Glenn's Top 101 Songs of All Time: 30-21

101-91
90-81
80-71
70-61
60-51
50-41
40-31

30.
Artist: ABBA
Song: Take a Chance on Me
Album: The Album (1978)
Watch The Video
Did ABBA create beatboxing? They've done so much, it wouldn't surprise me if they did invent the weird hip-hop thing. This song features, clearly, one of the most famous and (let's be honest) best opening moments of a song. The girls singing their lyrics and the boys repeating "take a chance" over again in a style reminiscent of modern day beatboxing (i would hesitate to call it beatboxing, but in essense they are creating the music). The rest of the song is an orgy or pop motifs and hooks. My favourite moment is the "It's magic!" The video, too, is wonderful. Has anyone since tried to be sexually forthcoming while wearing a woolen sweater? If you like the video, check out the version done by Erasure from their Abbaresque album. Remember that album? I didn't realise how extremely bizarre that whole Erasure-does-ABBA was at the time because I wasn't Abbafied then. These days the camp value is threefold over anything ABBA themselves did. Much like Madonna's "Express Yourself", I'm sure this played some part in the whole gay factor - okay, I've gotten way off track now, back to ABBA. This is my favourite ABBA track and there's no wonder why it is always a fan favourite.

29.
Artist: Cyndi Lauper
Song: Time After Time
Album: She's So Unusual (1983)
Watch The Video
After the long endless rant of #30, I'll keep this one brief. Who doesn't love this song? Really. Anyone? I'm not hearing any disagreements with me. There were a few Cyndi songs I wanted to include - "I Drove All Night" and "True Colors" especially - but this is the only one that made it. It is just so good. Those synths, those vocals, those lyrics. It's used in a bunch of great movies too like Romy & Michelle and Strictly Ballroom. My favourite cover cersion is probably Eva Cassidy. The video is a treat. Who in their right mind believed Cyndi as a teenager? LOL!

28.
Artist: Tom Tom Club
Song: Who Feelin' It? [Phillip's Psycho Mix]
Album: OST American Psycho (2000) -original mix from The Good, The Bad and the Funky (2000)
The Tom Tom Club are weird (just listen to their debut hit Wordy Rappinghood). It turns out they're still making music sort of. I was always under the impression that this song from the '80s (it's on one of my favourite soundtrack, American Psycho in the remixed form that is on the chart). I like the Phillip's Psycho Mix more because it does sound incredibly '80s. It reminds me of Eric B & Rakim and those sort've cut-and-paste artists as I like to call them. "Who Feelin' It" is a wonderful bizarre concoction. What you gonna do when you miss your mark? Chill out and choose a brand you start.

27.
Artist: Gwen Stefani
Song: What You Waiting For?
Album: Love.Angel.Music.Baby. (2004)
Watch The Video*
The moment I heard this song for the first time I knew it was something special. It sounded radically different to what anybody expected, yet at the same time felt entirely right for her. It was like the new loud person of your circle of friends. They're there, you can't ignore them. The music is brash and Gwen's vocals are fierce. But what I love are the lyrics! My favourite bit is "Look at your watch now/You're still a super-hot female/You got you're million dollar contract/And they're all waiting for hot track." And to top it all all the video is a masterpiece. Just WOW.

*Please note that the original video doesn't exist on YouTube for some reason, so I've linked to a mashup of Gwen's "What You Waiting For" and Madonna's "Hung Up". I'm fairly certain this is genius. Seriously, that is quite possibly the best mashup I've ever heard (even better than the mashup of Madonna's "Like a Prayer" and Eurythmics' "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)".

26.
Artist: Diana Ross
Song: I'm Coming Out
Album: N/A (1980)
Just so you know, this song wasn't on any album apparently. And if it was I can't find out which one. It was on the soundtrack to The Last Days of Disco though, and that's where I first heard it. Now let me get this out of the way - I don't like this song because it's a gay anthem or what have you. I like it because it's a genius moment of pop disco. Luckily for y'all non-disco loving people there's only 2 more true disco songs on the countdown. Anyway, back to "I'm Coming Out". Yes, the song is about "coming out" and about being your big bold brassy self "I'm coming out/I want the world to know/Got to let it show" and came at an awkward time for gay people, but that doesn't make it a great song. What makes it a great song is the way Diana sings it, the blending of disco, new wave and funk and through, yes, the lyrics. It celebrates life (not just gay life) and is a classic of the genre. There's no video, either.

25.
Artist: Janet Jackson
Song: Love Will Never Do (Without You)
Album: Janet Jackson's Rhythm Nation 1814 (1989)
Watch The Video
Have you forgotten how brilliant Janet Jackson's Rhythm Nation album was? Well, this song was the 7th single release. SEVEN! That's almost unheard of! Funny then that it should not only be my favourite song from the album, but also from Janet in general. I'm not entirely sure what it is, but it's there. Possibly the mixing of an absolutely killer chorus, kickass synths and drums, Janet's vocals and the overwhelming sense of fun that runs through it. Yeah, I think that's it. And yes, the video is the famous black and white video that made Antonia Sabato Jr a "star" - but note that the video version of the song is NOT the album version.

24.
Artist: Sugababes
Song: Freak Like Me
Album: Angels With Dirty Faces (2002)
Watch The Video
Richard X is a genius, I'm pretty darn certain on that. Before he released his X-Factor album (which was astonishingly good) he had his paws on two tracks. "Freak Like Me" by Adina Howard (which itself featured multiple samples), and "Are 'Friends; Electric" by Gary Numan (#86 on the countdown). How he came across the idea to merge these two songs together and get British pop extraordinairs the Sugababes to sing it is beyond me (i do now though), but god am I thankful he did it. "Being Boiled" so very nearly made it onto this countdown, but the original "Freak" didn't tickle my fancy. The song is just exceptional, really. You forget all about the previous versions as this one is so fresh and altogether different. The Sugababes have made many (MANY) great pop songs, but this is the best. And the video clip is stunning, too. A three minute hyperactive horror movie.

23.
Artist: Bruce Springsteen
Song: Tunnel of Love
Album: Tunnel of Love (1987)
Watch The Video
Of all the artists that appear in the Top 30, Bruce is the one with the second highest amount (that would be three, two more to come). Bruce is an artist that I really like because unlike a lot of rock artists he's not afraid of doing things that others would find "puncy" or whatever. He still remains very masculine. He uses synths, he does pop songs, he writes about young love. "Tunnel of Love" is a fine example of all of these things. This song drowns itself in lost nostalgia and wraps you up in a big warm blanket to comfort you. It charms it's way into my heart. God, I love Bruce Springsteen so freakin' much.

*Please note, the clip is of a live performance because nobody has put the real video up. :( However, when Bruce starts on his guitar, it's really great. I LOVE YOU BRUCE!!!!!

22.
Artist: Lauryn Hill
Song: Everything is Everything
Album: The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill (1998)
Watch The Video
A song by a hip-hop artist that celebrates life and joy and makes beauty out of the streets (as one of my favourite videos ever makes even clearer)? Why how could it be? That's what Lauryn Hill did on "Everything is Everything" is bewitching track that, like "Tunnel of Love" above, just sucks you into it's infectious joie de vivre. My favourite part is the rap in the middle, which I know off my heart and sorta have to sing every time it comes on. And, man, is that video ace or what? I just wish Lauryn would make some new music. "You can't match this/Rapper slash actress/More powerful than two Cleopatras" indeed.

21.
Artist: Hole
Song: Boys on the Radio
Album: Celebrity Skin (1998)
And now for something completely different. I've waxed lyrical on Courtney Love's rock grunge group Hole before (#88 "Miss World"), but when it came for their album Celebrity Skin much had passed. Kurt Cobain, Love's husband and musical guiding light, had committed suicide, typical grunge had gone out of popular music and a new form of bands had come along to changed rock music. Love, working with Smashing Pumpkins' Billy Corgan, decided to take Hole in a new direction - California Rock. The album remains one of my all-time favourites. The best song, in my opinion, is "Boys on the Radio". Love's vocal power is remarkable on this track, as is the loud and powerful (but never overbearing) guitars. But, if anything, this track is one of (as in top five) the best written tracks on the countdown. Look at those lyrics and you can see so much. "I know what you're running to/Please come back" "In your endless summer night/I'll be on the other side" "Turn around and you will find my empty eyes/Your beauty blinds". At times, the song is a love letter to Cobain, at times it's an angry slinging match. At all times, it's brilliant.

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So my top 20 favourite songs of all time starts in the next installment. In the 20-11 section we have disco, electronica, pop, ballads and a girl group that like to go for long walks on the beach. ;)