The Adam Hopkins Top 5 (and 1/2)

This EricHop Top 5 idea has been such a raging success that we are going to continue it into next week. If you want to submit one, I suggest you think about it pretty soon. We'll post them until we don't have them anymore. The first day without a Top 5 and this thing is over. I've already heard that Ricky B, Chris Laun, and George French are going to do it, and Heather V. and JESKa are on the fence, but seem like they could be convinced. I have a superb list from Jenny (I just read the whole thing today) and it is great! We'll be posting that as soon as the Top 5 fizzles out. Also, Colmus has decided to modify his, but we'll have that when he gets it together as well. Wonderful things happening in the recommend blogsphere. I shouldn't have used the word blogsphere.

My Top 5 could not possibly be a Top 5 favorite songs of all-time. That would have stressed me out to no end. There are periods of my life when I obsessed over particular songs, but would be embarrassed to include them as part of my Top 5 list here. Songs like Guns N' Roses "Estranged," Arrested Development's "Mr. Wendel," and Death Cab For Cutie's "Styrofome Plates" will not be talked about for this reason. My Top 5 list is basically five songs that I could justify being favorites right now. "Right Now" by Van Halen will not be on this list. Like TJ, I had something that more looked like a Top 25 list and whittled it down from there. I also discovered that a few albums that I would easily put in my Top 10 or so (like Erykah Badu's "Mama's Gun") don't have single songs that make the cut. They work too well as a whole album, and to pick one song wouldn't make sense. Also, a second disclaimer: I have limited myself to pop songs. I am considering doing a Top 5 for jazz and classical as well that will put my readers right to sleep. Wordiness. These are not in any order of favorites, but they are in a playlist-type order, which is the succession of songs that I think sounds the best. Wordiness. Here we go:

God Only Knows (The Beach Boys, from Pet Sounds, 1966):



Contrary to the albums I referred to above (where the album would be a Top 10, but no one song would make the cut for this list) Pet Sounds would be a Top 10 album and I can pick one clear-cut better-than-the-rest song from it. God Only Knows is obviously this song. Bono once said "the string arrangement on God Only Knows is fact and proof of angels." Bono did not get a song on this Top 5, and this statement isn't a contributing factor to my love of it. I might even think it is a stupid thing to say. Regardless, the string arrangement is really nice, so he might have been on to something there. However, how could he mention the string arrangement and not the awesome horn and harpsichord parts? Go back to the Joshua Tree, dude. I think this song is as close to perfect as they come, especially as spring-time is approaching full force. If this doesn't make you feel great and crack a smile you probably don't have the ability to smile. The wikipedia article here is pretty informative. This has placed well in all kinds of Top 500-y song list from places like Rolling Stone and Pitchfork. Add a Friends Recommend placement to that list. That is valid, right?

True Love Waits (Thom Yorke, from Radiohead's I Might Be Wrong (live), 2001):



Oh boy, this was a tough one. But at the same time it was an obvious one for me. I love all Radiohead from all time periods. My favorite album being KID A, with OK Computer a close second, and Amnesiac a close third. They are all masterpieces to me. This comes as no suprise. What may come as a suprise is that this song isn't on any of them. It is only found in live acoustic versions sung and played by Thom Yorke alone. So it really isn't even a Radiohead song, it just happens to get played at Radiohead shows. All of my Top 5 picks draw some sort of stong emotion when I listen to them. God Only Knows makes me feel happy to a degree that few other songs could. True Love Waits, while fitting nicely in that TJ definition of happy-sad doesn't really make me feel sad at all. It's more of a nostalgic/reflective feeling. There are so many Radiohead songs that could have easily been in here. The song KID A got strong consideration, as did Like Spinning Plates, Fake Plastic Trees, Airbag, Wolf At The Door, and a couple others. What True Love Waits has that these others don't is that bare-bones stripped down nothing-to-hide-behind feeling. It is just a guy and his guitar in all of it's imperfection. You can even hear him straining to hit some of these notes. What I love about Radiohead studio albums is that someone obviously brought in a song or an idea and the whole band continued to build on that idea, adding effects, instrument parts, textures, cut-up drum beats, and all kinds of weird sounds. This lets us see Thom Yorke for the great songwriter that he is without any of that extra stuff. Don't get me wrong (I might be wrong...get it?), I love all that other stuff. But this is great for the song, and for the feeling it gives me and that's what gets it into this list. Wordiness.

Stephanie Says (The Velvet Underground, from VU, 1985):



I've got to say this...I don't know a whole lot about this song. I'm not even going to research it, really. All I know is that it was recorded somewhere around 1968, and not released until 1985. Can you believe this? These guys sat on this amazing song for almost 20 years before doing anything with it. Crazy. My love of this song developed from The Royal Tenenbaums. Wes Anderson has been discussed at length in this blog, and we don't need to talk about him more here. I will just note his perfect use of pop songs in his movies, and this is one such example. The Baumer and Royal are on the roof of the Tenenbaum house and Baumer just told his Dad that he's in love with his (adopted) sister Margo (which is sick, and gross). Royal calls her a "hell of a broad" or something like that, and Mordecai (Baumer's hawk who had gone missing for some time) flys back to his arm with Stephanie Says playing in the background. It is a perfect movie moment for me, and I have loved the song since I saw it in theaters with Prevas the first time.

Hurt (Nine Inch Nails, from The Downward Spiral, 1994):



Hurt (Johnny Cash, from American IV: The Man Comes Around, 2002):



Hurt is a song that I have loved since my middle school years, dating back to when I owned NIN's The Downward Spiral the first time. I sold it to a pawn shop in 10th grade, because NIN wasn't Screaching Weasel or on Lookout Records. I came to my senses in grad school and bought the album again, only to love it more than I did originally. The whole album is awesome. This song is another real emotion-surfacer. There is a reason for including both versions of this song (is this cheating?). I would have never thought that any artist could record this song more appropriately than Trent Reznor's original recording, or evoke the kind of emotion that he does in the original. Johnny Cash proved that wrong on his 2002 version, from which Hurt was one of his last hits before his death in 2003. When Trent Reznor first heard of Cash covering his song, he was "flattered" but worried that "the idea sounded a bit gimmicky." He became a fan of Cash's version, however, once he saw the music video with his response being "Wow. [I felt like] I just lost my girlfriend, because that song isn't mine anymore." Cash completely does the song justice. Brother Eric likes the Cash verison way better, but I just can't decide so I've included both. A nerdy note. One of my favorite parts of the NIN version is the use of a minor #11 chord (the first chord in the song). Johnny Cash takes out the #11 making it a much more normal sounding chord. It works for his version, but I really miss that note. Also, Cash changes the lyric "crown of sh*t" to "crown of thorns." This is interesting, but I'm not sure why. If you don't hear the emotion in these two versions you probably can't hear. Johnny Cash sounds like he is dying (sadly, he sort of was) and Trent Reznor sounds like he is already dead (yet somehow still singing). Perfect. And wordiness.

Anywhere I Lay My Head (Tom Waits, from Rain Dogs, 1985):



This is the most recent favorite for me. I partially included it because of the debate started by TheChristopherMyers in Eric's Top 5. I am in the camp of a Tom Waits song is really only a Tom Waits song if he is singing it. Nobody in the world could do it like he does. If you need an example of this check out Scarlett Johansson singing this very song on youtube here. It really sucks in comparison...I didn't even get through the whole thing. The greatness in Waits' voice can't even really be explained, so I won't try. I will say that I didn't get it at first, but now I can't get enough of the guy. Back when LaLa.com was still used (do people remember this?) TJ suggested I get Rain Dogs. I listened to it a couple of times, thought it was OK and put it on the shelf. When Laun recommended it for this blog I took it back out and completely fell in love with it. I especially love this song, and think it might be the best album ending I have ever heard. It is perfect happy-sad, with the great New Orleans horn ending that rivals Eric's pick of In An Aeroplane Over the Sea. And when I say it rivals it, I mean that these Waits horns are better. Awesome.

Well this was hard. Very close runners up for anyone who made it this far were Marvin Gaye' "What's Goin' On?", Sufjan Stevens "John Wayne Gacy Jr.", Tom Waits "Martha" (but it is just too sad), Flaming Lips "Do You Realize?", Al Green "Let's Stay Together", Andre 3000 "Hey Ya" (yeah, I know), Regina Spektor "Fidelity" (again, yes I know), Beck "Debra", Dismemberment Plan's "The City" or "The Ice of Boston" or "Gyroscope" or any number of others, Bjorks "Hyperballad", Modest Mouse's "Gravity Rides Everything", Postal Service "Sleeping In", Paul Simon "Hearts and Bones", and OMG Michael Jackson "Don't Stop Til You Get Enough".