In my day job at Speakers’ Spotlight I am an agent for intellectual talent, which means I have the opportunity to meet and learn from some of the world’s most fascinating people. One of those folks is Alan Cross. Yes, the Alan Cross, Canada’s most esteemed musicologist.

The last time we chatted, towards the end of the discussion I simply couldn’t help myself – I had to ask him what his favourite songs and albums of all time were. Can you blame me? Music lovers are freaks about ‘Top 5’ lists and such, so to me not asking him would be like having Roger Ebert across from you and neglecting to ask what his favourite movie is.

So below are a few odds & sods culled straight from the mind of Alan Cross. Everything I could remember anyway. See how they stack up against your own favourites.  Many thanks and enjoy!

Alan Cross’ Favourite Songs (in order)

1. Won’t Get Fooled Again – The Who
2. London Calling – The Clash
3. Resurrection – The Stone Roses
4. Biko/Secret World (live) – Peter Gabriel
5. Head Like a Hole – NIN

Favourite Albums (in order)

1. Who’s Next
2. The Stone Roses
3. Pretty Hate Machine
4. London Calling
5. Kind of Blue (Miles Davis)

Some other tidbits…

Best interview was with Courtney Love in 1998 in Beverley Hills at the
Chateau Marmont, where she lunged across the table at him for mentioning Billy Corgan.

His greatest live music moment was in 1987: Roger Waters was touring
his Radio KAOS album and during the show played a few Pink Floyd
songs. His moment occurred during ‘Mother’ from The Wall.

He said my belief that while the greatest song of all time will always
change, Surfin’ Bird by The Trashmen will always be the 2nd greatest
song ever recorded was ‘not wrong’.  I’d hoped for more than that but
I’ll take what I can get.

And finally I asked ‘Beatles or Rolling Stones?’

His answer: ‘Neither. The Who’.

There are moments in songs you wait for. Sometimes it’s by accident, often it’s by design, but regardless of their origin, pop music is littered with unforgettable moments in songs, or ‘Godots’ (with apologies to Samuel Beckett).

Why ‘Godots’? Because no matter how many times you hear the song, no matter how many times you experience these moments, you never really stop waiting for them. Every time you hear the song.

There is no one universal feature that defines a Godot, other than it’s brevity and some element of surprise. It stands out, and calls emphatic attention to itself, maybe because of its incongruence from the rest of the song, or maybe because it’s delivering a much anticipated ‘payoff’, or maybe because it is so god damn irritating.

Here are but 10 examples:

10. Take the Money and Run – The Steve Miller Band

This insanely listenable song, just as fresh the 100th time you listen to it as the first, is a glorious soup of hooks, harmonies, jangly guitars and feel-good “hoo-hoo’s” (the latter of which I’ve always suspected were the sound a train pulling away, perhaps shuttling these bank-robber stowaways to freedom).

For a particular moment to stand out in this AM masterpiece – the song itself is more or less one long hook – is not easy. But nestled at the 0:35 and 1:14 mark of the song are two quick successions of 5 hand-claps that steal the show.  You’re waiting for them as soon as the song begins, it’s difficult to resist clapping along when it happens, and you are more or less biding your time until it occurs again the second time, after which you can finally relax and enjoy the rest of the tune.  A quintessential Godot.

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Soooooo…it’s been a bit of a tough week for your pal Spencer. The universe sent a couple of not-so-subtle f-you’s my way. A bit of a kick in the teeth, but they were also (I begrudgingly admit) kind of hilarious. The types of things where you’re just like “really…..?? haha. amazing”.

I do believe in signs, though, and even though these ones sucked, sometimes negative situations can be a catalyst for change. So here’s hoping for that.

In the meantime, I’ve been experiencing elevated levels of frustration and annoyance. How to deal with these sentiments? My methods for coping generally involve listening to angry and/or aggressive music, cranked up as loud as possible. Yeah I get dirty looks on the subway, and there is no way possible that I’m not damaging my eardrums, but I DON’T CARE. There’s something about listening to other people rage out that helps exorcise the demons of negativity.

With that in mind, here is a list, in random order, of some of my fav songs for anger management:

Fuck Armageddon This Is Hell – Bad Religion

“How can hell be any worse when life alone is such a curse?”

Bleak.

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