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Continuing with the countdown.... 200 to 101 below the fold... 200. Some are White Light - Caspian 199. Half a Person - The Smiths 198. Boys Don't Cry - The Cure 197. Like a Forest - Low 196. About Today - The National 195. The Crystal Lake - Grandaddy 194. Awful Bliss - Guided by Voices 193. Too Pure - Sebadoh 192. Alone Down There - Modest Mouse 191 - Heartbeat in the Brain - The World is a Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid to Die An awesome article on the 20-year anniversary of the release of their (first) final album The Sebadoh appeared last week on Noisey, and yeah, you should check it out. My history with Sebadoh is falling deeply and madly in love with Bakesale upon its release (Skull, Rebound lighting up what was then Modern Rock radio in its heyday-is heyday -- 106.3 Modern Rock at the Jersey Shore!) and its follow up Harmacy. I remember being in Deptford (my long-forgotten hometown), visiting my parents I guess, and shopping at something called a "record store," which was popular back in the late 90s and stumbling upon the whole catalog of pre-Bakesale releases from the band including Smash Your Head on the Punk Rock, III, and of course, The Freed Weed. I may have owned the others but I remember buying The Freed Weed and getting a "cool man" comment by the pothead working at the store and it's weird the memories we keep. Anyway, Sebadoh came back with reunion tours and I've seen them a couple times in the past decade and they are amazing and so is this song. From Harmacy (1996). 190. Drag - Day Wave 189. Purr - Sonic Youth 188. Tractor Rape Chain - Guided by Voices 187. The Left is Right - Desaparacidos 186. Clam, Crab, Cockle, Cowrie - Joanna Newsom 185. Stadiums and Shrines II - Sunset Rubdown 184. Date with IKEA - Pavement 183. Notorious Lighting - Destroyer 182. Empty Room - Arcade Fire 181. A.M. 180 - Grandaddy It's an unfortunate fact of my indie rock fandom that the vast majority of singers on this countdown are male. It really has only been recently that I've fallen hard for female-fronted bands - Middle Kids, Slothrust, Hop Along, Girlpool, Half Waif, Camp Cope, St. Vincent, Diet Cig, Julien Baker, Vagabon, Sharon Von Etton, etc. But because of the breadth of history fueling this listing, very few female artists will appear higher than this (only a handful are left). It's unfortunate and maybe when I revisit in 10 years there will be greater diversity, but for now, here's Regine singing her heart out at #182 and the amazing Joanna Newsom at #186 with her harp and that voice. "Well just look around, that's why I love this town. Just see me serenaded hourly, celebrated sourly, and dedicated dourly, waltzing with the open sea. Clam, crab, cockle, cowrie. Will you just look at me?" 180. Seven - Sunny Day Real Estate 179. Two French Sisters - Pants Yell! 178. Moya - Godspeed! You Black Emperor 177. Charlotte Sometimes (Live) - The Cure 176. Wake Up - Arcade Fire 175. Blanket and Crib - Okkervil River 174. Silence Kit - Pavement 173. Derailed - Joyce Manor 172. Shut Up I am Dreaming of Places Where Lovers Have Wings - Sunset Rubdown 171. The Stars of Track and Field - Belle and Sebastien Oh, Spencer. Definitely the most influential artist in my indie rock fandom over the past decade and a half (with apologies to Mr. Darnielle, Mr. Bejar, Mr. Boeckner... and Mac, who is still #1 all time), and I like to say that I finally started to live the life I've always wanted by moving to Hoboken some six years ago, but really the life I've always wanted - going to shows in the city in tiny clubs, reveling in the music, writing about the experiences and turning those writings into novels (my first novel features a concert appearance prominently), it all came together for me this past decade and a half when I started attending shows again (after probably a decade of lapse) and the first show I saw in the 2000s was Sunset Rubdown - who I got to see at the First Unitarian Church basement in Philly circa 2006, where this video is shot (but not by me). Spencer would go on to release my favorite albums of 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, and 2013 (yes 7 straight years) but it's this one, Shut Up I Am Dreaming (which came in 2nd to Mogwai's Mr. Beast in 2006) that started my true love for the artist and the music and everything that would be a huge part of my life for the next decade plus (OK, yes, Wolf Parade's Apologies to the Queen Mary probably started it a year earlier but this was my first Spencer live experience). 170. Obstacle 1 - Interpol 169. Stop Me if You Think You've Heard this One Before - The Smiths 168. Randy Described Eternity - Built to Spill 167. Two-Headed Boy Part 2 - Neutral Milk Hotel 166. He Woke Me Up Again - Sufjan Stevens 165. That's Entertainment - Morrissey 164. Apistat Commander (Xiu Xiu cover) - Sunset Rubdown 163. God Bless Our Dead Marines - A Silver Mt. Zion 162. Rubies - Destroyer 161. Kim You Bore Me to Death - Grandaddy There's fresh meat in the club tonight, god bless our dead marines. Someone had an accident above the burning trees. While somewhere distant peacefully, our vulgar princes sleep. Dead kids don't get photographed, god bless this century. When the world is sick, can't no one be well. But I dreamt we was all beautiful and strong. 160. I'll Be You - The Replacements 159. Cemetery Gates - The Smiths 158. The Best Ever Death Metal Band in Denton - The Mountain Goats 157. Death with Dignity - Sufjan Stevens 156. Graceless - The National 155. Wasted Days - Cloud Nothings 154. The Ledge - The Replacements 153. Letting Go - The Rural Alberta Advantage 152. Burn Girl Prom-Queen - Mogwai 151. Skull - Sebadoh The National are one of the bands that I keep coming back to, sort of like Superchunk, in that they maybe don't quite reach the heights of someone like Spencer or old school Arcade Fire but all their albums are great, there's such a consistency, such a wonder in their music, both mellow and pumping at the same time, and they are incredible live. They are one of the most successful indie rock bands of the past decade and somehow (unlike Arcade Fire or Death Cab for Cutie) they kept their sound the same but the music fresh and I still love everything they do (unlike umm... yeah what the hell happened to Arcade Fire). 150. Shallow End - Superchunk 149. Should Have Known Better - Sufjan Stevens 148. Your Ex-Lover is Dead - Stars 147. The Chuckler - Protomartyr 146. The Happiest Place on Earth - Desaparacidos 145. Stamp - The Rural Alberta Advantage 144. Headache - Frank Black 143. Mountains Made of Steam - A Silver Mt. Zion 142. The Mistress Witch from McClure - Sufjan Stevens 141. Quiet - This Will Destroy You In 2003 and 2004, right after I fell in love with a "new wave" of indie rock bands that had been making amazing music in the late 90s under my radar, my favorite artist in back-to-back years (for the first and only time in chart history) was Bright Eyes. Some 15 years later, only a single Bright Eyes song has made this list, way down near the bottom. But four (4!) songs by Conor Oberst's side project punk band Desaparacidos are here. I'm not sure what that says about Conor, or me, I just know this song from 2001 has stuck with me more than any other song Conor has ever written, possibly because of the state of the country in the last 15 years. I want to pledge allegiance To the country where I live I don’t want to be ashamed to be American But opportunity, no, it don’t exist It’s the opiate of the populace We need some harder shit now The truth is getting around And each public school is a halfway house Where huddled masses sober up and up and up 140. Procession - New Order 139. Velvet Waltz - Built to Spill 138. Summer Here Kids - Grandaddy 137. Freak Scene - Dinosaur Jr. 136. Younger Us - Japandroids 135. Vidrar vel til loftarasa - Sigur Ros 134. Winged / Wicked Things - Sunset Rubdown 133. On the Rocks - The Rural Alberta Advantage 132. For the Widows in Paradise, for the Fatherless in Ypsilanti - Sufjan Stevens 131. Shine A Light - Wolf Parade Despite the presence of the song (lyrics) featured at the top of this blog in this grouping - plus two Spencer tracks - there's only one choice for the video to highlight here. This video came out in 2001 and even though I was an adult at the time, it was the single greatest piece of visual art I'd ever seen about coming out. It's shocking that in 2019 what is shown in this video just casually appears on regular TV and movies all the time, but it wasn't like that when I was young. At all. It was barely like that five years ago. Just an amazing song and an amazing video that means the world to me. And that look on the actor playing the father's face in the end -- that should be the poster for the evils of toxic masculinity (and Trump voters). 130. Lovely Allen - Holy Fuck 129. How Soon is Now? - The Smiths 128. Secret of the Easy Yoke - Pedro the Lion 127. Teeth Like God's Shoeshine - Modest Mouse 126. High to Death - Car Seat Headrest 125. Bushels - Frog Eyes 124. The Sad Mafioso - Godspeed! You Black Emperor 123. Terrible Love - The National 122. The Weather - Built to Spill 121. Up On Your Leopard, Upon the End of Your Feral Days - Sunset Rubdown Godspeed's music are like anthems for your soul, just swirling guitars and percussion and stringed instruments of shock and inspiration, sweeping over your mind and body until you lose yourself in the explosions of grace and wonder and joy. Let yourself be enveloped by one of the suites from "East Hastings" below... "The Sad Mafioso". 120. Blinders (fast version) - Superchunk 119. Animal Life - Shearwater 118. Unless it's Kicks - Okkervil River 117. Head On -The Jesus and Mary Chain 116. BlindBlindBlind - A Silver Mt. Zion 115. Westfall - Okkervil River 114. Hand in Glove - The Smiths 113. Six Days at the Bottom of the Ocean - Explosions in the Sky 112. Us Ones in Between - Sunset Rubdown 111. Range Life - Pavement Talk about toxic masculinity ... part of a series of songs by Will Sheff depicting horrible men and their horrible deeds, which culminated in Black Sheep Boy , his high point as an artist still, but this track from an earlier album not only blows me away live all the time's I've seen it, it really gets into the mindset of a certain set of men - far too many men - who think of women as lesser than them, in this case taken to its logical extreme... We went out one night, and took a flashlight, out with these two girls Colin knew from Kenwood Christian. One was named Lori, that was the story, the next week in The Guardian. And when I killed her, it was so easy. That I wanted to kill her again. I got down on both of my knees, and she ain't coming back again. Evil don't look like anything. Evil don't look like anything. 110. The Predatory Wasp of the Palisades - Sufjan Stevens 109. Lola Who? - Plants and Animals 108. Just Like Honey - The Jesus and Mary Chain 107. Alexander the Pretty Good - Be Still, Cody 106. Drunk Drivers / Killer Whales - Car Seat Headrest 105. Rebellion (Lies) - The Arcade Fire 104. Gouge Away - Pixies 103. Skip Steps 1 & 3 - Superchunk 102. Still Flat - Built to Spill 101. Available - The National We are really getting into the best of the best here, with a bunch of tracks that just missed the top 100. But since there's been a depressing / angry / desperate vibe through many of the selected videos on this post, I thought we'd end on an up note. And you can't get more up than Superchunk. My favorite artist of all time.
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