Tuesday, 21 April 2020

Hot 100 #11


And so we reach the end of double digits on the Hot 100 Countdown, with lost 80s postpunk pioneers (they might not have been pioneers, I just couldn't resist the alliteration), Eleven Pond. Here they are in all their glory...

Eleven Pond - Portugal

I'm actually surprised by how few 11 Songs I (and you) could find. Somehow, I expected there to be more. Still, we start the official Top Ten next week, so I imagine we'll be spoilt for choice then.

As is often the case, The Swede was first out of bed last Tuesday morning... with a selection of tracks I struggled to find any audio for on the interweb...

Bill Wells & Aidan Moffat - The Eleven Year Glitch

Hatfield and the North - Elevenses

Thin White Rope - Eleven

Then came Lynchie, who broke the first rule of Hot 100 Club with his first suggestion...

U2 - 11 O'Clock Tick Tock (The lyrics are crap but the guitar's pretty neat)

Sadly, I struggled to find a link for that anywhere on the interweb either. The difference being, I did at least try to find links for all The Swede's suggestions.

Fortunately, Lynchie redeemed himself (slightly) with this...

Nine Below Zero - Eleven Plus Eleven

Not my fave Nine Below Zero track, he adds. I bought "Don't Point Your Finger" in 1981 and it has the mega awesome "Ain't Coming Back".

Nine Below Zero - Ain't Coming Back

That is pretty cool, thanks.

George crawled out of the woodwork next with three top suggestions...

Blondie - 11.59 from Parallel Lines

(Worth watching that video for a supremely Debbie Harry performance by Debbie Harry.)

Hank Locklin - Seven or Eleven... surely this week's winner?

Surely not, but a fine song anyway.

Before Charity Chic gets to it, what about...? 

Buck Owens - A-11

As it turns out, Charity Chic only had the following this week (which he called "My entries for this week and next!", though I'm sure he'll come up with something else for 10).

Terry Hall & Mushtaq - Ten Eleven

Lee Hazlewood - Ten or Eleven Towns Ago

I tell you what, that Lee Hazlewood could have been in with a shot... if I'd heard it before today. What a tune!

Swiss Adam dropped by next with an excellent (hidden) suggestion...

The last song on REM's Green is sometimes called the Eleventh Untitled Song...

REM - Untitled

...which is definitely better than the REM song I was going to put forward this week...

Oh, hang on... Last Minute Arrival: here's Douglas McLaren with the same idea as me...

Late to the game again. I'm going with "Rotary Eleven", the b-side to r.e.m.'s Losing My Religion. I bought the cd single back in the day and was disappointed that it was an instrumental, but now after many years I have grown to really like it.

REM - Rotary Eleven

We're on the same wavelength again, Douglas... just not a winning one this week. Thanks anyway.

And then came Alyson...

Tin Tin Out - Eleven To Fly

...featuring Wendy Page, apparently.

No, me neither.

Starting to wonder if we're going to get to No. 1 whilst still in lockdown.

I seriously hope not, Alyson, or I might be compiling this feature from a rubber room by then.

Time for Jim in Dubai...

Momus - Eleven Executioners

Sigue Sigue Sputnik - Love Missile F1-11

I like that a lot more now than I did when it was actually out. Very bizarre to find the cover version below in my collection though...

David Bowie - Love Missile F1-11

Dead or Alive - Number Eleven

Julian Casablancas - 11th Dimension

Pete Wylie - Four Eleven Forty Four

James Dean Driving Experience - Dean's Eleventh Dream

Rigid Digit found most of his songs had been chosen by others this week, leaving him with only this...

Paul Weller - 111

...which I'm not sure counts. However, knowing how stroppy Mr. Weller can get at times, we'll let him have it. Although... I'm sorry, Paul, but it's hardly Down In The Tube Station At Midnight, is it?

And finally, there was Brian, who also felt rather limited this week...

Like Saturday's quiz, you gotta get in early around here. All but one of mine taken already. I'll leave you with:

The Wondermints - Project 11

All in all, it wasn't a great week for this feature, was it? I expected more from eleven. Here's the rest of my own findings...

Daisy Chainsaw - Room Eleven

Scritti Politti - E Eleven Nuts

Cold Seeds - By 11 O'Clock She'd Left

Moss - 11-11

Transvision Vamp - W11 Blues

Hamilton Leithauser - 11 O'Clock Friday Night

Lifter Puller - 11th Avenue Freeze Out

Having listened to all of the above... well, had that Lee Hazlewood track been in my collection, I might well have given it to him. And I was tempted by Sigue Sigue Spitnik, I really was... but 14 year old Rol kept screaming 'Nooooooo!'

In the end then, I went for this. I haven't listened to it in years, but I really enjoyed the first Magic Numbers album, and this was a favourite...



Next week - it's Bo Derek running towards Dudley Moore on a beach. Contemporary references my forte, as always. What's your pick of the Ten Songs?

15 comments:

  1. 'Ten Houses of Eve' - The Fall
    'Ten Miles Wide' - The Builders and the Butchers
    'Love Makes You Feel Ten Feet Tall' - The Velvet Underground
    'Ten Dread Commandments' - Mr Bojangles
    'Ten to Twelve' - The Upsetters
    'Nine Out of Ten' - The Fall (this week and next)
    'Ten Sleep' - The Wedding Present
    The Ten Commandments of Men' - Nicky Lee
    'Ten Thousand Miles' - United Bible Studies
    'Ten Pieces in One' - The Aggrovators
    'The Ten Commandments of Public Life' - The Wolfhounds
    'Ten Years Gone' - Led Zeppelin or Michael Kiwanuka
    'Ten Against One - Big Youth
    'Top Ten' - Gregory Isaacs
    'Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out' - Bruce Springsteen (I feel I may be pushing my luck now!)

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  2. crawling out of the woodwork again: Bullmoose Jackson and "Big Ten Inch"

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  3. Swede hits it early and in bulk. I've got a few too

    Curve Ten Little Girls
    Sabres of Paradise Inter Lergen Ten Ko
    HMHB Reasons To Be Miserable (Part Ten)
    Shara Nelson One Goodbye In Ten
    The Stone Roses Ten Story Love Song
    ? and the Mysterions Ten O Clock
    The Monochrome Set Ten Don'ts For Honeymooners
    The Soup Dragons Hang Ten

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  4. One in Ten - UB40 plus my two from last week
    Engelbert Humperdinck - Ten Guitars

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  5. I can only think of Perfect Ten by the Beautiful South right now and I don't even like it. Must try harder!

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  6. Ah, Mr SDS has just suggested 'Ten Minutes Before The Worm' by Alice Cooper. Very short and very weird, plus it mentions worms, what's not to like?

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  7. Harvey & The Moonglows - Ten Commandments Of Love

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TifuFnIRj4g

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  8. "Ten Tiny Fingers" - The Proclaimers

    "Ten Tiny Toes" - Jimmie Davis

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVpZAAEalVc

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  9. Is Ten Green Bottles allowed?
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0ooQv7oHvw

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  10. Here's my offering for number 10.

    I Close My Eyes & Count to Ten - Dusty Springfield (or Marc Almond & Sarah Cracknell done a great version)
    10 Feet Tall - XTC
    News at 10 - The Vapors
    Million Dollar Hero in a Five & Ten Store - Radiators
    10 Years Asleep - Kingmaker
    There Goes a Tenner - Kate Bush (Does this count)
    10 Egg Omelette - The Thyme Machine

    Band Names
    Ten City
    Tenpole Tudor
    10CC
    10 Year After
    10,000 Manics


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  11. Led Zeppelin - Ten Years Gone
    Rush - Force Ten
    John Fogerty - 110 In The Shade
    Aerosmith - Big Ten Inch Record
    Yardbirds - Ten Little Indians

    Not so much a cover version, but a call and response:
    Prince Buster - The Ten Commandments
    Specials Featuring Saffiyah Khan - The Ten Commandments

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  12. A lot of songs with 10 in the title but most of the ones I'm finding are not even familiar to me so going to stick with what might be your most likely pick. Although C says she doesn't like it, I think you do appreciate Paul Heaton's lyrics so Perfect 10 by Beautiful South would be a possibility.

    Can't remember what you think of UB40 but One In Ten made a big impact on me back in the day and I still have the vinyl copy. After this crisis it might have to be renamed One In Five, but that's me just being pessimistic again. It'll all be fine (she says wearing a rictus smile).

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  13. Douglas McLaren22 April 2020 at 16:21

    I have to say I was hesitating to suggest Aerosmith's "Big Ten Inch Record" because of the puerile suggestiveness of the lyrics, until after digging a little, I came across the following quote, said about a different Aerosmith jingle:
    "Actually, there's very little innuendo here, it's just pure smut. But Steven Tyler is such a rock star caricature, it's hard to be offended by it." (A Certain Blogger, June 23, 2017)
    So now we have gotten that one off our chest, how about a couple more noble-minded suggestions?
    Ruth Etting, "Ten Cents a Dance", anyone? Surely no smutty innuendo existed back in the 20's?
    Then there is Paolo Nutini, "10/10", which surely counts for double, especially if a Scottish-Italian does Jamaican vibe is your thing.
    Or if we are still allowing gun references (following weeks 45, 32 and 22) what about The Black Keys' "Ten Cent Pistol"?

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