10 Songs That...

...are little known classics performed by great bands. In no particular order, I give you:

"Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want" by The Smiths

Yes, it is Morrissey being miserable, but this time it is an almost touching (and faintly optimistic) version of his typical complaining. It is a simple song with a beautiful tune - that has been used many a time in movies, including a very unlikely one. Poignant and just a little heartbreaking - and therefore one of the very best songs the Smiths ever created.

"Open" by The Cure

The ultimate song about getting unexpectedly drunk at some sort of social occasion. It even has an odd, swirling tune that merely enhances its near perfect evocation of being suddenly a drunken arse when you never intended to get drunk, but also to avoid attending the party in the first place.

"I Look Alone" by Buzzcocks

I really don't get why the Buzzcocks weren't one of the most popular bands of the punk era. They could write spiky pop songs, but they could do so in a way that had an ear for melody and for quirky and intriguing lyrics. This song - which I found at the very end of Product almost like an afterthought - is a great example. Upbeat, optimistic, but still lyrically playful - and all still backed up by a catchy tune. Seriously, what isn't to like about this tune?

"Too Cold Here" by Manic Street Preachers

The Holy Bible has no shortage of lyrics showing the crippling depression that ultimately killed (?) Richey Edwards - but no lyric shows better his icy alienation from the world than this simple song - just a voice, and a guitar, and some of the most alienated lyrics in the history of rock music. A song that is difficult to like, but compelling nonetheless.

"Smithers-Jones" by The Jam

Poor old Bruce Foxton. He's not a bad songwriter, and in most bands he would have got probably 50% of the attention. However, he happened to join at band that contained the young Paul Weller - who was at his best. Foxton was always going to be overshadowed. Nonetheless, certain songs shine through - this one in particular. Basically, it's The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin set to music. And it doesn't matter whether to hear the rock version of the song or the orchestral one - it remains a clear unequivocal peer of Weller's best tracks.

"Lost For Words" by Pink Floyd

A perfect song for anyone who has ever tried to rebuild a friendship only to find that their efforts are not appreciated by the other party: "So I opened the door to my enemy/And I asked "Could we wipe the slate clean?"/But they told me to please go and fuck myself/You know you just can't win." Oh, and keep in listening for the next track on The Division Bell - the wonderful, atmospheric "High Hopes".

"Ant Farm" by the Eels

Make no mistake about it, Electro-Shock Blues is, as the title might suggest, a pretty bleak work. But in among the songs of suicide, cancer and the grudging realisation that, for those left behind, life does have to go on, there's this little slice of slice of hope. It is a love song sung by a misanthrope who has realised that actually he can love someone - and the fact that it is basically performed by a man with his acoustic guitar adds to the fresh feeling (pun intended) offered by this song.

"The Kill" by Joy Division

Most Joy Division songs have been analysed to almost absurd lengths owing to the suicide of the lead singer. However, there are some songs that - owing to not being present on one of the band's two albums - have remained largely under the radar. And while there is nothing extraordinary about this song, it is a striking example of just how good Joy Division were. Immediately urgent, menacing but not cliched, this is quintessential Joy Division - disciplined, ambiguous, but instantly identifiable as the work of one of the best bands there has ever been.

"I Don't Even Know Myself" by the Who

From the Who's Next era, this song is a classic example of a band at the height of its power. The fact that this song - an energetic number performed by a band whose talents have been honed by endless gigging to the extent where they are nearly flawless - didn't make it on to any album shows just how good they were are the time. Nonetheless, this song is definitely worth seeking out - and, if you can, find a live version of it: at this point, the Who were one of the greatest live bands ever.

"Can't Hardly Wait" by the Replacements

The Replacements were an indie rock band from the eighties - like REM, but much better. Unfortunately their inability to stay sober for too long limited their career (indeed, early in their career they had to change their name because no-one would employ them as an early gig was just too drunken). Which is a shame because, as this song shows, they had real talent - both to provide memorable tunes but also lyrics that are both striking (see the line about Jesus) and perfectly encapsulate certain emotions - in this case, impatience, exuberance and hope. The reason why a song like this wasn't one of the indie anthems of the eighties remains a mystery to me.

Weller and Foxton - The Eton Rifles

In a way, I hope that this doesn't lead to a reunion of the Jam, if only because reunions almost always look like old men trying to relive the glory of their youth while making a quick buck out of it. That said, there is something faintly awesome about Foxton and Weller performing a Jam classic live on stage after decades of barely being on speaking terms...

Record contracts

Apparently, something called a “Jedward” no longer has a record contract. I know, I know, it seems tragic that these two disgraces to humanity are going to find it more difficult to produce new music, but I’m sure that – unless you are the sort of idiot who cares about the state of Cheryl Cole’s marriage or the love life of Simon Cowell – most people will be able to deal with this tragic turn of events.

Nonetheless, this article does make a interesting point about how it might make more business sense to drop some bands after their first album:

It might seem ruthless, but imagine the misery and wasted time and money that could have been spared if this practice were applied outside of X Factor acts. Take Hard-Fi, a band precisely nobody in their right mind could really have expected to ever get any better after their first album. What if their contract with Atlantic had been quietly knocked on the head after one album? Right now we're all watching MGMT's label beginning to flog a second album which the band themselves have breezily claimed contains "no singles". Would the world continue to spin if Columbia said to MGMT: "Do you know what lads? Thanks for the first album and everything but if you're going to turn in a follow-up with no singles and announce that to the world with some bizarre sense of pride then maybe it's best if you find someone else to throw millions of pounds at launching what is essentially a sonic turd in a basket"? Yes, the world would most certainly continue to spin.

It sounds about right to me, and you can easily name some other bands who should have been politely disregarded after their first record. Take the Stone Roses. It took them half a decade to come up with a follow-up to their admittedly really rather good debut album. How come that didn’t set off some alarm bells within their record label? And when “The Second Coming” was finally delivered, how come no-one within the record company politely took the band to one side and said “guys, we’re going to have to pass on this. If sub-Led Zeppelin rock sludge is really the best you can come up with after several years, then we think it is best if you focus on performing rather than selling records. And by performing, we mean doing the pub rock circuit.” Elastica are another good example. It took them years to come up with a follow-up to their interesting yet highly derivative debut. And why did no-one question the financial benefits of releasing “The Menace” when the best track on it was the cover version of an slightly obscure, twee track by German New Wave band?

Of course, most band managers worth their salt will negotiate a contract for more than one album, making it very difficult for a record company to back out after just one release. And some great bands would have been consigned to the abyss long before they had a chance to be great based on a passable first album and a lacklustre follow-up, including the Jam, Manic Street Preachers, Ash and the Clash. But so often that first album remains the best ones, no matter how many records the band in question gets to make. The Stone Roses and Elastica are just two of many, many examples.

Decent Music Getting to No. 1

So, Rage Against The Machine did make it to the Christmas No. 1 slot after all. I'm pleasantly surprised. Although I would argue that perhaps this isn't the great musical revolution that some are trying to make it into.

Sure, the news will have pissed off Simon Cowell. Even if, as a Sony shareholder, he does make money from RATM unexpected elevation to festive No. 1, I still think he'd rather have his protege as the festive chart-topper. Last night's results shows that the self-styled pop mogul can be over-turned by an amateur internet campaign promoting an old agit-rock anthem from the 1990's. It is hardly a ringing endorsement for him or his craptacular TV show.

Furthermore, this should create an interesting conundrum for the compilers of Christmas No. 1 albums. I'd imagine they'd struggle with making "Mad World" part of their festive collections, what with its lyrical depiction of a deep depression. Quite what they are going to make of a song with that refrain is beyond me; but I suspect that there aren't going to be very many complete collections of Christmas No. 1's moving forward because of RATM's success.

Yet, as others have pointed out, this does make money for Cowell and his record company. Even if it was an actually a genuine grassroots campaign, it has that unpleasant whiff of astroturfing to it. It seems ironic that a campaign that was in part a protest about cynical consumerism at Christmas is so easily made to appear cynical itself.

And the notion that this is in some way a groundbreaking thing is just plain nonsense. The charts are, to a large extent, a democracy. You can get the music you want to the top of the charts by buying it and getting your friends to buy it. You only have to look back across the history of popular music to see some great bands and artists hitting the No. 1 spot. David Bowie, The Jam, Pink Floyd, The Beatles, The Stones, Manic Street Preachers - all great groups, and all groups that have hit that coveted No. 1 spot. For the very simple reason that their fans went out and bought their records. Sure, you've always had shit hitting No. 1 in the charts - yes, Sir Cliff of Richard, I am directly talking about you - but it has been interspersed with worthwhile acts also sitting at the top of the charts. The difference these days is that a decent band hitting the top of the charts is the exception, rather than the rule. Because decent artists don't sell as many records as the pop pap relentlessly and ruthlessly promoted by the likes of the odious Simon Cowell.

Also, don't go thinking that the internet is the great salvation for the pop charts. It isn't. Firstly, bands have been using the internet for a while to get attention and to win success. If memory serves, both the Arctic Monkeys and the Editors were initially internet phenomena before having mainstream chart success. And you can bet your bottom dollar that Cowell and his terrible ilk will have noted the success of the RATM Facebook campaign, and will be factoring that into their next bid to be Christmas No. 1.

In short, there is nothing new in a good band using t'interweb to get to No 1. And if RATM's success shows anything, it is that the supposed monopoly of manufactured music on the charts is actually an ersatz domination. It just relies on the apathy and indolence of "real" music fans, endlessly intoning the facile and false idea that their sort of music just can't get to N0. 1 anymore. This campaign and RATM have shown that it can - as long as people are actually willing to buy, promote, and just plain enthuse about the music they like.