Welcome to a Foolhardy Idea

Welcome to the badly titled Everyone Has Got one Good Song blog thing.

I used to curate a Twitter thing called 365DayChallenge. In 2019 I asked a question every day and the people of Twitter responded. It was fun, but tiring. I gave it up and it fell into ruin late last year. Only so many questions you can ask of people.

But I like the challenge of a daily bit of writing and responding and thinking about things. So I had this idea instead.

My dear friend Garry once said that everyone has got one great song. We were drunkenly dancing to Never Forget by Take That at the time. But the point stands. So I've been thinking.

What if there was a BEST OF MUSIC. Like the Stephen Wright joke. Except it's like a playlist I can keep adding to until there's no more room.

Building the ultimate playlist with one simple rule. One artist. One song. Each day will feature a song by an artist whose birthday is that day and then nine other songs by nine different artists just because people like things to be in tens.

If you want to share this on Twitter you could use the hashtag #EHGOGS.

So. Today’s opening selection.

Our featured birthday artist is Bernard Sumner who, with the possible exception of Mark E Smith, appears on more of my favourite records than anyone else.

Decided to go with a New Order song, the band that took me from childhood things to adolescent wondering and yearning. Despite not really liking much of what they’ve done since 1993, I still listen to them a lot and I’ve gone with a song that very few bands would have relegated to a mere B-side. The original version is better than the remix. No arguments, I’m right. 

And also we have....

Wilmot – Sabres of Paradise  because Weatherall was a mensch and this is the only song I know that my Dad bought a 12 inch single of after hearing it in a nightclub in Turkey. He's in his mid 70s now and still loves a tune.

Zucht 2 – Machinefabriek – because ambient electronic stormy noise is how I feel about the weather outside today. Pretty sure you can blame Jamie Brittain for introducing me to this.

Crooked Ways – Propaganda – not the Germanic synth goth types foisted on us by Paul Morley though they’ll feature one day I’m sure. I like articulate, political hip hop a lot more than I like cars and bitches hip hop.

Wordy Rappinghood – Tom Tom Club - because Tina Weymouth is cooler than you.

Call It What You Want – Credit to the Nation. Yeah it’s an obvious sample to have used at the time but he did it and did it brilliantly. Nothing could be more early 1993. One of the worst times of my life and this record was playing a lot at the kind of speed and vodka flavoured gatherings I was comforting myself by attending at the time.

It Makes a Long Time Man Feel Bad – 22 – cos I like the title. And it’s beautiful.

365 – Paz Lechantin. A song foisted on me twice last year by very different people. I like it.

The Witch – Cult – reminds me of my mate Hippy Chris who would walk around Carmarthen barefoot and tell people to worship Satan for a laugh. He’s a headmaster now.

Jesus Built My Hotrod – Ministry – because sometimes you just have to applaud the title of a song and hope for the best when listening. And it purrs...

Tomorrow it's Iris de Ment and nine more....