In all seriousness, I've had this argument before, that it's impossible for anyone to narrow down their favourite songs into a top 10. Go to a top 100 and you're beginning to get the kind of lee-way required to make a reasonable case. Anyone who thinks s/he can name a top 10 simply has not listened to enough music. Jesus! I'd struggle to name a top 10 list of albums! For example, I love practically everything that Hendrix ever did, and I could probably just struggle to give you a list of my favourite 10 Hendrix tracks. Same, too, with Pink Floyd. But, could I honestly tell you, hand on heart, that I prefer (say) Voodoo Chile over (say) Comfortably Numb? I love both songs equally, and for different reasons. And would I prefer either of those two songs over Smoke Stack Lightening (Howlin' Wolf), or Sally Mae (John Lee Hooker), and any other great blues track I could name? I love the blues, for different reasons to why I love hard rock. And what about all that classic rock pop from the 80s that I grew up listening to? Don't tell me that none of the songs from Sparkle In The Rain (Simple Minds) or Tales From The Big Chair (Tears For Fears) ought not to feature somewhere! And what about all of that great prog rock that I love? Is none of that any longer worth listening too? All those great early Genesis and ELP albums... And there are so many other great artists that I love: Queen, The Eagles, The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, Prince, Bowie, Dylan, ELO, Super Tramp, Van Halen, AC/DC, UFO, Gary Moore, Thin Lizzy, Buddy Guy, Foreigner, Black Sabbath, Rainbow, Deep Purple, Chuck Berry, Buddy Holly, Elvis, etc, etc. Sorry, but for me to even begin to attempt to list a "top 10" would be both a complete waste of time and a lie.
I largely agree with HIAG, though not necessarily with the acts that he's chosen. My favourite song changes with my mood, so I've no idea how anyone has the same constant on songs, albums or even artists.
I largely agree with HIAG, though not necessarily with the acts that he's chosen. My favourite song changes with my mood, so I've no idea how anyone has the same constant on songs, albums or even artists.
For me, the great songs are the ones you never tire of hearing. You never forget them. Yes, your absolute favourite can change, according to mood, etc. But some music stays within you for all of your life.
How many times have you heard a song on the radio that you'd forgotten about, and said to yourself, "What a great song! I really love that!" That happens to me all the time. Why, only the other day, I heard "Everything I Own," by Bread, from the early 70s, and I said to myself, "What a great song! I really love that!" That has happened to me more than 10 times in my life, so to say that I have a constant, unchanging top 10 list of favourite songs is clearly a lie. I probably do have a top 100, but I'd really have to give some thought to that, and I definitely wouldn't be able to list any one particular song over another; they would all be songs that I love equally.
You preferred my first list better, didn't you? Go on, admit it! There's no shame in a grown man grooving down to Russ Abbott's, "Oh, What An Atmosphere!" Well, yes. Actually, there is. But you cannot tell me that you've never cried whilst listening to the great St Winifreds School Choir singing, "There's No One Quite Like Grandma!" Okay, so you did cry, but not for the reasons the record producer would appreciate...
Everything I own is a great song. Very moving tribute to David Gates' father. Makes my blood boil when I hear the cod reggae version around recently, utterly misunderstanding the lyric. Like Police's Every Breath you take - people play that at wedding's with zero understanding of the malevolence in the lyric.
Or people completely missing the point that Hurt is a song about drug addiction - even the Johnny Cash version that's getting overused quite a bit these days.
Trent Reznor wrote the lyrics in a fairly ambiguous manner and the Johnny Cash video for it does a decent job of writing a different story for the same song. Good songwriting allows people to see things about their own life in a song, in my opinion.
I prefer Kermit The Frog's version of Hurt. It's extremely poignant, especially that part where he's jacking-off over a photo of Miss Piggy.
Quite. You're banned. I'm struggling to think of a decent band who aren't British or American. Any ideas?
Er, right. I've thought of some Canadians - The Hextalls, The Copyrights and Dear Landlord, but I bet nobody's heard of them - and they're Americans really, aren't they?
Yeah, I'm counting Irish as British. British Isles, certainly. I think I should have had "Hanging on the Telephone" rather than "Denis" as my Blondie song from the '70s. The Searchers also deserve a mention as a classy British band from the '60s.