Take a number and wait until you're called.
It took ages, but here it is...
Published on August 2, 2005 By dynamaso In Misc
I have been putting the following list together now for the last 8 months. It was supposed to be a little holiday project over the Christmas period last year but then turned into something quite different. When I started making this list, I knew I was going to have too many songs and the difficultly would be in culling it back to 20. My list started at about 60 odd songs initially and then grew some more as I thought about it. It was like pulling teeth to get the list back to the 20 you see below.

The following songs are a representation of the music that has affected my life, to this point. I encountered my biggest difficulty when it came to some of my favourite bands, where many of their songs have affected me. Bands and artists such as The Beatles, Nirvana, Led Zeppelin, David Bowie, Beck, Pavement, and Beastie Boys have many great songs and it was hard to choose just one. The single entry here indicates, in most cases, the first song from each artist that blew me away. For those interested, I’ve also included the album, where I could. The following are in no particular order.

1. Hide Your Love Away – Help – The Beatles
- This band, more than any other, was the band that made me want to be a musician. Now, if only I’d found even a modicum of the success they did, I'd have a career. This song is a firm favourite with my nephews and nieces – they love the ‘Hey’ part…

2. Red Right Hand – Let Love In – Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds
Fabulously dirty blues music and lyrics to turn your hair grey. Nick Cave is a singer, songwriter, intellect and the Dark Prince of rock.

3. Last Goodbye – Grace – Jeff Buckley
- One of the greatest musical tragedies of the late 20th Century. The true breadth and depth of his talent was only just becoming apparent.

4. Clint Eastwood – Gorillaz – Gorillaz
- These guys might front themselves as cartoons, but the music and mastery behind what they are doing is very real indeed. This is still a great favourite in my house.

5. Sabotage – Licensed To Ill – Beastie Boys
- A brilliant accompanying film clip from one of the best bands ever. And who said Americans don’t understand irony has never heard the Beastie Boys.

6. Life's What You Make It – Colour Of Spring – Talk Talk
- The opening single note piano line has always been a source of inspiration. It just goes to show that sometimes the simple things truly are the best.

7. Let's Go – Candy-O – The Cars
- The second single I ever brought (and I still have it). No, it’s not for sale.

8. Monkey Gone To Heaven – Doolittle – The Pixies
- So much has been said about this band and I agree with it all (the good things, anyway).

9. Pump It Up – This Year’s Model – Elvis Costello
- In the future, I believe this Elvis will be recognised as the more relevant and admired of the two.

10. Killing Moon – Songs To Learn and Sing – Echo & the Bunnymen
- When Ian sings “Fate, up against your will, through thick and thin, you will wait until you give yourself to him”… I still get a shiver up my spine

11. Suffragette City – The Rise & Fall of Ziggy Stardust… – David Bowie
- I still feel the sex ooze from my speakers when David sings this song. Nobody, and I mean NOBODY, does it better.

12. Bang A Gong (Get It On) – Electric Warrior – T-Rex
- Marc Bolan - a genius of simplicity stolen away from us before we really got to know him.

13. Summer Babe – Slanted & Enchanted – Pavement
- “Ice baby, I saw your girlfriend and she’s eating her fingers like they’re just another meal…” This is one of my favourite lyric lines.

14. About A Girl – Bleach – Nirvana
- Before the hype that was ‘Nevermind’, there was this album, which also included ‘Floyd The Barber’, ‘Negative Creep’ and ‘Swap Meet’ among others, and highlighted the emerging genius of Kurt Cobain.

15. Do You Realise – Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots – The Flaming Lips
- Perhaps one of the most beautiful pop songs of the 21st Century so far.

16. Loser – Mellow Gold – Beck
- Proving even losers can be winners, Beck is a musical pixie who just keeps on shining.

17. Whole Lotta Love – Led Zeppelin II – Led Zeppelin
- Picture this: I’m 14, sitting in the middle of a quadraphonic speaker set with Jimmy Page’s screaming guitar lines whizzing over my head. Rock doesn’t get much better than this.

18. Guns Of Brixton – London Calling – The Clash
- This was one of the toughest picks. I heard ‘London Calling’ first, but this song sold me on how good they were. They may have been called punks but they were so much more.

19. Don’t Change – Shaboo Shoobah – INXS
- This song conjures up so many good memories for me. The sentiment behind it also has had a lasting effect.

20. Crosstown Traffic – Electric Ladyland – Jimi Hendrix
- From its opening lick to its end, this song corrupted my young ears on first listen, which I still thank Jimi for. It is also the title to Charles Shaar Murray’s book on Hendrix and contemporary music and one of my favourite reads.

Notable mentions include P.J. Harvey, Regurgitator, James Brown, Heart, Sublime, Nick Drake, Superchunk, The Sleepy Jackson, Gelbison, Gomez, Evil Tordivel, Grandaddy and N.E.R.D.

Comments
on Aug 02, 2005
That's quite an interesting list you have here Maso. I'm not so familiar with the songs themselves (unless I probably heard them and forgot) but I'm familiar with some of the artistes listed. It was pretty interesting learning a little more about you through your music!
on Aug 02, 2005
Serenity,

Thank you. As I said, it took me some time to do but I had a lot of fun. I am so affected by music and have so much of it, at one point I was starting to wonder whether I'd ever get it finished. The thing is there are quite a number of artists I completely neglected too, artists I really like but who didn't make the cut. But there may be a part two yet...

Thanks for your comments.

Cheers,

Maso
on Aug 04, 2005
Shove, push, bumpity bump up the ladder... (Yeah, I know this is a shameless push for more to read it but I spent so long putting it together, I thought it deserved a little more attention).
on Aug 04, 2005
Love, love, love Nirvana, Gorillaz, Beck, and the Beatles (and Sublime)...unsure who most of the rest are...

Cool list...thank you for sharing this...I know that your a musician, so it's really neat to see what kind of music turns you on.
on Aug 04, 2005
Hey Tex,

There is just so much good music out there, I'm not surprised you don't know half the list. As I said to Serenity, I left off so many favourites, it is just not funny. Sublime have some truly brilliant songs, but they fell short because I had better songs that were more in keeping with my criteria.

I know that your a musician, so it's really neat to see what kind of music turns you on.


You know, the best thing about putting this list together was being able to narrow down my influences like this. As a musician, I'm often asked what music has inspired me. I usually draw circles in the dirt with my toe before saying something articulate like "I dunno..." But while putting this list together, I realised I'm a huge pop music fan (as opposed to a punk, hip hop, blues or rock fan), mainly because 'pop' implies simplicity and I really do like beautiful, elegantly simple songs.

Thanks for your comments, Tex. They're always appreciated.

Cheers,

Maso

on Aug 06, 2005
"They may have been called punks but they were so much more."

Impossible. There is no greater honour than to be called a punk, as long as it means mid-70s British punk, not Blink 1frickin82.

Good list. I have put together a much easier to assemble Top5 Desert Island Discs for myself:
1. One Blood-Yothu Yindi
3 of the best protest songs of all-time included. Spiritual links between the West and Aboriginal ancient music.
2. Drive-Bic Runga
That voice. Upbeat, yet sad. Crashing guitars, yet soft.
3. Modern ARTillery-Living End
Hard to overlook the first album, but this has a more diverse feel to it and better syncopation.
4. A Short History-The Waifs
Very honest music.
5. Escapology- Robbie Williams
The perfect blend of pop, heavy metal and an amazing voice.

Very antipodean and very today, in fact I don't even include my favourite band (the Beatles), but that's because these bands really impacted on me as I grew up. I never liked whole Beatles albums, I liked about half of each album. I like every track on these albums (and yes I know it's a cop out to include to include 2 compilations).
on Aug 07, 2005
Champas,

Impossible. There is no greater honour than to be called a punk, as long as it means mid-70s British punk


While I agree with your sentiments completely and acknowledge the 'punk' credibility of The Clash to be most worthy, I also have read a fair bit about them and know they were influenced by and into music a lot of punks considered unworthy. This brings me back to my point that while the tag fits in as much as it gives the general public and record companys a box to put the band in, the band themselves were so much more than just the 'punk' tag. I also agree with your sentiments regarding what is loosely called 'punk' today. The term has been used far too generally for it to have any of its former potency.

Interesting list, Champas. As you say, very antipodean (with the exception of Robbie, of course). My wife would like your choices (particularly Robbie and The Waifs). Like you, there are some bands I consider my favourites that I've not put on this list because they did not fit my criteria. Of course, these days, I wouldn't be stranded on an island with a cassette recorder but with an ipod. My list would be considerably larger.

Thanks for your input, mate. Much appreciated.

Cheers,

Maso