Hot 100 - The Countdown

"OK, so I decided this kind of long term commitment might be fun."

Those were the words that opened the first post of The Hot 100 back in January 2018.

Words have a habit of coming back to bite you in the arse.

Still, it's over now, and I don't regret doing it. For completeness sake, here's the full countdown.

(Click on the number to see the original post & the song title to hear the tune.)


100. The Handsome Family - The Song Of A Hundred Toads

99. Suzanne Vega - 99.9 °F

98. Keith - 98.6

97. Pulp - 97 Lovers

96. The Stranglers - 96 Tears

95. Fountains of Wayne - I-95

94. David Bowie - Always Crashing The Same Car

Jasmine, I saw you peeping

As I pushed my foot down to the floor

I was going round and round the hotel garage

Must have been touching close to 94

93. Sweet Bamboo - Wolfie 93

92. Pop Will Eat Itself - 92 Degrees Fahrenheit

91. Lucy Spraggan - 91

90. Bow Wow Wow - C30 C60 C90 Go!

89. REM - Pop Song 89

88. The Nails - 88 Lines About 44 Women

87. The Rural Alberta Advantage - Tornado '87

86.  I Am Kloot - 86 TVs

85. Mew - 85 Videos

84. The Beautiful South - When I'm 84

83. Amy Rigby - The Summer Of My Wasted Youth

Summertime in '83

I didn't need a j-o-b

Cause unemployment kept me free

To study country harmony

And find somebody with a car

Drink cheap beer in the Polish bar

Take photos in the photo booth

The summer of my wasted youth

82. Bruce Springsteen - Does This Bus Stop At 82nd Street?

81. Mary Chapin Carpenter - The Way I Feel

All the way down 81

I've got some friends in Nashville

Atlanta it's been way too long

By morning I'll make Asheville

80. The Supremes - Around The World In 80 Days

79. Vampire Weekend - M79

78. Gomez - 78 Stone Wobble

77. The Clash - 1977

76. The Alarm - Spirit of '76

75. Little Man Tate - 75

74. Alice Cooper - Teenage Lament '74

73. Felix - Oh Thee 73

72. Turin Brakes - Emergency 72

71. Magnolia Electric Company - Texas 71

70. Ed Harcourt - Born In The 70s

69. Bryan Adams - Summer of '69

68. The Alarm -  68 Guns

67. Driver 67 - Car 67

66. The Rolling Stones - Route 66

65. John Grant - GMF

So go ahead and love me while it's still a crime

And don't forget you could be laughing

65% more of the time

64. Bruce Hornsby & The Range - The Way It Is

Well, they passed a law in 64

To give those who ain't got a little more

But it only goes so far...

63. Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons - December, 1963 (Oh What A Night)

62. Grass Show - 1962

61. Bob Dylan - Highway 61 Revisited / PJ Harvey - Highway 61 Revisited

60. Nils Lofgren - 60 Is The New 18

59. The Gaslight Anthem - The '59 Sound

58. Radiohead - Black Star

The troubled words of a troubled mind

I try to understand what is eating you,

I try to stay awake but its 58 hours since I last slept with you

57. Bruce Springsteen - Incident On 57th Street

56. Huey Lewis & The News - The Only One

I can still see him standing there

Just like yesterday

Leaning on his '56

Giving his secrets away

Is it any wonder

I feel a little lonely

He's not just the only one

He's the one and only

55. Tom Waits - Ol' 55

54. Toots & The Maytals - 54-46 Was My Number

53. The Ramones - 53rd & 3rd

52. Richard Thompson - 1952 Vincent Black Lightning

51. The The - Heartland

This is the 51st state of the U.S.A.

50. Paul Simon - 50 Ways To Leave Your Lover

49. James Gang - Funk #49

48. Suzie Quatro - 48 Crash

47. Guy Clark - Texas 1947

46. Rilo Kiley - Love & War (11/11/46)

45. Deacon Blue - Real Gone Kid

Let me know, let me know, let me know

About all the old 45s

And the paperback rooms

And it's scattered all the photographs

Of summers and suns

44. The Granite Shore - Fanclub Newsletter Number 44

43. Guillemots - Made Up Love Song #43

42. Jim Croce - You Don't Mess Around With Jim

Uptown got it's hustlers

The bowery got it's bums

42nd street got big Jim walker

He's a pool shootin' son of a gun

Yeah, he big and dumb as a man can come

But he stronger than a country hoss

And when the bad folks all get together at night

You know they all call big Jim "boss"

41. Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band - 41 Shots

40. Mercury Rev - Opus 40

39. Queen - '39

38. The Tragically Hip - 38 Years Old

37. Dr. Hook & The Medicine Show / Marianne Faithful - The Ballad Of Lucy Jordan

At the age of thirty-seven

She realised she'd never ride

Through Paris in a sports car

With the warm wind in her hair

So she let the phone keep ringing

As she sat there softly singing

Pretty nursery rhymes she'd memorised

In her daddy's easy chair

36. Nick Lowe - 36 Inches High

35. Bob Dylan - Rainy Day Women #12 & 35

34. The Clovers - Love Potion Number 9

I took my troubles down to Madame Ruth

You know that gypsy with the gold-capped tooth

She's got a pad down on Thirty-Fourth and Vine

Selling little bottles of Love Potion Number Nine

33. Frank Turner - 1933

32. They Might Be Giants - 32 Footsteps

31. Aimee Mann - 31 Today

30. Barry Manilow - Copacabana

Her name is Lola, she was a showgirl

But that was thirty years ago, when they used to have a show

Now it's a disco, but not for Lola

Still in dress she used to wear

Faded feathers in her hair

She sits there so refined, and drinks herself half-blind

She lost her youth

And she lost her Tony

Now she's lost her mind

29. Jarvis Cocker & Chilly Gonzalez - Room 29

28. Jonathan Richman & The Modern Lovers - Roadrunner

I'm in love with modern moonlight, 

1.28 when it's dark outside

27. The Smiths - Never Had No One Ever

I had a really bad dream

It lasted twenty years, seven months, and twenty seven days

26. Gil Scott Heron - B-Movie

Well, the first thing I want to say is..."Mandate My Ass!"

Because it seems as though we've been convinced

That 26% of the registered voters

Not even 26% of the American people

But 26% of the registered voters form a mandate...

Or a landslide...

The idea concerns the fact that this country wants nostalgia

They want to go back as far as they can ...

Even if it's only as far as last week

Not to face now or tomorrow, but to face backwards

25. Otis Redding & Carla Thomas - Tramp

That's right, you haven't even got a fat bankroll in your pocket...

You probably haven't even got twenty-five cents

24. Half Man Half Biscuit - Twenty-Four Hour Garage People

23. Shuggie Otis / The Brothers Johnson - Strawberry Letter 23

22. The Man from Delmonte - Drive Drive Drive (22 And Still in Love With You)

21. The Adverts - No Time To Be 21

20. T-Rex - 20th Century Boy

19. Rialto - Monday Morning 5.19 

18. Alice Cooper - I'm Eighteen / Pete Wingfield - 18 With A Bullet

17. Janis Ian - At Seventeen

16. Tennessee Ernie Ford - 16 Tons 

15. The Cure - 10.15 Saturday Night

14. Billy Bragg - The Fourteenth of February

13. Big Star - 13

12. My Life Story - 12 Reasons Why I Love You

11. The Magic Numbers - Mornings Eleven

10. Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band - Tenth Avenue Freeze Out

9. The Temptations - Cloud Nine

8. REM - Driver 8

7. Prince - 7

6. The Lemonheads - 6ix

5. Julian Cope - 5 O'Clock World

4. Bruce Springsteen - 4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)

3. Bob Dorough / De La Soul / Embrace - 3 Is A Magic Number

2. Blur - Song 2

1. Aimee Mann - One

(0. Elvis Costello - Less Than Zero)

I like the way this turned out. In many ways, it represents my record collection. Bruce is in there 5 times, which would be too much for most people, but is about right for me. Most of my other really important artists are represented - Billy, The Smiths, Prince, REM, Huey, Half Man Half Biscuit, Pulp, Queen, Barry Manilow... and thanks to CC's Zero Post yesterday, we have some Elvis Costello too. (That would have been mine choice for zero.) There's some Motown, some country, some punk, some soul, some obscure indie bands, and a nice mix between the really obvious numerical songs (Summer of '69, 20th Century Boy) and the really obscure (The Man From Del Monte, The Rural Alberta Advantage). The lyrical choices also helped keep the chart from being too obvious or too ordinary in many places. In the end, this is like 8 years of the blog mashed into 100 posts... just no Billy Joel.

The most appropriate song to finish this series on had to be this. Here's to all the songs that almost made it onto the countdown. You won't be forgotten!