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Much has changed in my musical interests since I compiled this original list 3 years ago -- new songs, new bands, a fading of my interest in the favorite music of my youth. But much has stayed the same, including the #1 overall. The top of this list was probably the most difficult to assess but I couldn't find another song I was willing to admit was better than "Trailer Trash". So Modest Mouse holds on. And we'll start the list right now. This post will be in 4 parts, starting with the top 20. Come back next Monday for the next 30. And thanks for reading!
#1. Song: "Trailer Trash" Artist: Modest Mouse Album: The Lonesome Crowded West Year: 1997 Length: 5:49 Label: Up Records Rating: 8.9 (out of 10 on Pitchfork) What makes this my favorite song of all-time doesn't appear until three and a half minutes into the song, when Isaac Brock's singing fades away and this slowly building melody explodes into a cacophony of guitars and drums and rhythmic jamming that marks the very best of Modest Mouse's work, and this is the very best music they've ever made. Before 2001, and before this song, I mostly loved songs with actual singing, valuing lyrical brilliance and melodies more than anything. But as you can see from the appearance of several songs in my top 10 that are either entirely or partially instrumental masterpieces, my musical interest has changed dramatically since the time when I first fell for the Mouse and first realized all the beauty that could be contained without a single spoken word by simply listening to the last two minutes of "Trailer Trash." I really don't think there is another two minutes of music that can ever be made to top it. That's why it's the #1 song of all-time. #2. Song: "Two-Headed Boy" Artist: Neutral Milk Hotel Album: In the Aeroplane over the Sea Year: 1998 Length: 4:26 Label: Merge Rating: 10 out of 10 (for the album on Pitchfork) The most raw, honest, beautiful piece of music ever made by a human being. Yeah I said it. I don't have any fucking clue what it's about. I don't know why Jeff Mangum disappeared from the face of the earth after releasing the album it comes from well over a decade ago. I don't know why his off-kilter tone and pounding guitar feel like a virtuoso performance from the heavens to me. I just know it moves me in a way that music was made to move people and none have done it better. I discovered this song in May 2001, literally two months before discovering "Trailer Trash", both from albums that had come out years earlier but never made their way to my ears. Two months in the history of music produced my favorite songs ever made. I've been a non-stop fan of indie rock ever since. Jeff Mangum had everything to do with that. Watch the video below and be blown away. #3. Song: "Lift Your Skinny Fists, Like Antennas to Heaven" Artist: Godspeed You! Black Emperor Album: Lift Yr. Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven Year: 2000 Length: 6:15 Label: Kranky Rating: 9.0 (out of 10) for album on Pitchfork When searching for a live video of this song on YouTube (doesn't exist), I found the video below and in the comments section, someone just 3 months ago posted, simply, "Changed my life." Probably the most succinct and accurate way I can describe this track, the 1st part of the first movement ("Storm") off the GY!BE 80-minute double-album Lift Yr. Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven. Believe it or not I discovered this song in late summer 2001, yes, 2 months after "Trailer Trash", meaning all of my top 3 favorite songs of all-time were found in several months around the summer of 2001. And each one is more varied than the rest, but all are beautiful, all are perfect, and no piece of instrumental music is more perfect than this soaring opener to the classic album by the Canadian anarchists who broke up not too long after I first heard this song. My favorite music has always been the "slow build", a song that slowly builds to a climactic crescendo, that sweeps you up in emotion as it rises to an amazing conclusion. Very few songs ever recorded are willing to accomplish that slow build (and I'm not even talking about the boring, staid "verse-chorus-verse" world of mainstream music). And very few let it run out to the end the way "Lift Your Skinny Fists" does. And none, none, have ever been so beautiful. #4. Song: "Here" Artist: Pavement Album: Slanted and Enchanted Year: 1992 Length: 3:56 Label: Matador Rating: 10 out of 10 (for the album on Pitchfork)
but success it never comes and I'm the only one who laughs at your jokes when they are so bad and your jokes are always bad but they're not as bad as this come join us in a prayer we'll be waiting waiting where everything's ending here painted portraits of minions & slaves crotch mavens and one night players are they the only ones who laugh? at the jokes when they are so bad and the jokes they're always bad but they're not as bad as this come join us in a prayer we'll be waiting waiting where everything's ending here #5. Song: "Teen Age Riot" Artist: Sonic Youth Album: Daydream Nation Year: 1988 Length: 6:57 Label: Enigma/DGC (reissue) Rating: 10 out of 10 (for the album via Pitchfork) I was a teenager when Sonic Youth released Daydream Nation, which has gone on to be considered one of the seminal releases in indie rock and alternative music history, possibly the greatest single album ever made by a band in this genre. But I didn't know it then, I didn't discover it until college, and that was after Goo and Dirty, and I didn't really like it quite as much as those later albums. At some point, in my most recent decade of indie rock fandom I've learned to appreciate the band and the album more but honestly, I don't really listen to much Sonic Youth anymore, not anything from Goo or Dirty at least, even though they were among my favorite albums at the time. It's been 20 years now, and it's relatively rare that I still follow anything I loved 20 years ago (even Seinfeld reruns have gotten stale). But this song, this anthem of anti-establishment rebellion for teenagers in the '80s that I missed as a teenager in the '80s because I was listening to far too much Bon Jovi and Def Leppard (oh god, those were bad days) to have even heard of Sonic Youth until I got to college, but this song still resonates today, even long after my teen age riot has passed. #6. Song: "Love Will Tear Us Apart" Artist: Joy Division Album: Love Will Tear Us Apart (7" single) Year: 1980 Length: 3:26 Label: Factory Records This song was written in the fall of 1979 and released in April 1980 and as such is the oldest track on my list. It was once most famous for the fact that the writer of the song, lead singer Ian Curtis, killed himself one month after its release, propelling the song to the band's first chart position, peaking at #13 in the UK. But now it's just known as one of the greatest songs of all time, named #1 single ever made by NME in 2002. It's been re-released several times after that, including a 1983 version which charted again. The surviving band members, of course, formed New Order, which was one of my two or three favorite bands ever when I was in college and the decade that followed. They've faded now, but this song has not. It remains beautiful and poignant to this day, even after (or perhaps because of) Ian Curtis's untimely passing. #7. Song: "The Official Ironmen Rally Song" Artist: Guided by Voices Album: Under the Bushes, Under the Stars Year: 1996 Length: 2:49 Label: Matador Records Guided by Voices put out a metric ton of beautiful little pop songs in the '90s but none were as beautiful as this track, in my opinion, a short pop gem that stands out from the rest of the songs in my top 10 in that it's not particularly soaring, it didn't change my life in any way, it doesn't have any special meaning in the history of indie rock or alternative music, and isn't considered by fans of the genre to be among the classics of GBV music that preceded it on Bee Thousand and Alien Lanes. But I just can't listen to this song and not feel good. And that's why it's sitting here among my favorite songs of all time. Bitter fish in crude oil sea You don't have to bother me You just have to join on this song Crawling people on your knees Don't take this so seriously You just have to hum it all day long #8. Song: "The Queen is Dead" Artist: The Smiths Album: The Queen is Dead Year: 1986 Length: 6:24 Label: Rough Trade Rating: 10 out of 10 (for the album on NME) The Smiths. From about 1990 to the mid-part of this past decade, I would have told anyone who asked that they were my favorite band of all-time. And it wasn't really close. They sang painful, emotive, desperate music before any of that became a genre of its own, and I'm still amazed at the rawness, honesty, and bravery of Morrissey's music at the time. And they were popular, at least in England. I can't imagine anything like that being popular again in the current age where art is money and only the basest, broadest, least bold statements make an artist famous. Indie rock exists as a genre because music is bad, generally, and sure we have an Arcade Fire or Modest Mouse sweep into the edges of mainstream success, but even their music is rather tame compared to the emotional messages of The Smiths, who challenged the monarchy itself with this song, off what some argue is their greatest album. I don't listen to them much anymore, and their songs on this countdown are almost all universally lower than they were just 3 years ago. And they are no longer my favorite band of all-time, having been surpassed by a whole group of indie rockers who have dominated my interest in the latter part of this decade. But their influence on me was profound. And a song like this still resonates as beautiful. Past the Pub who saps your body And the church who'll snatch your money The Queen is dead, boys And it's so lonely on a limb Past the Pub that wrecks your body And the church - all they want is your money The Queen is dead, boys And it's so lonely on a limb #9. Song: "Edit the Sad Parts" Artist: Modest Mouse Album: Interstate 8 EP Year: 1996 Length: 9:33 Label: Up Records Sometimes all I really want to feel is love Sometimes I'm angry that I feel so angry Sometimes my feelings get in the way Of what I really feel I needed to say If you stand in a circle Then you'll all have a back to bite back #10. Song: "Mogwai Fear Satan" Artist: Mogwai Album: Young Team Year: 1997 Length: 16:19 Label: Chemikal Underground Rating: 9.7 (out of 10) on Pitchfork This is the 16-minute closer to Mogwai's debut album, the critically acclaimed blast of aural goodness called Young Team. It's basically all guitars, all the time, exploding and retreating and veering through sonic tempos never experimented with before (or as well since). There's no singing, no lyrics, nothing but pure rock revolution, or as Pitchfork put it in their review of Young Team, "the most accurate sonic representation of the Big Bang theory in the history of music." #11. Song: "AT & T" Artist: Pavement Album: Wowee Zowee Year: 1995 Length: 3:33 Label: Matador Rating: 9.3 (out of 10) for the album on Pitchfork It's just one of the catchiest songs I've ever heard, with a brief slow build that explodes into a rocking pop gem, underscored by hooks galore and Malkmus's typically inscrutable lyrics that somehow add to everything Pavement does. It's simply brilliant, despite being rather ignored by those discussing the greatest songs of the '90s. For me, it's more than that. It's one of the greatest songs of all-time. Whenever, whenever, whenever, whenever I feel fine... I'm gonna walk away from this, from all that #12. Song: "San Andreas" Artist: Portastatic Album: Slow Note from a Sinking Ship Length: 2:37 Year: 1995 Label: Merge Records Mac of Superchunk wasn't content in being the lead singer and songwriter of the seminal indie rock legends and also the co-founder the seminal Merge Records, he also has put out more than a decade's worth of music on his side solo project, Portastatic, including this gem from the wonderful 1995 Slow Note from a Sinking Ship. It's a blast of pure pop excellence and probably one of the more obscure songs in my top 20, but one I never get tired of listening to. #13. Song: "I'll Believe in Anything" Artist: Wolf Parade Album: Apologies to the Queen Mary Year: 2005 Length: 4:37 Label: Sub Pop Records Rating: 9.2 (out of 10) for the album via Pitchfork Spencer Krug is my favorite musician, as any regular reader recognizes, and he's a member of at least three (and sometimes four or five) bands which will fill up spaces throughout this top 200. But it's this song, off Wolf Parade's first album, that remains the gold standard of Spencer Krug musical creations. It doesn't start out as much, not really, but when it explodes, it really explodes, and it captures me in a way that no song released in the past six years has done. I used to think the song was about love, and that the chorus was "I'll believe in anything IF you'll believe in anything" but I'm pretty sure now it's "I'll believe in anything AND you'll believe in anything" which makes it sound more like it's about a breakup of a relationship, and the strange thing is the rest of the lyrics can be read either way, so the meaning of the song hinges on whether Spencer is saying IF or AND. And that to me is pretty beautiful. On some days I hear it as a song about love and on others a song about destruction of love. Either way, it's absolutely brilliant. And it sounds amazing live. #14. Song: "Whenever You See Fit" Artist: Modest Mouse / 764-HERO Album: Whenever You See Fit Year: 1998 Length: 14:28 Label: Up Records/ Suicide Squeeze This song was released as part of a 12" vinyl single collaboration between fellow Washington state indie rockers 764-HERO and their eventually much better known counterparts Modest Mouse. The song is indeed over fourteen minutes long and it's not exactly filled with a lengthy storyline in its lyrics. It's basically variations on the same rock jam between the two bands with 764-HERO's lead singer singing the melody and Isaac Brock's spastic yelping filling in the chorus. And even after 14 minutes, I still long for more. It's that freakin' good. I can't really explain it any better, and there are no reviews to find of it, so just enjoy it for what it is. A rare, somewhat undiscovered gem of a majestic rock song, an epic glory of guitars and drums and singing, and a somehow touchingly beautiful discourse on sleep. #15. Song: "The Plan" Artist: Built to Spill Album: Keep it Like a Secret Year: 1999 Length: 3:29 Label: Warner Brothers Rating: 9.3/10 (on Pitchfork) The first minute of this song remains the most amazing piece of rock music ever made. Just hearing "the plan keeps coming up again" fills me with a joy that few things in life can accomplish. Thank you, Doug Martsch, thank you for your very existence. The plan keeps coming up again And the plan means nothing stays the same But the plan won't accomplish anything If it's not implemented Like it's always been And it makes me think of everyone And the cause of this is evident But the remedy cannot be found Cause it's so well hidden #16. Song: "Summer Babe [Winter Version]" Artist: Pavement Album: Slanted and Enchanted Year: 1992 Length: 3:17 Label: Matador Rating: 10 out of 10 (for the album on Pitchfork) #17. Song: "Hyper Enough" Album: Here's Where the Strings Come In Artist: Superchunk Year: 1995 Length: 3:31 Label: Merge Records When all our bones and muscles hurt... what's so funny about that? This video below is the first time I ever heard Superchunk, back when MTV still played videos and back when good music could actually be heard outside of indie rock clubs and blogs like these. This was 1995 and Superchunk has been among my 4 or 5 favorite bands of all-time ever since. #18. Song: "The Moon" Artist: The Microphones Album: The Glow Pt. 2 Year: 2001 Length: 5:16 Label: K Records Rating: 9.2 (out of 10) for the album, via Pitchfork "Perhaps the problem is that most pop music doesn't put enough faith in the listener. Everything must be laid out in the most obvious of terms, and eventually, that obviousness obscures whatever the music originally intended to convey. If you want to invoke the quiet beauty of the ocean, for example, you can write a pop song that says, "Hey, the ocean is really beautiful," or you can try to come up with a sonic approximation of that beauty. It's a huge undertaking to attempt to capture something so visual in a song. But for Phil Elvrum, it seems to be second nature. A sprawling, swirling composition that is both as varied and as consistent as the landscape itself, The Glow Pt. 2 exceeds even its predecessor in capturing the simultaneous wrath and fragility of nature. And sounding really, really cool." #19. Song: "Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)" Artist: The Arcade Fire Album: Funeral Year: 2004 Length: 4:48 Label: Merge Records Rating: 9.7 (out of 10) via Pitchfork for the album The first Arcade Fire song I ever loved. Still my favorite. And still filled with so much beauty. "Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)" is a sumptuously theatrical opener-- the gentle hum of an organ, undulating strings, and repetition of a simple piano figure suggest the discreet unveiling of an epic. Butler, in a bold voice that wavers with the force of raw, unspoken emotion, introduces his neighborhood. The scene is tragic: As a young man's parents weep in the next room, he secretly escapes to meet his girlfriend in the town square, where they naively plan an "adult" future that, in the haze of adolescence, is barely comprehensible to them. Their only respite from their shared uncertainty and remoteness exists in the memories of friends and parents. #20. Song: "The Mending of the Gown" Artist: Sunset Rubdown Album: Random Spirit Lover Year: 2007 Length: 5:36 Label: Jagjaguwar Comments are closed.
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