Favorite Songs: 30 - 26

30. "Star Sign" by Teenage Fanclub (Bandwagonesque)
I think the intro to this song, which is mostly feedback and random noise, is longer than the actual song itself. Or damned close, anyway. This was another band that hit it big really quickly (4 singles that got considerable airplay on this album, including this song) then faded away almost as quickly, although they did continue to release albums up until 2005. (Bandwagonesque was released in '91.) This is my favorite by them, though. Pretty much makes fun of people who base their lives around the Zodiac and horoscopes and all that fun stuff. And I was just kidding. The song is about 5 minutes, the intro is about a minute and a half.
Line: "Hey - Do you know where you belong? And say - Is your star sign ever wrong?"



29. "Tiny Dancer" by Elton John (Madman Across the Water)
Elton John was so much better back before he started writing songs for Disney movies. There are so many songs I could have put on this list by him up through the late '80s. Been all downhill since then. This song rules.
Line: "Hold me closer tiny dancer. Count the headlights on the highway."



28. "Tomorrow, Wendy" by Concrete Blonde (Bloodletting)
This song was written for a friend of the lead singer of the band Wall of Voodoo (who actually wrote the song) who was dying of AIDS (thus the chorus: "Hey hey, goodbye. Tomorrow, Wendy, You're going to die.") Kind of grim? Sure. But at the same time it's kind of not.
Line: "I told the priest, don't count on any second coming. God got His ass kicked the first time he came down here slumming."



27. Bela Lugosi's Dead" by Bauhaus
This song was originally only released as a single, thus no album listed, even though it's been on every compilation album of theirs since. It's about 9 minutes long, and all 9 minutes are great. The drums sound like bone smacking bone, the guitars are almost non-existent, the bass line is simple yet wonderful, and Peter Murphy's voice never sounded so haunting or haunted. It's all a tribute to Bela Lugosi's portrayal of Dracula, basically. Just a great song. And yeah, this was the band that really created "Goth." Not The Church, not Echo and the Bunnymen, not even The Cure. It was all Bauhaus.
Line: "Poor Bela. Bela's undead."

Full 9-plus minute version.


"Short" 7 minute version.


26. "City Of Blinding Lights" by U2 (How To Dismantle an Atomic Bomb)
This is one of the few remaining upbeat songs. Just giving you a heads up. It's gonna get downright somber in this mother for the final 25. For whatever reason, Holley and I have pretty much adopted this as "our song" even though there's no real reason to have done so. Just kind of happened. Even if that wasn't the case it would still be on here.
Line: "What happened to the beauty I had inside of me?"

This was how they started the shows on the Vertigo tour. It was pretty bad ass in person. Still one of my favorite shows. The light curtains were cool as shit.