It’s almost one year to the day since I published my take on the ’30-day song challenge’ which, if you’ll recall, was one of MANY trends people kept themselves occupied with back when lockdown was still an interesting novelty. However, now that we find ourselves in the restrictive purgatory that is 2021, it’s only fitting that I should revisit what was my favourite ‘challenge’ from this time last year and update my choices. As I’m writing this intro, I’ve not checked which songs I opted for last time round, so at the end of each paragraph, I’ll include the tune that made it in 2020 so that we, together, can judge 2020 Tom.
A song you like with a colour in the title: The Stranglers – Golden Brown
What better way than to jump straight in the deep end with a song about heroin. Coincidentally, this must also have been a thought that crossed the mind of the four Stranglers, who took the drug as an artistic experiment prior to the writing of this track. One half of the group stopped using straight away, but two carried on. I’m not sure it’s the most sensible of artistic experiments, but each to their own, I guess. Great song though. (2020: BROCKHAMPTON – GOLD)
A song you like with a number in the title: Israel’s Arcade – 12 Regrets
What I’m going to do here is put you on to a song that has only just surpassed 400,000 plays on Spotify. I discovered it about two months ago and I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if I was accountable for at least 100 of those streams. Stemming from the Coachella Valley, Israel’s Arcade makes music that deserves to be listened to. This nostalgia fuelled track comes complete with glistening synths which beautifully juxtapose the Joy Division-esque vocal performance. (2020: Radiohead – 15 Step)
A song that reminds you of summertime: Chase & Status – Blk & Blu
I think I had to put something like this here and, as it happens, ‘Blk & Blu’ is the pinnacle of dance music. The beat switch in the middle gets you excited in the tightly-gripped wheel, shaking the car type of way and I’m obsessed. It’s everything I could want from Chase & Status who, for so long, have been the best at what they do. (2020: The Libertines – Don’t Look Back Into The Sun)
A song that reminds you of someone you’d rather forget: Olivia Rodrigo – Driver’s License
Yes, I’m a cliche. So what? I’ve fully embraced the fact that this song could probably go here on just about everyone’s version of this list, but its for a good reason! This song really is worth the hype. It’s beautiful. Everything about it, from the sound of Olivia’s mum’s car at the start to that bridge which cripples you, it’s perfect. There won’t be a better song than this all year. You’re lying if you say you’re not absolutely devastated when you hear this, and no matter how hard you try not to relate to the lyrics, you do so anyway. Emotional blitzkrieg. (2020: Drake – Nice For What)
A song that needs to be played loud: The Smiths – Bigmouth Strikes Again
BIGMOUTH LA DA DA DADA, BIGMOUTH LA DA DA DAA, BIGMOUTH STRIKES AGAIN! (2020: IDLES – Never Fight a Man With a Perm)
A song that makes you want to dance: ABBA – Voulez-Vous
The soundtrack to many sleepy drives to work when I’m in desperate need of perking up in the absence of coffee, ABBA are disco gods and rightfully so. Voulez-Vous has emerged as my favourite driver’s seat dance floor anthem and you best believe I’m backing up the vocals with the obligatory ‘Ah-ha!’ that this song forces into you. (2020: SAINt JHN – Roses – Imanbek Remix)
A song to drive to: The Smashing Pumpkins – 1979
When I’m not living out my Mamma Mia fantasies in the car, I’m having main character moments, gazing at the setting sun over the A roads. The Smashing Pumpkins are enablers in this episodic narcissism and ‘1979’ is usually the first song I put on when I set off, and when I do, I put the song on literally just before I find the bite, ensuring I get maximum driving time with it. Don’t judge me. (2020: The Neighbourhood – Sweater Weather)
A song about drugs or alcohol: The 1975 – The Birthday Party
Matty Healy is such a legend for being so open about his drug problems. “I depend/ on my friends/ to stay clean/ as sad as it seems”. Wow. It doesn’t get more open than that. I love The 1975, I love this song. It is so important to break down the stigma around addiction and to be quite honest, I’m tired of songs that glorify substance abuse. That’s why this is such a breath of fresh air and the honesty and bluntness in so much of the band’s music is a really positive force. (2020: The Verve – The Drugs Don’t Work)
A song that makes you happy: Joni Mitchell – Big Yellow Taxi
Yes, the irony is not lost on me of this song being chosen for this category. While Joni Mitchell sings of the damage being done to our world, I’m nodding my head to Joni’s infectious sonic experience. I think as much as it condemns environmental damage, it celebrates our planet through the exuberance of the music. (2020: Crystal Fighters – Love Natural)
A song that makes you sad: Phoebe Bridgers – Funeral
Phoebe was the only name I knew was going to make this list, it was just figuring out where to put her. Then, as I was skipping through her songs, ‘Funeral’ came on and it was just so clear that this was the song to make the cut. One thing I love about this track, and Phoebe’s wider discography, is the abruptness and sharpness of the lyrics. She has this way of going exactly where she wants to with her words and, as someone who writes poetry, I’m a tad jealous. She’s astonishing. (2020: Frank Ocean – Self Control)
A song you never get tired of: Radiohead – Paranoid Android
For me, this is the best song ever written, I think. It is also on the best album ever made, ‘OK Computer’. This song is like if Bohemian Rhapsody worked a 9 to 5 office job for its entire adult life and became a slave to the capitalist system. It is the Matrix made audible. A signpost of where we have been, what we are, and what is to come. A sonic dystopia. (2020: Travis Scott – Goosebumps)
A song from your preteen years: Lily Allen – The Fear
Lily Allen was so ahead of her time, and to think this song only came out in 2009. I loved it then and I love it now. The lyricism in this song, riffing off newspaper names and weapons of war, is some of the best I’ve ever heard. It doesn’t get the praise it deserves, but ‘The Fear’ is one of the noughties’ most potent and intelligent singles. (2020: The Kooks – Naïve)
A song you like from the 70’s: Fleetwood Mac – Landslide
It was this or ‘Dreams’ and I guess today I was feeling ‘Landslide’. Stevie Nicks is one of my all time favourites and this song in particular really tends to tug on the old heart strings. It’s about moving on, learning the art of acceptance and the uncertainty that comes with maturity – all things which strike a chord with me on a personal level, particular in 2021 as I go through another period of change in my life. (2020: Pink Floyd – Wish You Were Here)
A song you’d love to be played at your wedding: Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – Breathless
This song is Spring. The flurry of woodwind instruments at the start ushers in new beginnings and Nick Cave, who can so often be at the entirely other end of the spectrum, loses himself in love on ‘Breathless’. I can’t really explain it, but this song just makes me feel as if everything is going to be okay. (2020: Courteeners – Small Bones)
A song you like that’s a cover by another artist: Fugees – Killing Me Softly With His Song
Roberta Flack’s 1973 classic is beautiful, but Fugees stole the show on this one. Really, it’s because of Lauryn Hill who is just so effortless in her delivery. She’s unlike anyone I’ve ever heard and her place in music history borders on the divine, often feeling mystical and transcendent, standing alone amongst her contemporaries. (2020: Nirvana – Where Did You Sleep Last Night)
A song that’s a classic favourite: Pixies – Where Is My Mind?
I searched for this song for years, I’m not even joking. When I found it, I was overcome with relief that I had found the song which felt as if the world was ending. That’s how it sounds. It’s apocalyptic noise rock that could make even the most destructive end a thing of morbid beauty. Pixies outdid themselves on this one and created what is, essentially, the first song that feels mortal, feels terminal. (2020: Neil Diamond – Cracklin’ Rosie)
A song that you’d sing a duet with someone on karaoke: Frank Sinatra, Nancy Sinatra – Somethin’ Stupid
I refused point blank to choose ‘American Boy’, which seems to have become the number one go-to karaoke anthem when more than one person steps up to the microphone. Instead, I’ve opted for this timeless love song where, in my mind, I’m a 1960’s slicked crooner, equipped with the pinstripe suit and lolloping flower creeping out the jacket pocket. In reality, I’m a 21-year-old singing at the wall which, if it could, would probably put some ear protectors on. (2020: Lorde – Homemade Dynamite Remix)
A song from the year you were born: Dr Dre, Snoop Dogg – Still D.R.E.
Missed this one last time, didn’t I? For me, it’s a top five hip hop song easily. Everyone knows that iconic intro and the back and forth between Dre and Snoop is seamless, their voices, which land at either end of the spectrum, colliding, like atoms, to create a musical nuclear blast. (2020: Moby – Porcelain)
A song that makes you think about life: Echo & The Bunnymen – The Killing Moon
Donnie Darko is probably my favourite ever film. It has an incredible soundtrack. On this soundtrack is ‘The Killing Moon’. ‘The Killing Moon’ is a perfect song. It’s atmospheric and flirts with the cosmic whilst still being grounded in reality. It makes me think about mortality, the meaning of life, and a host of other incomprehensible philosophical studies that I’ll never fully come to terms with. I am inclined to impress this song onto everyone that reads this because I need to geek out about A) this song and B) Donnie Darko. (2020: Fleet Foxes – Helplessness Blues)
A song that has many meanings to you: Nirvana – About a Girl
Nirvana have soundtracked an embarrassing amount of my late teens/ early twenties. ‘About a Girl’ in particular just seems to get it, you know? Also, the acoustic version from the 1994 Unplugged is just as good, if not better, than the original recording from 1989’s ‘Bleach’. I guess this song feels young in the sense that it is simple – “I need an easy friend/ with an ear to lend” seems to encapsulate the essence of companionship in just two line, acknowledging the thread that runs through all the fluctuation of a relationship. (2020: Radiohead – True Love Waits)
A song you like with a person’s name in the title: DIIV – Bent (Roi’s Song)
“DIIV make music that combines shoegaze bliss with grunge catharsis” – is what the Spotify ‘About’ section says about DIIV. It couldn’t be more right. Listening to this song by itself is a stimulating sensory experience, but in the context of the album, my word. ‘Is The Is Are’ is the sophomore album that saw the band return from a lengthy absence, but it was worth the wait. It’s a corny saying, but you genuinely can get lost in this song and the album. (2020: Lily Allen – Alfie)
A song that moves you forward: The Cure – The Lovecats
This song feels like it should be in a musical, or a theatrical production, yet it feels right at home amongst The Cure’s incredible musical congregation. It transforms love into that primal, animalistic instinct that we’re familiar with – but gentrifies it. For some reason, when I listen to this song, I just see two black cats with white underbellies wearing top hats, striding arm in arm along a sidewalk in front of pink buildings. I have no idea where that comes from, but it is so vivid that I can’t shake it. LOVECATS! (2020: Fredo – They Ain’t 100)
A song you think everyone should listen to: Bring Me the Horizon, BABYMETAL – Kingslayer
The idea of suggesting this song to everyone is hilarious because I know most people will be like “wtf did I just listen to” and never listen again. But what I want you to think is “wtf did I just listen to” but with that same euphoric, wide eyed stare that you might solicit from a toddler when giving them a biscuit. It sounds like a video game that got lost in the pits of hell and emerged scarred – fighting between its nature and nurture. Crazy. (2020: U.S. Girls – Pearly Gates)
A song by a band you wish were still together: Sonic Youth – Incinerate
I could have picked ‘Teen Age Riot’, but recently it has been ‘Incinerate’ on my mind. Sonic Youth have a sound that I have become increasingly obsessed with. Their music is genre-bending and ‘Incinerate’ walks on a tightrope between the rock music of the 1960’s and the new wave grunge of the 1980’s and early 90’s. It’s a fantastic driving song too, if that’s your thing. (2020: The Smiths – Panic)
A song you like by an artist no longer living: Queen – Love of My Life
I chose this one because of what it is not. Queen’s music tends to be anthem and geared toward the stage, whereas ‘Love of My Life’ gets introspective and small when Freddie Mercury was often so much larger than life. I was watching Queen Rock Montreal the other day and when Freddie sat down at his piano and sung this, it was as if the crowd was put on pause. A thing of beauty from one of the finest band’s in history. (2020: Joy Division – Disorder)
A song that makes you want to fall in love: Taylor Swift – You Belong With Me
Taylor recently released her re-recordings of her older music and, when listening, I heard this song again for the first time in forever. Also, this rediscovery was aided by Conan Gray and Olivia Rodrigo dancing on the bed to this song on Instagram the other day but that’s neither here nor there. This song is a bona fide chick flick third act tune and I think that’s why I love it. The chord progression forces your hand and the next thing you know you’re pining for someone that doesn’t exist, but god you wish they did. (2020: Clairo – Bags)
A song that breaks your heart: Holly Humberstone – Fake Plastic Trees
Holly Humberstone’s cover of Radiohead’s 1995 single ‘Fake Plastic Trees’ goes somewhere that the original does not. Her voice is fragile and feels prone to breaking amongst the emotional weight of the song, but that is such a powerful thing. There’s an intense feeling of vulnerability and emptiness that permeates through this cover just from the way Holly cuts off the notes instead of prolonging them the way Thom Yorke did. (2020: Natalia Lafourcade – Danza de Gardenias)
A song by an artist whose voice you love: Ms. Lauryn Hill – Ex-Factor
I had to get Lauryn Hill back in here, didn’t I? This time separate from the rest of Fugees, Ms. Hill’s timeless classic ‘Ex-Factor’ is just so bloody good. It’s actually incomprehensible how she can sound like that. How does she do it? She’s so damn cool, man. (2020: The Weeknd – A Lonely Night)
A song you remember from your childhood: Rihanna, Jay-Z – Umbrella
A certified bop. Always been a massive Rihanna fan, always will. I remember this being on one of the ‘Now That’s What I Call Music’ albums we had in the car, back when CD’s were a thing and just rinsing this song over and over and over. I reckon you could play this song any time, any place, and everyone will go “WAHEEEEEY” when it starts. It’s one of those. (2020: T.I. – Whatever You Like)
A song that reminds you of yourself: Radiohead – Karma Police
Maybe it’s because this song is attached to one of two of the most difficult times in my life, or maybe it’s because the lyrics speak to me in a way that is entirely unique. Either way, I had to break my rule of one entry per artist for this song just because of how strongly I feel for it. The fact that it even exists is humbling to me and I’m so grateful for Radiohead as I really don’t know how I could have coped without their music at times. This song makes me feel like they’ve got my back and that’s just what I need when I listen to it. I feel empowered in the face of adversity, ready to face whatever comes my way, brushing the dust off as I get back up to my feet. (2020: Arctic Monkeys – Do Me A Favour)
So there we go, the list has been completed once again. If you’ve read this far, thank you. I don’t expect many people to read this and, to be honest, it’s more an exercise in catharsis than anything else. 2021 has been the toughest year of my life so far, but with music, I can cope just that little bit more. So, in order to say thanks to the artists that help me, I thought I’d recognise them in this post and share some of their work with whoever might read this and fancy giving some of these songs a listen. I really recommend all these songs and artists and have made a conscious effort to include a little bit of everything while not picking the easy options in the hopes that someone might stumble across one more song for their playlist or, perhaps, their next favourite artist.
The Turntable 