Tuesday, April 10, 2007

Invade Rage

Bruce has tagged me, so here's a list of 20 songs I would submit to Rage's be-a-guest-programmer-for-a-night competition if I were so inclined:

Metallica: One
Faith No More: Epic
Prodigy: Smack My Bitch Up
Ministry: Jesus Built My Hotrod
Depeche Mode: Enjoy the Silence
Verve: Bittersweet Symphony
Beastie Boys: Intergalactic Planetary
Massive Attack: Unfinished Sympathy
Nirvana: In Bloom
Snoop Dogg feat. Dr Dre: Who am I? (What's My Name?)
Jeff Buckley: Grace
Anthrax and Public Enemy: Bring tha Noise
Smashing Pumpkins: Today
You Am I: Berlin Chair
Bjork: Human Behaviour
Weezer: Buddy Holly
Rage Against the Machine: Killing in the Name
Rammstein: Sonne
Aphex Twin: Come to Daddy
The Cure: Lullaby

The rules specify that I have to justify at least five of these choices. Here goes:

Metallica: One
This is One of the main reasons I stayed up til the wee hours of the morning watching Rage of a Friday or Saturday evening in my high school years. (That, and the promise of Madonna's "Justify My Love" or Massive Attack's "Thank You"--those of you who know what I'm talking about know what I'm talking about.) Best. Music. Video. Ever.

Anthrax and Public Enemy: Bring Tha Noise
I have mixed feelings about this one: it's fucking brilliant, but on the other hand without this seminal thrash metal/hip hop crossover single, would we have had to endure the likes of Limp Bizkit and Linkin Park? In any case: have you ever seen a white rapper more ill-at-ease with the genre than Scott Ian?

Beastie Boys: Intergalactic Planetary
Unlike Scott Ian, these boys totally get the white-boy hip-hop thing. Most people would probably choose "Sabotage" as their favourite Beasties video, but I just can't go past three thirtysomething men busting out in yellow space suits, nor the lyric "I'll stir fry you in my wok!"

Ministry: Jesus Built My Hotrod
As soon as I discovered that this "rock" thing was true, I often found myself in the small hours watching this delightful music video featuring the vocal stylings of a reputedly inebriated Gibby Haynes (lead singer of the Butthole Surfers). Rim-a-ding-dang my dang-a-long-ling-long!

You Am I: Berlin Chair
I don't get the little dude in the sparkly jumpsuit. But this song, and this band, restored my faith in Aussie music after long and tortuous years of John Farnham, Jimmy Barnes, Wendy Matthews and Johnny Diesel dominating the airwaves. (Perhaps it's just that I started listening to JJJ about the time this song was released.)

And now, I pass the baton on to Sammy Jankis, Simmo, Null, Lucy and YepThat'sGold.