51 songs that made my life
October 3, 2017 2 Comments
It’s been 10 years since I made my 40th playlist and what a 10 years it’s been, and not just musically speaking.
If you recall, the only rule for this playlist is only one song per artist. Some years are much harder than others and sometimes you end up with not necessarily the best song by a particular artist in order to squeeze them in somewhere. These are not necessarily my 50 favourite artists but some of them just had to be included somehow. Other years were particularly difficult with apparently no decent music released at all!
Over the past 10 years though there have been a couple of changes to the 40th playlist. Some songs haven’t stood the test of time and others have been deposed by incomers.
1967 | Your love keeps lifting me higher and higher
No playlist should be without this! |
Jackie Wilson |
1968 | Breaking down the walls of heartache
Got to have a bit of Northern Soul in there! |
Johnny Johnson & the Bandwagon |
1969 | Pale blue eyes | Velvet Underground |
1970 | 54-46 was my number | Toots & the Maytals |
1971 | Maggie May | Rod Stewart |
1972 | Many rivers to cross | Jimmy Cliff |
1973 | Do the strand | Roxy Music |
1974 | Rebel rebel
So many songs to choose from! |
David Bowie |
1975 | Loving you
First time round I really struggled to find something for this year but since then I’ve “discovered” the joys of Bruce Springsteen and a deeper appreciation for Kraftwerk. In the end I’ve gone with Thunder Road Although I could have gone with Radioactivity |
Minnie Ripperton
Bruce Springsteen Kraftwerk |
1976 | I need a roof | The Mighty Diamonds |
1977 | Lust for life
Had to have some Iggy in there. 1973 was full – no room for Raw Power, or Transformer or Ziggy Stardust for that matter, so went with one of the many 1977 options. |
Iggy Pop |
1978 | Guns on the roof
A great song but maybe not their best but, again, 1979, 1980 and 1982 were taken by other classics. |
The Clash |
1979 | Eton rifles | The Jam |
1980 | Holiday in Cambodia | Dead Kennedys |
1981 | Plan B | Dexys Midnight Runners |
1982 | The back of love | Echo and the bunnymen |
1983 | The temple of love | The Sisters of Mercy |
1984 | Come back | The Mighty Wah! |
1985 | The sick bed of Cuchulainn | The Pogues |
1986 | Bigmouth strikes again | The Smiths |
1987 | Stop killing me | The Primitives |
1988 | What for | James |
1989 | Debaser | The Pixies |
1990 | The only one I know
Honourable mention: Soon |
The Charlatans
My Bloody Valentine Really should have got them in there somewhere! |
1991 | Justified and ancient
Now we’re starting to get into the duff years. Don’t talk to me about grunge! |
The KLF |
1992 | Ebeneezer Goode
Again, not the greatest of years to choose from |
The Shamen |
1993 | Open up | Leftfield |
1994 | Red right hand | Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds |
1995 | Truth, rest your head | Gene |
1996 | Born slippy | Underworld |
1997 | Kowalski | Primal Scream |
1998 | The boy with the arab strap | Belle & Sebastian |
1999 | Aisha | Death in Vegas |
2000 | Music: response | The Chemical Brothers |
2001 | Crystal
The 80s were jam packed but luckily they were still releasing good music years later |
New Order |
2002 | Let’s push things forward | The Streets |
2003 | I need two hearts | Ballboy |
2004 | Johnny Cash | Sons & Daughters |
2005 | Mr Brightside
Am happy to receive suggestions to replace this! I’ve a good mind to replace it with: Go to hell, Miss Rydell |
The Killers
Pelle Carlberg |
2006 | Collection of stamps | I’m from Barcelona |
2007 | Golden skans
I only had 9 months in which to choose from originally so this one was a bit random so have now reflected and replaced it with: Those dancing days |
The Klaxons
Those Dancing Days |
2008 | You! Me! Dancing!
Album version for all you nitpickers out there! |
Los Campesiños |
2009 | French Navy | Camera Obscura |
2010 | All I wanna do | The School |
2011 | Found love in a graveyard
Again, am open to suggestions for this year |
Veronica Falls |
2012 | March of the Saxons | Baltic Fleet |
2013 | Sugarcrush | Joanna Gruesome |
2014 | Absolved
This is a really good song but are there not better options somewhere? |
The Heartbreaks |
2015 | Illuminations
See 2014 |
Lusts |
2016 | In deep
See 2014 |
The KVB |
2017 | The love
See 2014. As with 2007, I’ve only had 9 months to choose from but, even so, there doesn’t seem to be a great choice so far. |
Lea Porcelain |
So no Shop Assistants, That Petrol Emotion, Martha Reeves, JAMC, Joy Division, Weather Prophets, the Fall (surely I could have squeezed them in there somewhere??), Congos, Men They Couldn’t Hang, Orange Juice, the Beat, the Specials, the Cure, Long Blondes, The The, Spacemen 3, Sonic Youth, Cramps, or even the Wedding Present, but you can’t have everything. Maybe I should have gone with two songs per year…
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