20 Singles. The Final Countdown.

No need to cough out your tea. Europe are not about to enter my 20 Singles chart. As with the 20 Albums – I thought it logical to try and order them.

There are many, many more tracks I could mention. Really this is a personal list, but if one person finds a new track via this near pointless exercise then it’s been worth the effort. In truth, I enjoy writing up this blog and the feedback it gets.

Here goes:

1. Bauhaus – Bela Lugosi’s Dead.

2. New Order – Blue Monday.

3. Siouxsie & The Banshees – Spellbound.

4. Nirvana – Sliver.

5. Hard On’s – Busted / Suck N Swallow.

6. Dead Kennedys – Holiday In Cambodia.

7. Specials – Ghost Town.

8. Adam & The Ants – Kings Of The Wild Frontier.

9. Gaye Bykers On Acid – Nosedive Karma.

10. Laurie Anderson – O’ Superman.

11. Primal Scream – Loaded.

12. The Damned – Stretcher Case.

13. Portishead – Glory Box.

14. Johnny Foreigner – Salt, Peppa & Spinderella.

15. Radiohead – Just.

16. The Misfits – Bullet.

17. The Exploited – Dead Cities.

18. Godflesh – Slateman.

19. The Jam – Funeral Pyre.

20. Money Mark – Hand In Your Head.

Bauhaus deserve the top slot as it’s the most unique single i’ve ever heard. It really is a wonderful, evocative record. Similarly Blue Monday is a record that really got me deeply into music – it’s a fantastic track by a brilliant band.

Really this 20 is my own experience of great music and not a definitive guide for anyone – but there’s some varied, great stuff in there. I’d have liked to have included Killing Joke’s – Love Like Blood, and oddly a Frankie Goes To Hollywood track – but it’s done now…

The Exploited – Dead Cities – 20 Singles.

A bit of selfishness here. I know a lot of people will not agree that “Dead Cities” by The Exploited is one of the best 20 singles ever made. It really is about the timing.

To me, as an 11-year-old, the level of excitement this record gave me was pretty much unparalleled. It has a great sleeve. It sounded, in 1981, like nothing I’d heard before. It charted, when the charts actually meant something. It has 2 great tracks on the B-Side.

I was too young for the first wave of punk – so when this came along it was a coat-tail you grabbed onto.

The track will not win any Nobel Peace Prizes – but for a moment in 1981 The Exploited seemed like the most important band on earth. It was 3 years later when I first heard the Dead Kennedys – and of course their material, and a lot of the U.S. hardcore scenes bands – wipes the floor with this.

That does not detract from the possibilities “Dead Cities” gave off. It’s like the Godfather of Britcore. The highly regarded first Napalm Death album does not sound a million miles away from this?

As the last entry for my 20 Singles – I just cannot leave this out…

Money Mark – Hand In Your Head – 20 Singles.

The Beastie Boys are one of my all time favourite bands. They get high placings in my 20 Albums, so I’m overlooking them for 20 Singles. If i was to go with a solitary Beastie Boys single it’d have to be “So What’cha Want”. Probably their best single release, but there’s a lot to choose from.

Beasties aside, lets take a sideways look at the “4th Beastie Boy”, Money Mark. “Hand In Your Head” released on MoWax has an incredible laid back, dare I say it, jazzy vibe.

Trippy, mellow and just spot on “Hand In Your Head” is his best single. “Cry” comes pretty close, but i’m going with this track.

Playful and ambling from hip-hop into jazz and near psychadelia the single gets inside your head and damn near succeeds in “pulling out all of your mind”. This is his best track and worth 4MB on anyones iPod…

Johnny Foreigner – Salt, Peppa & Spinderella – 20 Singles.

This single is far better than it should be. It works on many levels. Knowingly very “Pixies” like it is quite unique too.

Beginning with a very poggy bass jab and the snare drum with the snare seemingly relaxed. The dual vocal works, the male / female vocal play off is also a card played very well.

The build and near shambolic control also rattles along with damn near perfection.

An ode to sitting in a Digbeth take-away post nightclub this track captures something magical. As it rises and gets more self-assured it gives off a very welcome warm vibe.

The mantra before the masterstroke of “turn on the real drums” elevates the track to be the best track on the album “Waited Up ‘Til It Was Light”. An album well worth checking out.

When “the real drums” kick in with the snare firmly flexed the track explodes into an unrelenting joyous sound.

An under rated Birmingham outfit that deserve more ears. A great single.

Hard-On’s – Busted / Suck N Swallow – 20 Singles.

The Hard On’s are the best live band I have ever seen. Scroll back if you feel like it and check out the review from The Fulham Greyhound in the gig list. There will never be a better gig than that. A gig of serious underground legend.

The band achieved practically no fame. I guess the name doesn’t help – but they are one of the most under rated bands ever. Taking the best parts of the Ramones, Kiss, Motorhead, The Stooges and fusing together a frankly ridiculously good sound that the band make their own.

With hardcore and britcore achieving success of sorts in the late 80′s this band appeared out of nowhere. When they did it was a sound that caused dance floors / mosh pits to explode in chaotic joy.

Levels of energy at a Hard-On’s gig is something i have never seen since. Venues would literally blow apart. The band also played in the very small room at Edwards No.8 in Birmingham and used just practice amps. Serioulsy, the amps were bedroom guitar amps. The venue still erupted when they took to the stage. People were actually jumping from the bar and reaching the stage.

Busted is a typical Hard-On’s track. Lively, poppy, but electric at the same time. The reason this single makes my 20 Singles section is the double A side , Suck N Swallow is probably the bands best ever piece of music.

Almost impossible to capture how good the band are live on vinyl, Suck N Swallow comes the closest you will get to how good they are live.

The guitar break that begins about 2:20 in is like no other. It’s like Jimi Hendrix has been reborn and has thrown out his poncho to be in a punk band. Wah guitar and punk should not mix in theory – but here it is superb.

When the band played this live you knew you needed to track it down on record as soon as possible. Frank’s Wild Records in Birmingham was the only place I could find it. One of the best singles i’ve ever owned…

Nirvana – Sliver – 20 Singles.

Nirvana’s best track is Aneurysm in my opinion. The B-Side to Smells Like Teen Spirit therefore I guess it cannot qualify as a single release.

Before the snowball that was the band becoming huge in a very short period of time. Before Nevermind. The band recorded Sliver as a stand alone release between Bleach & Nevermind.

Sliver features Dan Peters (Mudhoney) on drums. The later shot video was a re-release by Geffen Records and features Dave Grohl on drums – but the sound has not been altered from the original release. The video also features Kurt’s daughter Frances Bean (she’s the baby at the start).

Not only a great record, but a bit of a unique Nirvana release as it’s subject has no parallel by the band. Playfully the track tells a tale about being left at your grandparents whilst your parents go out to catch a show. A million miles away from the normal “angst” the track is almost supremely dumb – but equally cute. Begging to be taken home (“Grandma take me home”), whilst eating ice-cream at your grandparents is hardly Crass material. Towards the end of Sliver the subject falls asleep and wakes up in his mothers arms. It shouldn’t work – but it does in a very endearing manner.

Musically fantastic, it echoes jumping around in your bedroom to music when you’re young. A great feeling. A great track. A band really coming into their own.

For where Sliver sits now in the Nirvana back catalogue the track captures them at their most positive. It hasn’t got the grindy doom of Bleach or the sheen of Nevermind. It’s a world away from the venom spitting self-loathing of In Utero.

The bands best single.

Radiohead – Just – 20 Singles.

When Radiohead emerged in the early to mid 90′s I guess I’m not alone in thinking they were just a twee, British, take on Nirvana. “Creep”, I’m looking at you here. Creep is a decent track but at the same time it’s quite embarrassing too?

Maybe i’m being shallow and the look Radiohead had for “Pablo Honey” didn’t help the “what’s with this English grunge band”.

Of course, Radiohead went on to make some fantastic records. Many people will cite “O.K. Computer” as one of their favourite albums. Not me, but it is a great album, as are many other of the bands releases (the band kind of work better live for me – all their albums are worth checking out).

For me I had two moments of realisation with Radiohead. The 2nd, and most powerful was watching them do a live 50 minute set on Jools Holland circa 2001. It really struck me they were a very artistic outfit. Also the depth and range of their records from The Bends to O.K. Computer to Kid A and Amnesiac – there was no denying I was hearing something i’d previously missed – and missed out on.

The first was when I was watching an MTV alternative show in the mid 90′s. The video for “Just” came on. I had not heard it. The band had lost the “grunge” look. The band and video drew me in. More so the music was fantastic.

For me “Just” is the moment the band realised their own sound and identity. True, the intro still sounds a tad like Nirvana but it steps away from this pretty damn quickly.

On top of this, it’s a great video. The sound builds and shimmers away only to build again and again. Structured but still chaotic the track rises to a summoning climax. Thom Yorke throughout displays an incredible vocal perfomance.

When I watched this / heard it for the first time I was urging the guitar to cut loose – thankfully it delivers exactly what the build up is crying out for. In the duration of the first watch / listen to “Just” – Radiohead demolish Suede and really show they are a great outfit. With Oasis huge at the time they also, unwittingly lay down a “thinking mans indie / rock” that can take on all comers.

Radiohead missed out on my Top 20 Albums – so I cannot overlook “Just” for my 20 Singles…

The Jam – Funeral Pyre – 20 Singles.

The Jam were a huge band in my formative years. I was never a massive fan of theirs but always checked out what they released.

I picked up “Funeral Pyre” by chance on its release day. I just happened to go to my local record shop and had a bit of spare cash. I’m pretty sure 7 Inch records were 99p back in 1981. It was a no brainer. With a great looking cover – and despite the fact that I hadn’t heard it I just bought it without much thought.

I had heard most of the bands singles, but none of their albums. A bit like Black Sabbath, The Jam do not have a stand out studio album for me. Fittingly “Funeral Pyre” does not feature on any of their studio albums. It is on “Snap” and subsequent “hits” albums. Good job really, I doubt if the band could have kept up the level of venom this track spits for an entire album. It stands as a great single.

The reason I rate “Funeral Pyre’ so highly is that it’s unexpectedly dark. It’s quite removed from the near pop the band achieve on “Going Underground”, “Start” and “That’s Entertainment”.

It positively bustles with brewing menace. Always a great quality in music. The track rattles, dips and rises. The lyrical theme oddly fits the current unrest in the U.K. – maybe subliminally this has sprung to my mind because of this.

Not a very popular track by The Jam admittedly – but for me this sees the band really hit their real peak – and was a moment I realised just how good the band were….

Dead Kennedys – Holiday In Cambodia – 20 Singles.

Released in 1980 I got round to hearing this in 1984. The single is the Dead Kennedy’s 2nd ever release and is different to the re-recorded version that features on their debut album “Fresh Fruit For Rotting Vegetables”.

The single is more direct than the album version. If truth be told, I prefer the album version as it has more guitar build up and is musically more accomplished. Then again, there’s not a lot in it, both versions are fantastic.

The band can suffer from being too layered. They do need a trained ear. Fortunately there is always a lyric sheet with their output in one form or another. The genial sardonic lyric is less lost on this classic. Holiday In Cambodia is accessible – practically everyone that hears it will be unable to deny it’s immediate appeal and truly great sound.

Holiday In Cambodia is probably the best Hardcore Single ever released. It has a brutal controlled sound that will hit the spot with even a mainstream listener.

A bass and high-hat tease in the intro. Quickly it’s added to with scraping, building guitar. Rapidly a very powerful, deep riff forms. A rolling snare drum and you’re in. Jello Biafra adds a controlled heavily ironic vocal.

Before you know it classic lines are delivered “Kiss ass while you bitch so you can get rich – but you’re boss gets richer off you”. Western ideas of superiority are explored and ridiculed. The track is an education on complacency and ignorance.

As it builds to the “Pol-Pot” lines – not only is the lyric up their with the best you will hear, but the music is matching it all the way. A very powerful record. Also of note, the B-Side, “Police Truck” is a better track than most bands could ever dream of making, not as good as Holiday In Cambodia, but it gives it a damn good run for its money.

In the late 90′s Levi’s wanted to use the record for an ad. The band agreed but Jello Biafra stood firm that the record would not be used to promote the Levis. Citing sweatshop conditions and exploitation, he stood against the rest of the band and a law suit was filed. Levi’s never got hold of the record. A credit, especially given the message of the record.

A killer single that introduced me to one of the best bands I’ve ever heard. Many Dead Kennedy’s singles should make my Top 20 Singles – but there’s no denying – for its sheer accessibility and unique sound this record stands alone.

The Misfits – Bullet – 20 Singles.

Released on the bands own label in 1978 (Plan 9) The Misfits released an astonishing 7 inch single that is now worth a small fortune. Incredibly no record label would put out their album. Eh?

Bullet is fast, it is not overplayed. The vocal paints imagery around Kennedy’s assassination. Suggesting Texas is the reason that the president is dead maybe it’s attacking right wing America? Probably not, as the band don’t do politics. It stands as a furious but very controlled blast. Punk just didn’t sound like this in 1978. It’s light years ahead of it’s time.

We Are 138 – is a track I still have no idea what they’re going on about. Starting slow with a chant of “we are 138″ it builds and builds. A Misfits anthem and a truly great track. Fitting in a short guitar lead the track regathers to chant “we are 138″ until the bitter end. With both tracks on Side One at under 1:50 The Misfits fit in so much more than The Ramones ever could. They’ve pushed things forward.

Attitude kicks off Side Two. Slower than the tracks on the flip it still pulls no punches and although the weakest track on the single it’s still near groundbreaking in that it pushes punk forward, uniquely.

Hollywood Babylon – the final track, also opens new soundscapes for alternative music. It’s almost like The Cramps after a serious work out at the gym. Slower than its predecessors Danzig’s vocal really is heard here (production wise) and the potential is realised.