No. 23 Blur
The best days of our Lives
‘Bow bells say goodbye to the last train...’ croons Damon Albarn, lamenting the plight of the drone-like London commuter. Is a sweaty, packed train really as good as it gets? Are these really the best days of our lives? What do pop stars know about commuting anyway?
Listen to it: Standing under the departures board at Waterloo. ‘Hope someone’s waiting out there, for them...’
No. 22 The Libertines Up the Bracket
No. 21 Suede
By the Sea
No. 20 The Pogues
Misty Morning, Albert Bridge
No. 19 The Smiths Panic
No. 18 The Killers
Sam’s Town
No. 17 The Kinks
Dead End Street
No. 16 The Rolling Stones Play with Fire
No. 15 Oasis
Columbia
Remember when Oasis weren’t dad rock? Well, we do. Written about the notoriously rock n’ roll Columbia hotel near Hyde Park, it’s a guitary, wall-of-soundy hymn to being in a band. Might inspire you to go to a gig. Or become a roadie for an ill-advised sabbatical.
Listen to it: Pushing through crowds of rock n’ roll ‘yoot’ on Camden lock. If can still squeeze into the black jeans
‘Your mother she’s and heiress; owns a block in St John’s Wood...’ This is a rough London boy laying down the law to a hot Sloaney girl. 20 years before ‘West End Girls’, too. Whether this works if you’re not Mick Jagger, we can’t possibly advise. But probably not.
Listen to it: Standing on the corner of Picadilly, opposite the Ritz. Your hands moodily in your pockets. Yeah!
Which Kinks song to choose? Whichever one works for you. But if you’re paying through the nose for a flat smaller than a rabbit hutch, Ray Davies feels your pain. Just goes to show not much has changed in the intervening 40 years.
Listen to it: Heating up a can of beans on a primus stove in a bedsit that costs more than you parents house.
We all have our own London. If you’ve been here long enough, you’ll have yours... when you see London, you see your town. And so does Sam, apparently. And that’s coming from a yank. Mind you, they always act like they own the place...
Listen to it: Standing in the middle of your favourite square. This is your city
‘Saw the same two men on the Cally road...’ Yep, before he became ‘Heat’ Magazine’s favourite skaghead, Pete was just like the rest of us: hassled by nutters on the way to Cally Pool. Gains brownie points for being the only song ever about flipping someone a ‘V’ sign
Listen to it: Walking along any wide, busy, colourful, smelly arterial North London road. Like Green Lanes
They’ve left Seven Sisters for a room in a seaside shack. A reminder that Suede could be hauntingly beautiful when they chose to be, this sombre grower leaves you torn between regret and optimism. A bit like finally ending it with a boyfriend who’s bad for you. Or moving to Hove.
Listen to it: When you need a moment’s introversion amid the hustle and bustle. You can walk out any time.
Less obvious than ‘Rainy Night in Soho’, but more atmospheric. A gruff, husky romance, like a pissed Dylan Thomas coming on to you in a bar. Let the rain run off your face and imagine you’re a booze-pickled London poet. Hey, maybe you are, for all we know...
Listen to it: In the rain. Find a bridge, put your headphones on, feel undefined vague regret.
This is what the 80’s were like, remember? Angry. Uncaring. And London had a right fucking over. Stick ‘Panic’ on and remember how far London has come in the last 10 years. And when some hoody nicks your iPod, remember how far it still has to go.
Listen to it: Whack this on your phones on the way to a demo. The countryside march doesn’t count
No. 24 Eddie Grant
Electric Avenue
Did you know Eddie Grant went to school in Tufnell Park? That’ll come up in a pub quiz one day, and you’ll thank Londonology when it does. Anyway, his 1981 anthem for a simmering, tense Brixton is part party song and part protest song. And it sounds just as fresh 27 years on.
Listen to it: Walking down Coldharbour Lane. Trendies may have moved into Brixton, but it’s still got an edge.
No. 25 Pulp
Common People
She was posh. She studied sculpture at St Martin’s College. She came from Greece, apparently. Pulp namechecked many London landmarks in their songs – the ‘fountain down the road’ is a pub in Mile End – but this has to be the cream of the crop – a sneer at a posh girl slumming it in the big bad city,
Listen to it: Strolling amongst the art boys and art girls that congregate around St Martins, Camberwell art school,etc.
No. 26 The Rakes
22 Grand Job
How many Londonology readers came here fresh from university, not quite sure what they wanted to do, but sure that they wanted to do it here? And how many of them ended up taking an office job in the city, and temping or filing or trying to get that extra couple of grand a year to fuel the big nights out and eye-watering rent? This is a song for you.
Listen to it: Waiting for the bus or cramming onto the circle line at 8 o’clock in the morning. Is this worth 22 grand? Course it is!
