Well then I guess I'll just have to go to Claremont
It's about time for one of these, I think.
The Top 40 Most-Played Songs on My iPod Right Now
1. "True or False" by Bishop Allen
One time Rob made me a mix CD that closed with Juliana Hatfield covering Weezer, labeled only as, and I quote, "JESSE'S PERFECT FUCKING SONG!" This doesn't quite have the layering because it's just the chick from Bishop Allen singing a Bishop Allen song, but it's the best song she's sung for them yet, so there you go.
2. "Your Little Hoodrat Friend" by the Hold Steady
If I remake my favorite songs ever list, as Jason keeps threatening to indirectly inspire me to, this will almost certainly be in the top ten. This would be even higher if you included the number of times I've played the live version on A Positive Rage (although that's the case for several of the Hold Steady songs on this list).
3. "Dirt on Your New Shoes" by Bishop Allen
4. "Stuck Between Stations" by the Hold Steady
5. "Arms and Hearts" by the Hold Steady
6. "Most People are DJs" by the Hold Steady
Yeah, kinda blah blah blah for 1-6, huh?
7. "The Modern Leper" by Frightened Rabbit
This song is astoundingly good to the point where I didn't care much about the rest of the album for awhile, but some of it has since crept up on me.
8. "We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed" by Los Campesinos!
I'm a little surprised this isn't even higher because this is arguably my favorite new song of the past six or seven months. Get ready to hear it on mix CDs for the next year.
9. "People Got a Lotta Nerve" by Neko Case
10. "Zero" by Yeah Yeah Yeahs
I try not to let my crazy crazy love of this track dominate the rest of the very good Yeah Yeah Yeahs record, but it happens, oh well, I fucking love this song. In contrast, I'm kind of jazzed that my love of a single off of a Neko Case record can dominate the rest of it (also quite good -- love "I'm an Animal" but not in a "stop on it every time it shuffles on" way).
11. "Middle Management" by Bishop Allen
12. "Banging Camp" by the Hold Steady
13. "Stevie Nix" by the Hold Steady
"Stevie Nix" was way higher last time, but "Banging Camp" reclaimed its rightful place: a song one sliver superior to "Stevie Nix."
14. "South China Moon" by Bishop Allen
15. "Knuckles" by the Hold Steady
16. "Sequestered in Memphis" by the Hold Steady
11-16 = more blah blah blah.
17. "The Pigs That Rain Straightaway Into the Water, Triumph of" (live) by the Mountain Goats
18. "The Mess Inside" (live) by the Mountain Goats
Both of these Mountain Goats tunes are from the Music Hall of Williamsburg gig I went to last fall (supposedly the same guy taped the more recent acoustic show but was having some audio issues and I forgot to check back to see if it was ever posted). I find it harder to listen to the studio versions of both of these again just because the live versions are so propulsive. Also, sometimes I get chills from hearing the crowd's subdued cheer when John sings "we went to New York City in September..." and then its even more subdued cheer for "... to the Grand Army stop."
19. "Abel" by The National
I still say Boxer is better but I understand the Alligator boosters when I hear this song and, yes, can't calm down.
20. "Hop a Plane" by Tegan and Sara
This is one of the few songs I often listen to twice in a row, because it's only two minutes and the best part goes by even faster.
21. "Titus Andronicus" by Titus Andronicus
22. "Fireworks" by the Tragically Hip
23. "Virtue the Cat Explains Her Departure" by the Weakerthans
A way better sequel song than "Judy's Turn to Cry." I invite others to add to this sure-to-be-long-because-that-song-blows list.
24. "Girls Like Status" by the Hold Steady
25. "King of Carrot Flowers Part 1" by Neutral Milk Hotel
When Kate said she was getting into Neutral Milk Hotel and Jeremy said they never did it for him, I devil's-advocated that if someone wanted to call them overrated and say that In the Aeroplane Over the Sea gets by with three really good songs, I might secretly agree with that person. I'd feel bad about it because In the Aeroplane Over the Sea is also kind of great, but if I'm honest with myself, that record has two songs that make the world that much more worth living in, one song that I also really love, and seven that I can forget about it pretty easily unless I force myself to listen to them and then I'm like, oh, right, "Ghost" is really good too, and so are the rest of these. But I'm not that into On Avery Island so maybe it's OK that NMH only barely pretends to still exist.
26. "Under the Blacklight" by Rilo Kiley
27. "The Monitor" by Bishop Allen
28. "Oklahoma" by Bishop Allen
29. "The Ancient Common Sense of Things" by Bishop Allen
30. "Don't Hideaway" by Bishop Allen
31. "The Swish" by the Hold Steady
I have to fight the urge to title every other email I send "it was a blockbuster summer" and/or "moving pictures got us through to September."
32. "My Year in Lists" by Los Campesinos!
33. "You! Me! Dancing!" by Los Campesinos!
Fittingly, "Dancing!" has almost overtaken "My Year in Lists" as my favorite song from Hold On Now, Youngster (almost). In related news, I was bummed to have missed Gareth's Great T-Shirt Sale, though if these shirts were too small for him, I was probably a lost cause. But he had a Sleater-Kinney in medium! That might've almost worked! If I sucked it in!
34. "Sax Rohmer #1" by the Mountain Goats
35. "The Sign" by The Mountain Goats
There are several of these floating around; this one is the best I've heard, from one of the CD game entries a few years back.
36. "15" by Rilo Kiley
I actually haven't listened to this straight through in awhile; I OD'd on it a little when I was QAing last summer's CD game entry.
37. "You Don't Know What Love Is (You Just Do As You're Told)" by the White Stripes
38. "Dimmer" by Bishop Allen
39. "The Lion and the Teacup" by Bishop Allen
40. "Rooftop Brawl" by Bishop Allen
OK, these last three, we're just getting to the point where I listened to Grrr... as a whole probably ten or twelve times on my iPod, not so much that I singled these out.
For you actual-top-forty fans, don't fret, Mandy Moore and Kelly Clarkson are well-positioned to show up here next quarter!
The Top 40 Most-Played Songs on My iPod Right Now
1. "True or False" by Bishop Allen
One time Rob made me a mix CD that closed with Juliana Hatfield covering Weezer, labeled only as, and I quote, "JESSE'S PERFECT FUCKING SONG!" This doesn't quite have the layering because it's just the chick from Bishop Allen singing a Bishop Allen song, but it's the best song she's sung for them yet, so there you go.
2. "Your Little Hoodrat Friend" by the Hold Steady
If I remake my favorite songs ever list, as Jason keeps threatening to indirectly inspire me to, this will almost certainly be in the top ten. This would be even higher if you included the number of times I've played the live version on A Positive Rage (although that's the case for several of the Hold Steady songs on this list).
3. "Dirt on Your New Shoes" by Bishop Allen
4. "Stuck Between Stations" by the Hold Steady
5. "Arms and Hearts" by the Hold Steady
6. "Most People are DJs" by the Hold Steady
Yeah, kinda blah blah blah for 1-6, huh?
7. "The Modern Leper" by Frightened Rabbit
This song is astoundingly good to the point where I didn't care much about the rest of the album for awhile, but some of it has since crept up on me.
8. "We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed" by Los Campesinos!
I'm a little surprised this isn't even higher because this is arguably my favorite new song of the past six or seven months. Get ready to hear it on mix CDs for the next year.
9. "People Got a Lotta Nerve" by Neko Case
10. "Zero" by Yeah Yeah Yeahs
I try not to let my crazy crazy love of this track dominate the rest of the very good Yeah Yeah Yeahs record, but it happens, oh well, I fucking love this song. In contrast, I'm kind of jazzed that my love of a single off of a Neko Case record can dominate the rest of it (also quite good -- love "I'm an Animal" but not in a "stop on it every time it shuffles on" way).
11. "Middle Management" by Bishop Allen
12. "Banging Camp" by the Hold Steady
13. "Stevie Nix" by the Hold Steady
"Stevie Nix" was way higher last time, but "Banging Camp" reclaimed its rightful place: a song one sliver superior to "Stevie Nix."
14. "South China Moon" by Bishop Allen
15. "Knuckles" by the Hold Steady
16. "Sequestered in Memphis" by the Hold Steady
11-16 = more blah blah blah.
17. "The Pigs That Rain Straightaway Into the Water, Triumph of" (live) by the Mountain Goats
18. "The Mess Inside" (live) by the Mountain Goats
Both of these Mountain Goats tunes are from the Music Hall of Williamsburg gig I went to last fall (supposedly the same guy taped the more recent acoustic show but was having some audio issues and I forgot to check back to see if it was ever posted). I find it harder to listen to the studio versions of both of these again just because the live versions are so propulsive. Also, sometimes I get chills from hearing the crowd's subdued cheer when John sings "we went to New York City in September..." and then its even more subdued cheer for "... to the Grand Army stop."
19. "Abel" by The National
I still say Boxer is better but I understand the Alligator boosters when I hear this song and, yes, can't calm down.
20. "Hop a Plane" by Tegan and Sara
This is one of the few songs I often listen to twice in a row, because it's only two minutes and the best part goes by even faster.
21. "Titus Andronicus" by Titus Andronicus
22. "Fireworks" by the Tragically Hip
23. "Virtue the Cat Explains Her Departure" by the Weakerthans
A way better sequel song than "Judy's Turn to Cry." I invite others to add to this sure-to-be-long-because-that-song-blows list.
24. "Girls Like Status" by the Hold Steady
25. "King of Carrot Flowers Part 1" by Neutral Milk Hotel
When Kate said she was getting into Neutral Milk Hotel and Jeremy said they never did it for him, I devil's-advocated that if someone wanted to call them overrated and say that In the Aeroplane Over the Sea gets by with three really good songs, I might secretly agree with that person. I'd feel bad about it because In the Aeroplane Over the Sea is also kind of great, but if I'm honest with myself, that record has two songs that make the world that much more worth living in, one song that I also really love, and seven that I can forget about it pretty easily unless I force myself to listen to them and then I'm like, oh, right, "Ghost" is really good too, and so are the rest of these. But I'm not that into On Avery Island so maybe it's OK that NMH only barely pretends to still exist.
26. "Under the Blacklight" by Rilo Kiley
27. "The Monitor" by Bishop Allen
28. "Oklahoma" by Bishop Allen
29. "The Ancient Common Sense of Things" by Bishop Allen
30. "Don't Hideaway" by Bishop Allen
31. "The Swish" by the Hold Steady
I have to fight the urge to title every other email I send "it was a blockbuster summer" and/or "moving pictures got us through to September."
32. "My Year in Lists" by Los Campesinos!
33. "You! Me! Dancing!" by Los Campesinos!
Fittingly, "Dancing!" has almost overtaken "My Year in Lists" as my favorite song from Hold On Now, Youngster (almost). In related news, I was bummed to have missed Gareth's Great T-Shirt Sale, though if these shirts were too small for him, I was probably a lost cause. But he had a Sleater-Kinney in medium! That might've almost worked! If I sucked it in!
34. "Sax Rohmer #1" by the Mountain Goats
35. "The Sign" by The Mountain Goats
There are several of these floating around; this one is the best I've heard, from one of the CD game entries a few years back.
36. "15" by Rilo Kiley
I actually haven't listened to this straight through in awhile; I OD'd on it a little when I was QAing last summer's CD game entry.
37. "You Don't Know What Love Is (You Just Do As You're Told)" by the White Stripes
38. "Dimmer" by Bishop Allen
39. "The Lion and the Teacup" by Bishop Allen
40. "Rooftop Brawl" by Bishop Allen
OK, these last three, we're just getting to the point where I listened to Grrr... as a whole probably ten or twelve times on my iPod, not so much that I singled these out.
For you actual-top-forty fans, don't fret, Mandy Moore and Kelly Clarkson are well-positioned to show up here next quarter!