@karinxxl has written a post today with 26 videos which cover the alphabet. It was a challenge based on an older post of @verhp11. As I enjoy evangelising about music I thought that this would be a fun thing to do although potentially a little tricky. I decided to limit myself to the artist name only rather than the song to make it a little more difficult. I also tried to spread the time period out and put in as little obvious chart music as possible.
Give it a go yourself as I am always interested in other people's tastes and I promise to give you an upvote for trying - although my vote is not worth a lot :P So without any further ado.
Barry Adamson - Shadow of Death Hotel.
You walk into a bar in an alley. It's one of those which is just a plaque on a door and you have to knock to get in. It's slightly sleazy but is full of people who think they are uber-cool. Most of them are complete dick-wads however just being there makes you feel pretty cool yourself. Well this is what would be playing.
Bonobo - Stay the Same
Playing Bonobo instantly makes you feel attractive. Better than coke as that instantly turns you into a jerk as well. It's a delusion but it's a pretty good one. You can feel smug now.
Chocolate Chip Cookies - 明日の記憶 (Tomorrow's Memories)
Japan is a lot more than J-Pop and Baby Metal (thank f*$k). I saw this band a couple of times playing in the park in Harajuku Tokyo. The music is good for waking up in the morning as it is uplifting....... like most melodic punk actually. Webellion at its kawaii best.
Daphne Loves Derby - Hammers and Hearts
Kenny Choi, is a clinical researcher now. The video is a testimony to youth and could be the soundtrack to a million and one teen films. Sigh my youth has gone too.
The English Beat - Mirror in the Bathroom
This one is a bit of a cheat as they were only called The English Beat in the USA. They were The Beat everywhere else. I mean who has even heard of the American version of the band? ....bah.
It's a great bassline and sax.
Reef - Naked
Ok now this is where you think that I am taking the piss as Reef does not begin with an F - however it does. The band were heavily inspired by Free and decided that they would make their band name an anagram of Free. Personally I think that their riff based rock was far better.
Philip Glass - Akenhaten and Nefertitti.
Yes an opera but a very unusual song. One of the people singing is a guy but you wouldn't think so. It makes for a very floaty and beautiful piece of music. Something to play when your parents come round. They will wonder what has happened to you. It's always good to freak out the folks :D
Carl Hancock Rux - Shackles
It's a shock for me that this song has got only 330 views on Youtube. It might not be his normal poetry based repertoire but even so. It's a Saturday night drift through the ether in the city type song. it's also got a flute on it. Not that common in music anymore.
Isaac Hayes - Shaft
A modern, better produced cover of this song is crying to be made.
Grace Jones - Corporate Cannibal.
Wonderfully creepy yet arty video. Well crafted song with a masterful rolling rhythm and an inspired guitar solo in the middle. By far the best thing Grace has ever done .....and she has done a lot of good stuff. That ending though .....woah ....crazier than a bag of ferrets.
Kisschasy - Do's Do's and Whoa-oh's
One of the best bands to come out of Australia. Some very clever bits of writing and commenting too. It is worth actually watching the video to another of their songs called The Shake. Sums up exactly what growing up with siblings is all about and how they can really be annoying just because they can.
Linkin Park - Faint
For everyone of a certain age who was a teen at the time and made a point of it.
Massive Attack - Prayer for England
That prayer is sung by an Irish woman. It's very powerful stuff. I had a girlfriend that refused to listen to Massive Attack as she was a guitar head and didn't like dance music. I put that straight. She went out and bought all the albums.
Beautiful erotic darkness.
New Order - Sunrise
This is just a furious track that is nothing like their other stuff. It is glimmer of what New Order would have been if Peter Hook had managed to keep them on a guitar based path. It breaks in places like that control has been lost (sic).
Orbital - Halcyon and On and On.
One of the most beautiful pieces of dance music ever written. To be put on loop and listened to endlessly when you are walking. The beat will get you to wherever you are going on time and content with life.
Primal Scream - Loaded
The Stones meet dance music. Haven't got a clue what the song is about though.
Quantic - Time is the Enemy
This track pops up in my feeds all the time. just a little bit of trip hop really.
Ramp - Everybody Loves the Sunshine.
Rare groove classic that is way better than the Roy Ayers original. If it wasn't for that rather crap middle eight it would be perfect.
Everyone should love the sunshine anyhow. Sick of the dark nights and the cold already.
Stone Roses - Fools Gold
Why less can be more.
The Temptations - Papa was a Rolling Stone
The Stairway to Heaven of soul music.
Ursula Rucker - Wanna
Rap for people who hate rap. It's actually a piece of love poetry. No gangstas here.
Sarah Vaughan - Black Coffee
Well I couldn't fit Billie Holiday in.
Bill Withers - Lovely Day
Then I look at you and the world's alright with me.
The XX - Intro HQ
It's a good job this lot exist otherwise X would have been really hard. This is a pretty classy track fortunately.
The Yeastie Girls - You Suck.
Sorry, couldn't resist that Y. It was just asking for it. I'm not going to put the song in as I will get into trouble. You know where to look if you really want to hear it.
The Zombies - She's not There.
This was a hard one. It would have been nice to have ended on The Zutons as they are a Liverpool band and that is where I currently live but I think their music is really dull. Made that a "no".
My that took a long time. I kept getting distracted and listening to complete tracks. Any you think that were just wrong choices? Let me know in the comments below.