1. "King of Carrot Flowers Pt. I"
Neutral Milk Hotel, "In the Aeroplane Over the Sea"
Jeff Mangum's weighty, acoustic strum begins 1998's opus, "In the Aeroplane Over the Sea." Clocking in at just two minutes, Mangum's voice pours itself out declaring, "This is the room one afternoon I knew I could love you." Mangum softens you up before making you entirely uncomfortable in the next song, "King of Carrot Flowers Pt. II," with lines like, "I love you, Jesus Christ." What's that supposed to mean coming from a guy who sings about dead Holocaust victims? So this is what they mean when they call something an "instant classic."
2. "Black and White"
The dB's, "Stands for deciBels & Repercussions"
Nothing on the dB's album can top this opening track. It's really quite unfortunate when everything falls short of the high hopes established by song one, but in the case of "Black and White," it doesn't matter. It's kicky, upbeat and more danceable than any hipster clich? on the face of the Earth, without invoking all of the negative side effects. It just doesn't come this good anymore.
3. "Split Personality"
12Rods, "Split Personalities"
Oh, 12Rods. You were once so good. Yes, all of your albums past "Split Personalities" basically sucked. But this lone song could very well make up for an entire back catalog of misguided rocking and rolling. Ryan Olcott belts out, "I can't give you the information, I can't give you the time" with more gusto than an opera singer, while the entire track is carried by a distinct, jazzy keyboard line. It still doesn't come this good.
4. "Spit on a Stranger"
Pavement, "Terror Twilight"
A great drum roll opens Pavement's 1999 album and makes you think that they're going to kick out the jams right off the bat. But then a lilting guitar sets in, as Stephen Malkmus' near-saccharine voice croons out, "However you feel, whatever it takes, whenever it's real, whatever awakes, whatever you need, however so slight, whenever it's real, whenever it's right." This narrowly beats out "Summer Babe (Winter Version)," off of 1992's "Slanted & Enchanted" as greatest Pavement opener, simply for the line, "Honey I'm a prize and you're a catch and we're a perfect
match." Aw.
5. "Biomusicology"
Ted Leo & the Pharmacists, "The Tyranny of Distance"
Anyone who tosses in casual T.S. Eliot references and musings about the "vastness of pavement" to the first song is destined for greatness. "Biomusicology" is driven by maybe the simplest drum and bass lines possible, yet when Leo breaks it down and starts singing about "chasing sea foam dreams around another dirty old town," the song becomes far more complex than any of us mere mortals can comprehend. "Oed und leer, das meer," dude.
6. "Bridges and Balloons"
Joanna Newsom, "The Milk-Eyed Mender"
This is arguably Joanna Newsom at her most whimsical. In "Bridges and Balloons," she's not cutesy ("Peach, Plum, Pear") but also not particularly heavy on the intellgencia ("En Gallop," perhaps). She sings of sailing and the sea, all metaphors for something much deeper, waiting to be understood. Newsom's weapon of choice is a harp disguised as a guitar disguised as some sort of angelic power, and it sets in full speed ahead.
7. "Debaser"
The Pixies, "Doolittle"
The Pixies manage to make any pretentious art history or film student feel like a regular champion when they chant, "Slicing up eyeballs ... I am un chien Andalusia!" Random, irreverent Salvador Dali references make "Debaser" the quintessential weird-Pixies song.
8. "Random Rules"
Silver Jews, "American Water"
David Berman's lyrical prowess competes heavy-handedly with any of the indie rock greats. Like Jason Molina and Charles Bissell, he taps on this blue-collar, working man's blues that invokes such literature as "Jesus' Son" by Denis Johnson. In some delightful Pavement mash-up, Berman invites Stephen Malkmus to show up periodically. And it is so good.
9. "Cherry-Coloured Funk"
Cocteau Twins, "Heaven or Las Vegas"
Before there was slow-core, there were Cocteau Twins. Before there was awesome, there were Cocteau Twins. "Cherry-Coloured Funk" kicks off 1990's "Heaven or Las Vegas" with the esoteric, indecipherable weight that Cocteau Twins is known for. Elizabeth Fraser's voice leaps between thick and jazzy, invoking Nina Simone, to the near-falsetto that jars the ear while intriguing it at the same time.
10. "The Best Ever Death Metal Band"
The Mountain Goats, "All Hail West Texas"
"When you punish a person for dreaming his dream, don't expect him to thank or forgive you ... Hail Satan!" With lines like that, this touching story of two friends whose dreams of death-metal stardom are squelched has definitely secured a spot in the top 10 best first songs.
