Terradoll's Top Ten Tunes And Why You Should Listen To Them

I was wondering how long it would be until the conventional 'top ten' lists started to appear on my blog... A disappointingly short time, by the look of it! But anyway...

Music is very important to me, as both a means of escapism and as inspiration for my ideas – both creative and socio-cultural. My favourite music has an impact on how I think, act and write, and has effectively helped make me who I am. I cannot go a half a day without listening to something on my iPod, and have to buy new CDs practically weekly to stop myself getting withdrawal symptoms. Basically, I listen to music a lot.
I was having a listen through loads of my old and favourite music today – a break from the extreme riot grrrl punk rock phase I’ve been having recently – and thought I should compile a list of my favourite songs ever to put my music taste into perspective (when you keep having genre-phases, it’s sometimes hard to remember all those songs that you love). So here is a list of ten (you have no idea how long it took to whittle it down to that lovely round number!) of my favourite songs ever, in no particular order, and why you should listen to them sometime too.
And I apologise in advance for inflicting my strange, eclectic music taste on you!

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Angelspit - Lust Worthy
Any of Angelspit’s songs are seriously worth a listen to, but this is definitely my favourite – although, to be honest, I am unsure why. It differs from many of Angelspit’s other tracks in that it has an unusually slow beat and very dark sound, but retaining an awesome tune and attitude-laced clever lyrics. Plus it contains perhaps my favourite Angelspit lyrics ever: ‘I hate, therefore I ain’t / I am nothing but my own disease’.

Emilie Autumn – Opheliac
The first song I ever heard by Emilie, so of course it has its own little place in my heart. The mixture of the opening harpsichord melody, Emilie’s characteristic Victorian-industrial awesomeness, the Shakespeare quotes and Emilie’s crazy-Ophelia voice in the chorus undoubtedly make ‘Opheliac’ one of her best songs. If you only listen to one song from this list, make it this one!

I:Scintilla – Ultravioletfly
Like ‘Lust Worthy’ from ‘Blood Death Ivory’, ‘Ultravioletfly’ is another stand-out track from an album, in this case I:Scintilla’s ‘Optics’. Why do I like this track? To put it simply: everything about this track is unbelievably awesome. I:Scintilla are one of my favourite lyricists, and ‘Ultravioletfly’ contains some of the best lyrics on the album, not to mention awesome guitar, synths, melody and rhythmic effects. The best of an album full of great songs.

The Birthday Massacre – Blue
The Birthday Massacre is another band with great lyrics and great music – and they have always been a major inspiration to me. And this, my top-played track on iTunes, is no exception. For a while every single thing I wrote was somehow inspired by this song (obsessive, much?), including my GCSE coursework piece, and the themes of duplicity, split personalities and internal conflicts remain some of my main literary preoccupations today all because of this song. It’s Chibi’s voice that really makes this song so special, contrasting with and complimenting the dark chugging guitars and the retroclash electro-bleeps so well. And I have always longed to be able to replicate her growl!

Lunachicks – Binge & Purge
The first song I ever heard by the Lunachicks, and I have loved them ever since. ‘Binge and Purge’, the title song of the album, is a perfect example of the Lunachicks’ mix of fun post-punk rock and comic lyrics (with added puke noises!) with a serious message that became the Lunachicks’ trademark style. Definitely one to jump around and sing along to!

Bikini Kill – Feels Blind
As well as their well-known feminist-centred catchy punk rock songs that have become the ‘anthems’ of the riot grrrl movement, like ‘Rebel Girl’ and ‘Double Dare Ya’, Bikini Kill also wrote some great slower, more emotional songs. ‘Feels Blind’ is one of these, with a narrator who stands ‘in the doorway of [her] demise’ and who is doomed to only feel blind forever. Of course it would not be Bikini Kill without some kind of feminist message, as it talks about the debilitation of women and the limitation of their lives in a patriarchal society. Powerful stuff with a really great melody.

Emilie Autumn – Let The Record Show
Another epic Emilie song! I can’t really think of a specific reason of why I like this song so much, I think its awesomeness must just owe to the delicious darkness of the lyrics and music, the biting Victorian-industrial edge and Emilie’s coolness and originality. She is one talented woman.

Lunachicks – Superstrong
‘Take this! Take that! But no one is ever going to take my fucking rights back!’ An awesome song about women’s rights concerning freedom from sexual harassment (both visual and physical) by men. Theo’s gruff, masculine voice in this and the humour and attitude of the lyrics make it one of the best tracks off ‘Binge and Purge’. It’s just more proof that the Lunachicks = awesome.

The Birthday Massacre – Weekend
To be honest, there were several contenders from TBM’s ‘Walking With Stranger’s album for this spot in the list, including ‘Goodnight’ and the title track, but ‘Weekend’ cinched it, being my most-listened-to out of the three. A song that reminds me of autumn leaves, shiny wrapping paper and the colour purple, ‘Weekend’ never fails to make me smile.

Evanescence – Whisper
Truthfully, I haven’t listened to any Evanescence in ages, but when I was an angsty tween I listened to little else. There are so many songs of theirs I absolutely adored when I was in that phase, but Whisper remained my one favourite – the song that introduced me to their music. And the guitar riffs and Amy Lee’s voice mean this song remains a great listen to this day. I have to thank Evanescence for introducing me to all the music I listen to now (albeit in a very roundabout way), so in some ways this is the most important song on the list, because without this, none of the others would be there!

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And because I know that you’ll be dying to listen to all these tracks now, after I’ve sold them to you so well, I’ve made a playlist of all these songs on my last.fm page, which can be found here.
Enjoy!