Thanks for all the votes for your Top Three Tracks. Every choice was unique, as if these choices are somehow our musical fingerprint. There were some surprises in there, interestingly all Nirvana songs voted for were from ‘In Utero’. The three songs that came out ahead of the others were all quite delicate indie hits though; The Smiths ‘There Is A Light That Never Goes Out’, Radiohead ‘Fake Plastic Trees’ and Oasis ‘Live Forever’.
Others were eye openers. One of my favourite top 3s belonged to Dan Hardwick. He voted The Clash ‘Lost in the Supermarket’, Echo & The Bunnymen – ‘The Cutter’, and Aretha Franklin – ‘I Say A Little Prayer’. It’s that deft sidestep at the end, leaving the sublime guitar epics to one side to include one of the greatest singers of all time, that lends this Top Three infinite cool. You can look forward to that being played on the show. Let’s have a look at some of the surprises and some of the more outrageous votes.
When I launched this I expected most of the bands that ended up at the head of our lists to be there but also there are some notable absences. Doherty and Barat’s songs featured well but they’ve got too many bands between them to make an impact. Also, Foo Fighters have an immense back catalogue but only sneaked in with a solitary vote for ‘Everlong’. Again, the fact that Yeah Yeah Yeahs, The Cure and Led Zeppelin all only got one vote surprises me.
Some Top Three Tracks have been consigned to the scrap pile, so consider these if you’re putting your tracks together. Mastodon, Aqua and Robbie Williams all showed up in there. Not. A. Chance. Sorry. Equally though, I know Blur are at the front of a lot of peoples minds again but voting like DANABNORMAL for ‘Caramel’, ‘Trimm Trabb’ and ‘Tender’ shows a little lack of imagination. Someone even nominated Keane while I was on-air. Seriously, Keane, in the Top Three Tracks EVER MADE. 60 years of guitar based music and someone found space for Keane. Unbelievable.
It’s not too late to get your Top Three Tracks in. It’s your chance to have your favourite tunes of all time blasting out across the airwaves. Leave your tracks below and tune in to NME Radio to see if yours get played on a Thursday night from 7pm. Listen online, on DAB in London and through your telly on Sky channel 0184, Virgin Media 975, and Freesat 727.