OK, here we go - your favourite song.. EVER.

[The Curmudgeon]

Serious music fans that we all undoubtedly are (and by "serious" I mean actually CARE about the music you listen to, not treat it like some disposable, background commodity like some people nowadays), this may be a hard task. But hey, that's how we roll in the Fortress.

So - your favourite song EVER. One piece of music that stills gets you - right THERE - every single time. I actually asked this question to some people I know a few weeks ago. This one girl said "Apologize" by OneRepublic and I vetoed the answer. "Too recent." And then a guy said "Don't Wanna Miss a Thing" and I laughed my ass off (especially when he later changed it to "Back in Black" - I don't THINK so, your lame first answer is the only answer.) Ah yes, I'm obnoxious in real life too.

Anyway, my favourite song - EVER - would have to be a song called The Beautiful Ones by Prince, and part of me hates the fact its from the Purple Rain album, because I sound like one of those guys that think anything Prince did after 1987 is redundant. But at least its not Let's Go Crazy, When Doves Cry or the title track itself, which would be a far more obvious answer.

So yeah, The Beautiful Ones is a ballad that, instead of talking about how much in love Prince is with a girl and how great they are together etc, is actually taken from the viewpoint of a love triangle, with Prince asking the girl things like "do you want him, or do you want me?" (and even screaming it at the end, which always equals instant goosebumps for me). It's beautiful, it's angry, it's REAL, and when I first got the net I downloaded an unreleased extended version, which was pretty much the best thing ever.

So there you go; The Beautiful Ones, The Curmudgeon's favourite ever song. What's YOURS?

[trashcanman]

Are you insane? One song? Just one? ONE FUCKING SONG?! How can you do it? Ask that question and a million jams flood and overload my brain, each screaming for attention. I can't even choose a definitive favorite band. Or a favorite song by a given band. There's just too much to consider and weigh. Here's a short list of contenders whose shrieks I can distinguish this second.

"Keep it in the Family" -Anthrax
"White Man at Hammersmith Palais" -The Clash
"Voodoo Chile" -Jimi Hendrix
"Sunless Saturday" -Fishbone
"Hell of a Hat" -Mighty Mighty Bossotnes
"Divide and Conquer" -Husker Du
"Bleed For Me" -The Dead Kennedys
"No Woman, No Cry" -Bob Marley
"No Quarter" -Led Zeppelin
"Rockin' in the Free World" -Neil Young


I could do this for DAYS.

[The Curmudgeon]

Put it this way, Trashy - a guy sticks a gun to your head and says "you get to hear one song before you die." Try putting that little list in front of him and your brains would be splattered before you could finish saying Mighty Mighty Bosstones.

ONE SONG, dammit. ONE. Or you DIE!

[trashcanman]

I say "My Humps" and then knee him in the head when he doubles over laughing. I snatch his gun, put it to his head and proceed over the next hour to explain the intricacies of my personal tastes, the way certain songs are right for certain moods while other reflect a special time in one's life or a specific aspect of one's personality and still others are just perfectly crafted and can go on that alone. Ranking art and music is like quantifying the unquantifiable. At the end of the day, you're just chasing your tail trying to pull something out of your ass. For those who succeed: good on you. If you could break me off some of that inflexible certainty for this guy, that'd be sweet.

But, providing that my imaginary kung-fu is not as strong as i suspected, I would bow to the will of the music nazi before me and bequeath unto he not my favorite song of all time, but the top of my list of songs to hear just before dying.

"Highwayman"

No better voice to hear before biting the big one than the Man in Black's.

[Benjamin Haines]

"Orion" by Metallica (primarily the brainchild of the late bassist Cliff Burton). To me it captures the fleeting, intangible essence of human emotion and all that it encapsulates, and it does so without any lyrics whatsoever, just pure musical genius. This is the song I'd want played at my funeral.

www.thedreamlands.com/fbtunes/orion.mp3

[Ben]

Though I don't have a single favorite song, I'd probably have to hear "Would?" by Alice in Chains right before I die.