roubaix- Didier

Cannonball Adderly- Capricorn

Meters- Stormy

Wes Montgomery- Day In The Life

Ramsey Lewis- Julia

[Pierzynski 12]

The Beatles-"Come Together"

[Rex Kickass]

Here's my opinion on Kid's opinion: 

I think U2 has written and performed some great songs, even recently ( I think Beautiful Day is a very good little pop song ), but I would also take Read About It by Midnight Oil over anything U2's ever done. That song would make my all-time favorite song list for sure.

As for adding "obscure" bands, if that's what someone listens to then of course they'd have them on their list. No one's trying to be more "indie" than anyone else. I personally can't stand the Rolling Stones. Waiting For A Friend is the only song I've ever liked by them ( You Don't Move Me from Keith Richards' solo disc is a great song, by the way ), so any list of favorite songs would be Stoneless, unless you include the Stone Roses ( I Don't Know Why I Love You is a great song ).

I'd reiterate what Kid said - if you see a band name or song title that catches your eye and you search them out and like what you hear, is there anything better? That's half the reason I check out music message boards. Unfortunately, radio rarely breaks new bands anymore, they just rehash yesterday's leftovers again and again.

But Kid and I could not disagree more about the Clash! The Clash was the 4th band I ever considered a "favorite band", and I could listen to them every day and never get sick of them. Sure, they made some bad moves ( 90% of Sandanista! and 97% of Cut The Crap - they should have followed their own advice on that one ), but they wrote a TON of excellent songs, and were very influential on the next wave of punks. Tim Armstrong has made a nice little living off the Clash's influence...( ducking from Kalapse  )

 

I could never name ONE song as the greatest song ever written, that is something that changes every day for me.

 

Someone mentioned Train in Vain on here. I like the song but skip it everytime I listen to my CD of London Calling because it doesn't fit the mood of the album. Personally my favorite Clash song would be "Ghetto Defendant" with Allen Ginsberg reading poetry throughout the song. So good.

[Kid Gleason]

I'm not so sure I want to reply to Critic's disagreement with me about The Clash, especially when I went to length's to talk about "PERSONAL OPINION'S".

 

You can't use "influence", as ABBA, Shaun Cassidy and the Village People surely influenced quite afew people, as did Milli Vanilli. And then you can't say anything about "value" to the music world, as in somebodies eyes RnR and it's like are pure crap anyways...because it is all about personal opinions and tastes.

 

 

...pain in my f***ing ass...

[FlaSoxxJim]

Someone mentioned Train in Vain on here. I like the song but skip it everytime I listen to my CD of London Calling because it doesn't fit the mood of the album. Personally my favorite Clash song would be "Ghetto Defendant" with Allen Ginsberg reading poetry throughout the song. So good.

 

Death Or Glory = Best Clash Song

[bmags]

I'm not so sure I want to reply to Critic's disagreement with me about The Clash, especially when I went to length's to talk about "PERSONAL OPINION'S".

 

You can't use "influence", as ABBA, Shaun Cassidy and the Village People surely influenced quite afew people, as did Milli Vanilli. And then you can't say anything about "value" to the music world, as in somebodies eyes RnR and it's like are pure crap anyways...because it is all about personal opinions and tastes.

...pain in my f***ing ass...    

 

i think another important aspect to the clash is the sentimental edge they have...for a lot of people, the clash in high school was as good as it gets. As much as i love pavement, all the looking back reviews i see of it tell me there is no way it could ever be as important to me as to someone who recieved a tape of slanted and enchanted and put it in during a party...I mean music is the timeline to our lives. I'd give a good bet that when i put down my favorite cds ever list, they coincide with some of the best memories of my life...

 

just my 2 cents...

 

and no comments on my list besides god only knows...ARGh

[The Critic]

I'm not so sure I want to reply to Critic's disagreement with me about The Clash, especially when I went to length's to talk about "PERSONAL OPINION'S".

 

You can't use "influence", as ABBA, Shaun Cassidy and the Village People surely influenced quite afew people, as did Milli Vanilli. And then you can't say anything about "value" to the music world, as in somebodies eyes RnR and it's like are pure crap anyways...because it is all about personal opinions and tastes.

...pain in my f***ing ass...    

Did that Village People influence show up in the song "My Humps", I wonder? Now that I think about it, probably not......think about it...."lovely LADY lumps....

and OF COURSE it's "PERSONAL OPINIONS"( inappropriate apostrophe deleted ) , silly man - that's all this message board is in the first place!!!

If I ever change anyone's mind on any topic due to something I say, I feel sorry for their new opinion!!

Edited November 21, 2005 by The Critic

[Steff]

Did that Village People influence show up in the song "My Humps", I wonder? Now that I think about it, probably not......think about it...."lovely LADY lumps....

 

and OF COURSE it's "PERSONAL OPINIONS"( inappropriate apostrophe deleted ) , silly man - that's all this message board is in the first place!!!

If I ever change anyone's mind on any topic due to something I say, I feel sorry for their new opinion!!

 

 

 

Wait.. it's "humps"...?? I thought it was "lumps"...

[The Critic]

Wait.. it's "humps"...?? I thought it was "lumps"... 

It's both.

"My humps, my humps, my lovely lady lumps...."

 

Ugh, now I have to lie down until the nausea fades.....might be a while.....

[Middle Buffalo]

First things first, I forgot one:

 

Last Great Day - Hardcore Superstar. No other song was written with so many hooks, or meant to be played REAL loud in the summer, while driving down the road with your windows open or the top down. Easily one of the 5 greatest songs ever. I dare you to play it and NOT get your foot tapping.

Now to this. 

 

No, I don't listen to U2, especially nowdays. Pompous, arrogant, and full of bulls*** anymore, and leading me to believe that they always were. If I had to pick songs from them though, I would have to go with "I Will Follow" or their first, Boy, but even that is just a good song. For my overly preachy rock band songs, I will rank "Read About It" by Midnight Oil much, much, much higher than anything U2 ever did. And from their own country, I will take The Alarm from the first EP and their first two albums Declaration and Strength long before I would take U2. But that is just me.

 

I'm not trying to be a snooty kind of guy, and if you look at my list you will realize that. IMO, the people that pepper their lists with either the old standards such as Hendrix, Zep, Beatles, etc. are the "annoying" ones to a degree. When I see lists such as those, and you see nothing "obscure", it tells me that the people really haven't given very many bands a chance unless they first heard them in the car on their way to work, or at a college/high school party. There is so much music out there that to believe that anything you hear on the radio is the "greatest" is crazy. To believe that the songs I have listed are "the greatest" is silly. I have thousands of CD's/tapes/records/MP3 files around my house, so you better believe I will find something better than friggin' "Help!", which I do love, BTW.

 

The other thing about that list I have there, is that not always is a favorite song done by a favorite band. Heck, some of the bands I love the most (The Damned, The Replacements, Hanoi Rocks, The Lords Of The New Church, Dead Boys, to name a few) are not on that list. If I were to add them I would have to go:

 

Noise, Noise, Noise, Sick Of Being Sick (from The Peel Sessions), There Ain't No Sanity Clause, Rabid (Over You), Video Nasty (single edition), Is It A Dream?, I Think I'm Wonderful, plus many more...  - The Damned

 

And each band would end up like that. It's hard to pick a fave. It's all personal preferance, there truely is no "Greatest Song Ever". If you believe that U2 has the greatest songs ever, then they do. If you believe that The Rolling Stones were (you can't count them anymore) the greatest RnR band ever, then they were.

 

Part of my reason for participating in these lists is so that somebody like you might see a song title, a band name, read that description I gave, and actually go "hmmm, Hardcore Superstar eh? That sounds interesting..." and then maybe take the time to track something down of theirs. Do I think the song I list of theirs smokes everything The Beatles did? You betcha. Doesn't mean you will, but you might.

 

Also, not all of the bands on my list do I think are "Gods". Yes, many of them. But I also believe The Clash are one of the most overrated bands in the history of music. I like them, but think they turned out a ton of crap. Plus, the album my song from them appears on, London Calling is, IMO, one of the (if not THE) most overrated albums in music. But again, this is all my opinion.

 

No, I'm not arguing with you. But you do have a "discussion" now, which I think is the intended purpose of this thread. 

Perfect reply to my post. Thanks for taking it the way I intended it to be read.

[Rex Kickass]

Death Or Glory = Best Clash Song

That and Jimmy Jazz. Love falling over yourself drunk studio sessions.

[Steff]

It's both.

"My humps, my humps, my lovely lady lumps...."

 

Ugh, now I have to lie down until the nausea fades.....might be a while.....

 

 

Move over... :puke

 

 

[FlaSoxxJim]

That and Jimmy Jazz. Love falling over yourself drunk studio sessions.

Jimmy Jazz

 

Jay-ay-zee-zee-Jay-ay-zed-zed-Jay-ay-zed-zed Jimmy Jazz!

Edited November 21, 2005 by FlaSoxxJim

[Kid Gleason]

God, it's turning into a Clash Love-fest here. Don't get me wrong, I like The Clash quite a bit. I think their first album is amazing, even the US version (that's the one with "Jail Guitar Doors" for crying out loud!). I just don't think they were as great a band as they are made out to be. Hell, they aren't even the best band out of the 70's UK scene. I'll take The Damned, Chelsea, and Generation X to name a few, over them any day. But I DO like them a bunch.