Songs For Your Ipod: The List

91. Oh Comely - Neutral Milk Hotel In An Aeroplane Over the Sea (1998) - - 8:18

If you could make pain and depression an organic thing baked in an oven fired black by the evil of a forced solitude and set it to the strumming of an acoustic guitar voiced by a dark and haunting troubadour, then you would be filled by the feast of Jeff Magnum’s dark imagination. This ode made special for the clinically fucked up is an eight minute sojourn into some of the darkest imagery ever put to voice. Don’t try to understand the logic of the words as just as the lines melt one into another the thoughts of Magnum are a stream of consciousness best left for the right hemisphere of your brain.

92. I Don’t Wanna Be a Homosexual - Sloppy Seconds Destroyed (1989) - 5:04

A catchy punk song about a guy who is constantly being questioned about his sexual-orientation with an aunt who would be happy if she could tell all her friends she had a gay nephew. Funny, yet with a cornel of truth, especially for all those guys who have had a long stretch in their lives single, “I Don’t Wanna Be a Homosexual” shows that there are some bands out there who are considered pop punk yet are still worth listening to.

93. Gold Digger - Kayne West Late Registration (2005) - 3:28

With background vocals from Jamie Foxx, West puts out a song that is a humourous warning for every guy that lets his dick out power his brain. Every man who is paying child support to a cheating woman who uses her looks to get rich off of a man’s hard work is shaking his head to the lyrics of this song while crying in his domestic beer. Kayne West is re-invigorating hip hop in the States the way K-os is doing in Canada; gansta rap is passé.

94. Life During Wartime - Talking Heads Fear of Music (1979) - 3:43

One of the Heads classic songs that show how weird and paranoid David Byrne can be, “Life During Wartime” describes a world through the eyes of a revolutionary bent on surviving in an unknown time. A reaction to Reagan and the Cold War, “Life During Wartime” weirds-out with guitar, synth, bass and conga drums. Talking Heads are sometimes a difficult band to get your head around, but when they take art house punk to a more listenable place, they create masterpieces. “Life During Wartime” is a perfect example.

95. Chasing Cars - Snow Patrol Eyes Open (2006) - 4:27

A beautiful heart-wrenching song that came to the attention of a wider public when it was used in a montage sequence for the hit TV drama Grey’s Anatomy. The band hail from the emerald lands of Ireland and they blew the world away with this rendition of a song lamenting the outside world and the merits of just staying in bed.

96. Horse Soldier! Horse Soldier! - Corb Lund Horse Soldier! Horse Soldier! (2007) - 5:12

Corb Lund is a bit of a history buff as well as being a great singer/songwriter and he flexes his knowledgeable military muscles on this ode to the cavalry over the past few centuries on this song. From the battlegrounds of Waterloo to the modern horse soldier in the Northern Alliance, Lund spreads his vocals and acoustic guitar over a wide range of military history with a focus on the man on his stallion and his modern equivalent.

97. History - Controller.Controller History EP (2004) - 4:26

This dance-punk, death-disco masterpiece from Toronto indie band controller.controller will be one of the few songs from their catalogue that will stand up over time (the band broke up in 2007 when lead singer Nirmala Basnayake left the band). Basnayake’s vocals are reminiscent of Debra Harry, and the music has a danceable likeability with a hard edge.

98. Living for the City - Stevie Wonder Innervisions (1973) - 7:22

When Wonder took over artistic control of his music from Motown Records he became one of the greatest musicians of the 70s. No other song in his 70s output shows this better than “Living for the City,” which describes the travels of a young black man in an unfriendly New York City.

99. Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft - Klaatu 3:47 E.S.T. (1976) - 7:17

This space rock song was the only successful single for the band but it was a trip and a half for all who heard it back in the mid 70s. Bringing to mind the feeling of the times when humanity looked to the stars and wondered, “Calling Occupants…” put in music what Spielberg did in film with Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

100. You’ve Got Another Thing Comin’ - Judas Priest Screaming for Vengeance (1982) - 5:09

When looking at the British metal invasion of the 80s, Priest was the pioneers. They had already established themselves in England and toured across America by the time Screaming for Vengeance was released and drew crowds in the thousands. But with “You’ve Got Another Thing Comin’” Priest appealed to the masses and it was a crossover hit in the mainstream and now is played on most classic rock stations across the world. It mixed a metal sound with a hooky chorus that everyone could easily sing along to.

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