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.
(Actually, I love that album. - Rol.)
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.)
(How right you are. - Rol.)
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.
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.)
(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 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.
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.)
(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.
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
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...
