Define your taste in music

[strawdonkey]

List the five tracks that define your music taste in it's entirety. And explain why you chose those tracks...

I'll do mine later, I'm going to bed now

[rockwaldo]

cant be done in 5 tracks, but i'll illustrate how diverse my music taste is:

1. Depeche Mode - somebody
(the lyrics are simple, yet meant/mean a lot to me)

2. Genesis - Tonight, Tonight Tonight
(utterly unique sound. haunting yet extremely rythmic)

3. Nine Inch Nails - Perfect Drug
(perfect mix of frenzy and music)

4. Roxette - Things will never be the same
(beautiful song)

5. Halls and Oates - Maneater
(great song, even catchy now)



and i could list MANY MANY more

[PVB]

In no particular order:

1. Pink Floyd - Shine On You Crazy Diamond.
It's just beautiful.

2. Guy Mitchell - Cuff Of My Shirt
My Mum brought me up to appreciate the Golden Oldies.

3. Kyu Sakamoto - Sukiyaki
The first record I remember hearing played on our old grammarphone(sp?) that my Dad had bought.

4. Alien Ant Farm - Glow
Off their latest album truANT; I just love it.

5. Electric Light Orchestra - Wild West Hero.
The album (Out Of The Blue) was the first one I had, on tape in hospital in 1978 (see earlier hospital photos). It helped me through the 'dark times'.

6. Terry Jacks - Seasons In The Sun.
Another one that got me through some hellish hospital stays, still makes me *sniff*.

[Ryan]

1. Smashing Pumpkins: Starla.

2. Sigor Ros: Ágætis Byrjun.

3. Nirvana: Pennyroyal Tea.

4. Orbital: Style.

5. Hendrix. All along the watchtower.

Don't know why, but they're all songs which I've loved ever since I heard them, and don't grate even at the 300th playing.

[moobaa]

Oooooh, tough...

1. Faith No More: Caffeine
Just... perfect.

2. The Police: Next To You / Elastica: Stutter
Both wonderful pop songs.

3. the The: Out of the Blue, Into the Fire
Wonderful, wonderful stuff.

4. Mr Bungle: Chemical Marriage
So soothing and sweet.

5. Tori Amos: Flying Dutchman
The closing two minutes of this are awesome. I want this played at my funeral.

[Dave]

[Stone]

Good question! I'm blatantly going to pick tracks I'll regret later, but at the moment, and in no particular order:

Wumpscut - Mother (maternal instinct mix)
Off their album 'The Mesner Tracks', and it's just so...right! Perfect progression through the song and a wonderful theme, nuff said. I was playing Warning Forever with this on repeat if that helps!

Bel Canto - A Shoulder to the Wheel
A lovely track, plus some beautiful vocals. Again, a simple progression but a great overall effect. Full-body shiver music

Lacuna Coil - To Live is to Hide
Powerful but with vocal counterpoints that are so well thought-out it's unreal. One of my faves.

Nine Inch Nails - Please
Always loved it. And it's NIN. So there

Theatre of Tragedy - Machine (VNV Nation Remix)
Just more lovely vocals to go with a hideously infectious backing track. Love it

Of course there's tons more artists I'd love to fit in there but I can't...(Apoptygma Berzerk, Siouxsie, Tiamat, The Cure, Rammstein, The Prodigy, Portishead, Orbital, London After Midnight, Iron Maiden, Godhead, Garbage, your time will come...) but those above reflect the taste of the moment...but fight fair, picking 5 tracks from 1713 is hardly sporting

And of course there's a few tracks too painful to listen to much any more for one reason or another, but let's not go there

Stone

[Guru-Meditation]

Only 5? Sheesh ... ah well here's a quick bash at it but I may have to change it later on (I doubt I can list DJ Tiesto's Dancevalley 2001 in this can I?)

Or is this nbcl's way of increasing his mp3 collection with our suggestions/taking control of us via our music tastes?

In no particular order (as I search through my mp3s) :

1. Juno Reactor vs Don Davis - Burly Brawl

Those who've seen Matrix II may understand fully why this choice. Those who havn't definitly won't, but even those who have probably won't. Even so, it's a nice mix of different styles that encompasses pretty much every style I enjoy. It just hits the right nerve cause of those 5 minutes in Matrix II ... *sighs with bliss* ... I think I'm going to go cry now. If ya don't understand, well just replace this with Gouryella - Ligaya, William Orbit - Barber's Adagio For Strings or Orbital - Beached (god I hate you for making this 5 songs only, so I'm gonna bend a little by putting a couple of songs with similar reasons ). Freaky songs that hit a nerve.

2. Dimmu Borgir - Puritania

If there is two things I learnt from the CKY videos, it's that you can crap whilst running and a hard hitting track for a spine tingling intro. Of course, the first one I didn't need to know, but the second one is nice knowing when it introduces you to music like this. Also qualifying for this is Aphex Twin - Come to Daddy. Hilariously silly if you try to take the lyrics at all seriously but just listen to the music ... mmmm yummy. Another spine tingling rock track but in a totally different way, Foo Fighters - Everlong. Whilst Puritania hits you like a bungee jumping cow without a rope this one is more like Viagra. Slowly builds up and keeps you pumping all the way along.

3. Massive Attack & Bjork - Hyperballad

More freakyness. Or maybe it's just pop wanabee alternative. I dunno, decide for yourself. Only a few good things came from my ex, one of them is an admiration for Bjork. The other was Eskarina ... I think that's about it. I'd like to say I liked Massive Attack before but I honestly don't know. Radiation Ruling the Nation is a good track but Hyperballad just appeals to me. Maybe it's the Bjork factor. Iceland would be sexy if it wasn't full of geyser's (contender for lame unfunny pun of the year award).

4. Bryan Ferry & Roxy Music - More than This

What can I say? I was raised in the 80's Ton's of stuff to pick from ... just play Vice City and you'll get the idea.

5. Fragma - Toca's Miracle (Toca Me is nice too but I just have this image of a Sky One advert where they used the Toca's Miracle remix and the memory of a Pikachu bouncing along to this song just brings me up in fits of giggles)

I wanted to put a nice sorta romantic piece by Faithless here. But I can't deny my boppy side is stronger than the soppy side. One of those songs that just makes ya feel good, want to dance around and shoot stuff (this tendency to play Subspace and DoDonPachi whilst listening to music is going to bite me in the ass one day) or just wish you were one of those guys who goes to nightclubs in Ibiza every other weekend. Other songs that would qualify for this : Scooter stuff, Prodigy ... and the sublime Overseer - Supermoves. And there is nothing like shouting "DANCING GOOBA" whilst playing Mario Party 4 Beach Volley and noticing that Gooba really does dance to the beat of any mp3 you play whilst playing the game if you route the sound from the Gamecube through your SB Audigy. He does! I swear he does! He somehow knows! And if you point it out, you win the game you're playing! How else could I have unblocked the free mode? ... crap ran off subject here.

Oh and thanks .. listened to a few old favorites whilst searching through this damn mp3 collection that I'd missed for a long time And thanks to gordon for putting Smiths - How Soon is Now on his site .. I forgot how much I liked this song

On a side note, best game music ever : The moongazer mod from Cubulus on the Amiga.

[Kemper_Boyd]

I'm going to cheat, 5 tracks is far too few.

The Beatles - Tomorrow Never Knows - WTF?

Chemical Brothers - Chemical Beats - best game music ever.

Crystal Method - Comin' Back - teaching the Chemical Brothers a thing or two.

Donald Fagen - The Nightfly - 2 am, whisky, perfect.

Marvin Gaye - God Is Love - best soul music ever.

Oasis - Champagne Supernova - from back when they were good.

RATM - Renegades of Funk - old school beats tribute.

Republica - Ready To Go - love it.

Rolling Stones - Shine A Light - cheers me up.

Saint Etienne - Like A Motorway - synth pop classic.

Smashing Pumpkins - Apples & Oranjes - my favourite of theirs.

U2 - Where The Streets Have No Name - best 3 sequential tracks ever.
U2 - I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For - best 3 sequential tracks ever.
U2 - With Or Without You - best 3 sequential tracks ever.

[Guru-Meditation]

I'm going to cheat, 5 tracks is far too few.

I told you nbcl was evil. It's like asking for my 5 favorite games of all time. I'd have to list 5 on the amiga alone, never mind everything else I've played!

[ophion]

This list changes frequently (and the reasons as well, so I'll omit them ), but it currently looks like this:

The Cure--The Drowning Man
Psychedelic Furs--Love My Way
Pet Shop Boys--Rent
The Red Hot Chili Peppers--Californication
Tori Amos--Sister Janet

[stark]

ohh tough. and not entirely possible but i'll have a stab at it anyway.

Sugar Mice - Marillion
there are a million and one Marillion tracks i could have had here but this one was always very good to me. i absolutely love Fishs' lyrical style . he is just the best. ever. fullstop.

Fear & love - Morcheeba
wonderful chilled out choon - the later albums are utter pish but the album from which this is drawn is luvverly. again i love the lyric:

"fear can stop you loving, love can stop your fear,fear can stop you loving, but its not always that clear"

I hope you die - The bloodhound gang
AKA "the first track on a mix tape i made an ex after we broke up " but otherwise they are just the silliest band and thats why i love em for just a bit of a rock blast.

closer - Nine Inch Nails
again theres so much to choose from from the mighty Trent. lyrics lyrics lyrics. theres too many artistes that just dont get it but Trents' combo of pain/angst really works well for him. that and the fact he is a very accomplished musician "i want to fuck you like an animal"

Electric Head Pt 1 -White Zombie
first track i ever heard of theirs at donington 96, they were one of the opening acts but i got right down in the pit for these guys. such energy, such a unique sound, such raw anger, but you could still hear the fucking words ( unlike too many of todays metal bands) - ok so the lyrics aint up to much but , by goat, the feeling i get when i listen to this is electric. i just jump around my room making devil hands. its quite wonderful stuff

so thats my 5 but there are plenty more obscure corners of my collection which i could have dug into. its just these ones sort of sum me up at the mo.

[moobaa]

Pet Shop Boys--Rent

As in "I love you... you pay the rent"?

[Darth Bungle]

Jurrasic 5 - Concrete Schoolyard

The J5 EP was very important, this is simply one of the best hip hop tracks ever committed to vinyl... :-)

Chemical Bros - Where Do I Begin / Private Psychadelic Reel

Okay, two tracks, but they work so well, just wonderful electronic music, just... yeah.... I loikes :-)

Groove Armada - Superstylin'

I like a bit more house than I did, and I got to see this done by Andy cato, dropped it, about 2 mins in, then 'cause of all the people up on speakers and near the decks it skipped, everyone goes mad, then he drops it again from the start. fucked. with my friends. dancing near the speakers feeling the bass. just for me sums up amazing clubbing experience :-)

and one of my female mates got kisses from mr cato at the end of the evening

Souls of Mischief - '93 'till infinity

sums up the adolescent party stoner attitude perfectly. just brilliant.

Jimi Hendrix - Castles Made of Sand

Need some guitar based stuff, and this has wonderful guitar, amazing lyrics, good production and is just wonderful.

this only touches the surface of musical tastes!

[Fuseball]

Although I love all these 5 tracks, I can't say that they are my all-time favourites... just that they cover all the bases of my taste. Hopefully...

The Mars Volta - inertiatic esp.
An odd mix of my prog-soaked childhood and the excitement of hearing loud guitars pulled into strange and interesting shapes.

Boards of Canada - Kid for Today
Utterly beautiful and desolate. I love the feeling of travel in music and the fascinating texture of sound in much electronica.

American Music Club - Western Sky
I'm a sucker for songs of love and loss. Mainly loss. Best with acoustic guitars, melancholy chords and a broken lonely voice.

Sasha - Bloodlock
Gorgeous sounds, lovely build and danceable (by me anyway). Could so easily have been an Orbital track here instead. Just couldn't decide which one.

Benjamin Britten - Funeral March from Variations on a theme by Frank Bridge, Op 10
Deeply sad and moving. Full of drama. The bass strings gets me every time.

Just missing out... AR Kane - Up!, Talk Talk - I Believe in You and My Bloody Valentine - To Here Knows When. All for the sound of them.