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!
Unable to cope with a Zero edition of the Hot 100 myself, I put the idea out to tender. First to jump at the opportunity was Charity Chic, who spend a large part of his working week compiling the excellent Top Ten below. He didn't supply a Zero band though, so I chose Remy Zero, who once recorded the theme tune to young-Superman-based TV show Smallville. Remy Zero - Save Me I'm running this Guest Post today - rather than on Thursday - because it leads it nicely into the final edition of the Hot 100 tomorrow. Join me then for the full countdown. In the meantime, take it away, Charity Chic...
Top 10 - Zero Songs
By way of
appreciation for Rol’s epic Hot 100 series, I give you a Top 10 of Zero Songs...
Taken from “the
difficult third album “ 1979’s The Fine Art of Surfacing, it pre-dates Band Aid, meaning that St Bob was slightly less annoying than he later became.
TV21 were a post punk
band from Edinburgh. Named after a Gerry Anderson comic. Another
impressive piece of trivia is that guitarist Ally Palmer is responsible
for curating the Scottish football magazine Nutmeg. I suspect Rol
will be aware of the first trivia reference but totally oblivious to the
second. (How right you are. - Rol.)
Yes, there were two.
The original was John Lee Curtis with number two who is featured here being
Alex Miller or Aleck Ford. All very confusing. (Yeah, you lost me. I'm going to ask George to explain that sentence to me. - Rol.)
Nine Below Zero is
also the name of an English Blues band who formed in 1977 and who I saw play on
a couple of occasions at Strathclyde Students Union.
A lovely song from
the album There Is No Other, the first solo album for 14 years from the former
Belle and Sebastian chanteuse and Mark Lanegan collaborator. A welcome return.
The title track from
the 2011 debut solo album by Paisley lass and former Speedway frontwoman Jill
Jackson, an artist who I know that Rol has a bit of a soft spot for. (Indeed. - Rol.)
A splendid racket and
a splendid diatribe by Public Enemy from their seminal album It takes a Nation
of Millions to Hold Us Back. As topical now as it was on its release in 1988.
A seriously
underrated artist . A track from her eponymous 3rd album from 1976 which also
contains the brilliant Love and Affection. The compilation album Track Record
is an ideal introduction to her work.
No shocks, no
surprises. None of the others come close.
I suspect that from
the get go most of you would have had this down as the number one
The 1977 debut single
from the debut album My Aim is True which introduced the world to the
prodigious talent that is Elvis Costello.
Thanks for taking up the baton, CC. You get no argument from me on any of those, especially not the worthy (and only!) Number One. Of course, that's not to stop anyone else coming up with a second list of Zero Songs, if they think they've got 'em. The doors are always open...
There was another One D... band I could have chosen to illustrate the final edition in the Hot 100 Countdown... fortunately, Swiss Adam saved me from having to go there when he suggested One Dove.
I've been dreading this week since I started this countdown, way way back in January 2018. (Yes, I've been at this for more than two years.)
Partly because I knew there would be thousands of potential ONE songs.
Partly because I knew it'd be impossible to find them amidst all the BlutONES and UndertONES songs, and all the songs about bones and phones; everyone, anyone and no one; money and baloney.
I didn't dread it because I wondered what the winner would be though. I've known that since January 2018.
Before you dismiss it completely, let's not forget that it was written by Nik Kershaw, and came from a movie in which Roger Daltrey played Chezzer's dad.
And, while we're on the subject of Ones & Only... and Only Ones, for that matter... I may as well re-direct you back to this, from way back in 2013...
George will be disappointed to see that Huey Lewis only got to #2 in that countdown. And he was beaten by The Charlatans, for Pete's sake... what was I thinking?
I think it's fair to say I haven't heard that since 1982. However, I was 10 in 1982, and I seem to recall being quite a fan. If you'd asked me, I'd have said this actually won Eurovision that year, but it didn't. It was beaten by Nicole. Still, neither of them were in the same league as the 1981 winners. Witness my nascent sexual awakening at 1 minute 32 seconds on that video.
You may have noticed I'm holding off on the lists this week, folks. There's a reason for that. Over to C...
Blimey Rol, incredible stuff. This must be like a full-time job - perhaps you should charge us for your services to blogging? I'm not even going to add anything, happy just to see what comes up.
The truth is, C, last week nearly broke me. And the prospect of copying and pasting all the one suggestions... and then finding links for the bloody things... I just couldn't take it!
And then Lynchie said this...
Rol - I think you should turn this series into a book.
I would ask who'd read it... but I guess you guys have answered that question over the past two and a half years. For which, I will be eternally grateful... but not so grateful that I could face the colossal workload of this final post.
And then, after whittling his shortlist down to 600, The Swede came to my rescue...
Here's what's left from my hard-drives. Sorry there are so many - for gawd's sake don't post them all!
Do you know what, Swede? That's the best advice I've been given in all my blogging career.
What I'm going to do instead is choose ONE song from each contributor... beyond the ones suggested above.
If anybody cares to see the full list of suggestions, you can do so here.
(Part of me thinks I should have instituted a filtration policy such as this weeks ago.)
Finally, as seems only fitting, here's my Number One contributor... at least in terms of the number of suggestions he's submitted during the lifetime of this series... The Swede.
Just pitching the one this week, mostly because it must surely be the winner...
How right you are, Martin.
(Special mention to Lynchie who guessed the original version, a worthy runner-up.)
As I said at the start, I knew this song would be the winner of the final week of my Hot 100 even before I published the first post. It is, quite simply, perfect...
Which brings us to the end of this feature.
I sometimes wondered if I'd ever reach the end, but I'm glad I did. Chalk it up as another of life's little accomplishments... and thank you all again for playing along. It wouldn't have been half as much fun... and I definitely wouldn't have made it this far... without your contributions.
Final word goes to The Swede...
A thought occurred whilst mulling... I trust you'll be doing a final entry the week after next for zeroes?
Now I don't like to be one to disappoint, Swede, but I just can't face that right now. (Neither can I face "Half Songs" or "Quarter Songs" or anything else, for that matter. If I never see another number again, it'll be too soon.)
However - that's not to say I won't welcome your contributions. If anyone wants to compile a Top Ten Zero Songs and submit it for Guest Post Thursday, I will be happy to let you have the space.
I have got an idea for a feature to replace this one, and I'll be kicking that off in a couple of weeks' time. I've been itching to get to it for at least a year now... and it will require your suggestions (though I'm hoping it won't lead to quite so many as the last few weeks of the Hot 100 has). I hope you'll join me and play along...
My antipathy towards U2 is well documented so you may be surprised to find them at the top of the page this week. But really, there weren't a whole lot of strong contenders... and I did want to give U2 some credit to make up for years of taking the mick. There was a point sometime in 1988/9 where I thought they may be OK. Not earlier - I still think The Joshua Tree is one of the most overrated albums ever recorded... but Rattle & Hum... that, I didn't mind. So here, for the record, is my favourite U2 song. It's not a long list...
Truly the late 80s / early 90s were a dire time for chart music. I was in my late teens at the time and the tracks above largely forced me to venture outside the charts for the first time in my musical history.
No other song will touch that, if only for the sheer majesty of Pearl's vocal (and Carl's ability to use only one side of his mouth whilst singing).
Initially, I couldn't find that anywhere on the internet, but George was kind enough to send me a link so you can enjoy it in all its glory.
That was the first thing to spring to my mind too, C. Though I still have nightmares about the awful Rod Stewart / Tina Turner version. The Sonny & Cher version (as suggested by Martin) is quite fun though.
I don't suppose anyone will mention that song about little boys by a certain person...although it was covered by Splodgenessabounds.
I loved that song when I was young. It breaks my heart that we can't listen to it anymore without awful connotations.
Martin was the first to observe that I have my work cut out for me this week.
As for "two", there are going to be loads, aren't there? Don't envy you collating them.
I'll let you into a secret... last week was training / CPD week at work. I attended all the training sessions online. But I also... multi-tasked. Which is why there was no pause in transmission this week.
So here are some. No doubt I'll forget something again this week, my mind is getting soft.
I think that goes for all of us after the past few months.
Yes, I know that's a 97... and we did feature it way back in 1984 when we were doing that week of the Hot 100 on Ceefax, before the interweb. But it's based on the two songs above, so I'll break loads of rules and throw it in.
Time for Douglas, who made the journey from Canada in record time this week...
Oh my, I somehow got here before The Swede published a list a clothyard long! I just have to get a few early suggestions in, then perhaps come back later after some real thought. For starters, since I (indirectly) promoted The Lucksmiths last week, here are two solid suggestions from the Australian artists of winsome wordplay:
Then of course there is the master of meticulous songcraft himself, the creative genius behind The Blue Nile (who births an album roughly every fifteen years):
Makes one want to smile and cry at the same time. And perhaps me especially after I discovered that the vinyl copy of the album from which it comes (2012's "Mid Air") which I purchased on release date for under $30 is now going on Discogs for something in the mid $300's. A better investment than real estate. And speaking of which, there is:
And for my usual Canadian offering, you could do worse than save some room for Montreal's beloved and finest indie rock band (no, don't worry, not Arcade Fire):
I'm allowing those last two, but I didn't want to open the can of worms that was "second songs" or we really would have been here all week.
On to Alyson, who was missing in action last week but returns full force this week...
So, so many 2 suggestions. I am struggling to come up with anything better than Party Fears Two so agree with that one and here's a little extract from when I wrote about that song after my trip to Dundee.
'It’s certainly a strange title for a song and tricky to understand the lyrics other than that a party is involved. Billy did explain the origin however, 'My wee brother was at a party watching two girls who wanted to come in. They were smashing windows and attempting to kick the door in with their stiletto heels, which he admired, so he christened them the Party Fears Two and I pinched the title from him.''
That's a great explanation. I love that song, especially the opening line.
Sadly, Alyson's other suggestions all fall foul of the the Tom Robinson Rule.
I figured there would be a load more 2am song, but it seems only Iron Maiden are hard enough to stay up that late. Anyone else who stays up that late appears to not be happy about it...
It's at this point that I have to give Rigid Digit a special award this week, for nabbing most of my top contenders in a very short space of time. Any of these could have been this week's winner. In fact, I had them listed together in almost the same order you presented them, RD...
I added the second Joe Jackson tune myself and seriously considered giving them joint winner status in the same way I had three winners last week. Sadly, a more obvious choice presented itself. But any other week...
Over to Jim in Dubai...
I fully endorse Swiss Adams choice of Party Fears 2, still sounds great and would be a worthy winner.
Now at this point in proceedings, I was feeling pretty smug about being way ahead of the game and well on track for a timely post with no overtime required.
Hi folks. Sorry I'm late. I culled this list of appropriate tunes from my hard-drives a couple of weeks back and have attempted to take out anything already suggested - apologies for any I've duplicated...
OK, time to pull an all-nighter!
At least The Swede started with two he knew would be on my list...
Let it be known, that in line with me keeping my sanity, I am going to heretofore limit The Swede to only 600 suggestions per week.
And after all that, I doubt very much that anyone will want to read my shortlist... although I think there's a couple at the top of my list that will a few of you kicking yourselves...
This week's winner was first suggested by John Medd, then seconded by Martin. It wasn't my first thought, but once it was out there, I couldn't think of anything any more appropriate.
Sam has taken to singing this song thus...
Woohoo! Abbamebaddawawa!
Woohoo! Dabbaweewawameme!
I've told him what the actual words are and he sings them once or twice, then goes back to the nonsense. Actually, I think the nonsense words are even more appropriate, since pure pop should be nonsense... and this is a contender for the purest indie pop song ever written.
Pleased ta meetcha!
Only one more to go. And there can be only one winner... but what will it be?
