Here we have a track that wasn't quite good enough to make its way directly into the final round having only picked up a solitary 10 point vote in round 1, but it made no mistake in the semi-final round where it picked up 9 votes, including 1 top scoring vote, amassing a total of 69 points and finishing 2nd in the semi-final vote. It continued to perform well in the final, appearing on 5 lists and bagging 28 points along the way! We get our top 15 underway with......... 15TH PLACE DO ME A FAVOUR ARCTIC MONKEYS 1st Round: 1 List / 10 Points [Semi Final: 9 Lists / 69 Points] Final Round: 5 Lists / 28 Points Total: 38 Points Released: Not released as a single Album: Favourite Worst Nightmare (2007) FF's Greatest Song Position: 94 Genre: Rock; Alternative/Indie Highest UK Chart: N/A Highest US Chart: N/A Not necessarily the first song that comes to mind when the Arctic Monkeys are discussed but a quality track as proven by its finishing place. "Do Me A Favour" is track number 7 on the album Favourite Worst Nightmare which is Arctic Monkey's second studio album. Lead singer Alex Turner has admitted that this song came from a personal experience he encountered whilst breaking up with a girl during a car journey. He once told NME: "It's about a goodbye, really, and about me being a bit of a knob. Perhaps I were craving to experience something else and looking back and feeling like you were a bit of a knobhead, just in how you perhaps treated that person. It's just describing a goodbye. That's another thing, when you're with someone they seem happier in photos before you met her, or happier in stories from before. I always think they do." It has also been noted, by Pitchfork Media, as a song that offered "new emotional depth" compared to songs that came before. The song was never released as a single so was never tested in the charts but it did appear on the FF Greatest Song of All Time in 94th position. Where did the song get its votes from? 1st Round: @Burg (10pts) [Semi Final: @Vito Andolini (8pts), @Tomohawk (10pts), @Burg (12pts),@RedDevilsShinja (6pts), @Habbinalan (7pts), @Panja (5pts), @Si Robin (8pts), @JoshBCFC (5pts) & @BleedsIsDead (8pts) ] Final Round: @Tomohawk (3pts), @Vito Andolini (2pts), @Burg (10pts), @RedDevilsShinja (7pts) & @BleedsIsDead (6pts)
This one didn't need a semi-final round to make it to the final having bagged a single top score vote in round 1. It then went on to have a slightly disjointed final round as it only appeared on 3 lists but it managed to appear at the top of 2 different lists which is a feat no other song managed to do in the final round of voting. Our next song to be revealed is........ 14TH PLACE GHOST LOVE SCORE NIGHTWISH 1st Round: 1 List / 12 Points Final Round: 3 Lists / 28 Points Total: 40 Points Released: Not released as a single Album: Once (2004) FF's Greatest Song Position: 49 Genre: Symphonic Metal / Rock / Metal Highest UK Chart: N/A Highest US Chart: N/A A song and group that became more familiar to this forum thanks to the Favourite Song of All Time thread and it performs superbly well once again. "Ghost Love Score" is the 9th track on Once, which is the 5th studio album by Finnish symphonic metal band Nightwish. The song was described by ex band member Marko Hietala as follows: "I'm a big fan of old prog rock and this is a song that has a lot of different parts going on, and different atmospheres in different places in order to support the story. My biggest influence from the prog world would be Jethro Tull, but I also love listening to Yes and Genesis and all those bands, and there's a correlation between the structures and the length of a lot of their songs and this one." Although the song was not released into the charts, it did fair well in the FF Greatest Song of All Time countdown, finishing in 49th place, and is a firm favourite amongst fans of the band. Where did the song get its votes from? 1st Round: @RedDevilsShinja (12pts) Final Round: @StretfordEnd (12pts), @Tomohawk (4pts) & @RedDevilsShinja (12pts)
Next up is the final track that required the semi-final round to get into the final. It appeared on 2 lists in the initial round of voting but picking up lowly scores to total an initial score of 9 before it burst into life in the semi-final, appearing on 10 out of 14 lists and claiming 71 points, 24 of these coming from 2 top scoring votes, en route to a top place finish in the penultimate round. It performed well in the final as well, appearing on 7 lists and claiming 32 points to just miss out on the top 10. Next up is........ 13TH PLACE ONE DAY LIKE THIS ELBOW 1st Round: 2 Lists / 9 Points [Semi Final: 10 Lists / 71 Points] Final Round: 7 Lists / 32 Points Total: 41 Points Released: 12nd June 2008 Album: The Seldom Seen Kid (2008) FF's Greatest Song Position: 94 Genre: Alternative/Indie Highest UK Chart: 4 Highest US Chart: N/A Another song that has appeared on previous lists and maintains its popularity on here for this one as well. The 2nd single from Elbow's 4th studio album, The Seldom Seen, this is probably the band's most popular song to date. Released in summer 2008, the lyrics for the chorus "one day like this a year would see me right" were actually noted by Guy Garvey several years before and he'd always seemingly felt that this line could offer similarities to songs like "Hey Jude" by The Beatles. Initially the song peaked at number 35 in the UK Singles Chart in 2008 but after the band performed the song as part of the Closing Ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games, it rose to number 4 in the UK charts in August 2012. The song has also now been certified as double platinum in the UK and has won the Ivor Novello Award for the Best Song Musically and Lyrically as well as earning the band a Brit Award as Best British Band in 2009. Where did the song get its votes from? 1st Round: @Tomohawk (2pts) & @StretfordEnd (7pts) [Semi Final: @Machida (3pts), @Vito Andolini (4pts), @Tomohawk (12pts), @SkyBlueMatt (8pts), @Burg (7pts), @Habbinalan (6pts), @Joga bonito (4pts), @StretfordEnd (8pts), @Panja (12pts) & @JoshBCFC (7pts) ] Final Round: @StretfordEnd (4pts), @Tomohawk (6pts), @SkyBlueMatt (3pts), @Ollie (7pts), @Burg (3pts), @JoshBCFC (3pts) & @Joga bonito (6pts)
Phenomenal tune and I'm glad it got this high. It really is one of the beat of the decade and I find it generally to be underrated
Another song that picked up a couple of votes in round 1, totalling 13 points, to take its place directly in the final where it went on to collect 7 votes, 1 at the top of a list, to claim 29 final points. We get closer to the top 10 but just missing out on this accolade is........ 12TH PLACE DAKOTA STEREOPHONICS 1st Round: 2 Lists / 13 Points Final Round: 7 Lists / 29 Points Total: 42 Points Released: 28th February 2005 Album: Language. Sex. Violence. Other? (2005) FF's Greatest Song Position: 27 Genre: Alternative/Indie; Rock Highest UK Chart: 1 Highest US Chart: 34 (Modern Rock Tracks Chart) Following up its top 30 finish in the Favourite Song of All Time thread, it betters that this time around to claim a rightful place in the top 15. "Dakota" is a song by Welsh rock band Stereophonics and was the first single taken from their Language. Sex. Violence. Other? album and was released as a single in February 2005. It remains the only song to have made it to number 1 in the UK Singles Chart for the band and was also the last single to be a top 10 hit for them as well. It also made it into the top 50 of the Modern Rock chart in America, another one and only time the group have achieved this feat as well. The song came about during a promo tour for the band's previous album You Gotta Go There To Come Back with lead singer Kelly Jones looking to take the band in a new direction with a different sound. The lyrics were written in Vermillion, South Dakota & originally the song was going to named after the town but when other artists released songs and albums of this name, Dakota was born. The critics were positive about the song with AllMusic's MacKenzie Wilson saying the song had "glossy guitar hooks" and that she felt the "Stereophonics second coming was a convincing one". The Guardian also praised the band for replacing their "standard smug lumbering with an urgent synthesizer pulse". "Dakota" also finished 8th in Q Magazine's Readers 100 Greatest Tracks of 2005. It also claimed 27th place on the FF Greatest Song of All Time list Where did the song get its votes from? 1st Round: @Tomohawk (12pts) & @StretfordEnd (1pt) Final Round: @StretfordEnd (1pts), @Tomohawk (12pts), @Panja (4pts), @Burg (5pts), @JoshBCFC (1pt), @Joga bonito (5pts) & @BleedsIsDead (1pt)
Next up is a song that just about made it directly into the final thanks to 2x 1st round votes which totalled 12 points before going on to claim 33 points across 6 lists in the final round. As close to the top 10 as you can get without being in it is........ 11TH PLACE I BET YOU LOOK GOOD ON THE DANCEFLOOR ARCTIC MONKEYS 1st Round: 2 Lists / 12 Points Final Round: 6 Lists / 33 Points Total: 45 Points Released: 17th October 2005 Album: Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not (2006) FF's Greatest Song Position: N/A Genre: Alternative/Indie; Pop; French Indie Highest UK Chart: 1 Highest US Chart: 7 (Alternative Airplay Chart) Safe to say that this won't be a new track to anybody, but remains a classic even now and so is very worthy of such a high finish in this. This is the debut single for English rock band Arctic Monkey's and was the first song released from their debut album, Whatever People Say I Am. That's What I'm Not. The final production was the 3rd having first tried with producer Alan Smyth, then again with James Ford and Rich Costey before the band settled on the final outcome produced by Jim Abbiss. In the UK it debuted at number 1 in the Singles Chart and reached number 7 on the US Billboard Alternative Airplay chart. The band also performed the track during the opening ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games and it has appeared on numberous Greatest lists included a place at number 7 on NME Magazine's The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. The song remains one of the most well known for the band and back when it was released, critics felt it was a step back towards the 90s particularly music writer Tom Ewing who said that it "gave the impression that a return to the Britpop boom time was upon us." It never really materialised like that but you can see where the thought process came from. NME also added a line of reflection I'm sure a lot of us could understand from back then when they said that the song is "the perfect encapsulation of what it is to be young, pissed, lusty, angry and skint in modern day Britain." Habbinalan kept it very simple but summed up this track perfectly when he said, "Classic"! Where did the song get its votes from? 1st Round: @Panja (10pts) & @Habbinalan (2pts) Final Round: @Habbinalan (8pts), @Si Robin (5pts), @Panja (7pts), @Ollie (5pts), @Vito Andolini (6pts) & @RedDevilsShinja (2pts)
And that is where this evenings proceedings draw to a close! Just 10 songs to be revealed and that will continue tomorrow night. The live running list and the Spotify playlist in the OP are now up to date to include tonight's reveal
Absolutely fantastic track "Kiss me like a final meal, yeah kiss me like we die tonight ". Brilliant track Still blows my head off a teenager wrote this. Classic indeed from the day I heard it. Its also even better live
Do me a favour isn't even the best on that album... Bro I'm so jealous, I know for a fact that would have been my top gig of all time. Yeah I love it, great coda. Beautiful music and Northern lyrical sensibility, can't go wrong!
Guy's lyrics are some of the best there's been when it comes to writing about love, whether lost or found. While three chambers of my heart beat true And strong with love for another The fourth, the fourth is yours forever.
How in God's name did I miss this in the list of final songs? It's one of my favourite Arctics songs. This song is my breakup from my first serious girlfriend - including (and I'm not ashamed to admit) the tears on the steering wheel dripping on the seat. We will definitely have to agree to disagree
The middle, 'down' part of Do Me a Favour is Monkey's best work IMO. 'Curiosity becomes a heavy load, too heavy to hold' is just ****ing magnificent
Never really appreciated Do Me a Favour until I heard it live at Reading last year. Fantastic, hard-hitting track and was probably my favourite moment of the gig.
I'm here folks, bit later than planned but the top 10 is about to commence......... Brace yourselves!!!!
First one of our best 10 is a song that went straight to the final thanks to a couple of 1st round votes, including a top scoring vote finishing in the top 5 of the initial round of voting. It couldn't maintain that in the final round of voting but it still scored well from its 3 votes, picking up another top scoring vote along the way. Getting our top 10 underway is........ 10TH PLACE NEW SLANG THE SHINS 1st Round: 2 Lists / 19 Points Final Round: 3 Lists / 28 Points Total: 47 Points Released: 19th February 2001 Album: Oh, Inverted World (2001) FF's Greatest Song Position: N/A Genre: Alternative/Indie; Folk; Rock Highest UK Chart: N/A Highest US Chart: N/A Another track and maybe even band who are new to a lot of us, they certainly are to me, but one that has caught the attention to claim a fantastic 10th placed finish. "New Slang" is a song by American rock band The Shins and was the lead single from the bands debut studio album, Oh, Inverted World. The song was written by guitarist and vocalist James Mercer and relates to his experiences of his hometown Albuquerque, New Mexico in his late 20s. At the time, Mercer was finding himself to be constantly depressed and disconnected from friends and the lyrics are fuelled with "angst and confusion". The song received positive critical acclaim and was a real springboard for the album with Weekly Alibi stating: "the most immediately appealing song on the album," before going on to praise it as "simply brilliant". The New York Times also covered the song, noting that "It has an odd, slightly serpentine vocal melody (it sounds a bit like an adapted madrigal), and the lyrics are absurd and somehow touching." And AllMusic called the song a "mid-tempo, strummy folk tune with a real catch-on falsetto melody," I can't see that it charted in either the US or the UK but it did make a number of lists compiled by music critics including a 62nd place finish on Pitchfork's "The Top 500 Tracks of the 2000s" and also 57th on Rolling Stone's "100 Best Songs of the 2000s". Where did the song get its votes from? 1st Round: @Zydus (7pts) & @Machida (12pts) Final Round: @JoshBCFC (6pts), @Zydus (10pts) & @Machida (12pts)
9 to go but we will soon make that as this one is revealed. Another one appearing on more than 1 list in the 1st round but it was in the final where it performed to its max, appearing on 7 lists and although it didn't quite peak at the top of any of these lists it still bagged 35 final round votes to finish strongly. And so, our 9th best song is........ 9TH PLACE THE BUCKET KINGS OF LEON 1st Round: 2 Lists / 13 Points Final Round: 7 Lists / 35 Points Total: 48 Points Released: 25th October 2004 Album: Aha Shake Heartbreak (2004) FF's Greatest Song Position: N/A Genre: Alternative/Indie; Rock Highest UK Chart: 16 Highest US Chart: 23 (Modern Rock Chart) One of 2 songs appearing on this list for the Kings of Leon but this one performs superbly throughout to claim a single digit finishing position. "The Bucket" is the 1st single to be released from the Kings Of Leon's 2nd studio album, Aha Shake Heartbreak and is one of the bands most successful singles based on chart position.The song was written about bassist Jared Followill, the youngest member of the band, who had to deal with the band's fame at just 17 years of age. The song peaked at number 16 in the UK Singles Chart and reached number 23 in the US Modern Rock Billboard Chart. It also reached number 38 on the NME's 150 Best Tracks of the Past 15 Years list. Where did the song get its votes from? 1st Round: @Burg (3pts) & @SkyBlueMatt (10pts) Final Round: @StretfordEnd (2pts), @SkyBlueMatt (10pts), @Si Robin (6pts), @Panja (2pts), @Ollie (6pts), @Burg (6pts) & @Joga bonito (3pts)
A song that finished with just 1 solitary top scoring vote in the first round but this was enough to get it into the final. It had a lot of work to do in the final but it did the hard work to appear on 7 lists, adding 39 points to its 1st round score. Next out of the hat is........ 8TH PLACE A CERTAIN ROMANCE ARCTIC MONKEYS 1st Round: 1 List / 12 Points Final Round: 7 Lists / 39 Points Total: 51 Points Released: Not released as a single Album: Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not (2006) FF's Greatest Song Position: N/A Genre: Alternative/Indie; Pop; French Indie Highest UK Chart: N/A Highest US Chart: N/A It's the boys from Sheffield again, a 4th appearance on this list and another worthy finish for another great track. This song appeared as the final track on Arctic Monkey's first album, Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not which was released in 2006. It was never released as a single but has become one of the band's most well known songs over the years with NME listing it amongst the top 10 best tracks of the noughties. NME reviewed the song by writing: “a strangely even-handed song, in which Alex Turner starts out scorning local townies then appears to absolve them at the end of the song” and there is quite the discussion on songmeanings.com about how much this song relates to 'chavs'. Lead singer Alex Turner has also suggested in past interviews that this song showed that band did have "ambitions beyond what we once thought we were capable of". Where did the song get its votes from? 1st Round: @Vito Andolini (12pts) Final Round: @Habbinalan (4pts), @Si Robin (7pts), @Panja (8pts), @Vito Andolini (5pts), @Burg (8pts), @RedDevilsShinja (3pts) & @BleedsIsDead (4pts)
