20 Songs

A meme inspired by Amy's efforts, the first 20 songs on my iPod (just randomly picking them on "shuffle")...

1. Articles of Faith, "My Father's Dreams" -- good Chicago hardcore band from the 80s; fast and fiery -- the lyrics kind of resonate with me, too;
   
2. Radiohead, "Knives Out" -- really pretty song, dreamy, haunting -- like so many Radiohead tunes;
3. Black Flag, "Slip It In" -- originators of LA hardcore, deadly-powerful, not for the faint of heart, masters of aggression and feedback;
4. Iron Maiden, "Purgatory" -- cool Metal band; almost jazzy in their amazing complexity; this is off of "Maiden Japan";
5. The Kingsmen, "Louie Louie" -- what's not to like about that one? It's fun, and everybody has covered it;
6. The Renegades, "Thirteen Women" -- a great cover of a Bill Haley & the Comets tune; fuzzed-out guitar and amusing lyrics -- probably my dream world, there;
7. Black Flag, "Depression" -- a good theme song for when I'm in a down mood;
8. The Hellacopters, "Paul Stanley" -- these Swedes do Rock right; simple as that;
9. The Proletariat, "Recollections" -- political postpunk from the early 80s, with amazing guitarwork; reminds me of Gang of Four, but with more guitar bite and more strident lyrics, believe it or not;
10. Slade, "Mama Weer All Crazee Now" -- great song, anthemic and glam-fat guitars, just a good-time tune;
11. The Ramones, "Rockaway Beach" -- one of my favorite Ramones tunes, a carefree, drive-with-the-top-down kind of song;
    
12. The Pagans, "Mixed Emotions" -- a Cleveland Punk band from the 70s, with that odd kind of sound that a lot of those bands had in Cleveland, like mingling pop melodies with punky lyrics;
13. AC/DC, "Problem Child" -- a straight-up rocker, like all of AC/DC's songs, a good song for a summer drive, with a very straightforward melody;
14. Wire, "The Agfers of Kodack" -- off of their "comeback" album, Send, showing that they still have it, nicely distorted sound, up-tempo, urgent sound, with lots of washes of electronic noise in the mix;
15. The Stooges, "1969" -- a year before I was born; good song, bare-bones melody with the Bo Diddley "jungle rhythm" to it, full of simple insolence, a good template for what was to come in the 70s;
16. Hüsker Dü, "Now That You Know Me" (live) -- off The Living End, their live album, one of my all-time favorite songs by them, managing this beautifully melodic urgency, triumphant and yearning and powerful -- like many of Grant Hart's songs for them, just right on the mark; if you hear it, you'll see -- it makes me feel all lovey inside;
    
17. Orange Goblin, "Song of the Purple Mushroom Fish" -- instrumental piece by these British psych-rockers (heavily shaded by Metal); dreamy, perhaps a little menacing, like going for a boat ride on the River Styx, alone -- these guys don't sound like the Brits that they are; they have a very American boogieness to their sound;
18. Blur, "Song 2" -- Woo 'Oo! You know the one; Blur's rocking near-hit, a good time tune that has a sound that makes me think of when Alternative music was really alternative;
19. Franz Ferdinand, "Michael" -- there's sort of a backlash against these guys, but I think they're good, and this song's just too funny with its homoerotic vibe -- it has a section of backward-masking in it, where the guy says ("Call your Mum, she's worried about you!") -- they said that in an interview;
20. Flipper, "The Lights, The Sound, the Rhythm, the Noise" -- Flipper are their own thing, either a love'em or hate'em kind of band, making a droning, incredibly sloppy noise that can drive people insane, but I like'em -- their songs make their own kind of sense.