Cameron's FUNHL iTunes Playlist

Ok, so here's the thing, burning 12 CDs of music likely to be obscure and inconsequential to most tastes wasn't working for me - so instead I've compiled a list of tracks available on iTunes for download. You can then download them or not as your choice, and at a buck a track, the artists get their share as well. If you don't already have/use iTunes, mea culpa.

I've presented the tracks in the order I reccomend you load them. Mix them too much and the album could be severely jarring. The list starts off with fast metal, goes old school metal, classic rock, movie pastiche, mega-hit, left field pop, ancient alternative, modern alternative, space rock, classic goth, disco techno, techno - a potent mix and can be made worse by mixing in the wrong way....

Anyway, here goes;

The Shadowmen - 'Jesus Built My Hotrod' by Ministry

Reason: Because when it comes to trades, Bob knows how to 'ding a ding dang' his 'dang a long ling long' better than anyone else.

The Personal Vendetta - 'Ace of Spades' - Motorhead

Reasons: "You know the hunt is better than the kill".

The Wolves - 'Werewolves of London' by Warren Zevon

Reasons: Timeless classic, it was almost disqualified because Zevon also wrote the utterly wretched 'Hit Somebody (the Hockey Song)'.

The Bladerunners - 'Bladerunner' by Pete Archer

Reason: Obvious. (as for the movie, go with the Dir. Cut - natch). If you don't like this version (too...cowboy-ie), try Robert Johnson and Punchdrunks' surftastic take on the theme also called 'Bladerunner'. Actually try them both.

The Edge - 'Beautiful Day' - U2

Reasons: U2 has some guy who plays lead guitar for them....uh....his name will come to me in a minute....hold on...nope, just not happening. To paraphrase Bob Johnson "It's a beautiful day for hockey".

The Knights Templar - 'River of Daughters' - The Old Soul

Reason: I have no idea what is going on with the lyrics, or even what genre (psychedelic pop?) this song is aiming for, but it has an unexpectedly monster hook and takes big risks - some of which pay off. Draw your own analogies to the KT from there.

The Great Whites - 'Hammerheads' - Shriekback

Reasons:

"Our time has come
Age of the Hammerheads
This is our mission
To be the darlings of God"

The Scourge - 'Dirge' by Death in Vegas

Reason: A sad beautiful downer of a song for a sad beautiful downer of a season. On a side note, the best album this year is 'Satan's Circus' by DiV, followed by the K-Os latest offering.

The Ramapithicines - 'Auto Rock' and/or 'We're no here' - Mogwai

Reason: Nobody writes decent songs about or for the Ramapithicines anymore, but Mogwai does have an entire album called 'Mr Beast'. These are the two best tracks that go in completely different directions. Double the pleasure and get both.

The Lost Boys - 'Bela Lugosi is Dead' - Bauhaus

Still the best vampire song ever. Might have been written before Richard was born. I bet it still packs the floor at the Warehouse. One drawback is that the pace and style of the song don't naturally match any other songs in the list making it hard to place.

The Highlanders - 'Rez' by Underworld

Reasons: I know Doug loves it, and for good reason. The big fat techno loops pointillistically rise and collapse in a fugue that can be utterly hypnotic. DJ say 'I dare you not to dance'.

The Severed Heads - 'Lonestar' - by The Severed Heads

Reason: I almost avoided the obvious problem of which Severed Heads song to pick by going off the reservation and selecting another band entirely ('the Hypothesist' by Novilero - call it my album's bonus track). Then I checked my iPod's 'most played' file and noticed that this one was still hanging in at numero uno a full year after I loaded it up. Sometimes, these things pick themselves.

Let me know what you think...