Author: Dan Dickinson

The 50 best songs ever

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Gus Van Sant said in this month’s Esquire, “I think that when you are 16 and 17 years old, you’re making the most important connections with the world that you will probably ever make in your life. If you ask a 70-year-old what his favorite song is, it’ll be a song he heard when he was 16.” That statement made me wonder, and it led to this post.

This list I’ve made isn’t what I think are the 50 greatest or most important songs of all time. There’s certainly no scientific explanation behind any of them. They’re simply the 50 songs I love the most. The music snob in me cringes a bit when I look at it, because there are songs on here I know I love only for nostalgic reasons, for situations recent or distant the song brings to mind, but the list is what the list is.

Back to Mr. Van Sant: before setting out to do this list I had assumed a disproportionate number of these songs would come from the early 90s, when I (cliche alert) had my musical awakening at the hands of Nirvana. I was 16 the first time I heard “Smells Like Teen Spirit” and not much older when I heard Pearl Jam and Soundgarden, who formed the triumvirate of bands who catapulted me into a whole new musical world. I could absolutely feel myself making those connections with the world to which Mr. Van Sant refers. Surprisingly enough, the latter two bands did not make this list, and I now feel like I’ve outgrown them.

The other songs on this list feel like I have not outgrown them, and never will. I like the idea of holding on to the few nostalgic connections of that early 90s era — Smashing Pumpkins, The Screaming Trees, Jane’s Addiction, and so on — while still appreciating the purpose that the afore-mentioned bands served at the time. Most important to me is that I still find new music that moves me as much as does the 70-year-old Robert Johnson song on my list. Maybe that puts the lie to Mr. Van Sant’s assumption, or maybe it just explains why I’m more passionate about music than most people I know.

Without (much) further ado, here’s the list. It is displayed alphabetically; I did manage to narrow down what I considered by ten favourites of all time, but you’ll just have to guess at those.

  1. And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead . “Mark David Chapman”
  2. Arcade Fire . “Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)”
  3. Beastie Boys . “Sabotage”
  4. Big Sugar . “Wild Ox Moan”
  5. Blind Melon . “Drive”
  6. Bob Dylan . “House Carpenter”
  7. Bob Mould . “Sacrifice/Let There Be Peace”
  8. Clairvoyants . “To Harm”
  9. Dandy Warhols . “Hard On For Jesus”
  10. Doors . “Break On Through”
  11. Explosions In The Sky . “Memorial”
  12. Godspeed You! Black Emperor . “Storm”
  13. Hidden Cameras . “Mississauga Goddam”
  14. Interpol . “NYC”
  15. Jane’s Addiction . “Three Days”
  16. Jeff Buckley . “Hallelujah”
  17. Led Zeppelin . “When the Levee Breaks”
  18. Mark Lanegan . “Borracho”
  19. Massive Attack . “Angel”
  20. Mates Of State . “So Many Ways”
  21. Medicine . “Time Baby III”
  22. Mogwai . “My Father My King”
  23. National . “Fake Empire”
  24. New Pornographers . “Letter from an Occupant”
  25. Nirvana . “Lounge Act”
  26. Norman Greenbaum . “Spirit In The Sky”
  27. Pink Floyd . “Wish You Were Here”
  28. Pixies . “Where Is My Mind?”
  29. Pulp . “Common People”
  30. Radiohead . “Everything in Its Right Place”
  31. Rheostatics . “Shaved Head”
  32. Robert Johnson . “Come on in My Kitchen”
  33. Rolling Stones . “Sympathy for the Devil”
  34. Screaming Trees . “Julie Paradise”
  35. Sigur Ros . “Svefn-g-englar”
  36. Sleater Kinney . “Turn It On”
  37. Smashing Pumpkins . “Drown”
  38. Smashing Pumpkins . “Rocket”
  39. Sonic Youth . “Theresa’s Sound World”
  40. Spiritualized . “Lord Can You Hear Me?”
  41. Spoon . “Jonathon Fisk”
  42. Sugar . “And You Tell Me (tv mix)”
  43. Thermals . “Here’s Your Future”
  44. Tindersticks . “4:48 Psychosis”
  45. Tragically Hip . “Fifty-Mission Cap”
  46. U2 . “Jesus Christ”
  47. Walkmen . “The Rat”
  48. White Stripes . “Ball And A Biscuit”
  49. Yeah Yeah Yeahs . “Modern Romance”
  50. Yume Bitsu . “The Frigid, Frigid, Frigid Body of Dr. T.J. Eckleberg”

Things I find interesting about this list, now that I look at it:

  • Only one band — Smashing Pumpkins — appeared twice, unless you count the Mark Lanegan/Screaming Trees combo. I actually wonder now if I subconsciously self-censored, trying to limit myself to one song per artist for the most part.
  • There are some very long songs on there, notably Jane’s Addiction (10:48), Yume Bitsu (18:29), Mogwai (20:12) and GY!BE (22:32). I like me some long songs, and there were several more in the 171-song ‘short’ list which fed this one.
  • There are two covers on there: the U2 cover of a Woody Guthrie song and Jeff Buckley‘s version of a Leonard Cohen song. Obviously I consider both superior to the original, or to subsequent covers. Bob Dylan‘s “House Carpenter” is an interpretation of an old tune, but so is most folk, so I didn’t consider it a cover.
  • Creating this list was fun, but kind of felt like work too. But fun work.

UPDATE: upon further reflection, I made some changes to the list. In are Godspeed You! Black Emperor‘s “Storm”, Bob Dylan‘s “House Carpenter”, Beastie Boys‘ “Sabotage” and Spiritualized‘s “Lord Can You Hear Me”. Meanwhile, Bob Dylan‘s “Desolation Row”, The Constantines‘ “Hyacinth”, Fiery Furnaces‘ “We Got Back the Plague” and Radiohead‘s “The National Anthem” are out. All great songs, obviously, but probably shouldn’t have made the final list in retrospect.

FURTHER UPDATE: it is unconscionable that “Ball And A Biscuit” by The White Stripes was not on this list. It has replaced “Save Me” be Tea Party.

Attention Toronto: brace yourself for more army jokes

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I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: this is why the rest of the country makes fun of us.

Now’s the time to call your boss and ask if you can either work from home or just take the day off tomorrow — anything to avoid driving through the storm that Environment Canada predicts is going to drop upwards of 20 centimetres of snow on Toronto and surrounding area.

Fer chrissakes, people. It’s winter. It’s Canada. It’s 8 inches of snow. Montreal doesn’t even send out the snowplows for that much. Hell, no one in Saskatchewan even bothers looking for a shovel if it’s less than a foot.

Find yourselves some (snow)balls.

If not, I'm gonna have a lifetime supply of coasters

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I’ve acquired a scant 11 DVDs this year, by far the fewest since I started keeping track of these things, and almost certainly the fewest since I bought a DVD player in 2000. Three of those — American Psycho, Full Metal Jacket and S.W.A.T. — came free when Nellie got me a Blu-Ray player, and Full Metal Jacket‘s the only one I would’ve even thought about buying otherwise. Another — Persepolis — was a gift, and another — Forgetting Sarah Marshall — my wife bought, not me.

Even if I count all 11, it’s still less than the number of books I bought this year…again, probably the first time that’s happened since at least 2000.

When I was a kid my parents bought a ton of movies on VHS, partially because we all like to re-watch movies, and partially because in the middle of nowhere with only two or three TV channels, you have to stockpile your entertainment options. I kept that mentality when I began buying for myself, building a library, buying 30 or 40 movies some years. Movies aren’t completely on-demand for me yet, but I can feel it getting close; I guess that’s why I’ve stopped hording.

Now then…anyone want to buy ~250 DVDs?

"It feels like I'm shitting a knife!"

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Our aspirational target this weekend was profound laziness. While we didn’t quite hit that (damn stretch goals) we did manage to watch two movies:

Baby Mama (imdb | rotten tomatoes) started off badly — not that the jokes weren’t funny, it’s just that we’d seen them all in the trailer — but got funnier as it went on. This post’s title, a line from the film, made me laugh out loud. I’m still giggling just typing it. Let’s face it, though, Tina Fey could do the New York Times crossword on camera for 90 minutes and I’d still pay to see it.

I think we waited too long to see Tropic Thunder (imdb | rotten tomatoes) ’cause I just didn’t like it. I liked how it skewered movie-making in general, and action movies in particular, but I’m not sure I really laughed at single line not uttered by Danny McBride. And Tom Cruise’s tiny part, the one that’s earned him a fricking Golden Globe nomination? Not so much with the funny.

Here, I’ll give you an example of funny, and it just happens to involve Tina Fey. It’s from last Thursday’s episode of 30 Rock:

Liz: “Jack, do you know the Postmaster General?”

Jack: “I do, but we had a falling out over the Jerry Garcia stamp. If I wanted to lick a hippie I’d just return Joan Baez’s phone calls.”

Bam.

Because I will never want to buy a commemorative plate of any kind

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Every time I check my mailbox — because some adorable companies still insist on sending me actual paper mail…quaint, no? — I’m amazed at the quantity of junk mail I see. The recycling bins in my building’s mail room are overflowing with flyers, ads…junk mail of every stripe. Seems like such a massive waste.

Of course, until about a year ago, I was one of the people throwing junk mail in there. It was automatic: open the mailbox, sort out what’s useful, toss the rest in the bin and off I went. Finally, and I don’t know remember what prompted me to do it exactly, I printed a small ‘no junk mail please’ graphic that I downloaded from Red Dot Campaign and stuck it in my mailbox. Since then…no junk mail. At all. None. The odd bit of marketing disguised as a letter sneaks through (damn realtors!) but 95% of the time…junk free.

So yeah…I no longer get all this paper & plastic that I have to throw out. The delivery guy no longer has to bother stuffing my mailbox. The cleaning people who gather up the recycling have that much less crap to cart away. And it was easy to do. And it cost me nothing.

You need to get in on this action, people. If we can inadvertently kill newspapers, we can kill junk mail.

10 in 23

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I still have to listen to the following music from 2008 before I can make any judgment about what my favourite was.

  • bonnie prince billy . lie down in the light
  • calm blue sea . the calm blue sea
  • new year . the new year
  • dears . missiles
  • bowerbirds . hymn for a dark horse
  • thievery corporation . radio retaliation
  • deerhunter . microcastle
  • isobel campbell & mark lanegan . sunday at devil dirt
  • raveonettes . beauty dies ep
  • parts & labor . receivers

I’ve already listened to and bought the following:

  • this will destroy you . this will destroy you
  • frightened rabbit . the midnight organ fight
  • constantines . kensington heights
  • raveonettes . lust lust lust
  • silver mt. zion . 13 blues for thirteen moons
  • sigur ros . hvarf – heim
  • duke spirit . neptune
  • dodos . visiter
  • dandy warhols . earth to the dandy warhols
  • mates of state . re-arrange us
  • elbow . the seldom seen kid
  • death cab for cutie . narrow stairs
  • kills . midnight boom
  • kings of leon . only by the night
  • fembots . calling out
  • stern, marnie . this is it and i am it and you are it and so is that and he is it and she is it and it is it and that is that
  • walkmen . you and me

Anything major you think I might’ve missed?

Spicy chicken = biggie sized. If you know what I mean.

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The Distillery District

Today was very busy, and yet somehow very relaxing. I got a metric whack of Christmas shopping done, ate a Wendy’s spicy chicken sandwich (ohh…missed you SO HARD), bumped into my buddy Brad, met my new doctor (who is surprisingly young and alarmingly attractive), tried some yummy Costa Rican chocolate with roasted hazelnuts from Soma, bought some shirts at my new store crush Lileo, and generally enjoyed walking around the city, even if it was a little busy with shoppers. Even late on a Monday morning, I guess I have to expect that with less than three weeks ’til the big day.

A couple of observations:

  • I love my new winter coat. I am never cold outside (even venturing out on days like yesterday, which Tom Purves compared to a Shackleton expedition), but I don’t get warm when wearing it indoors. Note to Canadians: a winter coat is the wrong thing to skimp on.
  • There is a special layer of hell reserved for a) people who look one way and walk another in crowded environments; b) people who stop dead at the top or bottom of an escalator; and c) cashiers who cough violently into their hand just before they reach into the till to hand me my change. When I am king PayWave and PayPass will work everygoddamnwhere.
  • The Distillery District (see above) is a really lovely place, especially in the winter, especiallyespecially when they’re decked out for Christmas, and superespecially in the middle of a weekday when no one else is around.
  • Overheard in the PATH: Lady #1: “I have nothing in my wallet but I’m still going shopping.” Lady #2: “I have nothing in my wallet but I’m still buying a car.” Downturn? Quel downturn?

Tomorrow it’s back to work, but right now the most stressful thing I feel like doing is putting my undefeated Wii Tennis streak on the line.

"The mall at the end of town is dead. Amen."

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I hate malls. I avoid them like the plague, even though I live just a few minutes from the largest (probably) downtown shopping centre in North America and a short subway ride from the fifth-largest mall in Canada. And apparently there are a bunch more around the city that I’ve just never laid eyes on. The crowds, the stale compound-like atmosphere, the food courts reeking of Manchu Wok…I’ve just never liked them.

Mind you, growing up, it was a big deal when a mall came to the town near where we lived. It had a K-Mart and a Save-Easy and a sports store and a drug store where I could buy comics. Truthfully I was too young to remember that mall opening, but I remember it being a big deal when we could go. Then a second mall opened in the mid-80s with better stores…Zellers instead of K-Mart, Sobeys instead of Save-Easy, Coles instead of just the drug store magazine racks,  A&W, a music store and (hooray!) an arcade. This mall was the new hotness, and everyone loved going there.

My mother still preferred to shop and do business downtown when she could, at the small locally-owned photo printers or clothing stores, and there was a real music store there where I could buy drums, but for the most part business was conducted on the outskirts of town at these malls. Before long, though, the new mall killed the old mall, leaving a near-empty shell sporting a few die-hard stores just across the road from a parking lot of mall-goers. Rare visits to the old mall felt vaguely creepy or eerie. I was too young to know that I was sensing imminent failure; dating would later allow me to hone that skill.

Now, when I visit that town on occasion, the “new” mall still seems fairly busy, but the real excitement seems to be at the big box stores…Wal-Mart came, first attached to the mall and then stand-alone. The grocery stores detached themselves from the malls and built neighbouring castles. Canadian Tire and Kent moved in. God knows what else is there now. Meanwhile, the stores downtown on or near main street struggle to survive. While this bothers me a bit, let me be clear: I’m not advocating the nostalgic return to an old towne main street; people will shop where they want to shop, and I have no desire to artificially perpetuate a dying model for posterity’s sake. I just have a fondness for that particular main street.

That said, I recognize that business and public preference can change, and for years I’ve hoped that the fad of shopping malls would eventually burn out. The last several years have certainly been pointing in that direction — though focus seems to be shifting more to the “power centre” model and not back to main street — the mall still seems to have a powerful hold. Even in downtown Toronto, with Queen Street, Yorkville, King Street, St. Lawrence Market and the like nearby, I still get asked for directions to the Eaton Centre all the time.*

So I was very interested to read that, according to Newsweek (via the Creative Class blog), last year was “the first in half a century that a new indoor mall didn’t open somewhere in the country—a precipitous decline since the mid-1990s when they rose at a rate of 140 a year.” The Newsweek article points to DeadMalls, a site which was always filled me with worry and joy. I wanted this trend to be over, remembering how empty and awful the old mall in that town became, but I didn’t relish the idea of hundreds of deserted neon bunkers littering the landscape. The mall experiment won’t be an easy one to clean up.

* It happened yesterday, actually.