Thurston Moore living legend? According to UK monthly The Fly he is, and so they are awarding him as such on February 6th, 2014. In return he has given em his favorite songs of all time and in return we have spotified it and all I have to say is, limited stuff. No country, no Broadway, no Polka… But plenty as in oodles of early 80s hardcore. I bet Thurston is fun at parties. Still this is “favorites” not best.
Tapper Zukie – ‘Man Ah Warrior’ – Great Toaster and the peak of his considerable powers -that dubby drum intro is awesome – A
Patti Smith – ‘Godspeed’ -Inspired use of silence and then the dirge begins – C
Teenage Jesus & The Jerks – ‘Orphans’ – No New York angular guiyat plus spoken word in tune (of sorts) – B+
Mars – ‘3E’ _ Ywo chords, very fast, must be punk but sounds like post-punk.
Public Image LTD – ‘Public Image’ – The end of punk – A+
The Slits – ‘Love Und Romance’ – RIP Ari, but this is a good reminder of just how ahead of their time they were – A
The Raincoats – ‘In Love’ – One of the greats and this is a typical strange melody as minimalism – A
Captain Beefheart – ‘Electricity’ – So far ahead of its time it remains between blues and a headache – B+
Alice Cooper – ‘Is It My Body?’ – He sounds impossibly young on this metal blues song – B+
T. Rex – ‘Children Of The Revolution’ – The great Marc Bolan and what’s with the strings??? – A+
Archie Shepp – ‘Blasé’ – The horn on this thing is lovely and the bass is soulful in its repetition of a lick – A-
Billie Holiday – ‘Gloomy Sunday’ – Well, yes, of course – A+
Nirvana – ‘Dive’ – Odd choice but given Thurston apparent disinterest in melody, not a shocker – B+
Mudhoney – ‘In ‘N Out of Grace’ – Always fun in a dive bar at 3am just before The Man raids the joint – B+
Dinosaur Jr. – ‘Little Fury Things’ – Fury or fuzzy? – B+
Jackson C. Frank – ‘Blues Run The Game’ – Folk classic always used to signify LES in the Lower 60s – A
Bush Tetras – ‘Too Many Creeps’ – Bass funk – A
The Germs – ‘Caught In My Eye’ – Born to run – A
Boredoms – ‘Born To Anal’ – Stellar noise band – B+
Lou Reed – ‘Satellite Of Love’ – Ode to rock and roll and television – A
Beach Boys – ‘Hang On To Your Ego’ – “I Know There’s An Answer” with different lyrics – A
David Bowie – ‘Five Years’ – Apocalypse now and still a good question. What would you listen to if there was only five years left to the end of the world? The answer is: T – Rex.
Sparks – ‘Equator’ – Robert Nevin fave, art glam – A-
Siouxsie & The Banshees – ‘Hong Kong Garden’ – Moz thinks she’s one of the greats but a nasty piece of work, I think she’s half of that but not here – B+
The Damned – ‘New Rose’ – The first track off the first punk rock album in the UK and a killer – A+
The Mentally Ill – ‘Gacy’s Place’ – Sounds like early punk – B
Minor Threat – ‘Out Of Step’ – DC reinventing hardcore as a teen world music – A
Black Flag – ‘I’ve Got To Run’ – LA hardcore
The Untouchables – ‘Nic Fit’ – I only know the Sonic Youth version – B
Iron Cross – ‘Fight Em All’ – Think Thurston likes hardcore? – B+
The Faith – ‘It’s Time’ – Not stagnant, apparently – B
Void – ‘My Rules’ – A specialist genre all begins to sound the same – B
Negative Approach – ‘Nothing’ – Three chord wonders but they are all good one – B+
Youth Brigade – ‘It’s About Time We Had A Change’ – Anarychy sounds about, apparently Thurston never gor out of the early 80s – B+
State Of Alert – ‘Gonna Haveta Fight’ – Alert: Government freezes EBT funds – A-
Anne Briggs – ‘Go Your Way’ Great English folkie – A
The Fugs – ‘Crystal Liaison’ – Were beatniks, became hippies – B+
Jimi Hendrix – ‘Freedom’ – Major guitarist – A
