My Top Ten Shopping Songs

Much is being written about the precariously uncertain fate of HMV, and while I'm not the regular customer I once was (partly due to other outlets, partly due to the lack of choice and other issues I have with our only remaining high street music chain) I would be sorry to see it go. Why, I was in there only the other day (before the news was announced), buying the Jake Bugg CD.

Anyway, in tribute, here's ten songs about shops and shopping...

10. Franz Ferdinand - Shopping For Blood

The FF boys channel Iggy Pop. Lovely stuff.

9. Athlete - Second Hand Stores

Maybe this is all we'll be left with soon...

8. Helen Love - Junk Shop Discotheque

Cos my record collection is your summer injection,
Of garage, beat, bubblegum, disco, and soul

7. Dean Friedman - Shopping Bag Ladies

A song that's more about the ladies than the shopping... but what a song! Even the ropey live recording can't rob it of its beauty.

6. Babybird - Cornershop

Another soon-to-extinct institution? They'll all be Tesco Directs and Sainsbury's Locals soon.

5. The Jam - Shopping

As I flit from shop window to window
I'm trying to pick up a friendly bargain
But it's not like the adverts all make out
And there's no one to greet you as a friend

4. The Clash - Lost In The Supermarket

Of course, supermarkets will never replace record shops, caring only about the pile-it-high-sell-it-cheap Top 40 and their bottom line. They have as much interest in music as I have in over 60s naked sky-diving.Still, if HMV does go under, perhaps the independent record shops will strike back...?

3. The Smiths - Shoplifters of the World Unite

 Now, Moz, that's hardly helpful, is it? Even if the owners of Nipper the Dog are one of the many record companies you've fallen foul of over the years.

See also Carter USM - A Nation of Shoplifters.

Well, never mind, never mind.

2. Smokey Robinson & The Miracles - Shop Around

As a young man, I used to shop around... just as Smokey suggests. Long, pleasurable Saturday afternoons spent wandering around Leeds, popping into all the record shops (and comic shops!), both chain and indie, looking for a bargain. I imagine a similar afternoon would be finished much more quickly these days...

I've always loved this song, but watching the video makes me love it all the more.

1. The Freshies - I'm In Love With A Girl On The Manchester Virgin Megastore's Checkout Desk

Well, it was the only record I could think of about big chain record shops... even if it does namedrop HMV's former rival.

RIP, Frank Sidebottom.



Those were my shopping songs... which one is your must-buy?