Last night Spin magazine had me in stitches with all sorts of lists of bands and songs and vids and CDs that I have to own,although I have to admit that everyone who is everyone in my saddle-stitched little world owns the Dead Texan CD but me, with even the incurably insightful
I'm not much for the "I'm more obscure than you" view of life, at least not since I turned 21 and voted for Jimmy Carter's re-election, and I disdain the kind of parsing and revolting from silly norms required. Certainly I believe that large labels are bird-hipped dinosaurs, and that from their ashes great phoenixes of obscure neighborhood artists will arise. But I like bombastic "big rock", I love Broadway show tunes, I like jazz so be-boppin' you can't even breathe, I love folkies with eyes more sincere than paperwhite flower blooms, and I've even watched Gwynnie Paltrow sing with Huey Lewis on a snippet of the movie "Duets", which, if you haven't seen the snippet I've seen of this estimable film, is a film that longs to be "Carwash", film noir, French Expressionism, a chase movie, an Americana classic, and a really cheesy kind of "Dirty Dancing goes to the karaoke bar" movie all at once. Think Raymond Carver writes the Barney the Dinosaur show, and you've got it. Wait, though, that was a Simpsons episode, wasn't it?
Anyway, With Malice Towards None, with Affection Towards All, I present A Big Whole Bunch of My Favorite Really Cool Songs, written in Alphabetic Format as they Occur to Me One Night.
RULE NUMBER ONE: Immediate disqualification if you actually can list your favorite 500, 1,000 or even 5,000 songs.
RULE NUMBER TWO: Immediate disqualification if your list does not change every five minutes or so. Be flexible, be creative, make it up as you, er, go. This minute, this instant, don't sleep on it.
RULE NUMBER THREE: If you don't own up, then don't expect to get to Heaven any quicker. Posing, now called "hipsterism" or "scenestering", is all in the attempt to make reflection seem like spontaneity.
Let your artificial moments be artificial, and your naturalness be natural. You're cool if you feed starving children. What's in your iPod doesn't make you cool. So relax, and list, and gasp with glee at your bad taste.
RULE NUMBER FOUR: Any list is inherently boring to anyone but you. So please yourself in your journal with your list, as if that's why you really write a journal.
RULE NUMBER FIVE: Write as many as come to mind. Write things you liked when you were 12. Write things you like today. The only rule is that it has to be part of your life, in one way or another. Disregard all the other rules.
SPECIAL WARRANTY: This list is warranted to be incomplete, flawed, drawn up on a whim, over-long, and
filled with omissions and errors symptomatic of insomnia
801, "You Really Got Me"
10cc, "I'm Not in Love"
10,000 Maniacs "hey Jack Kerouac"
ABBA, "Dancing Queen",
ABBA, "Waterloo",
Aerosmith, "Dream On"
Aerosmith, "Walk this Way"
Alice Cooper, "School's Out"
America, "Only in Your Heart"
America, "Ventura Highway"
The Arcade Fire, "The Backseat"
Aztec Camera, "Jump"
Joan Baez, "Diamonds 'n' Rust",
The Bangles, "Manic Monday"
The Bay City Rollers, "Saturday Night"
Be Bop Deluxe, "Adventures in a Yorkshire Landscape",
Be Bop Deluxe, "Jets at Dawn"
Be Bop Deluxe, "Life in the Air Age"
Be Bop Deluxe "Mill Street Junction"
Be Bop Deluxe, "Ships in the Night"
The Beach Boys, "Good Vibrations"
The Beatles, "With a Little Help from my Friends"
The Beatles, "Within You, Without You"
The Beatles, "Yesterday"
Big Country, "Big Country"
Black Oak Arkansas, "Gravel Roads"
Black Oak Arkansas, "Mutants of the Monster"
Blondie, "Dreaming"
The Boomtown Rats, "I Don't Like Mondays"
The Boomtown Rats, "Rat Trap"
David Bowie, "1984"
David Bowie, "Heroes"
David Bowie "Letter to Hermione"
David Bowie, "Life on Mars"
David Bowie, "Memories of a Free Festival"
David Bowie, "Station to Station"
David Bowie, "Sufragette City"
David Bowie, "Warsawa"
David Bowie, "Win"
The Buggles, "Video Killed the Radio Star"
The Buzzcocks, "I Believe"
The Carpenters, "We've Only Just Begun"
Jim Carroll, "People who Died"
Cheap Trick, "Surrender"
Chicago, "25 or 6 to 4"
Chicago, "Saturday in the Park"
Lloyd Cole and the Commotions, "Charlotte Street"
Judy Collins, "Amazing Grace"
Elvis Costello, "Alison"
Elvis Costello, "Beyond Belief"
The Cranberries, "Linger"
The Cranberries, "Song for My Father"
The Cranberries, "Sunday"
Marshall Crenshaw, "Cynical Girl"
Marshall Crenshaw, "Someday, Some Way"
Marshall Crenshaw, "Whenever You're on My Mind"
Sheryl Crow, "All I Wanna Do is Have Some Fun"
The dB's, "Amplifier"
The dB's, "Lonely is as Lonely Does"
The dB's, "Love is for Lovers"
Lisa Debenedictis, "Paper Dolls"
Deep Purple, "Smoke on the Water"
Dexy's Midnight Runners, "There, There, My Dear"
Diatonis, "Structure of Ambient Life"
Neil Diamond, "Cherry"
Dion, "Abraham, Martin & John"
Dire Straits, "Sultans of Swing"
Dire Straits, "Skateaway"
The Doobie Brothers, "China Grove"
The Doobie Brothers, "Jesus is Just All Right"
The Dream Syndicate, "Tell Me When It's Over"
Bob Dylan, "Blowin' in the Wind"
The Eagles, "I Can't Tell You Why"
Earth, Wind & Fire, "September"
Echo and the Bunnymen, "Rescue"
Echo and the Bunnymen, "Villiers Terrace"
Emerson, Lake & Palmer, "Hoedown"
Emerson, Lake & Palmer, "Karn Evil 9, Impression 3"
England Dan and John Ford Coley, "Love is the Answer"
Brian Eno, "Energy Fools the Magician"
Brian Eno, "King's Lead Hat"
Brian Eno, "Miss Shapiro"
Aretha Franklin, "Natural Woman"
The Faces, "Every Picture Tells a Story"
The Flower Kings, "Cinema Show"
Fun Boy Three, "Our Lips are Sealed"
Peter Gabriel, "Biko"
Peter Gabriel, "In Your Eyes"
Marvin Gaye, "Sexual Healing"
Genesis, "Afterglow"
Genesis "I Know what I like (in your wardrobe)"
Genesis, "The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway"
Steve Goodman, "City of New Orleans"
Lesley Gore, "It's My Party"
Grand Funk Railroad, "I'm Your Captain"
Grand Funk Railroad "We're an American Band"
Dobie Grey, "Drift Away"
Guns n Roses, "Sweet Child 'o' Mine"
Guadalcanal Diary, "Trail of Tears"
George Harrison, "Crackerbox Palace"
George Harrison, "This Song"
Head East, "Never Been any Reason"
Emmylou Harris, "Racing in the Streets"
Jimi Hendrix, "All Along the Watchtower"
Jimi Hendrix, "Purple Haze"
Sara Hickman, "Last Night was a Big Rain"
The Housemartins, "Happy Hour"
Human League, "Don't You want Me?"
Iggy Pop, "China Girl"
Jethro Tull, "Aqualung"
Jethro Tull, "Living in the Past"
Jethro Tull, "Thick as a Brick"
Billy Joel, "Piano Man"
Kiss, "Beth"
Kiss, "Rock n Roll All Night"
John Lennon, "Imagine"
The Long Ryders, "Looking for Lewis & Clark"
Looking Glass, "Brandy (You're a Fine Girl)"
Lene Lovich, "Lucky Number"
Lynyrd Skynyrd, "Free Bird"
Lynyrd Skynyrd, "Sweet Home Alabama"
Elton John, "Rocket Man"
Elton John, "Your Song"
Joy Division, "Isolation"
Joy Division, "Love will Tear Us Apart"
Joy Division, "She's Lost Control"
Carole King "It's Too Late"
The Kinks, "All Day and All of the Night"
The Kinks, "Waterloo Sunset"
Kraftwerk, "Autobahn"
Christine Lavin, "The Dakota"
Christine Lavin, "Santa Monica Pier"
Rickie Lee Jones, "Danny's All Star Joint"
Rickie Lee Jones, "We Belong Together"
Scott M, "Stupid Cupid"
Madness, "Our House"
Marshall Tucker Band, "Heard it in a Love Song"
Curtis Mayfield, "Superfly"
Natalie Merchant, "Thank You"
Natalie Merchant, "Trouble Me"
Joni Mitchell, "Free Man in Paris"
Alanis Morisette, "You Oughta Know"
Van Morrison, "Haunts of Ancient Peace"
Mott the Hoople, "All the Young Dudes"
Nazareth, "Jet Lag"
Nazareth, "Love Hurts"
Bill Nelson, "Do you Dream in Colour?"
Bill Nelson, "Flaming Desire"
Bill Nelson, "Spirit Cannot Fail"
Nirvana, "Smells Like Teen Spirit"
Gary Numan "Me, I Disconnect from You"
Laura Nyro, "Captain St. Lucifer"
Ozark Mountain Daredevils, "If you Wanna Get to Heaven"
Ozark Mountain Daredevils, "Jackie Blue"
Oblivion Neutron Bomb, "Have You Never Been Mellow?"
Jeff Pearce, "Spirals"
Penguin Cafe Orchestra, "Sound of Someone You Love Who's Going Away and it doesn't Matter"
Liz Phair, "Go West Young Man"
Pink Floyd, "Comfortably Numb"
Pink Floyd, "Wish You were Here"
Plastic Bertrand, "Ca Plane Pour Moi"
Prince, "1999"
Prince, "Little Red Corvette"
Prince, "When You were Mine"
The Ramones, "I Wanna Be Sedated"
The Records, "Starry Eyes"
REM, "Little America"
REM, "Radio Free Europe"
Renaissance, "The Sisters"
Lou Reed, "Romeo had Juliette"
Lou Reed, "Walk on the Wild Side"
Jeannie C. Riley, "Harper Valley PTA"
Minnie Ripperton, "Lovin' You"
Jean Ritchie, "Love is Teasin'"
The Roches, "Hallelujah Chorus"
The Rolling Stones, "Miss You"
Roxy Music, "Avalon"
Roxy Music, "Both Ends Burning"
Roxy Music, "Jealous Guy"
Roxy Music, "Like a Hurricane"
Roxy Music, "Love is the Drug"
Three Dog Night, "Pieces of April"
Todd Rundgren, "Can we Still Be Friends?"
Todd Rundgren, "Hello, it's Me"
Todd Rundgren, "Initiation"
Rush, "Lakeside Park"
Santana, "Everybody's Everything"
Santana, "Flame/Sky"
Santana with McLaughlin, "Love, Devotion and Surrender"
Seals & Croft "Summer Breeze"
Neil Sedaka, "Laughter in the Rain"
Simon & Garfunkel, "Bridge Over Troubled Water"
Simon & Garfunkel, "Sounds of Silence"
Soft Cell, "Say Hello, Wave Goodbye"
Sparks, "At Home, at Work, at Play"
Sparks, "Bon Voyage"
Sparks, "Fletcher Honorama"
Sparks, "Kiss Me Quick"
Sparks, "Talent is an Asset"
Sparks, "This Town Ain't Big Enough for Both of Us"
Bruce Springsteen, "Blinded by the Light"
Bruce Springsteen, "Born to Run"
Bruce Springsteen, "Candy's Room"
Bruce Springsteen, "Rosalita"
Steely Dan, "Reelin' in the Years"
Steely Dan, "Rikki Don't Lose that Number"
Steely Dan, "Time Out of Mind"
Styx, "Lorelei"
Donna Summer, "Love to Love You"
The Sundays, "Here's Where the Story Ends"
Talking Heads, "And She Was"
Talking Heads, "I Zimbra"
Talking Heads, "Once in a Lifetime"
James Taylor, "Fire and Rain"
The True Believers, "Ringing the Bell"
Thin Lizzy, "The Boys are Back in Town"
Three Dog Night, "One"
Tom Tom Club, "Prisoner of Love"
U2, "I will Follow"
U2, "Into the Heart"
U2, "Out of Control"
U2, "Pride (in the Name of Love)"
U2, "Sort of Homecoming"
U2, "With or Without You"
Uriah Heep, "The Magician's Birthday"
Suzanne Vega, "Marlene on the Wall"
Suzanne Vega, "Soap and Water"
The Who, "I Can See for Miles and Miles"
The Who, "Pinball Wizard"
Wings, "Jet"
Edgar Winter Group, "Frankenstein"
Stevie Wonder, "Superstition"
Yes, "Roundabout"
Neil Young, "Cortez the Killer"
Neil Young "Helpless"
ZZ Top, "La Grange"