As 2013 was the year I got my hearing back and rediscovered the joys of music, here are ten top ten lists covering the various categories of stuff that I listen to regularly as well as clips of my number one choices so you can hear for yourself if they are worthy of the top spot 🙂 …
1. Classical music
Orpheus and Eurydice – Dance of the Blessed Spirits – Gluck Brandenburg Concerto No 3 – Bach Water Music – Handel Nulla in Mundo Pax Sincera – Vivaldi Pictures at an Exhibition – Mussorgsky Fireworks Music – Handel Ode to Joy – Beethoven Minuet from Symphony No 40 – Mozart Mass in B Minor – Bach |
This is a recording of the BBC Proms performance I attended at the Royal Albert Hall in August 2013 |
2. Classic prog rock
In Your Eyes – Peter Gabriel In The Cage – Genesis Us and Them – Pink Floyd Digging in the Dirt – Peter Gabriel Song of Swords – Hawkwind Son of Alerik – Deep Purple Brighton Rock – Queen Xanadu – Rush Follow You, Follow Me – Genesis |
This is the fantastic O2 performance of The Wall I attended in 2011 a few days after David Gilmour made his surprise and well received appearance on top of the wall. |
3. Classic hard rock
Paranoid – Black Sabbath Communication Breakdown – Led Zeppelin Heaven and Hell – Black Sabbath Back in Black – AC/DC Young Lust – Aerosmith Perfect Strangers – Deep Purple Pour Some Sugar On Me – Def Leppard Enter Sandman – Metallica Pride (In the name of love) – U2 |
Awesome track from a band that’s almost 50 years old now and influenced the majority of bands elsewhere on my lists |
4. Classic punk
Gotta Getaway – Stiff Little Fingers Complete Control – The Clash West One (Shine on me) – The Ruts Johnny Was – Stiff Little Fingers Requiem – Killing Joke Something That I Said – The Ruts California Uber Alles – Dead Kennedys Totally Wired – The Fall Rise – Public Image Limited |
The band I loved as a teenager and my parents hated is now regarded as the most influential in the history of popular music |
5. Classic electropop
You Take Me Up – Thompson Twins See You – Depeche Mode Only You – Yazoo Sweet Dreams – Eurythmics Sometimes – Erasure Vienna – Ultravox Love Action – The Human League All of My Heart – ABC I Second That Emotion – Japan |
Pleased to see my favourite ‘alternative’ band from the 80’s is still going strong after 30 years |
6. Classic and contemporary blues rock
Shooting Star – Bad Company Wishing Well – Free Feel like Makin’ Love – Bad Company Empty Rooms – Gary Moore Free Bird – Lynyrd Skynyrd Paint it Black – The Rolling Stones Still Got The Blues – Gary Moore Sultans of Swing – Dire Straits La Grange – ZZ Top |
Superb performance at the Royal Albert Hall from the “best living guitarist you’ve never heard of” |
7. Contemporary rock
Notion – Kings of Leon Bring Me To Life – Evanescence Killing In The Name – Rage Against the Machine Plug in Baby – Muse How You Remind Me – Nickelback Another Man’s Cause – The Levellers If You Tolerate This – Manic Street Preachers Vertigo – U2 Dani California – Red Hot Chilli Peppers |
Voted the most exciting live act of all time this is the band top of my list for the next outing of my hearing aids |
8. Contemporary hard rock
Lithium – Nirvana The Pretender – Foo Fighters Slither – Velvet Revolver Save Me – Black Country Communion Papercut – Linkin Park Before I Forget – Slipknot Show Me How To Live – Audioslave Tears Don’t Fall – Bullet For My Valentine Nightmare – Avenged Sevenfold |
This great combination of hard rockers and punks has produced some of my favourite tracks |
9. Contemporary punk/emo
Fat Lip – Sum 41 I’m Not OK – My Chemical Romance American Idiot – Green Day All the Small Things – Blink-182 This Ain’t a Scene – Fall Out Boy Welcome to the Black Parade – My Chemical Romance Misery Business – Paramore Break Stuff – Limp Bizkit Last Resort – Papa Roach |
Green Day have been voted the best punk band of all time in some polls. They are good but not as good as most of the bands on my classic punk list … |
10. Guilty pleasures
Love is all around – Wet, Wet, Wet I Don’t Feel Like Dancin’ – Scissor Sisters Flowers In The Window – Travis Baby Can I Hold You Tonight – Tracy Chapman Little Lies – Fleetwood Mac Crash and Burn – Savage Garden Frozen – Madonna Open Up – Leftfield (ft. John Lydon) I Want Your Body – Nymphomania |
Each of my ‘guilty pleasures’ touches an emotion and/or reminds me clearly of a point in time. I’ll say no more … |
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