1. Killer Queen - Queen
When I was a teenager, there were two bands/artists that I really loved - theirs were the first albums I bought, rather than just singles. David Bowie was one (see my next choice) and Queen were the other. Yes, spot the love of androgyny and camp even when I was thirteen years old! Queen's album Sheer Heart Attack just knocked my socks off when I first heard it, and watching the decadent Freddie Mercury singing Killer Queen on Top of the Pops was just so exciting.

2. Starman - David Bowie
My other teenage love. When my school friends were swooning over Donny Osmond and David Cassidy, I was captivated by the music and the style of David Bowie. It's hard to pick out one particular track that I like above all others, but Starman, from the Ziggy Stardust album, has to be it for the shock of seeing David on Top of the Pops, getting everso close and friendly with guitarist Mick Ronson during the song.

3. Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Part 1) - Pink Floyd
Towards the end of my teenage years, I discovered rock music. I was just a bit too young to appreciate Pink Floyd's ground-breaking Dark Side of the Moon album when it was released, but by the time the follow-up Wish You Were Here came out, I was ready to embrace this style of music. The opening track on the album is just gorgeous, and Dave Gilmour's guitar playing takes my breath away even 30-odd years later. The album closes with Part 2 which is also wonderful; live, the band often merge the two together into one song.

4. Comfortably Numb - The Scissor Sisters
Getting right up to date here, The Scissor Sisters have that same camp feel to them as my first two choices, and I just love their music. Some of their tracks sound like slightly edgy Elton John ballads. Some of them sound like the Beegees on speed. This particular track is a cover version of a Pink Floyd track (which is probably my second fave of theirs), but it's a manic disco version that is nothing like the original. Some po-faced Floyd fans were outraged by this sacrilege, but I just love it.

5. Kashmir - Led Zeppelin
Here, we're firmly in metal territory. Led Zep were probably the band that invented the genre, and Kashmir is just amazing. It comes from their Physical Graffiti album, which blends Middle Eastern rhythms, folk-stylings, heavy blues, and deeply impassioned rock riffs.

6. Highway Star - Deep Purple
Basic rock here, with a heavy but fun track about the joys of driving. Written long before the congestion charge and huge traffic jams on the motorways! Love that pounding baseline. It's on their Machine Head album, which I think is their best.

7. Good Vibrations - The Beach Boys
I always dismissed the Beach Boys as jolly surfy music - fun but disposable. Then I heard this track, with its multi-layered sound, including the wonderful swooping theramin in the background. Awesome! It was intended to be part of the legendary lost album, Smile, but you'll find it on just about every "Best of the Beach Boys" album released.

8. Hallelujah - Geoff Buckley
Geoff Buckley tragically died young after releasing just one album, called Grace. I only came across him last year, when I heard this track played on the radio. I think it's a cover of a Leonard Cohen song, who is someone I normally avoid like the plague. Geoff's version is just beautiful and haunting.

9. - It's A Sin - Pet Shop Boys
How to describe the Pet Shop Boys? Electronic dance music, modern pop music, striking and witty lyrics, deadpan vocals... they've had nearly forty hit singles since their first in 1985 and are still going strong. It's A Sin is a great song, but it has extra resonance for me because it reminds me of the time when I used to dance all night at discos, back in the era of extended 12" single remixes. It's from their second album, Actually.

10. - Solsbury Hill - Peter Gabriel
I loved the band Genesis back when Peter Gabriel was their lead singer, so when he left for a solo career, I was one of the many who eagerly awaited his first offerings. This was the first single, from his first solo album (simply named Peter Gabriel - as were his next 4 albums, confusingly). It's a jaunty, uplifting tune, and the lyrics are full of hope. Also full of the surreal images that were his trademark, both with Genesis and later.

More Top Tens

Back to Fed II page

Return to top of the page