The four hundred and fourty-fifth song: God Save the Queen - Sex Pistols
I think it's hard to separate this song from the controversy, as it's the song's point to court that. It's an attack on the establishment, accused of holding down the country and the world where there is no future for the common people. In that sense, it's a strong statement that gets overshadowed by its headline lyrics, which is more a general statement than a specific attack. It's a weird bit of symoblism that mirrors the aggression of the song and it's clearly incredibly effective.
The four hundred and fourty-sixth song: Trans-Europe Express - Kraftwerk
Kraftwerk's electronic music feels years ahead of the curve, the driving track here with its subdued vocals feel avant garde, not something to dance or sing along to or even to perform, but something to appreciate and enjoy. Everything builds systematically while there is a more chaotic rhythm track in between. It sounds good, giving a nice beat to go with the track, It would be bizarre, but even now it feels like a highlight of electronic music.
The four hundred and fourty-seventh song: Sweet Gene Vincent - Ian Dury
There's something odd about this song. It starts off as quite a standard ballad, has an old fashioned early sixties rock and roll feel to it but brings in some punk guitars from time to time to contrast it. I'm not sure what to think of it - it's good, but it's a bit of everything, I guess combining his own punk style with Gene Vincent's rockabilly, creating this very good but weird hybrid that doesn't feel like it entirely makes sense.
The four hundred and fourty-eighth song: By This River - Brian Eno
Does it feel right to describe something as ambient music if it has these clear lyrics? There's a message in here, poetry in the lyrics that is quite impressive, but it's layered on top of ambient music that clearly belongs together, sounding good that way, but not as clearcut essential as other tracks might be. It's lovely to listen to, really setting its atmosphere well, and feels like a good crafted pieces of music.
The four hundred and fourty-ninth song: Dum Dum Boys - Iggy Pop
A lengthy seven minute song, Dum Dum Boys is a difficult one. There's something about the heavy guitars, the drums and the distortion that makes it feel like the song moves forward slowly, dragging its feet and struggling. It's a reflection on the lyrics, Iggy Pop looking back on his time in the Stooges that feels like he's held back and dragged back to it. There's a heavy rock feel to it, but rather than going for volume, it goes for fullness, creating a different atmosphere that tells a story on its own.
The four hundred and fiftieth song: Com’e profondo il mare - Lucio Dalla
Listening to this song, it feels like I'm listening to an Italian Bob Dylan - maybe not in the sound of his voice, but in the way he comes cross. There are the fast lyrics that comment on something, quite a bit of life in the vocals while the music stays simple, a straight forward happy tune that doesn't quite come across in Lucio Dalla's voice. There's more urgency to it, which makes it sound uncomfortable and slightly off even without knowing the lyrics.
The four hundred and fifty-first song: Ghost Rider - Suicide
We've seen punk come in and it'll soon go - post punk having a far longer tail than punk itself - but here it gives rise to another odd variation. With electronic music mixing in, the drive and aggression of the synthesizer feels perfect for the genre and creates an odd atmosphere. Driven by a bass line that feels like a bike driving down the motorway, ghostly vocals and effects create a produced track with an eerie, almost off putting atmosphere that invokes a feeling of dread that suits the Marvel character this was based on. It's another different sound, in a year where genres explode, and it's fascinating - even frustrating in cutting off early before you get a chance to process it all.
The four hundred and fifty-second song: Orgasm Addict - Buzzcocks
While the Sex Pistols are the big punk bad, the Buzzcocks here sound more like what I've come to expect from standard punk - a standard two minute song with a younger sounding vocal and in this case a rather gimmicky amount of panting and moaning. It feels silly, less aggressive, and more about fun - what I later get to know from bands like Blink-182. The sexual content is cringy, but the sound itself appeals to me.
The four hundred and fifty-third song: Holidays in the Sun - Sex Pistols
And with this, we see the end of the Sex Pistols - they came in, played hard, and in the span of two weeks of our write-ups, they fall apart. Anarchy and keeping a band together don't mix. Even the subject of holidays gets a bit politicised here, comparing it to the communists looking in and the oppressive atmosphere they felt elsewhere. West Berlin's party atmosphere and decadence appealed to them and it shows in the enthusiasm of the lyrics and fervour with which they go for it. It's their lightest song on the list, but possibly also their complex, and sounds good here.
The four hundred and fifty-fourth song: Peaches - The Stranglers
Here we have a song that has bunch of things going against it. Its reggae influence means it has a heavy bass line that creates a dark sound that combines with fairly misogynistic lyrics - possibly parodying them, but they sound fairly serious and harsh. It's enjoying the bodies on the beach, describing it in a vulgar that doesn't quite work for me, and while I can see how it could be a commentary, it just doesn't work. The weirdness in sounds - especially the weird effects at the end - work against it, and on the whole it creates a product that, in a different light, might have worked, but here combines a number of things in a way that don't.