Flack's Top 125 Songs
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gsdgsd
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Flack
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Wow, I forgot all about this band. I used to have "Scrape" recorded on VHS tape and thought it was the gnarliest video ever (this was of course long before YouTube video clip shows). I remember looking in local music stores a few times and never finding any of their CDs and giving up. I may go track some of them down now -- thanks for the flashback!gsdgsd wrote:Yay Melvins. Have you ever heard Unsane? They're not a ton like the Melvins, other than being on the heavy side of things, but their fanbases tend to overlap and they've toured together a bunch.
The first time I saw the Melvins live it was with White Zombie and Reverend Horton Heat (some lineup!). The second time it was just them in a small club with some local act opening up. That time, they closed with "Okie from Muskogee". Even though the club was a hundred miles from Muskogee, it still got a pretty good reaction from the crowd.
"I failed a savings throw and now I am back."
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Flack
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94. Johnny Cash - Folsom Prison Blues
Both this and Man in Black choke me up whenever my iPhone randomly blesses me with them.
A few years ago I toured Sun Studios in Memphis, Tennessee. There's an X marked on the floor in tape where Johnny Cash stood when he recorded all of his Sun Studios singles, including this one and Walk the Line.
On a different vacation, the family and I got to tour Johnny Cash's tour bus while visiting the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland. The bus has more than a million miles on it and was Cash's home away from home for many years. It was surreal to stand in the Man in Black's rolling home.
I'm posting the live version because that's the one that's on my phone, but any Johnny Cash song sung by the Man in Black is a good version.
[youtube][/youtube]
Both this and Man in Black choke me up whenever my iPhone randomly blesses me with them.
A few years ago I toured Sun Studios in Memphis, Tennessee. There's an X marked on the floor in tape where Johnny Cash stood when he recorded all of his Sun Studios singles, including this one and Walk the Line.
On a different vacation, the family and I got to tour Johnny Cash's tour bus while visiting the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland. The bus has more than a million miles on it and was Cash's home away from home for many years. It was surreal to stand in the Man in Black's rolling home.
I'm posting the live version because that's the one that's on my phone, but any Johnny Cash song sung by the Man in Black is a good version.
[youtube][/youtube]
"I failed a savings throw and now I am back."
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Flack
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93. Matthew Sweet - Girlfriend
Matthew Sweet's voice, along with his guitar playing, turn this relatively simple song into a great one. I don't know what else to say about it except whenever I hear it, I feel like I just met a new girlfriend for the first time.
[youtube][/youtube]
Matthew Sweet's voice, along with his guitar playing, turn this relatively simple song into a great one. I don't know what else to say about it except whenever I hear it, I feel like I just met a new girlfriend for the first time.
[youtube][/youtube]
"I failed a savings throw and now I am back."
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Flack
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92. Deftones - Bored
I discovered both the Deftones and Korn around the same time. It's amazing how similar their first albums sound and how different their later stuff is. The Deftones are definitely a band that attracts fans through their singles ("My Own Summer", "7 Words") and then hides their best tracks deep on their albums.
I decided to go with "Bored," not just because it's the first track from the first album, but because the opening riff is so beautiful and nasty that I literally fell in love with the band in two seconds. Literally. I just heard that riff and, poof. Fan.
[youtube][/youtube]
I discovered both the Deftones and Korn around the same time. It's amazing how similar their first albums sound and how different their later stuff is. The Deftones are definitely a band that attracts fans through their singles ("My Own Summer", "7 Words") and then hides their best tracks deep on their albums.
I decided to go with "Bored," not just because it's the first track from the first album, but because the opening riff is so beautiful and nasty that I literally fell in love with the band in two seconds. Literally. I just heard that riff and, poof. Fan.
[youtube][/youtube]
"I failed a savings throw and now I am back."
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Flack
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91. Blondie - One Way or Another
I got my first record player when I was six or seven years old. I only had a few albums, but I quickly learned my parents had better records than I did. The first albums I ever listened to were Queen, Jimi Hendrix, The Who, the Beatles, and Blondie.
The albums I remember listening to were Parallel Lines, Blondie, and Blondie's Greatest Hits. The older I get, the less I love (but still like) the softer songs like "Heart of Glass," "The Tide is High," and "Rapture." The ones that stick with me are the guitar driven ones: "Call Me," "Hanging on the Telephone," and of course this one, "One Way or Another."
Plus, you know. Sexy.
[youtube][/youtube]
I got my first record player when I was six or seven years old. I only had a few albums, but I quickly learned my parents had better records than I did. The first albums I ever listened to were Queen, Jimi Hendrix, The Who, the Beatles, and Blondie.
The albums I remember listening to were Parallel Lines, Blondie, and Blondie's Greatest Hits. The older I get, the less I love (but still like) the softer songs like "Heart of Glass," "The Tide is High," and "Rapture." The ones that stick with me are the guitar driven ones: "Call Me," "Hanging on the Telephone," and of course this one, "One Way or Another."
Plus, you know. Sexy.
[youtube][/youtube]
"I failed a savings throw and now I am back."
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Flack
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90. The Misfits - She
She walked out with empty arms
Machine gun in her hand
She is good and she is bad
No one understands
She walked in in silence
Never spoke a word
She's got a rich daddy
She's her daddy's girl
I was a huge fan of Metallica's "Garage Days" EP, which is where I first heard of the Misfits (Metallica covered Last Caress and Green Hell on the EP). A year or two later, this guy in my school who had a mohawk got a Misfits skull patch on the back of his jacket. That sold me.
For at least a decade, the only Misfits album I owned was the self-titled compilation (sometimes called "Collection I"). My exposure to punk music prior to that was bands like the Sex Pistols... suddenly, here were guys literally beating on their instruments and creating sing-along choruses like "I ain't no goddamn son-of-a-bitch, you better think about it baby!" and songs about President Kennedy getting shot in the head (I won't mention what happens to Jackie-O in the song...). It was dirty and distorted pure energy (and not in an Information Society way).
"She" sums up the Misfits for me. It's a song about a single topic (Patty Hearst), mostly full of unintelligable lyrics with a few parts you can shout along to ("SHE LIVES ON THE RUNNNNNNNNNN!"), and perhaps best (?) of all, it's less than 90 seconds long. If you don't like this song, wait for the next one.
[youtube][/youtube]
She walked out with empty arms
Machine gun in her hand
She is good and she is bad
No one understands
She walked in in silence
Never spoke a word
She's got a rich daddy
She's her daddy's girl
I was a huge fan of Metallica's "Garage Days" EP, which is where I first heard of the Misfits (Metallica covered Last Caress and Green Hell on the EP). A year or two later, this guy in my school who had a mohawk got a Misfits skull patch on the back of his jacket. That sold me.
For at least a decade, the only Misfits album I owned was the self-titled compilation (sometimes called "Collection I"). My exposure to punk music prior to that was bands like the Sex Pistols... suddenly, here were guys literally beating on their instruments and creating sing-along choruses like "I ain't no goddamn son-of-a-bitch, you better think about it baby!" and songs about President Kennedy getting shot in the head (I won't mention what happens to Jackie-O in the song...). It was dirty and distorted pure energy (and not in an Information Society way).
"She" sums up the Misfits for me. It's a song about a single topic (Patty Hearst), mostly full of unintelligable lyrics with a few parts you can shout along to ("SHE LIVES ON THE RUNNNNNNNNNN!"), and perhaps best (?) of all, it's less than 90 seconds long. If you don't like this song, wait for the next one.
[youtube][/youtube]
"I failed a savings throw and now I am back."
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Flack
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89. Silverchair - Tomorrow
I did a terrible job of sorting these songs. The fact that this song is higher in the list than Johnny Cash and the Misfits is stupid.
I like hard rock songs that figure out a way to get mainstream radio airplay, and Silverchair did it with this song.
This song asks more questions than it answers. Why can't people keep on going living like a king? Why is the water so goddamn hard to drink? What happens tomorrow? Who knows?!??!
Both this song and the band are an obvious Nirvana rip-off, but I still enjoy the song. I love the chord that kicks off the chorus, followed by that little six-note walk up the fret. I think I liked this song so much because I have written songs that sound just like it. If only I looked more like Kurt Cobain...
[youtube][/youtube]
I did a terrible job of sorting these songs. The fact that this song is higher in the list than Johnny Cash and the Misfits is stupid.
I like hard rock songs that figure out a way to get mainstream radio airplay, and Silverchair did it with this song.
This song asks more questions than it answers. Why can't people keep on going living like a king? Why is the water so goddamn hard to drink? What happens tomorrow? Who knows?!??!
Both this song and the band are an obvious Nirvana rip-off, but I still enjoy the song. I love the chord that kicks off the chorus, followed by that little six-note walk up the fret. I think I liked this song so much because I have written songs that sound just like it. If only I looked more like Kurt Cobain...
[youtube][/youtube]
"I failed a savings throw and now I am back."
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gsdgsd
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Jizaboz
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Flack
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2012's "Koi No Yokan" is a far cry from the earlier nu-metal Deftones stuff, but it's no less great.gsdgsd wrote:Jesus, I don't think I've heard the Deftones in this century. I really loved them, not sure why I tuned out. I'll have to dig them up again.
If I'd done a top 50, the Misfits' "Bullet" would've been on there. "She" is great too.
I know there are a ton of Misfits albums out there (mostly with different takes of the same songs over and over) but if you have Collection I and II, you're pretty well set IMHO. Pushead's work, between the Misfits and Metallica, is also pretty legendary.
"I failed a savings throw and now I am back."
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Flack
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Flack
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88. Phil Collins - I Wish It Would Rain Down
Phil Collins was all over the radio in the 1980s. I have his greatest hits on my phone and my knee jerk reaction is to say they're all great songs. When you look at them though... are they, really? They're all familiar, sure, but are they all great?
There's a lot of pop stuff in there... Easy Lover, You Can't Hurry Love, Sussudio, lots of stuff I'm familiar with and would sing along to, but... not favorites. Before retro radio stations played it to death (and that dumb fake rumor about Phil Collins watching someone drown), "In the Air Tonight" might have made the list. If those things pushed it down the list, that Cadbury Egg commercial killed it.
"I Don't Care Anymore" is close.
"I Wish It Would Rain Down" though is the perfect mixture of hope, depression, love and self-loathing. Plus, Eric Clapton.
[youtube][/youtube]
* BONUS *
You know you want it.
[youtube][/youtube]
Phil Collins was all over the radio in the 1980s. I have his greatest hits on my phone and my knee jerk reaction is to say they're all great songs. When you look at them though... are they, really? They're all familiar, sure, but are they all great?
There's a lot of pop stuff in there... Easy Lover, You Can't Hurry Love, Sussudio, lots of stuff I'm familiar with and would sing along to, but... not favorites. Before retro radio stations played it to death (and that dumb fake rumor about Phil Collins watching someone drown), "In the Air Tonight" might have made the list. If those things pushed it down the list, that Cadbury Egg commercial killed it.
"I Don't Care Anymore" is close.
"I Wish It Would Rain Down" though is the perfect mixture of hope, depression, love and self-loathing. Plus, Eric Clapton.
[youtube][/youtube]
* BONUS *
You know you want it.
[youtube][/youtube]
"I failed a savings throw and now I am back."
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Flack
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Flack
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86. Big Pig - Hungry Town
All kids are into pop music, which I was. Then I discovered heavy metal, and then rap. Just when I had everything figured out, a friend of mine introduced me to "alternative" music, I guess, although I'm not sure it had a name back then. The Cure, Roxy Music, The Smiths, and a million other bands, including Big Pig.
Big Pig has seven members, five of which play either the drums of percussion. You'll also hear some keyboards and a harmonica.
Truth be told I like the song "Iron Lung" better than "Hungry Town," but (shockingly!) there aren't a lot of Big Pig videos on YouTube, and I like this one almost as much. You can see three drum kits set up in this video, along with the band in their black butcher aprons.
Sometimes when I discover a band and they get popular I get really happy and other times I get sad. I felt like the only person in the world who knew who Big Pig was and then their song "Breakaway" ended up being played during the opening credits of the first Bill and Ted's movie. Then all of a sudden people were like "AH BIG PIG!" and... ugh.
I few years ago I paid around $40 for the band's second album off of eBay (it was only released in Australia). It's not as good as the first, and there wasn't a third.
This song has a little bit too much harmonica and almost sounds like a barn dance, which is unfortunate.
[youtube][/youtube]
All kids are into pop music, which I was. Then I discovered heavy metal, and then rap. Just when I had everything figured out, a friend of mine introduced me to "alternative" music, I guess, although I'm not sure it had a name back then. The Cure, Roxy Music, The Smiths, and a million other bands, including Big Pig.
Big Pig has seven members, five of which play either the drums of percussion. You'll also hear some keyboards and a harmonica.
Truth be told I like the song "Iron Lung" better than "Hungry Town," but (shockingly!) there aren't a lot of Big Pig videos on YouTube, and I like this one almost as much. You can see three drum kits set up in this video, along with the band in their black butcher aprons.
Sometimes when I discover a band and they get popular I get really happy and other times I get sad. I felt like the only person in the world who knew who Big Pig was and then their song "Breakaway" ended up being played during the opening credits of the first Bill and Ted's movie. Then all of a sudden people were like "AH BIG PIG!" and... ugh.
I few years ago I paid around $40 for the band's second album off of eBay (it was only released in Australia). It's not as good as the first, and there wasn't a third.
This song has a little bit too much harmonica and almost sounds like a barn dance, which is unfortunate.
[youtube][/youtube]
"I failed a savings throw and now I am back."
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Flack
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85. S.O.D. - March of the S.O.D. / Sargent D and the S.O.D.
If you know your metal history, you know S.O.D. wasn't a "real" band -- or at least, they didn't start out as one. The Stormtroopers of Death (S.O.D.) were a one-off project formed by Anthrax members Scott Ian (guitar) and Charlie Benante (drums) who ended up with an extra week of studio time after finishing Spreading the Disease. The guys called Dan Lilker (bass, Nuclear Assault) and buddy Billy Milano (vocals) and wrote and recorded the infamously offensive album.
Milano went on to form M.O.D. (Methods of Destruction) and I can't remember if I discovered S.O.D. through that or something else, but once Headbanger's Ball started using clips from S.O.D. songs during their show bumpers, everybody went out and bought the album.
The first two songs flow into one another (on the cassette I always thought they were one song). The opening 90 seconds is the "March of the S.O.D.," a heavy moshing song to kick off the album, folled by "Sargent D and the S.O.D.," the song that unleashed the band's non-P.C. mascot on the world.
Don't cut the line 'cause he'll cut off your legs
Don't waste your time or you'll spend time with the dead
Don't try to trick him 'cause he'll fill you with lead
Don't beg for mercy, he'll piss on your head
He'll kill your sister, then mail back the tits
He'll beat you senseless, then break out the whips
He'll make you wish that you didn't exist
'Cause Sargent D is coming and you're on his list
The first clip is the first track from the album. The second one is Sargent D. It's worth watching Billy Milano, a 200+ pound guy, stage diving from the top of a giant speaker cabinet while wearing a skull mask. Oh, Billy...
[youtube][/youtube]
[youtube][/youtube]
If you know your metal history, you know S.O.D. wasn't a "real" band -- or at least, they didn't start out as one. The Stormtroopers of Death (S.O.D.) were a one-off project formed by Anthrax members Scott Ian (guitar) and Charlie Benante (drums) who ended up with an extra week of studio time after finishing Spreading the Disease. The guys called Dan Lilker (bass, Nuclear Assault) and buddy Billy Milano (vocals) and wrote and recorded the infamously offensive album.
Milano went on to form M.O.D. (Methods of Destruction) and I can't remember if I discovered S.O.D. through that or something else, but once Headbanger's Ball started using clips from S.O.D. songs during their show bumpers, everybody went out and bought the album.
The first two songs flow into one another (on the cassette I always thought they were one song). The opening 90 seconds is the "March of the S.O.D.," a heavy moshing song to kick off the album, folled by "Sargent D and the S.O.D.," the song that unleashed the band's non-P.C. mascot on the world.
Don't cut the line 'cause he'll cut off your legs
Don't waste your time or you'll spend time with the dead
Don't try to trick him 'cause he'll fill you with lead
Don't beg for mercy, he'll piss on your head
He'll kill your sister, then mail back the tits
He'll beat you senseless, then break out the whips
He'll make you wish that you didn't exist
'Cause Sargent D is coming and you're on his list
The first clip is the first track from the album. The second one is Sargent D. It's worth watching Billy Milano, a 200+ pound guy, stage diving from the top of a giant speaker cabinet while wearing a skull mask. Oh, Billy...
[youtube][/youtube]
[youtube][/youtube]
"I failed a savings throw and now I am back."
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Flack
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84. Smashing Pumpkins - Siva
"Despite all my rage I am still making minimum wage." ;)
"Siva" was (I think) Smashing Pumpkin's first single. If not, it was the first time I heard of the band. The band had a much different image back then -- more Satanic than alternative, I thought. The song's kind of creepy, and so is the video. I was really disappointed with some of the Pumpkins' later work.
I saw the Smashing Pumpkins live in 1992, opening for Guns N' Roses. I was the only person out of 18,000+ people excited to see the Smashing Pumpkins that night.
[youtube][/youtube]
"Despite all my rage I am still making minimum wage." ;)
"Siva" was (I think) Smashing Pumpkin's first single. If not, it was the first time I heard of the band. The band had a much different image back then -- more Satanic than alternative, I thought. The song's kind of creepy, and so is the video. I was really disappointed with some of the Pumpkins' later work.
I saw the Smashing Pumpkins live in 1992, opening for Guns N' Roses. I was the only person out of 18,000+ people excited to see the Smashing Pumpkins that night.
[youtube][/youtube]
"I failed a savings throw and now I am back."
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Flack
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83. Heart - Barracuda
I discovered Heart in the mid-80s when they were releasing songs like "These Dreams" and "Alone". At some point I bought the Heart greatest hits and discovered some of their older songs. I'm sure I had heard "Barracuda" on the radio before that, but I'm not sure that I knew that it was Heart.
I have never been able to master all the nuances of this song on the guitar but I play it like a madman on the air guitar.
[youtube][/youtube]
I discovered Heart in the mid-80s when they were releasing songs like "These Dreams" and "Alone". At some point I bought the Heart greatest hits and discovered some of their older songs. I'm sure I had heard "Barracuda" on the radio before that, but I'm not sure that I knew that it was Heart.
I have never been able to master all the nuances of this song on the guitar but I play it like a madman on the air guitar.
[youtube][/youtube]
"I failed a savings throw and now I am back."
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Flack
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82. My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult - Kooler than Jesus
I honestly can't remember when I discovered MLWTTKK -- sometime before Sexplosion! was released and "Sex on Wheelz" appeared on the Cool World soundtrack, so probably 1990 or so. The first time I heard "Kooler than Jesus" I felt the same way I did after I heard Motley Crue's "Shout at the Devil" -- that was was bound to go to hell over music. Why must everything so good be so bad for us?
There are a lot of great songs on those first couple of songs like "Devil Bunnies" and "The Devil Does Drugs." It's also where I learned what a Daisy Chain 4 Satan was. But if you're gonna jump in, jump in here.
I am not responsible for your soul burning while you dance.
I am the Electric Messiah ... the AC/DC God.
[youtube][/youtube]
I honestly can't remember when I discovered MLWTTKK -- sometime before Sexplosion! was released and "Sex on Wheelz" appeared on the Cool World soundtrack, so probably 1990 or so. The first time I heard "Kooler than Jesus" I felt the same way I did after I heard Motley Crue's "Shout at the Devil" -- that was was bound to go to hell over music. Why must everything so good be so bad for us?
There are a lot of great songs on those first couple of songs like "Devil Bunnies" and "The Devil Does Drugs." It's also where I learned what a Daisy Chain 4 Satan was. But if you're gonna jump in, jump in here.
I am not responsible for your soul burning while you dance.
I am the Electric Messiah ... the AC/DC God.
[youtube][/youtube]
"I failed a savings throw and now I am back."