Songs of my Life (Top 125)
It’s been a while since I’ve written about music, and I missed spending way too much time and effort into something very few people end up caring about. You may be asking, “N. Saint, why a top 125?” Well, I started with 50, realized I couldn’t sum up my life in just 50 songs, went up to 100, found it just as impossible, and saw that Squarespace had 250 section limit, so I used that as an excuse to test it. I still wouldn’t consider this a “true” top 125 songs, as these are mostly songs that meant a whole lot to me at some point in my life, and listing whatever is my favorite right now didn’t seem like a fun premise to follow for this endeavor.
I only self-imposed one rule, which was having unique artists for the entirety of the list EXCEPT for one band or artist of my choosing—admittedly way more difficult than I anticipated. The variety adds a little zest to the text blurbs explaining why these songs have burned inside of me so long, instead of having just a few albums dominating the entire list.
Let’s get to it.
My 2010s was partially defined by my obsession with ambient music, and it would be a real shame for me not to include the pioneer himself, Brian Eno.‘Always Returning’ was a song I’d play at 3 A.M. to help me fall asleep, or have on in the background while trying to empty any static that kept zigzagging inside of my head. The mix of the piano and synths create such a pillowy soft, slow, pendulum swinging of sound that achieves a level of tranquility few other songs can produce.
HM - Signals, By This River.
LAST.FM SCROBBLES - 27
Some of you may recognize this as the sample from JPEGMAFIA’s ‘BALD!’—a sick ass jazz, DnB, metal fusion from Kohta Takahashi for the Ridge Racer series. It instantly transports me back to my childhood with my friends in the apartment complex I grew up in. Somehow, I was more of a Jet Moto, Destruction Derby, Gran Turismo sort of kid that missed out on this series, but I wish I had been exposed to this way earlier in my life. Not every blurb will be filled with some deep emotional attachment, and this song was only recently discovered in the last 5 years for me, but it scratches a very specific itch that apparently I’ve had for a very, very long time.
HM - N/A
LAST.FM SCROBBLES - 1
I’m such a sucker for a dirty bassline. If I had any sort of ability to play an instrument and didn’t peak as a high school rapper who sold mixtapes with my friend for $10 a pop, I’d be playing bass, no doubt about it. I’m actually a bit ambivalent about the vocals in Them Changes, but they’re crude in a way that only elevates Thundercat’s agonizing lyrics describing heartbreak. The fact that the cauldron only required a few ingredients, and it still managed to create such nasty funk.. bravo.
HM - Lava Lamp.
LAST.FM SCROBBLES - 47
I decided to stop attempting to write for Pitchfork around 2014 because I’m not great at explaining the specifics of the “sound” of music, and found the formula of it all to be quite pretentious, but I’m going to try my best with this one. I can’t help but feel such a child-like wonder that radiates from this song, with Richard’s own violin-playing being sampled, mixed in with a fast-tempo drum beat and a tone-changing synth, in which he evokes feelings in the nooks of the tempo changes and instruments as they’re slowly being removed one by one.
It feels like a journey and a story of life itself, starting with whimsy and curiosity—the slow downs being brief moments of loss or deep contemplation, before getting right back on the horse. The brief “Richard. Yeah?” vocals act as a buffer that snaps him out of this world before indulging once again. I just really appreciate the amount of depth this song manages to pack into it the more it’s replayed. If there was ever a song that deserved to fade out, continuing it’s journey somewhere out of earshot ad infinitum, it’s this one.
HM - Xtal, Avril 14th, Alberto Balsalm, Yellow Calx, Film.
LAST.FM SCROBBLES - 13
“Brodie on the corner…”
Another song that I discovered via sample—from Earl Sweatshirt & Navy Blue’s The Mint. I debated putting in this spot, but the original managed to eke it out. The Ghostwriters are an interesting story, existing as an electronic experimental duo from Philadelphia, putting out two total albums after existing together for a decade, only to never make any music together again. But if you’re into this sort of sound, check out Remote Dreaming. It’s a gem of an album with a mysterious and chilly soundscape. About the song itself, I just love how futuristic it sounds—almost as if it was made by a benevolent alien species ritualistically welcoming you to their planet.
HM - N/A
LAST.FM SCROBBLES - 7
“Repugnant is a creature who would squander the ability
To lift an eye to heaven, conscious of his fleeting time here”
The first time hearing this song, I was probably 15 or 16 years old, and thought the social commentary was the deepest lyrics I had ever heard in my life. I’ve since heard more poignant lyricism, less on-the-nose, but in reality, this is a song that will likely be relevant lyrically until the end of civilization. It’s a beautifully wrapped critique of our follies and trivialities as a society, being observed by disenchanted angels. The song works hard, purposely, at staying one note energy-wise, with its traditional sounding drums and Maynard’s vocal vibrato (or tremolo?) on top of the instrumental, which then explodes with precision at the end of the track, coalescing into an intense guitar solo that takes you by the neck and drags you underground with it.
HM - 10,000 Days, Parabola.
LAST.FM SCROBBLES - 25
This song reminds me of my grandmother. I’m not even sure if the Bee Gees were her favorite group, or why I connect this song so much to her, but it instantly provides a warmth, and brings me back to sitting around with her in the kitchen, or sneaking her Dove chocolates at night, back at my old grandparents’ house (which, sadly, we had to sell last year.)
Not to turn this into VH1’s Pop-Up Video sans fact-checking and only full of personal opinion, but this has to be one of the most covered songs of all time.
HM - More Than A Woman.
LAST.FM SCROBBLES - 8
“If first you don't succeed try, try again
Step up to the mic and die again
This is the next lifetime and you want to battle
Either you like reincarnation or the smell of carnations”
This song is here on the strength of Vast Aire’s voice alone. If I was to ever compile a list of my favorite voices in rap, he’d be in my top 10. The entire The Cold Vein album is a production marvel from El-P, crafting a steel, frigid robotic-ness that only Cannibal Ox can extract the mechanical sinew out of. The first verse is one of the most creative of any rap song I’ve heard, with Vast Aire playing off his “If first you don’t succeed, try, try again” line, restarting his verse halfway through in disgust, just to follow through on the proverb.
HM - Scream Phoenix, Iron Galaxy
LAST.FM SCROBBLES - 10
“Can anybody start this thing?”
One of their most underrated songs, IMO. It saddens me a little bit listening to newer Coldplay, as I find most of their music nowadays to be sterile and lacking any sort of identity or flair, and I say that fully aware that this song is basically Radiohead through and through. But there’s a special charm that comes from the lazy, floating instrumentation from the band, and I can’t get enough of it.
HM - Spies, Don’t Panic.
LAST.FM SCROBBLES - 33
An enigma in more than one definition of the word, PoiSON GiRL FriEND is a Japanese singer who grew up in Brazil, sings in French, and cut her teeth on the music scene in London. Even QUOI itself is a combination of lyrics from two different songs mashed together. There’s a haunting, seductive desperation in this song, and an ever-changing instrumental that adds to the dense mist this song hovers around inside of.
HM - N/A
LAST.FM SCROBBLES - 9
A fun little ditty that happens to be the theme song for The Adventures of Pete & Pete, an amazing Nickelodeon TV show from the 90s. It also has the honor of being one of the most mysterious songs on this entire list, with unconfirmed subject matter and indecipherable lyrics. The title itself is thought to be an allusion to Sandra Lee Scheuer, one of the students killed in the Kent State shootings in 1970. The third line of the song has yet to be identified as of 2026, with most theories landing on “Can you settle to shoot me?” or “Can you settle a sure bet?” —but even those could be wrong. Back in 2015, frontman Mark Mulcahy replied to the rampant lyric confusion with even more nest stirring, commenting, “No one is right. Nothing that anyone has guessed is right.” The world’s longest music-related ARG continues.
HM - N/A
LAST.FM SCROBBLES - 106
“It's like a dream, I called my team and started flipping
Locked the clip in, started lifting ****** off the ground like a magician”
Big Punisher was one of my biggest rap inspirations growing up. I was around… 11 or 12 when I somehow transitioned from Ja Rule and Nelly level interest of rap, straight into mainlining Soulseek downloads of Jedi Mind Tricks and Pharoahe Monch albums as I battled people on rap message boards in the early 2000s. Big Pun was always the guiding light when it came to high-level flow without compromising quality. It was damn near ritualistic for me and my friends to practice his “Dead in the middle of Little Italy little did we know that we riddled some middlemen who didn't do diddly” line until we got it juuuust right. Anyway, Boomerang, to me, is the song that best marries his flow and lyrical ability over a grimy, infectious beat.
HM - Rhyme for Rhyme, Still Not A Player.
LAST.FM SCROBBLES - 36
Michael Jackson is arguably the only artist that I was debating between 10 songs to put on this list, but I ended up just picking the one that resonated with me the most at time of writing. Off The Wall, to me, is easily his best album, and I love the funkier/R&B/dance side of Michael that became less prevalent during his ‘peak’ era.
And special shout-out to anyone who enjoyed playing Moonwalker on the Sega Genesis.
(Although, as I’m watching someone do a playthrough of it, I have come to the realization that my younger self never got past the first two levels. I can’t believe I would’ve died without knowing that he turned into a spaceship to get out of a cave system in level 3.)
HM - Baby Be Mine, It’s The Falling In Love, P.Y.T.
LAST.FM SCROBBLES - 9
I just watched a podcast with PinkPantheress where she sang Craig David’s praises, commenting on his voice and how she would swap hers for his in an instant, saying there aren’t many voices that are better than his in the history of R&B. I don’t disagree. His debut album, Born To Do It, contains underrated banger after underrated banger, and there’s a plain vanilla perfection in his lyrics that lends itself well with great production. I find a lot of modern R&B leans too far into the experimental side, while the rest of it overdoes the emotional appeal thing. Craig David just gives it to you simple and sweet.
HM - You Know What, Time To Party, Follow Me.
LAST.FM SCROBBLES - 18
I absolutely adore how this song starts out, undoubtedly one of the most compelling on my list. The drums are so off-kilter and syncopated that it feels like you’re stumbling out of a B-Dubs at 2:00 a.m. after one too many drinks, but I’m almost positive the rhythm is still 4/4, which makes it that much more interesting. It’s doing a magic trick right in front of you. The lyrics are a little nonsensical and could do with a bit more depth, but Jonas Bjerre’s voice channels some sort of charming forest deity that keeps your head bopping for the entire duration.
HM - Hawaii Dream.
LAST.FM SCROBBLES - 52
I’m a real sucker for bands that release five or less albums in 30 years. Doesn’t even matter the reason. Hiatus? Hatred morphing back into enough love to make some money together again? Whatever. Instrumentally, there’s a real Morcheeba’s The Sea with a shoegaze feel going on with this one. The lyrics are predominantly indecipherable, the most prominent ones chanting “I wanna see it, I wanna feel it”, traded off between Neil Halstead and Rachel Goswel. Just close your eyes and let the fuzzy crunch of the guitars wash over until you feel renewed.
HM - Alison, When the Sun Hits.
LAST.FM SCROBBLES - 24
“She finally played me, but yo, I'd find another
'Cause I got the crazy game and, yo, I'm smooth like butter”
I didn’t know this until researching a bit more backstory about the song, but Phife Dawg had to fight extremely hard to keep this as a solo track, as Q-Tip really wanted to add his own verse to this. Phife can be a bit hit or miss lyrically for me, but his semi-raspy voice and one-of-one charm adds so much pizzazz to any song that he’s featured on, and this little autobiographical rap about women is no different. But the real reason that I picked this song was because of the beat. Might be one of my favorite hip-hop instrumentals ever. It brings me back to running errands around New York on a brick cold ass night.
In retrospect, Talkie Walkie is an insanely well-produced ambient pop album, even though it was widely received as a pretty safe offering from Air at the time of release. Four of my favorite songs from Air are on this album. The mix of the metallic pipe percussion, soft, meandering synths, and gorgeous acoustic strings perfectly capture the tangible wonder of traveling to new destinations and creating lifelong memories.
HM - Mike Mills, Alone in Kyoto, Cherry Blossom Girl.
LAST.FM SCROBBLES - 25
Maybe it’s some deep paternal instinct since I’m about to turn 37, but I just think it’s so beautiful to hold so much love in your heart for your newborn child that it compels you to craft a legendary song to celebrate their birth.
HM - Superstition, My Cherie Amour.
LAST.FM SCROBBLES - 12
“And the mourners are all sangin'
As they drag you by your feet
But the hangman isn't hangin'
And they put you on the street”
I originally had a Black Cow graphic made up, but after re-listening to Do It Again, it consisted of that right mixture of groove and lyricism that makes me react with the Robert DeNiro face. It’s actually a little heavy-handed with the groove, considering it’s insanely easy to gloss over the fact that the lyrics are about us being silly creatures of habit, doomed to repeat the same mistakes that we know are bad, but find it hard to inch away from. My Steely Dan era started right after graduating high school, and although I’ve strayed further away from their sound in recent years, I never find it difficult to get reeled back in.
It’s okay, the second Steely Dan era already awaits me in my 40s, as per midlife tradition.
HM - Peg, Black Cow.
LAST.FM SCROBBLES - 9
Going to pull out the classic actor mantra of, “One for them, one for me.” Just ignore the fact that this entire list is for me, but this one is really for me. As in, StarCraft: Brood War was literally part of the fabric of who I was as a young teenager. The nostalgia from this song just oozes out, frantically trying to make sure my SCV builds my supply depot and barracks quick enough to block a Zergling rush. In reality, this might be my most listened to song ever, considering I’ve heard it thousands of times from the countless games I used to chain queue into after school.
HM - Terran One, Terran Three.
LAST.FM SCROBBLES - 9
“In a world full of people, only some want to fly
Isn't that crazy”
Another song that has a little bit of faux-deep writing that could’ve been a bit more complex to get on the level of some prolific songwriters that I love, but dammit if this song isn’t quintessential 90s goodness. I have very distinct personal memories that come up whenever I hear this song, and I really enjoy how calming Seal’s voice is, while not managing to sound like anyone else in the industry. The quote I posted above is simple, but my favorite one from the song—questioning the lack of ambition and cojones from humankind while we’re all still alive, able, and breathing.
HM - N/A
LAST.FM SCROBBLES - 30
“I used to be afraid of myself
Hung my smile on a shelf
Hid my teeth when I laughed
Now I'm far too grown for your plot, for your palm
Will you root for me or will you leave?”
It’s interesting to me that thus far, EARTHA by Jamila Woods is my most modern song, with her album Legacy! Legacy! being released in 2019. The entire project comprises of song titles by her favorite 20th century inspirations and heroes. It’s a celebration of self with personal stories whipped into the fold, with a sound best described as ‘electro-soul’. While I love the intro lyrics to this song, the end of it sonically hits the spot for me, repeating, “Who gonna share my love for me with me?” It’s a powerful declaration, yet a pointed question to those wanting to get close to her. If there was one album I’d recommend people to check out ASAP if you’ve gotten this far, it would be this one. Just like Jamila, that album deserves way more love.
HM - Betty, Miles, Frida, Zora.
LAST.FM SCROBBLES - 18
“Clipside of the pink eye flight
I'm not the percent you think survives
I need sanctuary in the pages of this book
Gestating with all the other rats
Nurse said that my skin will need a graft
I am of pockmarked shapes
The vermin you need to loathe”
The biggest internal debate I had in constructing this list was how many songs I would include from the last few years, songs that have suddenly arrived in my life and found a comfortable home, versus songs that defined my past, but have since grown out of. Predictably, I decided to include both, but it was not an easy task to rank them. I don’t listen to much The Mars Volta these days—I find Cedric’s voice to be a bit too grating and piercing at times. I have to be in the mood for it.
But I couldn’t get enough of this song at one point of my life. I’d put this introduction instrumentally against most album openers I’ve heard in my life, as it sets the mood for this entire album in all of its anxiety-ridden glamor. The title translates to “Sound and Light”, which is what this song is supposed to portray in its sound—the feeling of losing consciousness after having a drug overdose.
Sadly, two members of The Mars Volta would pass away over the next decade, Ikey Owens and Jeremy Ward. There were a number of geniuses existing in this band concurrently, and I’ve heard that their documentary (having yet to watch it) sheds light on some pretty insane lore and explains what lead to their breakup. They were undoubtedly one of the first bands that helped me break out of my hip-hop bubble.
HM - The Widow, Roulette Dares (The Haunt Of)
LAST.FM SCROBBLES - 34
“We received our bloody circles in the mail
Only see what's really important when it's nailed
As a teen, my Lord and saviour was a male
Tightened truss and six steel strings that keep me frail
It's the worst I've ever felt, when, when it hailed
Broken teeth and bloody nose but least it snowed”
A deeply personal song crafted by Dev Hynes, describing in great detail about his youth, growing up being bullied and finding different means of needed escapism (like skating), as these incidents stripped away his entire sense of self. Dev describes the sound as a “murky memory”, which shines through in its melancholic haziness, mixing in various sounds from the streets to help paint a clearer picture of his past. As far as intimate musical vignettes go, this has to be one of my favorites.
HM - Charcoal Baby, Chewing Gum.
LAST.FM SCROBBLES - 23
You may be wondering why this entry has so little scrobbles, but I remember having it on loop on YouTube where they weren’t tracked. That… and this song puts me in such a somber mood that I have to mentally prepare for. Despite being 19 years old at the time of recording, Miki’s voice has such a maturity to it, instantly making the longing and pain of the lyrics so tangible and raw.
Miki led a bit of a tragic life, dying at the age of 44 to cancer, and having massive regret about her lifestyle when she was a musician. A lifestyle that she attributed as the reason she developed her illness. Her dad shared her zest for life she still contained even during her final days, quoting Miki, “I want to do many things. I'm still thinking of them. So I don't want to die." I’m glad she’s stayed alive in the ears of listeners all over the world, having a posthumous resurgence with the help of Gen-Z and TikTok.
HM - N/A
LAST.FM SCROBBLES - 2
HM - My Own Summer (Shove It).
LAST.FM SCROBBLES - 14
“Got me scratching at your back door
Won't you let me in?
Won't you let me in?
We both know what I came back for
Won't you let me in?
Oh god let me in
Caught you looking out the window
Dream of what could be
Then suddenly
Got this eerie little tingle
Notice me
Notice me
Notice me”
Very appreciative to an ex who introduced me to post-hardcore back in the early 2010s, as it led directly to my love of Balance and Composure. Their latest album, With You in Spirit, has around 4 or 5 songs I keep on constant rotation, and while I won’t include any of those songs, I highly suggest those who enjoy this sort of sound to check that offering out. The strength of Notice Me is by far the outro, where Jon Simmons delivers the best vocal interpretation of desperation and pain that I’ve ever heard, solely through his screaming vocals. I’d personally advise against this sort of toxic pleading in real life, but I’ve definitely felt my heart and soul ripped apart in ways his vocals capture here.
HM - Cross to Bear, Believe the Hype, Lead Foot, Sorrow Machine.
LAST.FM SCROBBLES - 24
“She said, "When I die, become a butterfly
You can flutter and colour in meadows and hills”
It’s the synths that flutter around in this song like dancing little flames, while Yukimi Nagano’s sultry voice coats over it like icing on red velvet cake. For a song essentially about death, it brings me an immense amount of comfort, even with the inclusion of the darker synths towards the end of the track that shift the mood completely.
HM - Crystalfilm, Twice
LAST.FM SCROBBLES - 22
“There is no life I know
To compare with pure imagination”
I’m flirting with the idea of creating other lists for fun in the future, because I really want to take a deeper dive into a lot of genres that I was forced to ignore because it would’ve taken me forever to compile a true list. There’s a bunch of gaming and movie OSTs, as well as so many songs from other genres that flat out had to be dismissed because of the premise. Pure Imagination is one of the exceptions. The instrumental creates such mystery, anxiety, and whimsy in one candy-coated pill. Gene Wilder’s voice is just good enough for the earnestness to brushstroke the entire song, since for me, a professional singer would’ve absolutely diluted the chocolate river this song is gliding down.
HM - N/A
LAST.FM SCROBBLES - 2
“One love feeds the fire
One heart burns desire
Wonder who's crying now?”
It’s an old classic, but the newest addition in my listening library, hearing this song for the first time only a few months ago. I help my pops out by setting up equipment since he still DJs, and there was a Journey cover band playing at House of Blues where he was doing a pre-show set. I only knew them previously as the Don’t Stop Believing band, and if that song never plays again I’d be A-OK, but this song immediately piqued my interest when they sung it live. I went home and looped it all night. That guitar solo is ace.
HM - N/A
LAST.FM SCROBBLES - 11
Speaking of pops, I tried to include one song for those most important in my life. The Whistle Song is one that I dedicate to him. As much as we have similar personalities that drive each other up the wall, I have fond memories of waking up to him blasting house records in the garage before heading off to DJ a block party. The synths and the flute on this represent freedom to me. Play this while at the park or biking around on a sunny day and observe how much it lifts your mood.
HM - N/A
LAST.FM SCROBBLES - 8
I feel like I’m in the minority with Title Fight fans in thinking that Hyperview is their best album, but I’m just a sucker for shoegaze mixed with their melodic, hardcore sound. This song represents their final song as a band together, so there’s a bittersweet gossamer that envelops this track. I love Jamie’s vocals on this, and how this song is mixed overall.
I miss Title Fight.
HM - Rose of Sharon, Flood of ‘72, Hypernight.
LAST.FM SCROBBLES - 34
“Off into the yawning blue
The splash would mum the rocket-ships
Ruby's lungs were filling by the time her kin were cognizant
Many sprung and sprinted down
All arrive belated but
The beast she had earlier stirred had been alert since waking up”
Aesop Rock was one of those artists that I felt conflicted about once I started shedding my underground rap phase in the late 2000s. It wasn’t until his later albums that I developed a healthy respect for his prose, as well as the ability to use words in rhyme schemes no other rapper would even dare to attempt—even if it came at the expense of research. This one sums up Aesop’s genius the best, in my opinion. It’s short and sweet, but tells a harrowing story of an unattended child during a 4th of July party where the kid falls into a pool, almost drowning to death, only to have a hyper aware family beagle come and save the day. The keyboard instrumental slowly builds in intensity, swelling in a frenzy before the release and subsequent slow down—a happy, abrupt ending, where Aesop shares, “EMT confirm the save, everybody say"Good dog!"
But there’s also an eeriness in the abrupt nature that it ends, especially with the laissez faire family celebration of the dog, and the dog being the only one cognizant enough to save this child from dying a gruesome death. That dog may not be in position to save the child the next time it happens. At least, that’s the message I got from it.
HM - Blood Sandwich, Dorks, Lotta Years, None Shall Pass, Catacomb Kids.
LAST.FM SCROBBLES - 26
“One day this love will all blow over
Time for leaving the parade
Is there a place in this city
A place to always feel this way?”
I lied about Journey’s ‘Who’s Crying Now’ being the most recent favorite on my playlist, as Tinseltown in the Rain only graced my ears in March of this year for the first time. It’s inclusion is also foreshadowing on my newfound sophisti-pop craze, but you’ll see more of that later on. The song whips me around emotionally, but what it does best is set up a story with the complexities of love in an urban backdrop. My second favorite thing about it is Paul Buchanan’s vocals sounding like he’s on the wrong side of 60, despite being only a freshly minted 28 year old. The only thing keeping this song so ‘low’ in my list is how new it is to me.
HM - N/A
LAST.FM SCROBBLES - 5
“You grew up ridin' the subways, running with people
Up in Harlem, down on Broadway
You're no tramp but you're no lady
Talkin' that street talk
You're the heart and soul of New York City”
For some, it may be hard not to picture Wendy Williams in The Masked Singer as a big pair of lips singing this, but this song holds a special place in my heart. I’ll always be a disco lover, so that alone has me on this subway ride, but as someone with deep New York roots, it makes me a bit wistful, especially after moving out of New York for the second time in my life, knowing it could be a very, very long time, if ever, until I live there again. I’d put this song against any when it comes to bottling up the essence of what New York feels like.. outside of Ol’ Blue Eyes.
HM - Inside Out.
LAST.FM SCROBBLES - 12
If Soshi Takeda has a million fans, then I am one of them. If Soshi Takeda has ten fans, then I am one of them. If Soshi Takeda has only one fan then that is me. If Soshi Takeda has no fans, then that means I am no longer on earth. If the world is against Soshi Takeda, then I am against the world.
All jokes aside, if the Playstation 1 was a song, it would be this. Close your eyes, take the ride, and tell me I’m wrong.
HM - Blue Dress, Ancient Fish.
LAST.FM SCROBBLES - 23
“Ain't it fun
Livin' in the real world?
Ain't it good
Bein' all alone?”
From lyrics that hold such sarcastic whimsy, to a soulful gospel choir, there’s a myriad of elements in this song you’re not expecting from most rock bands. There’s also a specific instrument in this that pings a tender part of my brain.. I think a marimba? Anyway, it’s one of those songs to me that has no faults, even as a pop-rock hit that was overplayed on the radio. It never fails to put a pep in my step.
You’re right, it’s pretty damn fun, Hayley.
HM - Decode.
LAST.FM SCROBBLES - 27
“Thick black soul
Moving slow, moving close to you
This life I don't know
It seems kinda sick to me”
There’s Something About Moby. Not in a good way either, because while I appreciate his animal activism, the whole gaudy tattoo persona is a bit jarring. I’m sure the stuff with Natalie Portman doesn’t help his public image either. Anyway, rant aside, I first remember hearing this on the show Running Man (I’m a huge Korean variety consumer), and Extreme Ways already served as Yoo Jae-suk’s theme song… and… hmm.
As I’m writing this in real time, I’m wondering if I’m mixing up my shows and where I was introduced to this. I swore it was in Running Man where someone was deducing a mystery or doing something impressive, but it could’ve also been on the show Crime Scene. Getting back on track, the reason I love this song so much is because of Azure Ray’s wispy vocals that reach out towards you with the potency of a siren call, as well as the repetitive, crunchy synths that wriggle inside of your head with ill intent.
HM - Porcelain.
LAST.FM SCROBBLES - 12
“I'm takin' wages down in Vegas just in case Tyson
Have a major night off, that's clean money, the tax write-off
You ain't seen money in your life, when it
Comes to this cheese y'all like Three Blind Mice”
If I had to slot this song into the Jay-Z catalog, I’d assume most people would consider this song a bit of an afterthought. He’s had much higher highs lyrically, the beats have been more adventurous and grandiose, but Politics As Usual is Jigga at his most comfortable. The suave, soulful sample from The Stylistics provides a clean canvas for Jay-Z to spread his wings on, with lyrics mature enough that it mirrors those old sushi masters that had to learn how to cook rice perfectly for 40 years before opening their own shop.. except this was his debut at 26 years of age. But considering Mobb Deep was dropping classics like Shook Ones Pt. II at the age of 19, maybe he did engage in the rap equivalent of masterly rice making before appearing on the scene.
HM - Can’t Knock The Hustle, Dead Presidents II, D’Evils, The City Is Mine.
LAST.FM SCROBBLES - 31
“Fly on, little wing”
Jimi Hendrix and his LSD induced imagery defined my persona on internet message boards in the early aughts. As a habitual short-song-liker, there’s an odd dreariness that hovers over me as soon as the song finishes. I can envision so much more. But as the song alludes to, much like a fleeting woman, or a butterfly, it can fly away as soon as it lands.
HM - Hey Joe, Purple Haze.
LAST.FM SCROBBLES - 42
“And when no hope was left in sight
On that starry, starry night
You took your life, as lovers often do
But I could've told you, Vincent
This world was never meant for one as beautiful as you”
If there’s something me and Tupac have in common, it’s our mutual love for Vincent by Don McLean. I’m someone who actually likes the studio version of most songs, but Don McLean’s live performances are beyond breathtaking. There’s only a few songs existing in the ether that can rival this level of simple storytelling with such emotional depth. If only Vincent van Gogh could hear this song… maybe a few days after watching that one Doctor Who episode.
HM - Castles In The Air.
LAST.FM SCROBBLES - 14
Two Star & the Dream Police is going to be looked back on as a modern classic, if it isn’t already close. The alternative, R&B, and lo-fi influences shine through, producing an amalgamation of artists that sounds original, but cocooned in a retro shell. Although Sting is who many people end up comparing his voice to, and it’s hard not to notice. The lyrics aren’t revolutionary, but man, it feels like I ghostwrote it in terms of how personal it hits me.
HM - cz, DNM, Dream police.
LAST.FM SCROBBLES - 8
One of the most distinctive openings ever, an ARP 2600 synth masterpiece, the classic sample used for DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince’s Summertime—there’s so many different ways to describe this song. I prefer to look at it through the lens of how modern and layered it sounds 51 years later. C'est magnifique.
HM - You Don’t Have To Change, Chocolate Buttermilk.
LAST.FM SCROBBLES - 35
To call myself a novice when it comes to OPM and Pinoy rock would be an understatement, but a very important person in my life introduced me to this song, and I immediately gravitated towards it. My life will be complete once I’m able to sing this in karaoke, most likely to the chagrin of any Filipino in earshot, who more than likely casually possess vocals similar to your average The Voice contestant.
HM - N/A
LAST.FM SCROBBLES - 4
“Where’s the album?”
This is Rihanna on her dark & sexy R&B shit. It’s a little awkward, because there’s a very obvious persona non grata who she’s directing her ire towards on this track, but this is also 100% a song that’ll heighten the mood in the bedroom without fail.
It’s cool though, we can be selective about paying attention to the lyrics.
HM - Same Ol’ Mistakes, James Joint, Desperado.
LAST.FM SCROBBLES - 43
“Every step is moving me up
One moment there
One tiny, tiny, tiny move
It's all I need and I jump over”
A foray into avant-garde cellist Arthur Russell’s work was quite a divergence from what sort of music I was listening to in the early 2010s, and I considered my taste raher unique [shoutout AZ] at that time. I just love how this song builds, with the cello at the forefront, the distorted vocals making an unexpected entrance, and then about a third of the way through, a clamor of trumpets and other horns end up celebrating the navigation of life.
HM - A Little Lost.
LAST.FM SCROBBLES - 34
Minecraft, for me, exists in this nostalgia stasis that I find hard to define. It’s a game that came out two years after I graduated high school, which in my head, passes a threshold where deep childhood nostalgia normally develops, but still does nonetheless. I have a sneaking suspicion that many other people feel this way. Warmth is my personal favorite, because it only spawns in the Nether, and I always feel a bit of trepidation hopping in that portal, as Nether deaths can be brutally frustrating to endure. The synths in Warmth act as a hint of light in a dark tunnel, providing a flicker of auditory hope in a place devoid of it.
HM - Haggstrom, Dry Hands, Moog City.
LAST.FM SCROBBLES - 9
The first artist on my list that I have a personal connection to! My second cousin, Christopher Thorn, was part of Blind Melon in the 1990s—before Shannon Hoon’s tragic and untimely death in 1995. Their trajectory at the time was quite meteoric, participating in Woodstock, performing on David Letterman, being on the cover of Rolling Stone, being 4x multi-platinum selling artists… and still, people only tend to remember them as one-hit wonders.
St. Andrew’s Fall has a specific part in it that I’ve never heard happen in any other song, which is an instrumental interpretation of someone falling a long distance, with the band playing in a frantic, escalating tempo until that person lands. Hoon’s unique vocal texture added that personality and humanity to Blind Melon records in the 90s that made him such a beloved figured in the scene back then, and it’s a shame that he never got to witness the fruits of his labor.
HM - Walk, Dear Ol’ Dad, Sleepyhouse, Toes Across the Floor.
LAST.FM SCROBBLES - 34
This song hit the UK garage scene like a fucking atomic bomb. Even though it’s a bit “further down” on the list, it’s a track that I knew had a cemented spot on it because of its legacy. TRACKLIB did a really dope breakdown of the sample process, which included a vocal chopping of Ray J’s One Wish, mixed with an intense orchestral instrumental from the Metal Gear Solid 2 track. It’s a classic that easily could’ve been in my top 25 if I constructed one of these 10 years ago.
HM - In McDonalds, Shell of Light, Ghost Hardware.
LAST.FM SCROBBLES - 40
Sigur Rós is an extinct animal in my life. It was plentiful at some point, part of my daily listening habits for years, and then I stopped listening altogether. A simple reason as to why that happened is because they act as the strongest magnet being aimed directly at my skeleton, absorbing every emotion out of my body, and leaving me as a dry husk. I can handle emotional, heart-wrenching songs in general, but not from a specific period of my life. It’s super strange. This one is beautiful in a way that I find dying flowers beautiful.
HM - Hoppípolla.
LAST.FM SCROBBLES - 18
“I'm the trouble starter, punkin' instigator
I'm the fear addicted, the danger illustrated
I'm a fire starter, twisted fire starter”
A flagship video and song by one of the most prolific 90s bands, while being an absolute pioneer in the electronic music scene. I attempted to do a deep dive into the lyrics of Firestarter, and while there was some allusion to the frontman’s last name being Flint, by all accounts, it was whipped together super quickly in some spur-of-the-moment rush, which actually gives that rebellious edge they sweat out so much more power. Do yourself a favor and watch their live performances and be prepared to get blown away. Afterwards, watch an interview or read stories about how Keith Flint was one of the biggest sweethearts imaginable, and you’ll realize what a loss for the music world it was when his passing was announced six years ago.
HM - Breathe.
LAST.FM SCROBBLES - 19.
Dreamcatcher is my ult K-pop group, and I don’t think anybody will ever replace them. They put on an amazing show live in NYC when I went to see them after COVID restrictions eased up, and had a blast even with the air conditioning not working in the venue during a summer month. They’re on a bit of a hiatus (?) right now, and may never make a song together again, but that doesn’t matter—I’m a loyal guy.
If you’re not into K-pop, a quick synopsis of their history is that they’re pretty much a miracle group, surviving as a mid-sized company for over a decade, executing a complete 180° re-brand conceptually where they started their careers as Minx, a bubblegum pop girl group, and re-debuted as Dreamcatcher, a darker, rock-based group. They waited an excruciating 1,923 days for their first K-pop music show win, which became a genre-wide celebration when they finally won. Their win announcement is still a top-four upvoted thread in r/kpop history, surrounded by tragedies or news related articles.
But yeah, this song… it’s Dreamcatcher at their best. They’ll blast you in the face with a high tempo, slap bass intro, then suddenly pump the breaks, lulling you to sleep with more melodic, slower parts, before dragging you through the mud again. Siyeon also hits one of my favorite high notes in K-pop history at the end of this song.
HM - Deja Vu, Starlight, Poison Love, Rising, DEMIAN
LAST.FM SCROBBLES - 55
“I'm a scary gargoyle on a tower
That you made with plastic power
Your rhinestone eyes are like factories far away”
I love taking mental note of little morsels of sonic brilliance, but oftentimes, they’re in songs that are otherwise unremarkable. Luckily, that’s not Rhinestone Eyes, a brilliant song with a drop that I just can’t get over. The vocal chop and echo effect is from their own unreleased demo, Electric Shock, and the synths buzz playfully with a dark undertone right underneath it.
HM - Empire Ants, Andromeda, Cracker Island.
LAST.FM SCROBBLES -40
“It's not everyday we're gonna be the same way
There must be a change somehow
There are bad times, and good times too
So, have a little faith in what you do”
A song that I was introduced to via Chungking Express, a classic Wong Kar-wai film. At risk of sounding like a local cars salesman in a tacky car commercial you’ve heard for the umpteenth time, I GUARANTEE this song will lower your heart rate . Bob Marley even dubbed Brown as the “Crown Prince of Reggae”, while citing him as his favorite singer. Regrettably, just like Marley, Dennis Brown also met an early death at the age of 42. As a big believer in the “it is what it is” mantra, put this song on, grab your beverage of choice, and let the worries in your mind dissipate.
HM - Here I Come.
LAST.FM SCROBBLES -13
A core memory unlocked by this song is lazily falling asleep on the couch next to my mom while she was reading or doing crosswords, hearing the Taxi theme song coming on TV, usually indicating it was close to bedtime. My grandpa is also a huge lover of jazz, so being around him all the time meant a natural gravitation towards this sort of music at a young age. It makes sense that a Fender Rhodes was used in this song, since I’m a sucker for any piece of music that uses one in its composition.
HM - Nautilus.
LAST.FM SCROBBLES -14
“The mic is contacted, I attract clientele
My mic check is life or death, breathin' a sniper's breath
I exhale the yellow smoke of buddha through righteous steps”
I spent a considerable amount of time writing lyrics in middle and high school, and while I had a dearth of lyrical inspirations, Nas stood out above most because of his ability to not only paint a vivid picture, but to still keep an appealing flow pattern while writing things that would make me go, “Damn, I would never have thought of writing that in a million years!” I mean, just pick your favorite off of Illmatic, you can’t really go wrong. It’s a shame that his beat selection fell off for a good chunk of his mid-late career, but he’s gotten back on track, especially with his latest project with Preme.
HM - Halftime, The World is Yours, Good Morning, Life’s a Bitch.
LAST.FM SCROBBLES - 39
“I feel numb
Born with a weak heart
I guess I must be having fun
The less we say about it, the better
We'll make it up as we go along
Feet on the ground, head in the sky
It's okay, I know nothing's wrong, nothing”
A historic weirdo in the most kind sense of the word, ever-wigglin’ David Byrne sure knows how to make great music. Once again, this is a track I’ve steered away from just because of the time period in which it meant a lot to me, but it does evoke a bittersweet feeling now, which I can absolutely handle. Pretty sure I was introduced to this from watching Lars and the Real Girl, and it’s burrowed into me ever since. There are several different repeating synths in this song that are just iconic, showing that you don’t need a super complex chord structure to curate such a unique song.
HM - Born Under Punches (The Heat Goes On).
LAST.FM SCROBBLES - 44
“'Cause when her teeth stop showin'
And her stomach start growlin' then the heat start flowin'
If you from the hood, I know you feel me
If a sneak start leaning and the heat stop workin'
Then my heat start workin', I'ma rob me a person”
Respect to Beans and Jay, but the strength of this song being so high on my list is Freeway’s verse, which might just be in my top 5 or 10 rap verses period. I even delayed writing this entire list for a day because of how much I was replaying this song without getting much work done. The hunger in Freeway’s verse is virtually unmatched across the history of rap, and when you add in the internal rhyme schemes and flow with lyrics that leap off the page, you get a rare offering like the first verse in What We Do.
HM - N/A
LAST.FM SCROBBLES - 13
“I could not get through September without a battle
I faced death, I went in with my arms swinging
But I heard my own breath
And I had to face that I'm still living”
Phil Elverum’s voice might be a sticking point for some people. He has a bit of a soft, higher tone, and he starts off the song like a teenager going through puberty. Nonetheless, the way this song progresses is incredible. The crunchy bass and cymbals crashing at the start, the double acoustic strings playing in succession, the piano—all which come to a stop to make way for a ghostly organ droning around in the background. Phil is bravely declaring his strength before his…
bloooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooood flows harshly. I remember audibly being like “What the fuck?” when I first heard this song, but it’s one of my favorite vocal moments ever. The lyrics are great too, but it’s funny reading Phil’s own comments on how this was sort of just about a normal breakup, and he didn’t go through anything that crazy. He simply wanted to state his defiance against the option of falling into the darkness one is prone to with a broken heart.
HM - The Moon.
LAST.FM SCROBBLES - 20
Why yes, please, I’ll take one (1) depressing jazzy Christmas anthem that reminds me of Christmas in the 70s despite being born in ‘89. This song transports me back to the holiday season back in New York as a child, when things made a lot more sense.
HM - N/A
LAST.FM SCROBBLES - 3
“I don't want to leave you
Even though I have to
I don't want to love you
Oh, I still do”
I Still Do has every right to pale in comparison to the worldwide anthemic protest hit that became Zombie, or the decade defining sentimentality that Linger misted the world with, but there’s just something about the desperation of the simple lyricism in this song that chills you to your bones. The angelic-yet-haunting crooning background vocals on top of the sludgy guitars makes this a classic Cranberries song in my eyes.
HM - Dreams, Linger, Zombie.
LAST.FM SCROBBLES - 24
King Krule is the king of atmospherics. The vocal sample from Nilüfer Yanya’s Small Crimes is one of my favorite uses of vocal sampling, period. The song features Archy’s deep, blanketing vocals, a catchy drum pattern with cracks of thunder and bass strumming, all while the vocal sample pulses in and out, oscillating between softer and amplified volumes. This song will never leave my orbit.
HM - Portrait in Black and Blue, The Cadet Leaps, Dum Surfer.
LAST.FM SCROBBLES - 13
At the time I was introduced to Pink Floyd in high school, my brain was like freshly poured concrete, ripe for all the goodness it had to offer, especially after being put on to Monty Python. It didn’t hurt that I was venturing out of my candlelit cave of hip-hop and looking upon any other sound with awe and wonder—no matter how entry level it was to their specific genre. I had a preconceived notion of what Pink Floyd had sounded like before diving deeper into them at the time, and I can remember feeling as if I was tasered, on stun, with a synthy keyboard instrumental being the complete antithesis of what I was expecting. At present time, I look at this song and realize how tangible and pulpy the storytelling aspect of this is without any lyricism at all.
HM - Money, Time, On The Run.
LAST.FM SCROBBLES - 33
“I drink a Boost for breakfast, an Ensure for dessert
Somebody order pancakes, I'll just sip the sizzurp
That right there could drive a sane man berserk”
We all know the frequency of headline-grabbing controversies Kanye West has found himself involved in over the last decade plus, and while he’s recently gotten the desperately needed help that he’s needed for a long time now, irreparable damage has been done to many. But regardless of personal feelings or his current public image, the man went on a four or five album run of production and songmaking that only geniuses or dumb luck could deliver. Through The Wire formally introduced himself to the world, bringing in a raw, storytelling track of his near death experience to the viewer over a Chaka Khan sample, at a time where storytelling rap had gone by the wayside in favor of party and hustler rap.
HM - Real Friends, 30 Hours, Bring Me Down, Roses, Never Let Me Down.
LAST.FM SCROBBLES - 11
This song is a new obsession of mine, and I subbed it in as a late scratch for a song from a video game OST, in which I would like to do a future article on. I can’t get enough of the sexy, non-Marvel branded cannibal spiderman lyrics. It’s a two-man race between Robert Smith and Chino Moreno for the king of horny singing. The six-string bass serves as a hall of fame level point guard for the keyboard that creeps in, throwing alley oops with ease—an instrumental pairing with the strongest of foundations.
HM - N/A
LAST.FM SCROBBLES - 9
“Dirty soda in a Styrofoam
Spend a day to get my mind blown
Dress it up and go to NASA”
The only song on my list with a legenday unc cover. Future was out of his mind on this one. This modern classic is simple in its execution with spacey, looped synths. It’s also a song that sweats out any lethargy, guaranteed to get you through your day once it’s being pumped into your veins.
This was pre-game gasoline for D1 athletes for at least five years. It might still be today.
HM - Solo, Real Sisters, Percocet & Stripper Joint.
LAST.FM SCROBBLES - 69
“So we go inside and we gravely read the stones
All those people, all those lives
Where are they now?
With-a loves and hates and passions just like mine
They were born, and then they lived
And then they died”
Fun fact, Morrissey apparently jotted down the title name with a genuine spelling mistake… and nobody corrected it. This song makes me feel painfully wistful, solely off of the lyrics, because the instrumentation has such an upbeat, peppy feeling to it. It’s a song made for listening to in the park on a beautiful day, only to go home and drink oneself into a stupor thinking about the concept of sonder.
HM - This Charming Man, Reel Around the Fountain, Handsome Devil.
LAST.FM SCROBBLES -11
“Never stop the car on a drive in the dark
Never look for the truth in your mother's eyes”
I never listened to much prog rock growing up, so Porcupine Tree being on this list at all is a bit of a miracle in itself. This song goes on a Lord of the Rings level of discursive adventure, and builds in such a way that it would be a crime not to have it in my top 100. It’s a 12 minute auditory experience that pays off at every step of the way.
HM - N/A
LAST.FM SCROBBLES -15
Looking back on it, it’s now quite apparent just how important trip-hop and downtempo was in guiding me towards a mélange of mind-bending music discovery during my formative years. In all of its achromatic grit and haze, these genres have stood the test of time, escaping with a 90’s embossed design, still preserved in amber, Teardrop represents a signature track in an album chock-full of classics, with this one somehow finding itself as the theme song for the medical drama House. This song has a thick tension to it, but it warms me all the same.
HM - Black Milk, Dissolved Girl, Angel.
LAST.FM SCROBBLES -35
“So let go, mm, jump in
Oh well, whatcha waiting for?
It's alright
'Cause there's beauty in the breakdown”
If this list was comprised of my favorite moments in songs, Let Go would firmly be in my top 10. It’s a gorgeous song overall, but the outro, with Imogen Heap crooning “mmm, the breakdown” over the cello, synths, and bassline… the feeling it gives me can only be described as ascension.
HM - Must Be Dreaming.
LAST.FM SCROBBLES -39
“How much of yourself do you give away
After someone's left your life in disarray?”
Lullaby of Clubland is the perfect representation of 5 a.m., post-club astigmatism lights blurring your field of vision, alcohol still buzzing around your system as you bump shoulders on the walk home with your friends, jangling of keys to get inside your apartment before you curl up on the couch, wondering how long you were knocked out once you wake up in the morning sort of vibe.
HM - Missing.
LAST.FM SCROBBLES - 24
“Nightswimming, remembering that night
September's coming soon, I'm pining for the moon
And what if there were two
Side by side in orbit around the fairest sun?
That bright, tight forever drum
Could not describe nightswimming”
A song about nostalgia ending up on a list full of nostalgic songs. I don’t think anybody could replicate what Michael Stipe does on this song with his distinctive timbre. And I never really noticed it until this second, but if you isolate the piano in the background, it sounds so happy and playful, contrasting to the thick wistfulness of the rest of the instrumentation. Also, oboe solo.
HM - New Orelans Instrumental No. 1, Ignoreland.
LAST.FM SCROBBLES - 31
“Love, love, love
Just love yourself like no one else
Love, it's enough
They can say what they like but they still can't take that”
The Sundays have had a sweeping, understated influence on the dream pop resurgence over the last decade. Artists such as beabadoobee have opined, “I was hyper-fixated on the fact that Harriet Wheeler was perfect to me.”. Love serves as affirmation, holding your self-worth above anything in this oft-wretched world. Harriet’s vocals on this track pierce straight through your heart—if only to repair it to a level even better than before.
HM - Goodbye, I Feel.
LAST.FM SCROBBLES - 24
“And we will be well rested
When the ascension comes”
A 7-minute mammoth of a track that vibrates with rhythmic synths, emitting an electronic-disco mellow house sort of groove, laced with the panache of an alien tinkering with a keyboard for the first time. Sarah Bonito’s vocals float around in between intermittent radio-hissing broadcasts from the perspective of a naturalist. In my humble opinion, Well Rested would make the perfect new-age candidate to replace Johnny B. Good on the Voyager Golden Record.
HM - Dump, Battle Lines.
LAST.FM SCROBBLES - 24
One of my core memories is being 14 years old whilst being driven to a friend’s house by my mom who had The Gap Band playing in the car, and thinking the equivalent of “Damn, this shit slaps!” in 2003. I could’ve thumbed through their catalog of endless hits and picked at random, but Outstanding represents a refined funk sound that can instantly liven up a room, and all it takes is an extrovert equipped with a two-step.
HM - Early In The Morning, Burn Rubber, Party Train.
LAST.FM SCROBBLES - 14
A cover of the classic from the Carpenters (which could’ve made my list if my brain was tickled in a different region.) The original I find somber-but-beautiful in a my-heart-is-leaking sort of way. This lures me outside on a brisk autumn day, walks me into town right toward the delicatessen, and tells me to delight in the act of people watching while enjoying an Italian sub.
HM - N/A
LAST.FM SCROBBLES - 51
Into The New World lands with a resounding thump at number 48—my top K-pop song. Its release was a watershed moment for the genre back in 2007 (oh God, my high school graduation year), and for the potpourri of genres within the genre that fails to be accurately depicted in such a brushstroke of a term—”K-pop”. Outside of its status in the music field, it’s also utilized as a widely used protest anthem in South Korea. The final chorus and subsequent key change never fails to make the hair on my arms stand up, and Jessica’s 🗣️idaerooO🗣️ could very well be one of my favorite backing vocals in the history of backing vocals.
HM - Mr.Mr, Girls’ Generation.
LAST.FM SCROBBLES - 51
At the height of the Eurodance era, Robert Miles released Children, with its simplistic piano notes and four-on-the-floor beat, where it became radio-friendly enough to reach across the globe. In retrospect, it captured snapshots of my fast-accelerating youth, where listening to it now feels like you’re crossing over a line of demarcation where It All Stopped. This song is quintessential dance-floor-after-max-capacity music, where friends are leaning in for quick goodbyes and do-you-a-need-ride-homes, the ambiance filling in the beauty during those little moments. Children kicks into hyperdrive trance for the last minute of this song, eschewing the norm and picking up in tempo rather than stopping at any red light.
HM - N/A
LAST.FM SCROBBLES - 22
“The sun goes down
I feel the light betray me”
If you were a child of the 90s, there was a good chance that Linkin Park and the WWF became your entire personality at some point. If you were like me, it was practically synergistic. A few years into high school, I became quite ostentatious about my music taste, the thrill of discovery bubbling over anything else—Linkin Park got marked into a manila folder and thrown into the “guilty pleasure” pile. According to Last.FM, there was a seven year dry period of listening to anything LP related.
Then, one day, you become the bell curve meme.
My favorite part of Papercut is when Mike Shinoda and Chester start going back and forth at the end, Chester expelling everything from his body and Mike with his stone-cold steely raps. Then you have Mr. Hahn’s turntables going the fuck off, and the distorted electric guitar that leads into the “beep beep boop boop” sample (the best way I can describe it). It’s way too hype.
HM - Breaking The Habit, Cure for the Itch.
LAST.FM SCROBBLES - 14
“I'll take you to the highest mountain
To the depths of the deepest sea
And we won't need a map, believe me
Now let my body do the moving
And let my hands do the soothing
Let me show you the world in my eyes”
I’m not sure what my list says about me that yet another sensual ass song shows up on it. It’s unadulterated, dark, moody synth-pop that has a certain swagger to it, with Dave’s vocals grabbing you by the neck with a matter-of-factness that isn’t easy to replicate. It’s pure sex and tension and fresh as ever.
HM - Policy of Truth.
LAST.FM SCROBBLES - 17
D’Angelo’s passing was one of those “Awww, man!” deaths that left the world with a little less magic. There’s a wealth of music to choose from when it comes to D’Angelo delectables, but Lady feels like the perfect representation of what R&B is at its apex—a smooth, yearnful ode to your lover. It doesn’t hurt that there’s few human beings who exist that can match D’Angelos mix of vocal talent and soul.
HM - When We Get By, SDM, The Charade.
LAST.FM SCROBBLES - 37
“Mother stands for comfort
Mother, hide the murderer”
The scrobbles on this one are low because this is a surprise entrant when it comes to Kate Bush. On the first few listens, it didn’t stand out to me as anything more than a solid Kate Bush song (which would be amazing for anybody else), but something clicked recently to make me obsessed. The upright bass and Fairlight CMI (digital synth) combination gives a discombobulated warmth that keeps you in a perpetual state of imbalance, while Kate sings about a mother’s unconditional love, even if it’s to cover up a murder that their child has committed.
HM - And Dream Of Sheep, Under Ice, Babooshka..
LAST.FM SCROBBLES - 6
I wanted to include a short excerpt of the lyrics, but I have no idea what Elizabeth Fraser is trying to say in this song. That doesn’t stop me from inhaling this song like a thick, refreshing shake [shoutout Daniel Plainview] on a sweltering day. It’s a shame that Elizabeth and Robin can’t stand to be in a room together and will never re-unite, because it felt like Cocteau Twins still had so much to add to the industry well into the 2000s. There’s a gritty harshness that hovers over the dream pop drear that makes this a wonder of a song.
HM - Iceblink Luck, Pitch The Baby, Fifty-Fifty Clown.
LAST.FM SCROBBLES - 51
“I see the jealousy and hatin' and the wicked ways
We all lost children, praisin' paper, smokin' our life away
Got to the point where I could not decipher day from night”
UGK’s place in the rap game has been stamped, with their low and slow takeover in the 90s. In the early 2000s, the epicenter of hip-hop began migrating southward, which wasn’t without push-back from casuals lambasting the lyricism and merit of the artists in that geographical region known as the South—as if a Southern drawl meant uneducated. UGK wasn’t an outlier, but a pioneer. Diamonds & Wood is one of those songs you put on during a leisurely car cruise, perhaps with your sticky green of choice, and immerse yourself in the production and performance of these two Texas GOATs.
HM - Get Throwed, Murder.
LAST.FM SCROBBLES - 27
It came as a surprise to me that this song was originally made for a movie soundtrack (I found out while I was making graphics for this list.) It manages to evoke so much emotion through the piano + string instrumentation, and the subsequent buildup pays off brilliantly. It’s impossible to not feel something while listening to this, and oddly enough, makes me feel thankful to be alive.
Thank you, Mr. Sakamoto!
HM - A Day in the Park.
LAST.FM SCROBBLES - 11
“The guy sits in his smokey smokey hole all day
I think he is spicy
I think he smoked his lungs”
(In my Uncle Rico Voice..) I bet I could write a book about Underworld. A Hundred Days Off is in my personal top 10 albums of all time, and I find this song (and entire album) to be full of innovative, fresh electronic songs that have stood the test of time. While Born Slippy found renewed fame via Homer Simpson TikTok edits, there’s a treasure trove of other tracks that lay waiting in untouched shipwrecks. Luetin with its addictive beat and semi-nonsensical lyrics about sex just really does something for my brain. I can’t quite explain it.
HM -Sola Sistim, Twist, Winjer.
LAST.FM SCROBBLES - 28
“If I waited for you
To show me all the actions I should take
Would I get my break?
Gold star for robot boy”
The lo-fi quality and jangly guitars in this song (and Guided by Voices in general) makes this track sing. It’s sheathed with a tinge of sadness, as Robert Pollard sings about stagnation and rejecting other people making choices for you. This song gets 38 gold stars.
HM - A Big Fan of The Pigpen.
LAST.FM SCROBBLES - 39
If you’re a fan of top tier production, The Velvet Rope is a classic. It wasn’t until the last decade or so that I really started appreciating Janet’s brilliance apart from the “Jackson Family” name, where, dare I say, at her height, outduels even Michael Jackson if we’re going by ELO peak rating. This track manages to feel like an hour-long epic in 4 minutes and 55 seconds, with its brooding, glitchy instrumental, the choir-like backing vocals, Janet’s sensual lullabies, and even a whole ass violin solo by Vanessa-Mae. There isn’t a lot of R&B out there that can reach the sort of level that Janet Jackson ascends to with this song and album.
HM - Go Deep, That’s The Way Love Goes., The Pleasure Principle.
LAST.FM SCROBBLES - 19
Watching Floating Points expand themselves as a musician has been a joy—from his electronic-centric sound, to producing a soundtrack for an Adult Swim anime, to collaborating on two orchestral albums, he’s dabbled in it all. I find the build and payoff in this song just incredible (or incroyable to stay true to the title), and I distinctly remember this bringing me back into an electronic kick that never really went away.
HM - K&G Beat, Argente.
LAST.FM SCROBBLES - 25
My favorite ultra-specific genre of music really might just be post-hardcore with a vocoder singing unintelligible lyrics. I’m not even sure why I have Killing All The Flies at 35, to be honest, but I’m staying true to how I felt when I made this list. This is near-perfection, and it evokes a certain undescribable feeling that not many songs are able to reproduce.
HM - Auto Rock, Hunted by a Freak, Travel Is Dangerous, Modern.
LAST.FM SCROBBLES - 47
“I know you, I love you
And I can be your friend
I can follow you anywhere
Even through solid air”
When I thought about including lyrics above these little blurbs of writing, Solid Air was the song that inspired me to do so. John Martyn wrote Solid Air about his good friend and fellow UK folk musician, Nick Drake, who had passed away in relative musical obscurity, becoming massively influential posthumously. Martyn dedicated this song to Nick while he was still alive (although deep into his battle with depression.) The lyrics may seem plain at first glance, especially through John Martyn's slurred-grumbly delivery, but the manner in which he expresses his love for Nick Drake describes the battle he’s willing to endure side-by-side with his close companion. ‘Solid air’ is a reference to something almost inhospitable and impossible to live amidst, and yet, he’ll follow him to that place—just to keep him tethered a little longer. That’s beautiful.
HM - Go Down Easy, Over The Hill.
LAST.FM SCROBBLES - 23
As much as I love MF DOOM’s lyricism, this one is highlighted by its sensational production (chemist’d by DOOM himself), a beat I ‘d have in my personal top 10 hip-hop instrumentals of all-time. The song samples Sade’s Kiss of Life, and has a small dedication in the chorus to his brother and former KMD accomplice, DJ Subroc, who died in an accident. I think DOOM’s lyricism grew leaps and bounds from the Doomsday era, but this contains a rawness and originality that I can’t help but gravitate towards.
HM - Hoe Cakes, Kon Queso, Absolutely.
LAST.FM SCROBBLES - 23
I feel like descriptors don’t do justice for this song, and I’d risk sounding like Gene Hackman as Senator Keeley’s monologue in The Birdcage, “Talk about your purple mountains majesty. Just fantastic. Red leaves, purple mountains. Green fields. And the roads. Cutting through the green…” It’s just hands down the best ‘observer music’. As in, put on your headphones and simply observe the world around you with Love on a Real Train playing. It’s the most carefree I’ve felt while listening to a song.
HM - The Dream Is Always The Same.
LAST.FM SCROBBLES - 30
“I thought my day would never come
Maybe it won't, but I'll have fun
And I'll hold tight
'Cause that way it might”
Labi Siffre should be included in any list of preeminent songwriters of the 20th century. It’s a shame that the bulk of his music was released during the early to mid 1970s, before he became discontented with the formulaic aspect of the music industry, with record executives wanting him to churn out radio friendly music that didn’t speak to his soul. That’s without mentioning the struggles he faced as a queer, Black folk singer in the UK, at a time where certain salutations seemed inaccessible to people like him. With the helpful guidance of Labi’s gentle, striking vocals, Cannock Chase roams free like a horse in an infinite acreage pasture.
HM - My Song, Bless The Telephone.
LAST.FM SCROBBLES - 16
Everywhere, deconstructed, is a very simple song—a lover’s desire to be near their partner in every aspect of life. Luckily for me, it doesn’t matter how simple the lyrics are, this just soothes my soul and whispers to me. The historical fantasy aspect of the visuals in the music video enhances this song even more, which I didn’t know I needed to accompany it, but makes complete sense retroactively.
(Sidenote, I never realized how I gravitate towards the songs with Christine McVie vocals more than anybody else’s. Huh.)
HM -Little Lies, Landslide, Dreams.
LAST.FM SCROBBLES - 21
“I adored the way she modified my mornings
When I'd wake up in the calm shoals of her bed
Somersaults or smoke in a universe of sleep
Before she slipped into her heritage and disappeared
And she taught me to relight, relight and relight again”
David Berman of the Silver Jews doing abstract spoken lyricism about a woman over hazy-yet-groovy production from The Avalanches. It’s honestly as perfect of a closer as you can get when it comes to an album, and it gives me goosebumps every time I listen to it. Even more interesting, this song was originally recorded around the year 2000, which meant that this diamond in the rough was sitting in a dusty vault for damn near two decades before seeing the light of day.
HM - Diners Only, If I Was A Folkstar.
LAST.FM SCROBBLES - 14
“Your dashing horseman all gone away
Left you a stable bill to pay
And now the golden calf has turned to clay
All my feelings dressed in gloves
Couldn't touch your windswept harbour love
White and open-necked you would still play”
If you didn’t notice by the overcrowded ‘honorable mentions list, Prefab Sprout has been my drug of choice over the past three or so years. I’m completely enamored by anything that Paddy McAloon puts down, and their ‘sophisti-pop’ (terrible genre name, great music) sound makes me float like a Fizzy Lifting Drink. The mojo in The Golden Calf is in its chorus, with the intermittent guitar strums and Paddy singing those notes in a specific way that reaches right through you. There may or may not be more Prefab Sprout later on as my only artist on this list with more than one entry.
HM - Appetite, Moving The River, Ice Maiden, Life of Surprises, When Love Breaks Down, Desire As, Cars and Girls.
LAST.FM SCROBBLES - 23
“Gun control means usin' both hands in my land (Yeah)
Where it's all about the cautious livin' (Uh-huh)
Migratin' to a higher form of consequence
Compliments of strugglin' that shouldn't be notable
Man, every word I say should be a Hip-Hop Quotable”
De La Soul in their prime were so good at criticizing the world around them that even Tupac got in his feelings and dissed the trio on his own track, Against All Odds, in 1996. For De La, Stakes Is High, as a commentary piece, served a similar purpose. J Dilla conjures up a murky, distressing, and overall dark sounding instrumental that would once again feature one of my favorite hip-hop beats of all time. Plug One and Plug Two take turns tag-teaming the follies of life with razor-sharp commentary and wit, which wasn’t exactly commonplace in the rap scene during the mid-90s.
HM - Trying People, Sunshine, Keepin’ The Faith, I Am I Be, Breakadawn.
LAST.FM SCROBBLES - 35
“Oh, my love
A million days in your arms is never too much”
One of the most joyful expressions of love described in a song. Luther Vandross is the epitome of soulful, God-given vocals finished with a smooth lacquer that can only come from experience. Whenever I hear this playing in public, body parts start bouncing and flailing unconciously, and the energy of the function shifts almost immediately. That’s the mark of a classic tune.
HM - N/A
LAST.FM SCROBBLES - 21
“On the surface simplicity (Swirling black lilies totally ripe)
But the darkest pit in me
And it's pagan poetry (Swirling black lilies totally ripe)
Pagan poetry”
If Luther’s song was the most joyful expression of love, this is one of the most vulnerable, fraught with indecision and uncertainty that can best be depicted inside of a Junji Ito manga. I can’t even identify many of the instruments in this song—a harp? There’s glitchy beeping and clacking and machine-like hissing on top of background synths. It’s wild, and it all works. Björk reaches inward, and somehow even beyond, with gutteral crooning to really express her agonizing decision between independency and marriage.
HM - Army of Me, Hyperballad.
LAST.FM SCROBBLES - 14
“I'll watch you fix your hair
Then put your panties on in the mirror, Cleopatra
Then your lipstick, Cleopatra
Then your six-inch heels, catch her
She's headed to the pyramid”
If I was going on my own tastes sonically, I’d prefer songs like Seigfried or Self Control over Pyramids, but the grip this near 10-minute song had over the collective music community was something I’ve seldom experienced live. It had been a long time since an artist of any genre did a conceptual song with a beat switch like Frank pulled off. This upcoming August will mark a decade since Blond was released, so maybe someday soon Frank will remember to bring the milk back home.
HM - Self Control, Novacane, Nights, Seigfried.
LAST.FM SCROBBLES - 49
“But don't fool yourself
She was heartache from the moment that you met her
Oh, my heart is frozen still as I try to find the will
To forget her somehow”
This song feels like an aural representation of hollowing out your insides to properly express the pain of a breakup. It’s fascinating to note that out of the last four songs, three of them have depicted ‘love’ in different forms, and Jeff Buckley’s go at it portrays the most straightforward version of it, which oftentimes is the most relatable. A voice that deserved far more albums and acclaim than he was afforded in his short time on earth.
HM - Lover, You Should’ve Come Over, Grace.
LAST.FM SCROBBLES - 21
Daniel Lopatin AKA Oneohtrix Point Never has slowly been carving out his legacy as he pioneers new electronic and experimental sounds, all while being sought out for soundtrack albums like Uncut Gems and Marty Supreme. The beginning of Toys 2 is incredibly busy, almost industrial in nature, with an abundance of different clicks and creaking sounds to pay attention to. My personal favorite part of this song begins around 3:15, which slows this whole thing down, as if you’re brought to an underwater temple, hearing things that only exist at that depth—whale vocalizations and the bubbling deep.
(Did you know that, apparently, this song was made conceptually as an imagined sequel to Robin Williams’ 1992 film Toys? Part of me wants to watch that film as soon as possible to see if I got the same sort of vibes from a non-existent sequel to a movie.)
HM - Betrayed in the Octogon, Age Of, Animals.
LAST.FM SCROBBLES - 32
It’s a heavy song, one that I don’t see a light at the end of the tunnel with. At my worst battles with depression, this most resembles what it felt like to deal with. As far as a personal connection goes, I first heard this song while the movie Victoria was playing in the background as I was cuddling up on the couch and drinking wine with someone I had spent time developing feelings for (and vice versa). The sad part was, as we began to know each other more, it felt like oil and water, and the close moments we had just felt like unspoken “might as well’s”. That goodbye actually didn’t hurt comparatively to others in my life, although I do remember them from to time to time and wish them well.
HM - N/A
LAST.FM SCROBBLES - 24
“Livin' the life of limos and lights
Airplanes and trains, short days and long nights
Keyboards and mics, bass chords and drum kicks
And my mental thick, they hit my head like brick”
Quite peculiarly, What They Do is my top hip-hop song of all time, even though if I made a straight up list of rap/hip-hop, it’d probably land in the 20s somewhere. The reason is that, if I was tasked to showcase the best of what hip-hop had to offer in one song, it would be this one. We all know the capabilities and pedigree of Black Thought, and if you mix that with smooth background chorus vocals from Raphael Saddiq (appearing yet again), and the laid-back, jazzy-acoustic guitar instrumental, it’s hard for anybody to deny the talent being siphoned into your ears. The music video for this is also a not-so-subtle criticism of the rap game at the time, which has probably only gotten worse. I’m not a prude though, I do love myself some party and bullshit, as Biggie once uttered.
HM - Long Time, Doin’ It Again, Here I Come.
LAST.FM SCROBBLES - 25
Do you ever have memories so distinct that you question whether it happened the way your memory has preserved it? In a Sentimental Mood is like that for me, where I vividly remember listening to this song while watching as Hurricane Katrina barreled towards New Orleans, feeling this melancholy that I couldn’t stop what was about to happen. Luckily, being a sicko that had an account for 20 years, I could verify those memories, and it turns out… yep, that’s what I was listening to around the time Katrina hit. Maybe those specific moments makes this song that much more memorable and important to me, but hey, it’s still a monumental jazz piece.
HM - N/A
LAST.FM SCROBBLES - 28
“Turn my head into sound
I don't know when I lay down on the ground
You will find the way it hurts to love
Never cared, and the world turned hearts to love”
It’s not often that a band or artist can be called a true pioneer for their respective genres, but My Bloody Valentine were just that for shoegaze. The sound itself has since warped and modified itself for the Gen Z crowd, but this is pure distortion-sludge and reverb as Kevin Shields sings in the background, barely audible, keeping you up at 3 a.m. while you ponder life itself.
HM - New You, When You Sleep, Only Shallow.
LAST.FM SCROBBLES - 45
“Oh, my flame
Some things will never change”
As much as I hate the reactor playbook that most YouTubers do with the samey reactions at specific moments in songs, the whole ‘finding out Bobby Caldwell isn’t black’ thing is real and true. Happened to me as a youngin’. A lot of these songs I discovered back in the day through whichever rap song was sampling it (in this case, Biggie’s Sky’s The Limit). Besides the iconic marimba opening, this song just gives me fond memories of someone special, as do many of these songs in completely different ways.
HM - Open Your Eyes, What You Won’t Do For Love, Down For The Third Time.
LAST.FM SCROBBLES - 39
“I love you in a place
Where there's no space or time
I love you for my life
'Cause you're a friend of mine
And when my life is over
Remember when we were together”
For my money, Donny Hathaway had the perfect R&B voice. A honey warm rasp, with a bit of that weathered experience and know-how that translates so well in R&B and soul. There’s such a sincerity and tangibility in his pain that you can’t help but grimace and shake off the chills. Donny was a troubled soul that met one of the most tragic fates in music, but his legacy continues on. This song was originally written and performed by Leon Russell, but it’s one of those covers that completely transforms the original and becomes synonymous with the covering artist. I don’t think there’s been a single time I’ve listened to this song and came away without my eyes tearing up.
HM - This Christmas, The Ghetto.
LAST.FM SCROBBLES - 23
“I count the hours since you slipped away
I count the hours that I lie awake
I count the minutes and the seconds too
All I stole and I took from you”
I already waxed poetic about Prefab Sprout in the previous entry, but I could easily keep going. It amazes me that a band could have like 20 songs that are in contention for my favorite song at any moment. I chose Bonny because I feel like it’s their best combination of songwriting, instrumentation, and catchiness as a Neapolitan ice cream. McAloon has lyrics that make you take a deeper look into the song’s meaning, which may or not transform the song completely on the 20th listen, all while you notice little bits and pieces of the instrumentation that was in the shadows while you were distracted reading. I almost wanted them to get the Kate Bush treatment on Stranger Things, but maybe they do deserve to be that roly-poly under the stone in your backyard.
HM -Open Your Eyes, What You Won’t Do For Love, Down For The Third Time.
LAST.FM SCROBBLES - 39
Voyager, boiled down, is just a consistent loop of French house music… with one of the most delicious basslines in the history of music. No vocals, no big switch-ups or drops. The only thing that cuts through the fatty meat of Voyager is the addition of a bit of acid (not as in house, but taste) of a harp synth that attaches itself to the bassline, drum kicks and other various synths about halfway through. It’s proof that simple methods can make classics if you do it right. This song, to me, is a soundtrack and glimpse into my early 2000s life.
HM - Digital Love, Something About Us, Nightvision.
LAST.FM SCROBBLES - 66
It’s funny how songs from the 70s about sex don’t seem as single-mindedly horny in a detestable way, or lean into the debauchery in terms of being over the top and explicit. But just reading the lyrics, it’s just like, “Damn, Marvin, okay!” This is a short and sweet one, but the sensuality and groove in this song with the background saxophone on top of Marvin’s singing creates a magical combination.
HM - Inner City Blues, What’s Happening Brother, Mercy, Mercy Me
LAST.FM SCROBBLES - 67
“Do you feel like a remnant of something that's past?
Do you find things are moving just a little too fast?”
Jeff Buckley, Donny Hathaway, Marvin Gaye, Nick Drake.. I sure do love a touch of the tragic when it comes to artists who died in their primes. Hazey Jane I, at one point, become practically a theme song at a time where I couldn’t get out of a mental rut. This song fueled a lot my creative juices, wanting to create something beautiful on this earth before I passed on. It’s a stirring song with its acoustic guitar and strings, and while it doesn’t emit pure hope, this song does feel like a pat on the back and a “You’re doing the best you can.” And sometimes that’s the best medicine.
HM - Place To Be, River Man, Which Will, Hazey Jane II.
LAST.FM SCROBBLES - 54
“I can't get no sleep”
Straight from the jump, the piano and accompanying soundscape set a foundation of underlying terror for what’s to come later on. Maxi Jazz’s voice apparates in and out of the track like a comforting spirit as he shares deliberate spoken word rapping in between the spaces—the exact sparseness that sets up one of the greatest EDM drops of all time. You hang on every word until that rollercoaster falls over the edge.
As far as a build up and release, you will find no better.
HM - N/A
LAST.FM SCROBBLES - 20
If the sunrise were a song, it would be Olson. Preferably one peaking out over green rolling hills, fresh dew coating blades of grass as it shakes away the fog of the night. I’m not joking when I say that I would want to die with this song playing. Not to be super morbid or anything, it’s just the perfect summation of life. A hopeful, wandering Fender Rhodes (?) piano, the fuzzy background synth, ending with a few lonely piano notes that fade out. The only bad thing about this song is that it’s one and a half minutes long, but maybe that makes you appreciate it that much more.
HM - Roygbiv, Constants Are Changing, Over The Horizon Radar, Wildlife Analysis.
LAST.FM SCROBBLES - 53
“The more you speak, the more I see
The more your light grows upon me
And the more it grows
The closer I think you are, the closer I think you are
To seeing me whole
What if you don't like what you see? Silhouettes inside a dream
And I'm melting from the light
One drip at a time”
One of my favorite live show memories was seeing Sampha (as part of the group SBTRKT) in Tampa. My friend Jared and I took a road trip from Orlando to see them perform at a cozy, intimate little club, and it’s a memory that will stay with me forever. But his magnum opus thus far in his career is Process, where songs like Plastic 100°C helped mold his genius. The space motif and metaphors with the actual radio transmissions being included, as well as the instrumental itself turning spacey in atmosphere, at one point almost feeling like an astronaut floating in the great beyond, all adds to the concept and execution. The inevitability of success and the pitfalls that a magnifying glass accelerates being a core theme and lyric feels almost as if even making breathtaking works like this is at the expense of his own well-being, ‘one drip at a time’.
HM - Incomplete Kisses, Without, Kora Sings, Jonathan L. Seagull.
LAST.FM SCROBBLES - 59
For those unknowing, Heatwave were a pretty massive funk/disco/soul band from the 1970s that had some massively influential musicians on their roster, notably Rod Temperton, a guy who produced and song-wrote for some Joe Schmo named Michael Jackson, including some throwaway songs called Thriller and Rock with You. The Star of a Story has always really jived with me for no other reason than it’s a masterly produced song with soulful Johnnie Wilder Jr. at the helm. The repeating outro of this song has stuck with me as a little stroke of genius.
HM - Too Hot To Handle, Always and Forever.
LAST.FM SCROBBLES - 29
“You, I would die for you, yeah
Darling, if you want me to
You, I would die for you”
Maybe I’ve lived a life with horse blinders on, but tonight was the first night I realized this song is heavily religious in nature. There seems to be a debate whether this song is from the perspective of Jesus or about a woman from the perspective of a divine being lover. I’m leaning towards the latter, since this time period seems to be before Prince started including major religious elements in his songs, but the existence of the dual argument proves it’s actually brilliant songwriting no matter the truth. I just love the simple statement of “I would die for you”, because no matter who’s saying it, it’s the ultimate form of sacrifice. The constant drum kicks (?) in the background just keep this song at 110% the entire time, an element involved that I don’t see implemented much elsewhere for this type of genre.
HM - I Wanna Be Your Love, Raspberry Baret, The Future.
LAST.FM SCROBBLES - 17
Look up the word ‘sultry’ in the dictionary, and Sade should be the definition. It’s funny, when you get lower down on this list, I feel like there’s less I need to write about these artists, because my reasoning for having these songs this low is just, “I really like this song, man.” I will say, half of the rap industry owes Sade a huge thank you (and royalties) to hec, because overall, she’s been sampled 799 times, according to “whosampled.com”. It turns out that artists who have a great ear for music also know how prolific and talented Sade is.
HM - No Ordinary Love, King of Sorrow, Somebody Already Broke My Heart.
LAST.FM SCROBBLES - 43
“Between the searching and the need to work it out
I stop believing everything will be alright
Broken, we are broken”
A bit of a controversial choice taking this over Head Over Heels, but Broken has one of the most underrated guitar solos that I don’t hear spoken about too often. I also love the hopelessness that Roland channels with the lyricism, surely inspired from his own life and upbringing, I don’t need neatly packaged hope with every song, sometimes I need to be told that everything is on fire and there’s no good way to put it out.
HM - Head Over Heels, The Working Hour.
LAST.FM SCROBBLES - 44
“I'd be crazy not to follow
Follow where you lead
Your eyes
They turn me”
I distinctly remember how In Rainbows felt like a classic the minute I was listening to it when it was released, and this song has stayed in my memory banks all of these years later. The lyrics are relatively simple, but the entire package is so tightly wound and done so expertly that it’s almost nauseating listening at the ease of Thom Yorke’s vocal expression. The song rises in tempo and consequence as the entire instrumentation changes about halfway through, going from what feels like swimming underwater to being funneled through a black hole.
(I can’t believe there’s no steelpan drums in this song, by the way. It’s all guitar.)
HM - Idioteque, Jigsaw Falling Into Place, Everything In Its Right Place.
LAST.FM SCROBBLES - 56
I suppose I should’ve put Lô Borges as the main name since this is his singular song, but this is a collaboration album between Borges and Nascimento that I would personally also put in my top five albums of all-time. Paisagem da Janela roughly translates to ‘views from a window’, which describes the content of the lyrics that Borges sings with in his youthful, almost voice-cracking style. The weightlessness of the instrumental is my favorite thing about this song, as it’s the mysticism of childhood and all of the simple things we overlook. Of course, the lyrics also have a bit of a deeper, political critique of Brazil’s government at the time, a method of protest that I find works most potently in songs that generally have a calm, lighthearted disposition like this one.
HM - Os Povos, Tudo o Que Voce Podia Ser, Me deixa em paz, Clube da Esquina No 2.
LAST.FM SCROBBLES - 29
“Now that you're mine
We'll find a way of chasing the Sun
Let me be the one who shines with you
In the morning, we don't know what to do
We're two of a kind
We'll find a way to do what we've done
Oh, let me be the one who shines with you
And we can slide away”
In my estimation, this is the greatest love song ever made. It reeks of half-forgotten nights and lighting cigarettes together in the morning sort of lusting, sharing some weak coffee you brewed a day before, but man, that partner shares and indulges in your goals and you in theirs. It doesn’t matter if they’re a fleeting, short-lived flame or ride or die, that love will linger. Later on in the song when Liam hits the, “OH, let me be the one who shines with you…” It’s just that little emphasis in the “OH!” that enhances the passion and emotion of that expressed love.
It’s love how I know love. “It’s me and you, let’s go chase happiness and face this world together.” The repeating outro and cacophony of sound just hammers home the sincerity and channeling of that emotion. So fucking beautiful to me.
HM - Supersonic, Live Forever, Morning Glory..
LAST.FM SCROBBLES - 43
“I have tasted the maggots in the mind of the universe
I was not offended
For I knew I had to rise above it all
Or drown in my own shit”
My number one song of all-time is a 20-year-old Eddie Hazel with 10 minutes and a mind full of the thoughts George Clinton blew into his head, which was “Play like you imagined your mom had died, and then like she came back to life.” I’ve spent many-a-night just replaying this song over and over and going through every emotion that it presents. It’s a heavy song, not one you will want to replay all of the time, but one that will change your life almost guaranteed.
HM - March To The Witch’s Castle, Hit It and Quit It
LAST.FM SCROBBLES - 84
