Matt Erickson’s Top 100 Songs. 70-67

June 22, 2010

By Matt Erickson

This 75 minute album - the self-titled one with the broken down rollercoaster on the cover – creeps along like a glacier on cough syrup (the amazing, 13-minute “Mother” nearly comes to a complete stop). Years ago, a friend and I played our Top 10 albums (countdown style, of course) on road trips throughout the summer. This album was deservedly #8 on my list, but was a terrible choice for driving music – I had to pull over about an hour in, both of us with fidgety legs, and stretch in a Pizza Hut parking lot.

While the album is a lot to digest, this song is a perfect four minutes, and would be a #1 hit if introverts were the majority. It’s still incredibly drowsy, like waking up from a nap. From Red House Painters (1993).

69. Boy Meets Girl / “Waiting for a Star to Fall”

For this nostalgia addict, it’s better than crack. One lonely Sunday night, stacking potatoes in the produce department, this came on the grocery store loudspeaker. I didn’t know what it was at first…but I somehow intuited the approaching chorus. It was like reading, at 23, about a dream you had when you were 8, then vividly remembering it.

I soon found out the name of the band, then tried to spit out the memory - yecch! peh! peh! Worse, I found out the song made an appearance in Three Men & A Little Lady – peh! peh! peh! – and imagined the falling star to be Steve Gutenberg. To my horror, I continued to like the song. While such packaging suggests a tune of grotesque sentimentality - and I’m sure that’s what it is – the melody has an amazingly sturdy construction, and is sung with the oblivious conviction that is the ’80s at its best. And every time I hear it, I imagine it’s being beamed in from 1989 by some defunct radio station, and will be followed by the obnoxious station ID (“99-5: The Fox!”). From Reel Life (1988).

68. Metallica / “Fade to Black”

If this were 1996 – and I were 15 – it would be #1. While other #1′s emeriti have long ago been wheeled away to their entombment, this suicide epic healthily lives on. I don’t listen to it that much anymore. But when I do, I know it’s still one of the Top 100 songs ever made. From Ride the Lightning (1984).

67. Chris Bell / “Speed of Sound”

The most insecure song in my Top 100, Chris Bell is the earnest guy who pouts and cries when his girl – or maybe Alex Chilton - loses interest in him. Of course, it never works in real life; that’s why we have music. Even in song, I kind of want to take a couple steps over there, away from someone so needy. But after a while it gets to you, and if you have a working heart, and are even slightly toxic, you have to admit you’ve been there. From I Am the Cosmos (1978).

66. The Soft Boys / “Queen of Eyes” (Album only) (Listen on Youtube.)

This is what they would play at Chuck E. Cheese if Chuck E. Cheese were full of hallucinogenic drugs. The chorus is a Technicolor splash of little plastic balls, the guitars ring like they just won Skee-Ball, and Robyn Hitchcock sings like a friendly robot lab animal whose eyelids loudly click open and shut. From Underwater Moonlight (1980).

Honorable Mention: Coldplay / “Speed of Sound”

The other “Speed of Sound” is by Coldplay; somehow, it’s less whiny. Coldplay is the past decade’s most convenient band to hate: they have the deadly combination of being earnest, ambitious, and derivative. But they write some great melodies so I don’t give a shit. They even copy themselves: this piano hook sounds like ”Clocks” turned backward. Somehow, it’s even better.

And since I have to go to CVS, the gym, and Taco Bell once in a while, it’s nice to have a popular rock band out there that doesn’t sound like grunge’s most famous turd, Nickelback (and others who use the Hagar/Vedder/Cartman vocal hybrid: Staind, Trapt, Shittd, etc.). From X & Y (2005).

List so far ~

100. Elton John ~ Funeral for a Friend
99. Dave Schramm ~ Hammer and Nails
98. The Bob Seger System ~ 2 + 2 = ?
97. The Young Generation ~ The Hideaway
96. Le Pastie de la Bourgeoisie ~ Belle and Sebastian
95. The Cars ~ Drive
94. Moose ~ The Only Man in Town
93. Wire ~ French Film Blurred
92. King Crimson ~ Starless
91. The Only Ones ~ The Whole of the Law
90. Daniel Johnston ~ Grievances
89. The Rolling Stones ~ Rocks Off
88. Wipers ~ Youth of America
87. Heart ~ Alone
86. The Stone Roses ~ Sugar Spun Sister
85. Joe Pernice ~ Bum Leg
84. My Bloody Valentine ~ To Here Knows When
83. Gene Clark ~ Some Misunderstanding
82. Electric Light Orchestra ~ Can’t Get it Out of my Head
81. Ride ~ Vapour Trail
80. Rush ~ 2112
79. Pere Ubu ~ Final Solution
78. Gary Wright ~ Dream Weaver
77. John Hiatt ~ Cry Love
76. The Go-Betweens ~ Clouds
75. Asia ~ Only Time Will Tell
74. The House of Love ~ Man to Child
73. Talk Talk ~ After the Flood
72. Seal ~ Prayer for the Dying
71. Brian Eno ~ Spider and I
70. Red House Painters ~ Mistress
69. Boy Meets Girl ~ Waiting for a Star to Fall
68. Metallica ~ Fade to Black
67. Chris Bell ~ Speed of Sound
66. The Soft Boys ~ Queen of Eyes

Honorable Mentions
Laura Cantrell ~ Hammer and Nails
King Missile ~ Sensitive Artist
Eric Carmen ~ Make Me Lose Control
Bone Thugs-n-Harmony ~ Tha Crossroads
Coldplay ~ Speed of Sound