Welcome back again to my youtube favorite retrospective part 2! You know the deal, the list is done, and we’re looking back at all the hits that made us laugh, cry, and die. Let’s start rolling right where we left off!
#74. The Ramones, Blitzkrieg Bop – It’s more Ramones, the greatest and most original punk ever playing the shit out of Blitzkrieg Bop, in Germany of all places. Not bad for a bunch of Jewish guys from Queens.
#73. The Sex Pistols, Anarchy in the UK – When I was in college, I actually had a history professor show us this video as an example of historical outliers. That’s all well and good, but I was just fascinated with how the drummer sat at the front of the band.
#72. Elvis Costello, Pump it Up – Declan MacManus’s punky little pop jam. You gotta love Costello for essentially being the reincarnation of Buddy Holly in modern times, both physically, and musically.
#71. John Lennon, Instant Karma – A song about things that are instant, recorded in an instant. John was that fast at making masterpieces.
#70. The Kinks, Waterloo Sunset – The Kinks with their most gorgeous pop ballad, though I complain about it being overrated. Sometimes I’m a little bitch I guess.
#69. Ozzy Osbourne, How? – Ozzy tramping around NYC last spring looking to give John Lennon’s ghost some flowers. A beautiful journey…in HD!
#68. Jake Shimabukuro, While My Guitar Gently Weeps – All I’ll say is this, a ukelele is a beautiful thing, and it makes a beautiful gift. ; )
#67. R.E.M. It’s the End of the World as We Know It – Remember when the world was supposed to end on May 20th of 2011? Well it didn’t.
#66. The Kinks, Sunny Afternoon – The weather must have been getting really nice that week.
#65. Mama Cass, Joni Mitchell, Mary Travers, I Shall Be Released – Three angels of folk rock covering Bob’s immortal song about wrongful imprisonment. Gorgeous.
#64. Cream, Tale of Brave Ulysses – Psychedelic blues rock at its zenith. At the zenith of such a thing, I imagine someone takes a tab of acid right when their lover leaves them, and then immediately turns up their fender amp up to 10.
#63. Skip James, Chris Thomas King, Hard Time Killing Floor Blues – This is folk blues at its zenith. In this instance you just replace acid with whiskey.
#62. Biggie Smalls, Warning – The greatest NYC rapper of all time. Also, the greatest rapper of all time. Also, the coolest rapper of all time…
#61. The Rolling Stones, Like a Rolling Stone (Live) – Notice the symmetry in this one.
#60. The Beatles, I Should Have Known Better – My favorite early Beatles song ever. Not even a debate in my mind.
#59. Ween, The Mollusk – From their album of the same name. A psychedelic masterstroke.
#58. Oingo Boingo, Dead Man’s Party – Immortalized in the Rodney Dangerfield classic “Back to School.” It’s a classic I say!
#57. The Kinks, You Really Got Me – Screw you Jimmy Page..screw you.
#56. George Harrison, Ravi Shankar, Sitar Lesson, Within You Without You – Within You Without You is better than “A Day in the Life.” Go on, fight me about it.
#55. Bob Marley, Stir it Up – Why is this man dead? Why LORD WHY??
#54. James Brown, Get on the Good Foot – The greatest first two seconds of any video on my countdown, easily.
#53. The Flaming Lips, Talkin’ Bout Smiling Deathporn Immortality Blues – The greatest titled blues song ever. I guess it’s not really a blues song. Hmm..It’d be cool to try and make it one though…
#52. The Rolling Stones, Angie – A song that came from the turmoil of childbirth and drug abuse. And what a beautiful baby it was.
#51. Ween, Mutilated Lips – The Flaming Lips should cover this one. They really should. Get on it Wayne. Also, the Flamings Lips should go on a mega tour with Ween. A lot of brilliant ideas in this countdown.
#50. The Beatles, You Never Give Me Your Money – Ahh..posted the day I was laid off…sweet sweet bitter memories…