Entertainment For Lively Minds
What are your 3 favourite indie singles of all time?
Partly as another exercise in list-making and partly as an aid to discovering any classics that I may have missed.
One single per artist…
The only criteria is that they were released on an indie label (I remember the NME doing a top 100 indie singles in the mid 90s and I’m sure that some of the 2 Tone and Stiff releases qualified as indie. Our House and Gangsters were certainly in the list.)
Mine are:
1 Suede – The Wild Ones (Nude)
2 Primal Scream – Star (Creation)
3 The Pixies – Here Comes Your Man (4AD)
The first is a band at the peak of their song-writing prowess, the second is a band fusing dub, indie and ambient music into one irresistible whole…
…and while it was tempting to go for one of the Pixie’s standard noise-fests, this is the one that really brings a smile to the face…
- More from walker182.
- Login or register to post comments
-
...
The Smiths - How Soon Is Now
Felt - Primitive Painters
Field Mice - Sensitive
and a 4th - Bang Bang Machine - Geek Love
Good thread........
Oasis - Live Forever
Primal Scream - Loaded
Bedazzled - Summer Song
Small Faces - Tin Soldier
I Can See For Miles - The Who
Weekender - Flowered Up
No room for UB40
Strawberries Are Growing In My Garden/The Dentists
In The Country/The Farmer's Boys
Kardomah Cafe/The Cherry Boys
Honourable mention: There's Someone Following Me/Eddie & Sunshine
Kardomah Cafe - what a song!
Kardomah Cafe - what a song!
There's always something left behind...
Destroy The Heart (House Of Love)
My Favourite Dress (The Wedding Present)
William, It Was Really Nothing (The Smiths)
... bubbling under...
Sweets For The Blind (The Woodchildren)
Can't Take No More (Soup Dragons)
Remember What It Is That You Love (Family Cat)
Top of head...
Roxy Music - Pyjamarama
Eno - Seven Deadly Finns
King Crimson - The Night Watch
That's an interesting thought
Indie as genre vs. indies as reality of artistic & commercial control over your work vs. 'not what I consider mainstream' - the songs you chose there are certainly the last two and Roxy/Eno certainly influenced the original indie crowd
My three
Shipbuilding - Robert Wyatt (Rough Trade)
Papa's Got A Brand New Pigbag - Pigbag (Y)
I Think I Need Help - The Farmers Boys (Waap)
Puts on long coat, stands in corner
The Loft - Up The Hill, Down The Slope
Cud - Robinson Crusoe
Belle and Sebastian - Lazy Line Painter Jane
what no weather prophets?
nice cud action too ! :)
The Specials "Gangsters"
The first release on 2-Tone (I think)
Buzzcocks "Spiral Scratch" - often credited as the birth of "indie", but it wasn't even released by a record company at first, they did it themselves. That means I can cheat and offer up a fourth choice...
The Damned's "New Rose", first Punk rock official single on the magnificent Stiff Records.
Crass "Big A Little A/Nagasaki Nightmares" - not an obvious choice but a great double A-sided single, one of the best in their genre and coming from a real independent collective record label.
Just three?
I reckon I would have to go for...
Carter USM - Sheriff Fatman (Big Cat)
Flowered Up - It's On (Heavenly)
Joy Division - Transmission (Factory)
this is like the bi monthly
" ITV Chart show" indie rundown ten brief seconds of pixies and then the new fuzzbox video.
top 3 Fave's today:
Purple Love Balloon by the Mighty CUD
My Favourite Dress by Wedding Present
Temptation By New Order
..Halcyon days...
...the only one's who could afford a video were Depeche Mode and Erasure - otherwise it was fastforward to Halo James!!!
Difficult to do
at work. When I get home and browse through them I might come up with a completely different list but:
Wah! Heat - Better Scream
This Mortal Coil - Song To The Siren
It's Immaterial - White Man's Hut
I would like to have put Bourgie Bourgie's Breaking Point, but I don't think that was on an indie label.
MCA records I fear
But wasn't Paul Quinn great - here are some examples
http://www.duckworthsquare.com/paulquinn/bourgiev.htm
I could choose hundreds...
...but here's an arbitrary three.
Dead Leaves And The Dirty Ground - The White Stripes (XL)
Sparky's Dream - Teenage Fanclub (Creation)
(Don't Go Back To) Rockville - R.E.M. (IRS)
80s Rewind To The Peel Show
Clock DVA - Four Hours
Unknown Cases - Masimbabele
Tyrone Taylor - Cottage In Negril
Just Three out of thousands:
1 Microdisney - Pink Skinned Man
2 Wild Swans - Revolutionary Spirit
3 Go Betweens - Cattle and Cane
And the top three are ...
Weather Prophets - Almost Prayed (Creation)
Mr Pharmacist - The Fall (Beggars Banquet (i think )
Ping Pong - Stereolab (Duophonic )
party like its nineteen eighty something
My Bloody Valentine-Feed me with your kiss
Shop Assistants-Safety net
The Fall-Totally Wired
(of course indie can include anything from the mods via Island Records to house music, but I will always think of 'indie' as lo-fi rock/pop coming after punk and before 'alternative')
Point taken...
…but there was a certain “done on a shoestring” nature to most of the things that got in the indie chart, even those that weren’t in the lo-fi rock mould (eg: Stock Aitken and Waterman – the songs sounded like they were recorded using a Casio keyboard and the videos were cheap as chips)
Quite so. Actually I was bit
Quite so. Actually I was bit too casually 'rockist' back there-I don't mean to say that 'indie' is only guitar based, but I do think that as a meaningful genre it post-dates punk and 1970s record labels.
But there's a big difference between
what got into the 80's 'indie chart' and the actuality of the independant recording industry.
Topic, Immediate, Track, Charisma, Virgin, Island, Chrysalis were all successful independant labels but far predated what became known as 'indie' music.
Are we talking here about 1980s 'indie' (whether of the 'landfill', 'bedwetter' or otherwise) or 'indpendant' labels? :-)
In the absence of a better option…
…the criteria has to be that it was released on an independent record label. That in itself is a bit of a muddy term. But strictly speaking Bob Marley (Island) would be allowed, while Blur (Food) wouldn’t.
However, I kind of go along with the idea that it should post-date the punk era (Spiral Scratch being the year zero) – but if people prefer the Small Faces to Bogshed then who am I to disagree??
I guess that was what I was trying to get at.
Many of the more modern 'indepentdant' labels are merely imprints of larger companies - as, in most cases, were the original independants after a few years.
No-one could call Virgin an independant label these days but, for example, Topic has been proudly independant since 1940.
Creation stopped being an independant in 1992 when McGee sold out to Sony; XL was always part of Beggars Group; as is 4AD.
Only three?
Blimey. OK then. Er...
1. Johnny Won't Get To Heaven - The Killjoys (Raw)
2. I Can't Stand My Baby - The Rezillos (Sensible)
3. I Wanna Be An Anglepoise Lamp - The Soft Boys (Radar)
Three treasured 7" singles
Mattress of Wire - Aztec Camera
Falling and Laughing - Orange Juice
Night and Day - Everything But The Girl
Indie......4AD, Silvertone and Creation allowed?
If so...
Iceblink Luck - Cocteau Twins
Loaded - Primal Scream
She Bangs The Drum - The Stone Roses...
I think all were included in the NME Indie Chart but still owned by Beggars, Sony and Zomba. Nude was another Sony imprint wasn't it?
Pretty sure all the SAW records were on PWL which was an indie!
and if not.....
This Charming Man - The Smiths
Hymn from a Village - James
WFL - Happy Mondays
OK
There She Goes - The La's.
Shipbuilding - Robert Wyatt.
Never Understand - JAMC
Old stuff
Nothing Takes The Place of You - Mike Spenser and the Cannibals
Mushy Doubt EP - the Brainiac Five
Attention Stockholm - Virna Lindt
Excellent shout...
... on the Mike Spenser single. And that was the b side if I remember correctly! (the A side was Sometimes Only Good Guys Wear White). And it was on Big Cock Records!
Hope they fit..
Magazine - The Light Pours Out Of Me
Undertones - You've Got My Number
Ruts - Babylon's Burning
which sounds like this
Not to mention this..
little belter
Two Sevens and a Twelve (inch)
1. There Goes Concorde Again - And The Native Hipsters
2. I Bloodbrother Be - Shockheaded Peters
3. Lips That Would Kiss - Durutti Column
There Goes Concorde Again
I think I played that for years and years at the wrong speed. The label didn't say and my brother told me it should be played at 33 rpm. To this day, I am still unsure what the right speed is.
Hmmm...
1) You Made Me Realise - My Bloody Valentine
2) Respectable - Mel n Kim
3) Atmosphere - Joy Division
Naturally subject to change.
Aw, just three?
Records that are still memorable now, from days of paper-inserts, ltd edition runs, early-morning dashes to local CWNN retailers...
Low Fi - Stereolab (10" EP)
Chelsea Girl - Ride (EP)
Velocity Girl - Primal Scream
I'm certain that there are hundreds of faves...
Tom Verlaine - The Family Cat
Drive Blind - Ride
Can't Be Sure - The Sundays
I want a hundred at least,
and could have gone for most of the above. But in an effort to add a little variety, I'll suggest:
Felicity - Orange Juice
Every Conversation - June Brides
No Doves Fly Here - The Mob
Going back a bit...
Girls at Our Best! - Girls at Our Best!
TVOD/Warm Leatherette - The Normal
Bela Lugosi's Dead - Bauhaus
Off the top of my head....
"Son Of Mustang Ford"-Swervedriver
"Can't Be Sure'-The Sundays
"Just Give 'Em Whiskey"-Coloubox
Some excellent suggestions
especially the shout for Shockheaded Peters and Clock DVA, wonderful inventive singles.
There are a couple of singles already mentioned that push come to shove would be in my all time top 3 namely, Joy Division - Transmission and The Smiths - This Charming Man. But again, to add a bit of variety these 3 have been in my top 3 at one time or another;
DAF - Kebab Traume
A Certain Ratio - Shack Up
Cabaret Voltaire - Nag Nag Nag
Ones that I enjoy
I don't care if it makes me seem uncool or not. That's not why I joined the Massive.
Snow Patrol - One Night Is Not Enough (Jeepster)
New Order - True Faith (Factory)
Bloc Party - Helicopter (Wichita)
All top tunes.
Can I add….
My Bloody Valentine’s Tremelo EP to my original 3.
The non-album tracks on this and the preceding Glider EP are on a par with ( and probably better than) the album tracks on Loveless..
I first heard To Here Knows When on a February evening, with snow falling outside. It was a mesmerising moment and one of the few times I’ve heard music that sounds truly otherworldly
I could choose a good number of the above
but to add to the mix:
Ironmasters: The Men They Couldn't Hang
Lick Bones : Pigbros
All I want for Xmas is a Dukla Prague away kit - HMHB
Not sure if last one wasn't a B side ?
3 more
1. The Weather Prophets - Why Does The Rain?
2. Hoodoo Gurus - I Want You Back
3. Red Guitars - Good Technology
The first three I can think of
James King & The Lone Wolves - Back From The Dead
Wah! Heat - Seven Minutes To Midnight
The Cramps - Drug Train
Just 3? Here Goes...
Natural Ites: "Picture on the Wall"
The Fall: "Lie, Dream of a Casino Soul"
The Ruts: "In a Rut"
Ok, better late than never...
I'm In Love With A Girl Who Doesn't Know I Exist - Another Sunny Day
Please Rain Fall - The Sea Urchins
Don't Bury Me Yet - The Raw Herbs
All still stand up today, though my fondess is partly because none of them 'made it'. Never saw any of them live either. The Sea Urchins are surely the great lost indie band of all time.
Spring Rain by The Go-Betweens - just buy it three times.
Extra marks
For Bobby Forster's indier than thou Breton t-shirt
Hmmm
Nobody's twisting your arm-Wedding Present
Watery Domestic EP-Pavement
Shellshock-New Order
A little Manc-Centric possibly
Step on - Happy Mondays
Fools Gold - Stone Roses (full 12" version)
Love Will Tear Us Apart - Joy Division
THE SPOTIFY LIST!! (and it does include the Sea Urchins)
...Okay, I've trawled Spotify for everything on the above list and as you may have guessed, a lot of the really obscure stuff wasn't on there. There were also a couple of major acts who are largely unavailable on Spotify (hello Oasis..) but all in all its a good list. There are a few cases where only a live version was available so I've included those. This is the first time I've put a playlist link on here so please let me know if it doesn't work
http://open.spotify.com/user/walker182/playlist/73cP6cAWm1opipo4P13grl
Spotify Playlist
I tried, but I'm in Melbourne, Australia = no Spotify.
But I'm going to listen to a few of these and try iTunes.
Cheers!
Nice one, walker.
Ta.
What an absolutely flipping brilliant playlist. Well done the Indie-Massive!
Can you put it on cassette...
...with a badly photocopied picture of a winsome girl wearing an alice band?
Spotify
Thanks for this - I tried but Spotify isn't a Melbourne, Australia thing. Will attempt iTunes.