The ONLY Songs That Matter - 8.16.10

Another month, and another list. Back in the day -- well, the past three years -- I've done an annual "Best Of" list, selecting my favorites from the year's goodtunes. What with the 22 picks in 2010 so far (before today's additions), that may be a silly practice, and thusly omitted. We'll see.

Anyways, this is a weird list. I'll just put that out there. All the same, here are The ONLY Songs That Matter™ this week.  Oh, and I did something new ... I made a video playlist with all of the picks! That only took me a few years to do. Enjoy!


1) "Feel Good Drag" - Anberlin

2) "Black Hearts (On Fire)" - Jet

3) "Destination Unknown" - Alex Gaudino f/Crystal Waters

4) "The Letter" - as performed by Joe Cocker
- Two interesting things here, the first of which is a travesty. The original "Letter" has yet to make this list; AND, this is the second "as performed by Joe Cocker" tune on the list ("You Can Leave Your Hat On" from 2/2/2009 being the first).

5) "Whataya Want from Me" - Adam Lambert
- Written by Pink (and others). Huh.

6) "Gypsy Woman" - Crystal Waters
- Crystal Waters makes the list for the first and second time the same week. Go figure. Hey, anyone who samples "The Price Is Right's" theme should be on this list at least ... well, three times, come to think of it.

7) "Luv Me, Luv Me" - Shaggy f/Janet Jackson

8) "Dance With Me" - Peter Brown

9) "Lady Picture Show" - Stone Temple Pilots

10) "Mighty Mighty" - Earth, Wind & Fire
- Yes, I chose this video because the first dancer dude cracked me up and made me hurt simultaneously.

11) "Limp" - Fiona Apple
- I will, without fail, select a Letterman clip when it pops up first.


Week 190, and goodtunes #1025-1035. Huzzah.

Hopefully there's at least one song you weren't familiar with, or haven't heard in a while. Favorites? Anti-favorites?

The ONLY Songs That Matter - 7.26.10

Well, this is as momentous of an occasion as we're going to have on this here blog. Behold the return of The ONLY Songs That Matter™, as previously seen on Facebook. I figure, hey, if we're going to be doing this blog thing, we might as well dust off this chestnut, with hopes that it may actually be permanently revived to a regular appearance basis.  For our newcomers, I started this list on January 8, 2007; my most recent edition was this past February 1, when we left off on song #1014 (Supertramp's "Breakfast in America").

Now, we may have some new viewers, so I'll run through the brief ground rules, here:

• I don't take requests for this feature. Why? Because, I don't choose the songs; the songs choose me.™ (That is, to make the list, a song  -- old or new -- must generally pop up on my radar organically and make me go, "Huh... that really is a heckuva tune." For better or for worse.)
  
• The list can be tongue-in-cheek; the feature's title can be a bit of a misnomer, you'll find.

Additionally, the only new rule this week is that all artists on the list must be undeterred by pigeon poop.

Now, generally, I'd rattle off all of the songs that were accumulated since the last update (16 total, in this case), but on this occasion, I'll take what may or may not be the best-of-the-best (10), and save the rest for next time, once you're already hooked again.

On we go...


1) "Everything Zen" - Bush

2) "Moving In Stereo" - Cars

3) "Mountain Man" - Crash Kings
- I enjoy the simplicity-yet-memorability of the chorus' circle-of-fifths-ish chord structure.

4) "Salvation" - Cranberries

5) "Two Weeks" - Grizzly Bear

6) "Porcelain" - Moby
- Met him once. He's short.

7) "Magnet and Steel" - Walter Egan

8) "Never Tear Us Apart" - INXS
- A fantastic song, basically.

9) "The High Road" - Broken Bells

10) "The Tracks of My Tears" - Miracles
- I saw Smokey Robinson sing this live on Tuesday, with a full orchestra. That's about all you need, there. Sounded just as good, if not better, than it did in 1965.


That's that -- week 186, and songs 1015-1024. Discuss.

Also, so everyone can catch up, I've posted the updated list of all 1024 songs here. Bon appetit!