Well, my selection criteria may have a slight intersection with the complement of what Pogo intended, but some songs were irresistable.  I couldn't let go of Devo's Head Like A Hole cover.  Nor could I let go of L'Arc-en-Ciel's Driver's High, even though it's the theme song for a major anime series.

Here are my selections and the justification/explanation/excuse for each =)

1) L'Arc-en-Ciel - Driver's High

From the first moment that I heard this song, I loved it.  Of course, part of the reason I like it so much is that I _really_ like the title sequence of GTO (Great Teacher Onizuka) which accompanies this.  The song goes pretty well on its own though =) I included the translation of the lyrics at the end.

2) B-52's - Mesopotamia

"Six to eight thousand years ago...They laid down the law!" Funny anecdote about the B-52s.  Turns out they were postgrads going for their doctorate when they met.  Some of their lesser known songs really show that.  Mesopotamia's a catchy tune with clever lyrics.  That was good enough for me =)

3) Spock's Beard - Thoughts

Say, didn't they have that in one episode?  ; ) A drafting teacher in high school introduced me to this band and the genre of progressive rock in general.  When Pogo first mentioned this challenge, this was the first song that came to mind.  The first time I heard the intro, I thought there was some sort of drastic audio failure.

4) Bill Black's Combo - Skokian

Skokian isn't really a non-hit song, but I dig Bill Black's Combo and their take on Skokian.  No one instrument drowns out the rest unlike Louis Armstrong's rendition of UberTrumpet^WSkokian.  Just a nice instrumental.  

5) Angel of the Odd - When You're Screaming

How can you not love a song where the chorus runs "I only love you when you're screaming" ? I first ran across this song in the dorms when I was washing massive numbers of mp3s to my system from the samba shares. When I first played it, it took me by surprise.  Angel of the Odd has a sound not unlike early R.E.M.

6) Save Ferris - Let Me In

Sure, everyone knows them for "The World is New" and "Goodbye". Sure, they're one of the more popular ska bands, but every now and then you dig a little further under the surface and find a winner that's hardly sounds like the same band.  I lump this song into the same category as Nina Gordon.  I wanted to include more songs from Save Ferris.  They did an excellent cover of Build Me Up,  Buttercup and Ob-La-Di.  Not to mention original songs like Spam. I really like the energy in most of their other songs.  Alack, 60 minutes is so short...

7) Allan Jones - Donkey Serenade

Here's a song with a lovely story behind how I came across it.  My maternal grandmother was being more-or-less forcibly yanked into the modern era by my parents and I.  She wasn't too excited or so until I started playing some music over the computer. She asked where the music was coming from, so I started to explain napster and mp3s and such.  So she guardedly asked what sort of music I could find online, to which I confidently answered "You name it!"  So she named this song, a song which she liked when she was more or less around my age.  Unfortunately, her eyes degenerated rather recently, so she hasn't been able to use the computer for a while, but for a brief moment, she grokked the internet age.

8) The Whitlams - Sydney 2000 Olympics Theme

One of those lovely aussie songs to cross the Pacific during the Olympics of 2000.  I had a friend from Sydney who sent me the mp3 for this one.  The song is a relatively upbeat tune, but the lyrics are full of cynicism and tell a rather depressing story.  It reminds me of a Neil Gaiman story about cities which appeared in the later Sandman comics.  An excerpt made it into Simcity 2000 as well.  It's basically about how each city has it's own personality and explores the possibility that cities might wake up.

9) Monster Magnet - See You In Hell

Far cry from Negasonic Teenage Warhead.  I wanted to throw in Space Lord as well, but couldn't due to time constraints.  This was a favorite song after my last breakup.  I dig the way the guitar and keyboard play off of each other in this one.  Both go off on cool little riffs without really overshadowing each other.  I think the thing that really does it for me about this song is the vocals.

10) Bad Religion - Materialist

Bad Religion is one of my favorite bands.  I had to fight to cut out their other songs.  This is off of their latest album and really shows off their versatility.  They're typically a punk band, but they've covered a lot of musical ground from album to album.  This latest one (The Process of Belief) softens their style to an almost mainstream level, but retains intelligent lyrics that I love.  "The process of belief is an elixir when you're weak.  I must confess at times I indulge it on the sneak, but generally my outlook's not so bleak."

11) Devo - Head Like A Hole (Cover of Nine Inch Nails)

In the spirit of great remakes, one has to mention this rendition of Head Like A Hole.  Devo gleefully changes the tune from Trent Reznor's typical dark tone to what a friend of mine described as "Happy Nihilism" while making it even more catchy than before. Devo is an underrated band in non-old-geek circles unfortunately.

12) Lou Reed - Last Great American Whale

Lou Reed playing Brothers Grimm, perhaps?  There's some doublespeak in the lyrics that I like.  For instance: "I think he had the chief in his sights...Blew out the whale's brains with a lead harpoon." It covers the usual range of Lou Reed's social commentary.  It sounds good to music anyway.  I wanted to include Sex With Your Parents as well and nearly thumbed my nose at the 60 minute limit to do so.

13) Tom Waits - Waltzing Matilda

This seemed to have been a hit elsewhere in the world, but not here. As Tom Waits put it, this song is "about throwing up in a foreign country."  When it's covered by other artists, it's known as Waltzing Matilda, though in the Small Change album, it's called Tom Traubert's Blues (Four Sheets to the Wind in Copenhagen).  You may edit your id3 tags accordingly.

It's a really bittersweet song.  There's plenty of google hits on the lyrics with annotations.  I'd bet the slang is what really kept it from being a hit here.  Not too many would understand what one's "Stacy's" or "St. Christopher" are.

L'Arc-en-Ciel - Driver's High

-----------------------------

It heated up, my silver metallic heart

I'll light the fuse

I feel so high it's strange

Let's kick some dust

A reckless beat blends in with the shrieks

Before my eyes is a rain that seems like missiles

My adrenaline's always flowin'

so it feels like it's me that's gonna overheat

Even if I explode and turn into ashes

I'll probably still be laughing, just like this

Blowing past the town, until the ends of the earth

Let's burn rubber and die together like lovers; [2]

C'mon, give me your hand!

Let's cut loose until we reach our limit

So we can reach the horizon

Woh! Clash! Into the rolling morning

Flash! I'm in the coolest driver's high

Towards the best finale! Yeah!

Soon enough

A pitch black morning will come when we'll just wink out

Once you change into your favorite clothes,

we'll be off!

Let's raise our voices absurdly high

and break through the atmosphere

Woh! Clash! Into the rolling morning

Flash! I'm in the coolest driver's high

With steel wings

Let's keep racin' through, until time runs out

'cause we're natural-born speed demons.

Woh! Clash! Into the rolling morning

Flash! I'm in the coolest driver's high

See ya again in the next world, Yeah!

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