The four hundred and ninety-third song: Ambition - Subway Sect
Ambition makes for a decent punk song, with the British punk sound, the hard guitars and synthesizers and driving melody. It feels like quite a standard punk song, fun but not something that really jumps out specifically.
The four hundred and ninety-fourth song: Hong Kong Garden - Siouxsie & The Banshees
Another (post) punk that materialized from fans around the Sex Pistols, Siouxsie and the Banshees create a song that feels a bit weird now as it uses a lot of Chinese influences in a now insensitive way. On the other hand, the spirit is there and the song feels a bit more crafted than other punk songs, with more of a build up and follow up.
The four hundred and ninety-fifth song: Being Boiled - The Human League
Electronic music is still incredibly experimental at this stage and the beeps and bloops with lyrics over them feel like a video game sound track, creating an odd experience that make it unsurprising that early audiences didn't take to it. It's thin and odd, not bad, but such a mental shift that it's hard to immediately take it in.
The four hundred and ninety-sixth song: Rock Lobster - The B52’s
With new wave come more bizarre songs and Rock Lobster, describing a party of sea animals. It's bizarre and eclectic, the sounds accompanying the story telling adding to the bizarre feeling while the melody helps make you smile. It's bizarre but entertaining and just keeps putting me in a good mood. It's a lovely surprise to get here.
The four hundred and ninety-seventh song: Roxanne - The Police
Roxanne moves to quite a different place and the reggae-influenced vocal stylings add a lot of emotion to the song's dour music and setting. There's a lot of desperation in the song in the naivety of the singer as it goes on. This is a classic, with a theme that seems to have endured, and it remains that way here, with a weird way of showing emotion that I might not otherwise have seen.
The four hundred and ninety-eighth song: Another Girl, Another Planet - The Only Ones
While I'm not sure I agree with the idea that this is the greatest rock song ever recorded, there is something good about this track that works well. It's got a good chorus, the lyrics aren't complex but work really well and the improvised, longer interludes works quite nicely here to set the tone.
The four hundred and ninety-ninth song: Germ Free Adolescents - X-Ray Spex
In a section of the list filled with new wave and punk rock, this feels slow, though not quiet. There's a fairly mellow beat underlying the similarly relaxed lyrics. Her voice is great, but feels a bit odd and out of place. There's something in the song that drags you along, but it doesn't necessarily give you any other feelings. It's odd, lovely to listen to, but frankly a bit bizarre.
The five hundredth song: Runnin’ with the Devil - Van Halen
The other side of this is that we get pushed towards hard rock, with Van Halen giving it a good showing. They sound good here, with an energetic performance that comes with the required screams and loudness, but playing and modulating it so it doesn't always come at you and the different elements get their break throughout. It's a good, powerful song that really works to give a big finish to 1978.