Hamster's top 100 songs

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

This is stupid. However, I don't care.

I'm just going to list my favourite songs, in no order. There'll be lots of lovely youtube videos too.

You guys won't particularly care much (well a few may do) but if anyone wants to try something similar then you should - it'll be interesting to see the less obvious songs that people like.

I'm giving myself rules though. The main one is this:

ONLY ONE SONG FROM AN ARTIST.

Now I know this means it's not necessarily my top 100 songs but if I allowed multiple songs from artists then I'd just have a dozen Blur, loads of Sigur Ros and Mew and a fair smattering of PJ Harvey etc and this list would be pretty two dimensional.

So instead, when I list the song I'll also state how difficult it was to choose that as my favourite song from that artist. If the difficulty is "HIGH" then it means that my favourite song of theirs changes depending on mood. If it's LOW then it means that the song is definitely my favourite - either down to one hit wondery, a lack of deeper knowledge in the artiste or that it's just a major stand-out for me in a decent back catalogue.

Anyway I'm getting started, feel free to critique. You know you want to.

The next post will be the songs in alphabetical order by artist.

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

3 Colours Red - "Pure".

Adam and The Ants - "Kings of the Wild Frontier".

Air - "Run".

Amiina - "Sexfaldur".

Aphex Twin - "To Cure A Weakling Child".

Aqualung - "Strange and Beautiful".

Ash - "Lose Control".

Beach Boys - "Good Vibrations".

Beat - "Mirror in the Bathroom".

Beck - "Loser".

Belle and Sebastian - "Wrapped up in Books".

Björk - "5 Years".

Blink-182 - "Going Away to College".

Blondie - "Call Me".

Blur - "Beetlebum".

Boards of Canada - "Dayvan Cowboy".

Brian Eno - "An Ending (Ascent)".

Bryan Ferry - "Let's Stick Together".

Buzzcocks - "Ever Fallen in Love".

Cardigans - "My Favourite Game".

Chemical Brothers - "Music: Response".

Clash - "Rudie Can't Fail".

Cream - "Sunshine of Your Love".

Cure - "Close To Me".

David Bowie - "Little Wonder".

Death in Vegas - "Aisha".

Dee-Lite - "Groove Is In The Heart".

De La Soul - "The Magic Number".

Depeche Mode - "Enjoy the Silence".

Duran Duran - "Ordinary World".

Eels - "Novocaine for the Soul".

Efterklang - "Mirador".

Elastica - "Annie".

Emiliana Torrini - "Heartstopper".

Enigma - "Camera Obscura".

Eurythmics - "Sweet Dreams".

Faithless - "Mass Destruction".

Fatboy Slim - "Gangster Trippin".

FC Kahuna - "Hayling".

Feeder - "Radiation".

Fun Lovin' Criminals - "Scooby Snacks".

Future Sound of London - "Papua New Guinea".

Grandaddy - "A.M. 180".

Gregor Samsa - "Even Numbers".

Hives - "Hate To Say I Told You So".

James Brown - "Sex Machine".

Jamiroquai - "Feels Just Like It Should".

Jona Lewie - "Stop The Cavalry".

Jonquil - "Pencil Paper".

Kinks - "Days".

Knife - "Pass This On".

Ladytron - "Blue Jeans v2.0".

Len - "Steal My Sunshine".

Madness - "One Step Beyond".

Massive Attack - "Teardrop".

Melt Banana - "Monkey Man".

Mew - "Cartoons and Macrame Wounds".

Mogwai - "Friend of the Night".

Múm - "They Made Frogs Smoke 'Til They Exploded".

Muse - "Citizen Erased".

My Vitriol - "Always: Your Way".

New Order - "Blue Monday".

Nick Cave - "Henry Lee".

No Doubt - "Excuse Me Mr".

N-Trance - "Set You Free".

Ocean Colour Scene - "Hundred Mile High City".

Pet Shop Boys - "Always On My Mind".

PJ Harvey - "Good Fortune".

Polysics - "Coelakanth Is Android".

Prodigy - "No Good".

Pulp - "Underwear".

Queens Of The Stone Age - "No One Knows".

Radiohead - "Let Down".

Radwimps - "君と羊と青".

Reel 2 Real - "I Like To Move It".

Republica - "Ready To Go".

Robyn - "With Every Heartbeat".

Rolling Stones - "Paint It Black".

Royksopp - "Happy Up Here".

Sebastien Tellier - "Look".

Selecter - "On My Radio".

Sex Pistols - "Liar".

Shakespeare's Sister - "Stay".

Sigur Rós - "Saeglopur".

Sleeper - "Nice Guy Eddie".

Sneaker Pimps - "Six Underground".

Source feat. Candi Staton - "You've Got the Love".

Space - "Me and You Versus the World".

Sparks - "Something For The Girl With Everything".

Special Others - "Aims".

Specials - "Too Much Too Young".

Stereo Total - "I Love You, Ono".

Stranglers - "Peaches".

Supergrass - Caught By The Fuzz".

Talking Heads - "Burning Down The House".

Third Eye Blind - "God of Wine".

T-Rex - "20th Century Boy".

Ultravox - "Vienna".

Underworld - "Peggy Sussed".

Violent Femmes - "Blister in the Sun".

Yes, I dropped all the "The"s from bands, even if they should have them. Easier to browse this way.

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

"The Magic Number" by De La Soul

Difficulty: LOW

I don't really like hip hop but De La Soul are too good to ignore. This is their standout for me.

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

"Kings of the Wild Frontier" by Adam and The Ants

Difficulty: LOW

Adam and The Ants are 80s favourites for me. However this is definitely my favourite of theirs. Shame the video has an annoying ringing throughout it.

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

"No-one Knows" by Queens Of The Stone Age

Difficulty: LOW

I like QOTSA. Really like them. This is definitely the best thing they've done though. Sexy as anything and a killer bass riff.

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

"Peaches" by The Stranglers

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XF3P4AAaVIg

Difficulty: MEDIUM

Stranglers are great and they've got some great tracks, including Golden Brown, No More Heroes etc but this was the first bass riff I learnt.

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

"Hate to Say I Told You So" by The Hives

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCQ7VLoY7bQ

Difficulty: LOW

Hives have some good stuff but this is definitely their best. Another bass riff I learnt early.

[GoGo Yubari]

This is awesome. Fuck it. I'm doing this too. This might set off a trend of lame knockoffs but whatever. Except mine is all '90s music because I love '90s music. Thank you, Hamster.

Plus, De La Soul is the shit.

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

"Steal My Sunshine" by Len

Difficulty: EXTREMELY EXTREMELY LOW

Did they do anything else? My favourite summertime song. Also one of my favourite Singstar songs.

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

"My Favourite Game" by The Cardigans

Difficulty: HARD

Pushed really really close by a couple of their others...Ones you wouldn't expect - "Explode" and "Hanging around".

[VerbalPuke]

The Stranglers are great, and I'd agree that they're not easy to pick a favorite song from. I'd go with Nuclear Device myself, or Bring On The Nubiles. Brilliant shit man.

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

"Burning Down the House" by Talking Heads

Difficulty: HARD

Here's a secret. I love Talking Heads. I was first introduced to them back in my childhood. I used to sleep with music radio playing and woke up in the middle of the night to "Once in a Lifetime", especially half asleep I thought it was the best thing I'd EVER heard and made myself stay awake until the DJ went through the names of the recently played songs. Next day I told my dad who affirmed how great they are and I got one of their albums on cassette as a present shortly after. This is a HARD pick though cos tracks like Once in a Lifetime, Psycho Killer and Road to Nowhere are amazing.

David Byrne - musical genius.

Screw it, I'm changing my top 15 bands in that other thread.

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

"Annie" by Elastica

Difficulty: HARD

Elastica came into music, threw their stuff at us and then pushed off again. More bands need to do that. They've got a half dozen top, top tracks (Vaseline, Connection, SOFT....) but I love Annie cos it's short, sharp and to the point. If the karaoke places here had it (they tend to only have Connection which is hard to sing with a bloke's voice) it'd be perfect - 74 seconds then chuck the mic.

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

"Caught By The Fuzz" by Supergrass

Difficulty: LOW

Intriguingly I don't really like Supergrass. Love this though.

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

"Me and You Versus the World" by Space

Difficulty: LOW

The ugliest band in music history.

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

"Call Me" by Blondie

Difficulty: MEDIUM

Debbie Harry.

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

"You've Got The Love" by The Source feat. Candi Staton

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1wvtGOBV-g

Difficulty: LOW

Last cassette single I ever bought. It's brilliant.

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

"Liar" by The Sex Pistols

Difficulty: LOW

I can take or leave most Sex Pistols but this is great.

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

"Close To Me" by The Cure

Difficulty: LOW

Amusingly I was reminded of the track after Swedish pop-elf Robyn used it in a live performance. A question on EWB and someone told me (probably Ellis or YI). A beautiful rediscovery of a fantastic track. The hook is brilliant.

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

"Ready To Go" by Republica

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2xi8UJhL0D4

Difficulty: MEDIUM

With Drop Dead Gorgeous being the legitimately decent song of theirs, there wasn't that much competition.