My 100 Favourite Songs Part Three: 80-71

Ok. Here we are, breaking into the top 80. I tried to publish one of these every Sunday but I’m gonna be too busy tomorrow to do so, so I’m doing it today. Coincidently, I probably won’t be able to post another part of this list for a couple of weeks. So we’ll all have to sit and wait. Again, if there’s a problem with any of the links please leave a comment. Or just leave a comment anyways.

80. “G-Spot Tornado” by Frank Zappa – From the 1986 album Jazz From Hell. Considered by fans to be one of Zappa’s marquee songs, “G-Spot Tornado” is a weird, energetic and complicated instrumental piece of music. It was performed entirely by Frank on a synclavier, at the time a relatively new instrument making use of sampling technology. It is a bizarre song, with complex arrangements, strange sounds and an infectious melody. It truly is just a remarkable song.

79. “The Future Language of Slaves” by Hawksley Workman – From the 2003 album Lover/Fighter. This is a sparse, haunting acoustic song that appeared on an otherwise regular electric pop-rock album. Perhaps this is what makes it stand out so much. The lyrics at times delve into the ‘cryptic’ category, painting a sad picture. With the minimalism of this song, it feels like there is something missing, but not in the sense that Hawksley left something out. It’s just the emotion you get from listening to it; something’s missing… something’s not right. Great songwriting.

78. “Before I Die” by Mushroomhead – From the 2001 album XX. People often compare Mushroomhead to Slipknot, which is to be expected since Slipknot pretty much ripped them off completely. XX was Mushroomhead’s major label debut, but it’s really a compilation of their best material from 3 previous self-released albums. “Before I Die” is the album opener and a pretty kick ass song. Great vocals, solid rhythm plus lots of energy is always a good formula for a great song. Lead singers J Mann and Jeffery Nothing have greatly different styles but still play off each other extremely well. This is just a great metal song.

77. “Stay” by The Tragically Hip – From the 2000 album Music @ Work. This is the first in a quartet of similarly-styled Tragically Hip songs to make it on this list. I just really like the vibe of this song. It’s a song that I like to sing along with. Although I don’t fully know what this it’s about, it doesn’t bother me at all; still a great song.

76. “Rock is Dead” by Marilyn Manson – From the 1998 album Mechanical Animals. I do believe I first heard this song in conjunction with The Matrix. It’s from the ‘glam rock’ part of Manson’s career, which a lot of people don’t much care for but I think it’s my favourite time in his career. “Rock is Dead” is, in my opinion, one of Manson’s best set of lyrics. He was really on his A game with this one. On top of all that the music is fantastic. A great mixture of his particular brand of industrial rock mixed with the glam rock of his Omega character that he was portraying at that point in time.

75. “Intergalactic” by Beastie Boys – From the 1998 album Hello Nasty. Quite possibly one of the greatest hip-hop beats ever during the verses. This song samples Russian composers Rachmaninoff and Mussorgsky. Awesome. Part way through they also sample one of their own songs from off their first album; a neat little thing for long time fans. Lyrically, again, typical Beastie Boys. But it’s all fantastic. Great song.

74. “Parabola” by Tool – From the 2001 album Lateralus.  This is a great hard rock song from Tool. Coupled with the track that appears just before it (“Parabol”), it offers a lot of interesting and fantastic melodies from every instrument, vocals included. Maynard does another good job with the lyrics on this one. 

73. “Here to Stay” by Korn – From the 2002 album Untouchables. Instantly recognizable by its opening guitar riff, this song is just aggressive all over. I remember hearing this song when the video for it first came out. It’s a great music video, albeit a little morbid. Untouchables marked a change in direction for Korn with “Here to Stay” ushering in this new sound. It was a pretty good start, even if what came after wasn’t all that great. It’s still a great sounding song.

72. “March of the Pigs” by Nine Inch Nails – From the 1994 album The Downward Spiral. An industrial metal song played in mostly 7/8 time signature. It’s loud, harsh, fast and energetic. Until the creepy, quiet chorus comes along. It’s a bizarre little formula for a song but it works extremely well. 

71. “Jambi” by Tool – From the 2006 album 10,000 Days. This song is full of awesome rhythms. The main guitar riff at the beginning is simple but great. An odd thing about this song is that guitarist Adam Jones uses a talk box for the solo. For anyone unfamiliar with Tool, he’s never used a talk box before. It makes for an interesting mood. Some of my favourite lyrics from the song are: “So if I could I'd wish it all away, if I thought tomorrow would take you away. You're my peace of mind, my home, my center. I'm just trying to hold on one more day.”

Do You Smoke Weed?

I was out walking, just all regular like. I had on my hoodie. I was wearing sunglasses and I had my big headphones on. And of course my dreadlocks. So as I’m walking I see in the distance this tall skinny man coming toward me. Whatever, nothing important. But as I get close he starts talking at me. I was listening to Frank Zappa quite loudly so I didn’t hear a word this guy said. I took off my headphones and asked him “What?”

Him: “Do you smoke weed?”

Me: “Umm… no.”

Him: “You don’t?”

Me: “No.”

Him: “Really?”

Me: “Really.”

Then he got this very perplexed look on his face. He was so utterly confused. But then he continued…

Him: “Oh, well I thought I could throw a joint at ya if you can get me on a bus.”

Me: “…what?”

Him: “I need to get on a bus. I’m under house arrest; I’m not even supposed to be outside. Can you help me get on a bus? I’ll give ya a joint.”

Me: “Help how?”

Him: “Do you have any change?”

Me: “No. I don’t.”

Him: “Really?”

Me: “Really.”

Him: “You’re not even gonna check?”

Me: “I know I don’t have any change.”

Then he turned and walked away while muttering obscenities under his breath. I went back to listening to Frank Zappa. Then I got a sudden urge to look behind me out of fear of being stabbed, but he was long gone.

My 100 Favourite Songs Part Two: 90-81

Alrighty, let us continue with part 2. This is number 90 to number 81. Remember; if some of the accompanying links don’t work properly be sure to let me know. Feel free to leave a comment.

90. “I Don’t Wanna Grow Up” by Tom Waits – From the 1992 album Bone Machine. There is something just utterly fantastic about Tom Waits, then aged 43, belting out lyrics such as: “When I see my parents fight I don't wanna grow up. They all go out and drinking all night and I don't wanna grow up. I'd rather stay here in my room. Nothin' out there but sad and gloom. I don't wanna live in a big old tomb on Grand Street.” I can really relate to the sentiments in this song. In terms of instrumentation, this is actually an almost uncharacteristically normal song from Tom during the 1990’s; just guitars, bass, drums and vocals. This song would later be covered by The Ramones who had a great mutual respect with Tom. It really hammers home that old cliché that “growing old is mandatory, growing up is optional.”

89. “Heretics & Killers” by Protest the Hero – From the 2005 album Kezia. Protest the Hero have a remarkable talent for writing songs that go in seemingly random and chaotic directions while still coming across as fluid and completely natural. “Heretics & Killers” is no exception. There seems to be no real cohesion to the song structure, and yet it works extremely well. There’s a lot of variety in terms of melody and rhythm. Top notch performance by the band on this one. The lyrics are quite vivid and interesting with a strong sense of anti-religiosity throughout. 

88. “Body Movin’ (Fatboy Slim Remix)” by Beastie Boys – From the 1998 single Body Movin’. This is the version of the song that was used for the music video. It’s longer than the original version and has very different beats and samples. Overall it’s quite a good remix by Fatboy Slim and I tend to enjoy it much more than the original. The song itself is just typical Beastie Boys rhetoric; basically just having a good musical time. The music video is a riot, parodying the infamous B-movie Danger: Diabolik.

87. “Der Erlkӧnig” by Franz Schubert – Opus 1 (D. 328), 1820. Der Erlkönig was a poem originally written by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe in 1782. It tells the story of a man and his dying son riding home when the son starts hearing and seeing strange things; in particular the Erlkönig (often translated as “Elf King”). The Erlkönig sings to the young dying boy and tries to entice him to come away with him. The son yells for his father to help him but his father is oblivious to any supernatural things going on and simply thinks his son is hallucinating. Franz Schubert does a magnificent job at conveying through music not only the emotions involved through each character as they speak but also the frantic ride home by horseback. There is a constant gallop in the song representing the horse hooves. The juxtaposition of all three characters is so well done, with the father trying to remain calm, the son being scared and anxious and the Erlkönig trying to act all sweet and nice, and finally angry. Schubert really captures everything going on so well with the music.

86. “The Pot” by Tool – From the 2006 album 10,000 Days. It was rumoured that after using a Ouija board the band decided their next album should be in the style of the blues. I don’t think that quite came across, except for in this song. Maynard James Keenan does a great job with the vocals and the lyrics are quite interesting as is typical of Tool. The focal point of this song for me though is the bass. Justin Chancellor plays such great, catchy, complex and infectious bass riffs throughout this song. The lyrics of “The Pot” are filled with double meanings. You can look at the lyrics in a way that suggests it’s about authority and laws or you could see them instead as simple drug references. “The Pot” refers to that old phrase “the pot calling the kettle black”. After mentioning kangaroo courts and the guilty there’s a reference to stoning/being stoned. The lyrics “you must have been high” could mean the feeling of being above the law. At face value this song is just kinda fun, the more you look into it the more it makes you think.

85. “Bubbles” by System of a Down – From the 2002 album Steal This Album! Not much to say about this one. It’s just a short, fast-paced fun little song. It has a really catchy chorus and some pretty good riffs. Nothing spectacular but just so goddamn energized.   

84. “Pet” by A Perfect Circle – From the 2003 album Thirteenth Step. I really, really enjoy Maynard James Keenan’s lyrics on this particular song. “Pet” would later be reworked into “Counting Bodies like Sheep to the Rhythm of the War Drums” but I think that “Pet” works a little better. The lyrics are quite vivid and memorable and seem to suit the music very well, an example: “I'll be the one to protect you from your enemies and all your demons. I'll be the one to protect you from a will to survive and a voice of reason. I'll be the one to protect you from your enemies and your choices son; they're one and the same. I must isolate you. Isolate and save you from yourself.”

83. “Alice’s Restaurant Masacree” by Arlo Guthrie – From the 1967 album Alice’s Restaurant. This song is a blast. Clocking in at over 18 minutes it tells the true life (albeit embellished for comedic effect) story about how Arlo was denied admittance to the army because years earlier he had been arrested for littering. Arlo has great comedic timing and serious song-writing skills, both of which are put to great work in this piece. Guthrie tells the story in an amusingly long-winded way, going on weird tangents and describing things in ridiculous detail. But through all the humour Arlo still manages to make some poignant points about the Vietnam War, the draft and the bureaucracy involved in those processes.

82. “Chop Suey!” by System of a Down – From the 2001 album Toxicity. This is one of the first System of a Down songs I ever heard and it’s still one of my favourites. Since this song is ridiculously famous I don’t see much point in describing it. The reason I enjoy it so much is that it has great melodies throughout. There’s also a nostalgia factor for me with this song. Toxicity was the first album I ever owned. It’s a stroll down memory lane.

81. “Changes” by Tupac – From the 1998 album Greatest Hits. Although recorded in the early 1990’s this song wasn’t released until after Tupac’s death. Some of the lyrics were reused from previous songs. The song samples "The Way It Is" by Bruce Hornsby and the Range. Musically, it’s a beautiful little beat. Lyrically, this song is phenomenal. Pac is almost pleading for people to grow past their prejudices. He challenges people to treat each other with respect and live together without fear.  Although I can’t fully relate to some of the things he says in this song I can really empathize and it’s songs like this that makes me wish this world we live in was so much better than it is.

The Vampire Mythos

I find myself enjoying vampire-based stories less and less. Be they books, or video games, or movies or TV shows. There is just something about them in recent years that fails to impress me. I think it is very difficult nowadays for a writer to properly pull-off a vampire story because they want to be creative and unique and do something new while still utilizing very familiar character archetypes. The vampire mythos is a very strong one with a long and specific history. Vampires, for centuries, have been alluring, mysterious and frightening creatures; perfect characters for any writer. And although I do commend writers for trying to expand upon this mythos and offer something new, one has to wonder if there’s a reason why the mythology of vampires has remained so specific for hundreds of years. I was watching True Blood and although they do incorporate many vampirical “truths”, they do stray away from the mythology quite a bit. Enough so that at times it almost seems unnecessary that there are vampires involved in the story at all. And although Twilight completely fails in any and every conceivable way possible I do have to tip my hat a bit to Stephanie Meyer for going so far outside of the vampire mythos… like, way outside. She completely changed and/or ignored almost every aspect about what makes vampires vampires. Enough so that the entirety of the novels… books, let’s call them books – enough so that the entirety of the books and movies do not require there to be any vampires or any other supernatural beings involved at all. At all. There’s no reason for them to be vampires if you’re not going to use the vampire myth in any way. So I’ll give her credit for being brave… stupid, let’s call it stupid. But I really wish she had asked herself if vampire stories contain all those idiosyncratic things for a reason. I wish she had thought about why writers keep the mythos so specific. It’s because it works. The vampire mythology is old and seasoned and as good as it will ever be and writers need to be less concerned about being unique and being creative when it comes to using vampires. Just keep it true to its successful beginnings. And if you can’t, then don’t write about vampires at all. At all. 

My 100 Favourite Songs Part One: 100-91

Welcome, one and all, to this list of my top 100 favourite songs of all time (as of the posting of these blogs). This was a long and difficult process to whittle it down to only 100 songs and, truth be told, it could easily change by tomorrow. I had to put an end to constantly changing the list. I started with about 800 songs and through a few weeks and a couple hard drives I cut it down to 160 songs. Then it became difficult to cut any songs, but I did and although I’m happy with the list I can’t help but feel that it could change a bit just depending on the day and what mood I’m in. One thing that kinda bothers me is that in the 100 songs there are only 41 artists represented. I was hoping to have a larger variety, but there are just some artists who continually make amazing songs. So expect to see and recognize some trends and patterns in this list. Also, a message to music aficionados; you’ll probably be pissed off because I’ve broken one of the “golden rules”: there are cover songs on this list. A lot of them. I’m not someone who believes that remakes are always worse than the original. I like cover songs. I will include links in the song title to every song, most of them on YouTube. If I couldn’t find a good version on YouTube the link will lead you to Grooveshark to listen to it there. If there is a problem with any of these links please let me know. Anyways, I do suppose that’s enough of an introduction. Let’s get on with the list, shall we?

100. “At the Hundredth Meridian” by The Tragically Hip – From the 1993 album Fully Completely. There were probably another 50-75 songs that I would’ve been completely comfortable putting in this position. But the thing that gives this song that little extra something to make it stand out is simply the following lyrics: “It would seem to me I remember every single fucking thing I know.” Clever, and true. This is a good ol’ Canadian rock song. It reminds me of driving down country roads in the summer. It also has some importance to fans of The Tragically Hip. In the lyrics singer Gord Downie makes reference to 2 specific shows that the band had played on previous tours; one in Buffalo, USA, and one in Hengelo, Netherlands.  Both shows were notorious for the energy, and possible drunkenness, of the band and the audience as well. Good times were had by all. Also, I love the bridge in this song, the whole “If I die of vanity…” part and the mentioning of Ry Cooder is cool as well.

99. “See You in Hell” by Nate Denver’s Neck – From the 2006 album Ghost Alarm. This album wasn’t actually released on its own. It was included with Nate Denver’s fantastic book Wait, You’re Not a Centaur. The album is a strange collection of songs rooted in many different genres. This particular song is a sort of mixture between folk and hip hop. It is a funny, happy, little song with a catchy melody and is sung from the point of view of someone who dwells in Hell and enjoys it thoroughly. It’s weird, but in the best of possible ways. Between the verses Nate includes some samples from a variety of hip hop songs, all about hell or demons or the Devil and what not. The last few verses really make this song into something completely fantastic, listing off various ways to be tortured in Hell, all with the delivery of gleeful optimism.

98. “Billy the Mountain” by Frank Zappa & the Mothers – From the 1972 album Just Another Band from L.A. Where and how does one even begin to explain this song? It is epic. It was recorded in the early 1970’s during the ‘Flo & Eddie’ days of The Mothers of Invention. Flo & Eddie were the two singers most known for their work as The Turtles and when The Turtles broke up Frank had asked them to join his band. Around this time in rock music the idea of a rock opera was being attempted by almost every rock band around. Frank, being a clever and witty satirist, decided he would write his own rock opera of sorts to make fun of the bands who were trying to do these things as somber and seriously as possible. The result was Billy the Mountain: a 24 minute musical story about a mountain named Billy and his wife Ethell, a tree, who come into some money and decide to go on a vacation and end up causing a lot of trouble for a lot of people, all while being accused of draft evasion and pursued by a mysterious man named Studebacher Hoch. This only scratches the surface of the level of crazy that is going on here. There’s no possible way for me to explain this story, it’s something you really just have to listen to for yourselves. It is long, but it is wildly entertaining with an absurd plot, various pop culture references and not to mention the superb musical ability of this band. It really is a tour de force.

97. “No Rain” by Blind Melon – From the 1992 album Blind Melon. The music video for this particular song is often much more remembered than the song itself. However, I really do enjoy this piece. I jokingly refer to it as my “hippie song”, inspired mostly by the images in the music video with the band dressed in bright colours playing in a big green open field. It really is just a feel good piece of music. It’s another song that reminds me of a bright sunny summer day. Favourite lyrics: “And all I can do is read a book to stay awake and it rips my life away but it’s a great escape.” Fantastic.

96. “Electric Worry” by Clutch – From the 2007 album From Beale Street to Oblivion. Electric Worry is an interesting piece of music. It’s a mixture of original music and a cover song. The heavier parts of the verses and the chorus were written by Clutch. The slower and blues-ier parts are from Mississippi Fred McDowell’s “Fred's Worried Life Blues”. It makes for a really interesting song, not to mention that the chorus is ridiculously catchy and energetic with its yelling of “Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Vamanos! Vamanos!” This is the first song I had ever heard from Clutch and I thought it was quite awesome. It’s perfect for getting you amped up for something with its liveliness and force. The quieter parts add this periodic calmness to the whole thing that really balances the “all-out” rock with the sad blues lyrics. It’s a really fun song.

95. “Passing Afternoon” by Iron & Wine – From the 2004 album Our Endless Numbered Days. This is a lovely little song but my fondness for it was definitely hindered by its appearance on an episode of House M.D. Not that I dislike House, on the contrary I quite enjoy that show. But hearing “Passing Afternoon” on such a popular television program kinda robbed it of its innocence, like, here’s this rare song you really liked suddenly being heard by millions of people. It killed a bit of the romance. All that having been said it still really is just a simple little beautiful tune. It works very well in its minimalist state.

94. “Mace” by Nate Denver’s Neck – From the 2006 album Ghost Alarm. This is the first song on Ghost Alarm and it really sets an interesting mood. Again, this song falls into the folk/hip hop sort of blend. The lyrics seem completely random and unrelated. There’s no real overall theme except for the fact that this is Nate Denver just singing about his life; a strange little autobiography. Even with its convoluted and seemingly random execution it still manages to instill some smiles into you. You can’t help but notice a lot of authenticity and sentimentalism in “Mace”. I think almost anyone could relate to at least some of the lyrics in this song.

93. “The Drop-Off” by The Tragically Hip – From the 2006 album World Container. In my opinion this song is predominately propelled by Gord Downie’s vocal performance. He really goes all out in terms of delivery. There’s a lot of energy involved with every band member though. Everyone seems to be tapping into some sort of aggression for this track. This song reminds me of night time and I’m not really sure why that is. Choice lyrics: “The surface is green and the dark interweaves in a lonely iridescence. It’s terribly deep and the cold is complete and it only lacks a presence - and nothing else.”

92. “Tweeter and the Monkey Man” by The Headstones - From the 1993 album Picture of Health. This song was originally written and recorded by The Traveling Wilburys. The Headstones were a fantastic Canadian rock band. Lots of energy was present in everything they did. Although the original version of “Tweeter and the Monkey Man” is good, this version by The Headstones is far superior. It is just brimming with all kinds of energy. It’s a musically simple song that tells the story of two drug dealers and their interactions with the law. Good ol’ rock ‘n’ roll.

91. “Vietnow” by Rage Against the Machine – From the 1996 album Evil Empire. “Vietnow” is song criticizing many things including hysteria-inducing Conservative radio hosts, police brutality and various other fear mongers. There are a lot of references to specific political figures in the early and mid ‘90’s like Stacy Koon and Oliver North. Zack de la Rocha I think does a great job with the precision of his vehemence in these lyrics. All of this is accompanied by an infectious guitar riff and a solid rhythm section. The allusion to the novelist James Baldwin is apparent in the bridge with the lyrics “Is all the world jails and churches?”