Vintage Tracks: Eat Y'Self Fitter

Haven't done a Vintage Tracks post in a long while, but it's time to bring it back in order to honor a special anniversary: on this date, 30 years ago, I bought my first ever Fall record and it suffices to say I never listened to music the same way again. That record was "Perverted By Language", The Fall's sixth LP released on the Rough Trade label on December 12th, 1983, and it started with this simply incredible track:

The Fall - Eat Y'Self Fitter

Genius! Listen to the whole album below with several extras tracks from the 2005 re-release on Castle Music:

Vintage Tracks: Heart Cooks Brain by Modest Mouse

Our previous post was about the artists that have featured the most on this blog in the 5 years we're on Blogger. A band that wasn't in that Top 12, although it is one of our favorites, is Modest Mouse. This is because the band is laying dormant in the last 5 years, having only released the b-sides and rarities compilation "No One's First and You're Next" in 2009. Recently it was announced that Modest Mouse will be playing at Coachella festival this April, so perhaps we can keep our hopes up for something new from them in the near future.

Until that happens, we always have the five great albums they have released between 1996 and 2007 as well as their countless singles and EPs which give us plenty of material to consider for inclusion in our Vintage Tracks series. And below is the video that reminded me that a Modest Mouse post was long overdue: check out pitchfork tv's documentary about the making of their 1997 classic second LP "The Lonesome Crowded West", as well as a clip for our favorite cut from that album, the single "Heart Cooks Brain":

The Lonesome Crowded West

Modest Mouse - Heart Cooks Brain

1999: Top 50 Singles

Time for the final installment of our '90s Singles project - I hope you had as much fun listening to our playlists as we did compiling them!

Once a month since February we've been revisiting a year from the '90s and choosing our 50 favorite singles of that year, the majority of which you can stream through our Grooveshark playlists . The complete Top 50 lists can be found in Cool Music Database, the central hub for all our year-end lists, while you can easily find all our '90s related Top 10 posts by clicking here.

Our 1999 Top 50 Singles list is actually an updated version of the first ever year-end singles list that we published in the first incarnation of Cool Music Central which was launched in the summer of 1999 as a DIY webpage hosted by Netscape. A lot of water has gone under the bridge since then, but I still consider Sleater-Kinney's "Get Up" to be not only one of the band's finest moments but also one of the most moving songs I've ever had the pleasure of listening. The fact that the same year The Flaming Lips also released the greatest single of their amazing (and, of course, ongoing) career, while Primal Scream reinvented dance-punk with the venomous "Swastika Eyes" only helps to make 1999 one of the strongest years for music in the second half of the '90s, preparing the ground for an even better 2000.

Here's our Top 10 Singles of 1999 with accompanying videos (official or unofficial) - go here for the complete Top 50:

1.   Get Up - SLEATER-KINNEY
2.   Race For The Prize - THE FLAMING LIPS
3.   Swastika Eyes - PRIMAL SCREAM
4.   Hot Topic - LE TIGRE
5.   Metal Fingers In My Body - ADD N To (X)
6.   Pretty Please - VERBENA
7.   I Can't Wait - BRASSY
8.   Touch Sensitive - THE FALL
9.   6 Track EP - ELASTICA
10. Teenage FBI - GUIDED BY VOICES

1998: Top 50 Singles

Time for our monthly trip back to the '90s, with another killer playlist featuring our favorite singles from 1998.

Despite a recent “gleeful” attempt to ruin it, “Celebrity Skin” retains its captivating glam rock glow after all these years and remains one of the best moments of '90s alternative rock. The lead single from Hole's third album of the same name was co-written by Courtney Love, Eric Erlandson and Billy Corgan and became the band’s most commercially successful release, reaching number one on the Modern Rock Tracks chart. The song on the b-side of the single, the gorgeous “Best Sunday Dress” (co-written with Babes In Toyland’s Kat Bjelland and originally recorded by their short-lived band Pagan Babies in 1985) is another reason for naming “Celebrity Skin” our Single of the Year for 1998.

Check out below the Top 10 and click here for the complete Top 50 Singles of 1998 list:

1.   Celebrity Skin - HOLE
2.   Waltz #2 (XO) - ELLIOTT SMITH 
3.   Goddess On A Hiway - MERCURY REV
4.   Somethin' Hot - THE AFGHAN WHIGS
5.   Space Lord - MONSTER MAGNET
6.   Boys Better - THE DANDY WARHOLS
7.   Intergalactic - BEASTIE BOYS
8.   Sunday - SONIC YOUTH
9.   A Perfect Day Elise - PJ HARVEY
10. Talk About The Blues - THE JON SPENCER BLUES EXPLOSION

The 1998 playlist:

1997: Top 50 Singles

What do I remember from 1997? Well, one of the things that come to mind is that exactly 15 years ago today I bought the cd that became my Album of the Year for 1997, Helium's "The Magic City".

1997 was also the year that you couldn't escape from Blur's "Song 2". Normally, a song that gets such ridiculous amount of airplay is bound to get on your nerves eventually. The fact that this never happened with "Song 2" is all the proof that I need to declare it Single of the Year for 1997. Here's the rest of the year's Top 10 Singles - click here for the complete Top 50:

1.   Song 2 - BLUR
2.   The Trip - SWELL
3.   Autumn Sweater - YO LA TENGO
4.   Stereo - PAVEMENT
5.   Electricity - SPIRITUALIZED
6.   Take A Run At The Sun - DINOSAUR JR.
7.   Bitter Sweet Symphony - THE VERVE
8.   Brimful Of Asha - CORNERSHOP
9.   Autocade - PROLAPSE
10. Cowboys - PORTISHEAD

Click play below to listen to our selections for 1997 (and here's a link for the one that's missing):

And here's the video for Helium's awesome "Leon's Space Song" from "The Magic City" which is not included in our 1997 Singles list since it was actually never released as a single:

Helium - Leon's Space Song

1996: Top 50 Singles

1996 might not have been one of the best years of the '90s but there's always great music to be found if you are willing to look for it.

A few years down the line from "Nevermind"'s commercial triumph, good rock bands were more likely to get dropped from major labels than to get signed, while indie labels suffered from losing their most successful acts. As a result, the output of guitar music suffered in the second half of the '90s, while at the same time there was an increase in the interest for dance floor-oriented synth music.

Our top two selections from 1996, though, could easily claim the title of "Single of the Year" in any year of the '90s, even at the height of alternative rock's gold rush at the start of the decade. Actually, I wish we had more songs like these in 2012, but since music in recent years is more focused on laptops than guitars, it's a good thing that both Sebadoh and Cat Power are making their comeback right now with new material. To hear Sebadoh's first EP of new material in over a decade you can check out their bandcamp page (there's no "Beauty Of The Ride" on the "Secret" EP, but it's still quite a good listen and I can confirm that the band is just as great live now as it was in its '90s heyday), while Cat Power is about to release the excellent "Sun" (streaming here now) next week. And the great news is that the new album has quite a few tracks that can stand their own next to the amazing "Nude as the News" (see also our recent Killer Tracks post here).

Check out below our Top 10 Singles of 1996 and go here for the complete Top 50:

1.   Beauty Of The Ride - SEBADOH
2.   Nude as the News - CAT POWER
3.   Disco Six Six Six - GIRLS AGAINST BOYS
4.   Honky's Ladder - THE AFGHAN WHIGS
5.   Shark - THROWING MUSES
6.   Easy Way Down - SNOWPONY
7.   Teenage Angst - PLACEBO
8.   Two Clear Eyes - GALLON DRUNK
9.   Race - TIGER
10. Plug Myself In - D.O.S.E. featuring MARK E. SMITH

Listen to most of our selections from 1996 in the playlist below:

1995: Top 50 Singles

The monthly series of posts featuring our favorite singles from each year of the '90s is moving on to the second half of the decade, the post-grunge years, with 1995’s Top 50 list.

PJ Harvey, who reinvented herself as a goth diva for her third album "To Bring You My Love", claims another Single of the Year (she was also at the top of our 1992 list) with the stunning, futuristic blues of "Down by the Water", the lead single from the album which was released to great artistic and commercial success in February '95.

Grunge was already history by then, but there are still plenty of kick-ass rock tunes to choose from and several of them by the likes of Hole, The Smashing Pumpkins, Rocket From The Crypt, The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion and the ill-fated but excellent Scarce, have stormed to the top of our list. 1995 was also a landmark year for britpop that culminated with the Blur vs. Oasis chart battle in the summer, but although we do have quite a few of the genre's hits scattered throughout our list, it’s only the post-punk and new wave influenced sounds of Elastica that have what it takes to crack our idiosyncratic Top 10. Check it out below and then click here for the complete Top 50 of 1995:

1.   Down By The Water - P.J. HARVEY
2.   Violet - HOLE
3.   Bullet With Butterfly Wings - THE SMASHING PUMPKINS
4.   Born In '69 - ROCKET FROM THE CRYPT
5.   Bellbottoms - THE JON SPENCER BLUES EXPLOSION
6.   Vow - GARBAGE
7.   Waking Up - ELASTICA
8.   Born Slippy - UNDERWORLD
9.   Natural One - THE FOLK IMPLOSION
10. Glamourizing Cigarettes - SCARCE

Listen to the majority of our 1995 selections in the playlist below, which combines (as usual) the year's great hits with the hidden gems:

1994: Top 50 Singles

1994... it was the best of times, it was the worst of times. The alternative dream slowly collapses but leaves a trail of wonderful music behind. 

One of the finest moments of the year came right at the end, when Throwing Muses released "Bright Yellow Gun", a ray of bright sunshine in the heart of December. The song is one of the catchiest pop moments from the pen of the ever prolific Kristin Hersh and at the same time features some of her wildest guitar playing.

Other equally worthy candidates for Single of the Year of 1994 included Hole's signature tune "Miss World", Veruca Salt's anthemic "Seether", the gleeful heartbreak of Sebadoh's "Rebound" and the astonishing collaboration of the Inspiral Carpets with The Fall's Mark E. Smith for "I Want You", the track that topped John Peel's Festive 50 of 1994.

Here's our Top 10 Singles of 1994 - click here for the complete Top 50:

1.   Bright Yellow Gun - THROWING MUSES

2.   Miss World - HOLE

3.   Seether - VERUCA SALT

4.   Rebound - SEBADOH

5.   I Want You - INSPIRAL CARPETS feat. MARK E. SMITH

6.   Supersonic - OASIS

7.   Sabotage - BEASTIE BOYS

8.   Do You Love Me? - NICK CAVE AND THE BAD SEEDS

9.   Bull In The Heather - SONIC YOUTH

10. Connection - ELASTICA

Listen to most of our 1994 favourites by pressing play below:

1993: Top 50 Singles

Oops, I almost missed my deadline this month, but even at the last moment I have at last the 50 singles that make up Cool Music Central's "Best Singles of 1993" list, which you can check out here!

As usual, I've gone through, literally, hundreds of single and EP releases from the year at hand before applying the special C.M.C. filters and narrowing the list down to the 50 "best", meaning, of course, my personal faves. In the end the race for Single of the Year for 1993 was won by Girls Against Boys debut release for Touch And Go, the mighty fine "Bulletproof Cupid". I was lucky enough to see GVSB live at London's Garage venue that year and I can honestly say it was one of the most exhilarating rock shows I've ever witnessed. My favorite moment: my head being just inches away from Johnny Temple's bass as the band unleashed "Bulletproof Cupid", the ultimate highlight of a tremendous night!

Other stellar singles from 1993 include The Breeders' smash hit "Cannonball", Elastica's debut "Stutter", P.J. Harvey's fiery "50ft Queenie", one of the many highlights from our 1993 Album of the Year "Rid Of Me", and The Afghan Whigs' "Gentlemen" - actually, as I'm writing these lines I'm watching the Whigs in action, live from Primavera Sound '12 here, while just a couple of days ago I saw them here in Athens in a truly awesome gig which will be the subject of our next post (coming soon)!

Here's our Top 10 Singles of 1993 - click here for the complete Top 50:

1.   Bulletproof Cupid - GIRLS AGAINST BOYS
2.   Cannonball - THE BREEDERS
3.   Stutter - ELASTICA
4.   50ft Queenie - P.J. HARVEY
5.   Gentlemen - THE AFGHAN WHIGS
6.   Today - THE SMASHING PUMPKINS
7.   Sugar Kane - SONIC YOUTH
8.   Uranus - SHELLAC
9.   All Apologies / Rape Me - NIRVANA
10. Beautiful Son - HOLE

Listen to our 1993 selections by pressing play below:

1992: Top 50 Singles

It's the end of the month, which means it's time for another trip down the '90s memory lane for the unveiling of our latest Top 50 Singles list from the last decade of the 20th century.

This time we're going exactly 20 years back to 1992, the year PJ Harvey released her stunning debut album "Dry". A few months earlier, in February, the instant classic "Sheela-Na-Gig" was released as her second single on Too Pure backed by two more songs that would also become part of "Dry", "Joe" and "Hair" (on the 12 inch only). The song was originally written in 1986 when Harvey was just seventeen years old and took its title from the Sheela-na-gig statues - carvings of naked women displaying an exaggerated vulva found in old buildings throughout Britain and Ireland for keeping evil spirits away.

Other highlights from 1992 include The Fall's apocalyptic electro of "Free Range" (with the lyric "Europa, every second Third World" sounding very real in the current economic climate), Belly's debut EP "Slow Dust" featuring the amazing "Dusted", Screaming Trees' grunge anthem "Nearly Lost You" and the three further hit singles that were taken from Nirvana's "Nevermind", which, by January 1992, it had replaced Michael Jackson's "Dangerous" at the top of the Billboard charts.

Check out below our Top 10 Singles of 1992 and click here for the complete Top 50 list published in Cool Music Database, the central hub of all our year-end lists from 1980 and onwards:

 
1.   Sheela-Na-Gig - P.J. HARVEY
2.   Free Range - THE FALL
3.   Slow Dust EP - BELLY
4.   Lithium - NIRVANA
5.   Nearly Lost You - SCREAMING TREES
6.   100% - SONIC YOUTH
7.   Reverence - THE JESUS AND MARY CHAIN
8.   Bruise Violet - BABES IN TOYLAND
9.   Trigger Cut - PAVEMENT
10. Drive - R.E.M.

P.J. Harvey - Sheela-Na-Gig

You can listen to most of our selections by pressing play below:

1991: Top 50 Singles

To quote Sonic Youth, 1991 was the year that punk broke. Nirvana led the charge with "Smells Like Teen Spirit", the stunning first single off "Nevermind", indisputably the rock album of the decade, but if you take a closer look at our Top 50 Singles of 1991 here, you'll notice an abundance of gloriously noisy guitar music.

Other highlights of the year included "Dress", P.J. Harvey's perfectly formed debut single, "Blindfold", the first of the three amazing EPs that introduced us to Curve, "Counting Backwards", one of Throwing Muses' surprisingly pop-friendly moments, the explosive "Siva" by The Smashing Pumpkins, Hole's vitriolic "Teenage Whore", Pavement's dreamy "Summer Babe", "Bed Of Roses", a rare psychedelic gem by Screaming Trees, Mudhoney's mad, broken-brake ride of "Let it Slide" and Teenage Fanclub's storming yet brightly melodic "Star Sign". And that's just the Top 10. Take into consideration the equally awesome releases found elsewhere in our list by the likes of Pixies, Sonic Youth, Babes In Toyland, The Afghan Whigs, Ride or Lush and you start to realize that 1991 was one of the best years in rock history. They just don't make 'em like that any more...

Here's 1991's Top 10 Singles (for the complete Top 50 click here):

1.   Smell Like Teen Spirit - NIRVANA
2.   Dress - P.J. HARVEY
3.   Blindfold EP - CURVE
4.   Counting Backwards - THROWING MUSES
5.   Siva - THE SMASHING PUMPKINS
6.   Star Sign - TEENAGE FANCLUB
7.   Summer Babe - PAVEMENT
8.   Bed of Roses - SCREAMING TREES
9.   Let It Slide - MUDHONEY
10. Teenage Whore - HOLE

You can listen to most of our selections by pressing play below:

Nirvana - Smells Like Teen Spirit

1990: Top 50 Singles

Our '90s flashback is about to begin! Last year we revisited our favorite singles of the '80s with a monthly series of posts featuring our Top 50 lists for each year of the decade as well as playlists where you could listen to most of these 500 tracks.

Between now and November 2012 (just in time for the Mayan Apocalypse!) we are going to choose another 500 remarkable singles, this time from the '90s, and create playlists with the music we like to remember from this period.

For the first installment of our '90s Singles project, we have the Top 50 of 1990, the year that the Madchester sound reigned supreme, Shoegazers flooded our ears with sweet noise and the American underground rock scene was revving its engines loudly as it was about to overtake the mainstream. Meanwhile, My Bloody Valentine who were getting closer to the end of the two-year gestation period that gave us "Loveless", released in April of that year the "Glider" EP on Creation Records (Sire for USA), showing us that they were not immune to the charms of the dance-rock crossover. And with "Soon", they proved that they could do it better - and dreamier - than anyone else:

My Bloody Valentine - Soon (Glider EP)

Here's 1990's Top 10 Singles - for the complete Top 50 click here:

1. Glider EP - MY BLOODY VALENTINE
2. Kool Thing - SONIC YOUTH
3. Telephone Thing - THE FALL
4. Heavenly Pop Hit - THE CHILLS
5. Jacket Hangs - THE BLUE AEROPLANES
6. I Am One - THE SMASHING PUMPKINS
7. The Wagon - DINOSAUR JR.
8. Everything Flows - TEENAGE FANCLUB
9. Velouria - PIXIES
10. Sliver - NIRVANA

And here's the (almost complete) 1990 Singles playlist:

1989: Top 50 Singles

And with this post our '80s Singles project comes to an end. Since last March, we've been posting monthly the playlists of our 50 favorite singles of the year from 1980 onwards and now we're finally standing at the doorstep of the '90s as we unveil our 1989 Top 50 Singles list which is topped by "Monkey Gone To Heaven", one of Pixies finest moments.

The environmentally conscious track was released as a single in March 1989, paving the way for Pixies' second full-length album "Doolittle". "Monkey Gone To Heaven", the band's first major label release in America (they had just signed to Elektra Records in the States, while they remained with 4AD in the UK), is also notable for adding for the first time strings in their explosive sound, using cello and violin to create the calm before the inevitable, apocalyptic guitar storm that follows this Monkey to Heaven as Black Francis counts from 5 to 7, from Man's to God's number.

Pixies - Monkey Gone To Heaven

Here's 1989's Top 10 Singles:

1. Monkey Gone To Heaven - PIXIES
2. Blues From A Gun - THE JESUS AND MARY CHAIN
3. Fools Gold - THE STONE ROSES
4. Kennedy - THE WEDDING PRESENT
5. Blew - NIRVANA
6. Just Like Heaven - DINOSAUR JR.
7. Dizzy / Santa Claus - THROWING MUSES
8. Cab It Up / Dead Beat Descendant - THE FALL
9. Fight The Power - PUBLIC ENEMY
10. Me, Myself And I - DE LA SOUL

Click here to see the complete Top 50 list and click play below to listen:

Next month our Singles projects enters into the '90s. Stay tuned...

1988: Top 50 Singles

I don't like to dwell on the past too much but if I had to choose my favorite year for music, I'd go with 1988 without much hesitation.

This was the year Sonic Youth gave us "Daydream Nation", their masterpiece and one of the finest guitar rock albums of all time, Pixies left us stunned with their powerful full-length debut "Surfer Rosa", The Sugarcubes came out of Iceland's glaciers with "Life's Too Good", one of the most inventive pop records ever made, The House Of Love took indie-pop to another dimension, Happy Mondays perfected the indie-dance hybrid, My Bloody Valentine revealed their true potential for greatness, Public Enemy made the ultimate hip hop album, Dinosaur Jr. discovered new ways of combining raw power with pop melody and that's only half the story. In fact most records in our Top 20 of 1988 have "Album of the Year" potential while quite a few of that year's releases have played a major role in influencing the music that we listen today.

As you would expect from a year with so many great albums, 1988 also had a considerable wealth of killer singles to choose from. Click here to check out our Top 50 Singles of 1988 topped by Sonic Youth's definitive moment, the magnificent "Teenage Riot", and press play below to listen:

PS.: Did I mention that there were not one but two great Fall albums that year?

Fall Week: Shift-Work

On Monday we’re expecting the release of The Fall’s 29th LP "Ersatz GB", in the mean time here’s another highlight from their awe-inspiring 35-year career:

"Shift-Work", the band’s 14th studio album, was released on April 1991 and in our assessment of that year’s best releases, it was second only to Nirvana’s "Nevermind". It was the second of three albums that the band released on a major label (Phonogram) and showcased a more pop-friendly sound without sacrificing their trademark menace and uncompromising attitude.

Check out below the live performance of "A Lot Of Wind" for MTV, one of "Shift-Work"’s finest moments along with "Idiot Joy Showland", "So What About It?" and the title track:

The Fall - A Lot Of Wind (live on MTV)

Band line-up: Mark E Smith - vocals, Craig Scanlon - guitar, Steve Hanley - bass, Simon Wolstencroft - drums, keyboards, Kenny Brady - vocals, fiddle. Production: Robert Gordon, Craig Leon, Grant Showbiz. Artwork: Pascal Le Gras. Rating: Notebooks Out Plagiarists!

Fall Week: Bend Sinister

Next up in our Fall Week a tip of the hat to The Fall's tenth studio album, "Bend Sinister", released September 29, 1986 on Beggars Banquet. Its 25th anniversary this year didn't receive the same kind of attention that "The Queen is Dead" got, although it is, without a doubt, a record just as important for '80s British rock music. Then again, what Fall record from that period was anything less than a masterpiece? Plus, who needs anniversaries when you still have a vital present and future. Album number 29 is out in 5 days and it's a scorcher!

"Bend Sinister" highlights? I'll go with opening track "R.O.D.", their classic cover of "Mr. Pharmacist", which remains a live set highlight to this day and is also our Single of the Year for 1986, and "U.S. 80's-90's" with its industrial funk beats and heavy bass over which Mark E. Smith showcases his mad rap skills!

The Fall - U.S. 80's-90's

Band line up: Mark E Smith - vocals, tapes, Brix Smith - guitar, keyboards, vocals, Craig Scanlon - guitar, Steve Hanley - bass, guitar, Simon Rogers – keyboards, guitar, Simon Wolstencroft - drums, percussion, Paul Hanley - drums. Production: John Leckie. Rating: Bend it like Smith!

Fall Week: Lie Dream of a Casino Soul

The latest single by The Fall (number 47 by this count) was released digitally and on limited 7" edition today (get them here). "Laptop Dog" is the first taste from "Ersatz GB", the legendary band's 29th studio LP, which comes out on Cherry Red next Monday and this gives me the perfect opportunity to make this the unofficial Fall Week and celebrate just a few of way too many great moments in the long and winding history of the mighty Fall.

Let's start with single no. 7, "Lie Dream of a Casino Soul", released 30 years ago, on November 13, 1981 on Kamera. Band line up at the time: Mark E Smith - vocals, Marc Riley - keyboards, Craig Scanlon - guitar, Steve Hanley - bass, Paul Hanley - drums, vocals, Karl Burns - drums. Production: Richard Mazda. Artwork: Savage Pencil. Rating: Classic!

The Fall - Lie Dream of a Casino Soul

1987: Top 50 Singles

One of hip hop's greatest moments, Public Enemy's third single "Rebel Without a Pause", is at the top of our Best Singles of 1987 list which you can check out here.

Before the end of the year that Public Enemy made their groundbreaking debut with "Yo! Bum Rush the Show", the band was already aiming to raise the bar even further. The goal was achieved with the mind blowing "Rebel Without a Pause", a single that can proudly stand next to any radical highlight in the history of not just rap music but the whole of rock'n'roll. As Chuck D said it best, this is "soul, rock and roll comin' like a rhino".

Listen to our Top 50 Singles of 1987 in full here:

 1987 Singles

1986: Top 50 Singles

One of The Fall's classic tracks, their version of the 1966 single "Mr. Pharmacist" by San Francisco psychedelic garage-rockers The Other Half, is at the top of our "Best Singles of 1986" list which you can see in full at Cool Music Database. It is one of the precious few tracks from The Fall's ultra-prolific '80s period that the always forward-looking Mark E. Smith may still choose to include in the band's live set today. The b-side of the single, the brilliant "Lucifer Over Lancashire", is in itself "track-of-the-year" material and another worthy addition to our Killer Tracks Hall of Fame.

The Fall - Mr. Pharmacist

Click play at the widget below to stream a playlist featuring most of our Top 50 Singles of 1986 and go here, here and here to listen to the three missing entries.

1985: Top 50 Singles

Our '80s Singles project is going steady: head over to Cool Music Database for the list of our Top 50 Singles of 1985 topped by one of The Smiths defining songs, the glorious "How Soon Is Now?".

Unbelievably, this pop masterpiece was originally released as the b-side to "William, It Was Really Nothing", but on January '85 it finally got its own release as a single, backed by "Well I Wonder". By that time most Smiths fans already had the song in their record collections on way or the other (it was also included in the '84 compilation "Hatful of Hollow"), resulting in an unflattering chart placing, reaching only as far as number 24 on the UK Singles Chart. But is there anyone who truly believes that the pop charts have ever told the truth about the history of pop music?

Listen to most of the tracks in our Top 50 in the widget below and go here for the missing entry at number 23.

The Smiths - How Soon Is Now?