Original video located here. Accessed 27th July 2023
Song title: Jealous
Artist: Sinead O'Connor
Year: 2000
Why I like this song:
R.I.P. Sinead O'Connor. This is my favourite Sinead O'Connor song. Some might think it maudlin but it's one that resonated with me. This came out in 2000 - the same year I had my first break-up. As such it was an instance I was VERY ill-prepared for so i played this song a lot. Of course, in retrospect, it's not a moment to be proud of but I will say this: This song is a stunning display of vulnerability. Particularly in those last two lines which hits like a truck - even when uttered by a provocateur such as Sinead. As for Sinead, well I hope that wherever she ended up, she found peace.
Original video located here. Accessed 31st January 2023
Song title: Love Will Tear us Apart
Artist: Joy Division
Year: 1980
Why I like this song:
So what makes song so special? I could say I love the intro with each instrument entering one by one. I could say it sounds unique and worlds apart from the hits of the decade. I could say it is effective as a description of someone having a mental crisis. I could say that it hasn't aged a day and still works no matter how many times I've heard it.
But what I will say is something of personal resonance. It was sometime in 1998 that I became aware of this band. I knew of them through reputation but nothing of their music. Needless to say i was curious and went to find out more. Now this was when the internet was slowly becoming commonplace: And to find out about Joy Division, one had to do a search - this was, after all, the days before Spotify, streaming services, and Google's omnipotence.
And as it turns out there was a lot this band. I had come across a gold mine of music and information about this name. Stuff I had never heard of before and never would elsewhere - why, finding out the connection between Joy Division and New Order (who I did know about) blew my sixteen year-old mind.
That being said, what Joy Division represent for me is the awakening to a new world around me: One that existed beyond what i knew growing up and was there waiting to be discovered. Joy Division represent a cavalier approach to my musical tastes: Finding out new stuff beyond what anyone else told me and showing a new side of the decade that wasn't tied to gaudy clothes, worse haircuts and keyboards the size of VW Beetles. Sure the walls had signs of coming down over the twenty four months prior but finding Joy Division was the dam burst.
One last thing: this is one of Anthony Albanese's favourite bands. Seems the man has taste.
Original video located here. Accessed 30th January 2023
Song title: Great Southern Land
Artist: Icehouse
Year: 1982
Why I like this song:
I don't think I will ever tire of this song.
It is well documented that Iva Davies wrote this as an experiment in atmosphere. And it's fair to say that he succeeded more that he could've ever hoped for. To me, this song evokes the heat, the deserts, the wide open spaces that is this continent that is Australia. Also much like Australia, this song sounds like it always existed.
Needless to say, this song has been a continual presence for many summers (recommended listening when walking on a beach at sunset) and, I can imagine, will continue to do so for many summers more.
In fact bugger Advance Australia Fair; give me this any day
Original video located here. Accessed 29th January 2023
Song title: Just Like Heaven
Artist: The Cure
Year: 1987
Why I like this song:
In an earlier post I decreed that the sound of the eighties was defined by big drums, prominent bass, jangly guitars and the ever-present synthesizer. So we come to what can only be the quintessential eighties song performed by a quintessential eighties band.
Once again, I always felt that if Robert Smith could put his mind to it he could whip out a winner of a pop song. And this song is that hypothesis in motion. Utter magic this song: I especially love the intro where each instrument falls into place and that unmistakable guitar figure.
Furthermore, this song reminds me of my college years when i fell in with a group of goths and, in doing so, made some of the best friends I'll ever have
Original video located here. Access 28th January 2023
Song title: Like Wow Wipeout!
Artist: Hoodoo Gurus
Year: 1985
Why I like this song:
These guys were my favourite band when i was a kid and I still love 'em well into adulthood. In fact, whenever I see a list of best Australian bands ever, these guys don't rank as high as they should and I come away shaking my head in disbelief - of course said list usually consist of AC/DC, INXS and everyone else but I digress.
Once again this song works because there's a lot going on here: It may be based on a fifties surf rock tune but here it sounds like it's on steroids. Through in some snappy lines, a singalong chorus and a lot of 'Ah-ah-ah's and you have a winner.
Listening to this now, the strengths of the Gurus come to play: Guitar hooks aplenty, an understanding of rock'n'roll history, a goofy sense of humour and knowing their way around a good chorus. It is therefore little wonder why they won a lad like me over
I mean...just..... is this the most irresistible thing ever?
Original video located here. Accessed 27th January 2023
Song title: Epic
Artist: Faith No More
Year: 1989
Why I like this song:
Words alone can't describe what a REVELATION this song was, hearing it as a seven/eight year old. I once described this song as the equivalent of Mack truck crashing into one's living room in slow motion and I still stand by it.
Listening to it now though, it's clear that this song is a lot of things coming at you, the listener, all at once. We have a funk bass, a metal guitar, shout-along vocals, tribal drumming, an urgency like nothing else and a solemn piano solo closing it out.
Years later it still sounds like nothing else and nothing anyone - not even the late 1990s/early 2000s nu-metal disciples who were clearly inspired by this - have even matched.