Hello there HTF readers, your lovely Rock editor here Rhian! Compiling this list of my top 10 tracks of all time was a bloody difficult task, it took weeks of list making and changes. The list itself was difficult enough to compile that these are in no order what-so-ever. Depending on how I am feeling will depend on what track I love the most. All of these tracks remind me about certain periods of my life (most of which were within my teenage years!) and making this list reiterated a few facts. Firstly there’s no denying it I was engulfed into the emo culture of the 00’s. But also I seem to be a hopeless romantic, there’s no way to hide it!
So here goes my random mix of favourite tracks. Let me know if you agree with any (or i’m assuming in most cases) don’t agree with!
I Miss You- Blink 182‘I Miss You’ was one of the first ‘rock’ songs I had ever heard, I still remember
Fearne Cotton playing it on Smile: TV back in the early 00’s on a Sunday morning and being mezmerized by
Tom Delonge’s voice. I had never really listened to anything heavier than
McFly and
Busted (they had guitars: what more did you want?!) I still remember getting their self titled album back in 2003 and thinking as a 13 year old kid that this was the sort of music I should be listening to. It is pretty much thanks to this song alone that I list to the music I do today. So thank you
Blink 182 and thank you
Fearne Cotton!
Truly, Madly, Deeply- Savage GardenI really have no real idea how and why I ever first heard this song but I was 7 when it was released and i’m sure it was played all over the radio and probably engrained itself into my subconscious without me realizing back then. But for a long time i’ve not been able to put my finger on why but this has been one of my favourite songs. It’s the sort of song which I can still listen to on repeat now, but I just can’t watch the video (My god
Darren Hayes hair!)
This Is Halloween- Danny ElfmanThis song really doesn’t need much of an explanation. For anybody who knows me will know that ever since I can remember (probably when it was first released)
The Nightmare Before Christmas has been my favorite film. Down to the fact that I can now say word-for-word the entire script alongside singing EVERY single song (wonderfully well I may add! :p) There is something special about this movie which I truly believe you don’t see in modern day films. From the first moment that I watched this movie I fell in love with everything about it.
Tim Burton is of course my favorite director and
Danny Elfman is my favorite composer. Being the opening track to the movie gives
‘This Is Halloween’ a very special place in my heart!
Beauty In The Breakdown- The Scene AestheticAgain this is another one of those songs I have no idea how I came about really. When I was 16 (in the height of my ’emo’ phase) this seemed like the perfect song to me. Melodic and truly beautiful, now 8 years later I still stand by the beauty in this song.
The Scene Aesthetic may not be a great band (they may never have been a great band to be honest!) but this song still has a place in my heart that will be difficult to remove.
I Write Sins Not Tragedies- Panic! At The DiscoPanic! At The Disco were always a very special band for me because it was at one of their shows that I realized my real passion for live music. My first ‘real’ (non pop) gig was a
Panic! At The Disco show at Brixton Academy in October of 2006. I had just started my first real job (a job I am actually still in now!) and making this trip into London to see my favorite band of the time made me seem very grown up. I remember so much from this day. I remember getting to Brixton at 10am (because that’s what you did back then) and being near enough at the front. I remember it raining and having to take shelter under a shower curtain that some girls had bought in Tesco. I remember holding on to that barrier for dear life when the show started and elbowing/ hitting anyone who even deared pass me.
‘I Write Sins Not Tragedies’ is the song I remember so vividly from this night and will forever remind me of why I love live music so much.
I Don’t Want To Miss A Thing- AerosmithI don’t know if it’s an odd thing that I love this song so much yet I still haven’t seen
Armageddon. There is just something pretty special about
Steven Tyler’s voice and this voice showcases everything that I love about this band. I remember when they were announced for Download Festival a few years ago and I was so excited, yet for unfortunate weather related issues I ended up leaving on Sunday before they were due to play and being so gutted. Thus next years announcement has got me so excited that you can expect to see me down the front ready to sway and possibly cry to this song! (Although I will definitely blame it on too much alcohol and not pure emotion!)
Five Colours In Her Hair- McFlyIt wouldn’t be a count down of my top songs without a small dose of the pop music which brought me through my younger years. I am 100% not afraid to admit that almost 11 years since first seeing the band live (12th March 2003!) that they are still one of my favorite bands. Everyone has to have a bit of light hearted fun in their life and for me
McFly is just that. Just as I have grown up with them, they have grown up with me.
‘Five Colours In Her Hair’ was for obvious reasons the first
McFly track to reach my ears and from their its been love. This track does not get old for me and the delight to hear it live and see a bunch of 20 something girls such as myself lose all dignity jumping around like 13 year old’s is a sight to brighten any day!
Memory- SugarcultSugarcult were never a band I knew a whole lot about: I only really paid them much attention when I found out they were supporting Blink 182 on their UK tour back in the early 00’s but from the first moment I heard their album
‘Palm Trees And Power Lines’ I knew there was something about this band I loved. I actually heard
‘Memory’ acoustic the the first time I heard it on record and for about 3 years I thought this was the original. It was only years later did I realize that the original version was faster paced and bouncier. I love both versions but the acoustic will always be my first love. Plus who doesn’t love an acoustic guitar?!
Summer Nights- Olivia Newton John/ John TravoltaGrease was one of the biggest parts of my childhood growing up, I probably saw it hundreds of time as a kid in my Nan’s house with the family. And I never got sick of it (either that or I was too young to tell anyone I was!)
Grease was the film that gave me my love for musicals (that still carries on today!) and I remember always saying to my Nan when I was younger that I wanted a perm hair do like
Sandy at the end of
Grease. (Fortunately that hair do never materialized! Thank god!) But this is probably another film I could probably quote near enough word-for-word. It’s a little more feel good than most of the other tracks in my top 10 so maybe i’m not as depressing as this list may have you believe.
I’m Not Okay (I Promise)- My Chemical RomanceThe final track to appear on my top 10 was a bloody easy decision to make.
‘Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge’ was one of the first albums I purchased after discovering my life for things a little heavier! I remember at 14 years old finding out that the band were playing London’s Astoria (RIP) and asking my parents to go. They took one look at the album cover of
‘Three Cheers’ with the blood spatters, crosses and a scary looking
Gerard Way and point blank said no. I bet they thought it was a phase I would grow out of (sadly for them it wasn’t!).
‘I’m Not Okay’ not only sound-tracked pretty much that year of my life but most of my teenage years. From the quirky video, to how beautiful
Frank Iero looked in the video to the humerous lyrics.
‘I’m Not Okay (I Promise)’ I believe is one of the best tracks ever written. You can judge me all you want but
My Chemical Romance were at their absolute height during this time. Sadly much can’t be said for albums post
‘Black Parade’.
Special mentions have to go to the few tracks who were so close to making this list:
The Righteous Brothers- Unchained Melody
Fall Out Boy- Pretty In Punk
Biffy Clyro- Folding Stars
Bring Me The Horizon- Football Season Is Over
Complied and written by: Rhian Westbury
