Discussion Forums

PrevPrev Go to previous topic
NextNext Go to next topic
Last Post 2/24/2003 6:15 PM by  tobble
Nick Hornby's 31 songs to die for
 4 Replies
Sort:
You are not authorized to post a reply.
Author Messages
tobble
New Member
New Member
Posts:29


--
2/24/2003 6:15 PM
    So Nick Hornby has written a book about 31 songs that changed his life or something (and the only band to have two songs in it is Teenage interestingly enough). But Bruce Springsteen at number 1 with Thunder Road? Anyway, not wanting to go down the (predictable) route of complaining about what is in the list (or what is not in the list) may I offer that I think the inclusion of Paul Westerberg's 'Born For Me' is exquisite. And if you don't know his 'Suicaine Gratificati' album from which it is taken you should skip on a night out at the pub once over the coming week and instead buy this divine work and head home for the night and wallow in it (sure isn't that national pub boycott planned for Feb 28th nicely timed now?) So can anybody out there reciprocate and point one in the direction of any gems on Hornby's list of 31 songs that may not known by others (there's several I never heard of, which made me feel kind of, well, illiterate or something). The 31 songs do hereby follow... tobble Nick Hornby's 31 songs 1. Bruce Springsteen - Thunder Road 2. Teenage Fanclub - Your Love is the Place That I Come From 3. Nelly Furtado - I'm Like a Bird 4. Led Zeppelin - Heartbreaker 5. Rufus Wainwright - One Man Guy 6. Santana - Samba Pa Ti 7. Rod Stewart - Mama Been on My Mind 8. Bob Dylan - Can You Please Crawl Out of Your Window? 9. The Beatles - Rain 10. Ani DiFranco - You Had Time 11. Aimee Mann - I've Had It 12. Paul Westerberg - Born For Me 13. Suicide - Frankie Teardrop 14. Teenage Fanclub - Ain't That Enough 15. J. Geils Band - First I Look at the Purse 16. Ben Folds Five - Smoke 17. Badly Drawn Boy - A Minor Incident 18. The Bible - Glorybound 19. Van Morrison -Caravan 20. Butch Hancock & Marce LaCouture - So I'll Run 21. Gregory Isaacs - Puff the Magic Dragon 22. Ian Dury & the Blockheads - Reasons to be Cheerful, Part 3 23. Richard and Linda Thompson - The Calvary Cross 24. Jackson Brownee - Late For the Sky 25. Mark Mulcahy - Hey Self-Defeater 26. The Velvelettes - Needle in a Haystack 27. O.V. Wright - Let's Straighten it Out 28. Royksopp - Royksopp's Night Out 29. The Avalanches - Frontier Psychiatrist 30. Soulwax - No Fun/Push It 31. Patti Smith Group - Pissing in a River
    Vent My Spleen
    Advanced Member
    Advanced Member
    Posts:500


    --
    2/25/2003 8:32 AM
    I'd have said there is no shame in that list given the age he is. I'm not a particular fan of his books but I think most of us on this board can relate to the anal attitude to music of his character Rob Fleming in High Fidelity. His basic dilemma was whether you can share your life with someone who has different taste in music than you. Personally, I have a lot of time for anyone passionate about music, even if I think their taste is rubbish. That said, any list with Aimee Mann, Paul Westerberg, Bob Dylan, The Fannies etc is fine by me, even if Nelly Furtado drags it down somewhat.
    king of nails
    New Member
    New Member
    Posts:85


    --
    3/1/2003 12:38 AM
    good points spleen but really, the list says to me that nick hornby's a bit of a twat...e.g. frontier psychiatrist by the avalanches...i love it myself, it's a mad tune that's great to dance to but did it change my life??...same with soulwax and even 'ain't that enough' by t.fanclub...maybe it's cause i'm a miserable bastard who loves sad music... the song that changed my life, literally, was 'losing my religion', i heard it on the radio on the school bus one day and up till then i wasn't into music really but hearing that changed my whole way of thinking and gave me new priorities in life...no bulls**t... from then on, i set out to discover all the music i could...(on the radio and on 'no disco', this was when donal dineen was on it)... hearing 'sometimes' by my bloody valentine (and consequently the albums 'loveless' and 'isn't anything') made me realise that music can have no boundaries...and on the other foot, people like vic chesnutt, kristin hersh, will oldham ETC show that just a voice and a guitar can still mean more than any other possible permutations and combinations you can create with music... ok, i'll shut up now!...gettin' a bit waffly here
    Vent My Spleen
    Advanced Member
    Advanced Member
    Posts:500


    --
    3/3/2003 8:52 AM
    A touch harsh King of Nails. I do agree that Hoenby can be a bit ponce but songs that change your life do not have to be songs you love. Personally, 2 songs changed my life in a very bad way. I was working in a s**t job in a light fitting factory in London and they played Capital Fm all day. On the hour every hour they played the number 1 which for 6 weeks was Yaz "They Only Way Is Up" followed by The Fat Boys And Chubby Checker "Wipeout". I carry with me a very special place in my heart for those tracks and would take more than a chapter to explain and describle my boundless vitriol. We all have a tendency to associate songs with times and places so I wouldn't assume it to be his top 30. That said, I am sure the book would be irritating in it's own smug way, as his writing generally is.
    king of nails
    New Member
    New Member
    Posts:85


    --
    3/3/2003 11:09 PM
    good point, about it not being his top 30 per se...maybe some of those tunes remind him of certain people, places or times, exactly...i always try to consciously disassociate memories when i listen to songs that remind me of times gone or whatever, just so i can appreciate the music fresh again, but of course this doesn't always happen...
    You are not authorized to post a reply.