“Destroy everything! But hang on, not that 7 inch by The Chesterfields”
Imagine this scenario, the world has been taken over by some unspecified malevolent aliens who despise music in all its forms. They are hellbent on destroying all the music on the planet but they give you, dear reader, the chance to save some of it. The aliens say that you can pick a letter and all the music by artists starting with that letter will be spared.
What letter would you choose?
That’s the question that’s been causing much passionate debate between the wizards over the last few weeks.
For me it’s no contest. It’s the letter C and here in alphabetical order are 40 reasons why.
- The Cardiacs
- The Cardigans
- The Carpenters
- Johnny Cash
- Catatonia
- Ray Charles
- The Chemical Brothers
- Neneh Cherry
- Chic
- Billy Childish
- The Chilites
- Cinerama
- Gene Clark
- The Clash
- Patsy Cline
- Jimmy Cliff
- The Close Lobsters
- Eddie Cochran
- Cocteau Twins
- Leonard Cohen
- Coldcut
- Lloyd Cole
- Edwyn Collins
- Colour Me Wednesday
- The Congos
- Ry Cooder
- Sam Cooke
- John Cooper Clarke
- Julian Cope
- Cornershop (and their side-project Clinton)
- Elvis Costello
- The Cramps
- Creedence Clearwater Revival
- Crowded House
- Culture
- The Cure
- Ivor Cutler
- Cypress Hill
- The Czars
- and for the days when living under the despotic rule of those bastard music-hating aliens is getting you down Chas & Dave
Included there are the band who made my favourite album (The Clash) and the man I’ve listened to more than any other in my whole life (Elvis Costello). There’s also my favourite female country singer, my favourite male country singer, my favourite reggae singer, the band that made my favourite reggae album, my favourite disco band, both my favourite poets and my second favourite soul singer.
And there’s also The Carpenters. The fucking Carpenters, people! Surely no other letter can better this?
“C is for Cibo Matto, that’s good enough for me”
One track each from those list above makes a commendable clever cool cracking coruscating playlist for your comfort and consumption. Ciao!
The Cardiacs aren’t on Spotify so I’ve included a track by their ex-member William D Drake instead. Here’s a Cardiacs video though.
So what do you think? Has Chorizo chosen the right letter or is he talking c***?
Let us know what letter you would choose and why.
TRUST THE WIZARDS 
Definitely B for me. I have 217 different band/artist names catalogued under B including my all-time favourites (the highly obscure The Beatles…) and a few other long-time loves including The Bats, Chuck Berry, Blondie, Blue Aeroplanes, David Bowie, Billy Bragg, The Breeders, Buzzcocks and The Byrds
Other greats/goods include The B-52’s, Babes In Toyland, Baby Lemonade, Badfinger, Bailter Space, Ballard, Ballboy, The Bambi Molesters, Band Of Horses/Skulls/Susans, The Band, Bangles, Devendra Banhart, Bobby Bare, Courtney Barnett, The Baroques, The Barracudas, Syd Barrett, Bash & Pop, Bastro, The Be Good Tanyas, The Beach Boys, Beachwood Sparks, Bead Game, Beagle, Bearsuit, Beastie Boys, The Beat Farmers, The Beau Brummels, Bee Gees, Beef, The Bees, Chris/William Bell, Belle & Sebastian, Belly, Benny Profane, Brendan Benson, Richard Berry, The Besnard Lakes, Best Coast, The Beta Band, Bettie Serveert, The Bevis Frond, The Bhundu Boys, Biff Bang Pow!, Big Black, The Big Bopper, Big Brother & The Holding Company, Big Flame, Big Star, Big Youth, Bird, Bird Nest Roys, The Birthday Party, Bjork, The Black Keys, Black Sabbath, Blake Babies, Bobby Bland, Blank Realm, Bleach, Blood Sweat & Tears, The Blue Nile, Blue Orchids, David Blue, Colin Blunstone, Blur, BMX Bandits, The Bodines, Curt Boetcher, Bon Iver, Bongwater, Simon Bonney, Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy, The Boo Radleys, Booker T. & The MGs, Bow Wow Wow, The Box Tops, Jacques Brel, Bright Eyes, Brighter, Brilliant Colors, The Brilliant Cornerrs, British Sea Power, Broadcast, The Broken Family Band, Broken Social Scene, James Brown, Jeff/Tim Buckley, Buffalo Springfield, Buffalo Tom, Built To Spill, Vashti Bunyan, Solomon Burke, Johnny Burnette, Burning Spear, Kate Bush, The Butterfield Blues Band, Butthole Surfers and Byrne & Eno
Blimey!
that’s a bloody great list Will. you make a very strong case for B. How about a Spotify playlist? Booker T and the MGs though, is that a B or should it be under T (or even J for Jones?)
Hmm T would be a good shout rather than B for Booker T and the MGs but I think J might require too much thought to ever find it when looking to play them!
check out our latest podcast (coming soon) for lots of discussions like that about where to file stuff. Where do you put Captain Beefheart? (some might say “as far away from me as possible”)
I have him under C as I would never call him Mr Beefheart…. Muddy Waters under M similarly!
Hell of a playlist.
I used to have a massive ‘B’ playlist which was my favorite.
But if aliens invaded and I had to pick, I’d go with a letter with tons of artists I’ve yet to explore fully. More new music that way!
very good GR but don’t tease us like that, go ahead and share your B playlist.
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