Jeroen's Micro Blog

The five hundred eighty-seventh song: Thriller - Michael Jackson

Thriller is one of Michael Jackson's tracks I know the best, but it's hard to separate where exactly that fame comes from. The music video is a production in its own right, memorable as its own short movie. Even so, the sound of the track is as good, memorable and engaging with Vincent Price's vocals just adding to that creepiness.

The five hundred eighty-eighth song: Shock the Monkey - Peter Gabriel

Shock the Monkey is tamer after the sound of Thriller, but the straight forward pop track is still good, a simple track that's quite nice with the mood it sets, still slightly off putting as it goes on.

The five hundred eighty-ninth song: Save It for Later - The Beat

As a ska influenced new wave song, Save It for Later is fairly straightforward as a listener, with a hook that's simple enough to understand and builds just enough to satisfy, but not so much that it doesn't remain, essentially, the same track throughout. It's overall mostly just a neat track that doesn't outstay its welcome but just continues to feel good.

The five hundred ninetieth song: Great Southern Land - Icehouse

Without knowing for sure, it feels like the music of Great Southern Land invokes that feeling of being lost, a large place you get lost in. The lyrics invoke an admiration for the country, a talk about Australia that works nicely to invoke a more unsettling mood about the country that feels like it suits the story they want to tell about the land.

The five hundred ninety-first song: Party Fears II - The Associates

The high, almost operatic vocals of Party Fears II creates the real unsettling background to this track's building hysteria. It starts as a nice simple pop sound, but several times builds with the lyrics to an anxious crescendo that feeds the scaredness of the lyrics. It makes it not entirely easy to listen to, but the mood it does evoke gets set up incredibly well.

The five hundred ninety-second song: Situation - Yazoo

We follow up with another synthy track, another that I had not heard of before. The track has that upbeat new wave sound, but becomes more threatening with its chorus, repeating 'move out' with a more menacing, darker voice. Quite what it's challenging, I'm not sure, but it's a worthwhile one to hear here.

The five hundred ninety-third song: Rock The Casbah - The Clash

The sound of Rock the Casbah is one you'd expect from the Clash, a slightly slurred vocal that belies the lyrics, which are smarter and a bit more political about that, addressing some semi-fictional bans on rock music that come to a head in the song. It's a good idea, and the shouted chorus really helps to enforce that defiant party atmosphere.

The five hundred ninety-fourth song: Buffalo Gals - Malcom Mclaren

Only as this track started did I realize that I had missed out on some hip hop appearing in the list at this point. I'm sure that won't be as common on later batches of songs, but here it still feels like the sound is being built up in here. The track has its rap sounds and a lot of scratching, the latter of which feels a lot less common these days, but it also has the musical interludes and synth sounds that feel like they disappear later. Add to that the tamer lyrics - referencing square dancing a lot - and I really feel like I'm mostly getting an insight into the rap of the contemporary era.

The five hundred seventy-ninth song: Save a Prayer - Duran Duran

The new wave Duran Duran brings is always welcome and it sounds so good here - the well known chorus works so well mixed in with all of the sound, the remainder feeling like a journey that does work well to lead you there.

The five hundred eightieth song: Candy Girl - New Edition

It's hard to ignore the similarities of Candy Girl to the Jackson Five output, down to the young kid's vocals that feel like they match that exactly. As you'd expect from that, the song is uncomplicated and straight forward, a simple and sweet love song. It's an attractive, fun song and works well to just cheer you up.

The five hundred eighty-first song: Mad World - Tears for Fears

Mad World is another strong new wave track - effortlessly engaging while staying a bit surprising.

The five hundred eighty-second song: Black Metal - Venom

In opposition to the sweet new wave that's dominating this era, Venom's Black Metal brings in the darkness - Satan gets namedropped in the first few lines. It continues with the unpolished vocals and strong metal track, a pretty strong showing for what it's trying to do and a convincing counterpoint to the era.

The five hundred eighty-third song: Shipbuilding - Robert Wyatt

Shipbuilding makes for a nice folk rock track. Its lyrics reference a time and mood I'm not too close to myself, but it makes its point so beautifully that it doesn't matter.

The five hundred eighty-fourth song: Cattle and Cane - The Go-Betweens

This track sits in an interesting midpoint (and its Wikipedia-listed genre of alternative rock supports that). It has the production and sounds of new wave, but the rough vocals and lyrics that lean in a hard rock direction. The sound is darker than you'd expect, but it hits its beats incredibly well. For me, this hits just the right point.

The five hundred eighty-fifth song: Uncertain Smile - The The

Smooth, with some soft lyrics, Uncertain Smile feels that bit apprehensive sometimes, with the quieter lyrics that sometimes portray that uncertainty. The surrounding music is greater, with a really good piano solo that feels worth calling out, and it is the music where it all really shines, with a track that's just a delight.

The five hundred eighty-sixth song: Valley Girl - Frank Zappa

This is a bizarrely catchy song that seems to have had more of an influence than I would have expected - I know the stereotype for sure, but it wasn't as much of a thing before this track? It's Moon Zappa's valley girl lyrics that steal the show, setting up a character so well that it's clear so soon, while the surrounding music really manages to push that to the foreground while having a distinctly different view. It's a neat trick, pulled off really well, and it shows how you need the skills to make music properly for comedy like this to really work.

The five hundred seventy-second song: The Message - Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five

One of the earliest successful rap track, there's a growth from the socially conscious spoken word albums that came before his one, looking at poor inner city life while getting the beat in there a lot stronger.

The five hundred seventy-third song: 365 Is My Number - King Sunny Ade & His African Beats

The contrast with the previous track is pretty great - the very chill sound is a lot slower and the track obviously doesn't have those same highs.The experimental nature means that we're still bouncing between a lot of different sounds, but I don't think it works well for the nearly eight minutes the track lasts for.

The five hundred seventy-fourth song: Do You Really Want to Hurt Me - Culture Club

There's a classic new wave sound and song here, a slow but focused hook that sticks with you while the rest of the track guides you through the slow sound of loss in the song.

The five hundred seventy-fifth song: Electric Avenue - Eddy Grant

It's hard to remember for sure, but I don't think this is the first reggae-rock track - but this is one where it works for sure. It's a good tune while having some meaningful lyrics to go with them and the song still holds up really well. It's genuinely just fun to listen to.

The five hundred seventy-sixth song: Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) - Eurythmics

This title track of the album it belongs to was its standout and it still works well here in isolation, a full bodied sound that's still as attractive to listen to. If anything, the track sounds that much fuller compared to everything else. It's its own bizarre world in places, but it works.

The five hundred seventy-seventh song: Atomic Dog - George Clinton

While there are parts of the refrain that feel like they've lasted, it's the funk throughline of the full song that works for me here, incredibly accessible and easy to listen to. It's a lot of fun to listen to, which stays as its main attraction.

The five hundred seventy-eighth song: State of Independence - Donna Summer

Unlike everything - and perhaps because of the energy of the previous tracks - State of Independence didn't connect with me as much. The vocals are excellent and work, but the production around it overshadows it a bit too much, and I don't think it actually sounds as good as it could be. There's just too much that I don't think works here.

The five hundred sixty-fourth song: Walking on Thin Ice - Yoko Ono

How much of this song's notability comes from one of its contributors, with this being John Lennon's final creative output? The music itself is fairly avant garde, Yoko Ono's vocals feeling like the impenetrable sound that feels closer to that of a performance artist than pure vocalists, but there's also a beauty in how it all comes together. It still feels like it needs visual - something to enhance the performance - but as her starring performance, it certainly feels like it makes its point.

The five hundred sixty-fifth song: Please Don’t Touch - Motorhead/Girlschool

Please Don't Touch is an aggressive rock song, the drive of the music amplified by two big heavy metal bands - the more well known Motorhead and the all female Girlschool, whose contributions come through equally in the track, with the vocals in particular blending amazingly well. It's short, it's straightforward in how it hits its marks, but it sounds so good and engaging when it does.

The five hundred sixty-sixth song: Super Freak - Rick James

Super Freak's riff is known well for the other places it's sampled, but it also immediately brings this song to mind - it's memorable chorus sticks in as much, and just the opening lyrics feel memorable on their own. It's smooth and sexy and a fascinating listen that keeps up so well, still that bundle of joy.

The five hundred sixty-seventh song: Don’t Stop Believin’ - Journey

Oh man, how much damage has Glee and its decline done to some tracks? There's a vulnerability to the song that musical kid energy just can't bring in, not needing the flourishes they added. Instead, just a piano and an almost cracking voice starts the track, slowly building as it continues. It works incredibly well, and the subdued anthem theme stays well here.

The five hundred sixty-eighth song: Pretty In Pink - Psychedelic Furs

The rough vocals of Pretty In Pink stand in contrast to that, making the meaning of the song harsher through its darker tone. It's a fine punk-y song, its title feeling at odds with its sound, but befitting the darker message of the track. It's a good enough song, even if I don't feel it held together as well as it should have.

The five hundred sixty-ninth song: Ghost Town - The Specials

As the title implies, there's something ethereal about this track, sounding a lot more subdued and ghost-like than most reggae-inspired songs do. The instruments are there, but the way they're layered, fading in and out, works so well here that they create a far more interesting track and become a highlight in their own right. It's unexpected, but really - yeah - feels special.

The five hundred seventieth song: I’m in Love with a German Film Star - The Passions

This feels like it feels the new wave style - a bit punky, a bit dreamy, everything feeling a bit odd and offset. It's decent, lyrically slightly changed, but I don't know if I can say it feels as good as others either - new wave took the music so much further than this.

The five hundred seventy-first song: Radio Free Europe - R.E.M.

There is a cadence to R.E.M. tracks that is why they feel so good. Radio Free Europe doesn't feel like it quite has that identity there, but the irrelevant lyrics, good rock tempo and different touches are already there to make this feel more artistic. The song is still really good.

The five hundred fifty-sixth song: In the Air Tonight - Phil Collins

There's a sadness and longing in the lyrics of this song that plays well with the unsettling musical choices in it - rather than a plain ballad, it applies a lot of effects on the vocals, creating an echo and what feel like shifts in location that become quite powerful as the track plays on. It means the appearance of the heavy drum track is underscored as much, really strengthening the sound of the lyrics in the mix.

The five hundred fifty-seventh song: Edge of Seventeen - Stevie Nicks

For a song about death and loss, there's a remarkable amount of energy in the lyrics, a feeling of being at peace with it even as the sadness is present in the lyrics as well. It's esoteric, allegorical and a nice amount of slightly off that works really well.

The five hundred fifty-eighth song: Via con me - Paolo Conte

Via Con Me is a track that I feel I should recognise, but I feel it's mostly from the use in a commercial somewhere than anything deeper. I've always like the sound of it though, the dark, gravelly Italian lyrics contrasted with some English lyrics that feel slightly off, a fake impression that doesn't really matter. The bridge adds to that, as well as the almost mumbled Italian lyrics contrasting with the English ones - a track that stays intriguing somehow.

The five hundred fifty-ninth song: Under Pressure - Queen & David Bowie

And then a song that I know well enough. It makes complete sense that Queen and David Bowie would work so well together, both from a similar glam rock perspective, and vocally Freddie Mercury and David Bowie support each other so well that it supports the message, an ethereal sound with something darker and more grounding. It still remains an incredibly powerful song.

The five hundred sixtieth song: Our Lips Are Sealed - Go-Go’s

Here we've got a strong, pretty good new wave song, While I don't want to reduce it just to gender, there's a different sound from the all-female band, a lightness a lot of bands going for an androgynous sound fail to entirely reach. It's very poppy, in one of those ways that feels nicely accessible.

The five hundred sixty-first song: Genius of Love - Tom Tom Club

Genius of Love feels defined for me by its oddness, an electronic, beeping track with some strange, distorted lyrics and some odd choice in their vocals. It's a song that doesn't give you much to hold on to, as every time I thought I'd settled in, the track changed it up again and gave me something odd. It's an experience for sure, one that's good but doesn't quite give you all you need to hold on to.

The five hundred sixty-second song: Ghosts - Japan

Ghosts is an apt title for the ethereal, distant nature of the track. While I found their listed album faded into the background, ambient more often than not, the unsettling nature of Ghosts keeps you on your toes far more as the track remains less accessible and more distant, the bells and other sounds feeling like they belong to a ghost story. The tension is present through the track, which is a miraculous sound in its own right.

The five hundred sixty-third song: Tainted Love - Soft Cell

Sometimes it really requires a specific artist's flair to elevate a song, and Tainted Love feels like it wouldn't work without Soft Cell's synth music and specific vocals - a little bit staccato to make it that much more unsettled and, I suppose, tainted. It's just incredibly strong and good to listen to.