THE VERY BEST OF.......

Amongst my record collection are numerous compilations - Greatest Hits, Best Of's and Singles Collections. Whilst i might sneer in the manner of Barry from High Fidelity at anyone whose music library consists solely of such albums, they are an essential part of musical discovery, especially in the case of any artist who has a long career and a large back catalogue. They are how i discovered older music in my teens - Punk, New Wave, Synthpop, Bowie, even my beloved Madness (of whom i own half a dozen compilations, even though they have more or less the same songs on!), and a well curated Best Of can often revive interest in a band whose star may have faded or whose name might not be known to the wider public. Multi-artist compilations are a big seller - the continuing success of the NOW That's What I Call Music series, currently on 101, is testament to that, and a well placed track on such a collection can alert people to music that they might not have heard otherwise. I've had a few editions of NOW over the years, amongst other similar compilations, although that was mostly in my teens, and i've often preferred to compile my own, first on cassette, then the ill-fated MiniDisc, then latterly as a digital playlist on an iPod. Most of these have been single artist collections, or Best of (insert year here), but i have tried to compile my all time favourite singles more than once, inspired by books such as This Is Uncool: The 500 Greatest Singles Since Punk And Disco by the music writer Garry Mullholland. That particular book took 1976 as its starting point, chiefly because that was the year that the writer started his record collection, and ended with a cut off point a good 18 months before the book was published as the writer felt that 18 months was the amount of time needed for a song to prove itself as a lasting classic - if you're still listening to and loving a song after that amount of time then it truly is a great. I first started compiling my favourite singles (including album tracks and so on just makes it too difficult!) in 2002 when the UK Singles Chart, the hallowed Top 40, celebrated its 50th anniversary. It started out as a Top 100, but after being written and rewritten several times (i worked nights and had a lot of time to think about it) i finally committed it to a few MiniDiscs', whose editing facility meant that i could still rejig it afterwards. Picking your favourite songs is a difficult exercise when you have an ever-growing collection and eclectic tastes! And how do you rank one over another? There is also the risk of letting any critics lists in magazines and such interfere with your own critical faculties, something that i did more than once. But as you get older you start to care less about the opinions of others in matters of taste, and the only thing that makes compiling my own favourites is the sheer volume of music that i love. I once tried to compile it chronologically, which was interesting but somehow less satisfying. The way i'm trying to narrow it down at the moment is to write down a maximum of 10 favourites by each artist as a guide. Still difficult though! Maybe i should pick my favourites by year and use that as a guide....... even as i look at the list so far i'm realising i've missed songs out! And it will no doubt change as time goes on and i hear new music......

Here is the (largely unchanging, but....) Top 40:

1: My Girl - Madness
2: Ghost Town - The Specials
3: Down In The Tube Station At Midnight - The Jam
4: It's A Sin - Pet Shop Boys
5: Faster - Manic Street Preachers
6: Infinity - Guru Josh
7: Basket Case - Green Day
8: What A Waste! - Ian Dury
9: "Heroes" - David Bowie
10: Bigmouth Strikes Again - The Smiths
11: Buddy Holly - Weezer
12: Tears Of A Clown - The Beat
13: Joga - Bjork
14: Transmission - Joy Division
15: Do You Remember The First Time? - Pulp
16: Made Of Stone - The Stone Roses
17: Karma Police - Radiohead
18: On My Radio - The Selecter
19: (White Man) In Hammersmith Palais - The Clash
20: Making Plans For Nigel - XTC
21: Mansize Rooster - Supergrass
22: (Waiting For) The Ghost Train - Madness
23: Gangsters - The Specials
24: Chemical World - Blur
25: Lorraine - Bad Manners
26: Stay Young - Ultrasound
27: Teenage Kicks - The Undertones
28: Beat Surrender - The Jam
29: A Forest - The Cure
30: Vision Incision - Lo-Fidelity Allstars
31: William, It Was Really Nothing - The Smiths
32: Grey Day - Madness
33: Party Fears Two - Associates
34: Road Rage - Catatonia
35: Hysteria - Muse
36: The Distance - Cake
37: Do Nothing - The Specials
38: That's Entertainment - The Jam
39: I Don't Mind - Buzzcocks
40: The Sound Of The Crowd - Human League