WARMER MIXTAPES #881 | by Amanda Schukle (A Humanoid) of Steel Cranes

I love to talk about Music Obsessively and Evangelistically.
I could have had a Top 100 list, but I just managed to keep it to 14.

1. Queen & David Bowie | Under Pressure
Simply the Greatest Song Ever. No contest. David Bowie is my Favorite Artist of All Time. Freddie Mercury had the most incredible Voice in Rock 'N’ Roll. This song is just Perfect in every way and it makes me so happy every time I hear it.

2. Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers | American Girl
My favorite use of a song in a Film Soundtrack. The Silence Of The Lambs scene with the young girl rocking out to this song in her car just before being kidnapped is Unforgettable and Perfect.

3. Gang Of Four | Not Great Men
This song (and the whole Entertainment album) changed the way I thought about playing the Guitar. The way Andy Gill combines these super jagged parts with a grooving Rhythm Section is so awesome.

4. Patti Smith | Gloria (Them Cover)
I always liked Horses, but I recently rediscovered it and realized it is one of the Greatest Albums Ever. And the opener, Gloria, half Original/half Cover, is one of the most unbelievable pieces of Music ever recorded. Irreverent, blistering, sexy, playful, and just plain badass.

5. The Police | Message In A Bottle
I dream of the day when I’ll feel qualified to even call Stewart Copeland an influence on my Drumming. Until then, I’ll just say that every Beat, Note, and Lyric in this song is Perfect.

6. The Smiths | Bigmouth Strikes Again
It’s so hard to choose a favorite Smiths song. There Is A Light That Never Goes Out is a verrry close second, but I have to go with this one... Because I tend to put my foot in my mouth. The lyrics are hilarious.

7. Black Sabbath | Hand Of Doom
That Bassline. Oh, man. So ominous. And Bill Ward’s little Hip-Hop Beat. So cool. And then it all explodes. So Evil. Black Sabbath has been a huge influence on my Guitar playing and Drumming. This song is just the perfect expression of all aspects of their power.

 8. Band Of Horses | The Funeral
I almost had a first kiss with someone very special while this song played. I always think of that excitement and anticipation when I hear this.

9. Van Morrison | Into The Mystic
Oh, Van. He has such a gift for calling up Timeless themes of Love and Life and doing it in a way that is just so damn Romantic. I can’t help but get swept up in this song. This is the point in my list where I realize I am Emo... Yikes! Oh, well.

10. Radiohead | Paranoid Android
Radiohead is easily my favorite band. And this is the song that really solidified that. They’re so good at throwing in little mathy bits without being obvious about it. Epic, intricate, challenging, and endlessly listenable.

+11. TV On The Radio | Province
Love is the province of the brave. This song rips my guts out.

+12. Guns N' Roses | Rocket Queen
Until Appetite For Destruction came out, I was a kid listening to Bobby Brown and Paula Abdul. This album changed my life. Rocket Queen was my jam. I first picked up a guitar because of G N’ R and I still listen to Appetite to get pumped up for shows.

+13. The Twilight Singers | Papillon
I’d loved Afghan Whigs for a long time, but I came to also love Greg Dulli’s post-Afghan Whigs band, The Twilight Singers, while hunched over in the airport in New Orleans after a particularly debaucherous weekend at a conference for Librarians, of all things. Blackberry Belle had been recorded in New Orleans and it was just the thing to make me feel a little better about feeling so shitty. Papillon is classic Dulli celebrating the Darkness.

+14. Pink Floyd | Wish You Were Here
The first song I ever learned on Guitar (like millions of other Guitar players, I’m sure). It’s so simple, so beautiful. I’ll never get tired of it.