Marc Fagel's Blog: Jittery White Guy Music: The Blog, page 120

All My Favorite Songs #26: Spider And I

Most of the songs we've chatted about to date been pretty upbeat; hell, even the previous Brian Eno selection was on the thrashier side. Not so here. "Spider And I," the final track on the last of his 70s vocal albums, 1977's Before And After Science (after which he would spend years focusing entirely on instrumental ambient music, along with his varied production work) is hushed and hypnotic, largely just Eno's voice and a cascade of gentle synths. It's a stunningly beautiful piece, slowly buil...

All My Favorite Songs #25: Baba O'Riley

Ugh, boring, I know... another classic rock song. (No, really, some interesting and diverse picks'll be coming up once we get to the 40s!)

But on the short list of life-changing songs, this is way up there. I wrote at length in my book about how first hearing those opening notes from 1971's Who's Next, that odd keyboard loop so different from anything else I'd heard up 'til then, single-handedly ushered me into classic rock from my childhood obsession with Top 40 pop. Here's what I had to say in ...

All My Favorite Songs #24: Roadrunner

Rock & roll stripped down to its most basic and primal, Jonathan Richman and his original Modern Lovers ask the question, "Who needs three chords if you can get it done with two?"

Recorded essentially as a demo in 1972 (with the Velvet Underground's John Cale producing), but not released until 1976 (on the Modern Lovers' legendary self-titled debut), the song is one of rock's great what-if stories. It has all the makings of the perfect proto-punk alternative hit that would've placed the Lovers as...

All My Favorite Songs #23: Queen Bitch

Picking a favorite Bowie track is pretty much a toss-up. (Indeed, I originally had a different tune from '71's Hunky Dory in this slot, but ended up swapping them.) And I wouldn't consider "Queen Bitch" to be his best or most significant song, not when you've got songs like "Heroes" and "Starman" to contend with. Nor can I call it a sentimental favorite; I was much more attached to the more obvious hits on the life-changing ChangesOneBowie compilation long before I picked up Hunky Dory.

But someh...

All My Favorite Songs #22: God Only Knows

Here's another one that feels a bit like an obligatory inclusion, something that shows up high on the list because it has to.

Frankly, I was a late Pet Sounds convert (late as in my 20s, some years after most of my musical revelations). I was kinda put off of the early surf hits I'd grown up on in my childhood, all those Endless Summer tracks, and not terribly interested in what I understood to be an almost easy-listening, not rock & roll at all Beach Boys album. But when a remastered stereo vers...

All My Favorite Songs #21: (The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes

When I first started getting really into Elvis Costello back in high school--probably around 1980 or so--he already had a ton of songs. And not just songs, but absurdly great songs. Hell, his then-newish collection of b-sides, 1980's Taking Liberties, alone had 20 tracks, most of which were far better than anything being played on the radio back then. (That one stands up alongside the Who's Odds & Sods and a few others as leftovers collections that are better than most artists' proper albums, th...

All My Favorite Songs #20: Blitzkrieg Bop

I don't have a lot to say about this one, the first single off the band's 1976 debut album.

I mean, c'mon. It's "Blitzkrieg Bop."

Live at double-speed:

All My Favorite Songs #19: Like A Rolling Stone

Yeah, it feels a little tired & clichéd to include this one. Growing up, "Like A Rolling Stone" was a perennial top pick every time Rolling Stone ran a Greatest Songs of All Time list, or the local classic rock station did a greatest song countdown over a three-day holiday weekend, so it almost seems mandatory to include it near the top of my list. And I'm not even a huge Dylan fan--yes, I adore 1965's Highway 61 Revisited (on which this originally appeared) and 1966's Blonde On Blonde, but beyo...

All My Favorite Songs #18: White Man In Hammersmith Palais

In a nifty bit of serendipity, the Clash's second appearance on this list falls on the late Joe Strummer's birthday. This 1978 single is a compelling ear-candy mash-up of rock & reggae, and, like their prior entry, hits on the band's frequent themes of selling out and cashing in. Documenting a disappointing reggae concert attended by Strummer (before moving on to broader themes), the band bemoans how "the new groups are not concerned with what there is to be learned," instead "turning rebellion ...

All My Favorite Songs #17: Debaser

"Where Is My Mind" may be the song that introduced me to the Pixies and has the most emotional tug for me as a result (besides just being an amazingly unique song), but "Debaser" (off 1989's Doolittle ) wins out for pure play-count. It's the perfect indie rock rave-up song, one I've cranked up more times than I could possibly count... that simple bassline and loud-quiet-loud dynamic lovingly plagiarized by Nirvana for "Teen Spirit," that whip-crack snare, the perfectly crisp guitar interplay. Thr...