I thought I'd try and keep this simple as possible. We trash-talk music a lot on here (nobody more than me) so maybe we could have a simple hommage to what we love most of all about music. FOCUS: What are your favourite songs of all time? What makes you love them above all else?
I think we should post top five only and defend/explain them, could help from people just posting endlessly every time a new song pops in their mind. You get one post best of the best. Thoughts?
I agree that there's no way to have a thread that isn't wildly out of control unless you do that, but I would argue that if you can name your top favorite 3 or 5 songs of all time, you're not actually a music lover. Since he mentioned mix tapes, how about tying three songs to a particular mood?
Nothing gets me more fired up and excited in the morning than this song as my alarm. The lyrics combined with the build, gibberish and climax at the end make my adrenaline pump. Simply because it's a metal song about beating off and fantasizing about sex. If I had a gash, I would froth out of it over this song. There is no better start to a night out on the piss than listening to this with a good group of friends.
My top 3 favorite songs of all time: 3. I am actually not a big Smashing Pumpkins fan, but this song is perfect. 2. This one may be kind of cliche to pick, but if I have to go with a top three then it must be included. 1. This is probably my all time favorite song. There is no better song for me to chill out to.
This is tough, I'd struggle to pick my top 10 albums let alone top 3 songs. I've already changed my mind about a dozen times so far Frank Turner - I knew Prufrock before he got famous Picking just one track off Love, Ire and Song was tough. I choose this one as it always brings back many a happy memory and the end never fails to send shivers down my spine. this is by far my favourite track (and album) to drunkenly sing along to with friends. Honest, genuine and without pretension, this what music should be about. Moderat - Les Grandes Marches There's a elegant beauty to this track, slowly building to a epic conclusion. I love all the tracks off this album, but this one edges it ever so slightly. The album is a masterpiece of electronic beauty. Even if you're not a fan of electronica/techno, from the first track to the last, you'll be lost in the music. Stevie Wonder - Superstition This track needs no justification. If you don't like Stevie Wonder, you are not human. Honourable mentions that nearly made the list: Smack my bitch up - The prodigy, Se lest - Sigur Ros, Dayvan Cowboy - Boards of Canada. Disarm/Soma/Geek USA - Smashing Pumpkins, In these Arms - Swell Season
Bad Astronaut is definately my favorite band right now. Formed in 2000 by Joey Cape of Lagwagon, Marko DeSantis of Sugar Cult and Derrick Plourde of Mad Caddies, they were an indy rock band but had definite punk rock leanings. Though I don't think Cape has ever stated this publicly, I've heard rumors that the band was formed in order to help "save" Derrick Pluorde, who had a history of depression and drug abuse. The rumor was that Derrick would often talk about himself as an outsider, never really feeling comfortable or whole, even with like minded people who shared his interests. Cape and Pluorde would write lyrics about such feelings, and eventually formed a band around this theme. Unfortunately, despite intervention, drug rehab, therapy and this creative outlet, Derrick committed suicide in 2005. They released three albums, one of which post-humously after Plourde's suicide. Upon the release of the third, Cape stated that it would be the last, as "without Derrick, there is no Bad Astronaut." From their first album, Acrophobe: Second Album, Houston, We Have A Drinking Problem: Third album, Twelve Small Steps, One Giant Disapointment: I've stated on this board before that I think Joey Cape is an amazing song writer, and I consider the songs he wrote in this band superior to anything he's done in Lagwagon or any of his other projects. Despite the dark themes of much of their songs, it makes me smile to think that a bunch of guys got together and tried to save their friend with music, even if in the end the effort was unsuccessful.
Fuck this is hard. I can't really pick a definite top 3 but here are three of my favorites. I've loved the Rolling Stones since I was a kid and they are hands down my favorite band. I love Keith's guitar tone on this track. Just fucking awesome. First heard this song as a little kid while riding with my uncle. I had no idea who Bob Dylan was, all I knew is that my uncle loved this song and at that point Bob's shitty unique voice might as well have been the voice of an angel as far as I was concerned. I'm a big Bob Dylan fan but this song is definitely my favorite one of his. Mike Ness is a bad ass and this song just sums up (what I assume) prison life to be. Just heartfelt and honest. It's very reminiscent of Johnny Cash in that outlaw/bad ass style and I absolutely love it.
"I Am One" by Smashing Pumpkins is my clear cut #1. The Pumpkins have been my favorite band for about 14 years, and I think this song demonstrates a classic Pumpkins sound. It has neat, psychedelic chord clashes, a hip hop-like drum beat, and and a solo sequence with two guitars at once. I'm pretty sure the lyrics mock Christianity from Satan's perspective: "I am one as you are three, try to find messiah in your trinity." Nothing immediately jumps to mind for a #2 or 3. Shows my high opinion of "I Am One".
I went with this specifically, since may answer to the focus question would surely change on a daily, if not hourly, basis. There are some current songs that I would rate as being in my top 3 "favorites" right now. But, I tried to put together ones that I loved 10 years ago, love today, and will still love 10 years from now. And, I tried to think, "Okay, if I had to answer the question to someone, 'give me three songs that represent what you love about music.' -- this is what I got. SRV's version - Little Wing Rush - Freewill Mary Chapin Carpenter - I Am A Town
Absolute Favorite- for me it doesn't get any better than just an acoustic guitar and/or a violin and/or a harmonica: ... And this one, from the day my son was born:
Oh wow, this is like asking a parent to choose their favorite child. I don't know if I could, but I can pick out a few songs that never get old for me. The Gufs-Smile I always thought they were bigger, but pretty much were regionally big in the mid 90s, especially being from Milwaukee. I still listen to this song and feel instantly happy. Brand New-Quiet Things That No One Ever Knows Just a quintessential track from my favorite band of all time. My favorite song may be I Will Play My Beneath the Spinlight or a few others, but from the first few notes, I am invested regardless of what I am doing, almost 10 years after the first time I heard it. Taking Back Sunday-Cute without the E There may be other TBS songs I like more, but this song just grabbed me by the chest the first time I heard it, and I still freak out whenever I am fortunate to hear it in public. I ran away from a convo with a very cute girl about a month ago whilst drunk cause I heard it and needed to scream lyrics in my roommate's face.
I love threads like these; I first heard a few of my favorite bands this way. KC and the Sunshine Band - Boogie Man. Coheed and Cambria - Deranged Rolling Stones - Gimme Shelter I'm constantly on the road, and these three songs always help pass the time. They let me zone out, and relax so I'm not chaining smoking for two and a half hours at a time.
I'm not even going to try and name my 3 favorite songs ever-- I couldn't, and I wouldn't want to. There are so many songs, so many different songs. Since somehow I doubt anybody's interested in Treble's 3 Favorite Art Songs, here are three pop songs with some of the most beautiful, eloquent, and forceful lyrics you will ever find. Three Pop Lyric Masterpieces 1)Joni Mitchell -- A Case of You (1971) Full lyric: <a class="postlink" href="http://jonimitchell.com/music/song.cfm?id=181" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://jonimitchell.com/music/song.cfm?id=181</a> Headline: This lyric is a masterwork of economy, of manipulating expectations, and of the use of dramatic irony, and it makes me weep. Details (spoilered for length): Spoiler I was tempted to post the James Blake cover (in fact, I will post the James Blake cover), but the lyrics are a bit harder to understand in his version (though his treatment of them is fascinating). Where do you even start? The beginning, I suppose: Just before our love got lost you said "I am as constant as a northern star" And I said "Constantly in the darkness Where's that at? If you want me I'll be in the bar" A major tool for a lyric writer (and indeed for a music writer) is the confirming or confounding of expectations. These lines are a rhapsody of expectations. From the first line we glean that everything has gone to shit-- this isn't "doctor, doctor, gimme the news/I gotta bad case of loving you." The second line is pop lyric wisdom--lovely sounding, and vague as to any kind of intention (and, incidentally, a quote from Shakespeare). And Joni knows it. She says "where's that at?/If you want me I'll be in the bar." Consider for a moment how she's manipulated where you think the song is going. We've careened from "OK, so she really misses this guy and when he said he was as constant as a northern star she must have thought that was just so sweet" to "Holy hell this girl is smart, and probably an alcoholic." The song runs away with the latter half of this notion: Oh, you're in my blood like holy wine You taste so bitter and so sweet Oh I could drink a case of you darling And I would still be on my feet I would still be on my feet The "Case of You" isn't a temporary illness or disease. You are a poison that I could drink until my heart stopped. You might say that she's claiming that the lover is harmless or innocuous; after all, she'd still be on her feet. But this is another masterful stroke by Mitchell, the employment of dramatic irony, and what might (if you're as faggoty as I am) make you tear up from time to time. Of course she thinks she'd be OK; she's a drunk, a fool for booze and for this destructive relationship. "Maaaan, that shit's so good, I could drink a fuckin' case and be feelin fine." We know this isn't true. We know she would die, and it's heartbreaking to think that she would want that for herself. Shut up, there's just something in my eye. Its thematic uniformity is brilliant and economical. Note how "part of you pours out from me in these lines from time to time" refers both pouring a drink from the case of you and to bleeding, as he's in her blood--creation as a purge or self-inflicted harm or any number of devastating ideas. The ambivalence of "but be prepared to bleed/but you're in my blood". I need to prepare to bleed to stay with you, but by bleeding I lose you. Now with all that, listen to James Blake play the same song. 22 year old kid from London, with a perfect, agonizing understanding of the hurt behind this song. Also love that he leaves the pronouns intact. And riffs his face off. 2)The Good Life -- Inmates (2004) Full lyric: <a class="postlink" href="http://www.sing365.com/music/lyric.nsf/inmates-lyrics-the-good-life/06bbce06b38aa1bc48256ee50014d37a" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.sing365.com/music/lyric.nsf/ ... e50014d37a</a> Headline: An epic of the modern twentysomething relationship, perfect in form and melody and devastating in effect. Details: Spoiler I'm frankly stunned that Tim Kasher wrote this. Most of his musical/lyrical output is in the same vein as his labelmate Conor Oberst-- honest, maybe, but overwrought and clumsy. And then all of a sudden he drops this on you-- a nine-minute, perfectly structured epic that somehow encompasses the entire emotional (and even literal) history of two breathing human beings, all through the voice of a girl (incidentally, his ex-girlfriend and singer of the song, Jiha Lee). Look at the absolutely immaculate structure.The audacity of a 9 minute song in strophic form already blows my mind--who does he think he is, making us listen to the same melody over and over for nine minutes? But you hardly notice. The melody is a vagabond that wanders through major and minor modes, through folk and blues and contemporary pop-- endlessly fascinating. Note how every verse begins with "When you said...." This gives the ear a home base to work off from. Every time a new stanza comes around we know we're going to be dissecting another thing the boy said. Note the way it develops from a single moment (the boy saying he loves the girl in bed one day), like a seed planted, and flowers into a contemplation on all the half truths and oblique dishonesties ("off-white lies" as Kasher brilliantly writes) that may or may not have been. Kasher also plays the expectation game: Every verse starts with "When you said," apart from the last, which finally turns the camera on the girl. "When I said I loved you, it was because I loved you." In barely five lines, she refutes all the half-committed bullshit her boyfriend has been feeding her with an almost unbearable sense of honesty and shame and hurt. "Yeah I guess you hrut me/For once you're a man of you word." How powerful is that? More than anything, this song works because it is someone working through something: you can hear her mind churning as she try and reckons with everything she's feeling. This is what holds our attention and makes 9 minutes feel like nothing. 3)Sufjan Stevens -- The Predatory Wasp of the Palisades is Out to Get Us! (2005) Full lyric: <a class="postlink" href="http://www.metrolyrics.com/the-predatory-wasp-of-the-palisades-is-out-to-get-us-lyrics-stevens-sufjan.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.metrolyrics.com/the-predator ... ufjan.html</a> Headline: A literary account of a young man realizing he's gay after contemplating a summer with his best friend at camp, slathered in gorgeous turns of phrase and one of the most resonant uses of metaphor in pop, that demonstrates perfectly the principle of prosody in lyric writing. Details: Spoiler I loved this song with all my heart for four years without knowing why. Yes, it's very pretty-- the use of minimalist cells that layer ontop of each other, the incredible choices of timbre, the slow build from flute and guitar to a choir and orchestra. But there had to be something else, something more. And one day before class last semester I looked at the lyric stoned (no correlation) and it snapped frightfully into place. I didn't go to class-- I bawled, and listened again and again. Let's see what we can see: Thinking outrageously I write in cursive I hide in my bed with the lights on the floor Wearing three layers of coats and leg warmers I see my own breath on the face of the door Oh I am not quite sleeping Oh I am fast in bed There on the wall in the bedroom creeping I see a wasp with her wings outstretched First two words: "Thinking outrageously..." This starts the current of incredulous exploration. As my gay friend explained to me later when I feverishly made him listen to the song and read the lyrics (he ended up crying too), this is how you really start to realize that you're gay. "Wait, this is crazy. I can't be attracted to him. He's a guy. But what if...?" It's also whimsical and innocent, like the rest of the stanza: I hide in my bed, I'm wearing lots of warm clothing. There's no hint of shame or fear or anything, until the last two lines, and even then it's almost more curious. At the end of this verse, Stevens introduces the overarching metaphor of the song: the wasp. This is a good time to talk about prosody. Prosody is the interplay between lyric and music, and Stevens uses it masterfully at the end of the first verse. First, note the whimsical upward flip of "wasp" in the last line-- it both indicates that the wasp is not actually real and that it's imbued with this mischievous sense of danger. Second, note how after the wasp line, the music immediately explodes with orchestral color--woodwinds, trumpets, instruments that weren't even hinted at two seconds before. It's like the narrator sees this imaginary wasp, and suddenly things start changing, and color that he's never seen before starts bleeding into his world. The wasp, of course, is a metaphor for his desire for his best friend. He first realizes it late one night: then, another day, while they're swimming, trying to joke around ("oh how I meant to tease him/oh, how I meant no harm") he kisses ("there on his shoulder my best friend is bit seven times") the friend, driving him away ("he runs washing his face in his hands"). Here is where the music swells, and the choir comes in (more prosody), praising the pastoral beauty of summer camp. The narrator is realizing now that the wasp was not imaginary, was not silly, it was real and it's ruined his best friend. The choir yearns for that simplicity, for the innocence, while Stevens' layered voices protest, straining to assert what he thought was the truth: "we were in love, we were in love." Again, like Inmates, this is the lyric of somebody discovering something about themselves, of epiphany. You can hear years of emotional strife and yearning and discord resolve itself. Absolutely remarkable.
There are way too many songs to choose from. I am just going to list mine by decade I guess. I would listen to this song a lot along with my Dad when ever we took a road trip somewhere. We had this small shitty stereo that somehow managed to play cassette tapes. I never liked the rest of Puff Daddy's album, but this was one of the first songs that introduced me to rap/ hp hop Currently they are my favorite band, and I am really stoked that their live recordings sound just as good, if not better.
Suggestion: everyone stops saying 'oh how hard', 'what just three songs' and simply embeds three youtube clips they feel most appropriate and will be enjoyed the most be readers.
I guess these three will have to do: This is the song that made me want to pick up a guitar. Glad I did. No matter what happens in life, I always can smile if I'm playing my guitar, and I have this song to thank for it. There is just something majestic about this whole song, and I'm a big blues fan in general. This is one of the meanest riffs ever recorded. The end jam section, with Mick Taylor's solo is also perhaps the best recorded moments in Stone's history.
This is my favourite song, an odd one. A really painful one to boot, but it's aura of tragic meloncholy is bone-chilling. My endorphins explode like fireworks whenever I hear it: The greatest guitar hook of all time, light years ahed of it's time. If I had a nickel for every beer or truck commercial it was in. This is the original, the better, with more of that amazing Billy Duffy riff: A dancebeat that is simply beyond perfect. The PERFECT hip-hop album that came at the right place at the right time, this song is hilarious, audacious, cool as dry ice and if you don't dance to it you were not born of man nor woman: ...you listen to a song like that, and you say the same thing that I do: "Yeah, they aren't even fucking TRYING anymore."