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.

Racist Musical Taste?

"Does it bother you that your musical taste is almost exclusively white?"

A friend of mine asked me that question many moons ago in a terrible pub in the Midlands. The question was completely out of the blue and somewhat surprising - this particular friend is not one for deep, thought-provoking questions about music and the pub (which was so bad that they actually had to lower the height of the bar for all the under-age drinkers) was not the sort of venue where you do any thinking. And as a result I really couldn't think of answer. Initially I wanted to contradict him and point out that my musical taste is not exclusively white, but, barring a few albums by Massive Attack and The Specials (who are mixed race bands), his assertion is fundamentally right. I have never liked rap, and I have never liked reggae. So at the time I spluttered an answer about how I had never really thought about it and how it didn't really matter to me anyway. But every now and again, in a slow or boring moment, I have found my mind returning to that question.

And finally I have reached an answer. Of sorts.

I'm not racist - I see racism as not only grossly unfair and counter-productive but also extremely ignorant. It is true that I have no issue with disliking some people, but any dislike is always based on what I think about their personalities and the way they act. Not based on their race, skin colour, sex, religious beliefs or anything else. So I do not think my musical taste is in anyway racist, even though it is almost exclusively white.

Now, given my background, it is hardly surprising that I like music that I tend to describe as being made by "four pasty white boys earnestly clutching guitars." My musical taste tends to be either Indie or Prog rock. I love the likes of Pink Floyd, The Smiths, The Who, The Arcade Fire, The Clash, New Order - the list goes on and on. And given my background - white, public school and red-brick university educated, with much of my childhood living in a small village listening to the likes of the Beatles, it makes sense that I would listen to guitar based music backed up with lyrics that can relate to. I can't relate to urban music because I am not from an urban background. Equally, I cannot stomach country music but may have been able to if I had grown up in the American Mid-West.

And I would actually argue that it would be more patronising for me to claim that I love rap or reggae when I don't. It would almost imply that those who produce that sort of music require me to like them - that me admiring their type of music would in some way vindicate their artistic work. And I know my opinions of them and their music is wonderfully irrelevant to them. They do not gain anything by me pretending to like their music. Just as I would not gain anything other than soothing my liberal ideals by pretending to like their music. I like music based on my background and music that I can relate to. There is nothing racist in that.

Furthermore, I would now argue that the question itself is, on some levels, racist. It highlights colour, and it highlights race. I firmly believe that racism only ends when people stop thinking about race and colour when asking questions and making choices. It is racist to stop someone getting a job based on the colour of their skin, just as positive discrimination/affirmative action is inherently racist. By giving someone a job because they are a particular race is racist because it is using race as the selection criteria for the job, rather than suitability for the job. So it is racist to chose music based on the race of the people who write and perform it. It is not racist to chose music based on what you like, even if that means that your musical collection is more based around your own race rather than other races.

So, to answer the question, no, it does not worry me that my music taste is almost exclusively white.

Of course, I concede that answer, and reasoning, would be a little more convincing if I had come up with it five and a half years ago. Rather than reaching the above conclusions earlier today, whilst doing the ironing.

Musical Tastes

Now, I love listening to music. It is one of the things that keeps me (vaguely) sane. But when I was chatting to someone yesterday about music it occurred to be just how odd musical tastes and preferences are. The person who I was having the chat with is three years younger than me but she likes the same music as my dad. Which struck me as really strange - why would someone of a similar age to me want to listen to jazz music from the 1930's?

And then it struck me that everyone's musical taste is fundamentally idiosyncratic and irrational. For example I never listened to classical music until I was 21, and then I only ever listened to it in the bath (Classic FM on a little Simpsons transistor radio, natch). Outside of that environment, I never listen to classical music and since I know longer have a radio in the bathroom (The Simpsons radio is listed as Missing In Action, a victim of the numerous house moves I have made over the past two and a half years) I don't listen to it at all. Therefore my musical taste is dependant on environment as well as mood and hundreds of other factors.

Also, I can love one band and not like a very similar band. Take The Smiths and Gene. Gene are frequently compared to the Smiths, especially with their first two albums. Martin Rossiter is capable of writing some excellent lyrics, and some up with some striking imagery - take Where are they now? - a wonderfully poetic song about loss and depression which ends with "I'm lost in the fog". Now compare that to How Soon Is Now?, one of Morrissey's many lamentations about being unpopular that includes the lyric "And you go home, and you cry and you want to die" - about a subtle as a sledgehammer. But I love the Smiths - they remain one of my favourite bands. Gene, even though I think are a slightly better band musically and lyrically, I can take or leave. For me this just reinforces the feeling that musical taste is irrational. Logically I should like Gene more given what I have written above, but I don't. And it also reinforces my feeling that musical taste is idiosyncratic - I just asked my Jazz loving friend what she thinks of the Smiths. Her expression was one of someone who has just sucked on a lemon...

There is no real point to this post, but I am still wondering - what does condition people's musical preferences?

"They were the only ones who stood by you"

I see Morrissey is at the top of the album charts. Frankly I am staggered - who is still buying his records? Morrissey makes music for miserable teenagers. Don't get me wrong, I think the Smiths were one of the best bands of the 1980's. The Queen Is Dead is a classic album. But Morrissey solo is nowhere near as good as the Morrissey of the Smiths. And most importantly - surely all those teenagers who fell in love with the Smiths have grown up now?

Morrissey himself predicted that he would fade away. In the excellent song Rubber Ring he sees his fans - those who depend on his music for an emotional crutch - growing up, becoming happy, and forgetting about him. With a wry self pity he says "And when you're dancing and laughing/And finally living/Hear my voice in your head/And think of my kindly/Do you/Love me like you used to?" The logical turn of events is the teenagers grow up, and Morrissey becomes a fond memory.

So how is a man who is resolutely unable to move on emotionally in his music number one in the album charts?

I'm probably the missing the point.

This really amused me. Alan Milburn positioning himself as Blair's successor. A failed health minister, a failed general election campaign manager, and one of the few people in New Labour who genuinely appears more media obssessed than Blair himself - Milburn, you haven't got a chance. But I suppose when one of Blair's few other high profile supporters is this man, Milburn suddenly appears to be a good choice.