Guest Post Monday: Top Ten Zero Songs

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...

10 - The BoomtownRats - Wind Chill Factor (Minus Zero)

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.

(Actually, I love that album. - Rol.)

9 - TV 21 - This isZero

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.)

8 - Bob Dylan - LoveMinus Zero/No Limit

One of the lesser known songs off his 1965 album Bringing it All Back Home.

Described as a hallucinatory allegiance, a poetic turn that exposes the paradoxes of love 

As you would expect, swiftly name checked by The Swede.

7 - Sonny Boy Williamson II - Nine Below Zero

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.

6- Isobel Campbell -Below Zero

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.

5 - Yeah Yeah Yeahs -Zero

The opening track from It’s Blitz the third album by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs from 2010.

It was also the first single from the album.

4 - Jill Jackson -Back to Zero

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.)

3 - Public Enemy  - She Watches Channel Zero ?!

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.

In the words of Chuck D...

I don't think I can handle

She goes channel to channel

Cold lookin' for that hero

She watch channel zero

2 - Joan Armatrading  - Down to Zero

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.

1 - Elvis Costello -Less Than Zero 

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...