Sunday, April 19, 2009

Weekend Treat: My Top 100 Songs 1-25

There are some songs which, when you hear them for the first time, you get a tingle running down your spine. These are ones that have done just that to me! And most of them still do, even though I have probably listened to some of them a thousand times over.

I haven't put too many Youtube clips on here as they seem to be slowing down the site for some people. If you just click on one of the clips below, click on One Blood. It's from the film GREEN STREET. Definite echoes of Dire Straits, and the lyrics are superb.

I've had to take the previous three blogposts on the Top 100 off the frontpage. You can access them by clicking on these links...

26-50
51-75
76-100


1. Miss You Nights - Cliff Richard
2. The Winner Takes it All - Abba
3. Forever Young - Alphaville

4. No One Is to Blame - Howard Jones
5. One Blood - Terence Jay

6. Dancing Queen - Abba
7. Another Country - Mango Groove
8. Bat out of Hell - Meat Loaf
9. Hallelujah - Jeff Buckley
10. Paradise by the Dashboard Light
11. Listen to your Heart - Roxette
12. Tunnel of Love - Dire Straits
13. Search for a Hero - M People
14. Angels - Robbie Williams
15. Hero - Enrique Iglesias
16. It Must Have Been Love - Roxette
17. Romeo & Juliet - Dire Straits
18. So Far Away - Roxette

19. Be My Number Two - Joe Jackson

20. Theme from Band of Brothers

21. SOS - Abba
22. Big in Japan - Alphaville

23. All by Myself - Eric Carmen
24. I'd Do Anything for Love - Meat Loaf
25. Number One Song in Heaven - Sparks

47 comments:

Hank Vermin said...

12. Tunnel of Love - Dire Straits.

Ooer Missus.

Anonymous said...

wi' respect Iain, Oh dearie me!

Sophia Pangloss

Cath said...

All I can say it's a good job you are deeply cool in other ways Iain.

oooh dear.

Andrew K said...

There seems to be an omission here Iain . . .

Andrew K said...

. . . and incidentally, if I recall correctly, the full title of the Meatloaf epic is "I'd do anything for love (But you're not touching me with that thing)" (WB popbitch)

Anonymous said...

Do the initials MOR mean anything to you ?

Colin Campbell said...

My granny would have loved you.

Jamie said...

oh dear. :P

no, seriously. oh dear.

i mean, no Bohemian Rhapsody? no Imagine? no Stairway to Heaven?

ah well, suppose someone has to listen to your choices! :p

Anonymous said...

If I didn't know better I'd have gueesed you are a 60 year old woman from this list.

You have a good blog but this sort of thing does you no good at all

Grumpy Old Man said...

Iain. you have just proved beyond doubt that the Conservative Party is a very broad church. Shouldn't "Diamonds are Forever". (forever, forever) by Shirley Bassey be in there somewhere?
If you ever make public office, this list will be your"Stairway to Heaven" moment.

Anonymous said...

Nothing beats the dulcet tones of the Christian king that is cliff Richards.

Anonymous said...

I'm with you on most of those Iain. But I must make an exception in the case of Cliff Richard... can't stand him.

Anonymous said...

So let's get this right in your top 100 there is no:-

Beatles (inc solo: Lennon, Harrison, McCartney), any incarnations of Clapton, Stones, Doors, Who, Queen, Dylan, Hendrix, Simon & Garfunkel, Zeppelin, Floyd, Jam, Police, Clash, Costello, U2, Bowie, Supremes, Beach Boys, Wonder, Gaye, Four Tops, Redding, Franklin, Weller, Blur, Oasis, Ocean Colour Scene, REM etc etc

Clearly music is not your thing Iain.......

Iain Dale said...

I know what I like.

The only ones of your list I quite like are Queen, Simon & Garfunkel, Beach Boys. All the rest I would be happy never to hear one of their songs again, ever!

Newmania said...

Theory A - Someone really likes these.

Theory B- I am the subject of an alien experiment in altering aspects of perceived reality

I am thinking B….A is just too scary

Sunray said...

Stairway to Heaven? Pretentious tripe! Admittedly Rolf Harris did improve on it when he had a go.
As for Imagine, utter cobblers put together by millionaire hypocrite John Lennon.

Steve H said...

BTW anyone know what's happened to Guido's blog?

Andrew K said...

MOR? Of course he knows that MOR means Middle of the Road, a seminal early 70s band who had classic hits such as Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep, Tweedle Dee Tweedle Dum and Soley Soley.

Sadly Walter Fagen and Donald Becker never made the line-up.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_of_the_Road

Donal Blaney said...

You homophobe: shouldn't it be Romeo and Julian instead?

:)

IanW said...

Iain,

I've never understood why music celebs think we're remotely interested in their views on politics.

gustavus said...

I bet Iain was inconsolable when PrimeTime radio shut down.

Conand said...

No Stairway!?! Denied!

Newmania said...

You don’t like anything by the Beatles ? I have discovered one or two I like ,” The day Before You Came” which is an Abba song I think, and Down Town is a good old numberThe Way it Is - is good as well .Amongst the further delights Iain has foresworn so as to fit in another James Blunt in are .

The Who
Van Morrison
Otis Redding
Burt Bacharach
Bob Dylan
Elvis
Sinatra
James Brown
Led Zep
Carol King
Bob Marley

In fact ....
Anything at all from the 20th century Song Book from Gershwin ,Rogers and Hammestein etc.
Any Aria from any Opera whatsoever
Any Blues
Any Jazz
Any Reggae
Any Country Song
Any really good disco stomper , unless I missed one
Any Motown/ Atlantic / Soul
Any Rock
Any Punk


When you come to think of it its quite an achievement to do that and get to 100. I think Iain was dropped on his head as a baby and the bit where music goes was squashed so he could fit more politics in. :)

Marek said...

What a strange selection. It's almost as if you haven't been alive for the last half century.

Just to investigate could you put up your ten favourite dishes to eat and your ten favourite films and novels?

I really want to give you another chance because you have such a nice smile.

Pam Nash said...

Deeply disappointed - from your 100-75 selections, I was sure that Rene and Renato's 'Save your love' would be in your top 10. ;)

Natasha Reddy said...

Iain, but AFFIRMATION (Savage Garden) was my top "best lyrics" of all time, and 'Brothers in Arms' is also high up, so I agreed with you wholeheartedly on that count (c.f. earlier post)...Folks, whaddyallthink? I mean, we need a little poetry in life, do we not? after all this slander and spin and dissing-right-left-and-centre (or rather more left!)?
www.frustratedstay-at-homemum.blogspot.com

bert said...

Next time you get an urge to share this sort of thing, fight it. It's a worry to your friends. Recognise the signs, and get help before it's too late.

Anonymous said...

Iain,

Here is another Roxette one. Rather appropriate given the video...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Yz6UbtNhNQ

Anonymous said...

I'm shocked. Radio 2 has a better and more varied playlist.

Bardirect said...

"Miss you nights"

The nights I can miss are those pernod promotion nights from the early 80's pernod and black in particular but other strange combinations when I fully expected to die.

Iain Dale said...

Bar Direct. Oh me too! The first time I ever got drunk was on 11 Pernod & Blacks at a nightclub in Norwich. Happy days!

it is still the only alcoholic drink I actually like.

Andy JS said...

Big In Japan by Alphaville is one of my favourite songs of all time (and also Forever Young). Dancing Queen and S.O.S. by Abba are also fantastic.

But I just don't know how anyone can seriously like Angels by Robbie Williams.

Alfie said...

Blimey Iain, it's like a play list from one of Pete Murray's Radio 2 shows from about 30 years ago - they're so middle of the road they've all got a white dotted line down them..

If I were you, I would ask your readers to suggest their top 100, then compare whose is the best list...

Net Meeting said...

Good post I like your idea..

OscottLocal said...

Good Grief Iain that is quite possibly the worst list of songs I have ever seen.

Not a sheep said...

Sparks and Meatloaf excepted, yikes....

Anonymous said...

As a music business pro since '74 all I can say is please don't invite me round.
A booklist quickly to restore some credibility :)

Anonymous said...

I was glad to see some-one else likes Alphaville, until I realised this must be connected to our both having studied German in the 80s and nothing to do with taste!

Drew said...

Big in Japan. Brilliant.

Drew said...

Sorry, I didn't read the previous comments. I like Alphaville's Big In Japan and I didn't study German in the '80s. Nor any other decade.

Anonymous said...

Not sure about your Number 1... just not sure...

Daveip1966 said...

Oh dear Iain, very disappointed

Despite your impeccable taste when it comes to football, this really is music for people who don't really like music

I'm beating a hasty retreat to WHTID

maria said...

Ignore the music snobs, Ian - I say WAY TO GO. But I do draw the line at Sparks.

Anonymous said...

Good grief...I thought it was only my husband that adored Meatloaf AND Roxette. You must be the same age???

Ade Brown said...

I was gonna post some Robbie-scorn, but desisted. Because...

Music-snobbery's so nulabor. Brings out the authoritarian, tribal and evangelical instincts. A mental stepping-stone leading from the Student Union to the IPPR.

Daniel Hoffmann-Gill said...

This is perhaps one of the worst selections of music ever seen.

Well done on that front.

chris said...

Why would someone want to broadcast to the world (well, a few hundred people) that they have excruciatingly bad taste in music ?

I feel sorry for you.