290. Gin Blossoms — “Hey Jealousy” — The Gin Blossoms knew the ’90s were here before a lot of their contemporaries did, as this 1992 song demonstrates.
289. Natalie Imbruglia — “Torn” — Natalie is all torn up by a recent breakup, and her emotions come through in this song that was overplayed even as the singer herself managed to disappear from the pop charts.
288. Mariah Carey — “Always Be My Baby” — Although Mariah and her boyfriend have broken up, she knows that at some point they’ll get back together because he will always be her baby. Or will they? That’s the heart-wrenching question that lurks underneath this delicately catchy tune.
287. Courtney Love — “Sunset Strip” — A well-written song that becomes more powerful because of who is singing it, especially when Love croaks out “Look at me for the very last time …”
286. “Team America: World Police” theme song — Due to the explicit lyrics, I’ll let my readers find this clip on their own. Suffice it to say that it’s a great track to blast on Independence Day, but you’ll probably want to do so in your home or car rather than at a park or your workplace.
285. John Fogerty — “Centerfield” — In addition to being about baseball, this song sounds like what baseball would sound like if the sport was transformed into music. A ballpark classic.
284. Bruce Springsteen — “My Hometown” — A powerful song that sounds the death knell of small towns. It’s easy to toss this aside if you’re looking for a more rocking Boss cut, but I’m always surprised by how the riff catches my attention along with the message.
283. Smashing Pumpkins — “Believe” — I believe Billy Corgan let James Iha record this rough-but-beautiful track as a B-side to the band’s “1979” single.
282. The Killers — “All These Things That I’ve Done” — There are dozens of catchy moments that got people to run out and buy the band’s breakthrough “Hot Fuss” album. For a friend of mine, it was the part where Brandon Flowers repeats “I’ve got soul, but I’m not a soldier.” Amen.
281. Rilo Kiley — “The Frug” — Little Jenny Lewis from “The Wizard” tells us that she will do the Frug and various other dances, but she will not do the Smurf. Of course, the ridiculousness of the topic is part of the song’s charm.
Comments
i can’t begin to tell you how much i LOVE 282!
also, i’m impressed that someone else around here also listens to rilo kiley.
guess what. j. lewis sings vocals on two songs on the b. flowers solo album that comes out in sept.
they’re both from Vegas if you didn’t know. 🙂# Posted By Chance | 7/5/10 2:42 PM
There might be more Killers and Rilo Kiley coming up on the list. We shall see. That will be an awesome collaboration between Brandon and Jenny. Didn’t even realize they were both from the Vegas scene. Looking forward to it.# Posted By John Hansen | 7/5/10 5:55 PM
There are a few really good tracks on that Courtney Love disc. The first single “Mono” should have been a big hit for her. It’s a messy disc though. I like Centerfield just because its the title track from an album that holds one of the more interesting music stories of the last 30 years. And the Gin Blossoms are way underrated. They recorded a bunch of Big Star sounding singles in the 90’s and should be looked on better# Posted By Matt | 7/11/10 10:41 AM
You introduced me to that Courtney track via one of your mix discs. The depth of the lyrics is somewhat Butch Walker-esque. Interesting; I always thought the Gin Blossoms were somewhat overrated since they had three hit songs that all sounded identical. I kind of have a soft spot for them since they are one of “my” bands from the ’90s. Maybe I should try more of their stuff.# Posted By John Hansen | 7/11/10 2:11 PM